New at Eurogamer today is this Dark Sector preview. The article offers hands-on impressions.

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George Gordon Haggard Jr says hello to his family in this Battlefield: Bad Company (PS3, X360) trailer

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Dark Sector, from Unreal Tournament contributor and Pariah developer Digital Extremes, has changed quite a bit since its initial design, but it seems to have settled into its final form at this point. The game, a third-person shooter, is set in the near future in the fictional Soviet state of Lasria. Some unidentified but apparently sinister thing has been discovered in an old submarine, and now a devastating mutagen is wreaking havoc on the human population.

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EA sends along a new Battlefield: Bad Company movie, offering four minutes of interview and in-game footage focusing on the Frostbite game engine. Bad Company is set for a March release on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

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Are you ready for another Battlefield game? DICE and EA hope so. They're bringing Battlefield: Bad Company to the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 next year. Featuring a single player campaign with destructible environments and sandbox gameplay, players will take a squad of "renegade soldiers" on a "personal quest for gold and revenge." There's multiplayer, too. Check it all out below, in screenshot and trailer format.

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Game Informer has posted a new preview of Battlefield: Bad Company, the new console action game. The article describes the Games Convention demonstration of the title.

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Gameplayer has a Dark Sector preview posted today, going hands-on with the third person action game in development at Digital Extremes.

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GameSpot is the latest site to feature a Dark Sector preview, going hands-on with the third person action game from Digital Extremes.

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As I entered the small conference room in a Santa Monica Hotel where D3 was holding its pre-E3 press event, I was immediately smacked in the face with the booming sound of competing game trailers. Like a horse wearing blinders, I ignored Naruto on the right and Dead Head Fred on the left as I made a beeline for Digital Extremes' third-person shooter Dark Sector. "Excellent," I thought, "I'm the first one here, so I can grill the presenter before anyone else grabs his attention." Glancing at the control scheme as I sat down, it seemed very similar to the Gears of War setup. I was told that the game's main character, Hayden Denno, is an elite black-ops agent tasked with tracking down a rogue agent who plans on unleashing a deadly viral weapon. Upon entering the fictional Eastern European town of Lasria, Hayden is attacked and subsequently infected with the same virus he was sent to retrieve. When he wakes up, Hayden sees that his right arm is visibly transforming, and realizes that he has also acquired a deadly new weapon, the Glaive. This lethal...err...arm-ament is always at his side, ready to shred anything it touches (besides Hayden's throwing arm of course). The Glaive resembles a giant shuriken, but returns to Hayden after every throw just like a boomerang. On top of its unparalleled slicing capabilities, the tri-bladed weapon can be augmented with various elemental powers such as fire and electricity. Imbuing the flying blade with fire is as easy as tossing it through a flame, and harnessing the power of electricity can be achieved by throwing the Glaive at anything from a short-circuiting power box to sparks on a power line. However, it only retains these additional abilities for a few minutes, forcing the player to apply them in the heat of battle for maximum effect. Not only is the Glaive used for shredding, electrifying, and burning enemies, but it is also necessary to solve certain puzzles. For example, halfway through the level, my progress was impeded by large vines covering an elevator in a dilapidated building. In the middle of a nearby room was a large stone pillar, and I had noticed something at the top resembling a heat signature as I fought through. After searching several adjacent rooms, I came across a spark- emitting power box, and tossed the Glaive into it to grab a charge. I ran out of the room and heaved the electrified tri-blade at the top of the pillar, which set the emitting gas on fire. Realizing that fire could probably burn the vines on the elevator, I took the fiery Glaive into the proper room, and chucked it at the nefarious greenery. Lo and behold, the vines burned up and I was allowed access to the elevator. Multi-stage puzzles like these aren't around every corner, but they do add a nice variety to simply killing every enemy in sight. At the start of the level, Hayden is equipped with only a pistol and the Glaive. It takes place in the pitch black of night, and the minimal lighting added a welcome bit of tension to my first outing. I jumped down onto the street and ran around inspecting the surroundings. Immediately noticeable was the fact that Hayden seemed to move rather slowly, but can move more quickly by doing a crouched run akin to the 'roadie run' seen in Gears of War. He also doesn't have a crouch button, but instead uses one context-sensitive button to duck behind cover and leap over low objects (sound familiar?). Everything I saw was rendered in rich detail, but no enemies were around. As I advanced over a manhole, I was prompted to enter, and upon doing so, came across the Black Market store. This is where players can purchase additional weapons and, although it wasn't in the demo, I was told that these weapons can also be upgraded. Having only picked up a few gold coins randomly scattered about, I had not acquired enough cash to purchase anything. Fortunately, for the purposes of the demo, I was able to enter a debug code and buy anything I desired. Since I have a certain affinity for one-hit kills, I bought the sniper rifle, exited the manhole, and proceeded to a large, open area surrounded by buildings. As I approached the fountain in the middle, shots rang out from my left and I ran to take cover behind some conveniently placed sandbags. In the distance I saw a sniper taking potshots at me from a second-story window, so I switched to the sniper rifle and took him out. Several soldiers in matching uniforms charged at me with guns blazing, and they didn't look like they were from the Lasria welcoming committee. Anxious to try out the Glaive, I quickly tossed it into the pack of soldiers without taking time to aim. It sang a song of severance as it removed one bad guy's leg and left him screaming in agony. The Glaive happily returned to my hand, and this time I aimed at one guy's head and let it fly. Needless to say, shooting guns is a bit more difficult when you have been decapitated, so I ignored the cranially-challenged bloody heap and charged over the sandbag at the last threat. Like a Ginsu knife slicing through a tin can, the Glaive perforated the armored soldier with little effort and he dropped to the ground. "Wow," I thought, "that sure was satisfying!" Advancing forward, I grabbed a machine gun off of a corpse and headed to my next encounter. Suddenly, a rocket zipped by my face and blew apart the car beside me, turning it into a burning heap of rubble. While one enemy was using a mounted rocket launcher, two others were covering him and several more attempted to flank my left. After I downed one with my new machine gun, it mysteriously dropped to the floor, leaving me with the Glaive. What the hell? "Oh, I forgot to mention that any weapon the player picks up is immediately dropped after fifteen seconds" I was told. "We want the player to focus on using their own weapons more than the enemy's." While this may have sounded like a good idea in theory, in practice it made me not want to pick up weapons at all. Hopefully, this brief time limit will be extended for the final game. I overheard someone saying that the Glaive can hit several targeted objects in one toss, so I decided to experiment. When the Glaive is in the player's grip, its aiming reticule can be held over enemies, flames, and electrical sources to target them. When successful, a small red dot is then placed on the target. If this is done consecutively, the Glaive will form its own path from one target to another. However, the player is given only has a few seconds to target enemies and objects, thereby making this ability as challenging as it is effective. I immediately targeted a sparking power line and then two enemies and let 'er fly. To my surprise, the Glaive headed for the last target first, and hit each target in reverse order. Ok, I'll just change the order and target the power line last. On my second attempt, the Glaive became electrified and then zapped two enemies, sending them into electric convulsions. Oh the humanity! I subsequently fought my way through a few more waves of humans and eliminated several packs of zombies. Shortly after solving the aforementioned puzzle, I arrived at the end of the level and was treated to a cutscene showcasing a three-story tall monstrosity killing everything in its path before bounding over a building. Wondering how in the hell I would be able to defeat something so gargantuan, the demo ended. Desiring more, I played through the demo again using only the Glaive. While it was difficult, leaving a bloody wake of destruction was very rewarding. With so much happening in the first level, I look forward to playing the full version of Dark Sector. Let's hope that developer Digital Extremes takes the time to polish this game before its release. If treated well, it has the potential to become a very successful franchise.

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There's a Dark Sector preview on AtomicGamer, going hands-on with a preview build of this third person action game.

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Over at GameSpy you can find a Dark Sector preview, offering impressions based on a recent demonstration of this third person action game.

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As part of their pre-E3 2007 coverage, IGN has posted a Dark Sector preview. It offers hands-on impressions and new media.

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GameSpot has the latest Battlefield: Bad Company preview, offering their hands-on impressions of the console shooter.

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1UP and Team Xbox have Battlefield: Bad Company previews, going hands-on with DICE's shooter sequel.

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Also on IGN is this Battlefield: Bad Company preview. It offers hands-on impressions and is accompanied by new screenshots.

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