Yeah, it sucks when you see something you like on the PlayStation Network but you don't have a credit card to top up your online wallet. Don't worry too much, though. GameStop may not be getting its share of PSN cards until next year, but PS3 owners will be able to get the cards from three more retail outlets starting next month. More in the full article.

 Michael Pachter is at it again, analyzing and giving his thoughts on matters concerning the game industry. This time, he laments how much money could have been made if a timely game tie-in to the blockbuster The Dark Knight was released. He says Warner Bros. and EA may have missed out on US$ 100 million. More after the jump.

Things are certainly looking up for EA's Battlefield: Bad Company (Xbox 360, PlayStation 3). It's about to hit retail stores in a few hours, and so far, it looks like the reception of the people are good. This is if you look at the number of downloads the demo has gotten since its release. Read up after the jump.

It looks like everyone's dishing out there own version of "Gamer's Day." Sega's own rendition, however, may be the one to stand out from the rest, since its multi-genre, multi-platform, and multi-franchise collection is studded with highly-anticipated hopefuls. So aside from Iron Man and upcoming game adaptation of The Incredible Hulk, Sega laid out teasers for fans of Aliens, Total War and the stealthy action title, Alpha Protocol.

Outspoken movie director Michael Bay, who is behind the blockbuster movie Transformers, recently related his theory that Microsoft wants both the HD DVD and Blu-ray formats to fail, saying the war is just a diversion to create confusion. Now he adds in his site that he doesn't care about the war at all (since he can play both formats in his screening room anyway) but that the Blu-ray format suits his films better. This comment also got a reply from Amir, a "retired HD DVD insider." Read more in the full article.

 Team Ninja's leading man, the guy with a few smiles and a thousand words, behind the Tecmo-published Ninja Gaiden and Dead or Alive series deserves his own QuickJump Quicklist, so here's something dedicated to Tomonobu Itagaki and all his greatness. We've collected some lines from Itagaki that are either very amusing, or so badass fanboys would rather follow him around and wipe his sunglasses clean for a living.

Find all that at the full article!

Following Sony's announcement of the largest ad campaign ever to support a hardware platform, four Japanese videos have launched to promote the Sony PlayStation 3 in Japan. Big titles like Ridge Racer 7, Gundam Musou, and Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction are showcased in brief TV spots of families excited about video games for the PS3.

Pandemic Studios and BioWare are currently on the hotseat after Electronic Arts' shocking acquisition of both development studios, and we're fortunate enough that they're giving answers to fans who aren't very happy. In an interview, Pandemic made it pretty clear that the partnership with EA won't hinder the developers from being creative.

According to Pandemic chief production officer Greg Borrud, nothing is changing in how Pandemic develops games or what games they choose to develop. He also adds that the acquisition will not break the company's "core pillars of building big brands", regular game events, or their ability to attract the best talent in the industry.

Co-founder and president Josh Resnick continued, saying that EA probably wanted to buy them because of Pandemic's "ability to be creative... and to really stretch our limits and innovative, and to really focus on creating blockbuster original IPs." He stressed out that new and original IPs will be coming without restrictions from EA.

What Pandemic can learn from the partnership, as Resnick sees it, is how to have a powerful marketing organization and make franchises go forward by spinning out many games. Pandemic CEO Andrew Goldman and Borrud agree that passing technology around is another positive draw to the US$ 860 million deal with a publishing giant like EA.

Aside from having access to support from Electronic Arts, Pandemic big wigs say nothing much will be changed in the development pipeline. Hopefully, we won't be seeing annual Destroy All Humans! titles or titles like Mercenaries 09 any time soon.

Fans of skating in the UK shouldn't miss out on this great offer: Blockbuster UK is giving out free copies of Alten8's Skateboard Tips and Tricks for every purchase of EA's SKATE.

For those who live a bit too far from the nearest Blockbuster outlet in the UK, don't fret, as the DVD will be featured as downloadable content in Xbox Live in the near future. Alten8's DVD will sure come in handy for those who are inspired to take up the sport after doing all those tricks in SKATE.

The DVD feature is filmed in UK's famous Sixty6 skate park, and is also sponsored by Microsoft Xbox 360. Alten8 sees their partnership with EA games for this bundled offer as a very lucrative venture. "This is the first of many Alten8 video productions...We are very pleased and proud to be associated with such a great game as SKATE and to have our work partnered with such high calibre product, said Paul Andrews, CEO of Alten8.

EA's SKATE will be available for both the Xbox 360 and Sony PS3.

Buy: [SKATE (PS3)]
Buy: [SKATE (Xbox 360)]

You've got to love the hardworking staff of your favorite retail stores. They do their best, day and night, just to make sure that you guys get to have your favorite titles in time and be updated in the latest retail scene. However, it is sometimes heartbreakingly funny if they commit mistakes.

What we have here is a video clip below taken by YouTube user phorenzik over at his local Blockbuster store. It features a PlayStation 3 display and a trailer for the upcoming video game Halo 3. Even while writing this article, we still can't believe the irony and the comedy behind this.

We understand it's just an error on the store's part but we know you guys have a lot in your minds right now. Let's talk this over through the comment section below.