Activision by way of GTTV on Spike has released footage of the next Transformers game. Looks like action gets pretty heavy with huge boss fights! Spot any favorite Generation One characters? Certainly looks like Ironhide doing that take down at about 1 minute in! A good mix of shooting and hand to hand combat will be key for this game, hopefully the promise of this trailer is realized when the game releases in May.

SoulCalibur 4 marks the current generation debut of Namco’s Hack ‘n’ Slash fighting game series. While the game has been enhanced in some areas (notably graphics and online play), the game tends to be somewhat lacking in others (story and single player content). Even so, fans of SoulCalibur will once again have a chance to enjoy another installment of the fun and fast paced action that the series in known for, and there are even a few surprises included as well.
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Rise of Legends is a sequel/spinoff of Big Huge Game’s Rise of Nations, which is one of my favorite PC RTS games. While it doesn’t stray too far from Rise of Nation’s formula, there are a few key differences in both the presentation and the gameplay. First of all, instead of a historical setting, ROL takes place on a fantasy world and tells a tale of 3 warring races: The Vinci are a steampunk style human civilization with mechanical units inspired by Renaissance painter Leonardo Da Vinci. The Alin are an Arabian-knights style group of creatures, magicians, and sorcerers. The Cuotl are a Meso-American inspired race of mythical creatures with advanced technology. You step in the role of an inventor out to avenge his brother’s death and finds something bigger going on, and the quest takes you through all three factions. The game’s factions include several hero units, and the 3D graphics give the game more impressive visuals.

Other than that, the gameplay will feel right at home for veterans of RON. The campaign makes use of a map similar the RON’s conquer the world campaign, and you’ll spend lots of time in battle researching and upgrading your tech tree. While Rise of Legends doesn’t reinvent the wheel, it is still an excellent RTS game, and it does a good job of following up Rise of Nations, even if its scope is scaled down in comparison.

You might see this game in a Best Buy or Gamestop and you may be tempted to pick it up, wondering why I haven’t already featured it as a $20 GOTW. Before you do, you should know that there is a much better version of this game available on PC for the same price. It has better level design, a better save system, more responsive play control, a level editor, and an online community with custom content and high score lists. It’s called Crayon Physics Deluxe.
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Apparently what started out as a little comment on the Twitter page of video game music icons Overclocked Remix has turned into a little quest for the members of the audio community. After being noticed by a gaming new blog, Press the Buttons, OCR decided that they indeed liked the idea of being put in charge of recording the soundtrack for the newly-dubbed Sonic the Hedgehog 4.

Overclocked is no stranger to gaming soundtracks. They produced the remixed album for the Street Fighter 2 Turbo HD Remix game released last year. It wouldn’t be that far off for the seasoned veterans of the community to pull out some original tunes inspired by the older Sonic games. However, even if Sega decided it might be a good idea, OCR might have to wait until Episode 2 was put into production, bow that Episode 1 is already slated for a release later this year.

Check out the Twitter Hype.

As they have done with their last 2 games, Bungie has begun a series of documentaries and preview videos showing the progress of their newest game.

Halo Reach footage shown here is very early, but shows promise. The game is expected to enter Beta Test in May, which can include any players who purchased their last title Halo 3: ODST, as an invitation will be available from the game’s title screen.

The above video is also available on Xbox Live in HD.

Our first in a series of Mass Effect 2 reviews: we take a look at how to import your Mass Effect 1 characters into the sequel, what bits of continuity to expect, and what to watch out for when playing the game.

(See more Mass Effect 2 videos after the jump!)

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They say there are only two things for sure in life: death and taxes. In the US, Tax day is April 15 and for original Xbox games, death comes the same day.

Microsoft has announced they’ll be shutting down online gameplay servers for all original Xbox games, including ones that are compatible with XBox 360. Star Wars Battlefront, Counter Strike, Splinter Cell Chaos Theory, Conker Live & Reloaded, and Halo 2 will no longer have online gameplay available.

Marc Whitten from the Xbox Live team posted an open letter to the community this morning detailing the closure and vague promises that shifting resources will allow new features in the future.

Those who don’t want to give up the original Xbox games or its community should check out XboxConnect, which has run unofficial servers for years.

Until that day comes, Powet will likely plan at least one last outing for Halo 2 so keep an eye out for a future game night.