Later this year, Genius Products and Seven Studios will releaseScratch: The Ultimate DJonto next-gen consoles. Beating Activision and their recently-confirmedDJ Heroto the punch,Scratchputs players in front of an interactive turntable controller peripheral so they can get their “wickity wickity wah” and “skritchity scrah rurr” on. While we haven’t had a chance to get our fingers on the digital vinyl, we did catch up with the game’s designer and creative lead, Dan Lehrich to get the scoop onScratch....

Tis’ the season for gift giving. With some many great games released this year, finding the perfect gift for that gamer in your life (or for yourself, you selfish jerk!) can be quite a task. That’s where we come in. Destructoid staff writers were asked to make a few holiday, game-related gift picks, either based on personal choice or simply in the spirit of giving. The results were wide and varied, as each staff member’s tastes and gaming experiences, uh, vary widely....

Deus Ex: Human Revolution‘s release is still too far away for anyone’s liking, but this latest trailer shows some more Xbox360 gameplay to keep us happy. Happy enough to make us feel better about Warren Spector and Harvey Smith not being attached to the project? Who knows. While it is nice to look at, this trailer has a lot of little things to go over. AQ&A with Jean-Francois Dugasat Eurogamer provides a couple extra pieces of information, so I am going to integrate that with what’s in the trailer to give you the best analysis possible....

I honestly didn’t know that you could send Microsoft Points to your friends outside of hearing vague plans, but then again, considering the whole process was very typical of Microsoft — in that it was unnecessarily complicated and controlled — that’s hardly a surprise. Not that it matters anymore, however, sinceMicrosoft has cannedthe whole project. The system was in beta for a while, and wasn’t all that convenient anyway, since you couldn’t send points from one Gamertag to another....

So, extending my… extendedCastlevaniakick recently, I started playingDracula X Chronicleson the PSP over the weekend. Firstly, it’s a toe-curlingly good remake — when Richter first crosses the bridge and it begins to rain as the theme plays, your hairwillstand on end. Ayami Kojima is one of the best character illustrators in the history of game art, and the whole works just looks great-great-great. A remake ofChi No Rondowas long overdue, and finally having this update on the PSP is like filling in a big, naked gap in your bookshelf....

BioWare happened toTweeta link to thisDragon Age: Origins Ultimate Collector’s Editionunboxing on Youtube. At first we wondered what the Hell it was, since it looked incredibly ghetto. Then it dawned on us what happened, and we saw what they did there. They actually had me going up to the unveiling of the dragon sausage. Although this is a rather silly parody of theModern Warfare 2special edition shenanigans (courtesy ofThe Guild), I kind of wish that theactualcollector’s edition ofDragon Agecame with a night vision sausage....

Gearbox recently had a bunch of gamers out to a strip club to playDuke Nukem Forever. I was too busyRESPECTING WOMEN, GUYSto go, but we have the screenshots anyway! They feature ugly aliens, big guns, and more manliness than you could need. I’ve got to confess, I’m looking forward to this. Am I expecting true greatness? Am I imagining a revolutionary game that pushes innovation and quality to new heights? No....

PSP sales spiked with the release of the PSP slim. At the time, it seemed like a natural progression to move towards a slimmer, and more beautiful unit. Sony also noticed a spike in sales with the recently releasedGod of Warbundle, and expect the same jump in sales from theMadden 09package coming soon. Now, the company wants to focus on the family with their newest bundle starringRatchet and Clank: Size Mattersthis October....

From what we understand,Mass Effectsaved data will transfer toMass Effect 2in a unique way.At the demonstration for the game we attended recently at E3, the audience was told by the presenter that choosing to transferMass Effectdata toMass Effect 2would allow players to “continue exactly” where the first game left them hanging, which seems lofty at best. But “exactly” could mean the two things BioWare specifically mentioned: moral choices (choosing to kill Wrex, for example) and character abilities....

Here’s a game I’ve not been paying much attention to. How wonderful then, that this nice little trailer and fresh new screens was handed to us by Vogster entertainment.Unbound Sagasounds like yet another dreary RPG, but it’s actually a PSP brawler in which a self-aware comic book hero plots the day he can battle his creator. It’s all veryComix Zone, but it looks really good. I’ll definitely want me some of this when it comes out....

If you’re ready to take a break from the ongoing excitement of E3 2007 and you happen to own an Xbox 360, downloading the demo for THQ and Paradigm’s latest game,Stuntman: Ignition, is a good idea. If you can handle the inevitable anger and frustration that is. If you have no clue whatStuntman: Ignitionis about, the name pretty much says it all. You play as a stuntman that must drive through various “levels” while performing certain objectives such as jumping off of ramps, setting your car on fire, and launching missiles at the bad guys....

Max Scoville and myself shared a magical moment when we got our first look atThe Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. You probably already sawmy crazed preview, but that lunacy is double when Max gets in on the action. If you want to watch two grown men act like excitable little girls, then this is your day!

The above picture has been released by Electronic Arts, teasing a mysterious new project from beloved studio BioWare. Speculation, of course, is running rampant ahead of the Spike VGAs, where this and many other games are due to be officially announced. The image could relate to a potentialMass Effect 3announcements, but it looks just that little bit too “gritty” for the sci-fi RPG series. There are rumors about a whole new first-person-shooter IP coming from the studio, and others have suggested they may be working on aCrysisspin-off....