Looks like EA's about to cash in on all that "can it run Crysis" chatter -- Crysis Warhead will be accompanied by the launch of a $699 Ultra-built gaming tower that should manage a consistent 30fps. Crytek has been testing on the so-called "Warhead PC" since early on the dev process, tweaking the engine to make sure the game ran well on the 2.66GHz E7300 Core 2 Duo, 512MB GeForce 9800GT and 2GB of RAM-- the rule was "if it sucks on this, the whole thing sucks" -- and it apparently cranks out consistently solid framerates at high quality settings. No word on an exact release date, but for $699 it's not a bad deal -- and hey, it plays Crysis.

[Via CNET]

Read - Article on Warhead PC's development
Read - Tiger Direct info page

We still think Gibson's attempt to claim that Guitar Hero violates its patent on "simulating a musical performance with a musical instrument" is totally unfounded and ridiculous for a number of reasons (it involves a "3-D headset," for one), but we can sort of see why the company is now suing Harmonix as well -- they're a Fender outfit, after all. The third in a series of petulant lawsuits filed by the notoriously litigious guitar maker over the patent claims Harmonix, Viacom, and Electronic Arts are all liable for Rock Band, but it's not clear if Gibson is going after just the guitars or the drum kit as well, which is probably closer to actually counting as an instrument. Of course, the patent itself hasn't changed since the last time we read it, and it's obvious that Gibson's going to have itself quite a challenge convincing the court that playing Guitar Hero or Rock Band involves musical instruments of any kind -- after all, it's just Simon, right?

Disclaimer: Nilay is a lawyer and a rock star, but he's not your lawyer (or your monkey, man) and this is not legal advice or analysis.

Finally got around to trading in that raincheck for your very own Wii? Good. Ready to pick up Rock Band? Believe it or not, we think we know that the aforementioned title is indeed headed to Nintendo's darling -- that's according to EA's CEO John Riccitiello, who was reportedly heard mentioning its "coming launch" on a recent conference call. Apparently, IGN even went the extra mile and pinged EA for additional confirmation (and got it), and while no details surrounding a release date, price or wicked new setlist were uncovered, at least you've got a few ticks to start scrounging up spare change.

[Via Joystiq]

Considering EA is the king of repackaging the same game for multiple consoles (and multiple years -- hello, Madden), you wouldn't expect the company's head of international distribution to call for a single universal platform, but that's exactly what Gerhard Florin told the BBC he wants. "We want an open, standard platform which is much easier than having five which are not compatible," he said, adding that "You don't need an Xbox 360, PS3 or Wii -- the consumer won't even realise the platform it is being played on." Florin's comments were based on his prediction that set-top boxes would eventually contain enough horsepower to stream and run games over the net, a development he said would kill the market for dedicated consoles in the next fifteen years -- which means he's obviously never had to struggle with a cable company DVR, because we think we'll stick with a console that can register more than three button presses without locking up, thanks much.

[Via Gamesindustry.biz]

Looks like the rumors we've been hearing were true -- EA is going to be bundling in a microphone with its Wii karaoke / dancing game Boogie when it ships sometime around the holidays. Alfredo Chavez, EA's gameplay producer for the game, recently told IGN in a video interview that "the Wii version comes bundled with a microphone, it's a USB microphone and it's probably going to be the first mic for the Wii." While that sounds disappointingly like the mic will be wired and plug into one of the Wii's USB ports -- it better have one crazy long cord -- we're still hoping for that fabled Wiimote microphone. Keep your fingers crossed, and check the read link to watch more of IGN's video interview with Alfredo.

[Via Joystiq]