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WoW Insider's got a $5K Dell WoW edition notebook

Sure, you may not have won our $5K PC giveaway, but we're giving you a second chance. Our pals at WoW Insider have one of those ridiculous World of Warcraft Edition Dell XPS M1730 notebooks and they're giving it away (in your choice of faction) to one lucky reader. You've got eight days to enter, and you can enter once each day, but we won't be reminding you. That part's up to you.

To whet your appetite, check out their analysis of the system's Lv. 70 pricetag and their hands-on with a review unit. When you're ready to enter, simply stop by this post and leave a comment with your choice of Horde or Alliance. Bookmark that page, and return each calendar day EST and leave another comment, until Friday Dec. 21st. G'luck!

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[via] Joystiq

Grand Theft Auto IV rated MA 15+ in Australia

Filed under: Culture, Sony PlayStation 3, Microsoft Xbox 360

Eagle-eyed Joystiq scouts in the land down under noticed that Grand Theft Auto IV very recently received an MA 15+ rating from the Australian Classification Board. The rating was given on Dec. 11 and is in line with the MA 15+ ratings given to the other Grand Theft Auto games.

The takeaway from this info is potentially twofold. Firstly, GTA IV apparently won't be dragged through an insane Manhunt 2-style ratings fiasco. Second, and far more speculative, is that this bodes well for the game releasing before holiday '08 as many now expect. We've already asked Rockstar if it has submitted the materials to the ESRB for a US rating -- maybe GTA IV will actually come out between Feb. and April '08.

[Thanks Rob]

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[via] Joystiq

Joystiq Podcast 029 - Heroic edition

Filed under: Podcasts

We don't actually talk about the Heroic Map Pack all that much this week, but it's too good a name to pass up. What we do have is discussion of Call of Duty 4 and the VGAs, a Brush, your emails and a special birthday wish. Oh, and for reasons we don't even try to explain, a visit from Who Wants to be a Superhero's Feedback who finds his steed. Go figure.

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Hosts: Chris Grant, Ludwig Kietzmann and Justin McElroy

Music: "Get Ready for Love" by Nick Cave, "Red Eye" by Ben Kweller.

See all of this week's links after the jump.

Continue reading Joystiq Podcast 029 - Heroic edition

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[via] Joystiq

Miyamoto: 'Ratchet & Clank' who? Lombax what?

Filed under: Sony PlayStation 3, Nintendo Wii

Coy or truly confused, Nintendo's maestro has disputed Insomniac's cry for attention, firmly denying that Super Mario Galaxy's spherical worlds were torn out of a page from the Sony developer's Ratchet & Clank book. Miyamoto claims he and the gang were working to disprove the 'games are flat' theory back on N64, when Insomniac was merely taking its first baby steps into the industry (and, Ludwig, years before Sonic Adventure 2 pulled off 'the rounded level' - FYI). "I'm sorry but I have to admit that I've never seen the game in question," Miyamoto told Official Nintendo Magazine UK when questioned about Ratchet & Clank, "Is it a PC game?"

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[via] Joystiq

Ubi brings free Heroes of Might and Magic MMO to the web

Filed under: PC, Strategy, MMO

When looking for games, the web browser is the sort of place we expect to find casual knock offs or children's MMOs. It's certainly not the first place (or even the twelfth place) we'd expect to play the next big strategy release from Ubisoft, yet that is exactly what the powerhouse is planning with Heroes of Might and Magic Kingdoms, an upcoming free to play web-based entry in the long-running HoMM franchise.

According to Ubi, the game will not require players to download or install any software, and just to make things a bit more strange, Kingdoms is described as a persistent MMO, meaning you may soon be defending your castle walls from assault by a preteen boasting an unhealthy cocktail of vitamin-R and bone dragons. Heroes of Might and Magic Kingdoms is expected to make its online debut worldwide next spring, though Ubi notes that Heroes of Might and Magic: Complete Edition, which ships today in Europe, will include beta keys for those eager to get a jump on the rest of us.

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[via] Joystiq

Spin to win: Microsoft and Sony talk NPD results

Filed under: Nintendo DS, Sony PlayStation 2, Sony PlayStation 3, Sony PSP, Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Xbox 360, Business

SPIN ON:

There you are, beloved reader! Blessed are the words that attract your attention and become cornered by your inquisitive corneas! We have plenty of them lined up for you in this celebratory article which examines the post-NPD press so gracefully released from the dwellings of Microsoft and Sony. In short: the holidaze have brought out the best in everybody, with giant corporations joining hands and prancing around a gigantic pile of cash, shaking the very earth with their financial frolicking. In two paragraphs:

A keyword for Sony in November is "momentum," its $399 wrecking ball finally crashing through a wall of consumer apathy to reach 466k units sold, marking "a 285% increase over the previous month's sales." In other words, "PS3 had the biggest October to November sales increase of any hardware platform." The brand as a whole also enjoyed great success, with "PlayStation hardware unit sales" soaring past 1.5 million units. Don't forget the software either, as "PlayStation had three software titles in the top ten list across all consoles," including Guitar Hero III, Assassin's Creed and Call of Duty 4.

Software proved equally popular on Microsoft's Xbox 360, with four titles landing in the software top ten, compared to "three on the Wii and two on the PS3." Aided by the infamous attach rate of 6.9 games per system, "total consumer dollars spent for holiday shopping" sent $763 million to Microsoft. The Wii and PS3 received $587 million and $364 million respectively. Third-party software providers couldn't be more pleased.

Continue reading Spin to win: Microsoft and Sony talk NPD results

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[via] Joystiq

DS Fanboy Lite: Dec. 8 - Dec. 14

Filed under: Nintendo DS

As 2007 prepares to sail into the past, DS Fanboy is working overtime to make sure readers send the year off in style. Okay, so we're really sitting around watching comments roll in on our massive contest, but our eyeballs are watching very hard. It's hard work. While we toil, check out the best of what we've had to offer this week.

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