Aliens Game Being Written By Battlestar Galactica Team

How many more reasons do you need to get all excited over Gearbox's upcoming Aliens shooter? It's being done by Gearbox, for starters. Syd Mead's had a hand in designing the gear. And now we hear that Battlestar Galactica's writers are behind the story? The good news just keeps on rolling. Seems Bradley Thompson and David Weddle - the show's lead writers - had plenty of spare time on their hands during the TV writers strike, and kept themselves busy writing a "whole season" of TVs worth of material for the game. Excellent.

Gearbox Talks Aliens Creative Team: BSG Writers, Original Film Artists, Craig Mullins [Shacknews]

2K Games has confirmed what games it'll be showing at this year's E3. The tiles include:

• BioShock (PS3)

• Borderlands (PC, PS3, Xbox 360)

• NBA 2K9 (PS2, PS3, Xbox 360)

• NHL 2K9 (PS2, PS3, Xbox 360, Wii)

• Sid Meier's Civilization IV: Colonization (PC)

Late last year I had a check to check out Gearbox developed Borderlands, and that game in particular looked impressive. Damn impressive.

2K Games Confirms E3 Lineup [IGN via videogaming247]

Treyarch Offers Apologies To Gearbox Software

Just when we thought we were set for a good developer versus developer war of words, we find out that Treyarch has taken the high road, apologizing for remarks made about Gearbox Software and its Brothers In Arms series. You may remember that earlier we quoted Activision producer Noah Heller, who had a few unkind words for Hell's Highway in comparison to Call of Duty: World At War.

JD, Community Manager here at Treyarch wrote on the official Xbox forums of the Gearbox-aimed slam, "We want to let everyone know that we found those remarks offensive, and they do not in any way represent the feelings of any developer at this studio or at Activision. We hold all of our peers in the development community in the highest regard. We have nothing but respect for the guys and gals at Gearbox."

Hugs all around!

A Message from Treyarch [Xbox Forums - thanks, Beau!]

Activision Takes A Crack At Gearbox's Hell's Highway, A "Crappy War Game" [Update]

Samba De Amigo Wii Maraca Controllers Appear

In our previous encounters with Sega, reps have told us that they were "thinking" about maraca controllers for the Wii version of Samba de Amigo. They're "looking into it," they say. Well, if this box art from UK retailer HMV is right, they're pretty much a lock. Dug up by GoNintendo, the included maracas appear to be sleeve-style attachments, not dedicated controllers similar to the ones Sega shipped alongside the Dreamcast version of Samba.

HMV is currently listing the game and maraca combo for £34.99 (about $70 USD). We've contacted Sega to find out more and have expressed our genuine excitement, hoping that they'll get back to us sooner rather than later.

Samba De Amigo: Including Maracas [HMV via GoNintendo]

The First Samba de Amigo Wii Trailer Is Fantastic

The Chimp Is Awesome [Sega Nerds]

Nolan Bushnells Pooh-Poohs In Game Ads

I don't believe those kinds of ads are very effective.

Brothers in Arms: Hells' Highway -- New Trailer and Screens

Sega is revitalizing one of its most endeared and niche properties with Samba de Amigo for the Wii, handing of development to Gearbox Studios and trading in expensive, dedicated and unreliable maraca peripherals for a pair of Wii controllers. The Wii version can utilize either a nunchuk-and-Wii-mote combo or, preferably, a dual Wii Remote set up. The latter scheme feels more natural and, if Gearbox Studios gets force feedback and proper embedded speaker output working, potentially more authentic.

But how true to the original will Sega's casual-friendly music game ultimately be?

Gearbox Boss "Shares Contempt" For In-Game Ads

Details On Gearbox's Aliens Shooter

Take-Two Interactive announced today that Gearbox Software's Borderlands, which was announced this past summer for a Holiday 2008 release, won't be hitting until some time in 2009. The PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC sci-fi shooter was shown to press at the Leipzig Games Convention last fall—then shown to the public at the Spike VGAs—wasn't playable at the time and appeared to be very early.

According to Take-Two, the delay is due to the need "to allow additional development time for this highly anticipated game and provide a better balance in the release of Take-Two's triple-A titles."

Sega Drops Details On Aliens: Colonial Marines

Gearbox Hints At Something Huge

I've had a pet project I've been working on for years, three of them if my memory is right. It started as a simple idea: You can judge a lot from a person's desk. I bet you could judge just as much from their home entertainment system. So I decided it would be fun to try and track down some pictures from the work desks and home gaming set-ups of the people who work in and cover the video game industry. Simple right? Not so much.

Turns out that many of the people are either too busy or too private to want to participate in such a project. To make matters worse, there's always fear that something sitting on someone's desk, that ends up in a photo, could actually be news worthy. Like a secret project or the next big thing. But I didn't give up and about once a year I'd harass a bunch of game developers for photos. Finally, this year, the harassment paid off.

What started as a trickle of photos turned quickly into the collection of galleries you'll find on the jump: More than 40 different photo galleries from 17 studios, seven publications, two industry movers and shakers and a couple of fun surprises.

You'll get to see the desk of such greats as Sid Meier, Peter Molyneux and Tetsuya Mizuguchi along with plenty of others. Remember you can comment both on the next page and on each individual photo if you click on them.

If I find there is interest, I will try to periodically update this gallery of galleries with more developers, journalists and industry movers and shakers. Have fun.

Gearbox Cares, It Really Does

The only thing growing faster than our industry is the critical need for new and creative talent. I think it is clear that the videogame industry has the vast financial support and consumer demand it needs to continue its global growth. But what I and many industry leaders are very worried about is hiring and retaining world class talent.

By Brian Ashcraft

"Thing I love about Kotaku is that you just don't care," says Gearbox Software boss Randy Pitchford. (Not sure if we don't care per se, but rather, that we care a little too much.) It's a few days before Christmas, and he is showing me around Gearbox's Texas HQ that occupies the top four floors of a suburban Dallas high-rise. Pitchford is open and upfront. Want to take a picture of a wall with concept art? Sure. The dev opened up its doors and showed us pretty much everything it could. Gearbox, best known for the Brothers in Arms series and the Halo: Combat Evolved PC port, is poised for a breakout year in 2008 when the company brings Dreamcast title Samba de Amigo to the Wi, puts out original FPS Borderlands and a new entry into the Brothers in Arms tactical shooter series. With its pedigree Borderlands makes perfect sense. But Samba?