Today we honor the memory of those who lost their lives on September 11. Gone but never forgotten.

American McGee returns to Wonderland in Alice: Madness Returns, the sequel to the horrific adventure released almost a decade ago. Taking place tens years after the events of the original, the games follows Alice after she’s released from a mental asylum; following her through the “corrupted and shattered” Wonderland as she uncovers the truth behind her haunted past.

“Alice is a classic fiction, infinitely rich with memorable characters, places and experiences. Our approach to Alice: Madness Returns takes this colorful world and reinvents it with psychotic personalities and pervasive insanity,” said American McGee. “We can’t wait to share our vision with Alice in Wonderland fans and gamers around the world.”

“In 2000, we launched a cult hit on the PC with American McGee’s Alice. Ten years later, I’m pleased to announce American is back on board leading the top-rate talent at Spicy Horse Games to create this sequel,” said David DeMartini, Senior Vice President and General Manager of EA Partners. “The Alice in Wonderland fiction continues to be a fan favorite all over the world. We can’t wait for them to experience the next chapter with Alice: Madness Returns.”

Alice: Madness Returns will be available in 2011 for the PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

Have you ever sucked at a game? And whatever you did, or do, you continued to suck? (Yeah, me too.) But, there’s a theory behind the madness. In a study published in The Journal of the Cerebral Cortex, it revealed that the size of your brain can actually have an affect on your gaming skills.

Scientists at the University of Illinois have studied specific parts of the Striatum, a collection of tissues deep inside your cerebral cortex, and it revealed that brain size can influence a gamers ability to “refine his or her motor skills, learn new procedures, develop useful strategies and adapt to a quickly changing environments,” or in other words, playing games.

“This is the first time that we’ve been able to take a real world task like a video game and show that the size of specific brain regions is predictive of performance and learning rates on this video game,” said Kirk Erickson, professor of psychology at the University of Pittsburgh and the author on the study.

“Playing a game which requires very fast deployment of visual attention and motor movement could prime a strategy of speed over accuracy,” explained Nelson, “while playing a game which emphasizes a slower, more thoughtful pace could prime the opposite pattern. The main point is that different kinds of video games engage different cognitive and perceptual skills, and there are measurable differences in their effects, even in the short term.”

However, it does not work in reverse; you can’t play a bunch of video games and grow those structures in your brain — you’re stuck with the equipment you’re given from birth.

A backlash against modern day war game, Six Days in Fallujah, saw publisher Konami dropping support for the title, basically, landing Atomic Games, the developer, in hot water. However, without a new publisher for the title, Atomic Game today announced that they’ve, reluctantly, let there some of their developers go because of funding trouble for the title.

“Due to a mixture of fears about the edgy subject matter of Six Days in Fallujah, as well as low videogame sales this summer, we have been unable to secure full-scale funding from a major publisher for Six Days in Fallujah. This has caused us to reduce the size of our studio today,” reads word from the firm.

In the words of Marine officer Chesty Puller, “We’re surrounded. That simplifies the problem.” Development at Atomic will continue with a smaller team that will be funded by our sister company, Destineer – it continues to read.

Reports also emerged that creative director Juan Benito, founder of Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon developer Red Storm, is also leaving the developer.

UbiSoft briefly mentioned in their financial report today that several of their major upcoming titles have been delayed. Yes, including Conviction.

Anyway, Splinter Cell: Conviction and Red Steel 2, both of which were slotted for holiday 09 releases, have now been pushed into early 2010. And, in other news, I Am Alive and Ghost Recon 4 were, unluckily, hit with even bigger delays, pushing them into UbiSoft’s 2010-11 fiscal year, which means a release in April of 2010 at the absolute earliest.

“We are disappointed that we have to postpone the release of several major games but we consider that this choice is the best one in the long-term interests of Ubisoft,” reads the publisher’s latest financial report.

The sequel to the film adaptation of Hitman is in production, according to a new report by movie site IESB.

Writer Kyle Ward, also attached to the Kane & Lynch adaptation, is handling the script for Hitman 2. Producers Adrian Askarieh, Daniel Alter and Chuck Gordon will return to work on the project.

The original Hitman movie, released in 2007, starred Deadwood veteran Timothy Olyphant in the role as Agent 45 himself. Despite dismal reviews, the film eventually raked in $99.9 million at the box office.

Sam Fisher can’t remain hidden any longer and the time has come for UbiSoft to show us (absolutely nothing of) Splinter Cell: Conviction via one if their “teaser trailers”.

Anyway, there isn’t much point in going into detail about the teaser trailer because there aren’t any, but you do get to hear Sam Fisher talking about the situation he’s landed in Jack Bauer style. However, according the teaser site, you’ll have to wait until the 20th of May, and 28th May for more details and, properly, another trailer.

The first major trailer for Activision’s Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen literally transforms half way through to reveal both sides of the robotic conflict. Only slightly meta. Expect a blockbuster launch via the PS3, PSP, PS2, Wii, DS, Xbox 360 and PC alongside the Michael Bay film which hits June 23.

When the makers of the Grand Theft Auto series announced that they were doing  a following up to ’04 western shooter Red Dead Revolver, we strapped on our riding boots and pumped bullets into our six-shooters.

Okay, that actually didn’t happen. But, if you watch the trailer below, you may be inclined to do something cowboy-like.

“The team at San Diego have massively exceeded our expectations with the sheer depth of experiences in Red Dead Redemption,” said Sam Houser, Founder of Rockstar Games.

“The seamless combination of breathtaking beauty and intense action, all woven together with strong plotlines in a massive vibrant, rural environment is mind-blowing. We think this game helps to push the limits of what an open-world gaming experience can be.”

According to Variety, Ryan Reynolds will be starring in his very own X-Men spinoff movie for the role he played in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Deadpool. 

Deadpool, also known as Wade Wilson, is a mercenary who is dying of cancer and he submits himself to the Weapon X genetic alteration experiment and he emerges as an indestructible semi-sane anti-hero.

The movie will be produced by Lauren Shuler Donner and Marvel.

However, in one of the endings of X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Deadpool is seen rising from the rubble of a destoryed building and whispering “Shhh…” to audiences, which we think was a poke to the fans of the movie. 

The machines have yet to take over, but that won’t stop the media barrage of Terminator Salvation from continuing it’s onslaught.  Here’s the latest trailer profiling the terrestrial-based mechanized baddies.

“Terminator Salvation is a third person shooter where the player needs to “constantly move, flank, cover and utilize their squad to progress.” The player must battle Skynet enemies from the upcoming film as well as new enemies specifically designed for the game.

The game features a campaign that can be played alone or cooperatively with one other local player via split-screen.”

We all know that John Connor has to save us from the “rise of the machines”, but, sadly, he can’t do it all by himself.  That’s why the President at Halcyon Games, Cos Lazouras, gave us a look at the upcoming Terminator: Salvation video game. 

Expect an in-depth look at the title’s take on a “3D” cover system, teammate cooperation, rail-shooting levels and more.

Terminator: Salvation launches May 19 on the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 right before the feature film hits theaters on the 21st.

Disney has released a new video clip from Pixar’s upcoming movie Up on Hulu introducing us to Dug, a talking dog that is very delightfull. Anyway, Carl and Russell come across Dug while wandering through the wilderness in South America.

In addition, the clip also features a gigantic rainbow colored bird nicknamed Kevin that has been following the duo since Russell feed him a chocolate. 

There isn’t a gamer out there that didn’t express a bit of concern when it was announced that BioShock 2 would have a Multiplayer mode. But, luckily, it seems that 2K Games doesn’t want you to worry about it.

When speaking to Gameplayer, BioShock 2’s lead level designer Hogarth de la Plante had this to say about the Multiplayer situation.

“We recognise that people might be cynical about a multiplayer mode,” he stated. “A lot of us are big single player fans also so in no way does it compromise the single-player experience.”

Producer Mellisa Miller added that the decision to include online play had not been taken “lightly,” but refused to detail the new mode.

Beside being leaked on the internet a couple of weeks ago, it seems that it didn’t stop the beast from unleashing in the box office this weekend.

According to USA Today, the fourth movie in the X-Men franchise, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, took in an estimated $87 million in the box office since its release on friday, which, in short, means that the movie surpassed the studios expectations of $70 million – but, sadly, it still didn’t meet the standards set by Iron Man last year ($98.6 million).

“We sweated this one out,” says Chris Aronson, senior vice president of distributor 20th Century Fox. “But the exit polls are terrific, with nearly half the audience saying it’s better than they had expected. It really comes back to Hugh (Jackman). I think audiences have a tremendous appetite for both Hugh and his character, Wolverine, that he really created.”

In the words of the famous Robin – who isn’t in this game, apparently. “Golly Gee Willickers BATMAN!” Today, Eidos revealed that “FreeFlow Combat” trailer for the upcoming title, Batman: Arkham Asylum. The trailer showcases the Dark Knight utilizing the unique FreeFlow combat system to chain together unlimited combos seamlessly and battle with huge groups of The Joker’s henchmen in brutal melee brawls. Batman even takes on the immense Bane character in this action packed trailer.

After multiple weeks of speculation, we have finally learned that Troy Polamalu of the Pittsburgh Steelers and Larry Fitzgerald of the Arizona Cardinals will be sharing the cover of the Madden NFL 2010.

It’s the first time in 21 years that EA has decided on two athletes for the Madden cover. However, Grand Slam Tennis and Fight Night Round 4 -  which are both releasing this year - also feature multiple athletes on their respective covers.

Wait!?!? These are the same two players from the same two teams that were in this year’s Super Bowl. What are the chances?

Electronic Arts revealed a June 30 ship date for EA Canada’s Fight Night Round 4 (PS3, X360) in this new trailer, which hypes the sequel by punching Round 3 in the face.

 ”What we’re really trying to deliver is the most realistic simulation of the sport of boxing ever in a video game….Fight Night Round 4, you see a much more fluid, natural game.”

“[In Fight Night Round 3], you often found that the gameplay degraded into two guys standing in front of each other and trading blows,” says producer Brian Hayes. “You saw a very scripted, very repetitive experience where people stood in front of each other.”

Fight Night Round 4 will feature over 40 licensed fighters. There will be several new modes – such as the Legacy Mode.  The game’s cover will feature Muhammad Ali and Mike Tyson.

She’s mad, she’s bad, she’s Harley Quinn. Anyway, yet another Batman: Arkham Asylum trailer has been released this week. However, this one shows off  Harley Quinn’s barely-encased body instead of a killer roid jockey named Bane. 

“In Batman: Arkham Asylum Eidos and Warner Bros. are building a true action adventure game experience worthy of gamers and fans,” said Phil Rogers, CEO of Eidos Interactive. “Players become Batman, like he has never been seen before in a video game, as he fights through intense circumstances in Arkham Asylum utilizing his intuitive detective skills and aggressive melee attacks.”

In the latest episode of GameTrailers TV, 2K Games revealed the first proper showing of the sequel to BioShock, BioShock 2, in the form of a trailer, which was handed down to GTTV. The sequel looks very remanisant to the first game, but instead of playing a person who stumbled upon the Rapature after a plane cash, you’d be taking on the roll of the first ever Big Daddy. BioShock 2 is set to be released on the PS3, Xbox 360, and PC in late 2009. 

Remember when Capcom was nice enough to announce Lost Planet 2 via Xbox Live but only for the 360, and how there was a ton of speculation on whether, or not, it would be coming to PS3?

Well, it looks like Capcom is still thinking about it, but let’s hope they come up with something, soon.

“We’re still thinking about it and haven’t announced a PS3 version, so we can’t say more about it just yet,” producer Jun Takeuchi told Gamesradar.

Takeuchi explained the reason as of why they revealed the game via Xbox Live.

“We wanted to show the game first and foremost to fans of the original Lost Planet,” he added. “We talked to Microsoft about doing it this way and they were interested in it as well. Also, I think it was a unique and memorable way to announce the game.”

Final Fantasy XIII has been a long time coming and, as you know, Square Enix’s title has a huge burden on its shoulders. With five years of hard work along with time and money invested, the latest full chapter of the Final Fantasy series needs to deliver on all levels.

“There is an unusual sort of pressure on Final Fantasy XIII,” said producer Yoshinori Kitase when speaking to Edge Magazine. “I’d say we need this game to have ten times the success of these smaller titles.”

“But I don’t think that means we’ve compromised in terms of the game design or creativity in any way. Indeed, the development of the game has very much followed in the tradition of the previous titles in the series, welcoming input from the full range of development staff.”

FFXIII has been in development for about five years now. The demo will be out in Japan later this month.

[EDGE Magazine via EDGE]

Capcom has finally confirmed that the Resident Evil 5 Versus Mode DLC will be released on Xbox LIVE and PlayStation Network this week.

Available from tomorrow, the DLC will set you back $5 on PSN (or 400 Microsoft Points) and it will included the following new multiplayer modes:

Slayer – A point-based game that challenges players to kill Majinis.
Survivor – Players hunt the most dangerous game, each other!

Players can pick from Chris, Sheva and any of the hidden characters in a one-on-one or two-versus-two setting for either gameplay modes.

Sony Computer Entertainment America hardware marketing boss, John Koller, told the guys at VG247 that their upcoming online shooter, Massive Action Game (MAG),  is only possible on PlayStation 3 gaming system. 

“If you look at that competitively, it’s something that’s only possible on PS3. The,  the ability of PS3 to showcase 256 players at any given time, and their actions,” Koller said at GDC last week to VG247. “It’s basically like an iteration of SOCOM, where you’re maybe commanding the SEALs, and someone else has the Rangers, and the Green Berets, and so on.”

MAG was  revealed at last years E3 2008 and when released will be the first console title to include up to 256 players on screen – something that has never been done on any other gaming system before.

A THQ rep has confirm with us today that Red Faction: Guerrilla has been given a release date of June 9, 2009.

Along with that, we were told that a demo will be releasing on April 23th with any GameStop pre-order of the game, which gives you about three weeks before its release date. 

In Red Faction: Guerrilla, the protagonist Alec will be able to run, jump, hijack vehicles, and use weapons to traverse across the open world of Mars and fight the EDF (Earth Defense Force).

Weapons in the game will include; machine gun turrets, rocket turrets, remote charges, a sledgehammer, machine guns, along with many others. Red Faction: Guerrilla will feature a third-person point of view - all previous Red Faction games were played from  a first-person perspective.

GameTrailers TV just released the first ever teaser trailer for Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack In Time. The teaser focuses on the supreme power of time and the consequences that will result if time is manipulated. Of course, that means that some bad guy will create ‘A Crack In Time’ and that means it’s up to Ratchet & Clank to seal it. Ratchet and Clank: A Crack In Time will arrive in stores sometime in Autumn 2009.

Max Payne 3 is scheduled to hit the PC, Playstation 3, and Xbox 360 this winter – which Rockstar Games announced this morning.

The game, Max Panye 3, will stars series know main character, Max Payne, in where he has now lefted New York and his job at the NYPD behind. When openning this new area in his life, he is somehow betrayed and “trapped [with]in a city full of violence” – sounds like a typical day in the life of Max Payne.

However, it now appears like if we’d be getting older Max Payne, much like what happen to Snake in Metal Gear.

“We’re starting a new chapter of Max’s life with this game. This is Max as we’ve never seen him before, a few years older, more world-weary and cynical than ever. We experience the downward spiral of his life after the events of Max Payne 2 and witness his last chance for salvation.”

Since leaving the NYPD and New York itself behind, Max has drifted from bad to worse. Double-crossed and a long way from home, Max is now trapped in a city full of violence and bloodshed, using his weapons and instincts in a desperate search for the truth and a way out.

As we were told many times before, Batman: Arkham Asylum will feature many other characters from within the Batmen universe, and one of those characters within that universe is The Joker’s main sweetie, Harley Quinn.

A scan from a magazine has revealed has revealed, what looks like, a picture of Arkham Asylum’s version Harley Quinn, and man is she hot. But, design wise, they’ve been sticking closer to the dark and grittier comic styles for the Dark Knight and his foes.

“Batman: Arkham Asylum offers players the chance to battle Gotham’s worst villains with Batman’s physical and psychological strength in a graphically distinct and story-driven game,” said Martin Tremblay, President, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment.

“We look forward to working with Eidos on expanding DC Comics’ world-renowned character Batman in the game space with a noticeably different feature set in an incredibly dark interactive environment.”

UbiSoft has confirmed that the sequel to Call of Juarez, Bound in Blood, will be headed towards stores sometime in June, which was stated via a release schedule.

UbiSoft’s release schedule doesn’t give specific dates for each versions, so as of right now the game looks like it will release on PS3, 360, and PC on the same day. It is stated that the game will be a, “bigger and better adventure to fans of shooters and the lawless Wild West.” Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood will release on the PS3, 360 and PC.

Chris Kramer has stated  that Resident Evil 5 signals a new direction for the survival horror series with it “waving goodbye” to many of the story lines and characters seen in previous installments.

When speaking to the Major Nelson, in his recent podcast, Kramer stated that, “It’s a really good time for new players to jump in, because what we’re doing is kind of waving goodbye to a lot of storyline elements from, essentially, act one of the Resident Evil franchise.”

“Resident evil 5 is really setting the franchise up for what’s going to happen now going forwards, so establishing new characters and storylines, and pretty much a new direction for the game.”

“If you’re late to the party and you haven’t been playing the games for the past 15 years, all you need to know is that the game’s a lot of fun and just filled with action, so you don’t have to worry about the plot, as we’re kind up picking up and starting afresh.”

The first BioShock title was all about single player even with the latest re-boot on the PS3 stayed within those factors.

In the latest issue of Game Informer, which included some very in-dept info on the upcoming game, Bioshock 2, it revealed plans for a multi player mode and co-op component.

Detailed for the multi player modes aren’t thin on the ice right now, but we believe they will revealed the modes soon.

Black Rock Studios have been hard at work trying to push the racing genre by developing many over the top racers, seeing that last years high-flying ATV racer, PURE, was just the tip of the iceberg. The developer is now working on a street racing game entitled, Split Second.

An exclusive trailer debuted on GameTrailer’s GTTV showing cars flying into a city with dangerous environmental hazards – which are activated by the drivers in the game. This is sure to be something worth waiting for.

Anyway, Split Second is definitely a new look at the racing genre and we believe that the guys at Black Rock Studios know what to do, to insure that this a quality racer.

We all have been wondering when our favorite anti-hero Cole McGrath would be taking a trip onto our console with is ‘electrifying arsenal of superpowers’.

Now, reports have indicated that inFamous will be headed our way in an worldwide launch this June. Along with the announcement, the official PlayStation Blog tells us that the game will indeed be getting a demo. They also have revealed that details on the demos release will be coming shortly.

They also revealed the box art for the upcoming game.

Killzone 2 has accumulated to a great start  last week and there is nothing like coming in first place. Despite not being a top dog, Guerrilla’s First Person Shooter (FPS) became fourth fastest selling Sony title ever released in the U.K. falling right behind Gran Turismo 5 Prologue.

Halo Wars then came in at second place, which makes it the best selling Xbox 360 game this week. While the sales for Street Fighter IV where down by 49% from the previous week. Wii Fit felled to fourth place then came Professor Layton and the Curious Village at number 5.

Ignition Entertainment has confirmed that King of Fighters XII will be coming to the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 this Summer. The game has had its up and downs as of lately with one of the longest development cycles for any series title to date, but that is okay. Only if we can get a great game at the end.

But, with time we’ll be able to see how the game has been rebuild from the ground up – with an all new engine and a in-depth improved character sprites. Speaking of, you can view the trailer here.

At the DICE ’09 conference, John Riccitiello told the attendees at the conference that the current recession has been ‘a blessing in disguise [so that] we can clear away junk’. Stating that the overall goal from this is that the developers can ‘stop sending pointless product to retail stores’. ‘Junk is hard to compete with,’ said Riccitiello. He felt that developers should shift their focus on quality and away from quantity.

‘We did get fat in too many places. It seemed like anyone who could draw a guy with a gun with a crayon could get funded. At least for EA, we got a little too fat, and a little too reliant on where things were,’ he continues. ‘I’m not pro-recession but to quote Rahm Emanuel: never waste a crisis.’

This is a great wake up call for developers atleast they can wake up before it  became too late.

The day that we’ve been waiting for is finally upon us. Today, Nintendo confirmed that the DSi will be in U.S. markets on April 5, 2009  and that it will be launching in black and BLUE - blue being a new color – for the price of $169.99.

The DSi, which has been on sale in Japan since November 2008, has only been available in black and white. And it features two 0.3 megapixel cameras, larger screens, a new SD card slot and better speakers, but, sadly, there isn’t a Game Boy Advance cartridge like the others.

“Ever since the arrival of the first Game Boy, consumers worldwide have turned to Nintendo for their portable gaming,” said NoA sales boss Cammie Dunaway. “Nintendo DSi builds on Nintendo’s commitment to bringing fun and creative entertainment to everyone, and will allow consumers to personalize and share their very own experiences.”

The details that were released last week where very vague as SEGA gears up to to release Alien vs. Predator across all platforms. But, somehow they are now able to reveal to us the release target on when we will be able to see Alien vs. Predator along without other upcoming titles.

The title is being developed by Rebellion Developments , who worked on a Alien vs. Predator game back in 1999. The press release also stated release plans for other SEGA titles coming in the future.

-Wii – Sonic and the Black Knight – 13th March 2009
-PS3/ X360 – Virtual Tennis 2009 – May 2009
-Wii – Let’s Tap – Summer 2009
-Wii/ DS – Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games – Late 2009
-DS – Phantasy Star Zero – Added to 2009
-Aliens Vs Predator – Added to Early 2010

The God of War, Kratos, is back for an extended view of the trailer that we got viewed at back at last years VGAs. The trailer looks absolutely amazing, but be warned you may be blown away, if not, let us know!

A Sony rep has confirmed that the trailer is live action, meaning that it was taken from actual gameplay. But, franchise fans will notice the absence of some signature elements; enemies here aren’t dropping light orbs, the person playing the game isn’t being given on-screen button prompt when he – or she - goes in for the gory mini-boss kills. Lucky, Sony has confirmed to us that those elements were removed from the trailer for presentation purposes.

In the pages of Game Informer it revealed yet another strongly awaited title that’s sure to keep you wanting more. The new details are from the cover article of the magazine, which is about God of War III, but the only way you can find them out is if you read them below.

Kratos will be battling plenty more foes, with as many as 50 enemies on screen at a time, as opposed to the max of 15 found in previous games; He also has a new ability that allows him to “control” certain monsters; There will be much more differentiation between the weapons, allowing for more variety in combat; Enemies will have improved AI, and will also feature much more visual variety; There will be more boss fights as compared to the first game, but fewer than the second; As per usual, there will be no multiplayer component.

A YouTube video has hit the web proclaiming that it’s the Dead Rising 2 trailer and guys close to Capcom have confirmed that is this the real deal.

I had a chance to contact a rep from Capcom and nothing can be ‘officially said’ because they cannot confirmed anything just yet. But, from this video we can find out some  information about Dead Rising 2.

The video has a reference to a drug that turns out ‘to almost be complete effective’ against the outbreak. Anyway, the video then moves to a casino it shows Isabella Keyes from the first game pushing a giant hamster ball, which they say is a new weapon from in the game.

However, if the video is true, it appears to confirm that Dead Rising 2 will be set in Las Vegas because of the casino parts of the trailer, but as of now, one can only wait and see.

Jigsaw’s, the guy that we just love to hate, will finally be getting a release date after some, foolish, talk that the game would never see the light of day.

Konami today revealed that it has come to the table with a deal with, Lions Gate Entertainment is to continue the work of  Brash Entertainment, after the the studio closed it’s doors late last year. The deal would entail the movie game so that it will release around the the same time with Saw 6, which is Fall 09.

Here’s a quick question. Are you guys into the Saw franchise? If so, are you looking forward to the game? And we all know that ”The Sicko can’t be let down. Let’s play a game.”

What villain comes to your mind when you think about Batman? Regularly people pick the The Joker because they can’t forget his smile and the brains behind his coning . But, what happens when Batman catches The Joker, and his plan was to be caught by Batman? Well, my friend, that were this story begins.

The other day we had the chance to view, what is the first, true plot twists in Batman: Arkham Asylum in the form of a trailer, so we have decided that to do our impressions on the trailer, but was it really what we hoped for?

At the beginning of the trailer, we got to test what was the first test of voice acting in Arkham Asylum, a woman on a helicopter radio informing someone that ‘The Joker has been detained and that Batman was on his way to Asylum’, which is the mad house for all the baddies of Gotham.

After that, the trailer goes to the meeting of both Batman and Commissioner James Gordon, which highlights the words from Joker, ‘new security system, how a man supposed to escape from here’, or something like that.

And that’s were it starts to get interesting, when going in through the new steps of detainment using Joker as an example to show Batman, Joker head butt’s one of the guarders and frees himself starting what is a mayor plot twists in the game.

By doing this he turns all of Arkham into his-own-sick-little-play-ground. Now, apparently, Batman is going to have to stop him, but sadly that’s all the trailer had to give about the story, but it did give, what looks like, gameplay. And it looks amazing.

Adding all these things together it looks like Batman: Arkham Asylum can’t disappoint, but really what does one have to say about gameplay, well I can’t going into to details about anything in-game at this point, mainly because we weren’t shown anyway in-game points, but from the out look of it, it looks purely amazing.

SEC chairman Kaz Hirai said in an recent interview that he believes that the PlayStation 3 will outsell the Xbox 360 by the end this generation.

“Unless things go really bad,” Hirai told OPM. “There’s no way that at the end of a life cycle our competition is going to have a higher install base.”

“With the Xbox – again, I can’t come up with one word to fit. You need a word that describes something that lacks longevity,” said Hirai.

“Last time I checked, they’ve never had a console that’s been on the market for more than four or five years and we’ve committed to a ten year life cycle, so you do the math.”

The Sony executive says that regardless of install base he’d “like to think that Sony would continue official leadership in this industry.”

Resident Evil 5, by far, has shown some very interesting showcases in its video library, but its yet to show something like this. As a timed exclusive to Gamekyo, Capcom has revealed an new story trailer that shows some very important spoilers from Resident Evil 5. The game will be heading your way in March. Also Capcom is planning to release a demo for the game this week so watch out for the demo.

Update: G4 has posted the extended trailer from the game. Looks better than the original.

Original: Lead Animator, Tomas Hrebicek, has confirmed that the recently released Mafia II trailer was all created in real-time.

“It really was,” said Hrebicek. “All the scenes were completely created in our editor the same way we create cutscenes for the game. Our cutscene editor is a very powerful tool. Besides, we can see it all real-time which makes our work a lot easier. There was absolutely no need to modify the resulting video in the post production.

“Because everything was created solely in our editor, only our in-game scenes and models were used. So what you see here is great representation of the quality of work that you will see throughout Mafia II. Of course, this is not the end yet, and frame rate and other technical issues are still being tweaked in order to have the game working smoothly on all the platforms we create it for.”

In the current issue of GameInformer, in their Loose Talk section, it reveals that they think that RockStar North are working hard on the next Grand Theft Auto installment and they have set an release date for this holiday 2009.

“We’re not talking about new DLC or a collection of previously available DLC, we’re talking about a full retail game,” explains Game Informer. “We expect this title to follow the suit of previous GTAs and use a subtitle such as GTA: San Andreas, etc. Tokyo might be a possible setting for the game, but details are non-existent currently.”

While this intelligence is massive for many,  if you look back down the road we may remember that when Grand Theft Auto 3 was released RockStar Games did managed to get GTA: Vice City in as little as 12 months. Rockstar Games also loves holiday release dates an they have released about eighth games launched in the holiday gaming schedule. A October 2009 release would allow around six months longer than was required for Vice City.

Since E3 ’08 we have known about I Am Alive and since then we haven’t known much about the game, but it looks like UbiSoft is ready to come out about the title. This news comes from the cover article of GamesTM, which is about I Am Alive. And as it turns out that, Raymond isn’t as involved the title as we where led to believe.

The article reveals that the team over at Darkworks, best known for survival horror game Cold Fear, has no idea how that rumor got started. But, in Raymond rumored place stands senior producer Alexis Goddard.

“We encourage the players to use tactics, diversion, and discretion,” said Goddard, mentioning that an empty shotgun can be very persuasive if enemies don’t realize it’s out of ammo.

As for comparisons to Mirror’s Edge that will undoubtedly be brought about by the game’s first-person platforming and use of violence as a last resort?

“We wanted the player to really feel the power of Mother Nature, to feel the danger coming from the collapsing towers and devastating rifts, feel the chaos happening all around him. There’s nothing like a first-person view to create that kind of emotion.”

[First Details on Ubisoft's I Am Alive Unearthed via 1UP]

Probably one of the most under-appreciated titles in 2008 – it even won many “Most Overlooked” Awards – it makes sense that the title would be getting a re-release in the part of the world that RPGs are most dominant. After all, there were many reports that the game was not selling well in North America.

Now, however, it looks like Sega is scheduling a budgeted re-release of Valkyria Chronicles in Japan on March 5, and the game will include the Edie Nelson mission(s), which is currently only available via download on the Japanese PlayStation Store. The price has also dropped down to 3,990 yen, which is just about $44 U.S, give or take.

There is no word on if the title will re-release in North America, but there is a strong change that they will benefit from such a move. This will also help the popularity of the title in Japan, but this time let hope that they advertise the game better.

Ubisoft has this afternoon responded to pro snowboarder, Shaun White’s apparent confirmation that a second Shaun White Snowboarding title being in the works.

White had told Reuters, in an article published yesterday, that, once again, a second Shaun White Snowboarding title is in the works. Here’s what he said word for word;

“Now that I have the knowledge and I can speak to programmers better and I understand a lot more about what’s possible and what’s not possible, this will all help with the next game.”

But, when a Ubisoft spokesperson was contacted by VideoGamer.com this afternoon, the spokesperson informed that; “[Ubisoft has] not announced any plans for future projects with Shaun.”

While this maybe true, this does not mean that the game is going to have the title “Shaun White” in it, or that it is a follow-up to the snowboarding game.

Back in when the first F.E.A.R. launched on the PC back in 2005, it had captured the hearts of many on the PC with it’s second to none graphics, and very intelligent AI, and creepy gameplay. But, when the game was released on consoles it was covered with the signs of a slushy port. Now, Dave Matthews, the primary art lead for F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin, has assured that this will not be the case with the newest game.

When speaking with CVG, Mathews said that he believes the poor console ports of the first F.E.A.R., handled by Day 1 Studios, caused the franchise to loose some potential fans.

However, Monolith is taking charge of all three platforms this time: “Now we’re handling all three versions, we’ve changed our development structure to develop all three SKUs simultaneously and there’s no lead platform. While there will be some slight variations between the different versions, so if you’re on PC you can push some things further, our main goal is to make sure the experience is synonymous across all three platforms.”

A genius parody has hit the Interweb, which was made by Kevin Pereira, entitled “Kevye West: 808’s and Expirations Dates (Guac Lockdown)”, which is an obvious pun on Kanye’s latest album, 808s and Heartbreak.

The video is a strong parody of Kanye West’s  not so great performance at SNL, which you can check it out at DailyMotion. And apparently his pitch vocal auto-correctors,  reportedly, weren’t functioning properly that performance.

This Thanksgiving season was a not a pretty one for this seasoned voice actor. After being shot during the Mumbai terror’s attack last month in India, Michael Rudder was released from an Indian hospital yesterday morning.

Upon his release, he was greeted by his loving friends and family – while in a wheelchair.

When in the wheelchair Rudder expresses his love, saying that he received a “great gift” from his experience.

He also said he owed a debt of gratitude for the “enormous outpouring of love” he received from people all over the world after the attacks. “I’m going to get a sign that says ‘World’s luckiest guy,’” Rudder said, most likely, with a smile.

He also offered a prayer for the people of India still reeling from the deadly series of attacks that rocked the country’s financial capital and left more than 170 people dead.

Rudder survived by playing dead in a pool of his own blood before being rescued. Rudder, along with his acting work, has also worked on a long list of video games, including Splinter Cell. While he is recuperating, we hope that he has a safe recovery that gets him back on his feet doing what he does best.

Montreal actor wounded in Mumbai attacks returns home (CBC)

Okay. It’s not really ready yet, but it will be making its way onto a console near you very soon, Nov. 19. As of right now, the update is sitting in a sever farm at Microsoft Headquarters just waiting to make its way down your Ethernet cable straight into your 360, but from this video, after the update is complete, you’ll be truly into a the New Xbox Experience. That’s geared to any genre that makes you a gamer. The update is set to bring a profound change that will bring a new ever lasting appeal to a bigger audience.

Rumors have been going around that there’s going to be a new “Killer Instinct” video game, that’s because of the many easter eggs Rare left for the fans to find in both their games and in the shape of cards for Viva Pinata. I just hope that Rare’s fans can handle this news because it’s true, along with some others games that will be releasing. According to a easter egg in Rare’s recently released game Banjo Kazooie, there will be a new Killer Instinct game and it is aready in pipeline. The easter egg goes on to say that, “They’re all in pipeline, you know. New Killer Instinct, BatlleToads and Jet Force Gemini Games. Even Ghouls 2! Oh, you’ll never believe that. I have ruined my own humorus jape.”

[Rare drop a massive bombshell hidden in Banjo Kazooie! via CrankyGamersUK]

Well, this just proves that the game isn’t that bad, like as I stated in the article I wrote. According to The Canadian Press, James Bond 007: Quantum of Solace is the second most rented game in Canada on both the 360 and PS3. The game is only second to Resistance 2, on the PlayStation 3, and on the 360 Gears of War 2, which isn’t bad for a movie game. The game is also number one on the Nintendo Wii in Canada. The movie was released two days ago in theaters in the US and was given some very high review all over.

[Blockbuster Video Top 10 game rentals list per platform via The Canadian Press]