If the demo is any indication of what can be expected in the final product, then yes, they have delivered and quite dashingly if I do say so myself.

Gameplay relies heavily on CQC (close quarters combat) and detectiveness…detectiviosity…detective skillz! The “free flow” combat system is actually really cool and feels very smooth in action. It’s also the little touches like sound effects when punching or kicking enemies and the slo-mo action shots that add a great deal of quality to the gameplay. The detective side of things aren’t as stale or boring as you’d think. Most of which involve puzzle-like elements. I could go into greater detail but I’ll save that for a future review.

If you’ve ever watched Batman: The Animated Series you’ll be happy to know that writer Paul Dini is involved with Arkham Asylum’s story. Also reprising their roles from the animated series are Kevin Conroy as Batman and Luke Skywalker as the Joker. As well as the chick that does the voice for Harley Quinn…whom by the way is HOT! in Arkham Asylum.

Batman: Arkham Asylum is set to release on August 25th, 2009. Mark your calendars! PS3 folk will get the Joker as an exclusive “challenge room” character (for the game) as well as an unlockable “Batcave Outpost” for Home. For a taste of what’s to come, you can go hands-on with demo downloadable now on PSN, XBL, and for PC.

From PS.blog

We know that you Home-dwellers just love your rewards, so we’ve worked with the fine folk over at Eidos to ensure that their next release integrates tightly with our platform. Those of you who scoop up the highly-anticipated Batman: Arkham Asylum for your PLAYSTATION 3s next week will be pleased to see that the game unlocks a special Batcave Outpost personal space. It’s safe to say that hardcore Batman fans are going to seriously spazz out when they unlock Bruce Wayne’s secondary lair under Arkham, so if you count yourself a disciple of the Dark Knight, you’d better rush to get your hands on this title when it is released on August 25th.

Special thanks to Batmania for providing the onomatopoeic signs from the original ’60s live action Batman show.

Upon hearing the rogue alien radio signal, a new location is added to the map. Discovering the location yeilds a crashed UFO, but without delay the wanderer is immediately abducted, imprisoned, and tasked with finding an exit back to the wasteland, all while battling the hostile inhabitants of the ship.

So begins Mothership Zeta…

Pros:

• Length-The slow and methodical players will have at least 5-9 hours of quality gameplay. Rummaging the ship takes quite a bit of time since it is quite large in general scope.
• New Weapons-MZ adds 8 new and very powerful energy weapons, 3 melee weapons in the forms of batons and a samurai sword, and 2 unique explosives, the Cryo Grenade and the Cryo Mine.

• Radio Messages-Another collection fest, which is pretty much synonymous with Fallout 3. This time around you have the option to find 25 radio messages that are scattered around the ship. Most are imformative and add to the storyline, while one in particular is quite hilarious.

Cons:

• Cramped Ship-Tight corridors plus mutlitple speedy aliens equals a lot of damage taken. Luckily most of the rooms are sufficient in space.
• Missions-Only three this time around, and they are all far too linear. Escape the holding cell, sabotage the ship, take it over. Just like that.
• Enemies-One would think little green aliens wouldn’t put up much of a fight with all the weaponry available, but these guys are tough. It sometimes took me four-five shots with an Alien Disintegrator repaired to perfect condition to take one little bugger down. Only problem was, they usually traveled in large numbers so there would be another three left to deal with.
• Limited Collectables-With only 14 unique items to collect, not counting the weapons, there is very little to stockpile and take back to the wastes.

With only a few quests, and limited collectibles, this DLC seems proper for fans of the game. Other casual players may want to steer clear, or possibly wait for a price drop. Its such a shame that the final add-on for Fallout 3 was somewhat disappointing and quite the sour note to go out on.

Mothership Zeta is available through xbox.com or your Xbox 360′s Dashboard for 800 MS points. Just a reminder for PS3 fans, you will get all of Fallout 3′s DLC but you’ll have to wait a bit longer. If you have yet to purchase Fallout 3, then the Game of The Year Edition is right for you! It includes all of the DLC packs that have been released thus far. The GotY Edition releases October 13th, 2009 and will retail for the regular price of $60. You’re essentially getting $50 worth of add-ons absolutely FREE!

Fantastic Mr. Fox

"Mr. and Mrs. Fox live an idyllic home life with their son Ash and visiting young nephew Kristopherson. But after 12 years, the bucolic existence proves too much for Mr. Fox’s wild animal instincts. Soon he slips back into his old ways as a sneaky chicken thief and in doing so, endangers not only his beloved family, but the whole animal community."

It’s “fantastic” seeing a slight uprise in stop-motion animated flicks. I say slight because the only other recent film I can think of is Coraline. This new movie is directed by Wes Anderson and based on the book by Roald Dahl. I’m actually very excited for this movie; 1) because I LOVE stop-motion animation 2) I’m a fan of various Dahl books and 3) I’m also a huge fan of Anderson’s previous work.

[Release Date: November 13th, 2009]

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Cirque du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant

"A boy unknowingly breaks a 200-year-old truce between two warring factions of vampires. Pulled into a fantastic life of misunderstood sideshow freaks and grotesque creatures of the night, one teen will vanish from the safety of a boring existence and fulfill his destiny in a place drawn from nightmares."

Nice to see a vampire movie that isn’t a “vampire” movie, and by that I mean Twilight. There appears to be a lot of other supernatural weird shit going on in this movie which seems pretty cool. Also, while reading through some more info on this movie I came upon the word Vampaneze. I immediately pitched a tent at the thought of some bad-ass vampire chimpanzee hybrid duking it out against some regular buff vamps. Sadly, though, it’s just a name for the vampires’ counsins. Bummer.

[Release Date: October 23rd, 2009]

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The Lovely Bones

"In 1973, Susie Salmon is raped and murdered by a neighbor, George Harvey, a serial killer of young girls and women. She finds herself in Heaven, observing her family as they grieve for her. She also watches her killer who, having covered his tracks successfully, is preparing to murder again. Susie struggles to balance her desire for vengeance on Harvey and her desire to have her family recover from their loss."

Peter Jackson, bitches! nuff said…well, maybe just a little more. It looks like a touching drama mixed with some fantasy elements. Starring Princess Nefertiti and Max Payne. Just watch the trailer, this movie looks really good. Another movie I’d recommend watching, that has a dark drama/fantasy theme to it as well, is Heavenly Creatures. Which is also directed by Peter Jackson.

[Release Date: December 11th, 2009]

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Case 39

"Social worker Emily Jenkins thinks she has seen it all until she meets her newest, most mysterious case, troubled 10-year old Lilith Sullivan. Emily's worst fears are confirmed when the parents try to kill Lilith, their only daughter. Emily saves her and decides to take her in herself until the right foster family comes along, only to find out the girl isn't nearly as innocent as she thought."

Black Dude: How many active cases you got?
Blonde Chick: 38.
-black dude slams manila folder on desk-
Black Dude: Now you’ve got 39, bitch!
Movie Announcer: Case…39…

[Release Date: September 25th, 2009]

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Post Grad

"Ryden Malby graduates from college in the middle of the late 2000s recession and is forced to move back in with her parents, because her dream job has been given to her college nemesis Jessica Bard. Ryden and her best friend Adam must find a job for Ryden before she loses hope for her future dream as an editor of a big publishing company. But will sudden feeling for her long time friend interfere with her dreams?"

I am not ashamed to admit that I love chick flicks. Call me a pussy but romantic comedies alway get to me they really do. Starring the always beautiful, Rory Gilmore (or Lena Kaligaris, if you prefer). Yes, I watched Gilmore Girls and both Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants movies! Sue me…

[Release Date: August 21st, 2009]

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A new season brings new horizons for our Heroes on a road to redemption.

Season 4 begins with a 2 hour premiere on September 21st, 2009. If you need a recap of previous seasons, you can purchase the DVD/Blu-ray sets at Amazon or watch some episodes over at hulu.com

“A little robot who’s been thrown out to the scrap yard behind the city must return and confront the Black Cap Brotherhood and save his robot-girl friend.”

I just recently discovered Machinarium. After watching the wonderful trailer I immediately had to seek out information on the developers. Though their games are short with simple gameplay, the surreal graphics and original score make them very unique. Once you see this game in motion it really is like beautiful art come to life.

If you’re interested, which you should be, you might want to check out their first two games to get an idea of games’ style. You can play the full 6 levels of Samorost completely free on it’s official website. Samorost 2, however, will cost you 5 bucks. Though you can play a preview of the first 3 levels, 7 in total, for free as well.

I played both games yesterday and they were very entertaining. Great stuff for a lazy Saturday night. I didn’t actually time it but it felt like I got a good half hour of game time out of each. Not bad at all for a free game and another worth $5. Very inexpensive and you are helping out some independent developers. Which is always a great thing.

Machinarium is scheduled to release in October 2009. You can now pre-order the game to get $3 off the final price of $20 plus some additional goodies. Though Machinarium and the Samorost series have different art direction, they are both great none the less.

And now that I can think of anything else to say, head on over to Adventure Gamers where you can read a great hands-on preview.

Monk is an original crime drama series with a splash of comedy which first aired back in 2002. It’s been on air for 7 years and has since been nominated for and won numerous awards. Starring Tony Shalhoub as Adrian Monk, a brilliant but obsessive compulsive detective living in San Francisco.

“When an attempt is made on the life of a former child star who recently published a tell-all biography, Monk is thrilled to act as her bodyguard — until he learns exactly how different she is from her TV alter ego.”

You can buy DVD sets for Seasons 1-7 over at Amazon. It’s a highly recommended show which you should start watching if you haven’t already. The eighth and final season began on Friday, August 7th and will end on December 4th, 2009.

A couple of years back the original 1989 TMNT arcade game was ported to the XBLA. Now, we finally get an HD/3D remake of it’s sequel.

TMNT: TiT RS (…hehe, I said tit..) has up to 4 player online/offline co-op. One new 3D aspect is that you can attack in a full 360 degrees. This is achieved while still maintaining the 2D side scrolling feel of the game. All 9 original levels from the arcade version have been beautifully remastered in HD. Since ‘Re-Shelled’ is a remake of the arcade version, fans of the SNES port will likely be disappointed to see a few things missing. Mainly the original music, the Technodrome level, and a few boss fights (either slightly changed or gone completely).

Leif and I played the demo locally and it was actually pretty fun. It felt a lot like the original just with updated graphics. Unfortunately, it was just the demo so I can’t go into greater detail. It consisted of only one short level. The very first “scene” of the game entitled ‘Big Apple, 3 AM’ in which you take on foot soldiers and inevitably make your way to the boss fight with Baxter Stockman, the mutated fly man…thing.

Thanks to the fine folks over at machinima.com for making this great comparison vid.

You can buy Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time Re-Shelled at xbox.com or through your Xbox 360′s Dashboard. PS3 folk, unfortunately, will have to wait until later this year. Rumored to release some time in November for the PlayStation Network.

Castle Crashers is a side-scrolling beat ‘em up 4 player action adventure game with a dash of RPG elements. If that didn’t get you all tingly inside then I don’t know what will. Btw, in the image above, that is a giant cat fish shark thing being ridden by a polar bear! How fucking badass is that!!!

Developed by the Behem0th, creators of the wonderfully addictive but painfully difficult Alien Hominid. The game starts with a bunch of little knight dudes dancing, drinking, and living it up when all of a sudden a dark wizard breaks in and kidnaps their women!…oh, and he takes some magical crystal which belongs to the King as well, but that’s beside the point…So the main 4 colorful knights set out on a quest to get their bitches back! That pretty much sums up the story. There are many levels in this game and each one is just so much fun to play. Especially with a few close buddies, which you will undoubtedly need when taking on the ‘Insane’ difficulty mode. The game supports up to 4 player offline/online co-op.

Braid is a 2D puzzler platformer akin to the likes of the classic ‘Super Mario Bros.‘ but with a unique time bending twist. Essentially the SMB of a new era, if you will.

The settings in this game look like water paintings come to life. Once you see it in action it’s quite beautiful. The story revolves around a little English looking dude, named Tim, on a quest to find and rescue a “princess.” The game is divided into six worlds, each of which has it’s own time-base mechanic. While progressing, the beginning of each world has an excerpt that reveals a part of the story. In addition to that, each stage contains puzzle pieces which must be collected and ultimately assembled into a jiggsaw puzzle. Which depicts a frame pertaining to that part of the story. All in all the game is simple and complex at the same time. Something that very little games achieve.

I’ll be sure to update when information about release dates are announced.

The fourth installment in Bethesda’s line of downloadable content for Fallout 3, Point Lookout, takes the lone wanderer to a murky seaside town on the Maryland coast.

Pros:

• New Environment-In place of the Capital Wasteland, Point Lookout takes players to a small coastal town and vast swampy forest. Plenty of exploration opportunities with 37 new locations waiting to be discovered and a creepy atmosphere with the lurking fog and roving inbred cannibals.
• New Enemies-Replacing the highly irradiated mutants roaming the wastes,  Point Lookout’s marshland is inhabited by NPC’s known as Swampfolk. Made to resemble cannibalistic hicks like that of The Hills Have Eyes, these guys are powerful and dangerous. Even for an experienced character, they can take a lot of damage while dealing out more than their fair share.
• Added Quests-With five main quests, five side quests and three unmarked quests, it is very difficult to find yourself not doing something. Whether you’re in search of the whereabouts of a missing Chinese agent, infiltrating a local tribe, or making your own moonshine, you will have plenty to do.
• New Aresenal-Point Lookout adds 11 unique weapons to the world of Fallout 3. My personal favorite being the powerful double-barreled shotgun. For the melee players out there, there are two new axe’s and two knives to play out your psychotic fantasies.
• Length-With all the different locations to explore and 13 quests to partake in, Point Lookout adds about 4-5 hours, if not more, of game time. Definitely nice for $10.

Cons:

• Bugs-At times, the framerate would stutter with multiple enemies on screen and a couple of times my game froze and locked up my 360 completely. Thankfully, no corrupt game saves but its still annoying.

For 8oo Microsoft Points you really can’t go wrong with this add-on. It has variety, plenty to do and new items waiting to be collected. Aside from the framerate issues, which seems like the norm unfortunately with Bethesda’s downloads, there is very little to dislike.

You can download Point Lookout off the 360 dashboard or off xbox.com. For the PS3 users, you’ll have to wait a bit longer.