Mafia 2 producer Denby Grace introduces a whopping fifteen minutes of play from the mobster shooter's early game, as was demonstrated during the E3 expo in June.

"The art style...is the glue to everything," Gearbox's Mikey Neumann explains above the gentle hum of a crowded meeting room during E3. "It allows us to embrace what our game actually is, and man, when we had that epiphany, when it all came together, we were like, 'shit man, that's what this game is, this game is about having fun.'"

Neumann, whose job title today is "a guy who can get you things," is talking about the radical change that the studio's shooter-RPG Borderlands recently underwent, shifting from a gritty realistic aesthetic to something a bit more... stylized. Read more »

As a platformer, 'Splosion Man (XBLA) is a blood relative of Sonic the Hedgehog. But as a relative, 'Splosion Man is the freakish uncle that your mother never let you talk to.

Running about levels, the 'Splosion Man fans out his arms into an airplane. He drops his jaw, and lowers his arms like a neandrathal, and moans like an idiot. And then he explodes.

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While publisher Activision has been rather tight-lipped regarding the songs found in Guitar Hero 5--only a few tracks have been announced--developer Neversoft confirmed a couple more of the licensed in-game tunes during a presentation last week.

Elton John's "Saturday Night's Alright for Fighting," A Perfect Circle's "Judith" and Blink 182's "The Rock Show" were among the previously unknown songs shown in a hands-off demonstration of the upcoming multi-instrument music game sequel. Read more »

Still catching up on all the E3 videos that hit last week? So are we. Here's one of the stand-outs, a four minute look at Naughty Dog's very impressive Uncharted 2: Among Thieves.

The action game hits the PlayStation 3 this fall.

Following through on last week's official announcement of The Last Guardian, publisher Sony has released several screenshots from Team ICO's debut PlayStation 3 game.

Once known as "Project Trico," The Last Guardian is said to conclude the trilogy that the beloved studio began with its PlayStation 2 action-adventure title Ico and continued via Shadow of the Colossus--a game that was originally referred to as "Nico." Read more »

While the artificial size constraint on Xbox Live Arcade titles has been steadily increased since the platform's launch, Microsoft now tells us that no Xbox Live Arcade game can exceed 2GB in size due to technical limitations.

The current "limit" stands at 350MB, but several Arcade games already exceed that boundary, including Portal: Still Alive (629MB), Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix (368MB) and Watchmen: The End is Nigh (1GB). Read more »

Being a big fan of Rebellion's original Aliens vs. Predator FPS, the studio's new sequel--a faithful three-campaign amalgamation of the original experience--is extremely exciting to me. And while I didn't go hands-on with it at E3, I did get a behind-closed-doors look at the Marine campaign. And the Marine campaign, as any fan knows, is the best part of any AVP title.

At long last ending the perpetual platform drama regarding Capcom's Lost Planet 2, a PlayStation 3 version of the action game sequel was confirmed at E3 last week.

Sony Computer Entertainment America CEO Jack Tretton made a passing mention of a PlayStation 3 edition during his company's press conference, dating it for early 2010.

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Microsoft's August-due Games on Demand section of the Xbox Live Marketplace, set to enable users to digitally purchase and download full-fledged Xbox 360 retail games, will forgo Microsoft Points in favor of real-world currency.

"For the first time in Games Marketplace, we're showing the price in local currency," Microsoft director of digitally distributed games Scott Austin explained in a presentation with Shacknews. "That way you can see if we're the same price as retail or not, people can understand--a little more transparency that we're providing to our consumers." Read more »

Developer Gearbox Software is targeting an October release for its post-apocalyptic shooter-RPG Borderlands, the studio told Shacknews during a recent interview.

Originally expected last year, the game was then pushed into 2009, with publisher Take-Two Interactive merely stating that it would arrive no later than October 31, 2009. Read more »

Previously slated to arrive at North American retailers on June 30, EA Canada's latest boxing effort, Fight Night Round 4, has now been bumped up to a June 25 release.

The announcement came during Electronic Arts' recent E3 press conference, with the publisher today issuing several new screenshots full of punches, spittle, and pain. Read more »

Photographs were forbidden when Zelda series creator Shigeru Miyamoto teased a new Wii Zelda game this week at E3 by showing a single piece of concept art at a roundtable session, leaving all not present relying on second-hand impressions.

That is, until Nintendo kindly released the concept artwork for all and sundry to enjoy. We, being sundry, may now enjoy the first look at what might await us in the next installment of Zelda. Read more »

A new trailer for NetDevil's spaceborne PC action MMO Jumpgate Evolution shows the seriousness of the big black yonder, while several new screenshots capture its beauty.