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THQ’sHomefrontis aiming to be the “definitive large-scale warfare experience on console and PC,” explained the game’s lead multiplayer designer, Erin Daly, at a recent press event focusing on the multiplayer component of the near-future FPS. At the demo, held last week in New York — Kaos Studios’ home turf — Hamza and I spent multiple hours with a few of the game’s maps and modes, and it became clear that the developer is bringing a brand of combat that combines the best and most popular aspects of the biggest shooters on the market today....

One of the oddities of Konami Gamer’s Night is that some pretty interesting games were unveiled, yet nothing was said about them. Case in point:Puzzle Chronicles. Here is a puzzle game/RPG in the same vein asPuzzle Quest, made by the same people asPuzzle Quest, and coming to virtually every platform imaginable (PSP, DS, XLA, PSN, and possibly more), and yet nothing was announced at the event. Sure, they had the game ready to play with a laptop and an Xbox controller, but when you and another journalist sit down and play the game for a full 15 minutes before a representative comes over, something seems fishy....

The only bad thing about a new Transformers game isthe shadow the reviews cast upon itfrom the previous entry in the series. That being said, sitting down with the developers behindTransformers: Revenge of the Fallenand hearing them say they have put a great deal of time into taking stock of what gamers did and did not like about the first game (and making sure that feedback was implemented) was refreshing indeed....

Video pirates and anime fans have been looking forward to the day theirPS3 will play DivX files. TheXbox 360just recieved an update that adds DivX functionality, and now, according toNeoGAF, the PS3 will follow with the 2.10 update. Through their poking around, NeoGAF found that this upcoming update will also add Blu-ray Profile 1.1 support as well as VC-1 WMV playback, though copyrighted files will be blocked. Something called Voice Changer has been added to the PS3’s chat functionality....

Continuing its movement to make the PlayStation 3 your catch-all media megalith,Sony has announcedthat the black box of Blu-ray will hopefully boast a digital TV tuner in early 2008. Next year, PS3 owners will be able to record television via the console, which is a pretty neat extension if you’re into watching the mewling slew of garbage that supposedly passes for TV programming these days. The news was revealed by Warwick Light, sales and marketing manager of Sony Computer Entertainment New Zealand....

Released for the PSP in Japan on December 7th, 2006, was a re-release ofPaRappa The Rapper, the famous PSOne game, at a price of 3,980 Yen (the Yen equivalent of $34 or €25 or £17). The game has been re-released by Sony on the PSP in celebration of ten years. What’s more, the game is in English, and since the PSP is region free, this title is high on the list of import friendly games....

A few years ago, one of my best friends boughtBaroque, an Atlus-published roguelike, after I turned him ontoPersona 3. It didn’t go well: lured by the Atlus name and the misconception thatBaroquewas another RPG, he wasn’t ready for the strictures of perma-death. Roguelikes are unabashedly brutal, but I think the bait-and-switch is part of the frustration. How many people boughtShiren the Wandereror, to a lesser extent,Demon’s Soulsonly to get crushed underfoot?...

Double Fine’s adorable lookingCostume Questhas received its debut trailer today, and it looks really quite promising. I love the idea of Halloween costumes coming to life, and I call dibs on the Jack o’ Lantern one. The rest of you can have the rainbow unicorn (which admittedly is awesome). Game looks great to me. What do you reckon? Yay or nay?

If there’s one developer that knows its crime-laden adventure games, it’s Cing. The small Japanese studio is, after all, responsible for one of the coolest DS games on the market,Hotel Dusk. Cing’s latest title,Again, treads familiar ground, this time putting players into the shoes of an FBI agent who has to solve a 19-year-old cold case and bring a serial killer to justice. Also, he’s psychic. There might be a business reason why Cing’s name is not on the box and the publisher, Koei Tecmo, is taking all the credit....

Radical Entertainment’sPrototypehas been a long time coming. The promise of shape-shifting slaughter in an open world was met with an equal mix of excitement and trepidation from gamers, but the game is finally out and judgement can be cast. A game with an anti-hero like Alex Mercer could go either way — it could be a delightfully violent romp full of ceaseless fun, or it could be a frustrating, unpolished mess of wasted potential....

If you saw ourimport reviewof DS rhythm gameRhythm Tengoku Gold, you’ll know that we’re big fans here at Destructoid. Colette and I both praised the title for its stellar music, insane design sense and kooky characters. It seems that those characters have made an impression on others, and now they’re making papercraft versions of them. Check out the above papercraft-making video for the characters fromRhythm Tengoku Gold‘s maddeningly difficult ping pong stages stages....

Microsoft is going to announce its next console within 12 months, likely at E3 2012, according to “a high-ranking industry source at Crytek” who spoke with VideoGamer. This source believes that Microsoft will launch its system before Sony gets its new console out. Most interesting of all, Crytek UK (formerly Free Radical Design) is buildingTimeSplitters 4with CryEngine 3 for the next line of consoles. “Crytek is using Microsoft’s DirectX 11 as the current basis for next-generation development,” writes VideoGamer....

I loveLeisure Suit Larrygames. They remind me of all the cheesy glory of the TRS-80, which was the first system I ever played the game on (and yes, I am officially over one thousand years old). Early last year we heard that the smooth talker was getting a new title calledBox Office Bust, but the merger between Activision and Blizzard left the title floating without an owner. CVGspotted a listing on the German Game Rating body (which has since vanished) that appeared to confirm Codemaster had picked up the title, which jives with a source told Destructoid earlier in the week....