GamerDNA and the Child's Play charity are running a new online contest to raise money for Children's Hospitals across the globe. Online gaming communities are invited to take on a little friendly competition. Once entered community members can visit gamerDNA, an online social platform for gamers, to take a multiple choice Decades of Influence Quiz. When you build a profile on gamerDNA, you're asked if you'd like to take short quizzes about your gameplay style and personality. This particular quiz is on innovations in gaming over the last four decades. Once they complete the quiz, gamers will get a badge displaying which decade most effects their style and the name of their community. The community that collects the most badges will score 6 bundles of Nintendo DS systems and games from gamerDNA. There are more specifics in the press release following the break and at www.gamerdna.com/childsplay.

Child's Play was founded in 2003 by Penny Arcade creators Mike "Gabe" Krahulik and Jerry "Tycho" Holkins. The charity has an annual auction and toy drive to benefit sick children in hospitals worldwide. Just take a look at the map for an idea of all the Children's Hospitals you can reach out to help. If you want to know more, check out the Child's Play website. [READ MORE]

Many private and public companies, corporations, scientific studies and even the military turn to video game technologies when they want to simulate real life situations. Technology and services from the Army Center for Enhanced Performance, America's Army, GM Mobility, General Motors Automotive Service Education Program at the Community of Baltimore County, Bruno Independent Living Aids and other businesses from the DC area were chipped in to give wounded servicemembers a very useful tool. A state-of-the-art driving simulator that will help them return to driving independence by allowing them and their therapists to gauge how best to get them back on the road. I bet it even has a "support our troops" bumper sticker on the back. [READ MORE]

Less than three weeks away, Ubisoft's beautifully envisaged Prince of Persia has gone gold.  Even though it's headed to the presses, it's still not too late for the free Limited Edition Upgrade if you pre-order.  The Limited Edition comes with:

• Limited Edition packaging [which often means a unique slip cover that gets thrown away]
• An exclusive look at the making of Prince of Persia
• A Prima digital mini-strategy guide full of developer's secrets
• A digital art book chronicling the game's journey from concept to winner of Best Artistic Design at E3 2008
• The original soundtrack scored by composer Inon Zur
• [Plus the catch-all] And much more...

It's no longer 1-on-1,000 when you go up against Dynasty Warriors odds.  With Dynasty Warriors: Strikeforce (PSP) the odds can be as high as 4-on-1,000 as buddies link up for multiplayer button mashing.  New screenshots are out for the 2009 title. [READ MORE]

The PC version of Grand Theft Auto IV is coming out on December 2nd with cool new features. First off, there's going to be an additional radio station where you can stick in your own MP3s. The big new feature though is the Social Club TV where you can record in game footage in both single and multiplayer games. Use the built in editor to change camera angles, audio, speed, and add special effects. Create your own video and share it with others. Anyone can watch but members are the only ones that can post videos. Sounds pretty slick and I might have to pick it up on the PC to finish off what I started on the 360 before my disc died.

[READ MORE]

Do you hear what I hear?  That's the sound of my Xbox 360 no longer hitting Boeing jet decibels when Fable II is spinning in the tray.

Thanks to the crispy fresh NXE (New Xbox Experience), I download Peter Molyneux's ear-bleedingly-loud-in-the-tray role-playing game from the disc and onto the hard drive.  It took a grand total of 12 minutes.  And, let me be frank for just a moment, there's absolutely nothing else I did for 12 minutes this week that gave me the warm-fuzzy feeling that I'm feeling right now with Fable II.  In Fable II, if you're still running it from the disc, you don't have to do anything more than stand around an uneventful town square and you'll have to engage your 5.1 speakers at 80% just to hear what the in-game town crier is shouting right next to you.  But now?  The gravel-churning sound from my 360 has ceased.  Calmed itself.  Found peace and understanding with itself.

And it has graciously granted me a slice of that same peace.

But then with Grace, my wife, nestling next to me on the couch -- though she doesn't know why I'm dragging her in front of the 360 -- I open up the Avatar Customization screen.  The bright NXE spectrum splashes against the backdrop and I gingerly hand the controller to Grace.  "Okay," I say, no hubris in my tone, "it's time to make me!"

With very little hesitation in her movement, Grace makes a slightly-below-medium height fellow with caramel-colored skin, hair black and slightly slicked back, then skillfully fits him into a pair of Timbalands, dark jeans, and a straight-lined jacket.  Not bad, I say.  Not bad at all.

I grow distressed, however, when she keeps trying to adjust my avatar's chubby factor.  "Is that all the further it goes to the right?"  She looks at my stomach, looks at the avatar, looks at my stomach again.  "Hm," she says.  "Maybe you'll be that skinny again.  Someday."

She then promptly puts a wedding ring on my avatar's finger and then heads for the Facial Features screen.  She flips around the options, chuckling at a few, and settles on dropping a scar over my avatar's right eye.

"Hey?" I say.

"Hey," she stops me.  "Do you want to be you, or do you actually want to be interesting?"

• This Week In Defunct Games features Forgotten Worlds and Space Invaders: The Original Game.  Cyril's not happy.
• Tech junkies will catch onto the humor as they witness the lumbering extinction of NVIDIA's "G4saurus."
• The AMD hush-hush project known previously as "Deneb" will launch as the AMD Phenom II X4 Processor.
• With the Intel Core i7 family of processors available, Legit Reviews looks at the compatible Kingston HyperX 3GB DDR3 2GHz Triple-Channel Memory Kit.
• According to I4U News, the Alienware Area-51 m15x Gaming Notebook is one of the best 15-inch gaming notebooks on the market.
• TechwareLabs examines the performance-boosting Intel E7200 2.53GHz Dual Core Processor.

Thanks to Defunct Games, Legit Reviews, AtomicGamer, I4U News and TechwareLabs for today's news roundup.

The PS3's exclusive BioShock Add-On Game Content (put together by 2K Boston in conjunction with 2K Marin, 2K Australia and Digital Extremes) is available today for download from the PlayStation Network.  The package -- running a cool $9.99 -- includes new Trophies as well as the new Game Plus gameplay mode.  Two of the three new rooms cite "wits" as a deciding factor to get you through, while the third professes to be the most "grueling" challenge yet offered in the world of Rapture.

• A Shocking Turn of Events -- A Little Sister is trapped atop a Ferris wheel in an undisclosed location in Rapture.  Using ony the tools and environment around them, players must use their wits to create electricity to power the Ferris wheel and bring the Little Sister to safety.

• The I in Team -- Using limited resources, and an even more limited arsenal, players must negotiate traps and find a way to defeat a Big Daddy using their wits instead of raw firepower.

• Worlds of Hurt -- Step up and take on the most grueling challenge offered in the world of Rapture.  Players must battle through eight rooms of Big Daddies, Splicers and the worst that Rapture has to offer.  Accumulate Adam, build an arsenal of Plasmids, Tonics and Weaponry, and fight through to rescue the Little Sister.

I think the variety thrown into these three scenarios rather quickly draws distinctions between Dead Space and BioShock.  Despite all the neat-o things Dead Space does, I think everyone is going to have their memory jogged as to who's still the big daddy of sci-fi thrillers. [READ MORE]

Edge-of-control canyon racing in Utah.  A treacherous rally stage from Malaysia.  And the "Battersea Battle" rally-cross night races in London.  Just when you think racing games can't get any more gorgeous, Codemasters announces DiRT 2.  Colin McRae's name is still somewhere in that title, but we know who's center stage in this series now.  Yes:  the dirt. 

"[Colin McRae] could do things with a car that no one else would and that's where we're taking the series with new events at the extreme edge of rally and autosport," said Gavin Raeburn, Senior Executive Producer at Codemasters.  (Colin McRae died in a helicopter accident in September 2007.)  "It will be a great tribute to an incredible champion."

DiRT 2 will utilize the third generation of Codemasters' proprietary EGO Engine (putting twice as much visual fidelity on the screen as appeared in GRiD), with the Group N Subaru serving in the game's opening drive -- thereby making the original DiRT's ultimate car the starting point in the sequel.  Full online functionality will be in place.  DiRT 2 will simultaneously launch in 2009 for the PS3, 360, Wii, PC, DS, and PSP. [READ MORE]

If it looks like a Porsche and drives like a Porsche, shouldn’t it cost as much as a Porsche? According to the folks at Fanatec: Absolutely not. Today the introduced the Porsche 911 Carrera Racing Wheel for the PS3 and PC which can be purchased for pre-order for only $129.99. The wheel features 6+1 gear stick that is mountable on either side, clutch pedal with declining resistance and a Mabuchi RS 550 force feedback motor. The unit will ship on February 15th 2009. [READ MORE]

While I've stopped playing Grand Theft Auto IV, the first episode in a long line of DLC has finally been announced. On February 17th, Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned will finally be released only on Xbox 360. You'll be playing a new main character with a storyline that intersects with IV. Not only will there be new missions but new weapons, vehicles, and multiplayer modes will come into play as well. No info on the pricing yet but it's about time Microsoft started getting their money's worth. [READ MORE]

Blizzard announced today that World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King sold over 2.8 million copies last week, making it the fastest selling PC game ever (until the next World of Warcraft expansion ships).   Blizzard didn't break out the sales by unit type but that's about $84 million or so in sales (based on $30 a copy) which just throws more money into the giant Blizzard money making engine.

The only semi-negative for Blizzard is that it looks like only 25% or so of it's installed userbase of 11million users upgraded.  I'm sure the rest will take their time but it's interseting to see the breakout.  [READ MORE]