With all the news flying out of Gamescon, you are no doubt thinking about PAX just 2 weeks away. For those of you lucky enough to attend, PAX will offer many unique experiences and plenty of time to go hands-on some fall releases. If you are going to be in attendance, I encourage you to visit the Torchlight booth (#872) and tryout one of the sleeper hits of E3 last June. Torchlight is a dungeon-crawling Action RPG from Runic Games, who just celebrated their first anniversary. A lot has happened for Torchlight in the last two months as they prepare for the fall release of the single player offering. Read More...

Sack it to Me – the "Big Announcements" Edition You ever hop into the level creator for LittleBigPlanet and feel like there was something missing. Something that stopped you from being able to faithfully recreate the entire game of Super Mario Bros. using their sandbox. Something you couldn't quite place your finger on. Something you had to muddle around with the jet packs a bit to get to work correctly as well as run a blue tint over the entire screen for immersion's sake. Ok, enough of that and on to the point. Read More...

After a viral marketing scheme by LionsHead Studios, we finally see what all the hub-bub was about. If you haven't been watching, the LionsHead website has been showing leaders of our time (Abraham Lincoln for example) and quotes underneath each one followed by a number. The numbers were counting down each day until today. Today also happens to be the opening day for GamesCom 2009. LionsHead Studios officially announced Fable 3 as well as posted the new trailer today. Read More...

Hades Boss Fight Round 2 So on Monday we were able to give you a nice view of what the Lord of the Dead would be looking like. We've seen him only in a few minor shots in the God of War FMVs before that. But now we get one further peek at how this epic boss/boss fight will look and feel. All of this through some more screen shots from the game and what is being shown at GamesCom. I know it is all Hades vs. Kratos in those shots there, but it still looks amazingly stunning. Read More...

Konami Unmasks the Belmont Clan in Castlevania: Lords of Shadow Just in case you forgot about the Castlevania game that has Hideo Kojima attached to it, due to being hit in the head with a baseball bat, let's give you a reminder. Yes, the man of Metal Gear Solid fame has his hands in the game. Yes, there are a lot of big names doing some of the Voice Overs. Yes it is a very well done looking next gen version of the franchise. But that was all that people knew of when they first announced and gave a short tease at E3 this year. Read More...

Lead Designer at Raven Software Offers To Pay For Wolfenstein In a stroke of what could be seen as marketing genius, or insane offerings by an over worked designer, the offer has been thrown out to get your copy of Wolfenstein paid for. All offered by the game's Lead Designer, Manveer Heir, over his Twitter account in the early hours of the morning on the 11th of August. There are a few catches that go along with this, but he swears he will pay for your copy if all the requirements are met. What would those requirements be? Read More...

Dante's Inferno: Gluttony Developer's Diary Continuing down the path of Hell from Lust, Visceral Games keeps with their fun and dark developer's diaries. This time they cover the third level, Gluttony. A level that should be as gruesome as the scene from Se7en and starts to look that way with some of the concepts they show in the video. One thing that kind of bothers me though is the fact that they talk a lot about defecation, feces, and poop in the video. A lot. Read More...

Announcing a BioShock 2 Pre-Order Bonus It was rumored all over the internet over the last week or so that everyone's "favorite" pre-order store, GameStop, was getting exclusive DLC for the multiplayer part of the game. Well at least that was one of the rumors abound the net. But it was one of the more solid ones. Especially since The Cult of Rapture, BioShock 2's official website, just announced that it is true. With pictures of the concepts to boot. Read More...

A very interesting tidbit came across my inbox this morning. At a Best Buy in Utah, there are some potentially devastating moves going on. Probably more of a test run than anything else. Best Buy is quoted on their in-store advertisement as saying, "Best Buy now price matches new video games at used prices from GameStop or Game Crazy." Thus far this has been the only store with such an ad reported, but the effects of this could be very far-reaching. Imagine just walking into a Best Buy with your GameStop weekly ad and utilizing the deal. Read More...

So here's why you should go to GameStop. So you want to play Madden NFL 10, who doesn't. Be the first to play it on Monday, as your local GameStop will be playing it in their PS3 demo unit. I have confirmed with several GameStop employees that they have received a PS3 version of the full game and will be putting it in their system after close on Sunday (I'm going to assume some are going to play it earlier). While playing it at E3 (keep in mind this was in no way a finished version of the game) I couldn't help but notice the fact that every single play seemed to include the gang tackles. While it was nice to show off the new feature of the game, EVERY SINGLE tackle was a gang tackle, something that is completely unrealistic, perhaps it was because they wanted to show off the new feature, but if it is in the final version of the game I will be very disappointed. Read More...

The original Way of the Samurai title was released on the Playstation 2 back in 2002. It was set in 19th Century Japan, where you would take on the role of a ronin who wanders into a remote village and becomes involved in a conflict between rival clans. One of the best features about this game was the branching storylines that offered some very solid replay value while at the same time offering enough in the way of varying weapons and side content to really constitute different gameplay experiences. Although the story in the first game follows one overall framing narrative, the actual events that the you would engage in really depend on the decisions you make. Some decisions, while seeming small, could affect who lived and died at the end of the story. Read More...

Do we really need another collector's edition from another high end game? In this case, yes we do. Assassin Creed II is joining Batman and Modern Warfare2 for the collectors edition party. It was announced Monday (August 3rd, 2009) on the Assassin Creed twitter that the second installment of the game will have a Limited Edition Gamestop Exclusive of Assassin Creed II. Which will only be available for the US and Canada on the PS3 and the Xbox 360. But the fun does not stop there folks, as when you pre-order the collector's edition from Gamestop you will also receive not one, but two exclusive maps for the game. Read More...

In need of a new RTS game before Starcraft II? Need some awesome online play? In that case, I recommend League of Legends: Clash of Fates. Did I mention it's free? Riot Games is bringing a new Real Time Strategy game to the field with League of Legends: Clash of Fates. This is a free online game, which made it's debut at E3 this year. According to the website: League of Legends is a competitive online game set in an imaginative world. Gamers take the role of a powerful Summoner, calling forth and controlling brave Champions in battle. Read More...

Since its inception in 2005, Video Games Live has been entertaining crowds across the globe.  With its epic scores, great energy and audience participation, VGL promotes the gaming industry in an extremely positive way.  Created by famous video game composers Jack Wall and Tommy Tallarico, the concert series’ agenda of solidifying game music as an art form and the games industry as a positive force are present and spotlighted but are carefully swaddled by the fun, excitement and showmanship.  The first show, in the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, had over 11,000 people and was instantly a phenomenon.  As the first few years have passed, the show has slowly made its way down to smaller cities and venues. Read More...

Previously Mike reported on an upcoming Street Fighter 4 tournament taking place August 2nd in Rockville, Maryland. The full article can be checked out here and here. In a move that could only be referred to as awesome goodness, Gamestop is now offering the title for $19.99. The details of the deal are as such: Step 1: Add Street Fighter IV for the Xbox 360 or PS3 to your cart. Step 2: Proceed to checkout as normal and your discount will be applied at checkout! You can check it out over at their "The Deal" site. Read More...