The holiday releases may have slowed, but with everything from Cold Stone Creamery to Your Shape to Scene It? Twilight coming to Wii, they certainly haven't stopped.

Go ahead and hit up the full list, or, if you're looking for a particular system, skip right to the PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii, Nintendo DS or PSP section. Should you want to check out any past release lists, scope out our handy archive.

Barring any delays, this week's retail releases should be on North American store shelves by Wednesday, November 25.

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With the weekend now underway, please remember to be careful out there. You never know when it could happen. All it takes is a few seconds and you've already lost.

On a related note, be forewarned that some may also attempt to establish their dominance as "Pants King" or "Pants Queen" by removing yours. Belts FTW.

With my hands-on impressions of ModNation Racer posted now there's a whole other conversation we got into during my visit up there that I want to bring up. This is the second game built under Sony's "Play, Create, Share" banner. I remember being absolutely sky-high for LittleBIGPlanet at about this same point in its development when they finally turned us loose with it. But numerically successful as it may or may not have been, LBP hasn't had anywhere near the impact or gathered close to the energy around it that I thought it would.

We came up with a number of suspects for its fate but because there's not really any other similar games to compare to it's hard to validate any of them. I think a large part of the problem traces back to the control issues throwing people off when they play LBP. No matter how creative users may get with their designs it still has to be fun to play. And playing ultimately is the core. While everyone may play around with creation tools I suspect that in the end if the game were thriving you'd see a very small percentage of users actually hardcore designing levels and the vast majority playing them and potentially talking about them online.

There's of course more to it than that -- organization and presentation of the stuff people create, ability to share it in a number of places such as friends in the game, online, outside the game on the Net, etc. Accessibility of the whole design idea -- building entire platforming levels is a big undertaking, etc.

Instead of either creating or playing LBP over the weekend I'll be getting deeper into Dragon Age: Origins and dropping zombies in L4D2. If you need a little break from your games here's some stuff to check out:

• BioShock Multiplayer Trailer Shows Killing Spree
• We Pray Church Simulator Turns Out to be Another Dante's Inferno PR Stunt
• Rival Stardock Estimates Steam Holds 70% of Digital Distribution Market
• Sims 3 Video Mocks New Twilight Movie

And before I head off into the sunset Friday came through with an extra eclectic collection from the rest of the feeds:

Ireland out plays France but still has World Cup hopes done in by completely blown handball call that led to the winning goal.

Not sure whether we need to brace for the end again but the European Large Hadron Collider is back online.

Three hundred employees from the richest firm on Wall Street volunteer to take out the Thanksgiving trash.

Might want to be careful buying cosmetics as it seems Peruvian gangs may be killing people to drain their fat and sell it on the black market.

Update: Devolver has issued forth a new trailer for Serious Sam HD (embedded below), which concludes with word that the downloadable Xbox 360 edition will hit in December.

Original: Croteam's modern day revamp of Serious Sam: The First Encounter will hit PC on Tuesday, November 24, producer Digital Devolver has confirmed via Twitter. The download will be available through Steam and Got Games, with Steam offering pre-orders 10% off its $19.99 asking price.

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A downloadable Xbox 360 version of Serious Sam HD is also in the works, with Devolver recently noting that Microsoft should set the release date "soon." For a glimpse of how far Serious Sam has come, check out this trailer for the 2001 original... Read more

'The Watchers,' a new trailer for Capcom's upcoming title Dark Void, jet-packs in a healthy dose of antagonist-driven action featuring an ancient alien race called - you guessed it - The Watchers.

What they're watching, we're not entirely sure; however, we do know that they're armed with advanced technology and lethal firepower, on top of being kind of creepy looking. It's also worth mentioning that they seek to enslave the human race. Apparently, being banished to a parallel world called 'The Void' makes evil aliens cranky.

Dark Void is expected to release on the PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 in North America on January 19th, and in Europe on January 22nd. As reported yesterday, Brad Pitt's production company 'Plan B' recently acquired the movie rights for the game.

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Free Need for Speed Shift downloadable content is coming to PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in early December, publisher EA has revealed.

Hitting Xbox 360 on December 3 and then PlayStation 3 on December 3 (Europe) / December 10 (North America), the free "Team Racing pack" will bring five new "legendary" cars and a new team-based multiplayer mode to Slightly Mad Studios' racer.

Details on the new cars, along with a trailer examining the new mode... Read more

With the weekend approaching, it's time for another round of deals and discounts on PC games from the usual suspects: Steam, GOG, Impulse, D2D and GamersGate.

This week's sales include a number of LucasArts discounts, along with savings on Grand Theft Auto IV, Supreme Commander, King's Bounty, and others... Read more

Yesterday's PlayStation Store update was a crowded one, bringing forth a rather varied assortment of downloads for PlayStation 3 and PSP owners, including adhocParty.

A free download, adhocParty enables the offline-only adhoc multiplayer of select PSP games to be played online through a PlayStation 3 with all the PlayStation Network trimmings, such as voice and chat text. However, the PlayStation 3 must be connected to the internet through wire, as the system's wireless connection is utilized to transmit data between PlayStation 3 and PSP.

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Other new additions to the Store include PopCap's joyous ball-bouncer Peggle ($9.99), the Peggle Nights expansion ($4.99), PSOne Classics Resident Evil 2 and Legacy of Kain ($5.99 each), and demos of LittleBigPlanet PSP and PixelJunk Monsters PSP along with the usual smattering of downloadable content for Rock Band and Guitar Hero.

Explaining that "Sims fans around the world build their own stories and machinima and are acting out their own vampire love stories all over the Web," Electronic Arts has produced one of its own: "LOVE TRIANGLE UNDER THE SIMS MOON."

"In the end, it's not about who Bella chooses in the book that matters, because with The Sims it's all up to the players," added EA. "Who would they pick to live in eternal teenage bliss with? Our vote is Jacob. Everyone likes a built-in fur coat of the animal kind."

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Developer, publisher and digital distributor Stardock has released its annual customer report by CEO Brad Wardell, giving insight into its platform Impulse's competition with Valve's Steam as well as interesting figures and estimates concerning the past year.

Stardock estimates "based on discussions with publishers along with the numbers we are aware of" that Steam owns 70% of the digital distribution market, while Impulse sits in second with a 10% share and the remaining 20% is shared between all others.

The successes of Steam and Impulse are due in part, Wardell believes, to their digital exclusives. Impulse's include Sins of a Solar Empire and Demigod--which it publishes--while Steam has the Left 4 Dead and Half-Life developer's own games as well as third-party releases using Steamworks for DRM, among other functions.

Wardell describes Steamworks as a "challenge" for Impulse as it effectively creates Steam exclusives of games which are not technically such... Read more

If you've been itching to shoot and/or melee dinosaurs back into extinction, then you'll be happy to know a demo for Jurassic: The Hunted is now available on Xbox Live.

The 589MB download offers a sample of Cauldron's time-traveling shooter, which hit PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2, Xbox 360 and Wii on November 3 after being announced just two weeks before. Having purchased the game and played it to completion, I can say that it's an entertaining, though somewhat generic, experience ...but with dinosaurs!

Oh, and per usual, the Xbox 360 demo will only be available to Xbox Live Gold members for the next week, after which it will be available to free Silver-level accounts.

Offering the general public a chance to sample Star Trek Online prior to its launch in early February, developer Cryptic has announced that it will be hosting an open beta for the sci-fi PC MMO from January 12, 2010 through January 26, 2010.

Keys will be distributed on a "first come first serve basis" through the game's official site, the developer explained, with the company also offering up this new trailer:

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Once again, Electronic Arts has exploited Christians to help promote its upcoming video game adaptation of Dante's Inferno.

The official website for Mass: We Pray now unsurprisingly reveals the Church-centric mini-game compilation to be a hoax.

"He who betrays the beliefs of the Church blackens his soul with the sin of Heresy. A Mass not celebrated by ordained priest or on consecrated soil is naught but false ritual condemned by clergy," declares the message that pops up when users click to either pre-order the game or send a "digital blessing" to a friend. From there, users are presented with the ability to watch "an Exclusive Dante's Inferno Trailer" and the option to "Damn thy Fellow Sinners to Hell" through a "Go To Hell" Facebook application.

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"After all, a family shouldn't have to wait until Sunday to worship the Lord," read the original press release for Mass: We Pray, which described the title... Read more

Kart racing games often get thought of as offshoot projects from successful franchises with popular characters. Even the venerable Mario Kart owes a great deal of its success, or at least its acceptance, to a roster of drivers that includes its namesake, Luigi, Bowser, Yoshi, et al.

ModNation Racers (PS3) doesn't enjoy the luxury of such starpower and built-in fans to draw people in. But it does have its stars, an endless number of them, created by everyone who plays the game and that's only the tip of the customization in the game. Developer United Front Games hopes that turning people loose with the ability to make their own content for pretty much every aspect of the game will make this such an expansive karting experience that it stands on its own.

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Giving players the ability to make their own content is one thing; making it fun--and most importantly not frustrating--is another. The two-tier approach... Read more

New BioShock 2 gameplay footage has risen from the murky depths of the Internet to show a little from one of the multiplayer modes created by Digital Extremes for 2K Marin's subaqueous shooter sequel, including a glimpse of 'Trial' challenges.

BioShock 2 arrives for PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on February 9, 2010, with a swanky Special Edition packing Rapturian artifacts including a vinyl LP and posters.

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Harmonix has announced that Rock Band will celebrate next week's release of Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers' new live anthology box set with a six-pack of live tracks arriving as downloadable content, with P!nk, Kelly Clarkson and the Go-Gos as support.

Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers Live Anthology Pack
• Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - "A Thing About You (live)" +
• Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - "American Girl (live)"
• Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - "Even the Losers (live)"
• Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - "Here Comes My Girl (live)" +
• Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - "Mary Jane's Last Dance (live)"
• Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - "Refugee (live)" +
• Go-Go's - "Our Lips Are Sealed" +
• Kelly Clarkson - "Miss Independent" +
• P!nk - "Who Knew" +

All tracks are from original master recordings, and those marked with a cross will also hit the family-friendly LEGO Rock Band. Tracks will cost $2 a pop (160 Microsoft Points, 200 Wii Points) while the Live Anthology Pack will be priced at $10 (800 MS Points).

Xbox 360 and Wii players can rock out to the tracks from Tuesday November 24, while PlayStation 3 plastic guitarists must wait until Thursday November 26.

The Creative Assembly has released a handful of new screenshots from Napoleon: Total War, its upcoming strategy focused on the exploits of the Emperor of the French.

Players will be able to rewrite history by stepping into the boots of either Napoleon or his opposing generals in missions spanning his entire commanding career, from Egypt and Italy through Moscow and ultimately to the most Europop battle of all--Waterloo.

Napoleon: Total War is slated for release on PC in February 2010, published by Sega.

I've been holding off on buying Dragon Age: Origins because I cannot afford to be sucked into a huge, long and engrossing video game right now. Especially as I just bought Interplay's reissue of Planescape: Torment.

$30 (actually eighteen of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II's Great British Pounds Sterling as it's only in Europe, but this website is bigoted and refuses to recognise the legitimacy of my currency) for a simple re-release of a decade-old game has never been such a bargain. I only played a borrowed copy so this is pure joy in my hands.

I'm sorry, Dragon Age. I'm sure you are a very pleasant video game but surely you understand? Good. I'm glad. See you in a month or two, Internet.

Running down and still have some thoughts on ModNation Racers to get ready for in the morning. So it's a brief ER tonight. All I have to regale you with are a few random thoughts from my Canadian adventure: Tim Horton's coffee is good because it tastes like coffee. No matter how cold it is outside, having a hotel room that's burning up from a stuck heater is not cool. Alberta steak is really tasty. And man United Front Games has an amazingly awesome studio space.

Here's the rest of today's knowledge:

• 88 Second Video of Battlefield Bad Company 2
• New Dragon Age DLC Coming to All Platforms This Holiday
• PS3 Will Support Stereoscopic 3D With Firmware Update
• 3D Dot Game Heroes Video Rocks Zelda-like Blocks

Haven't had time to catch a whole lot else but some things you just can't miss. Like, think you've seen some good Black Friday deals? Well, how about tax-free guns in South Carolina? UPDATE: Okay, so that was a link to last year's. They're doing it again this year.

If that doesn't put you in the Christmas spirit how about lending some Alaskans a hand. They're trying to save the free holiday letter service that answers letters addressed to Santa Claus, North Poll.

In this new developer diary for Bayonetta, director Hideki Kamiya shares some more details about the hair-clad anti-heroine's over-the-top special moves called 'Torture Attacks,' and how they relate to her troubled past. According to Kamiya, the Torture Attacks are representative of the specific cruelties Bayonetta was subjected to as the sole survivor of a brutal witch hunt.

"The demons she summons symbolize her evil spirit in an extreme way," Kamiya explains. The trailer's most extreme example comes in the form of a gigantic demon Bayonetta can summon to nosh her enemies like handfulls of bloody Doritos. Crunch all you want...

Bayonetta comes out for the PS3 and Xbox 360 in North America on January 5th, and releases in Europe on January 8th.

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