Transformers: War for Cybertron is hosting a double XP multiplayer weekend! Anyone on the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 or PC version of the game can jump in right now and earn double XP rewards until 12:00AM Pacific on August 2.

To continue the fun-filled Transformers weekend, we have ten DLC codes to give out for the PlayStation 3 version of War for Cybertron. The downloadable content gives you five new characters and four new maps all detailed in the above video.

In order to win a code, simple tell us who your favorite Transformer is. We’ll be picking ten random comments to hand a code out to after the contest closes at 11:59PM CDT tonight. No limit to entry, but you must wait until at least three other people have entered before trying again. Good luck!

For those of you that are skipping PAX Prime this year and happen to be in Tokyo that same weekend, you’re in luck! Blip Festival Tokyo tickets have just gone on sale! The show takes place on September 4-5 and tickets are priced at $35 for each night. So you need to buy two tickets if you want to go to both nights, which is kind of lame.

It’ll probably be worth it depending on your preference on chiptune artists. Hirokazu “Hip” Tanaka, YMCK, Portalenz, Hally, Nullsleep, Bit Shifter and more will all be performing that weekend. Check out the schedule to see just who will be playing each night.

As for PAX Prime attendees, we still have Anamanaguchi!

Blip Festival Tokyo Tickets Now For Sale [GameSetWatch]

Activision is bringing us more animal murdering fun times with Cabela’s Dangerous Hunts 2011. The new game will actually present a story and, well, I’ll let the press release give you a taste of it:

Delve into a Dangerous Story – The world’s deadliest predators stalk the wilderness yet this safari gone wrong represents a chance for redemption – and perhaps revenge – as dark mysteries and family secrets are revealed under the pale light of the African moon.

Yeah. The story is written by Brad Santos whose previous works include Resistance: Fall of Man, Tomb Raider: Legacy and The Saboteur. Weird, I know.

Cabela’s Dangerous Hunts 2011 will also be packed with the brand new Top Shot Elite light gun for the PlayStation 3, Wii and Xbox 360. A sensor bar and high-sensitivity camera will be included for the 360 and PS3 versions while the Wii one will act as a shell for the Wiimote and Nunchuk like all the other light gun based games. All the guns will also have pump-action reloading, adjustable stock and a scope with a red lens filter that let’s you see hidden animal tracks and blood trails. 

Finally, look at the box art for this game. It’s f*cking ridiculous!

Cabela’s Dangerous Hunts 2011 will be out on October 26, 2010 for the PS3, 360, Wii and DS.

It’s Otakon time again! The boys and girls at Japanator are all over the show looking at all sorts of anime things. Exciting! Check out Jtor to keep up with all your Japanese needs.

Jim takes on the Medal of Honor Al Qaeda issue, Matt checked out the gaming scene at a Ritz-Carlton, HAWP does Ico, Ben reviewed BlazBlue: Continuum Shift, GoldenEye controller comes with the game and more happened on 07/30/10.

Destructoid Originals:
The Jimquisition: Al Qaeda, Medal of Honor, and idiots
Hey Ash, Whatcha Playin’: Ico
A VUE to a game: How Ritz-Carlton is stepping up its game

Community:
Simplicity
Community blogs of 07/30/10

Reviews:
Castlevania Puzzle: Encore of the Night
BlazBlue: Continuum Shift

Previews:
Impressions: Time Crisis: Razing Storm on PS Move

News:
University of Central Florida developing abstinence game
Our gaming history is threatened by antiquity, copyright
PS3 firmware 3.41 allegedly causing system crashes
Rock Band DLC: Single song explosion!
Bethesda dev doesn’t ‘get’ Facebook games
Rare responds to fan site’s closure
Call of Duty: Black Ops Hardened & Prestige editions
Class up your Guitar Hero/Rock Band cheap on Amazon today
Earthworm Jim hits North American PSN next week
Free App of the Day: Zombie Shock
Team 17: PSPgo’s problem was price, not digital content
Gearbox boss reconfirms more Borderlands DLC
Medal of Honor Limited Edition packs Battlefield 3 beta
Dragon’s Lair Trilogy packs in the classics for Wii
Much better: $70 GoldenEye controller comes with game
Former Infinity Ward heads to talk at QuakeCon 2010
First DiRT 3 image is here, trailer coming this weekend
Meet the zombie that replaced Michael Jackson
Spend the weekend devouring villagers in Worm Food

Offbeat:
Have a seat on a Space Invader
Adorable and terrifying Okamiden papercraft
GONNA TAKE YOU FOR A RIDE (with a Street Fighter condom)
That was quick: Limbo recreated in LittleBigPlanet

Media:
Fractured Soul has a deceptive trailer
The environments of Two Worlds II
People stand in line, go crazy for Need for Speed in NY
Creepy digital Tiesto to appear in DJ Hero 2
Hammer, lightning: Yup, this is Thor: The Video Game
Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days trailer and screens
Not even half-naked Japanese girls make Kinect look good

Following Gaming Heads’ Team Fortress 2 Heavy statue, another figure based on a Valve property approaches: the Tank from Left 4 Dead. Like its predecessor, this one is rad and mighty expensive.

A cool $299.99 will get you this 15″ polystone-based gentleman of leisure. Take note: the headline was not a challenge. Please don’t buy this thing and proceed to live off of noodles and tap water for the next three months just to stick it to me; think of the children!

Lastly, I want to point out that they blurred the soda can in the publicity shots. This amuses me greatly.

Gaming Heads Unleashes Left 4 Dead 2’s Tank [Tomopop]

Bethesda Softworks and idSoftware have announced the presentation and panel line up for for QuakCon 2010 today. It features the expected guests, including a keynote from id genius John Carmack, as well as presentation showing off the upcoming Rage and Splash Damage’s Brink.

But surprisingly, and perhaps somewhat curious, is that a slew of folks from Respawn Entertainment — the studio from the ashes of the “Great Infinity Ward Fallout of 2011″ — will be on hand to speak. Studio heads Jason West and Vince Zampella will be on hand to chat about “Building Blockbusters,” with another former Infinity Ward developer, Todd Alderman speaking on “The World of Design” panel.

Whether or not the Respawn folks will drop hints about its next title, being published by Electronic Arts, remains to be seen. Maybe they’re just big id Software fans, and were just going to come to QuakeCon to hang out anyhow. Sounds like a good idea, actually. QuakeCon 2010 takes place in Dallas, Texas from August 12 through August 15. The full panel listing, as provided by Bethesda, can be found after the jump.

QuakeCon 2010 Panel and Presentation Lineup

Thursday

‘The World of Design’ Panel

12.30pm in the Cortez Room

Joel Burgess, Bethesda Game Studios

Matt Hooper, id Software

Neil Alphonso, Splash Damage

Todd Alderman, Respawn Entertainment

QuakeCon Kick Off

2:30pm in the Grand Ballroom

Todd Hollenshead will welcome attendees to QuakeCon 2010

Keynote

2:30pm in the Grand Ballroom

John Carmack’s Annual Keynote address to QuakeCon attendees

“Rocket Talk”

5:30pm in the Grand Ballroom

John Carmack and Richard Garriott share their passion for Rockets and space travel in this special QuakeCon presentation

Friday

‘Building Blockbusters’ Panel

11:00am in the Grand Ballroom

Jason West, Respawn Entertainment

Tim Willits, id Software

Todd Howard, Bethesda Game Studios

Vince Zampella, Respawn Entertainment

‘Building Immersive Worlds and Stories’ Panel

1:00pm in the Cortez Room

Chris Rhinehart from Human Head

Emil Pagliarulo from Bethesda Game Studios

Harvey Smith, Arkane Studios

Raphael Colantonio, Arkane Studios

Special RAGE Presentation

 2:00pm in the Grand Ballroom

Tim Willits and Matt Hooper Present RAGE

‘Let There Be Sound’ Panel

4:00pm in the Cortez Room

Chris Sweetman, Splash Damage

Christian Antkow, id Software

Mark Lampert, Bethesda Game Studios

Zack Quarles, id Software

‘The Art of the Game’ Panel

4:00pm in the Cortez Room

Matt Carofano, Bethesda Game Studios

Olivier Leonardi, Splash Damage

Stephan Martine, id Software

Viktor Antonov, Arkane Studios

Saturday

Special Brink Presentation

11:00am in the Grand Ballroom

Paul Wedgwood, CEO of Splash Damage and Game Director of Brink will be on hand to share a presentation of the game with QuakeCon attendees.

This image is the first public shot of DiRT 3, and if you find yourself mistaking it for DiRT 2, you aren’t alone.

The picture is frame 114 from the game’s debut trailer, which will be airing this weekend on — where else? — ESPN during the X Games. I would argue it’s very difficult to get a sense of detail level, what these games are always pushing, from this still.

That said, I’m sure the trailer will be lovely and extreme and cure world hunger.

Rich_Eddy [Twitter via VG247]

Following quiet behind-the-scenes complaints from the Michael Jackson estate, PopCap made the decision to remove its “Thriller” parody zombie from its popular game Plants vs. Zombies. And what did they replace him with? A disco zombie, of course.

PC Gamer has gotten the first look at the zombie, which features big, busy brown hair, a gold chain, and gold fish swimming in his platform shoes. The zombie has released a statement… of course.

“Dear Alive Peoples,” he writes, “I am pleased too join the big brains at PopCap and can’t wait to meat you all. And yes, I du my own heir.”

Disco Zombie currently appears in the iPhone version of the game, and will soon make his way to other versions as PopCap issues updates. The developer recently revealed details on the Xbox LIVE Version of the title, scheduled to ship this fall. We expect to have more details on that soon, and we’ll keep our eyes peeled to see if the flesh-hungry disco zombie makes his appearance.

Meet the new disco zombie in Plants Vs. Zombies [PC Gamer via GiantBomb]

You could blame it on the flash photography. You could blame it on the players not knowing what they’re doing. Alternatively, you could blame it on Kinect being a load of crap that’s more concept than substance. Your humble writer isn’t stating that one or any of these things can be blamed. Just watch the video. 

As you can see, Microsoft thought it would be a good idea to have some half-naked Japanese girls play Kinect’s version of Wii Sports and Kinect’s version of Dance Dance Revolution. On paper, it is a good idea. In practice, it makes Kinect look like it simply doesn’t work.

This won’t convince those of us still skeptical of Kinect. Even if the problem was with the flashing lights and atmosphere, does that mean Kinect will only work in a quiet, well-lit, perfectly conditioned room? So much for use as a party piece. And if it’s the girls not knowing what they’re doing? Well, so much for Kinect being user-friendly and more intuitive than buttons. It seems with each failed PR stunt, Kinect’s original promise is being systematically stripped away.

We went from 2009’s terrifyingly ambitious Project Milo demo to this … two confused young girls who can’t even make a casual racing game work. This is the future of gaming. 

Sexy ladies can’t disguise embarrassing Kinect demo fail [GamesRadar]

I wasn’t planning on posting a free game every Friday night, but it’s certainly worked out that way. This week it’s Worm Food, a stellar browser-based game in which you play as a giant worm who has figured out how to use physics in order to satisfy his unending hunger.

It’s a lot like Death Worm, only more involved. Besides the standard Nitrome pixel art, which is great as always, Worm Food really takes the Tremors-inspired concept and fleshes it out by way of interesting level design and difficulty measures that aren’t just explosives flying every which way.

Be sure to play past the first few levels, since many of the cooler elements aren’t introduced right away.

DEATH WORM 2.0 [Rock, Paper, Shotgun]