I believe this partnership between IGN and GameStop was foretold in some ancient religious text. Let's see... here it is: "Ye shall fear the two-headed beast! From one head he will sing sweet reviews of that new game from EA, while the other will inquire if you have any games you would like to trade in." 

News Blips:

GameStop and IGN plan to combine websites for an unusual amalgamation of content and retail. The Wall Street Journal's Kara Swisher writes, "IGN will be creating branded media advertising products on GameStop.com and will be [GameStop's] sales representative online. Consumer advertisers will be able to buy branded ads on the retail site." Expect cross-linking and promotions between both sides of this new monster of video-game media and retail. At this point, it's hard to tell exactly what this deal means, but it certainly sounds like IGN is emphasizing their ability to create and sell ad space over their original content. IGN's readers may view this as a sledgehammer to the wall between the games media and retailers -- a wall that many already doubt exists in gaming.

Neil Patrick Harris -- of Harold and Kumar and How I Met Your Mother fame -- will be hosting the Spike Video Game Awards on December 12. This news is probably going to be received one of three ways: (A) "NPH? Awesome! I loved Harold and Kumar." (B) "Wait, he isn't a gamer! To the message boards!" (C) "Who?" Past hosts include Jack Black, Snoop Dogg, and Samuel L. Jackson. Next year the VGAs will just be three hours of Tracy Morgan playing Michael Jackson The Experience. [Associated Press]

OnLive intends to add a streaming-video to its service in 2011 to compete against Netflix. According to Engadget the content providers have grown uncomfortable with how much of the money is flowing into Netflix. The big studios want to shake things up a little bit so that Netflix alone can't set the prices. As long as I have a place to stream the Double Dragon movie I'll be happy. 

The Great Steam Treasure Hunt is live now through December 20. The treasure hunt will be offering up a series of four challenges every 48 hours. One challenge has gamers setting a high score in the rhythm game Chime, while another wants you to earn a specific challenge in Poker Night at the Inventory.  When players complete an objective, they will automatically be entered to win the top five games on their Steam wishlist. At the end of the Great Steam Treasure Hunt, three grand-prize winners will be selected to win 100 games of their choosing. Get all the details on the Steam website. 

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