It would be fair to say I’ve been mean to Sony in the past year. It would be more fair to say I’ve been mean to them for the 5 years before that. Ever since the PS2 killed my beloved Dreamcast, Sony has been on my bad side. But something changed.

Theres always been a slew of games I’ve wanted to play on Sony systems. Though I picked up a GameCube and an Xbox, it was pretty clear I was missing a LOT by not grabbing the other console. With the PS3 losing exclusives and the Xbox 360 so far ahead this time, I thought maybe I’d made a solid choice and wouldn’t be missing much. Now it looks like I’ll be missing a lot.

Watch the trailer for Ratchet & Clank. Even if graphical advances are all Insomniac has to offer in their newest game, the advances are significant. And it just looks fun.

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DC and Marvel scrimped on the news today (what, tired of talking World War Hulk, Amazons Attack, and World War III already?), but some interesting news did surface about IDW’s Scarface prequel, Gene Simmons diving into the comic scene, and some great Heroes DVD (and HD-DVD) news. Read on!
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Note: Despite the similarities in gameplay (the charging attacks and command ring menu system among others), this game is not in any way related to Square’s Seiken Densetsu series (speaking of which, I featured the third game on last week’s column), nor is it meant to be any kind of sequel or spin-off to Secret of Mana. However, those who played the game will discover that there are plenty of differences which will make this game stand out on it’s on, even if it isn’t mentioned in the same breath as Final Fantasy or Secret of Mana.
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The Legacy of Kain series was one of last generation’s most prolific franchises. Ever since Blood Omen on the original Playstation, gamers everywhere enjoyed the exploits of Kain, the nobleman who was unjustly killed and turned into a vampire. Being able to kill enemies by drinking blood and using an array of evil powers provided a refreshing change of pace from usual action games of it’s time. However, each succeeding entry in the series, from Blood Omen 2 to the Soul Reaver games, would have a few little things holding it back from being on the level of Castlevania and Mega Man in terms of gaming franchises. 2003s Defiance went a long way to addressing these problems.
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Yes, I realize we JUST had two separate conventions. Clearly, this is nowhere near enough of them. Clearly.

Continue on to read about Avengers Classic, Booster Gold & Infinity, Inc., and 9 new Marvel busts from Bowen Designs. All that, and the rest of the Day 1 roundup after the jump
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Xbox Live Arcade is on a roll. This week was TMNT. Last week was Worms. Before that we had Alien Hominid. What release could possibly trump 3 of the best games to hit the service so far?

Oh yeah. Castlevania: Symphony Of The Night. This classic from the 32bit era allows you to literally go medieval as you smash through giant bosses and explore the finer pits and dungeons of Romania.

Unlike your standard NES Castlevania where you took the role of one of the Belmont clan and brandished a whip, Symphony of the Night lets you use knives and stabbing weapons from the hand of Dracula’s own son, Alucard (which just happens to be “Dracula” spelled backwards!).

This is the biggest Live Arcade release yet, coming in at a whopping 96 MB, so make sure you’ve got your hard drive ready, this ain’t fitting on your 64MB memory card. All that space is of course taken up by the lovely English voice acting (“Die monster! You don’t belong in this world!”)

GameScore Blog Press Release

In the realm of webcomics there is no bigger name than Penny Arcade. So when they announced they were making a game, we cheered at seeing our favorite game critics become game characters… and then of course, feared that the game would be the type they’d normally criticize.

From this short preview, theres very little actual gameplay, but it looks promising. It appears to take place outside of the normal “Tycho & Gabe” world in one of their stranger made up worlds. Oh and theres the Fruit Fucker.

Something that is for sure is the game is being simultaneously released to Windows, Mac OS, and Linux. So anyone who can read the Penny Arcade comic can play the game! It’ll be episodic, but hopefully not episodic like S.I.N., which was cancelled after one installment or Half Life, which has its second release now over a year late.

Get all 59 seconds of the preview in quicktime, wmv. or HD. Oh and of course, if you didn’t know already you can read Penny Arcade the comic strip 3 times a week here.

Minimates are pretty hot lately and have announced quite a few new licenses that they have acquired. While all is well and good with expansion, we still appreciate that the current licenses are still getting their just attention. Battlestar Galactica is one license that got off to a very awkward start after DST and Art Asylum has some sort of…well, I’m not even sure what to call it, but the original plans for the first few waves were scrapped and DST set our expectations anew (and a little lower. We still want our Minimate Vipers and Raiders, DST!).

According to Minimate HQ, series 3 of the BSG Minimates was revealed in some promotional material at NYCC. The wave includes Kara Thrace & Lee Adama, D’Anna Biers & Sharon Valeri, Helo & Deck Chief Tyroll, and Helo & Tyroll (Chase). I’m sure Grace Park will be excited to see her likeness in a new mold. You can check out a full picture of the entire wave below.