This week on Xbox Live Arcade, “Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader?” will be made available for download for $15.

If you pay and download this, the answer is: NO.

At Tokyo Game Show Bungie and Microsoft announced their next collaboration in the Halo universe. Called “Halo 3 Recon” its a Halo 2/3 Sidestory. A totally new campaign and a new hero, introduced in the above video. Could this be the rumored ODST tactical shooter we’ve been hearing about? Probably. Four Player online co-op, Multiplayer, Save Films, and Forge are all promised for the game. More details will be coming soon.

Personally I love that the Halo universe is expanding beyond John 117’s helmet, especially into different types of games (IE, Halo Wars), but the music in this trailer seems… familiar….

It’s been raining Castlevania these days it would seem. Two games, Order of Ecclesia and Judgment, will be released within the next few months; an arcade game is being released in Japan; the manga to Curse of Darkness is being translated and released here in the states – not to mention the live-action movie and the animated Dracula’s Curse OVA that are in production. You’d think this would all be enough!

It would seem series frontman Koji Igrashi begs to differ. He announced at the Tokyo Game Show that they have yet another Castlevania game in production to be released in the future for the Xbox 360 and the PS3. Iga dropped the bigger bomb when he said that this new game would be a direct sequel to series highpoint, Symphony of the Night.
[Read the rest of this entry…]

Set 20 years before “Halo: Combat Evolved” this is the opening cinematic for “Halo Wars”

GameTrailersTV has a longer look at the game, footage of gameplay, and words from developers Ensemble Studios.

And in a move that surprises no-one, Microsoft confirmed earlier this week that former Gearbox director of Technology Corrine Yu has joined one of the Halo Teams. Gearbox developed Halo CE for PC as well as Brothers in Arms. Former Bungie writer Frank O’Conner is also working at Microsoft on Halo. Oh and Ryan Payton, the Metal Gear Solid 4 producer who helped bring Hideo Kojima’s wacky world to life? He’s also leading a Halo team, quite possibly Halo 4. None of these people are working on Peter Jackson’s Halo project, which means there may be as many as 4 new titles in development. Get ready for Halo 4… as well as Halo Kart, Halo Party, and Halo Tennis

This is not to say Halo creators Bungie Software aren’t staying busy because they just released this clip last week… [Read the rest of this entry…]

This is the latest in Powet Editor Zac Shipley’s series on video game culture in Madison, WI for TheDailyPage.

Rock Band 2 retains title as the Golden God of music games
Music and video games have been naturally complimentary since the latter became complex enough to emit more than a single beep. Rhythm games have allowed players to experience music by tapping out beats on controllers, using dance pads, or even shaking maracas. But there has been no game as successful at simulating the truly American art form of rock ‘n’ roll as Rock Band. >More

Today we take a look at the Voyager Class Bulkhead figure from Transformers Animated. I managed to pick him up at Botcon and barely put him down since.

Show Notes:
Marvel figure close-ups from: MarvelLegends.Net
Bulkhead close-up photo from: Aftimes.com
Lugnut close-up photo from: TFU.Info

Show Clips were taken from the series as aired on Cartoon Network. Go watch the show! Its really great!

And the Pilot movie can be found here (it is NOT included in the Season 1 dvd set):	You can buy Season 1 here:	The figure can be purchased here:

Hasbro has some neat character bios up on their Transformers Animated site:
Transformers Animated Character Bios

I used to write about Halo on this site all the damn time. Thats when Halo 2 multiplayer was in full swing and Halo 3 stuff was still trickling out. Now Halo 3 updates are so frequent I can’t report on them all, and theres still no news of another game from Bungie Studios.

Well its not a new proper Halo game, but Ensemble’s Real Time Strategy based in the universe should still scratch that itch, at least aesthetically. And to prove that, here is the box art.

Click to maximize
We don’t know when its coming out. Early 2009, probably March or April. Are you interested in playing an RTS based on Halo? Can an RTS really be played with a controller? Does halo have a shot being out of the hands that made the first 3 games a success? Let us know in the comments section.

Ubisoft showed this scene with no set up and no announcement at their Ubidays Conference today. While clever game journalists were quick to identify “The Pig” as Uncle Pey’j from Beyond Good & Evil, theres very little happening in this preview. Is the unseen woman with the umbrella Jade? Wheres the aliens? Wasn’t their world mostly covered with water?
Its possible that the game isn’t not going to be called “Beyond Good & Evil 2” but without a doubt, we’re actually getting a sequel. Fans, you actually won this one. Ubisoft listened to demand and now even though BG&E wasn’t a platnium seller, we’re going to get a next gen follow up. Lets make sure this one sells well so we won’t have to spend 4+ years worrying about whether the story gets told.