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Call this an Afternoon Hangover after a Friday beer lunch (man, I miss those)...

Obviously this is spurred by Modern Warfare 2's release next week, but it's a question applicable to any game with multiplayer. When you boot up a new game for the first time, what takes priority...playing through the story, or hopping online and getting a jump on your stats?

Personally, I can't do anything multiplayer until I play through a significant portion of the single-player campaign. This is for a couple of reasons:

• I'm a little sensitive when it comes to story spoilers, even in bad games. (And bad movies, and bad books, and bad TV...)  Better to get through the experience myself before co-workers casually mention that character/event/location either died/happened/exploded. I've heard enough chatter about MW2 already, and the game's not even out yet.
• I need to get familiar with the basic control scheme of a game before I embarass myself in the public arena. Movement speed, aiming sensitivity, weapon familiarity...I need to know the particulars of all of these things so I can properly blame them for finishing second-to-last in the round.
• I always forget to recharge my headset, so I need a few hours alone anyway.

So this Tuesday...perks or plot? Render thine opinions!

It's time once again for our weekly round-up of downloadable content for all of your favorite music games. The first thing you'll probably notice about this week's list is that it's noticeably light. Rock Band fans are the big winners this week with track packs from the Foo Fighters and Nirvana, and a track from Joan Jett and the Blackhearts. Rock Band Unplugged users can go mobile with a track each from Bullet for My Valentine and System of a Down, while Lips belts out songs from Bananarama, Juice Newton and The Supremes.

No new releases

Click through to see new tracks for Rock Band, Rock Band Unplugged, SingStar and Lips.

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Rockers and/or rollers get ready: The White Stripes are headed to Rock Band and Rock Band 2 next week.

The duo, known for primitive drum lines, fuzzed out blues riffs and its lack of a bass player, is dropping the following tracks on listeners/gamers:

• Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground
• Girl, You Have No Faith in Medicine
• Icky Thump

For (slightly) more traditional music, there's also The Damned (goth-punks from before you were born) bringing their song "Smash It Up (Part II)" to the games and Kasabian is offering "Club Foot" as well. The tracks will be available on the Xbox 360 and Wii  on November 10 and the PlayStation 3 on November 12.

I'm going to download The White Stripes' tracks because I'm curious how Rock Band can possibly make them fun. While Jack White is an interesting guitarist and a great songwriter, Meg White's drumming is among the simplest ever recorded, and there is no bass... so how's it all going to work? In other words, how do you take music made by two artists and make it fun for four fans to play?

I like The White Stripes, but a lot of people don't. They tend to polarize. For example, The White Stripes opened for G4 producer Frank Meyer's band The Streetwalkin' Cheetahs back in the day. This was before The Stripes "sold out," when they were playing at the height of their indie glory, and Frank says he was "not impressed." What do you think? Are you a Stripes fan?

Gearbox Software head Randy Pitchford has a long history with the folks at Valve, which is probably why he’s able to speak with just candor when it comes to what he believes are serious missteps on behalf of the acclaimed developer.

Coming off a series of comments criticizing Valve over their digital delivery platform Steam, Pitchford recently told the UK gaming publication OPM that Valve’s avoidance of PlayStation 3 support bears similarities to the kinds of “childish and narrow minded” attitudes that fanboys are famously known for having for or against a particular console, AnalogHype (via Develop) reports.

"I noticed something on the net not too long ago. Doug Lombardi (Valve's VP Marketing) had to take a swipe at the PS3 again, and I thought it was foolish. I read it the same way I read fanboys. Like there's a guy who brought the Sony platform and he's a Sony guy, so he decides he's going to spend a certain percentage of his time bashing Microsoft. And there's a guy on Microsoft doing the same thing,” Pitchford explained.

As for his own stance on the PS3, Pitchford said, “The PS3 is awesome. I think Valve...I don't know why they are doing that. It's weird. But yeah, the PlayStation platform's really cool. It's different to others and it's certainly a challenge to be able to develop software for. But that's where the fun is, right?"

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I stopped playing Madden after I left the confines of college housing, as I was no longer forced to provide human competition to my addicted roommates. And even then, using the term "competition" was a stretch. Even though I love watching the sport and I know how the game works, the deeper strategy of football play-calling has always eluded me, which is why I was one of those guys who always called a fake punt on 4th and 12. It usually didn't take longer than halftime for me to be excused back to my room and Unreal Tournament. I bring this up because I had to endure last Sunday's Packers/Vikings rematch, and watching Aaron Rodgers (whom I still kind of believe in, kind of) go down sack-after-sack reminded me of my own struggles on the gridiron. Slamming my fists repeatedly on the table wasn't a show of frustration, no…it was me frantically pressing the A button to get him to throw the damn ball already. I mean, how could he not see that Driver was wide open? What camera angle is he playing with?! And shame on Mike McCarthy for not attempting a 73-yard field goal. You can't win if you don't score.

In that spirit, let's get started with this week's Reply to All, which has absolutely nothing to do with the story I just told.

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Sex in video games has become much more prevalent (especially in BioWare games). I've been reading reviews for Dragon Age: Origins and most of them mention awkward sex scenes, which I felt was awkward in Mass Effect. My question, I guess, would be do you feel sex in video games really contributes to the story telling aspect of the game or is it just there to bring about some notoriety or attention to the game? -- usemeup

How much or to what effect a sex scene contributes to a story, regardless of the medium, is entirely dependent on the skill of the writers, directors, and actors involved. If done properly, it can contribute quite a lot...the ultimate expression of human love is indeed a powerful thing, but its meaning and impact is heavily dependent on the relationship of the participants. That's why it's much more challenging to get right in video games, where action frequently trumps meaningful character development, and it can easily come across as awkward or done simply for the shock value.

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We're still around six weeks away from the theatrical debut of "Avatar," James Cameron's long-awaited return to the director's chair. But you'll have the chance to whet your appetite earlier than that. Ubisoft Montreal has been toiling away at James Cameron's Avatar: The Game for some time -- it releases in early December -- and Phil Theobald checked it out for us a few days ago at an Ubi event in San Francisco. According to him, the team wants to make a game so nice, you'll have to play it twice. That's once as the paramilitary RDA and as one of the blue-skinned Na'vi:

"At a crucial point, you are given a choice: do you continue to work with the RDA or will you turn against your fellow humans and help the Na'vi defend their home? Your decision affects which character you play as for the remainder of the game, and there are separate human and Na'vi stages and missions. For the full experience, you'll want to play through Avatar at least twice to ensure that you've seen everything that it has to offer."

Read more of his preview here, and let us know if you're excited for the game and the movie!

Polyphony Digital will finally deliver Gran Turismo 5 for the PlayStation 3 in 2010. The 1,000 cars on the disc should keep racing fans happy for some time, but even when they've exhausted everything Gran Turismo 5 has to offer, series creator Kazunori Yamauchi told Autoweek that next entry, presumably titled Gran Turismo 6, shouldn't take as long to arrive.

"You won't have to wait as long as you did for GT5," said Yamauchi. "GT5 represents a whole new operating system. GT6 is just new apps that run on the GT5 system."

It seems a little premature to already start requesting features for Gran Turismo 6...

Source: Autoweek

We've been in a drought of Skate 3 news since the announcement back in early September. Now, EA Black Box drops a legit look at the team-focused gameplay in the fictional city of Port Carverton with new screens and the below trailer. Give a watch, drop your thoughts.

Skate 3 arrives in May 2010.

Can you guess what everyone on Feedback was talking about this week? Hint, hint: we're one week away from the highly anticipated launch of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. However you feel about Infinity Ward's latest entry in its shooter franchise, it's shaping up to be a monumental day for games. Chances are everyone could have talked about Modern Warfare 2 for an entire show, but as it turns out, there's a bajillion other games being released right now. So, we talked about those, too.

 Here's what else Adam, Abbie, Sterling and I cover on this edition of Feedback:

• That controversial Modern Warfare 2 viral video that showed up last weekend (and has since disappeared) sparks some heated discussion...and harsh words for Infinity Ward.
• Even Nintendo's not sure what to do with the Wii these days. We look at where the Wii's come in the past few years and some up with some easy ways Nintendo can patch things up.
• Game of the week? How about games of the week? DJ Hero, Tekken 6 and Grand Theft Auto IV: The Ballad of Gay Tony -- batter up!
• As more casuals join the ranks of our fellow gamers and achievements encourage players to venture into harder difficulty settings, a reader probes us about difficulty settings in games.

Feedback: doing a poor job of hanging signs with scotch tape since mid-2009. Sing our ballad and subscribe:

Video: iTunes | XML   |   Audio: iTunes | XML

(And yes, we are aware that Sterling's microphone is underperforming this week. Top men are on the case. Top. Men.)

Sega's pumping as many visually provocative images into their battle-witch action game, Bayonetta. You've seen what she's packing, you've seen who she must face, now, check out how she'll execute her foes with medieval flair.

Welcome to Morning Hangover -- an excellent way to start your day with the crew at TheFeed...no matter what you're recovering from. Every morning you'll hear musings from our editors and have the chance to share your thoughts on what's going on in the gaming world.

The fact that Activision isn’t “overly concerned” about the frustrations expressed by gamers over the lack of dedicated servers in the PC version of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is hardly surprising. And while irate PC gamers could probably argue on and on about Infinity Ward’s “abandonment of the community of gamers that made it the developer it is today” and all of that, I’m more interested in finding out just how dedicated gamers are to dedicated servers.

So hardcore PC gamers, why do you think IW decided to favor a more console-ish infrastructure for MW2’s multiplayer? (And, “Because they’re a bunch of back-stabbing jerks!” isn’t an acceptable response.) Is a dedicated server more important to you than gameplay, design, graphics, etc.? Are you going to play Battlefield: Bad Company 2 simply because it offers dedicated servers, even though you might have loved Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, and would have preferred playing MW2, if not for the lack of dedicated servers? What will hardcore PC gamers do if more and more developers take a book out of IW's multiplayer playbook? Stop playing multiplayer games?

The other question I’m interested in finding out about is this: For those PC gamers who are still playing COD4 on PC, and consider it one of the best games of the generation, are you seriously going to avoid playing what will undoubtedly be the biggest multiplayer game of the year (next to Left 4 Dead 2)? Do you detest matchmaking so much that you’re willing to pass up playing the juggernaut of a game that MW2 most likely will be? If so, I totally respect that, and I would love to hear what you plan on playing while millions of gamers are enjoying MW2.

TheFeed gang wants your thoughts on gaming, tech, PhD's in spaceship repair, and more. Let everyone know what you're thinking and chat it up with your fellow readers. Leave comments on anything and everything that's on your (gaming/tech/nerd) mind!

Explosions, cruise ship collisions, and all around mayhem: Not what you'd expect from a racing game. Split/Second, the upcoming racing game from Disney Interactive Studios and Black Rock Studios, has a new trailer, and it's shiny.

Split/Second was the winner of the Game Critics Awards for Best Racing game at E3 2009. The game takes a unique spin on the racing genre, as the trailer clearly shows. Rather than being based on simple competition, Split/Second revolves around a reality television series, so the courses are lined with explosives, crashes and towering structures just waiting to make you go splat. If this trailer is any indication, look forward to an action-packed game in 2010.

Split/Second will be released for the Xbox 360, PS3 and the PC.

Let’s say you own a copy of either Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and/or Assassin’s Creed on either the PlayStation 3 and/or the Xbox 360. With the impeding releases of highly anticipated sequels to both titles, it appears that you have a rather difficult decision to make, namely: Which version of said sequel are you going to buy?

The reason I ask is that OTX’s GamePlan Insights recently told Gamasutra that a surprising percentage of gamers who purchased COD4 and/or AC for the Xbox 360 have said they plan to buy PS3 versions of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and/or Assassin's Creed II, respectively. Fifteen-percent of gamers who own a 360 copy of AC said they will be picking up a PS3 copy of its sequel, while just 7 percent who own a PS3 copy plan to buy the sequel for the 360.

OTX didn’t provide any figures with regards to Modern Warfare 2, but OTX said the percentages were similar to those for ACII. In light of this data, analyst Nick Williams believes, “The PS3 seems poised to shift the ratio of Xbox 360 to PS3 sales for most major multi-platform releases in its favor among dual owners.”

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There are big expectations for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. The game's pre-order numbers are setting up for a massive launch for the latest Call of Duty. During an investor call discussing Activision's quarterly financial results, however, CEO Bobby Kotick set expectations even higher.

Kotick expects Modern Warfare 2 to produce the "largest video game launch of all time" and just moments later, Kotick even went one step further, predicting Infinity Ward's latest could be "one of the largest entertainment launches of any media of all time."

The last time we heard this kind of rhetoric was Halo 3. Can Modern Warfare 2 live up to the hype?

Retro reboots are finding enormous success through digital distribution. Old school publisher Hudson Soft is well aware of this. The nature of video game development and marketing these days makes charging $59.99 for a new Bonk game a difficult proposition, but asking a fraction of that asking price on Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network and WiiWare becomes much more appealing. Hudson Soft is one of growing faction of companies fully embracing the advantages of digital distribution.

The Bonk idea isn't fake, either. Bonk: Brink of Destruction is coming to all three platforms in 2010.

"For digital download, we are very aggressive," said Hudson VP of development Sabine Duvall in a recent e-mail interview with me. "Our intent is to deliver solid products for this market. The goal is to support the casual gamer as well as the hardcore gamer. The only thing that changes [versus retail] is the method of distribution. It is a natural process of this industry to move on to new technologies. Digital download is definitely next generation and it is here to stay. Hudson is always checking for new trends in the industry, it was a natural step for us."

Not everything needs to be digitally distributed, however.

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