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If you’re the kind of person who flicks their bean with delirious joy over the idea of a console-exclusive game developer playing a console-exclusive game on the OTHER SIDE, then prepare to shoot a wad of liquid silk atthe jawdropping conceptofGears of War 2‘s executive producer playingKillzone 2! Oh, thatnaughtyman. “I play a lot of things,” says Rod Fergusson, blowing our minds. “I playWorld of Warcraft. Most recently I finished50 Cent: Blood on the Sand, which was a lot of fun....

Ryan Stevens atGameTrailersreally,reallywants you to see this video comparison of next week’sSuper Paper Marioand the originalSuper Mario Bros.World 1-2. He’s furious that — you know, you haven’t seen it. So you better get on it, hit that play button, and watch yourself some comparative footage of the two games and be impressed, both by the compelling style of gameplay as well as the homage to the classic title that started it all....

PopCap and Square Enix’sFinal Fantasy Bejeweled, or as I like to call it,Gyromancer, started similar to how most videogames do: as a joke. Alright, maybe that’s just how it happens in my mind and isn’t at all indicative of real life. Maybe. Jason Kapalka, co-founder of PopCap,told GameLifethat he was “half-joking” when he pitched the original concept forGyromancerto Square Enix. SincePuzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlordsborrows fromBejeweled, he thought it would be “karmically neutral” for them to make a puzzle/RPG hybrid game in the same vein....

ThenewMedal of Honoris so modern, it has white Ford Rangers in it. This evening’s reveal at the Spike Video Games Awards show convinced us that EA wasn’t kidding about kicking the veteran series into the present — the teaser footage had all the hallmarks of a modern combat-style game: helicopters, current arms, a sand-covered backdrop, andenemies that aren’t Nazis. Alas, there wasno Cowboy (aka ‘The Bearded Warrior’)to be found in the footage....

Microsoft’sKinect Fun Labsis supposed to be a place where smaller, experimental little Kinect programs get thrown up on Xbox Live for us to play with. But does it work, and is it really a lab filled with fun? Kinect Fun Labsis a separate program you launch from the Kinect Hub, and currently has four “gadgets”: Kinect Me, Googly Eyes, Build A Buddy, and Bobble Head. I gave them all two tries, and here are some impressions of the process and end result of each of them....

Some very sinister goings-on are happening at Infinity Ward. According to inside sources, a number of security personnel have appeared at Infinity Ward’s offices unannounced, at Activision’s behest. In a very tense atmosphere, “bouncer-types” have been standing outside the studio and have not been telling a worried staff why they’re there. “Everyone is on edge,” says an anonymous employee. “We just wanna make games.” Infinity Ward studio heads Vince Zampella and Jason West are said to have been meeting with Activision this morning and have not been seen by anybody else at IW since....

One of my favorite gamesfor the DS isDaigasso! Band Bros DX, a Japan-only release. My favorite DS game before that? Its predecessor,Daigasso! Band Bros. They’re not really games. They’re more like music-making software in a cute, Nintendo-made package. Those expecting a rhythm -style music game are going to be disappointed, as you’ll get none of the fancy re-recorded music and dead-eyed celebrity 3D models. This sounds like…MIDI. And you’re really using some music theory in the creation modes....

Today another fresh addition to the long list of things that Japanese gamers are privvy to that we aren’t: theChrono Triggerfan cluband its prizes. Well, I’m really not as hung up on the fan club as I am what’s available to some of its members. Japanese fans that register get a freeChrono Triggerdeskop clock for Windows PCs. Who cares about that, though. I want both the musical score, autographed by composer Yasunori Mitsuda, or the Chrono Trigger Orchestra Extra Soundtrack CD....

All kinds of hardware news has sprung from Sony Japan for its PlayStation Portable this week. First off, Japan will finally get its first taste of Skype for the PSP. And probably not care.We’ve had it for a bit, but it seems there was some hardware trouble there. They’re now ready for the launch, and the microphones and software will launch in Japan next month. The new PSP model looks like the White model stayed in a tanning bed too long....

If you wake up this morning thinking to yourself “I really need some God damnKillzone 2screenshots right this blasted second,” then you’re in the right place at the exact right time. Well done you. The graphic whore’s fap material of choice is looking better than ever with some gorgeous visuals, not least of all the sexy Helghast snipers contained in this gallery. These pictures still won’t let you know if the game will be any better than the mediocre original, but you can at least coo and grin over how pretty all the shots are....

Here are a few fresh screens forKingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning. I’m pretty eager to see more of this game, and the new shots look rather pretty. While there are only five images, we get a nice glimpse of the environments and the Todd McFarline-doodled monsters. I’m digging it, and you can all go boil your heads if you disagree.

A new game coming from Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima will show off the new Fox Engine. This next-gen, multiplatform game engine was revealed in Konami’s pre-E3 announcements today. Kojima says that this engine will be the future of Kojima Production games, and that it will let them move away from developing games made for a single platform. This new game, which may or may not have been shown in the presentation, will most likely not be a Metal Gear game....

This isunbelievable. I’ve seen people try and find racist undertones in harmless entertainment before, butThe Houston Chronicle‘s Willie Jefferson takes home the prize for making the most ridiculous and convoluted racism link in history. According to him,Left 4 Dead 2is “disturbing” because “several” of the zombies are African-American. Yep, that’s right — you can’t even have ONE black zombie withoutsomebodycrying racism. “I am disturbed by the growing trend of racist undertones that are cropping up in video games,”writes Jefferson....