Musical cues are often used to highlight or signify moods in games and films. Now a new video game is using color – or the lack of it – to symbolize oppression and freedom in the 1940s.

“The Saboteur” (Pandemic Studios, Electronic Arts), which hits stores today, is an action-adventure game based in Paris during the German occupation of World War II. You play Sean Devlin, a character inspired by the true story of William Grover-Williams, an English racer who joined the British special ops unit.

You’ll use a broad range of weapons, explosives and vehicles to throw the Nazis out of Paris. But it's the visual aspects of "The Saboteur" that are most interesting.

Lead designer Tom French's team made Paris black and white at the beginning of the game; color gradually bleeds in as players progress and sections of the city are liberated from Nazi control. French says it was a middle-of-the-night idea.

“We wanted to make the City of Light feel occupied [by the Nazis],” he says. “We wanted to suck the life out of it.”

French says the challenge was making black and white still look like it has depth and feel to it. Turning colors off makes everything flat, so French's team drew inspiration from the movie “Sin City” to make it look cool, he says.

If you think once you’ve ‘colored’ an area you are safe, guess again. French said Paris never gets completely colorized, and some parts turn to black and white again as the Nazi retake certain areas of the map.

“Once you take out a sniper, you never have to worry about him again,” he says. “But there is a point where the Germans take back a headquarters, turning it to black and white again.”

The design team traveled to Paris to get a firsthand look at the city and the buildings. French says they came away with a lot of information.

“I spent three hours in a cemetery imagining firefights,” he says. “We visited Resistance museums, taking pictures secretly and scribbling notes.”

They came away with more than 2,500 photos, but French believes it was worth it. “We wanted to give [Paris] an organic feeling.”

As with most games with wide-open spaces to roam, repetition of buildings can be a problem. The team used what French calls “Legos” to create buildings where they could mix and match different elements without having to create new buildings from scratch every time.

“Climb all the buildings,” French advises. “Use every square inch to make sure you experience the depth of the game.”

“The Saboteur” is available for the PS3, Xbox 360 and PC. It is rated M (Mature – blood, intense violence, nudity, sexual themes, strong language).

It was only a matter of time.

On the heels of "Dead Space's" successful debut last year, Electronic Arts has officially announced that the game series' storyline will continue with the creation of “Dead Space 2.” Hero Isaac Clarke will return to battle necromorphs with new weapons.

Visceral Games will be producing the new saga, which had been rumored for months. A press release from EA says that survival won’t be the only thing on Isaac’s mind in "Dead Space 2" – "this time, he calls the shots."

Released in October 2008, the original action-horror game won nearly 100 industry awards and received a score of 89 percent from gamerankings.com. Earlier this year EA released “Dead Space: Extraction”, a prequel story that was exclusive to Nintendo's Wii system in an effort to win over a new audience.

Executive producer Steve Papoutsis said, “Expect plot twists that will surprise you and a huge cast of twisted, disgusting monsters that are sure to scare the daylights out of you.”

“Dead Space 2” is being developed for the PS3, Xbox 360 and the PC. No release date has been announced.

As the holiday shopping season ramps up, video game console makers are keeping a wary eye on early sales.

Sony, maker of the PlayStation 3, claims it got off to a rousing start during the Black Friday week ending on November 29.  Patrick Seybold, Sr. Director of Corporate Communications, said the company sold more than 440,000 consoles, which was an “all-time high.”

Those sales numbers are up from October (320,600 units sold) and Seybold believes Sony's software will help sell its hardware.  “We have no doubt the momentum and demand will continue,” he said.

By contrast, Nintendo said it sold 550,000 consoles during the same Black Friday week.  It also announced its DS Lite and DSi portable gaming devices combined to sell more than 1 million units during the week.

In September Nintendo cut the price of the Wii for the first time, by $50 to $199.99.  Last year, the company shipped 800,000 Wiis to the U.S. for Black Friday week.

Microsoft has not made any announcements about sales of the Xbox 360 during the intense shopping week.  Aaron Greenberg, Director of Product Management, posted on his Twitter account that the Xbox 360 had its biggest sales week of the year.

When asked about hard numbers, Greenberg tweeted that Microsoft was waiting for the official industry numbers before commenting.  The game review site, Gamespot, extrapolated previously reported numbers from October to come up with approximately 124,850 consoles sold during this past Black Friday week.

Take-Two Interactive has agreed to pay $20 million to settle a class-action lawsuit over a sexual minigame that was mistakenly included in the 2004 title "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas."

The minigame, dubbed "Hot Coffee," simulates sex between title character Carl "CJ" Johnson and his in-game girlfriend after she invites him in for a cup of coffee. The sexual content was inaccessible without manipulating the game's code, but that didn't stop a media frenzy in 2005 when parents heard there was "porn" in their child's video game.

Ars Technica explains:

[Hot Coffee] led to a media panic because it was assumed the sexual content was easy for children to get to (it wasn't) or that sex games were becoming common in games (they aren't).

In 2005, several parents and one grandmother filed lawsuits against Take-Two Interactive claiming they felt defrauded because they did not know the game contained adult content, even though "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas" was rated 'Mature' and not recommended for anyone under 17. 

Ted Frank of Overlawyered.com, who objects to the $20 million settlement, described the suits as "ridiculous:"

The lead plaintiff in the putative class action is an 85-year-old grandmother, Florence Cohen, who bought the game for her 14-year-old grandson, who may have his own claims for emotional distress when his ninth-grade classmates beat him up.

The class-action suit also alleged "Take-Two’s management was not cooperating or assisting with the Company’s audit" and "Take-Two falsely stated that the embedded pornography was 'the work of a determined group of hackers who have gone to significant trouble to alter scenes.'"

The Hot Coffee content was actually included in the distribution of the game. Developers attempted to remove the sexual content by disabling access when they should have deleted the code all together. Curious gamers discovered they could unlock the code by downloading a third-party modification (hack) from the Internet.

Following the Hot Coffee discovery, "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas" was pulled from retail shelves, the ESRB rating was changed to Adults Only, and Take-Two Interactive's stock price dropped like, um, CJ's pants.

Will this $20 million settlement finally absolve Take-Two Interactive of the Hot Coffee scandal?

Sony has officially confirmed rumors surrounding the PlayStation 3 game console. In a video posted on the PlayStation Blog SCEA President and CEO Jack Tretton announced a new slimmer PS3 will be available September 1st. In addition, all PS3 consoles got a $100 price cut today, dropping the cost to an enticing $299.

Engadget received an early look at the new PlayStation 3 Slim and provides a great hands-on gallery.

Price has always been an obstacle preventing the widespread adoption of the PS3. Just last week Ars Technica criticized the cost of the console:

In many cases, price is the most important factor, and while Blu-ray and wireless may be nice, they're not always enough to convince a parent or grandparent to spend $200 extra dollars in the store. Right now, price is everything, and no checklist will change that.

The secret? Just lower the damn price.

With hot titles such as God of War 3 and Final Fantasy XIII on the horizon and a $100 price cut, the PlayStation 3 may finally be a true competitor in the console wars.

Will a $299 feature-rich PS3 be able to dethrone the value-priced Nintendo Wii ($250) or challenge Microsoft's Xbox 360 Pro ($299)?

Microsoft released a mandatory update for the Xbox Live Dashboard this morning. Along with user interface enhancements, the update provides a variety of functional updates to the game console's online capabilities.

Games on demand

Xbox 360 users with a fast Internet connection and hard drive space to spare can now download complete titles from the new games marketplace. The marketplace only includes about 20 games at the moment, but Microsoft says new titles will be added every Tuesday.

I am a little disappointed by the pricing in the games marketplace. The online games seem to cost slightly more than purchasing a physical copy at your local Best Buy. Plenty of people will likely pay a few extra dollars for the convenience and instant gratification of games on demand. I just can't help but feel the lack of physical packaging and a direct-to-Microsoft payment plan should result in drastically lower prices.

Avatar marketplace

For those of you in love with the customizable cartoonish avatars that represent each person in the Xbox Live universe, the update includes a new avatar marketplace.

According to Xbox.com users can "Download and purchase premium items, including branded apparel from your favorite fashion labels and Xbox 360 games."

I don't think my avatar is getting a flashy new wardrobe if it requires me to open my wallet, but I have no doubt some gamers are excited to distinguish their virtual selves with unique outfits and props.

Netflix

Netflix has been available on Xbox Live for some time, but with the new update you no longer need a computer to add titles to your instant viewing queue.

Xbox boasts that Netflix subscribers can now "browse through new releases and other genre lists based on the types of shows you’ve previously watched, all from the comfort of your couch."

Coming soon

Unfortunately, anticipated features such as Facebook and Twitter integration are not yet available, but Xbox promises social networking and Zune video will be added this Fall.

After toying with the new dashboard for a day, I was impressed by the Netflix updates, additional console settings, and enhanced video controls, but nothing struck me as a radical development.

Are you pleased with the new features included in this dashboard update? Or does your Xbox Live experience seem largely unchanged?

A full list of features included with the new update can be found on Xbox.com.

Homeland Security officers arrested Cal State Fullerton student Michael Crippen on Monday for modifying Xbox video game consoles to play copied games.

The practice of "modding" a video game console is fairly common. Directions to modify the Xbox and Xbox 360, and even instructional videos, can be found online.

Xbox "modders" defend their actions by claiming the game console is personal property and that modification is necessary to upgrade console hard drives or play legal backups of games they already own.

However, bypassing DRM security is a violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998, which states, "no person shall circumvent a technological measure that effectively controls access to a work protected under this title."

In an indictment provided by Wired.com, authorities claim Crippen "willfully and for purposes of commercial advantage and private financial gain, circumvented a technological measure that effectively controlled access to a copyrighted work, more particularly, used software to modify a Xbox machine's Optical Disc drive so it would circumvent anti-piracy measures contained on the original unmodified Optical Disc Drive."

Speaking to Wired.com's Threat Level blog, Crippen admits he modified consoles for $30 a job, but claims “This is for your legally made backups. If you’re talking about piracy, I’m not helping you out.”

Crippen faces two counts of violating the DMCA and the possibility of ten years in prison. He is currently free on $5,000 bond.

Crippen was targeted by the federal government for allegedly running a console-modifying business out of his house. But what do you think of people who modify their Xboxes for personal use? Should modding be illegal simply because it could result in piracy, despite other legal applications?

This kicks off a regular series of video-blog posts about new developments in the world of video games. The posts accompany, "Get Your Game On," a weekly video-gaming segment on CNN.com.

The hugely popular game, "Madden 09."

This week, CNNMoney.com's Poppy Harlow explores how the booming video-game industry seems unaffected by the sputtering U.S. economy (watch video here). Games are still selling briskly at prices ranging from $50 to $150 - and that's not even including the consoles.

And thanks to such monster hits as "Grand Theft Auto IV," the stocks of big video-game companies are mostly performing well on the NASDAQ. Overall, gaming stocks have bounced this year, despite the overall decline for the NASDAQ and other major U.S. averages. Maybe something for investors out there to consider?

– CNN.com

Calling in sick the day after St. Patrick's Day? Shame on you. But if you're playing hooky, you might as well have some fun...

Rainbow Six: Vegas 2 (Ubisoft)

The long-awaited follow up to the award winning first-person shooter is out and critics are buzzing. Once again, players find themselves on the trail of terrorists bent on destroying Las Vegas, but while the location is the same, your team of Rainbow Six operatives is entirely new. Revered just as much for its game play as for its storyline (thanks to the involvement of novelist Tom Clancy), players will finally learn how the story ends in "Vegas 2."Fans of the game who have long felt it was at its best in multi-player mode, will now find that the developers at Ubisoft has worked to make big improvements to its single player co-op modes. (Rated M for Mature; 360 and PS3)

Sega Superstars Tennis (Sega)

Think of this as a somewhere in between Super Smash Brothers and Sega's Virtua Tennis series. More than a dozen characters from the Sega universe, from Sonic and Tails to lesser known folk such as Amiga and Super Monkey Ball face off in head-to-head tennis matches. The locations and courts represent nearly every corner of the Sega-verse – and offer up a few surprising in-game challenges along with easy to play tennis action. (Rated E for Everyone; 360, PS3, Wii and DS)

Metal Gear Solid: Essentials Collection (Konami)

We've touched on this before, but it's worth mentioning again. The complete Metal Gear Solid series to date has been collected in this special edition for fans of the series to either get caught up or get re-acquainted with the adventures of Snake ahead of the release of the much-anticipated "Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots." With a release date for that title set for June 18th, you have exactly three months to prepare. Good luck, soldier.

– Matt West, CNN Entertainment Producer

Here’s a quick rundown of some of this week’s notable video-game releases.

Super Smash Brothers Brawl (Nintendo)

Technically, this game was released over the weekend... but if you're like me and spent your weekend playing outside, you'll forgive the "tardiness." And once you fire this disc up with your Wii, you'll forgive Nintendo for their tardiness as this long-delayed title is definitely worth the wait. The original "Smash Brothers Melee" was arguably a Game Cube classic and the follow-up for the Wii does not disappoint. With more than 20 playable characters spanning the history of the Nintendo universe, "Brawl" is loaded with an unbelievable amount of play options. Among the top features: customized controls that allow you to either play with the newer Wii-mote functions – or kick things old school GameCube style. The addition of Nintendo's Wi-Fi to the mix allows you to take things online and battle up to four challengers at once. (Rated T for Teen; Wii Exclusive)

"Army of Two" (EA)

Another long-delayed title that rewards you for your patience is EA's "Army of Two." A third-person shooter – where the focus is on two-man missions. Co-Op isn't a mode here; it's the entire game. It's satisfying enough as a single player – but "AO2" is begging to be played with a friend, either in split-screen mode right there in your living room – or online. With a storyline that's ripped straight from the headlines focused on the shadowy world of private military operations and amazing graphics, "Army of Two" is geared up and ready for battle. (Rated M for Mature; Xbox 360, PS3)

"Condemned 2: Bloodshot" (SEGA)

This sequel to "Condemned: Criminal Origins" takes the same gritty, no-holds-barred intensity of the original and pushes things far beyond the next level. As former crime-scene investigator "Ethan Thomas," you fight your way through a dark conspiracy on the trail of the person(s) responsible for killing your former partner. All new combat controls take the violence to twisted new heights – combining bone crunching physical moves with "weapons of opportunity" (brick to the head, anyone?). Of course, the mystery elements of the original are intact – and an overhauled forensics system rewards players for how well they investigate various crime scenes. The addition of several new multi-player modes allow your friends to get in on the action such as the ever popular "Death-match" mode. (Rated M for Mature; Xbox 360, PS3)

– Matt West, CNN Entertainment Producer