Just as a reminder, XBOX Live, as well as www.xbox.com, will be down for it's annual fix-up Tuesday, June 16th.Here are some things to do with your time:Actually finish the campaign mode of CoD4.Go on PSN (I still don't know whether this suggestion is a joke or not).Purchase Ghostbusters, it's mainly a single-player game, and it's pretty awesome, try beating it in one day!Purchase the 25th Anniversary Ghostbusters BluRay, my favorite comedy of all time.Go outside, have a KFC picnic. Read More...

Wow, the dark brooding hero has put on a few pounds since last we saw him! Max Payne, who is now bald and sporting a pretty fierce beard, is back and in full force and gracing the cover of Game Informer.  Not only that, the guy is addicted to pain killers. Who didn't see that one coming? Max Payne 3 takes place in Sao Paolo, Brazil, with "fully destructible environments". Which means more stuff to shoot at and blow up.  Players will also experience "day and night cycles". Read More...

There are the Madden purists out there, there always will be. I cannot consider myself one of them because for all of the "innovations" EA throw into the Madden games - it will always be the same experience for me. Since EA secured the NFL license, there's been false start after false start for competitors to the gridiron throne. I give all the credit in the world to Blitz: The League and the 2k series for creating some compelling gameplay, but because of either: dated gameplay and graphics, or leaning too much on novelty gameplay, they were never able to achieve the same numbers of units sold. Here's hoping BackBreaker becomes a serious contender. Read More...

Activision has unleashed Map Pack 2 for download on both the PlayStation Store and Xbox Live Marketplace. The pack features 4 new maps entitled Banzai, Corrosion, Sub Pens, and Shi No Numa. Banzai takes place in a jungle deep in Japanese territory. Corrosion makes use of a rundown Russian train yard as a battleground. A bombed out Japanese submarine base is the site for Sub Pens. Shi No Numa which is Japanese for ‘Zombie Swamp’ adds a third map to face down the unstoppable zombie hordes. Read More...

As much as one can be in awe of the Final Fantasy XIII and XIV trailers on the giant screen at Square Enix’s booth at E3, I kept walking around to find something else.  The classic jRPG fan in me jumped for joy at the sight of Final Fantasy IV: The After Years.  Already out on Wii Ware, picking up and playing Final Fantasy IV: The After Years was like running into a warm hug of an old friend.This sequel, 18 years in the making, tells the story of you, the son of the paladin Cecil and the white mage Rosa, years after the end of Final Fantasy IV.  The great evil of the second moon destroyed by Cecil and Rosa’s party in the original has returned and it is now up to you to stop this evil and return peace to the once quiet planet. Read More...

In the land where Fantasy is real, and the Final chapter is never ending, Square-Enix has always been one of the main RPG makers around the world and this year at E3 they left nothing behind. During last year's E3, at the Microsoft Press Conference, Square-Enix dropped a bombshell when they announced that Final Fantasy XIII will be on the Xbox 360 (boooooo…just kidding) and it sparked the ever question of if the system itself can handle a game of that magnitude. Well at E3 2009 Square-Enix showed us all what the game would look like on the Xbox 360 for the first time. Surprisingly enough the game ran fairly well as they even showed off one of the summons from the game for the Press Conference. Read More...

Luke Cage was born and raised on the streets of Harlem, New York where he went by the name of Carl Lucas. Much of his time was spent as a member of a gang known as the Rivals. Over time he came to understand how his actions were hurting his family and chose to better himself by leaving the criminal world and become an honest and decent person. However he was betrayed by a former friend who framed Cage for possession of heroin. After frequent altercations and escape attempts while in prison, Cage was transferred to Seagate Prison. Read More...

In mathematics, singularity theory is the study of the failure of manifold structure (yes, that is taken from wikipedia). In the game Singularity, something definitely failed, and while I'm not sure what a manifold structure is, it sounded like a cool sentence to start off with. All this aside, Raven Software's Singularity looks like one of the best shooters coming out this year. Players will control Nate Renko, an American Air Force pilot who was sent to an island called Katorga 12 to investigate why the area was emitting irregular amounts of radiation. During his investigation, however, his plane crashes on the island. Read More...

Ah, the Saga continues... As if Brutal Legend hasn't gone back and forth enough times, we finally start getting excited and WHAM!!! Lawsuit. If you haven't been following the drama here is a brief recap: Brutal Legend was being developed by Double Fine Studios, which at the time had contract with Vivendi Games for Publishing rights.  When the Vivendi/Activision merger happened last year the merged companies decided not to release the game. Jack Black fans around the world were crushed. Read More...

Let's be honest, while it may be a little early to be talking sequel, all of us that played Left 4 Dead could bet the house that a second incarnation was certain. On November 17th, just 364 days after the first, Valve will release Left 4 Dead 2 for the Xbox 360 and PC. Left 4 Dead 2 takes place during the same zombie outbreak as the first game, but features a new pair of 4 survivors, Rochelle, Coach, Ellis, and Nick. While it wasn't quite clear what the new campaigns were apart from the fact that it will take place in the South US (the game starts in Savannah and ends in New Orleans), Scott Dalton, a level designer on the game, said that more of the story will be explored, including the reason for the outbreak. Valve made sure to fix many complaints of the original game, and tweaks are apparent during the demo. Read More...

With all the huge news coming from Square-Enix, Activision, EA, etc, Konami decided to join in on the fun and make a huge announcement also. How? With a trailer of Castlevania: Lords of Shadow. Also announced was the shocker of Kojima Productions working with MercurySteam on this title based on the classic game. As I stood in the middle of the Konami show floor looking up on their titan-tron waiting for the trailer to come up, one thing came to mind while I was waiting. "Will this game be another disappointment? Read More...

Get your claws out, paint your skin green and get your web slinger toys out as Activision is releasing another Marvel Ultimate Alliance game for all of us comic book geeks. As we all know Activision released the first Marvel Ultimate Alliance and overall the game was a success with a "team brawler" style game. How can Marvel top their last game with this up and coming game? By having a story base off the Civil War series that turned the Marvel universe to where it is today. Read More...

There is something unforgettable about the moment you began playing Wolfenstein 3D.  Fast, furious and in your face, this title made an impact that affected the games industry forever.  For many gamers, including myself, it changed the way we played and thought about games, shooters in particular.  Fast forward 17 years and many first player shooters later, Wolfenstein is getting set up to be released by id Software and during this E3, we saw a demonstration focusing on the supernatural aspects of the game.   Once again, you assume the role of BJ Blazkowicz and it is your mission to uncover and stop the Nazi plot to take over the world. Read More...

I finally got my hands on Muramasa: The Demon Blade for the Nintendo Wii. It was developed by Vanilla Ware, the studio that did Odin Sphere on the PS2, and localized by Ignition Software. The game is beautifully animated and the amount of detail really shines, which showcases the amount of work that went into it. Presented in a 2D side scrolling format, the backgrounds and characters pop out at you. You have two playable characters, Kisuke (male) and Momohime (female), with whom you control using the Wiimote and Nunchuk. Read More...

Have you ever played Project Gotham Racing and thought to yourself, this would be awesome if I could get powerups and kill the other cars. Well so did Bizarre Creations and that's why they created Blur.I got a closed door meeting with Bizarre Creations' newest racing title, Blur. Incorporating real cars and locations with arcade power ups, Blur does just that, blurs the line between Project Gotham Racing's realistic physics with Mario Kart's arcade style powerups, Blur is an all new kind of racer. I got to play two tracks, a simple oval style racetrack laden with powerups and wide roadways, and a more urban track (Hackney area of England) with twisty turns and narrow avenues.Several car manufacturers, including Ford, GM, Renault, BMW, and Koeniggsegg (sp) all made appearances and we got assurance from Bizarre Creations's that there would be many more cars added. Read More...