Meet 1ickTh3P0l3. He can vote. But why tell him that? When Rock the Vote comes to Xbox Live on Monday (the start of the Democratic National Convention), it won't find the disempowered young citizens eager to be mobilized it's expecting. In fact, the Xbox Live community is a conglomerate of well-organized sub-divisions -- or "clans" -- which communicate through a modified, verbalization of "133t speak" with a large admixture of derisive language; including racial, ethnic, gender, sex, and religious slurs. These nihilistic hatemongers shoot first, typically with rocket launchers, and top it off with a teabag over your dead body. Oh wait, these are just the Xbox Live users under 18. Imagine how the ones of legal voting age spend their nights and weekends ... And you want them rocking what now?

[Image credit: Jeff the Trojan]

This week American McGee's Grimm retells the story (in Grimm's special way) of the anthropomorphic Puss in Boots. The episode is free for everyone the first 24 hours after release and will be available only to GameTap subscribers after that time.

• Grimm: Puss In Boots (Windows) - Cats are evil and Puss is no exception. Dogs rule!
  
• Patrician III (Windows) - How to describe ... how to describe? Oh, it's like playing "Medieval Tycoon."

There are no new additions to GameTap's free games lineup this week. As always, though, the full list of free-to-play titles can be found after the break.

Sony, Guerilla – our hats voice headsets are off to you. After all, you tried to deliver the total online play experience with your official Killzone 2 multiplayer trailer at Leipzig. The only problem is ... well, it sounds too much like real mutiplayer. Or maybe someone's polite approximation thereof.

Oh, we like what we see (and say, are those auto-turrets from Aliens?) but the "radio chatter" not only sounds forced – it's totally free of racial slurs and/or comments regarding the sexuality of those playing. Now, how can we expect to take that seriously?

The PlayStation Blog announced today that the God of War himself will be available tomorrow as a downloadable character for PS3's Hot Shots Golf: Out of Bounds. Kratos, sporting the "clubs of chaos," is taking some time off from battling the gods of Olympus to try and sink a couple putts.

The Kratos DLC will cost $2, but this isn't just a fancy new character model for the game. We give Sony props for bringing in T.C. Carson, the voice of Kratos, to record some new lines for the Ghost of Sparta to use in the game. Don't expect any of Kratos's trademark rage, though, as the game will continue to be rated "E."

Sony packed a suitcase full of PSN titles for its trip to Leipzig, with at least one new face emerging from the bag: Savage Moon. Sony describes the game as "classic tower strategy" with a catch ... it's in space! Players are assigned to protect a planetary outpost that's being overrun by "gigantic, ravenous space bugs" (true story). You know the drill: plop towers in the most ideal positions to handle the infestation and convert kill points into better weapons.

In addition, more details about the third Warhawk expansion have been released. Dubbed, Operation: Fallen Star, the premium add-on introduces a forested location, Tau Crater, where, sure enough, some "experimental technology" is recovered from a crashed Chernovan warship: Jetpacks! The booster pack also includes 10 new battlefields. (A coinciding free update will add two new game modes and Trophies).

We've posted the debut trailer for Operation: Fallen Star along with the complete Games Convention 2008 PSN lineup after the break.

Meet Team Fortress 2's "Edible Device" and shotgun replacement, the Sandvich.

Valve really missed a good opportunity for a bad pun here by not calling it "Meat the Sandvich," but hey, it's still pretty damned funny. What's next in the series of loony videos? Meet the Bullet? Seriously though, we'd watch them all. Heck, just throw a TF2 cartoon on the air as part of Adult Swim and we'd be glued to our sets.

[Thanks Giroro, Alistair and Vandell]

In his latest report from Infinity Ward HQ, community confidant Fourzerotwo brings word that the Call of Duty 4 battlefront could see some changes soon. No less than eight new multiplayer playlists are in development, of which four are currently being tested, and at least one can pass through the servers without a patch: Hardcore Headquarters. But we're taking a keen interest in another playlist, Hardcore Ricochet, which turns teamkillers' attacks against them. It's like we're rubber, they're glue -- whatever they shoot, bounces off us and ... burrows deep into their treacherous guts!

Peep the full descriptions and statuses of all the planned playlists on Fourzerotwo's blog.

[Thanks, Michael]

News

• Latest Beta build kills spell downranking
  No more downranking spells to save mana in-game, says Blizzard.
• How Blizzard mishandled the BlizzCon ticket situation
  Our long look at what exactly happened last week with the BlizzCon tickets.
• This is a very fast rug
  More cool mounts and items coming out of the Wrath of the Lich King beta.
• First look at tailoring in Wrath
  What cloth wranglers will be able to make in the next expansion.
• Looking for ladies in Outland
  Have you ever noticed that there don't seem to be that many females among NPCs in Outland? Why is that?

Features

• Ask a Beta Tester: Dalaran and UI updates
  Our Ask a Beta Tester column covers everything you've ever wanted to know about what's happening in the beta, and then some.
• Know Your Lore: The Ashbringer
  Everyone's all giddy about Frostmane finding its way into player hands, but Know Your Lore takes a long look at the other side of the "Awesome Two-Hand Sword" spectrum.
• Scattered Shots: Pet talent trees in the Wrath beta
  Our starting Hunter column checks out how pets might spec when Wrath comes to town.
• The Colosseum: Stormie of Shadow Council
  We interview one of the best Arena players around.
• Ask a Lore Nerd: Skeletons, slavery and shadows
  Experts talk about what they know. And the Lore Nerd talks about lore.

Despite (or perhaps because of) the similarities to an episode of Aqua Teen Hunger Force from 2004, Penny Arcade's Gears of Conflict Resolution took top honors in this week's webcomic wrapup. We'd also like to take a moment to remind everyone of the 300 "PG" parody, since we still can't stop ourselves from shouting "This is Cake Town" at least once a day at random strangers.

Second and third place go to Ctrl+Alt+Del's Moar Co-Op and Monday Night Crew's Street Dated. A special nod goes to mudron's debut in the wrapup.Thanks to everyone who voted; be sure to let us know of any game-related webcomics you stumble upon this week!

Congratulations! You're now a part of history ... or at least, a part of Alex St. John's alternate reality. Spend enough time with "the guy who talked Microsoft into the console business" and you might start seeing a big red countdown -- the kind that ends in KA-BOOM! -- tattooed on your gaming console, the UK's Telegraph reports. "I think we're looking at the last generation of consoles. There's not going to be an Xbox 720 or a PS4, I'll make that bet, not going to happen," St. John predicts.

Not surprisingly, St. John's grim prophecy doubles as a convincing plug for WildTangent's forthcoming virtual console: Orb. Orb will offer "enthusiast" games (BioShock and Assassin's Creed are two "possible" examples) for free on an ad-driven, session-by-session basis. In theory, this kind of digital platform could one day replace disc-based consoles, as it offers "free" gaming through an advertising model that consumers have accepted in other markets and cuts out the huge economic losses that console manufacturers can't seem to avoid (um, except for Nintendo!). "I'll take the heat if I'm wrong and don't mind being mocked in the future with people going 'Wow, was he wrong,'" St. John says of his market forecast, "But it doesn't happen to me very often."

Blizzard announced today that World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King's opening cinematic will premiere at the Leipzig Games Convention. The clip will be shown this Thursday, August 21, at 1PM German standard time (7AM Joystiq time).

We'd speculate about what Blizzard has in store for a big reveal at Blizzcon, but with Diablo 3, Starcraft 2 and WoW in play, who knows what the company could announce. We'll see what happens on October 11.

[Via WoW Insider]

... and we don't mean anything stolen from other Joystiq features. We're just a fan of self-referential webcomics and wanted to highlight Scott Dewitt's Fanboys strip from earlier this week. Also making it appropriate, we saw a preview for Disaster Movie last night and wanted to end ourseles to the pain. Here are our picks for the week's best game-related webcomic. Polling after the break; be sure to vote for your favorite!

Gamers (Urf)
Gears of Conflict Resolution (Penny Arcade)
I'm as much of a fan of Braid as everyone else ... (mudron)
Warning! Challenger Approaching (2P Start)
Block Head (Fanboys Online)
Moar Co-Op (CAD)
Street Dated (MNC)
Besting Thee (Castle Vidcons)
New Heroes (Burn the Internet)

At its annual Fan Faire, Sony Online Entertainment (SOE) has revealed new expansions for EverQuest and EverQuest II. For EQ players, The Seeds of Destruction expansion offers a new level cap (85), 20 new zones, a new mercenary system, and all fourteen previous expansions in one box. EQII: The Shadow Odyssey will feature brand new zones, some revisits to the original EQ dungeons, a bump in the number of achievements you can get (up to 200), new deities, new quests and a new loot system that lets you pick your loot rewards.

Our MMO-obsessed colleagues at Massively have interviews with the EverQuest design team and EQII Senior Producer Bruce Ferguson about the expansions. All Fan Faire attendees will receive both games for free and will be able to participate in the SoD and TSO betas when they begin on August 19 and September 2, respectively.

Seeds of Destruction will come out October 21, while The Shadow Odyssey is scheduled for November 18. Stay tuned to Massively all week for more Fan Faire coverage.