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Over here in the UK,we just love making videogames illegal. It’s one of our favorite things to do in the world, ranking right below drinking tea and being apathetic. Next up in the legal shooting gallery are MMOs, but thankfully, this time the reason is at least a bit more logical than usual. Come September, the UK will round off the current updates to its Gambling Act with some new provisions for online gambling, but given the way the Act defines said activity, some videogames are going to be affected as well....

While footage ofGod of War IIIand the clumsy demonstration for the PlayStation 3 motion controller-dildo-wand thing stole the limelight during Sony’s E3 2009 press conference, we did get a chance to see another ambitious title under the “Play, Create, and Share” label. It’s calledModNation Racersand the trailer we watched (more or less) is available below the fold. ModNation Racersis, from what we’ve seen thus far, essentiallySuper LittleBigPlanet Kart. (Not a bad thing....

Reactions to sports games from the “hardcore” crowd tends to range from apathy to outright disgust, but Peter Moore, the feline head of EA Sports, believes the haters are misguided and don’t really know what they’re criticizing. “Sports games are often misguidedly slighted for a lack of creativity,” writes Moore. “Uneducated gamers will cry, ‘You just update the rosters.’ No doubt you’ve heard me vigorously defend the amount of innovation that our Tiburon and EAC studios deliver in our annual titles....

Movie and television streaming service Netflix is now available to download from the Wii Shop Channel, ensuring that Waggle fans can watchWho Framed Roger Rabbit?whenever they damn well please. Previously, Netflix required a disc in order to work with the Wii, but that is no longer the case with consumers able to get the service via the console’s online store. It costs $8.99 a month, and apparently it’s got all the episodes ofRen & Stimpy, which is worth the price of entry alone....

Stan Glasgow, Sony US president, says that they are in talks with Microsoft to add Blu-ray drives to their hardware. And right now, the only hardware Microsoft has is the Xbox 360. This was announced at a media dinner, where it was also mentioned that similar talks are taking place with Apple. Up until now, both Apple and Microsoft have had some focus on downloadable high-definition content, though Glasgow isn’t worried about this content overtaking Blu-ray....

Hey gang, long time no typing. In the wake of E3, I am suffering from what the experts are referring to as “nerd flu,” but which is more likely a hybrid of the T-Virus, Captain Trips, and the Legacy Virus. In spite of Kinect being the most sterile way of playing games (you don’t touch anything!) I still managed to become gross. On today’s show, I am forced to address the issue that isDuke Nukem Forever‘s totally abysmal review scores....

Seeing this new trailer forFinal Fantasy XIIIis a thrill for me as I’ve put going on 40 hours into the Japanese version. It’s nice to see how it’s going to turn out in my first language. And wow, the voice acting is superb. I’ve seen all of the included scenes (holy sh*t, some are dangerously close to spoiling), and I can say that theEnglish language version holds up very wellwhen compared to the Japanese version....

Just the other day we were telling you about howWisconsin wanted to add a taxon videogames. Now, thanks toGamePolitics, we’re hearing that New Mexico wants to jump on this bandwagon. Videogames aren’t the only target of this new tax though. TV sets will also be targeted in this 1% sales tax proposal: “We believe it is such a nominal tax that consumers won’t feel it too much, especially if they are educated about where that money goes,” said Michael Casaus...

When I sawSamurai Warriors: Katanaon the list, I thought that it would probably be the best game on this week’s release list. After watching this trailer for it though, I realized how dead wrong I was. It’s bad enough that all theWarriorgames are always the exact same thing (hack, hack, hack, move to new area), but this just takes the cake.As far as the rest of the games go this week,Nanostray 2looks to be the best choice....

Screw all the rest of what Nintendo has lined up this week. Let’s play makeup! No, really. Who needs music making gameJust JAM(Wiiware, 800 Wii points), puzzle gameJewel Keepers: Easter Island(3DS/DSi, $4.99), or eShop Game Boy gamesFortified Zone($3.99) orQix($2.99)? No. Fudge all of that. You wantMake Up & Style, a $4.99/500 point eShop/DSiWare title that lets you paint on makeup on 3D faces with precision. Customize a realistic 3D face and then paint away with countless makeup types, brushes, lipsticks and more....

Waking up to the announcement for the week’s Nintendo downloadable games is always a delight. Today, we’re being sold on a number of odd-sounding games, and one lonely, plain title. On WiiWare, there’s a demo forDart Rage, which has an announcer who apparently reacts to every single last shot or miss you make. There’s also a demo forLearning with the PooYoos: Episode 2, an educational title for children aged three to six....

TheWii Umay be aiming more for the so-called “core” gamers, but don’t panic, there’s plenty ofutter nonsensecoming out for the mainstream crowd as well. Nintendo has registered domains for a whole bunch of potential crap, which mostly consists of Wii games with “U” stuck on the end. Wii U Sports,Wii U MusicandWii U Fitnesshave all been reserved, along with the ridiculous sounding WiiUWare. Really, Nintendo? Let’s just keep calling it WiiWare and leave it at that, okay?...

Really, it’s no secret that Nintendo has been “in the green” ever since the DS blew up in Japan. The subsequent DS redesign and the release of the wand-waggling, family-friendly Wii didn’t hurt their books either. With this, Nintendo now has finally reclaimed their spot on top of the video game world. Like they say, it’s only downhill from here, and if Nintendo wants to stay on top, they have their work cut out for them....