Just released are a new bunch of new PS3 and 360 screenshots from Silent Hill: Homecoming. They look pretty nice, not ‘current-gen-effect-heavy-Alone in the Dark-nice’, but nice enough for fans of the series. But my question is this: Is simply polishing the graphics to a high sheen enough of a step-up now that the current-gen consoles are well into their life cycles?

I am not trying to damn Homecoming before I get any hands-on time with it, but from the screens it looks like it will play exactly the same as all the last-gen games in this series. Am I alone in wanting more from developers than a coat of polish? Even whilst playing GTA IV I have had some doubts, is it just GTA III with better graphics? On reflection I don’t think so. GTA IV does enough new things and throws up enough surprises to warrant the rave reviews that it has received, but this is not true of all games. I’m getting excited about God of War III, but as the gameplay of the first two games is so perfect how are they going to improve it other than just give it a graphical makeover? Continue reading this story..

If you’re a fan of the Dragon Ball Z series and were hotly anticipating the newest game in the series, you might want to consider where you’ll be purchasing said game. You see, when you buy the exclusive special edition of Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit for either the Xbox 360 or the PS3, you’ll receive an added bonus. Xbox 360 gamers will be treated to the first 7 episodes of the Dragon Ball Z animated series, while PS3 owners will enjoy the special Blu-ray edition of DBZ: Dead Zone feature. And to guide you towards reserving your copy early on, there’s a Burst Limit T-shirt in it for you as well should you wish to pre-order.

Burst Limit has already been making a few waves with its visuals, which are by far the best of the series to date, but there are a couple of other aspects of the title that may turn some heads. For starters, the game has an amazingly fast-paced style that may surprise alot of fighting game fans. Burst Limit is most certainly the most free flowing and smooth of all the DBZ games to date. Another unique feature is that in any given fight you can knock your foe so far into the air that you can actually continue the fight in an pseudo-airborne state. So, think Powerstone 2 but with a next gen make-over and DBZ flair. Ok, I’ll bite.

Atari have released a ~480MB demo on both Xbox LIVE a PSN if you feel the anime fighting urge coming on. The full game is set to release June 5th in Japan, 6th in Europe and 4 days later, on the 10th, for the US. Keep it locked here for an upcoming review and everything you need to know to keep your Dragon Ball demons at bay. And oh, KAMEHAMEHA!

[See also: Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit gallery]

What do you get when you cross Guitar Hero, Rock Band, and a company that wants to prove they originated music rhythm games? You get Rock Revolution, the latest musical brain child from Konami, that’s what. The game was showed off at Konami’s Gamer’s Night 2008 and promises to be “the most innovative and realistic rock game to hit the market, that will provide a quality drum peripheral and music that players will appreciate,” according to Anthony Crouts, Konami’s Vice President of Marketing. Continue reading this story..

Despite having Wii hot on its tail ever since it launched, the Xbox 360 still managed to reach the 10 million sold mark in the U.S. before any other current-gen console. This figure is ahead of Nintendo’s 8.8 million Wii sales as well as the 4.1 million PS3’s in consumers’ homes. Microsoft announced that their white box of dreams has paved the way for this generation of games consoles and also saw fit to remind us that the first console to 10 million “always” wins, “History has shown us that the first company to reach 10 million in console sales wins the generation battle,” boasts Don Mattrick, senior VP of Microsoft’s Interactive Entertainment Business division, “We are uniquely positioned to set a new benchmark for the industry.”

Microsoft credited a couple factors in their ability to continually sell their system at a steady rate. Factors like Xbox LIVE, which according to Microsoft has seen its membership list double in the span of just one year. There was no word on whether that figure is in relation to the number of Gold members or just memberships in general, but we have to assume the latter at this point. Either way, it’s a pretty impressive number when you consider the fact that games like Gears 2 are still on the horizon. Continue reading this story..

War games with giant, gun toting mechanical monstrosities never get old. Add to that formula a classic 80s franchise like Zoids and you’ve got a game that nails its target demographic. Zoids Assault does just that and does it exclusively on the Xbox 360.

Publisher Atlus describes Zoids Assault as a “gritty militaristic strategy RPG” where players get to take command of a fleet of giant biomechanical life forms. It features advanced military tactics options and players must use all their tools and advantages to overcome vast armies and; first-class customization, with upgrades including melee weapons, rockets, rifles, machine guns, shotguns, cannons and more. Continue reading this story..

With its questionably lengthy development time, Silicon Knights’s ambitious action RPG Too Human has left many gamers cautious as to whether or not the game will actually deliver on all the things it’s been promising for many years now. And it seems Silicon Knights fully realizes that — while speaking to Eurogamer, president Denis Dyack has confirmed that gamers will be getting a sampling of the game, saying that releasing a demo is critical for the game.

“We haven’t announced a date yet. Our goal is to try to get it out obviously before the game releases, and we’ll announce the specific timing of that shortly,” Dyack said. “But a demo is absolutely planned. We think it’s critical for the game. If things go as planned, gamers should get a demo well in advance before the game’s released.” Continue reading this story..

Well the cat is out of the bag bird is out of the backpack and we all must mourn the name Banjo Threeie as Rare has decided to give the next installment in the Banjo-Kazooie series the official title of Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts. A little sad, yes, but even more shocking is the direction they’ve taken the game. This is not last generation’s Banjo-Kazooie boys and girls. Say goodbye to platforming antics and hello to vehicle creation and free roaming battles.

Banjo and his bird friend Kazooie will once again be battling the evil Gruntilda but this time it will be in arenas set-up by the The Lord of the Games, a mysterious person who claims to have invented all the video games ever, in order to finally settle the dispute between the two. It looks like each level will consist of you designing your own vehicle in order to take on Gruntilda’s henchmen who are attempting to stop you from completing your goals. Needless to say, this is not what I was expecting from the game and I hate to say it, but I’m a little disappointed. I’ve been waiting years to get back into some fantastic Rare platforming and now it looks like I won’t be getting it at all. Plus if the vehicles can fly what’s the point of having Kazooie in your back pack anymore? Continue reading this story..

This September sees the arrival of Rare’s sequel to the colorful Viva Piñata. This installment in the franchise will see players rescue the vibrant Piñata Island from peril, one mini-game at a time. The malevolent Professor Pester along with his gang of Ruffians have wiped out Piñata Central’s computer records, which poses a threat to parties everywhere. Oh noes! It’s up to players to send little piñata missionaries to parties around the globe collecting data to rebuild the piñata database like some kind of sinister marketing research.

The new game sees the game expanding into the equally colorful world of Xbox LIVE, opening the games connectivity and adding a whole new social dimension. Trouble in Paradise is also eager for players to take their 360s out of their bedrooms and into the living room with added support for cooperative play, fun for the whole family!

The game also wants players to get creative, giving them the opportunity to customize their own “gardens” in the game with a plethora of content they can drop in and out and over a hundred species of Piñata that can come and take up residence. Continue reading this story..

Gears of War 2 is the next best thing since, well, Gears of War, and as most of you have already heard, is going to be “bigger, better, and far more badass” then its predecessor. But how exactly is it going to be bigger, better and more badass? Well, at Microsoft’s spring showcase, Cliff Bleszinski, lead designer at Epic Games had a chance to talk with GameTrailers and dish about Gears 2.

One of the things Gears of War was most noted for was its multiplayer that featured fast paced and visceral 4-on-4 combat. So it comes as little surprise that details focusing on the multiplayer are highly sought after. And it seems Gears 2 will not disappoint. CliffyB, keeping up with his bigger, better, and more badass theme, shared with GT that the Gears 2 multiplayer will now feature 5-on-5 matches, with more multiplayer maps and game modes then the first Gears, as well as new online functionality that, while no details were shared, CliffyB assures us “will be very competitive with other titles in this space.” Continue reading this story..

Anyone who has spent any amount of time playing games on Xbox LIVE knows that it isn’t the friendliest place for gay gamers. The word gay gets thrown around as an insult so often (even by people who don’t think that they’re homophobic) that I don’t know how any gay gamer gets through a match of Halo without being seriously insulted. Now Microsoft has taken it to another level by banning a gay gamer who’s Xbox LIVE Gamertag is ‘theGAYERgamer’. Why? Because of general complaints from the community.

Grant, theGAYERgamer, wrote in to The Consumerist about his experience saying, “I have had a bad morning. Last night when i tried to sign into my xbox live account “thegayergamer” I was told that it had to be changed. I figured that it was just from people reporting it as an offensive name being that the greater Xbox live community isn’t exactly welcome to gay people, i spend a lot of time muting people on Halo3. I assumed that once i called Microsoft they would straighten things out.

“I talked to a supervisor there, Roxy, who told me that she didn’t personally find the fact that my gamer tag had gay in the name offensive, but that the greater Xbox community did, so i would have to change it. I hope I’m not the only person who finds this don’t ask, don’t tell policy disgusting… eek.” Continue reading this story..

Fresh from Japan and some person’s scanner, we get brand new screenshots (hi-res: 1 2 3 4) of Resident Evil 5 that look just as amazing as what we’ve previously seen from the game. Other than that bad ass chainsaw, which I hope will be a usable weapon with all my heart, the screens and article don’t tell us much new. The story reemphasizes the fact that sunlight and shade will play a big part in the game and that levels will have you running in and out of houses frequently, thus changing the lighting and the way you’ll need to play the game. The guys behind the game say this light/shadow dichotomy is the motif for the entire game.

The article also reveals that despite the game taking place far away from any previous Resident Evil locations, we will be seeing the return of some big, bad bosses from past games. The example given in the story is evidently Nosferatu from RE: Code Veronica. Not my favorite RE boss but still a good one and it’ll be interesting to battle him without moving like a tank. Also, and I believe we already knew this, but three weapons are confirmed for the game: hand gun, sniper rifle and knife. We can also expect a new trailer in the near future.

Now, in order to drive up traffic, I’ll mention something about race: some of the zombies are black.

[See also: Resident Evil 5 gallery]

Indie publishers Gamecock have today announced that their upcoming WWII stealth action game, Sabotage Velvet Assassin , will be coming to the Xbox 360 and PC’s this fall.

Sascha Jungnickel, Creative Director at the game’s developers Replay Studios said: “This is a project we’ve been incredibly excited about from the start. Velvet Assassin is going to be an amazing experience both in its visual style and gameplay, it will be awesome to get it to such a massive audience.”

In Velvet Assassin, players will assume the role of British secret agent and all round femme fatale Violette Summer, based on real-life spy Violette Szabo, as she risks her life fighting to defeat the German war machine one stealth mission at a time. The game combines lush, surreal visuals and a stealth combat system in attempt to realize what may be a refreshing first to the stagnant WWII genre.

Three new screenhots were also released today, which show that the game has got a little visual bump since we last saw it as well.

[See also: Velvet Assassin gallery]

Some might argue that what separates videogames from other forms of electronic entertainment is the fact that games challenge and test us. While a healthy challange keeps us coming back and gives us a sense of accomplishment at the end of it all, there are some things that can just tip us over the edge and put us on the warpath; green skin and ripped purple pants included.

Seen as just about everything has been organized into lists of ten since Moses came wandering back down the mountain, here’s our Top 10 videogame annoyances.

10. Getting up to change discs

You know how convenient it is to load Arcade games in the Xbox 360 or PSN games in the PS3? Imagine if all games were like that… As somebody who actually owned the ill-fated HDLoader for the PS2, which allowed you to upload your games to the PS2’s HDD, going back to swapping discs for the current generation consoles has become quite a drag. With Microsoft edging all its bets on the death of the physical medium and the fact Sony offers gamers the chance to download some of PS3’s games, it’s only a matter of time before having to get up to change games is nothing but a painful memory. Continue reading this story..

Quick, what do Call of Duty 5 and the upcoming James Bond: Quantum of Solace game have in common? The folks in charge of developing them of course, as in Treyarch. Or that’s how things currently seem anyway — there hasn’t been an official announcement one way or the other but with Activision wanting to release a new CoD game every year, and Treyarch looking for talent who’s into WWII shooters, that’s the logical conclusion to reach.

Activision CEO Mike Griffith recently went on the record to say that the new Treyarch-developed Bond game will be using CoD4’s game engine and as such will “bring Bond games to a new level.”

Goldeneye on the N64 was one of the best FPSs of its time, and is revered by many as a classic to this day. By using already proven technology, Treyarch have quite the opportunity to really bring the Bond series back to its former glory. Treyarch is the company behind the somewhat underwhelming CoD3 (which certainly had its moments) but regardless, it’s nice to see that a developer with moderate FPS experience has its hands on the Bond license for a change.

James Bond: Quantum of Solace will be released alongside the movie this fall with dates of October 31 in the UK and November 7 in the US. No systems have been specified yet but Xbox 360, PS3 and PC seem likely candidates.