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A dark, dank environment appears before you. It seems like a small area, if only because the lack of light makes it difficult to see very far. But you hear a faint skittering off to one side, and then a brown mantis edges into view. The “camera” doesn’t move to follow it; it’s stationary, as if you’re watching recorded footage, so all you see is the mantis crawling around. And then, in a flash, the insect is gone — devoured by a gila monster; it now sits contentedly in front of you, licking its lips with its forked tongue....

This is the part where I’m supposed to speak, generally, about otherDeus Exgames and say things like, “Deus Exis the greatest game of all time and you’re stupid if you didn’t like it.” Then, I would smoothly transition to the subject ofDeus Ex: Human Revolutionand mention that Eidos Montreal is attempting to re-establish the series as an all-time great after the creation of the laughableInvisible War. Maybe I’d also tease you with a line suggesting thatHuman Revolutionappears to be well on the road to picking up the pieces of the series thatInvisible Warleft behind....

When we were figuring out who was going to cover what game at Hudson’s Gamers’ Day, one of the titles that we knew very little about (okay, nothing) was listed only asRooms.Rooms, what’sRooms? Never being too sure about what you’re going to have to preview can be slightly daunting. For all we knew it could have been a Japanese flower potting simulator. But luckily it wasn’t, andRooms: The Main Building, a rather charming puzzle game, ended up being one of the favorites of the day....

An asplosion of Project Natal news has hit the Internet today thanks toMCV, shedding launch some details on the Xbox 360’s latest attempt to corner the fabled casual market. The beans were spilled at a behind-closed-doors tour of Microsoft’s UK studio, so some of the information is a little Euro-centric. Everybody interested in Natal should give it a look, though. It appears as if Microsoft’s motion-sensing technology will launch in the latter end of 2010, with a November release window being named....

You know what’s awesome? When stuff works. So thank God for firmware updates! Sony has let us know that the latest firmware update for the PlayStation Portable is now available. Version 3.73 doesn’t offer any fancy new features … except the feature that keeps UMD’s from working, of course. From Sony: With this update, operation of the UMD drive has been improved to address cases in which the UMD drive occasionally suspends and fails to load data....

As you may have heardyesterday, we here at the show had some serious recording issues with our Cancun episode. And while we try and maintain a level of quality that you have come to know us for, no amount of editing trickery could make the recording into what I would call “good.” FYI, as a group, we have personal and professional standards that we try and maintain for ourselves when we record, edit, and produceRetroforceGO!...

Every Thursday, (Reverend) Anthony Burch discusses something about the world of games that bothers him. They’re not really rants, because they’re not that angry, but “Anthony Discussions” would be the most boring series title in history. This week’s rant is about how most games that claim to deliver nonlinear gameplay actually do not. At some point in the video I say that I’ve only heard of one or two truly nonlinear games in my life, but I would love to be proven wrong about that....

Taking a leaf from Captain Obvious’ book, Rockstar VP Dan Houserhas stated that he expectsGrand Theft Auto IVto be controversial when it’s released on April 29th. This game may very well be full of surprises, but controversy certainly isn’t one of them. This is what Houser had to say on the matter: “I expect [controversy] because we’ve had so much of it in the past. I wish people would treat video games the same as other media....

I played the originalPunch-Out!!on the NES until my fingers bled. This was mostly because I sucked at it, but I was determined to beat it. I did, once, during a weekend night of glory that I have attempted to recreate, but never have. Maybe it would have been a little easier if Makato Wada, a member of the development team who ported the original arcade version ofPunch-Out!!to consoles, hadn’t beenholding onto timing secretsfor the past 22 years like a jerk....

Shatteris like a sexier, more realized version ofArkanoidthat you want to download, even if you don’t know it yet. And how could you not? The PlayStation Network exclusive has looked and sounded fantastic inevery trailerreleased so far (all two of them). New Zealand-based developer Sidhe says its retro-inspired brick breaker will debut on July 23 for a very reasonable $7.99. Managing Director Mario Wynand expects all of us to “findShatterto be a fun title with a deep, inspired soundtrack that makes you want to keep playing long after you should be in bed....

Game Informer’sWeb sitehas posted an interview with Silicon Knight’s President Denis Dyack. Dyack’s company has been popping up in news lately, though most of the news has not been positive. He uses this interview to clear the air on topics like theUnreal Engine 3 lawsuitand therecent Too Human controversy. “The damages that we suffered because of the failure of the Unreal Engine have been grievous,” says Dyack. “We, as a company, have worked really, really hard to overcome that....

You might have heard thatUncharteddeveloper Naughty Dog was working on the engine for Guerilla Games’sKillzone 3. Well, you heard wrong. “It’s not true,” Game Director Herman Hulst told me in an interview at a recentKillzone 3event. When asked where that rumor (which was published as fact by a number of outlets) had come from, Hulst seemed shocked, telling me “I have no idea. I talked to [Naughty Dog co-president] Evan Wells yesterday about it; he had no idea either....

Before I head home for the holidays to live it up with some heavily spiked eggnog (and foolin’ around with old flames under the mistletoe) I thought I’d wish every gamer out there a happy holiday farewell. 2007 has been such a grand year that I wonder how 2008 can top it. I’m talking about the kind of thing that would actually bring together all the fanboys from each console camp, convince them all to lay down their weapons, and hold hands to sing “Hands Across America....