Multiplatform:
Batman: Arkham City (360, PS3)
Ben 10 Galactic Racing (360, PS3, Wii, DS, 3DS)
Family Feud 2012 (360, Wii)
Jane’s Advance Strike Fighters (360, PS3, PC)
Jimmie Johnson’s Anything With an Engine (360, PS3, Wii)
Rocksmith (360, PS3, PC)
The Sims 3 Pets (360, PS3, 3DS, PC)
Skylander’s Spyro’s Adventure Starter Pack (360, PS3, Wii, 3DS, PC, Mac)

Microsoft:
Jonah Lomu Rugby Challenge (360)
Minute to Win It (Kinect)
PowerUP Heroes (Kinect)
Sledgehammer (360)
Tropico 4 (360)

Sony:
Everybody Dance (PS3)
Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja Impact (PSP)
Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One (PS3)

Nintendo:
Bigfoot: King of Crush (Wii)
Gem Smashers (3DS, Wii)
I Spy Castle (3DS)
Jungle Speed (Wii)
Pet Zombies (3DS)
Petz Puppyz & Kittenz (DS)
Professor Layton and the Last Specter (DS)
The Price is Right: Decades (Wii)

Look at that list of games!!! And yet, Batman: Arkham City is the only thing that didn’t seem a chore to mention.

By the way, I try to correlate release date information from several different sources. A few of these games had three different release dates depending on the source, especially the Nintendo stuff. If you see something you want but it doesn’t look available, look around. It may be available from a different retailer, or it may still be coming soon (as in it’s been delayed but not well announced).

The second day of New York Comic Con has come to a close and I’m resting my feet back  at a friend’s place in Queens. Today was fantastic – lots of great interviews, panels and special events. The highlights of my day included interviewing Chris Sabat, Justin Cook, and Sean Schemmel from Dragon Ball Z, seeing Joe Simon (who just turned 98 years old on Tuesday) at his panel “My Life in Comics,” and getting an up-close glimpse of Stan Lee meeting colleagues at the Archie Booth on the show floor. We’ve got a lot of great stuff coming up for you once we get a chance to get it all edited and web-ready, but for now I wanted to share some photos with you from Thursday and Friday. Enjoy!

Be sure to check back soon for our interviews with Tom Morello, the Skullgirl’s creative team, Kevin Conroy, Bruce Timm, Andrea Romano, Chris Sabat, Justin Cook, Sean Schemmel and more!

I earned my platinum trophy on inFAMOUS 2 last night. What a great game. After viewing both the positive and evil karma endings, without spoilers, I think it’s safe to say that an inFAMOUS 3 should be pretty much out of the question. It’s so hard to believe that anyone would just end such a successful franchise, but it would be refreshing. Movies, TV, games, comics, all of these media seem to suffer from the same problem. Nobody wants to end on a high note if they can keep making money. Oh well, on to the news, which is chock full of comic goodness.

After the leaked trophy list and additional artwork, Rocksteady has finally made an official announcement regarding Nightwing in Batman: Arkham City. Nightwing will be playable in all challenge maps, including two add-ons – Wayne Manor and Main Hall. He also has his own special moves and gadgets, taking full advantage of his twin fighting sticks. As with the other characters, you can expect at least one additional (animated) skin. You can download Nightwing, and Robin if you don’t get him through pre-order, on November 22nd for $6.99 each. The additional skins for Batman himself that have been spread around to retailers across the world will also be available December 6th for $4.99. The game will be out on Tuesday, October 18th.

If you like your playboys a little less stealthy, and little more… well, smarmy, there’s good news on the horizon. Replay Games has secured the rights to Leisure Suit Larry and have promised HD remakes for your download service, as well as new adventures for the lovable Larry Laffer. Leisure Suit Larry In The Land Of The Lounge Lizards will be released to PSN and XBLA “as soon as it’s suitably awesome!” Which is expected to be fourth quarter of 2012. The best part of this news is that Al Lowe, Larry’s creator, is back on the job, overseeing all Larry productions in his new home at Replay. Development will be handled by Adventure-Mob.

If you’re looking forward to Final Fantasy XIII-2, you may want to load up on Microsoft Points or PSN Cards. Square Enix is planning a strong amount of DLC for the upcoming RPG. And they’re not just talking extra costumes and weapons, though they’ll have those too. Yoshinori Kitase, Producer, recently told a Japanese gaming magazine, Dengeki Playstation, that they’re planning one or two add-ons per month. It’s when he went on that I got confused. Kitase mentioned that the player may have to kill a certain enemy or accomplish some other goal to gain a DLC item. So we’re paying for a chance to unlock an item, not for the item itself? I’m hoping something is lost in translation. I’m thinking if we buy an extra mission, one of the rewards for the mission would be special items. That’s much more like the Fallout 3/New Vegas model. But Japanese gamers and developers don’t always think the same as their Western counterparts. We’ll find out when the game releases in Japan in December. But it won’t be relevant for the rest of us until January 31st.

You may be wondering why I said you want to stock up on PSN cards in that last story. Why wouldn’t you just use your credit card? Remember that fiasco where Sony had been hacked and some users information was breached? No, not that one from Spring of this year. The one that happened earlier this week. In case you missed it, 93,000 Sony accounts were hacked. Click here to read about it in more detail.

When you bought the inFamous 2 Special Edition, you were supposed to get early access to the Uncharted 3 beta. Turns out, because of Sony’ first hacking breach, everyone ended up with PS+ and got in at the same time. Despite that, it was a cool bonus. One of Sony’s flagship franchises hooked you up with the beta for another one of their flagship franchises. Now it’s Drake’s time to return the favor. If you buy a new copy of Uncharted 3 (starting November 1st) you’ll get a voucher code for early acces to Starhawk‘s multiplayer beta. No word yet on when that early access will begin, but the public beta is scheduled for “early 2012.” Which means you could possibly be getting a start on Starhawk as a nice Christmas present.

If you’re itching for details on Gran Turismo 5‘s DLC pack coming next week, here they are:

• The Racing Pack: 12 new cars (Dodge, Honda, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Subaru, Toyota), three custom carts, Red Bull X2011 Prototype, $7.99
• The Course Pack: Belgian Spa-Francorchamps track, indoor karting arena, $4.99
• The Special Paint Pack: 100 extra paint colors and finishes (incl. aluminum, chrome, and matte), $1.99
• The Racing Gear Pack: 25 new helmets, 15 race suits, Simpson helmets, Alpinestars GP1 overalls, plus famous NASCAR and WRC driver gear, $2.99
• The Complete Pack: All four of the above, $11.99 (discount planned for PS+)

Looking for the next title in the list of games no one wants? Here it is: Men in Black III. You have no idea how much I wish I were kidding. But it’s going to be a major blockbuster next year, it requires a video game, doesn’t it? I don’t suppose Activision would consider actually making this game fun would they? It looks like it could have some awesome third person shooter gunplay, a la Mass Effect, but it probably won’t. I’m expecting it to be on the same level of quality as the last two travesties in the series. It’s scheduled for Spring 2012, near the release of the film, so there will at least be some good games in the time frame.

There is at least one movie tie-in game on the 2012 horizon that could be pretty good though, The Amazing Spider-Man. I don’t think anyone ever believed there wouldn’t be a tie-in for the web slinger’s latest film outing, but its existence was apparently confirmed by a poster seen at New York Comic-Con. I don’t have a super-great picure of it, but rest assured, the Activision and Beenox logos are on the poster, and you can just barely see the Rating Pending logo on the bottom left. Beenox is the developer who recently overhauled the Spidey gaming franchise with Shattered Dimensions and Edge of Time. Hopefully tying a game in with a movie won’t affect their already proven formula too much. Expect the game to release around the same time as the film, July 4th, 2012.

In other Marvel news, Zen Studios, makers of Zen Pinball and Pinball FX (depending on your console), announced at San Diego Comic-Con that they had four more tables coming to their popular line of Marvel Pinball. Called the Vengeance and Virtue pack, the plan is for two Vengeance tables and two Virtue tables. The first half of the Vengeance team has been announced as the Spirit of Vengeance himself, Ghost Rider. But who’s the other half? My guess is Punisher. And who are the two Virtue characters? We’ll know one of them tomorrow. At the NYCC Marvel panel, from 1:15-2:15 Saturday, they will be making the announcement of the first Virtue table. If you aren’t bloodhounding everything that comes out of NYCC, just check back here on Tuesday. I’ll have the update. And, as if that isn’t enough, Zen Studios has also announced that Marvel Pinball is coming to the PlayStation Vita whenever it is the new handheld launches. And it’s going to be a launch title.

Comedy Central’s latest gaming venture is South Park: Tenorman’s Revenge. You’ll be able to play as Cartman, Kyle, Stan, and Kenny with up to four players, locally or online. The South Park kids will be battling Scott Tenorman and his Ginger army in Spring 2012, only on XBLA.

In other news on the downloadable front, Payday: The Heist (PSN exclusive) and “The Missing Link” add-on for Deus Ex: Human Revolution have both been listed for release on October 18th. Payday is a first-person co-op shooter that is included free for anyone who purchased all four PSN Play titles. It’s $20 if you haven’t. The Deus Ex DLC expands on Adam Jensen’s time aboard the Belltower freighter and will cost about $15.

That wraps it up today. Come on back on Tuesday for another round of gaming news. I’ll be sure to include everything I can find from NYCC.

MARK DAGO; “Kill Screen” (Earthburn Records)
WHO’S RESPONSIBLE? Mark Dago (lyrics, words and vocals)

As crazy as it sounds, there occasionally exist things that make even this Prince of Dorks feel insufficiently nerdy. Well, almost.

Take, for example, “Mark Dago Presents: Kill Screen,” a hip-hop/nerdcore mini-album that is touted on its cover as being “For
use with stereophonic technology.”

For those who might be unfamiliar with Dago, he’s a Utah-based musician/rapper who has performed in Rotten Musicians and the Numbs. “>And he’s even free-styled onstage with Chuck D. and Public Enemy. So what I’m saying is he’s legit.

His latest solo work explores his preoccupation with video games (especially the old, “8-bit” versions) and other forms of gaming. And it uses available video game music and sonic re-creations as the musical backing (if you’re a veteran gamer, you’ll recognize at least a few sound bites).

Luckily, it’s not nearly as insufferably “inside” or nearly as cutesy as you’d expect such material to be. Dago’s credible, convincing raps and rhymes make “Kill Screen” more than palatable … they make it very enjoyable. Just try to resist the pulsating “Megamanic.” I dare you.

Although it is largely a solo work, there are contributions from some of Dago’s usual collaborators, such as Rotten Musicians mate Daniel “Fisch” Fischer, who produced “Kill Screen” and contributes vocals to “The Low End of Doom.” (The nine songs were recorded by Salt Lake City music legend Andy Patterson, who’s smart enough to know that Dago’s vocals need to be pushed up in the “mix.”)

By the way, while “hard copies” of the CD are on sale locally, at such stores as Uprok, you can also download “Kill Screen” for free at Mark’s Bandcamp site. But you really should give Dago some monetary love. It’s only right.

Jerk-bot is the robotic nom de plume of Utah-based movie and music reviewer/writer Jeff Michael Vice, who invites you to enjoy his other endeavors, for Xfinity’s Big Movie Mouth-Off review program, MSN’s Parallel Universe and MSN Movies, Now IN Salt Lake magazine, X-96′s Radio From Hell, Geek Show Podcast and the Mediocre Show.

Editors note:

You can check out Mark Dago and Fisch performing tracks from Kill Screen on Park City TV below:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yD3T5Yp865E

As if the PSN debacle earlier this year wasn’t enough, Sony has announced that 93,000 of their online accounts have been accessed by a(n) unauthorized user(s). That’s a big number, but 93,000 actually makes up less than one-tenth of one percent (0.1%) of their total user base. Of the 93,000 accounts breached, 60,000 are from PlayStation Network (PSN) and Sony Entertainment Network (SEN). The other 33,000 are from Sony Online Entertainment (SOE).

Sony has locked out all of the affected accounts and are investigating the security breach. Philip Reitinger, VP & Chief Information Security Officer for Sony Group, assures that very little damage has been done:

“Only a small fraction of these 93,000 accounts showed additional activity prior to being locked. We are currently reviewing those accounts for unauthorized access, and will provide more updates as we have them. Please note, if you have a credit card associated with your account, your credit card number is not at risk. We will work with any users whom we confirm have had unauthorised purchases made to restore amounts in the PSN/SEN or SOE wallet.

I’m not privy to any more details, but that actually does reassure me a little. The way I read this statement, Sony had enough early notification of the breach to lock out most of the accounts before any unauthorized purchases were made. It’s also important to note that it appears their recent security upgrades to separate users’ credit card information from the rest of the account was successful. Reitinger’s statement indicates that only the funds currently in the accounts’ wallets was at risk, not the owners’ credit card information. If you were one of the unlucky 0.1%, and, even more unlucky, had additional activity prior to lockout of your account, they’re going to work with you to restore those lost funds. Which is all well and good, except you still had your account hacked less than a year after Sony had one of the most extensive hacking cases to date!

I’m glad to see Sony has taken steps to protect our information. I’m glad to know that they were able to freeze these accounts prior to any real damage being done. I’m glad they are taking swift and public action, not trying to minimize the damge (unless, of course, they are and I don’t know it yet). But this is pretty terrible. After the devastating PSN attack earlier this year, Sony made a lot of promises about their security upgrades. While I realize no system is 100% safe, I would expect Sony to have the type of security that would make “too big to fail” banks jealous. If only just to show their commitment to data protection.

In the meantime, for those of us not affected, let’s hope Sony is more vigilant and has taken further steps to prevent this from affecting us in the future. For those who were affected already, you should be seeing an email from Sony informing you that you’ll need to change your password. Remember, a strong password is your primary defense against intrusion, since you clearly can’t count on everyone’s internal security. Use a good mix of letters and numbers. Include symbols if they’re allowed. Mix up your upper and lower cases. I know how big of a pain it can be to have separate passwords for all of your accounts, but it’s a good safety measure. If you have “pa$$w3rd” to protect both your email and your PSN account, you’ve now had both of them breached. I hope it wasn’t your online banking password too.

EDIT: Sony has since clarified that the attempted breach came from an individual or group that were testing a massive number of log-ins with passwords against their network. Because of the number of failed attempts, it appears the information was not gathered from their databases. It would appear the 93,000 accounts breached used the same login and password combination on whatever service is the source of their information. Under these circumstances, I feel that Sony’s response time is actually quite admirable. And it appears the advice from my last paragraph is more apt than I had expected.

Dragon Age: Redemption premiered today on youtube and has already garnered 66,000 views as of 5PM. The show is the first of its kind –  the main character, Tallis, has been taken from the Dragon Age II video game and made star of a web series based on her quest. Felicia Day had been approached by Bioware and personally put a lot of time and effort into the project, and so far the web series is looking fantastic!

Felicia Day said on her blog about the new series:

“I believe this is the first time a project has taken a character from a web series into a video game as a playable character, and if you know me, you probably can tell that I am more incentivized by innovation rather than pay checks  As a big Dragon Age fan I am thrilled to be able to use their epic fantasy universe to tell a story I created, and then live IN their universe as the character.  I did full mo-cap and vocal recording, over 12 hours worth, so this is a truly innovative project.  I really hope you enjoy that adventure, Tallis is a fun character to play with!”

The first episode is fun and shows a bit of a dark side to Tallis, an elvin assassin who must succeed in her quest or risk losing everything – including her freedom. If you’re playing Dragon Age II – you’ll note that this storyline takes place alongside the story in the game, and that Tallis is now available as a playable character in the DLC  Mark of the Assassin. Watch the first episode here and let us know your thoughts!

https://youtu.be/-093SQo9NWM

Don’t forget to check out our upcoming New York Comic Con coverage later this week! We’ll be bringing you a very cool interview with Ms. Day herself. Let us know here if there are any questions you’d like us to ask!

Everyone gets a treat this week. We’re skipping my editorial introduction and jumping straight to the news:

As I mentioned a little while ago, Shank 2 is coming to your download service early next year. Over on the Shank Blog they’ve been supplying plenty of details about the sequel, along with some video and screen shots. Among the upgrades you’ll find in the franchise’s second title are a Survival Mode where you can team up with a friend to outlast hordes of enemies, more weapons in combat (plus the ability to use counter moves, forcing an opponents weapon against them), and more destructible environments.

As we get closer to the release of Hitman: Absolution, I’ve been slowly remembering all the things that made this such a fun series from beginning. But when it was first announced, all I could remember was the agonizing difficulty and the sheer insanity of trying to get the perfect kill, making it look like an accident and not harming anyone other than the intended target. In fact, my memory of the difficulty actually made me think twice about whether or not I would play this iteration. And it seems there is a contingent of gamers who think exactly the opposite. With the announcement of some of Agent 47’s new abilities and more options for run and gunning, many hardcore gamers were quite vocal about their disppointment. Square and IO have put their fears to rest. Hakan Abrak, Lead Producer, has explained there will be hardcore difficulty mode that really focuses on the precision of being a “Silent Assassin.” According to Abrak, “There’s a huge replayability value in it and we have some features in the game I cannot speak about that will enhance this and make this easier, and heighten the replayability value for the hardcore players as well.” Sounds like they’re working to cover all of their bases. If you like to collect Trophies and Achievements, you’ll need those hardcore assassin skills.

As mentioned last week, and multiple times over the last several months, rumors still abound over the possibility of multiplayer in Mass Effect 3. Casey Hudson of BioWare has officially confirmed that co-op multiplayer will be in the game. [And let me just express how far I think our world has fallen when “official” announcements take place on Facebook.] “Rest assured, it’s nothing of what you’ve feared,” explained Hudson. Yet the details look like exactly what I’ve feared. The main gist is four-player online co-op where you can choose from four classes to lead an elite squad to retake key galactic positions. Multiplayer progress will have a direct impact on your single player campaign. Sure, you can still get the “optimal, complete ending” without multiplayer, according to BioWare. But is that really believable? Multiplayer may not affect my story, but if I can see wide swaths of the galaxy that I haven’t protected, I’m not going to feel it’s complete. That’s like saying it won’t affect GTA IV‘s story if you don’t kill all those pigeons. It doesn’t, but have you really completed the game if you don’t kill them? Of course, my concern has never been that I would be forced to play co-op instead of single player. I’m more worried that they’ll put so much effort into the new modes that the core experience won’t get the development attention it deserves. BioWare has tried to reassure others with that concern by announcing they have two different development teams working separately (but together) on both the multiplayer and single player experiences, not one team for each project. How is that supposed to make me feel better? It’s quite obvious I’m skeptical and pessimistic. I encourage you to read the FAQ posted on the BioWare forums to get it all with their spin. Regardless of my trepidation, I’ll still be picking this game up on March 6, 2012.

The latest casualty in the wide world of video game delays is Silent Hill: Downpour. Originally planned for November 4th, no explanation has been made for the push to Second Quarter 2012. It’s very likely they’re just looking for that extra level of polish or cleaning up some minor glitches. Those are typical of late game delays. My guess? They actually looked at the market they were entering and made an economic decision to avoid some of the huge titles coming and move into the more open market of Spring.

The PlayStation Blog recently exposed a new addition to the PSN version of Rocketbirds: Hardboiled Chicken, a couch co-op mode. I was expecting something along the lines of Contra, but their description takes it to a totally different place. The co-op characters, a group of parakeets (budgies) known as the Dirty Half-Dozen, are significantly smaller than the main game’s Coq of War. Meaning they’ll have to stand on each other’s shoulders to reach certain areas and combat some enemies. The bottom budgie will control movement, while the top one acts as a sort of turret. When they first started working on co-op, it was sort of designed as just a tacked on selling point. But once they got started, it expanded. This is now a fully featured separate mode with new levels, new puzzles, and its own back story. If you’re looking for that $10 rebate after spending $60 on PSN this month, this looks to be a good addition. It releases October 18th.

Now do you see why we skipped my editorial introduction? It’s because I had enough of a rant in the Mass Effect 3 multiplayer story. Come back Friday for more gaming news.

Ticelli Bot is back with a second look at PS3’s Afrika – released by Rhino Studio’s in 2008 in Japan and 2009 in the U.S.

Afrika is Rhino Studio’s first attempt at creating a game on the PS3. Unfortunately, reviews have been mostly unfavorable as it just doesn’t appeal to most audiences. Most people I talk to about it just assume that it’s just insanely boring. Actually, I’d be willing to bet that most gamers today who would even turn it on wouldn’t last 15 minutes before switching it out for Call of Duty or Grand Theft Auto. The reason, I believe, is that modern gamers need that constant barrage of stimulation to the senses and this game is presented at a much slower pace. However, I have always been a huge supporter of new ideas because the thought of another cookie-cutter FPS makes me gag. I will admit that my first impressions of Afrika were…

…well, a bit off. Don’t get me wrong, I was really excited to play this title, but I was a bit skeptical. I mean, back in the day (and by that I mean 1999), Pokemon Snap rocked my world, but Afrika? I’m no longer going to be taking photos of my favorite Pokemon spewing supernatural powers, instead I’m going to go out to a savannah and snap photos of antelope, flamingos and beetles. Woo. Eventually, when I finally did get to play the game, I was pleasantly surprised. The first couple parts of the game are spent riding around with a chauffeur as he shows you a couple of the landscapes. He lets you out of the jeep every now and then so you can get used to the free roam mechanics. (If you get the chance, take a photo of the driver, it’s worth it.)

I was both amazed and disappointed by the graphics. The animals are beautifully animated with realistic motions and impressive interactions with the environment around them. Also, the camera and camera equipment, at least in the upgrade shop, are quite intricately detailed. Even when you are taking photos and adjusting the camera settings, such as the Aperture or Shutter Speed, it’s quite realistic as to how this affects your photos. Unfortunately however, the environment detail is where the graphics fell kinda flat, much like the environment itself. The ground is mostly a nondescript mixture of greens and browns, and some poorly rendered bushes and trees amongst the wasteland. There are a couple nice environments you get to visit but for the most part it’s just more of the same. I guarantee that the bushes in this game will most definitely be your biggest pain in the ass. I would like to invite you to just take a look at these methodical..conniving..underhanded…bushes:

Countless times have I been driving over the crest of a hill just to find a bush on the other side. You’re thinking, “No big deal,” right? This wouldn’t be a problem, if not for the bushes being made out of wrought iron! My very first time seeing one of these bushes I thought, “Hmm, this jeep going at 30-40mph and therefore, should just crash right through these puny bushes,” but boy was I wrong. No matter how fast you are going, when you crash into the bush, you are brought to a complete stop. Then, you have to wait for you character to feel like putting the jeep in reverse. You sit there for a solid 5 seconds or so before the driver finally puts the jeep in reverse…and those are some tedious 5 seconds after the 80th or so time you run into a damn bush.

I digress.
The gameplay works well enough, but definitely could have been touched up to run a little more smoothly. Walking around, driving, crouching and climbing up trees can become a little tiring. There was multiple times where my character decided to run in circles while I was trying to make him run away from a pissed off baboon. Damn monkeys made me lose my film so many times. That’s right, if you get charged by a rhino, mauled by a hippo, or even trampled by elephants, your character gets away unscathed but you lose all your film. You aren’t hurt, your camera stays in perfect shape, but the film that was inside the camera is destroyed. What the hell.

Next are the missions. They are presented to your character via in-game email and are the driving force of the game. The missions are always photograph animal “X” doing action “Y” and it doesn’t ever get too difficult. Doing missions gives you more money to upgrade your camera and buy more equipment. The missions also allow you to open up more areas and teach you new techniques in photography.

For me, there is just something satisfying about capturing the perfect shot of a giraffe eating leaves after being hidden in a tree for several minutes or setting up a trap camera to get pictures of unsuspecting meerkats. My favorite part though has to be the special event missions. The very first one, you are trying to take a photo of a cheetah hunting an antelope racing over the desert at 60mph. These events take some time to unlock though and aren’t what you’ll be doing most of the time.

All in all, I think Rhino Studio’s had an awesome idea, created amazing animals and camera mechanics…then half-assed everything else. I haven’t even mentioned that there aren’t any voice actors in this game and everything is presented in text. This is almost unheard of in today’s console generation. If nothing else, I supported a company trying a new idea and I don’t regret buying it.

I give Afrika on the PS3…

3/5 Indestructible Bushes

Multiplatform:
Ace Combat: Assault Horizon (360, PS3)
Dead Rising 2: Off the Record (360, PS3)
Red Dead Redemption: Game of the Year Edition (360, PS3)
Wipeout 2 (360, PS3, Wii, 3DS, DS)

XBox 360:
Forza Motorsport 4
Kinectimals: Now With Bears
Michael Phelps: Push the Limits
Sesame Street: Once Upon A Monster

Nintendo:
1001 Touch Games (DS)
Aliens: Infestation (DS)
Dance Dance Revolution II (Wii)
Go Vacation (Wii)
Mahjong Cub3d (3DS)
Marvel Super Hero Squad: The Infinity Gauntlet (3DS)

Sesame Street: Once Upon A Monster is a weird one to talk up, but I’ve been doing it a lot. I haven’t played it, but Double Fine is a great developer and the concept of this game just seems so fantastic to me, especially as a Kinect title.

Looking for your first taste of Need for Speed: The Run? The demo will be hitting your download service on October 18th. Two pieces of the Frisco to New York course will be available, California’s Desert Hills and Colorado’s Independence Pass. I’ve been over Independence Pass in the snow. I’ll be curious to see how well EA Black Box is able to recreate it. Of course, the demo won’t recreate my experience, as you’ll be doing it in Lamborghini Gallardo or Porsche 911. I did it in a rented Toyota Yaris with my wife in the passenger seat clutching a duckie pillow and cursing my ancestry for at least seven generations. The full game will be available November 15th.

Preorder incentives have been announced for The Darkness II. It appears the bonuses are not retailer specific. Rather, the preorder simply gives you a free upgrade to the Limited Edition. Included in this edition are the “Crazy Abdul” skin for your Darkling minion, the Gourmet Hearts ability (bonus for eating hearts), Relic Hunter ability (helps to locate collectibles), and a code for free digital downloads of Volumes 1 and 2 of the digital comic. Not a bad addition just for knowing you want it before it releases in February.

As mentioned in Tuesday’s edition of VGQH, it looked like Nightwing was going to be making an appearance in the much-anticipated Batman: Arkham City. As expected, Rocksteady has confirmed that appearance with pictures of his alpha build (looks kinda emo, but whatever). The most recent issue of PS3’s Qore also included a new video revealing the Mad Hatter as a villain, alongside his white rabbit henchmen. This only has me even more excited for October 18th.

If you like really hard puzzles and Assassin’s Creed Revelations, Ubisoft is giving you a chance at the trip of a lifetime. Head on over the their contest website and sign up. You’ll get one Strand from the Animus every seven days, and you’ll get one chance to solve the Strand each day. The contest ends November 8th. The winner will get a four night trip for two to Istanbul (flights and £500 spending money included). I don’t know about my puzzle skills, but for that kind of opportunity, I’m definitely giving it a try.

A recent issue of VGQH mentioned a European trademark application for Yakuza: Dead Souls, which we speculated was a localization of Yakuza: Of the End. The speculation was correct, as SEGA has confirmed the title is making its way west. The Japanese DLC will be included as well as a new mini-game, Pachislot. The game is scheduled for for March 2012, but if you have a Japanese PSN account you can play the demo now.

Another item that was covered some time ago was the upcoming DLC for Duke Nukem Forever, “Hail to the Icons.” The expansion, which includes three new modes and four new maps liberally taken from well-known multiplayer franchises, has been given a release date of October 11th. Yeah, that’s next week. It’ll set you back $9.99 for regular people. First Access Club Members get it free.

Sony had an awesome teaser for something last week. We’ve finally seen it and you can too, right here on Big Shiny Robot! Turns out it was an advertisement for an advertisement. But if the teaser was awesome, the full ad is even better. Somehow they managed to basically make a short film that almost brought a tear to my eye and made me proud of all the time I waste playing games. It begs the question, if I don’t stop that plague in New Marais, or get Drake out of a tight spot, what will become of them?

Transformers games have been a mixed bag over the years. Developer High Moon made one of the best by telling us the story of the Autobots and Decepticons before they came to earth in War for Cybertron. They’re now set to follow that up with their next entry, Transformers: Fall of Cybertron. I have very little information on it, as the developers have given Game Informer the exclusive premiere of the game. What I do have is the two covers for the November issue of the magazine. As soon as I get more details, you’ll find it in a later edition of VGQH.

Remember how Warhammer 40k: Space Marine was supposed to have four player co-op, but it didn’t? Relic and THQ were quite open about wanting to release the game even though that mode wasn’t ready yet, with the promise that co-op DLC would come soon after release and would be free. They are holding to that message. You’ll be able to download the free “Exterminatus” co-op add-on starting October 25th. This gives you three character classes from which to choose and two scenarios in multiple arenas. XP earned in co-op does transfer to competitive multiplayer. Andy Lang, Producer, says they are “…working on some more DLC.”

Just for fun, I thought I would end this edition with some updates from my GameFly GameQ. My top five games requested are 1. Spider-Man: Edge of Time, 2. X-Men Destiny, 3. Captain America: Super Soldier, 4. LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean: The Video Game, and 5. Catherine. Hmmm, those first three seem to be making a pattern. Someone might get the idea I like Marvel comics. Collectively, the user ratings for my Top 5 average 7.0. X-Men Destiny is lowest with a 5.2, and LEGO PotC is highest at 7.8. Alternatively, I keep my “coming soon” games at the bottom of the list until they release. It says something about this time of year that I currently have eight games in this section: Batman: Arkham City (10/18/11), Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception (11/1/11), LEGO Harry Potter Years 5-7 (11/11/11), Assassin’s Creed Revelations (11/15/11), SSX (1/24/12), Mass Effect 3 (3/6/12), Tomb Raider (TBD), and Hitman Absolution (TBD). I won’t necessarily wait for GameFly on all of those, it’s just a good way to keep track of everything I’m awaiting. Anything with really high replay value I’ll probably end buying – meaning Mass Effect 3 is basically preordered.

Do you have GameFly? What’s in your Top 5?