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NaturalMotion, the chaps currently working on 505 Games’Backbreaker, has filed a trademark for a similarly titled game —Icebreaker Hockey. So far, all we know is that NaturalMotion has reserved the name. There’s no guarantee that it’s making the game right now, but with a title likeIcebreaker, who could refuse? Backbreakerhasn’t been released yet, but it caught people’s eye thanks to its focus on the Euphoria Engine and the dynamic physical interactions....

Nobody likes to get a bad review, not least the team who worked on last year’sStar Warshopeful,The Force Unleashed. It’s clear that the team worked incredibly hard on making the game look impressive with believable Force powers. Unfortunately, they forgot about thegameplaypart, and the team waspretty let downwhen some game reviewers felt that was an important oversight. “I’d get these reviews, and I’d be like, “Aw, these guys are irresponsible. How could they say this?...

Looking for the perfect accent to his game room, Ontario-based game collector Syd Bolton came up with a great idea – hire someone to design aPac-Mancoffee table! Bolton contacted artist Erin McFadden who transformed a regular old coffee table into a work of art, depicting a classic arcade Pac-Man scene. As awesome as the final piece is, Bolton says his original vision was even more grand. “At first I wanted a collage of my favorite video games characters,” he writes, “like Link, Mario, Dirk the Daring, Ratchet & Clank, Sly Cooper....

Dragon Age: Originshas been disregarded as aLord of the Ringsclone by many gamers who haven’t been paying attention, and while I completely disagree, I must admit that it’s difficult for any fantasy game to stand out in a genre dominated by long-established books, movies and games. While I was in Edmonton tocheck out the game, I asked lead designer Mike Laidlaw howDragon Agehopes to make its mark in such a saturated genre....

Everyone seems to be obsessing over the possibility of Activision adopting Battle.net for its games. It’s an interesting notion, but Blizzard hasn’t really spoken one way or the other on the topic. Perhaps this Gamasutra interview with Battle.net project director Greg Canessa will give us something to go on. “Bobby Kotick and all the folks at Activision are very, very supportive of Battle.net and what we’re doing,” he explains. “Having said that, as you know, Blizzard and Activision are really two separate entities, and we really do our own thing....

I’m sure we’ve all wanted to shoot our brothers at some point, but 11-year-old De-Andre Finley went that extra mile,accidentally killinghis 9-year-old sibling after a videogame row ended with terminal consequences. “The younger brother allegedly got mad because he got beat at some video games and got the gun,” explains Marshall County Sheriff Kenny Dickerson. The two struggled over the firearm, and it allegedly went off accidentally, killing the younger boy....

This is officially not an April Fool’s joke, so get up and dance to show us your merry approval: a new Jak & Daxter game is on the way!Playstation blogconfirmed it this morning with the new screens you see above and in the gallery. CalledJak & Daxter: The Lost Frontier, the title is for PS2 and PSP and is being developed byHigh Impact Games. The story, what little we know of it, is as follows:...

A few weeks ago,we urgedBritish readers to sign a government petition calling for games industry tax breaks. As the UK faces the prospect of losing a blossoming industry to other countries already offering lucrative benefits, it’d be a wise move if Britain offered incentives to developers and publishers. The government, although not saying much, hasissued a responseto the petition: The Government takes seriously the contribution of the UK’s creative industries to the economy and to the UK’s cultural richness....

A lot of publishers have been having trouble figuring out how to make more money off their Wii games. We’ve heard from some folks at Capcom say that “hardcore” gamers have moved on from the Wii, or that there was never an consistent audience for “good” games on the console to begin with. Keep in mind, the people making these statements generally don’t make videogames; they just publish them. They’re the guys who hire the artists and designers to create games; the money men who are generally more concerned with tracking trends and chasing demographics than actuallymakinganything....

MTV Multiplayerasked Bungie’s Brian Jarrard whether the Master Chief would be making an appearnce inHalo ODST. The answer: No. Duh.ODSTtakes place on Earth in between the events ofHalo 2and3. The Chief is off on another Halo in some distant galaxy during this time so obviously he won’t be appearing in the upcoming sidestory. If you are wanting some more Master Chief in your life, then you’ll just have to wait forHalo Reach....

Creative is showing off a new wireless gaming headset that works across all gaming platforms: PS3, Xbox 360, PC and Mac. There’s a bit of buzz on the show floor about this headset, so I went to check them out. At the Creative booth they had these Sound Blaster Tactic3D Omega headsets ready to test on all systems. I picked the PS3 withGran Turismo 5setup and got a bit of racing in....

But, to be fair to my cute aunt who doesn’t have cable (but has access to the Internet, apparently), you may watch my appearance onAttack of the Showabove. Without getting too sappy, I will say that Destructoid has pretty much changed my life. I wouldn’t be the happy, dolphin-loving chap I am today if it wasn’t for all you guys. Each and every writer, designer, contributor, and community member is pretty much amazing (to say the least)....

Codemasters has officially announcedRise of the Argonauts, a grand scale action-RPG developed by Liquid Entertainment (whose last game wasDesperate Housewiveson the PC — hold your applause) for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC. The Unreal Engine 3 powered game follows the adventures of Jason and (of course) the Argonauts, as they battle mythical creatures and gods by ripping them to shreds. Codemasters promises “heart-pumping, lethal, blood-spurting combat,” and all of those things sound appealing, especially when coupled with the fact that the game can be played cooperatively with your bloodthirsty friends....