Activision has just taken the lid off Skylanders Giants, the sequel to Skylanders Spyro’s adventures. Like its predecessor, Skylanders Giants will grant players access to playable characters if they own the corresponding toy figurine.

The sequel features over 20 new characters with Giants leading the pack, new challenges, and better integration with mobile and handheld devices. Here’s what you can expect:

• Going Big: Skylanders Giants introduces eight new highly collectible figures that are more than twice the size of the main skylanders cast in both physical and virtual form. Their in-game powers and abilities reflect their colossal scale.
• Bright Lights: Helping to further the real world magic of bringing toys to life, Skylanders Giants includes a set of characters that feature spectacular new light technology integrated into the toys, allowing the figure to light up when near or on the Portal of Power™. These characters have additional in-game benefits as well. Batteries are not required.
• Brand New Skylanders: Eight new regular sized skylanders, each with their own unique powers, abilities, and personality, join the adventure alongside the Giants.
• Forward Compatibility: Every beloved character from Skylanders Spyro’s Adventure is 100% compatible with Skylanders Giants, leveled-up stats and customizations intact.
• Wider Worlds: Portal Masters will see all new arenas and more gameplay options in Battle Mode for exciting head-to-head play, as well as enhanced Elemental Zones, new Hero Challenges, and other features that encourage players to collect and level up every character.

The game will be making an appearance at the North American International Toy Fair, so expect more media to be rolled out soon.

Skylanders Giants is currently in the works at Activison’s Toys For Bob studio and will be out sometime this fall.

It seems fans of Half-Life series can indeed get excited this time around. After a spat of rumours and news related to the next Half Life title in the past few months, another source is now claiming to have an insider confirm that Gabe Newell has given them the nod to go ahead and start dropping hints about the next Half-Life title.

This was disclosed by the official twitter feed of Steamcast, an unofficial podcast about Valve’s service:

Go ahead given by Gabe to start dropping hints relating to the next Half Life game #Official #Valve

He confirmed that this news came through an internal source:

No this is from an internal source.

He then prayed that this was a case, as otherwise they were in for a spanking:

hopes the internal source is right otherwise.. no Half Life 3. #Valve will give us an ass-whooping either way.

This news follows an event where a Valve employee was spotted wearing a Half Life 3 t-shirt, the disclosure of a fan-site, and other rumours. As they say, if there’s a lot of talk stirring up, you can most certainly expect at least some of it to have some substance. What do you think? Is a Half-Life announcement closer than expected? Let us know below.

The woman who became famous after pepper-spraying other Black Friday shoppers at a Walmart in Los Angeles in order to be the first person who gets an Xbox 360 at a discounted rate has turned herself in to the law, a police official confirmed this Saturday.

Although the police refused to disclose her name, they described her as being a Hispanic in her 30s. She surrendered to the police late Friday night, following the incident at Wal-Mart on Thursday, which had left at least 10 people injured.

“The investigation is still ongoing,” said Los Angeles Police Department spokesman Bruce Borihahn, adding that the woman’s name and eventual charges filed against her would be made public at a later time.

“We have several victims and witnesses that need to be interviewed to determine what appropriate actions need to be taken.”

The woman took the extreme step in order to be the first in line and take advantage of low “doorbuster” prices on the Xbox 360 console. She was successfully able to purchase the console and leave the store, before the police arrived at the scene, after pepper-spraying other attendants standing in line.

Although too little too late, we appreciate her turning herself in to the police. Although pepper-spraying fellow shoppers in order to be the first to pick up a bargain on a gaming console is a bit of an extreme step.

Thanks, AFP.

Flash games have been around for well over a decade, and have continued to grow at an astonishing rate. Everybody loves the appeal of free games, as well as games that you don’t have to download in order to play. There are thousands of free flash games out there, but which of these are absolute must-play games?

Here are our five favorite flash games. These are so fun that after a while, we forget we’re even playing a flash game! Let us know what you think in the comments below.

1.) Go Go Plant 2

Go Go Plant 2 has some of the best graphics and sounds from any flash game we have seen in a while. The classic style menu and gameplay was an instant favorite to us.

2.) Bubble Tanks 2

Bubble Tanks 2 is one of those games that we start playing, look at the clock, and realized 2 hours has gone by! This game has such a huge amount of replay-value that we could easly play it over and over again. Upgrade your tanks, destroy your enemies, and choose a unique upgrade path each time.

3.) Morplee

Fans of the old WarioWare games will love Morplee. Complete many mini games in rapid succession to beat this game. Complete as many of them as possible before the time runs out to get a high score! Very fun.

4.) Amorphous+

This game has a huge amount of unlockables, hard-to-earn upgrades, and very tough enemies that are almost impossible to kill. There is so much to unlock in this game that you can literally spend hours playing it and not get bored. Give it a try, you will love it.

5.) Moby Dick The Video Game

Play as a blue whale who must get as big as possible by eating soldiers and staying alive and away from the human’s cannons! You must become the terror of the sea and stay alive to beat this game. How long do you think you can last before going extinct? This game is highly addictive and has awesome replay value.

Square Enix has confirmed that Final Fantasy XIII-2 will be releasing in January 2011 in North America. The news was confirmed by their PR rep for NA.

Emily Shoji confirmed that fans will be able to play the game in Jan 2011 in North America via a tweet:

FINAL FANTASY XIII-2 is slated for a January 2012 release for North America. Be excited!

It’s unclear whether it’ll be seeing an earlier release in Japan. The game is in development for PS3 and Xbox 360.

Violence in videogames has always been and still is one of the most hotly discussed topics in popular media. The debate usually revolves around the violence in video games directly encouraging both children and adults to perform acts of violence in the real world. Both parties in this debate have a lot of credible researchers studying the short term and long term effects of violence in video games on people of various age groups. However, even after a large number of studies, there is still no conclusive evidence as these studies can envelope the entire spectrum of people who play games.

A study led by Bruce Bartholow (2011, para.1), an associate professor of psychology at the University of Missouri, concluded that the brains of violent videogame players become less responsive to violence, and diminished brain response results in an increase in aggression. On the other side of the debate, Ryerson University researchers Holly Bowen and Professor Julia Spaniol (2011, para.3)have stated that violent video games such as Grand Theft Auto may not desensitize players to negative situations or events. “Emotional long-term memory helps us avoid negative situations,” Bowen said. “This has significant implications for public health. For example, if you remember the negative experience of being involved in a bar fight, you will avoid future situations that may lead to an altercation.”

Other studies have resulted in some surprising conclusions. Dr. Simon Goodson and Sarah Pearson, psychologists from the University of Huddersfield in the U.K (2011, para.4),  have found that videogames based on real-world sports actually have a much greater impact on emotions and brain activity than those with high levels of violence. “This research indicates that ‘killing’ someone is not as ‘real’ as playing a sport, and that the brain recognizes this and doesn’t react in the same way,” Goodson explained. “We all know how people react when England play in the World Cup, and we found these strong emotions could be reproduced by playing a football videogame. The player can identify with a real-life experience and call up those emotions and aggression more easily than in a situation they would not have encountered, such as killing an individual.”

With so many articles focused on discussing the impact of violence in videogames on children and adults, this article will study a slightly different aspect of the debate. Rather that delve into the effects of violence, we shall look at specific games and if the violence in them is justified or not. The article will separate games into categories based on the context of the violence used and explain why the violence in the discussed game is justified or unjustified.

The topic being explored in this article shows instances where violence in videogames, no matter how gratuitous, makes sense as it helps the gameplay or the narrative. We also look into games that shamelessly use violence as a marketing tool or just do not match the context of the narrative and setting. It is important to understand the ways violence is depicted in modern day games as it is a good indicator at where the industry is headed with regards to this particular topic.

Violence justified by setting and narrative

Videogames have evolved into a mature medium with experiences that rival books, television and movies. There are many games that demand a violent backdrop due to the nature of the setting and the narrative the game is trying to present. The games mentioned in this section all contain violence to some degree, but would have been weaker experiences if they had opted to stay away from the violent backdrop.

Team Bondi’s L.A Noire is a great example of a game in which the violence fits perfectly with the setting and atmosphere of the game. The protagonist, Cole Phelps, is a World War 2 veteran who has returned home and joined the police force. As Cole solves cases and moves his way up the LAPD ladder, he encounters many cases which revolves around violently murdered victims. Some of the violence shown is cringe worthy but does not seem out of place as the subject matter demands the violent visuals. The game also does not allow the player to start killing pedestrians even though L.A. Noire is an open world game. The developers knew that allowing such gameplay would create a disconnection between the story and the gameplay.

The “No Russian” mission from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 had been under a lot of fire from the mainstream media. This particular mission allowed the player to enter an airport alongside terrorists and fire at unarmed civilians. However, this shocking scene made perfect sense with regards to the game’s narrative as the player actually played an undercover CIA operative. The mission showed the impossible decisions that undercover agents had to make for the greater good. At the end of this mission, the playable character was shot in the head by the terrorist leader (who was beside him during the massacre) and left to die. Players could choose to shoot the innocent civilians or avoid it completely. According to Jim Sterling (2009, para.6), “It’s all about choice, and Infinity Ward has put a very brutal choice in front of the player. Do we carry out our objectives so realistically that we murder innocents, or do we do the bare minimum and hope to get out of it by the skin of our teeth? Whether you join in the slaughter, or simply stand by and watch, you’re damned either way.”

This mission showed the horrors of terrorism and the things that soldiers were forced to do to hunt down these criminals, even if it meant joining hands with them to uncover more information. Personally, I feel that even though this mission was strong and effective in its use of violence, the game would have benefited greatly by the impact of this scene if the remaining narrative was less haphazard.

Another game that has been greatly criticized for its extreme depiction of violence is Rockstar’s Manhunt. The player is thrown into the shoes of James Earl Cash, a convict sentenced for execution. Cash wakes up to find himself being ordered around by ‘The Director,’ who promises him freedom if Cash can escape the situations he is placed in by ‘The Director.’ Of course almost all of these situations force Cash to cross paths with armed enemies, who he can only pass by performing gruesome executions.

In their review IGN stated that (2004, page.4, para.2), “The gruesomeness of the deaths is strangely complemented by the constant sense of fear (because, after all you are being hunted!), and the omnipresence of the gangs. Some snort and yell, others howl or even curse at you, but nearly all of them are dim-witted killing machines, waiting to hack you to bits. With the lights out and the headphone jacked in, Manhunt will scare and shock you.”

Now we must understand that the very setting and the theme of Manhunt was based on a violent backdrop. The setting of the game demanded vulgar language and violent acts. The player is even tasked with saving innocent people from certain death. Manhunt embraced the violence and in doing so presented the story of a man being psychologically pressurized by an unknown force to commit acts of violence in order to stay alive. This would not have been possible, had the game taken a more violence-free approach to the subject. Having said that, the game did unnecessarily contains three levels of executions for any given weapon, with each level being incrementally violent. This did not affect the gameplay in any way other than giving the player an excuse to perform extremely violent executions. Regardless, the developers understood the importance of using violence to enhance the narrative and player immersion in the game world; and they were brave enough not to shy away from controversial topics.

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THQ’s released the E3 trailer for Metro: Last Light and it contains some awesome Portishead music.

Thanks, Gametrailers. The title is marked for an 2012 release for PC, Xbox 360 and PS3.

With the Wii’s shelf life slowly draining from its aging body, it is time for a new Nintendo console to step up and fight for its own corner in the home console market. The new console, codenamed Project Cafe, will be officially revealed and detailed at E3 2011, but until then the rumour mill is running amok as gamers frantically discuss what surprises Nintendo may have up its sleeve.

The Wii was revolutionary in terms of how it captured the casual market with motion control, and the decision to put a non-glasses 3D screen on a handheld was just as innovative. Will Nintendo be able to come with something just as imaginative for its next console?  Or will they return to pleasing the more hardcore market with brawn over brain? Many things have been rumoured thus, with most titbits of information concerning the controller; at last check, it is to feature a HD screen,  front-facing camera, a cappuccino machine, and the fountain of eternal youth. Okay, we made up a few of those.

We are not going to speculate on what may be waggling about in your hand when Project Cafe arrives, or even what specs may be bundled under its hood. Instead, we will be taking a look at what really matters, the point of even bothering to have a console in the first place; the games. Specifically, the games that we want Project Cafe to launch with. Wii had some great games, but unfortunately they were few and far between. Nintendo has a history of being a top notch first-party developer, and going into the next generation they need to remind us of how they got that reputation straight off the bat.

Let’s take a look at what we think we make for an stellar line-up of launch title when Nintendo’s latest champion is ready to enter our households and perhaps our hearts:

New Mario HD Title

Captain Obvious at your service. Obviously Nintendo will release a game featuring its trusty, plump mascot for its new console at some point. In fact, it will probably release a thousand-and-one games which feature Mario prancing around in some type of sporting endeavour.  However, Super Mario Galaxy did not come at the Wii’s launch, and that just didn’t feel right. Charging into the battlefield of console wars should not be attempted without your right hand man standing bravely at your side – and I would love nothing more than for Project Cafe to launch with a Mario title that matches the excellence of Galaxy and previous stellar Mario games.

Wii HD Bundle

I really would love Nintendo to remaster the very best Wii titles in HD for Project Cafe, but I do not want each game dribbled out for 30 quid one at a time on some form of online store. No, I’m being greedy and petulant and demanding a launch bundle which doesn’t just contain HD remakes of Nintendo games, but of third party publishers as well. It should even come installed on the hard drive. Why? Because Nintendo owe us. Not  giving the Wii HD capabilities meant some seriously great games with potentially awesome visuals were not done justice. Super Mario Galaxy, Super Mario Galaxy 2, Epic Mickey, Twilight Princess and others deserve to be appreciated in HD, even if all it achieves is to serve that little bit of graphic whore inside us all.

Brand New IPs

I’ve spoken about pre-existing franchises that Nintendo should launch with, but at some point they need to remove the safety blanket of established brands that are assured to be commercial hits and dish out some originality that hasn’t been required from the company in some time. When your catalogue of big names includes Link, Mario, Fox McCloud, and Donkey Kong, it is little wonder that you don’t feel the need to hit the drawing board and come up with something unique. If you really don’t want to make a direct sequel for these characters to star in, you can always just set something in their universe, or bring them all together in a new setting. That gets some originality credits, right? Wrong. I want to see a bold new IP from Nintendo, an attempt to give poor, overworked Mario a rest and to usher in the Marios and Links of a new generation. Surely the minds at Nintendo can create a new franchise that would be just as iconic to gamers of this generation as its established roster was to the last? The Project Cafe launch would be an ideal platform from which to do just that.

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Traveller’s Tales is building its Lego empire brick by franchise endorsed brick.  It is a simple enough formula that they follow for each and every game; popular movie franchise multiplied by a charming Lego universe added to simple video game action and puzzles equals success. It seems there is a constant wave of games being released by the studio, and if a sequel isn’t being announced, a brand new franchise is being added to the roster. There have been a few stumbles along the way, and when you churn out as many titles as the developer does you are not going to strike gold every single time. However, even the entries which are below the usual standard are not bad games; they simply don’t live up to the excellence of the rest. The majority of the Lego titles fall into the 70s range on metacritic, with even the below standard titles scoring respectable 60s. With the release of Lego: Pirates of the Caribbean last week, I thought I would take a look at what makes the Lego games so appealing.

The aspect that all the Lego games to date have in common is that they are all based on family friendly franchises. The games all contain their fair share of violence, but it is delivered in such a way as to not be offensive or inappropriate for younger audiences. When your characters are all made of repairable Lego bricks, it doesn’t really matter that they are getting decapitated every five minutes.

The incompatibility between Lego and realistic violence means that should Travellers Tales want to, they could breach out into more adult franchises and adapt them for a family audience. The violence would obviously be far less realistic, any sexual scenes could be done with subtle innuendo, and there is no dialogue so profanity would not be a problem. It could even help bring adult franchises to children who are forced to impatiently wait until they are the right age before they can consume a plethora of mega-violent trilogies (because no child would dare breach a lawfully binding age rating). Terminator is a perfect example of an adult franchise which could easily be adapted into Lego form, but I sadly cannot see Travellers Tales ever taking this step as it would measure as too big a risk for them.

The family friendly aspect of Lego franchises is very much interwoven with the fact that Lego games basically appeal to every one of the earth’s near seven billion strong population. Batman, Star Wars, Harry Potter and the rest are all instantly recognisable to anybody who grew up within reach of a television, cinema or library, and this helps to make the transition to a gaming world so smooth. Gamers are very familiar with the lazy creative development that is usually associated with movie tie-in games, but for Traveller’s Tales it actually serves to increase the creativity with each entry.

The cut-scene events alone make Lego games worth playing simply for the spectacle of seeing some classic cinema moments adapted into silent Lego form. The characters in game somehow manage to convey the plot through their facial expressions and body language without ever needing to utter a word. Had Traveller’s Tales first tried to apply their formula to an unknown or niche entity, then these moments were which everyone can relate to would have been lost, and thus the potential for spin offs and sequels would not have been realised.

To date, Indiana Jones is the Lego franchise that I enjoy the least. I love the films (it goes without saying that I do not include the fourth movie in this statement), and the formula is applied in the same way as always, and but the lack of characters in the cast of Indy lets down the experience. One of the key aspects that makes Lego games so fun is that they bring nearly every character from a film universe to life. Sure, all the droids in Lego Star Wars are mostly the same, and all the Jedis play in pretty much exactly the same way, but it is the fact Travellers Tales went to the trouble of bothering to include them at all that impresses me. As a moderate Star Wars fan, I do not know or really care about each individual droid name. However, I’m sure uber fans, such as those from Kevin Smith’s conveniently named Fanboys, of the Star Wars franchise would have loved the fan service on offer.

Looking into the future, there is seemingly no end to the Lego gaming empire. Traveller’s Tales are on course to conquer and adapt every franchise known to man which fits its addictive formula. Lord of the Rings is an obvious choice for what should come next; it has the characters, settings and story that Lego could mirror expertly. Given the success of the Batman adaptation, could a full scale DC game be on the cards? Or maybe Traveller’s Tales could switch comic book allegiance and take a punt on the Marvel Universe? There are many possibilities, and I could write an entirely separate article on which franchises I would love to see given the yellow brick treatment (and I may very well do so).

The best thing is that everybody wins. The filmmakers profit from the license sale and from the essentially free advertising, the developers and publishers are sure to make money from the well established franchise and gaming audience, and on the majority of occasions, gamers get to experience a well polished, greatly fun game. Lego games have everything to capture a casual market, but they also manage to appeal to the hardcore as well; something which is quite a feat. In the end it doesn’t matter if you’re playing as a Jedi, a pirate, or a superhero; so long as it’s Lego.

Today Microsoft have started banning Xbox 360 consoles of people with

• Flashed Xbox
• Gamer score
• modded avatars
• infections on COD4
• infections On World at war
• Infections on MW2

Anything which breaches the Xbox 360′s code of conduct is eligible for a ban.  If your console has been flagged for any of the above or any similar activities, you’ll be banned in all possibility during this ban wave.

Also Microsoft can read messages you’ve sent so don’t go around sending messages saying Hosting MW2 Challenge Lobby for 1200 MSP or PayPal or whatever. And don’t ask for anyone’s account email or password in a email as they ban consoles for doing that aswell.

Proof that they have started banning consoles is below: