One of the things that made the PS2 so great was that it was filled with games that you just couldn’t play anywhere else.  One of those games was the original Yakuza. While it wasn’t the most shining example of the technology at the time, it certainly gained a slew of fans with its dark storyline and smooth combat.

The sequel, which was released for the PS2 in Japan nearly two years ago, will soon be coming stateside and is sure to please the cult of fans that still remain here in the states.  Yakuza 2 received even better reviews than its predecessor overseas, so you can imagine the excitement an announcement like this will cause for the hardcore fans out there.  But wait, there’s more!  It seems that fans will be in for an even bigger treat when the third installment of the series, titled simply Yakuza 3 for the west, hits the current generation as a PlayStation 3 exclusive.  You may note that a Yakuza title was already released for the PS3 in Japan, but apparently that was more of a side-story than a fully fleshed-out sequel. This newly announced game carries a very definitive “3″ at the end of it.

Very little is known about the game at this point, aside from its existence.  No assets or gameplay footage has been released and even the storyline is being kept under lock and key.  Publisher SEGA, however, seems to suggest that the game is further along than we may think, and hints that we may start seeing some marketing for the title in the near future.  We’ll keep you posted on all the Japanese-mafia-inspired details as they become available.

There has been so much hype during the release of Shadow of the Colossus that there’s really nothing I could say that hasn’t already been said a million times. Now with that out of the way, lets talk about this fan-f*cking-tastic title, shall we?

The game plops you and your trusty steed Agro in the middle of nowhere, at an ancient monument, with the girl of your dreams laying unconscious on a large stone slab. Not a good place for you to wake up, but these things happen, right? You soon realize that the huge statues that line the monument are actually symbolizing the monsters that reside within this world… monsters that you must defeat. You play as a rather ambiguous character known only as “Wanderer”. Wanderer is aided by a kindly, amalgamous entity that speaks to you from a large hole in the top of your new home. It is easy to assume that this being is the Almighty, but you will soon realize that it might be just the opposite. The strange deity offers to revive your lady friend in exchange for your help in defeating the huge monsters that roam this world. Continue reading this story..

The soon to be PSN distributed horror survival game SIREN: Blood Curse is going to be one of the first titles to rely heavily on digital distribution instead of retail outlets. There are some questions that we’ve wanted to have answered ever since this news dawned on us and now, as Three Speech has got some hands-on time with the game, some of these have been addressed.

Like known before, Blood Curse is an episodic experience that will span twelve different episodes, each being around 600 MB in size. The first episode will include approximately a half hour worth of game time, after which the player will be given a glimpse of what the next episode will contain. The game uses a DVD menu style approach similar to Alone in the Dark – if there is a particularly mind blowing part of the episode, the player can go back and play it again using an in-game chapter selection menu. The game will also give a recap of what happened in past episodes as things move farther along, so the player won’t have to worry about being too far out of the loop.

Blood Curse will include seven playable characters and each of their stories will be loosely connected to each other, but they all weave into the main story. In order to keep things from getting too confusing, certain clues can be found around the environment that will give more insight to what all the other characters are involved in. Continue reading this story..

Maybe you missed it but I’m a big fan of James Bond. Really big. So you can imagine my excitement when I discovered that Treyarch was not only developing Quantum of Solace but also using the COD4 engine to do it. Details on the game since that announcement though have been pretty scarce. We got snippets here and there like the fact that the game will cover the plot of both Casino Royale and the upcoming Quantum of Solace. We also knew that plenty of the cast would be showing up in the game and that it would be a first-person shooter for the most part but would cut into third person for special moments. Still, it wasn’t that much, especially if you’re crazed about every detail about anything Bond like I am.

Luckily there are such things as first looks and now that Quantum of Solace has had one we know a lot more about it. For instance, the game is going to be split about 50/50 between the two films and feature mostly FPS action unless Bond is shooting around corners or doing take downs of enemies, kind of like the Rainbow Six games. The game also has a very cinematic feel to it so that the action is always tense despite the new Bond’s trend to less massive shootouts with high body counts and more low key encounters. Continue reading this story..

The Metal Slug series is one that has managed to successfully integrate into every generation of videogames. Since making its debut in the Neo Geo arcade days, the franchise has seen countless iterations with the gameplay staying true to the art of a straight 2D side-scrolling shooter with high intensity action. Metal Slug 7 now plans to leave its mark on the Nintendo DS, courtesy of Ignition Entertainment and SDK.

The Metal Slug games are about a group of soldiers with access to a large arsenal of heavy weapons as they take on the latest threats. We’ve battled against aliens, Yeti’s, and our personal favorite - zombies. Players can team up with a buddy and move to the end of level to reach a massive boss rescuing captured allies along the way. Metal Slug 7 puts the player in the boots of Marco, Tarma, Eri, Fiolina, Clark and Ralph as they take on seven original missions. New weapons and bosses accompany the new landscapes for DS owners to take advantage of. The game will also include vehicles with names like Slug Truck and Slug Gigant.

Additional modes outside the main campaign are also promised, but so far no details have been given. Expect more on that before the game is relased some time this fall.

Anticipation for the new Prince of Persia title continues to grow across videogame land. Owners of current-gen consoles have a brand new experience to look forward to that focuses on the usual acrobatics, but also on strategic one-on-one fighting mechanics. For those not yet immersed in the PC, PS3 or Xbox 360 gaming cultures, Ubisoft has a plan to bring a new storyline in the Prince of Persia universe exclusively for the Nintendo DS as well, in Prince of Persia: The Fallen King.

The Fallen King follows the Prince in his battle to free the lands from Corruption, a dark substance that swallows the land and skies, just as the other versions of the game. The Prince finds himself in a kingdom he believes is Corruption-free but soon finds out is not safe at all as it slowly begins to transform into a less than friendly place.

A twist in the story leads the Prince to a creature named Magus who isn’t completely taken over by Corruption and who leads the Prince to believe he can offer him salvation from the Corruption. But whether or not the creature can be trusted is something we’ll have to discover for ourselves. Continue reading this story..

When our very own Chris Holzworth posted a giant image of classic looking Mega Man with his post about rumors of Capcom announcing Mega Man 9, I don’t think her realized how seriously close to the truth he was. You’re either going to love this or hate it, but Mega Man 9 is being released on WiiWare with a decidedly retro look. That’s right, that picture above isn’t from a past Mega Man game but from the upcoming ninth iteration. It was stolen from scans of next month’s Nintendo Power. A bit hard to read the text but there are plenty of details. Still, this issue hasn’t published yet so these could all be fakes…really, really, really ridiculously well done fakes that would take so much time to make it wouldn’t even be worth it.

Since you can’t read the text that well I’ll give you a few details. Inti Creates, a group of former Capcom staffers that worked on the first three Mega Man X games and are the team behind the Mega Man ZERO and Mega Man ZX series, are working on the game. The bosses are listed as Magma Man, Galaxy Man, Jewel Man, Concrete Man, Hornet Man, Plug Man, Tornado Man and Splash Woman. Yes, that’s not a typo, a female boss in the Mega Man series finally. The plot will be a bit more in-depth than previous games in the series but will still revolve around the tried and true Mega Man formula. Why are they returning the blue bomber back to this old school state? Because this is the state hardcore fans really love him in. Makes sense to me.

So what do you think? Is the über-retro style something good for the series or were you looking forward to some pretty new graphics for the game? Personally, I hated every game after six as they got overly complicated and lost that certain je ne se quoi that made the NES versions so great. I’m really hoping this isn’t an elaborate hoax and that retro gaming with a modern flare is indeed what Capcom is shooting for.

While the well realized and beautiful world of Assassin’s Creed may have been a bit on the repetitive side, there is no denying the success the new IP from Ubisoft had this past holiday season, leading many who witnessed the cliffhanger ending to ask, “When, when will I get to continue the journey of the stealthy assassin Altair?” The answer: Not soon enough.

Ubisoft has confirmed with Forbes that we will not be stepping back into the shoes of Altair anytime soon, and definitely not anytime in 2008. President of Ubisoft North America Laurent Detoc said “there’s no new ‘Assassin’s Creed’ this year, despite its sales success..,” which does not come as a total shock as the game is not even a year old yet.

Those of us wondering if there will even be an Assassin’s Creed 2, since there’s been no official announcement of any kind, Detoc’s following quote should put us to rest; “..when we bring it back, there will be more anticipation for it.” So we can rest easy in the fact that it will come, we just have to be patient, keep our fingers crossed and be really, really (really!) optimistic about hearing something about it at E3 in a few weeks.

[See also: Assassin's Creed gallery]

Today Nintendo has given us confirmation on a few games that most knew were coming out anyway, but it sure is nice to know for sure. First on the list is Wario Land: Shake It! which is a side scrolling platformer coming out for the Wii, starring Wario naturally. I really must applaud Nintendo here for a moment because traditional platformers have pretty much been relegated to the portable systems in the past few years and I’ve been dying for some quality big screen action in that department. The game, which is launching September 29, even plays with the Wii remote held sideways and aside from shaking the controller to perform attacks, looks to use the motion controls relatively little. How awesomely retro of the big N. What isn’t awesomely retro is the lack of widescreen support the screenshots are showing us.

The second game is Kirby Super Star Ultra for the DS which is a “re-imagining” of the SNES classic Kirby Super Star. Following the “Street Fighter Laws of Naming” Nintendo has added ultra to the end of the title in order to denote the updated graphics and added content the game will include. The ultra content contained within the game is a few new gameplay modes like Revenge of the King and Meta Knight Ultra and three new touch-screen-controlled mini-games that can be played with up to three friends via DS Download Play. With this and Wario Land it seems Nintendo will be having a very retro September this year. Continue reading this story..

The industry has had more slip ups this month than (insert joke here). We recently saw a massive list of potential titles and ideas from Microsoft and Activision leaked thanks to Intellisponse. Sony reps can’t seem to keep things quiet either. At the GDC Paris event, one Sony representative let slip the presence of God of War 3 at this years E3. There aren’t any details other than the showing of the title.

God of War 3 isn’t expected to ship until sometime next year. That’s probably a good thing because SCEA does have a full plate of titles to deliver just in time for the 2008 holiday season. If in fact GoW 3 is at E3, it’ll probably be a trailer featuring a lot of cuts and Kratos screaming at someone.

There’s really not a lot about the game we know about. Cory Barlog stated the game will run in full 1080p HD when it’s done. The basic premise is still a blur. It may deal with Kratos trying to kill Zeus again with the aid of the Titans. We were told a long time ago that the conclusion of the series will answer the question as to why there are no more Greek myths. We’ll have more on this once E3 gets underway next month.

One of my greatest fears with WiiWare and, on a slightly lesser level, the Virtual Console is that they will become a place for people to dump cheap, poorly made games in order to earn a quick buck. So far I don’t think that this fear has been validated as most of the WiiWare games are of a pretty high quality, however, the last few weeks have shown that not everything is going to be stellar. We’ll have to see how it goes in the future but as for this week, it looks like we’re on an upward swing with Gyrostarr (High Voltage Software, 1-4 players, Rated E for Everyone-Mild Fantasy Violence, 700 Wii Points) coming out for WiiWare along with Alex Kidd in Miracle World (Sega Master System, 1 player, Rated E for Everyone-Comic Mischief, 500 Wii Points) and BURNING FIGHT (NEOGEO, 1-2 players, Rated E10+ for Everyone 10 and Older-Mild Suggestive Themes, Violence, 900 Wii Points) for the Virtual Console.

Gyrostarr is a track shooter in which you fly down a “technoplasma” track at high speeds while shooting enemies and collecting power-ups to get to the finish, where you must have received a certain score to move on. Interestingly, High Voltage has made the 4-player game playable with almost every possible controller the Wii has and you can even play while sharing a controller with one player holding the Wii remote and the other the Nunchuk or a classic controller. Of course the way I jerk the controller around while playing this would only end in injury and tears.

On the VC front of things, we get two games that I would say always come in at number eleven on a top ten list. Not really classics but quality games, both Alex Kidd and BURNING FIGHT are solid games but don’t demand your attention. I remember Alex Kidd being hard as hell but damn fun whereas BURNING FIGHT was a competant game but never really wowed me in any way. Even Nintendo’s press release on the game seems a bit boring, extolling the fact that you fight a boss at the end of each level. I know, groundbreaking game design there. As usual you can download all these games after 9 a.m. Pacific time.

In our interview with Spider-Man: Web of Shadows’ senior executive producer Graham Fuchs, he mentioned that they would be taking the fighting system to entirely new level allowing for what he referred to as 3D fighting. I took this to mean that you might be fighting some bad guys on the sides of buildings or possibly a boss or two that actually fought with you while you were swinging. I can now tell from this trailer that I entirely underestimated what the guys at Shaba Games were doing.

Check out that mid-air combat, it looks absolutley comborific. I totally agree witht them that the fighting and the swinging in previous spidey games felt like two seperate aspects and that blending them together would make for a much better game. And now here it is — swinging, fighting and Spider-Man all in one big clump. This definitely gets me excited again for the game, and the fact that you can switch between black suit and regular Spidey on the fly sounds like some fantastic gaming fun (even if it is completley inappropriate in terms of how the black suit actually works in the comics). Swinging through New York was simply a blast in the first Spidey games and now that you can actually swing and fight at the same time, it should be even more fun.

[See also: Spider-Man: Web of Shadows gallery]

Hey gamers! No, strike that. Hey WORLD! Do you know where you’ll be this Friday night? I’ll tell you where you should be — tuning in on the world exclusive trailer for the new Star Wars game for Wii (and DS, though not nearly as important) airing on “Gametrailers TV with Geoff Keighley.”

New Star Wars game? Yup, THE new Star Wars game. Potentially the one that all Star Wars fans have been hoping for since Nintendo announced their new control scheme for their little Revolution. LucasArts has announced Star Wars The Clone Wars: Lightsaber Duels for the Wii. The game is being developed by Krome Studios, the same house that’s doing the new Hellboy: The Science of Evil, and has been built from the ground up featuring “an intuitive motion-controlled combat system that puts the Lightsaber weapon in your hand for non-stop fun.”

Based on the upcoming animated series and the feature film, Lightsaber Duels has you fighting through the most memorable battles from The Clone Wars. Play against friends as Anakin Skywalker and General Gievious or new characters like Ahsoka Tano and Asaji Ventress. Each character has different fighting styles and skills. You can also use the interactive environments to your advantage. Players will be able to slice apart pillars and Force hurl them at your enemies. Continue reading this story..

From what the designers of Sonic Unleashed have been saying, the game is going to blow away all the crap that Sonic has gone through since his last good game and re-crown the blue hedgehog as one of gaming’s greatest properties. You’ll excuse me if I’ve been a bit skeptical, but routinely being smacked in the face with suck by Sonic Team isn’t much fun. Plus, while the screens and brief videos of the game we’ve seen have been tempting, they haven’t really showed us that much to put our faith in…until now.

A new trailer shows a whole boat load of gameplay. Not only dooes the level look crisp and diverse, the faux 2D stuff could not get this retro heart beating any faster. The wall jumping, spinning, looping speed looks like they tore it from the SEGA Genesis Sonic games and slapped it right into modern day. Even the behind the back stuff from the newer generation of Sonic games looks like the good kind (remember Sonic Adventure was actually a good game and Secret Rings was at least fun) that doesn’t just have you running on what feels like a predetermined track. Most importantly though, there isn’t a rock song playing over the whole thing desperately trying to make Sonic cooler than cool. To me, this is the true signal that the Sonic of yesteryear might actually be back.

Of course this is all just setting myself up for even more soul swallowing disappointment than Sonic the Hedgehog could have ever dreamed to create.

[See also: Sonic Unleashed gallery]