Yesterday EA announced they were giving their fans another chance at designing a kick-ass weapon for their upcoming game, Army of Two: The 40th Day.  This contest is open to participants in North America and Europe and will be running from June 23, 2009 to July 12, 2009.  To enter you must submit 1 image of your weapon along with a 200 word description; all entries should be submitted to http://www.armyoftwo.com.

One HILARIOUS entry-The Beer Keg Silencer, "for stealthy kills and post-combat refreshment".

Creative Director, Alex Hutchinson advises “if you want to win, probably the best idea is to design weapons that push the boundaries of reality as far as possible without crossing over into the land of fantasy”.

All submissions will be voted on by the community until July 19, 2009.  From June 20 -26, finalist submissions will be reviewed by EA’s expert development team who will then chose the top two designs.  Winners will be contacted July 30, 2009, and hopefully we’ll get to see their designs in the new game.

Army of Two: The 40th Day should be hitting store shelves this winter on Xbox 360, Playstation 3, and Playstation Portable.  To view more of the “Beer Keg Silencer” and other entries, visit the Army of Two Weapons Designer Gallery here.

New screenshots were released for the massive action-rpg, Sacred 2: Fallen Angel.  Get a close up of a few of the classes, like the Inquisitor and the Seraphim, slashing enemies and casting spells in the dark dungeon of Ancaria.  Sacred 2 will be releasing on the Xbox 360 and the PS3 May 12th.

Every now and again rumors surface of a completed project of the Shenmue series being in the works, creating waves of anticipation in the sea of Shenmue fans who’s been patiently waiting for six years for SEGA’s official word.  We’ve seen fake screenshots and trailers, we’ve fell for slated release dates, and have heard rumors of a completed game sitting on SEGA’s shelves collecting dust for one reason or another.  Yet we remain hopeful, knowing that the man who gave birth to the amazing creation that is Shenmue, Yu Suzuki, has an active role there at the company.

Mr. Suzuki was inducted into the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences Hall of Fame in 2003.

But as the years go by and Yu Suzuki’s role become less and less, our hope of experiencing the final chapters of  Shenmue diminish as well.  Recently, according to SEGA Sammy, Yu Suzuki has “retired” from the role of R&D (Research and Development) Creative Officer, and as of April 15, 2009 will be a member of the Amusement R&D Division.  Notice in SEGA Sammy’s records, Yu Suzuki is on the list as “retired”, but is noted to have made a “personal change” on April 1st, to stay as a member of the company.  What does this mean?  Was it a company mistake, or did Suzuki change his mind last minute about retirement?

Sega Race TV was the last game Suzuki has designed for SEGA AM. It released in Japanese arcades in 2008.

Whatever it means, news of retiring- in this case almost retiring- is not good news at all for Shenmue fans around the world.  Maybe he changed his mind because he wanted to go out with a BANG and finish one of his greatest works.  Why not go out on a good note?  Or maybe I’m just harboring more blind hope for something that will never come; after all the hope of finally avenging Ryu Hazuki and defeating Lan Di is the only thing that keeps us Shenmue fans warm at night.

Square Enix released almost a dozen more screenshots for the highly anticipated RPG Final Fantasy XIII showing Lightning, Snow, and Sazh fighting off more mech-hounds and Steam Punk henchmen.  Let’s see if this will hold you over ’til another trailer is leaked.  Maybe dissecting these photos will clue you in on the new battle system being used this time around.

Final Fantasy XIII is scheduled to be released later this year in Japan, and Spring 2010 for North America and Europe.

Every 5-6 years gamers are faced with the important decision of which next-gen console to buy.  This decision has always been particularly hard for me because my pockets weren’t necessarily the deepest and I would have to chose only one, leaving me with the horrifying feeling of missing out on some of the best titles exclusive to other consoles.  This feeling that I like to call “The Big 3 Oppression”, has kept me down since the latest generation of consoles were released a couple years back, but now, there is a sort of gleaming hope shining in the distance.  A Micro-Console that can stream games made for the Playstation 3, Xbox 360, PC, and Mac straight to my TV or extremely basic PC!

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You are Richard B. Riddick.  A brazen criminal eternally on the run, and eternally being chased.  No mercenary has ever captured you without a fight, and no prison -maximum, double maximum, or triple maximum security- has ever managed to keep you from escaping.  The huge payout for your arrest has been the sole motivation for countless bounty hunters to continuously give chase like blood hounds; the ones who finally get to meet you, also get to meet the sharp end of your blade.

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The historical city of Kisaragi is being hit by a growing number of violent crimes with no logical explanation.  It appears that a parasite called Silent- a worm born from malicious scorn and utter hatred- has infected over 10,000 people in the city, causing them to commit suicide, murder, and even become harmful to animals.  Not even the parent’s of the hero, Atsuki Saijo, are immune to such vicious crimes.  In order to avenge his parent’s, Atsuki goes through a dangerous operation to attain Lux-Pain in his left arm, a power so great that it turns his left eye gold when he’s searching out Silent.

The organization that Atsuki works for is called Fort- a psychic detective division that is investigating the source of the unexplained crimes.  In the first step toward cracking the case, Atsuki goes undercover at a school to find the recipient of an email sent by a group infected with Silent right before they committed suicide.  Going around school asking questions is one way to get information, but Atsuki’s power, called Sigma, allows him to look inside people and objects to find hidden emotions, called Shinen.  With the dedication to get revenge fueling his fire, a psychic detective team by his side, and the powerful Lux-Pain in his arm, Atsuki Saijo has the dynamic combination to solve this mystery once and for all and break the Silent of Kisaragi!

Features:

• Investigate your surroundings and gather hints by conversing with characters in the game

• Use your Psychic Powers to save potential victims from Silent Worms.

• Explore the 7 regions of Kisaragi City

• Beautiful anime style graphics

• Use your stylus to:

Since the beggining of time, T-Energy has kept the world of Ancaria alive.  The energy source shapes life itself and is the origin of all magick.  For a long span of time, the angelic Seraphim were the overseers of T-Energy, but eventually passed on their knowledge to the High Elves, who soon became the supreme race of Ancaria.

Before long, there were bickering between the High Elves about how the power would be distributed.  The bickering turned into heated disputes, and the disputes raged into an all out Civil War amongst the Elves.  With the highest power in an uproar, other people of the nation joined in the dissidence, fueling the war even more, but neither of them knew the distruction that was coming their way.

In the midst of the fighting, the T-Energy went out of control, destroying cities and entire regions, and mutating animals beyond recognition!  The war to control T-Energy soon becomes the war to regain order over it; the once protected source of life has now become the source of chaos and destruction, and Ancaria cries out for heroes to rise up to the challenge!

Sacred 2 Logo

Sacred 2: Fallen Angel is an Action RPG that combines elements from the best hack n slash and roleplaying games. It gives you an immense hand-designed world with 11 regions to traverse with hundreds of monsters to encounter. It also gives you two campaigns to immerse yourself into, and six unique character classes to choose from.

Features:

• Play co-op or competitively with up to 4 players online and locally
• Sountrack featuring Heavy Metal act, Blind Guardian
• Enjoy beautiful HD graphics

• Traverse the massive world and complete countless sidequests

Remember the good ole days when boxing games were cool and fun to play?  When characters had a bad attitude with a super flashy animated punch to back it up?  Well the good ole days are back!  The Ready 2 Rumble series is returning and bringing back the excitement and action that you’ve been missing with Ready 2 Rumble Revolution for the Wii!  This game will knock your Wii Boxing Miis clean out of the ring!  The new lineup will be delivering a punch March ‘09; are you ready to rumble?

Castlevania is bringing a new twist to this 22 year old franchise!  Here we have a killtacular video review of the new 3D fighter: Castlevania Judgment (Wii), with some EXCLUSIVE content for all of our readers!

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