A screenshot of Mortal Kombat’s character select screen shows 26 available characters, a DLC slot, and a slot with a question mark.

Perhaps the timing of this is a little awkward.

You see, for years now, there have been many a complaint about SEGA’s handling of the once-prominent Sonic the Hedgehog franchise, particularly where the games are concerned. And many people have dreamed of having the simple opportunity to be able to go right up to SEGA’s Japanese headquarters and tell them every last thing that is wrong with Sonic, and what can be done to fix it.

Microsoft’s “Get Game Smart” is holding a Family Game Night with congressional representatives on Capitol Hill. Spoiler Alert: I go off on a political tangent again.

Famitsu has confirmed that the incredibly awesome sequel to the incredibly awesome BlazBlue will have two characters available as DLC at launch.

Valve have updated Counter-Strike Source, adding Mac support, achievements, stats, and lots of bugfixes and gameplay updates. The game is also briefly on sale with 66% off.

Even if the Dragon Age DLC as of late has been pretty hit or miss, one thing remains true. Warden’s Keep, the Dragon Age Machinima developed using the Dragon Age engine, is awesome.

The iPhone is expensive—and even more so if you buy it out of contract. Generally, the warranty only covers the phone if there is a manufacturer’s defect; and with Apple, there’s no such thing, right? Luckily, Asurion, the top global phone insurance company, is now offering protection—for a price.

Cliffy B has criticized EA’s “Project Ten Dollar”, where used game buyers have to spend $10 to get access to content that is free to new buyers.

Developer support is going to be a big factor in the success or failure of the new motion peripherals like Kinect and Move. Developers might be a little wary of hardware with a $100+ buy-in, however. Activision’s chief operating officer Thomas Tippl, for instance, has said he is concerned about the high price point of the new peripherals.

Sega West’s president Mike Hayes has stated that we could see titles like Aliens and House of the Dead coming to the Nintendo 3DS.

Comics are awesome! Pages of papery goodness combined with all your favorite heroes and villians. Well make way for Master Cheif, yepp you heard me! Make the jump for more.

Ripten brings to you three screenshots of the upcoming Racing Guitar Hero hybrid title Rythym Racer 2.

During a recent interview SEGA West President Mike Hayes discussed the possibility and likelihood that the Nintendo 3DS could be used to reach out to an “older market”. Make the leap for more.

With Assasins Creed 2 still leaving a fresh taste in our mouths, it is interesting to know that Ubisoft already has plans for Desmon and sequels in the series. Make the leap for more.

With the saturation of music games at this year’s E3, I expected close-to-nothing new from Rock Band 3. Even as waited for the presentation to begin, I was preparing myself to be bored and unimpressed, but as it started …