Harmonix and MTV Games put rumors and speculation to rest at the Comic-Con 2010 Faux Fun to Real Rock panel as they revealed that Rock Band 3 players will get to rock out to tracks from Marilyn Manson, Filter, Foreigner, Def Leppard, The B-52’s and Tears For Fears. The game’s set-list was a major topic of discussion over the course of the three-day event after both companies drew thousands of guesses from fans as a result of releasing clues to the announcement via both Facebook and Twitter. The tracks announced are Marilyn Manson’s The Beautiful People, Filter’s Hey Man, Nice Shot, Foreigner’s Cold As Ice, Def Leppard’s Foolin’, The B-52s’ Rock Lobster, the Tears For Fears GenX anthem Everybody Wants To Rule The World.

Rock Band 3 will ship October 26 in North America for the Xbox 360 ($59.99), PlayStation 3 ($59.99), Wii ($59.99), and Nintendo DS ($29.99). The title will be compatible with all Rock Band and The Beatles: Rock Band peripherals, as well as most Guitar Hero and third-party instrument and microphone controllers.

ORIGIN is in the midst of a special promotion for the launch of what just might be the most anticipated PC game in the last 10 years. For one week only (through August 1), every ORIGIN high-performance PC will come bundled with a free copy of the Collector’s Edition of StarCraft II.

The StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty Collector’s Edition comes with an exclusive 2GB USB flash drive replica of Jim Raynor’s dog tag, preloaded with the original StarCraft and the StarCraft: Brood War expansion set, The Art of StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty (artwork from the game featured in a 176-page book), a behind-the-scenes DVD containing over an hour of developer interviews and cinematics with director’s commentary, the official soundtrack CD, StarCraft comic book issue #0, and a World of Warcraft mini Thor in-game pet that can be applied to all characters on a single Battle.net account.

“As fans of Blizzard Entertainment for over ten years ORIGIN wanted to do something special to celebrate the launch of StarCraft 2.” says Kevin Wasielewski, CEO/Co-Founder of ORIGIN PC. “StarCraft II running on a high-performance ORIGIN system is the best way to experience this gaming masterpiece from Blizzard.”

The mouse and keyboard have always been far superior to gamepads in action gaming, which is one of the reasons why cross-platform play hasn’t caught on with developers and publishers. Now, GoGamer reports that Swiss hardware maker Splitfish Gameware is trying to level the playing field with their FragFX line of combination mouse/gamepad units for the Playstation 3. The company is expanding their collection with the Piranha, Barracuda and Shark models, being introduced at this year’s Gamescom convention in Cologne, Germany.

Jason Johnson, Splitfish’s head of Creative Development, has high praise for the new additions. “The controllers have some surprisingly excellent capabilities, such as dual platform compliance, full PC support and extremely low power consumption. We are excited to be showing these for the first time at Gamescom 2010.” The show opens on August 18.

Other Ocean lays out their final argument for puffin power with Puffins Let’s Race. Cute and cuddly as penguins may be, Other Ocean’s Puffins series culminates with downloadable proof that puffins are far better than penguins by showing the puffin’s greatest advantage: flight.

In April, Other Ocean showed how Puffins are better egg handlers in Puffins Let’s Roll. Last month, the developer proved how puffins are way better at fishing in Puffins Let’s Fish. This week brings us Puffins Let’s Race, the third DSiWare game taken from the Nintendo DS game, Puffins Island Adventure. Puffins are way faster than penguins…in the air!

Puffins Let’s Race is now available as DSiWare for 500 Nintendo points.

There are now two ways to play FIFA Soccer 11 on your Wii. You can opt for the traditional 11 versus 11 matches or try out the new 5 versus 5 street soccer mode.

In Street Mode, each player boasts a distinctive style of play with unique abilities to match. Use the wall to jump past defenders or bank passes to teammates. Choose to play arcade style, and you can build up and then activate your power meter to blast shots, ignite a speed burst or send shock waves over your opponents.

FIFA Soccer 11 will be available for the Wii October 1 in Europe and Asia and October 4 in North America.

Clash of the Titans is now available nationwide for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Developed by Game Republic and licensed by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, the title goes beyond the feature film and delivers an action-adventure complete with additional content and symbolic mythical creatures.

In Clash of the Titans, the ultimate struggle for power pits man against the gods. Born of two worlds, Perseus sets out on a mission to vanquish the god who destroyed his family and come to terms with his demigod status. Through the swamps, mountains and underworld, two modes of play let players assume Perseus’ adventure from the film, or take on original bosses in adaptations of one of the greatest mythological stories ever told. Using more than 80 customizable sub-weapons players can journey solo or with a friend to complete missions and slay a roster of mythological enemies that includes Centaurs, Cyclops, Medusa and the Kraken.

Fresh from Casual Connect 2010, Stevie returns ready to LOL in the faces of the doubters, because she told ya’ so! Playdom was indeed acquired by Disney, and you heard it on Stevie FTW first. This week Stevie and Dan talk through the “mouseification” of social gaming and what it means for the rest of the industry’s players, but they couldn’t stop there. They had to spend some time talking about a game 12-years in the making that has taken Rochester area gamers off the streets and into their gaming rooms – the just released Starcraft II! All that plus some Phish tour tech and a new business idea! Stay tuned and on top of the tech life every Wednesday on Stevie FTW!

( listen now… )

CNN reports that iPhone users can now legally hack their phones to download applications that aren’t in Apple’s App Store. The U.S. Copyright Office has authorized several new exemptions to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, one of which will allow mobile phone users to jailbreak, or hack into, their devices to use apps not authorized by the phone’s manufacturer. The new rules will be published on Tuesday in the Federal Register.

Jailbreaking iPhones in order to download apps that are unavailable in Apple’s App Store had been a legal gray area. Apple technically had the right to request a $2,500 government fine for damages every time a user violated the law that bans “circumvention of technological measures” controlling access to copyrighted works, which in this case was the iPhone’s iOS software.

Although the Copyright Office’s decision means that jailbreakers will not face legal sanctions, phone makers are still free to fight back technologically against the practice. Apple typically voids the warranty on iPhones that owners have hacked, and this will not change under the new rule.

EA just unveiled the music track listing for Madden NFL 11, and the soundtrack features 23 tracks that attempt to recreate the ultimate live gameday experience via a collection of crowd favorites, stadium classics, and official NFL team fight songs.

The Madden NFL 11 soundtrack focuses on stadium authenticity with classic fan-favorites by AC/DC, Queen, KISS, Ozzy Osbourne (including his new hit Let Me Hear You Scream), Guns N’ Roses, The Hives, Gary Glitter, Blur, Ying Yang Twins and Todd Rundgren. Adding to the authenticity are the official team fight songs of the Green Bay Packers, Washington Redskins, Minnesota Vikings, and Miami Dolphins.

In anticipation of its July 30 release, Paradox Interactive has released a demo of the upcoming naval strategy game Commander: Conquest of the Americas. The demo offers players the chance to take charge of one of the many European powers and attempt to conquer the New World. Founding new colonies and then making them thrive is key to success. In order to accomplish this, would be empire builders need to manage and optimize resources and production in their colonies, before transporting goods to other colonies or back to Europe.

BioWare is not usually in the habit of including space combat in their games, so it was a shock to learn that space combat will indeed be included in the upcoming MMO, Star Wars: The Old Republic. The company made the announcement at Comic-Con and later confirmed it on their official forums.

“In space combat, you fly your personal ship to various ‘hot spots’ on your galaxy map. From there, you will blast your way through asteroid fields, enemy fighters, frigates, destroyers, and a variety of other obstacles that will evoke memories of some of the great Star Wars space battles,” studio rep Sean Dahlberg stated.

It is understood that the space combat elements will not be mandatory and that players will be able to choose which adversaries to engage with. BioWare failed, however, to comment as to whether the space battles will provide the player with rewards which can then be used in the narrative or whether the space aspect is self contained and will not influence the rest of the MMO.

The new Spider-Man game, Shattered Dimensions, has been making the rounds at Comic-Con, and is attempting to bring back some credibility for the web-slinger in the video game world. Neil Patrick Harris will be reprising his role as the voice of Spider-Man, so here’s to hoping that an experienced voice-cast is enough to wipe away the memory of those awful Activision games.

- Benjy Ikimi

The title may be announced, but don’t hold your breath. I think fans of the Hitman series will be glad to know that a new title is on its way, and hopefully it will wipe away the bad taste left by the Tim Olyphant movie effort. However, IO (the developer) has said that the title will hit next year with the earliest projected date of Christmas 2011. It’s a long wait, but surely anything will be better than the film.

- Benjy Ikimi

Capcom has announced that Street Fighter X Tekken is in development for the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360. The title will mark the first time that characters from these two bastions of the fighting genre come together.

Utilizing the same technology that powered both Street Fighter IV and Super Street Fighter IV, such Tekken characters such as Kazuya Mishima and Nina Williams will make the transition into the Street Fighter universe. These characters have been re-imagined using the art style of these titles, while retaining their unique characteristics and signature moves.

Marvel and Capcom surprised fans at Comic-Con Friday, as they revealed two more characters for Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds during their respective panels.

On the Marvel side, get ready to wield Thor’s hammer along with already-announced Marvel characters Deadpool, Hulk, Wolverine, Iron Man, Captain America, Doctor Doom and Super-Skrull. On the Capcom side, Okami’s wolf god Amaterasu joins Dante, Ryu, Morrigan, Chris Redfield, Felicia, Trish and Chun-Li.

Get set for the 3-on-3 face-off action when Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds hits the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 next spring.