In the video above, you can see a tech demo of Cythbot making its way through Living Colour's "Cult of Personality" on Expert difficulty, a song that's not exactly a breeze. Behold as Cythbot makes (gulp) mincemeat out of it.

As Wired reports (via Joystiq), the robot works by bringing together various components to tackle the different challenges of playing Guitar Hero. A camera hooked up to a "Configurable Signal Conditioning Enclosure (CA-1000)" views and analyzes the notes streaming down the screen, using the light intensity of the pixels rather than differentiating the notes by color. This system then interprets notes and sends signals to pneumatic "fingers" hovering over the guitar controller, which is held in place in an aluminum box frame. These signals tell the fingers when to activate, compressing onto the fret buttons and flicking the strum bar.

The story first broke when GameSpot U.K. journalist Guy Cocker posted on Twitter that he received a call from Eidos' PR firm, saying that if Underworld was going to get a score below 8.0, they wanted the review delayed until Monday -- three days after the game's release on Friday. Videogamer247 then contacted the U.K. PR firm, Barrington Harvey, which confirmed they were indeed calling publications to try and quell negative reviews.

"That's right. We're trying to manage the review scores at the request of Eidos," a representative said. Explaining why, the representative said, "Just that we're trying to get the Metacritic rating to be high, and the brand manager in the U.S. that's handling all of Tomb Raider has asked that we just manage the scores before the game is out, really, just to ensure that we don't put people off buying the game, basically."

"We are currently working on a patch for all three platforms. When I've got more details, I'll let everyone know," wrote a community manager on the official Fallout 3 forums (via CVG). As you can see, this person wasn't any more forthcoming with details, so we have no idea when the patch is planned for release.

Complaints about Fallout 3 have centered around graphical glitches as well as game-freezing bugs, which seems to be the biggest problem. Hopefully the patch will be able to fix them all soon enough.

According to the legal complaint (PDF document), Morgan argues that the defective drum pedals are prone to breaking under normal use, and consumers are therefore "unable to use the Rock Band drum kit or play the Rock Band game in the manner marketed and advertised by Defendants, thus depriving them of the value and enjoyment of their purchases." But more interestingly, the complaint goes on to accuse Harmonix of a scheme to cheat Rock Band 1 customers by improving the pedal with Rock Band 2, and ending the warranty for the Rock Band 1 pedals upon 2's release.

When complaints over the broken drum pedals originally popped up after Rock Band's release, Harmonix extended the warranty for the drum pedals beyond the standard 60-day limit. But this extended warranty came to an end on October 1 of this year... right around the release of Rock Band 2, which featured a drum pedal that was advertised as being "improved" with reinforcement from a metal plate. Morgan argues this was a deliberate attempt to compel those who still owned a broken Rock Band 1 pedal to purchase Rock Band 2, rather than being able to have their drum pedal fixed through the extended warranty.

Now Siliconera (via Xbox360Fanboy) has discovered that From Software is selling a premium Ninja Blade bundle for 250 Microsoft Points that includes wallpapers and five ninja-themed avatar parts. Though this is the first instance of this happening, coming as quickly as it did after the NXE update, we're sure it won't be the last. As always, you can use your wallet to tell Microsoft if you think the deal is worth it.

"This is not just a holiday promotion for us," explained 7-Eleven category manager for gaming and electronics, "but a brand new product line-up that will be available year-round. We may not be a total entertainment destination ... yet, but we're hoping to expand our selection beyond the high-dollar, hot-selling games to include options for all budgets, like value-priced video games as well as DVD movies. For consumers wanting convenient one-stop shopping for at-home entertainment along with groceries and gas or who just want to avoid big-store shopping inconveniences, their local 7-Eleven store is open and ready."

In addition to Wrath of the Lich King, 7-Eleven is planning on selling the Guitar Hero World Tour band kit, Fallout 3, Quantum of Solace, Gears of War 2, WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2009, and Call of Duty: World at War. They'll also begin selling subscription cards for around 20 games and services ranging from Xbox Live to City of Heroes to Runescape.

In addition to the previously revealed three-pack from the Killers, Harmonix has announced several other artists that will be joining the band as next week's Rock Band DLC. Tracks from the Chris Cornell-fronted grunge trailblazers Soundgarden will accompany the Killers, along with legendary Swedish guitarist Yngwie Malmsteen and metal group Lamb of God. As usual, these downloads will arrive Tuesday on Xbox Live and Thursday on the PlayStation Store, and will be available individually for $1.99 (160 Microsoft points) and in bundled three-packs where applicable for $5.49 (440 Microsoft points). The entire list of next week's offerings looks something like this:

• "Mr. Brightside" by the Killers
• "Smile Like You Mean It" by the Killers
• "Spaceman" by the Killers
• "Caprici Di Diablo" by Yngwie Malmsteen
• "Damnation Game" by Yngwie Malmsteen
• "Red Devil" by Yngwie Malmsteen
• "Jesus Christ Pose" by Soundgarden
• "Pretty Noose" by Soundgarden
• "Laid To Rest" by Lamb of God

Yet another diverse batch of songs as the Rock Band platform marches ever closer to the year-end goal of 500 songs. Between the awesomely laid-back "Pretty Noose" and Yngwie Malmsteen's trademark blistering solos, next week should be able to cater to a wide spectrum of tastes and skill levels. As great as some of these tracks are, however, we're more than a little bitter that we still don't have Texas Flood. Patience is not our strong suit when it comes to Stevie Ray Vaughan.

One half of the impending DLC two-pack is the Carson Extreme Hotrod, which is -- you guessed it -- based on a stereotypically souped-up 1920s roadster. It's also the fastest, most realistically handling car in Paradise City, according to Criterion. Both the Hotrod and the other mystery vehicle in this download bundle were apparently designed to "reimagine Burnout boost" -- a lofty goal considering how unrelentingly awesome that boost has always been.

Now that we're finally starting to get some (presumably) paid DLC in Burnout Paradise, it should be interesting to see how the game's fanbase reacts. Spending almost a year providing users with free updates has helped foster a tremendously loyal community for the over-the-top racer, so who knows how they'll respond to actually paying for goods and services.

Far Cry 2 has been a bit of a sleeper hit this season, selling reasonably well despite finding some of its hype dampened by the glut of big releases. You might have noticed that the information doesn't mention the PC version, where the series hails from. This could mean the DLC is only for console players, so time will have to tell if Ubisoft has any plans for an update to the PC version to match its console counterparts.

In addition, preorders from GameStop will reportedly receive a "Classic" Prince skin, along with the other Limited Edition bonuses. Ubisoft also gives word that they will be making other skins available for the Prince and Elika, which sound like smaller DLC plans next to their more ambitious ones.

Publishers have grown more keen on using games as tools to gather more eyes on their Web sites and registered users in their databases. Mirror's Edge offered a similar incentive plan earlier this month by making the Time Trial leaderboards and ghosts dependent on a linked account with EA. As long as the bonuses stay interesting, it's unlikely many players will complain about the slight inconvenience.