A serious heat wave has made it impossible to survive outdoors. In response, I’ve developed a new lifestyle that revolves around air conditioning, digital downloads, and the “/pizza” command in MMOs.

News Blips:

Leaked images reveal an unconfirmed lineup of items and trinkets that may be included with Star Wars: The Old Republic’s Collector’s Edition. During my daily routine of checking Polish video-game websites, I found this story detailing the innards of the The Old Republic’s collector’s box. It looks like a nice mix of tangible knick-knacks and in-game items. Here’s what you’ll get:

• Exclusive Gentle Giant Darth Malgus statue
• Star Wars The Old Republic game disc in collectible metal case
• The Journal of Master Gnost-Dural annotated by Satele Shan
• Old Republic galaxy map
• Custom Security Authentication Key (i.e. Authenticator)
• Exclusive Music of Star Wars: The Old Republic CD
• High-Quality Collector’s Edition Box

Here are the in-game items:

• Flare Gun: Fire flares into the air
• Training Droid: Hovers at your side for combat assistance
• HoloDancer: Project your own holographic dancer
• HoloCam: Keep visual records of in-game adventures
• STAP: Sleek and unique in-game vehicle
• Exclusive Mouse Droid: Spun-ky droid to join your adventures
• Exclusive Collector’s Edition Store: Unique in-game vendor with a dynamic assortment of items

An Xbox 360 update is available now, but it doesn’t include any new features. Software updates are God’s way of giving you something for free. Well, in Xbox Live’s case, free is about $60 per year, but we’ll just ignore that. Unfortunately, the update arriving now on a 360 near you is devoid of anything new and different. According to Microsoft’s head of Xbox Live, Major Nelson, Xbox 360 system software version 2.0.13599.0 only includes background changes that are a “preparation for additional system enhancements coming to Xbox 360 later this year.” [Shacknews]

The Darkness 2 won’t emerge from the shadows until early 2012. The quad-wielding, enemy-disemboweling first-person shooter was originally scheduled for an early October release. Now, the sequel to one of this generation’s earliest games won’t hit shelves until February 7, 2012. Hopefully, this will give the developers enough to time to figure out at least one more way to rip people in half. Quad-ripping, anybody?

Tickets for the first Call of Duty XP convention are available now. CODCON -- as I’m sure all the cool kids are calling it -- will take place in L.A. on September 2 and 3. Fans attending will have access to the premiere of Modern Warfare 3’s competitive multiplayer, a life-sized recreation of the training mission in Modern Warfare 2, and a paintball arena modeled after the game’s Scrapyard. Even at the high price of $150, tickets will probably sell out. I really want to go to this event. Mostly, I want to see what type of person makes up the majority of the crowd. I bet it is 95 percent nerd and 5 percent closeted-nerd dudebros. 

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