Legendary is a first person shooter with a strong concept but a weak execution. The mystic Pandora’s Box at the center of the plot unleashes hellish versions of mythological creatures like werewolves and griffons– a cool idea, but there’s not a decent game to back it up. I feel that Legendary’s horrendous one-track level design deserves much of the blame. Read more…

It’s Blizzard’s World, we just live in it. To kick-off their millions-strong graduation to the hard stuff (level 70 and up), Blizzard is holding midnight release parties Nov 13 in Austin, New York, Anaheim, and San Francisco, featuring developers who will sign your game, plus extra copies of the Lich King Collector’s Edition.

International events will also be held in Seoul, Mexico City, Paris, London, Berlin, Madrid, Taipei, Stockholm, and Amsterdam. Whew, sounds like a party! Read more…

You haven’t seen a gaming article quite like this before: A seven-page inside look from the New Yorker at Cliffy B’s rich-and-famous lifestyle, with a history of Epic Games and its “Bachelor Futurist” headquarters, a review of Gears of War, and a preview of Gears 2 all thrown in for good measure.

It’s an “Epic” article worthy of its subject. On the following page, we’ve placed a few choice examples of New Yorker’s hoity-toity descriptions of the life of Cliff Bleszinski, a designer known by nearly every Xbox owner. Read more…

When we previewed SARB a month ago, it was clear that we had seen something special. At the time I said “it might be one of the best downloadable titles on the PSN,” and having spent the last week playing it continually I can stand by that statement with pride. It’s a thrill to find a game that is so much fun initially, while still leaving plenty of room for sequels and expansion packs. Read more…

In a move that’s well beyond any lame Second Life appearances, the Obama campaign has bought ad space in Paradise City. EA confirmed the ad buy to website Gigaom today– check out their statement after the jump. Read more…

Playing a recent demo of Mirror’s Edge, I had been trying to shave a few extra seconds off of my time trial run, and after all the obvious routes were exploited, I passed along the controller. I watched mouth agape as, instead of directing Faith to run up the stairs like a normal person, the journalist next to me sent her careening off a nearby wall and up over the guardrail, all ninja-like. Is this an example of practice-makes-perfect, or a new kind of exploit? Read more…

A stunning new batch of RE5 screens confirm what we’ve known for a few months now: that Resident Evil 5 is shaping up to be a much nicer-looking version of Resident Evil 4. A few of these screens also show off the co-op dynamics, with Sheva seeking help and assistance after grappling with some vicious zombies.

These new screens show off the look of the game, but we’re still waiting for confirmation of RE5’s gameplay variations. The on-rails vehicle scenes in RE4 were among my favorites, so hopefully we won’t have to wait long for a glimpse of the other action setpieces in RE5. A gallery of all the new screens can be found on the next page. Read more…

Peggle Nights is so addictive, it could be considered mainline gaming at its purest. It’s a game you can replay endlessly to squeeze out a good 20-30 hours of content— not bad for a “budget” title. Even though my preferred method of playing the game is to idly focus on the dozens of challenges while watching TV or listening to music, that doesn’t mean Peggle Nights qualifies as just half a game. It simply means I can’t stop playing it long enough to do anything else. Read more…

If you think soccer is pretty boring, would some flying monster trucks help spice things up? This upcoming Unreal Engine 3-powered downloadable PS3 title from Psynoix makes 4 on 4 arena soccer a little more tolerable with dune buggies, nitro boosts, and some ridiculous explosions. Read more…

Warner Brothers announced today they have reacquired the rights to use the F.E.A.R. brand name in their sequel, Project Origin. Now known as F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin, the sequel to the 2005 FPS was originally titled Project Origin, after a dispute over the naming rights with former owner Activision-Blizzard. Read more…

We may have no idea what real aliens might look like, but some of us have a better idea than others. In a planetarium presentation that touched on Yoda, Alf, E.T. and xenomorphs, Spore creator Will Wright and extraterrestrial expert Frank Drake discussed their backgrounds, both personal and professional, and why Spore is the game that will inspire a generation of space cadets. Read more…

Think of electioneering as a real-time strategy game. You make your moves at the same time as your opponent, and in the end whoever has the most points (votes) wins. While politicos may scratch their heads at the pick of relatively inexperienced Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as McCain’s running mate, gamers will know that there is no better ally on your side than a bear-hunting, gun-toting babe in a fur-lined parka. Read more…

Gametrailers blogger LifeRPG has been doing some serious thinking about what would make online consoles just a little bit better, and some of these actually seem like they might work. Read on for the full list of most wanted features. Read more…

Did you think Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness was going to run away with the award for longest game title of the year? Well, there’s a new challenge to that ignoble throne.

I have a lot of fun just saying the title of this game: Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle-Cars. Now after watching the trailer, it seems like playing soccer with RC cars will be a lot of fun as well. Check it out on the next page. Read more…

My DS has been a lot of places, but this time I took it to the Moon. No, not that lifeless gray hunk of rock in the night sky— this is Renegade Kid’s Moon, a first person shooter using the same engine from last year’s spooky FPS Dementium.

One concern I had when I saw Moon’s trailer recently was that the same bland color palette would be used throughout. Dementium had this problem—everything was muddied with black fog and similar looking environments, but at least Moon offers some variety when it comes to the color scheme. Read more…

When Madagascar was in theaters, way back in 2005, I suspect that the main thing all the kids in the audience took away from it was the hideously annoying “We like to move it, move it” ditty that sticks in your head like a piece of shrapnel. The song’s prominence in the trailer to the sequel confirms that this is, in fact, one of the most insidious examples of psychological song warfare ever perpetrated on our nation’s youth.

But that’s neither here nor there. All I’m saying is, even money, there will probably be some sort of Dance Dance Revolution minigame set to that tune in this game. I’m not sure what else will be in the game, but from the look of these screenshots, it’s all over the place. Life-sized chessboards with gaping chasms? Zebras playing soccer? Penguins in jeeps? It’s a madhouse!

Check out the new screens on the next page. Read more…

A year ago we previewed and reviewed Dementium: The Ward, a dark and spooky FPS for the DS that ended up being, well, not so great.

Developer Renegade Kid is giving it another shot this year with The Moon, which looks like it not only grafts a sci-fi raygun onto the action, but also lets you get behind the wheel of a Moon Buggy. Sweet!

Let’s just hope they expand the color scheme– Dementium relied a bit too much on black fog, and from the trailer we expect there to be lots of shades of gray. Check out that trailer, right after you click on “read more”. Read more…

The elusive Hayabusa armor from Halo 3.

If you’re a big fan of playing with dolls– ahem, sorry, “action figures”– then you’d probably love to litter your workspace with these Halo 3 figures from Todd McFarlane’s workshop. Some of the more interesting toys from the upcoming series 3, due out in September, are shown below, including the famous Hayabusa armor. The series 1 and 2 figures are available now, but they might be a little hard to find. Read more…

Giving stoners sufficient entertainment isn’t too hard—just throw some lava lamp visuals on the screen and set appropriate mood music churning away in the background. It’s much more difficult for the temporarily impaired to actually play a game that requires precise timing and coordination, so PixelJunk Eden may not be best choice if you’re too fucked up to concentrate. Read more…

Gamecock gets faulted a lot for their outlandish publicity stunts, but after receiving a fresh new batch of screenshots from the unstoppable publisher we’re actually rather impressed by the scope and variety of their upcoming games.

Look at these screens– you have a downloadable Pirates vs Ninjas Dodgeball game (with Zombies and Aliens, too!), a first person shooter called Legendary with crazy werewolves and griffins, and a trippy Wii platformer called Mushroom Men. Hardly a bald space marine in sight! Read more…