This week EA announced the release of Boom Blox for the Nintendo Wii, the first game created by the company in partnership with Steven Spielberg. The game takes players through a destructive path of blowing their way through puzzling challenges in 5 different “worlds” as a single player, co-op or multi-player modes for up to 4 players at a time.

The game features more than two dozen “blocky” characters, each with their own personality and of course with Steve Spielberg involved there ended up being a lot of “explosive action” throughout the game. Through funny gestures by the characters and using some potentially destructive tools in the game such as bowling balls and fire hoses players can bust their way through the challenges.

Grand Theft Auto IV went on sale worldwide today and many retailers such as Best Buy and GameStop opened their doors at midnight last night to meet fans across the country who created long lines to be one of the first to get their hands on a copy and spend the rest of the night playing. The GTA 4 launch from Take Two is expected to see sales that will rival that of last year’s Halo 3 release, with numbers nearing $400 million for around 6 million copies sold around the world.

The Grand Theft Auto 4 game is available for both the Sony Playstation 3 and the XBox 360 which greatly broadens the audience. Some speculate that the launch delay from last October also allowed more people to have time to buy the latest generation of game console and built more anticipation for the launch. Take Two says the delay was due to technical hurdles that needed to be overcome.

Fanatec, a developer of input devices for game consoles and PCs, unveiled today Porsche-inspired racing hardware for the PC and PlayStation 3 gaming platforms. It is called the Porsche 911 Turbo Racing Wheel and you’ll find it pricing at around $350.

The Fanatec Porsche 911 Turbo Racing Wheel is licensed by Porsche and designed to work with racing games like Gran Turismo 5: Prologue and Racedriver: GRID. It makes use of wireless USB technology for the wheel and pedals. Key features of this product include three force feedback motors, a smooth belt drive, 6+1 speed H-pattern gear stick and a clutch pedal and brake with soft-stop for the pedals.

Here’s some news that’s sure to make Foosball fans everywhere happy. “Eleven”, by GRO design and TIM modeling, gives the classic game of Foosball a long overdue stylish makeover with some handcrafted design and slick lighting effects. The idea is to heighten the drama and excitement of the game through atmosphere,colors,material etc.

In other words this isn’t your average run of the mill Foosball table, it’s the class act of Foosball tables. Like a stadium in itself. The players are even machined in brass and chrome. No word yet on whether this concept will go into production.

Rockstar has an edited version of Grand Theft Auto IV to release in Australia this month in order to obtain a MA15+ for the game with the Office of Film and Literature Classification (OFLC). This may not come as a big surprise to those in Australia, but that doesn’t make it any less frustrating.

To make it even worse, Rockstar has not only confirmed that Australia will be getting a censored version of the game, but they have chosen not to divulge what parts of the game have been cut to obtain approval from the Australian game classification system - our guess is the hookers, again. This is no doubt done to leave the benefit of the doubt with consumers that parts of the games they like most will still be there.

Normally, you could use Microsoft Excel to create that business model for your next multi-million dollar idea, or you could calculate last month’s sales for your other business, but I think the thing to do would be to play classic arcade games on it. Games should always win over business.

If you live in Japan, programming video games using Excel Visual Basic macros is kind of an art form. People over there have recreated everything from Pac-Man to Space Invaders and Missile Command. With nice detail I might add. How about a spreadsheet game of Donkey Kong, Dig Dug and Tetris? Even Arkanoid.

Colorware isn’t content to just make your PSP’s and Nintendo DS look awesome. Now they want to spruce up your Guitar Hero axe. I have to say, it looks pretty awesome.

The service is available for the Wii, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. New users can score one for as little as $198, while current thrashers can send their guitar in and get it colorized for as little as $99. If you are on a budget, don’t even go look at the eye candy, because you won’t be able to help yourself.

If you are a PC gamer chances are that you have probably played World of Warcraft or at least know one or ten people who do. WoW is one of the most popular PC games ever and currently has about 10 million players around the world.

Blizzard is looking to add to that 10 million subscriber number and announced today that it will be producing a version of the game for Latin America. The new version should begin shipping in mid 2008. The new version of WoW is said to be based on the European Spanish version of the game that is already available.

Everyone loves Guitar Hero and Rock Band, but let’s face it, the out of the box instruments they give you won’t make you feel like a Rock God. Here’s your chance to get a beautifully handpainted guitar worthy of a real rocker. These limited edition art guitars are individually painted with familiar logos and imagery from several popular rock bands.

Make no mistake, these aren’t just cheap paint jobs, the images are embedded under a protective coating, so you won’t scratch them off while playing Barracuda for the 1000th time. Which is probably why it will cost you $399. ArtGuitar takes a real wood Peavey AG RiffMaster controller, then adds the rock art from various artists like KISS, Lynyrd Skynrd, Ozzy Osbourne and Pantera. At the moment, the controllers are only available for the PS2, but hopefully they’ll get around to Xbox 360 and PS3 versions soon.

Mindwire has come up with an electrical muscle simulation kit that actually gives gamers direct sensory feedback. That means when your onscreen character takes a hit, you get a shock. The price is £99.99 and the Mindwire-V5 will plug into any second-generation console through the controller port.

So, if you are a glutton for punishment, this add-on will give you a more intense and immersive gameplay experience if you’re up for it. A maximum of five self-adhesive pads can be applied to your arms, legs and stomach. Hell, why not just have your little brother kick you in the nuts everytime someone scores a hit on you? That’s immersive gameplay.

Forget about those cheap steering wheel video game accessories if you have some serious cash to spend - the folks over at The Gamers Cockpit have your virtual racing desires covered if you have the money put down. Meet the GT3, priced at around $3,250.

The Gamers Cockpit GT3 will work with select racing games on your PlayStation 2 or Xbox 360. It consists of an all steel chassis, advanced racing seat, steering wheel, pedals, a Logitech surround sound system, your choice of video game console, your choice of video racing game and a 19-inch Samsung LCD television.

How many of us consider ourselves at least part geek? And being part geek means you’ve probably played D&D at some point, right? From that angle therefore we report with sad news that Dungeons & Dragons co-founder Gary Gygax has passed away today at age 69.

As we’ve reported on sister blog Pop Therapy, Gygax of late had been in poor health. During his heyday Gygax had an amazing contribution to the world of fantasy role playing games with his co-development of the uber-popular Dungeons & Dragons brand. His and Dave Arneson’s work in the old days of TSR made D&D the cornerstone of the modern fantasy RPG movement - you can see hints of its glory in almost any computer role playing game you enjoy today.

Wii gun controllers seem to have come out of the woodwork as of late with a number of them incorporating both the Wii Remote and the Nunchuck into the gun.

Another one to add to the list is this WiiMax Wii Light Gun. It has a place to mount and utilize both the remote and Nunchuck but adds a laser pointer mounted on the top which is powered by it’s own set of AAA batteries and can be removed if you want to try some free-hand aiming.The gun also features a handle on the bottom that folds down to use it like a machine gun or folds up to make more like a short rifle.

There must be something in the icing air lately. I thought that the R2-D2 cake we showed you last week was the coolest geek cake. But having a special place in my heart for the Atari 2600, I want to dig into this delicious cake made to look like the original Atari console.

What’s next? An NES and SNES cake? I hope so. I’m getting a sugar rush just looking at it in all it’s 8-bit glory. Ironically, the simple Pac-Man decorations along the side are an improvement on how that game looked on this console.

Remember that funky Falcon FPS controller from Novint? Well, the controller is pretty much the same but the company has announced an aesthetic upgrade to the device giving it a more “edgier” black and silver design instead of just the passive looking white model. Novint is also going to be adding a pistol grip controller to use with the Falcon to provide even more realistic FPS game play. Novent CEO Tom Anderson predicts that the less expensive pistol grip accessory alone will help drive sales for actual Falcon controller. The pistol grip accessory is expected to go for $19.99 and the black Falcon will be at $199.99.