Wesley Snipes in Julius Styles: The InternationalPassenger 57 has taken up a new hobby.

As he serves out a three-year prison sentence for failure to file federal income tax returns, actor, producer and all-around butt-kicker Wesley Snipes is adding 'game developer' to his resume. The man filmgoers know best as the vampire hunter Blade has teamed with Finnish developer Lapland Studio to release 'Julius Styles: The International.'

Snipes lends his image and provides voice work to the title character for the game, though how he did this from prison is kind of a head scratcher -- and isn't something the developer has yet addressed. He was also involved in the production via his company Maandi Media Entertainment.

Between the systems, the accessories and the games themselves, gaming is a pretty pricey pastime. Most gamers are looking for bargains - but you won't find any here. Hope you saved up some gold coins, because if you plan on picking up any of these outrageously priced game goodies, you're gonna need 'em. (Click the images to enlarge.)

iPad 2: Gold History EditioniPad 2: Gold History Edition
Price: $8.1 million
Created by luxury gadget guru Stuart Hughes, this iPad 2 is packed with gold and studded with flawless diamonds. The real kicker, though, is found in its frame. Made from incredibly rare Ammolite rock, it contains splinters and shavings from -- wait for it -- a Tyrannosaurus Rex thigh bone dating back 65 million years. Somehow, even that awesome fossil doesn't do much to justify its ludicrous price.

Star Wars: The Old RepublicNo one has doubted that Bioware's upcoming massively multiplayer game, Star Wars: The Old Republic, was going to be, well, massive. But the unusual -- and baffling -- pre-order experience for the game is causing a disturbance in the Force.

Typically, pre-orders are pretty simple: You put down a deposit, you wait for the game to come out and you're guaranteed a copy on day one. But with The Old Republic, it's a bit more complicated.

The game: Forget NFL lockouts. Cornhole is where to find heartwarming talent.

Latest champion throwing arm: That of 3-year-old Chase of North Carolina.

The technique: Overhead left-handed toss to the bottom half of the cornhole board. According to toddler physics, momentum propels the bean bag up the slanted board and into the hole. Seven times. In a row.

SAN DIEGO (AP) - The Force will be with the Xbox 360.

Star Wars Kinect Bundle

Microsoft Corp. unveiled a limited edition Xbox 360 console at a Comic-Con panel on Thursday that will be modeled after the character R2-D2, with a wireless gold-colored controller resembling his droid pal C-3PO.

The console will make the character's signature beeping sounds when the white-and-blue console is turned on and the disc tray is opened. It will also feature a 320-gigabyte hard drive, the largest available for Microsoft's gaming system.

Owain Weinert (PopCap Games)Owain Weinert is ten years old -- and like  countless children his age, he plays lots of video games. He wants to make them, too, so he conceived and designed a title on his own.

For most kids, the story would end there. But Owain has leukemia. And with the help of the Make-A-Wish foundation, he got to spend some time with the developers at PopCap Games (Bejeweled, Plants Vs. Zombies) earlier this year, impressing the game makers so much that they developed the game he had conceived.

It went live on the App store Thursday.

Deepak Chopra's Leela - THQLOS ANGELES (AP) - At the end of a long day, many gamers zone out by competing in online death matches, or they check out by escaping to virtual realms. Spiritual leader Deepak Chopra is hoping gamers will instead choose to chill out with "Leela," his ambitious new effort to combine gaming and meditation.

"I personally believe that you can accelerate neural development and biological evolution through video games," said Chopra. "Unfortunately, that's not what we're doing right now. What we're doing is creating addictions to violence, adrenaline and mindlessness, rather than mindfulness. That was my personal motivation to get involved in this medium."

NBA 2K12's covers - Click to enlarge! - 2K SportsHow do you top having the best basketball player ever grace your NBA video game box?

Give him some worthy competition.

On Thursday, 2K Sports revealed a trio of cover athletes for their upcoming basketball sim NBA 2K12 -- and for basketball fans, it's a doozie: Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird. But rather than try to cram that much competitive ego on one cover, 2K will create three separate boxes, one for each legend. Fans can then decide which version to pick up based on which player they prefer to stare at most.