SOPA, otherwise known as the Stop Online Piracy Act, is bad news. Not just for gamers (and the internet at large) but for developers as well.

Frozenbyte, the Finland-based indie studio behind Shadowgrounds and Trine, is well aware of just how damaging SOPA will be to independent developers; many of whom rely on word-of-mouth to promote their games. To them, SOPA is much more than just an affront against their personal freedoms, but potentially damaging to the way in which they do business.

With more and more companies withdrawing their support and speaking out against the egregious law every day, there is still hope for free and unrestricted internet. However, don’t let that stop you from following Frozenbyte’s example and speaking out (in a manner of speaking) against SOPA in any way you can.

2011 was an incredible year for video games. Some of the greatest experiences in genres came to be. But, several incredible games were announced as well — games that will be coming to us in 2012. I’ve channeled my excitement into my fingertips, and I’ve summoned up enough Friday Night Energy (thanks to a couple fo bottle sof 5-Hour) to put together this trailer bonanza.

In this post you’ll find the trailers for the biggest games of just the first 3 months (January – March) of 2012. Incredible fighting games, massive RPGs, and eagerly-anticipated sequels will make these first three months a nice wallet drain. At least, they’ll make our eyes bleed enough to warrant new glasses.

Grab a napkin, it’s about to get sexy up in hurr.

Twisted Metal is due sometime in the first quarter of 2012. No official date announced.

Mass Effect 3 launches on March 6th, 2012

Max Payne 3 hits the streets on March 6th, 2012

Final Fantasy XIII-2 arrives January 31st, 2012

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning arrives on February 7th, 2012

Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Future Soldier arrives March 6th, 2012

Silent Hill: Downpour falls on March 6th, 2012

SoulCalibur V arrives on February 7th, 2012

SSX slides in on February 28th, 2012

Xcom revives on March 6th, 2012

Street Fighter x Tekken fights onto your console on March 6th, 2012

Mario Party 9 arrives on the Wii March 11th, 2012

Resident Evil: Revelations arrives on the 3DS on March 20th, 2012

Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City arrives Q1 2012

Kid Icarus: Uprising rescues the 3DS on March 23rd, 2012

Dragon’s Dogma arrives on March 27th, 2012

Alan Wake’s American Nightmare lands in Q1 2012

Yakuza: Dead Souls arrives in Q1 2012

Doctor Who: The Eternity Clock swoops in during Q1 2012

Metal Gear Solid Snake Eater 3D sneaks onto your 3DS in Q1 2012… maybe

The Darkness II releases on February 7th, 2012

Asura’s Wrath launches Feb 21st, 2012

Syndicate arrives on February 21st, 2012

Rhythm Heaven Fever arrives on the Wii on February 13th

Uncharted: Golden Abyss launches for the Vita on February 22nd

All dates are tentative, and can (and probably will) change.

If you’re as much a fan of a Song of Ice and Fire as we are, and you drooled over Season 1 of the hit HBO adaptation, then get ready to melt. HBO has released the official first trailer for Season 2, focusing on the Clash of Kings. In the teaser we see scenes that those who’ve read the book will be familiar with:

• Tyrion on the throne as the Hand
• Daenerys and Jorah staring into the wasteland desert
• Arya on her way to the Wall
• Robb as the King in the North

The entire length of the clip is narrated by Stannis Baratheon, who claims the throne for himself after his brother King Robert’s death. The cold winds are rising, indeed!

The show returns April 2012. Are you looking forward to it? Have you read book 2 of the series yet?

The problem with zombie games is there are no humans. Only archetypes and singular-goaled beings exist among the undead in the games we play and therefore the argument can be made that the opposition is not unlike each other. Survival is not the most interesting tale to tell without careful character growth and if one developer could pull it off, it would be Naughty Dog.

Granted, a trailer is not the meatiest bone to pick off of, but The Last of Us shows more promise that it should have. Maybe it was because the zombies weren’t zombies in the same sense that 28 Day Later’s zombies weren’t zombies. It’s the difference between brainless fodder and intelligent predators, The Last of Us’ breed look like the latter. The hope here is that the environment will weigh down the characters with constant pressure, allowing room for the state of the world and the survivors to provide the narrative.

Naughty Dog has the talent to create characters that leave behind the obligatory, Nathan Drake won’t tell himself, “I need to use this gun in my hand to shoot the lock open.” In an emergent situation like man and the young woman are forced into during the trailer, they don’t have time to explain, it’s about instinct. And instinct is the very thing that drives the scripted moments in Uncharted, it’s also the trait in us that breaks it.

If the chance to demand two things from Naughty Dog when developing The Last of Us is allowed, it would be to explore player agency and to be devoted to scarcity; guns should be used sparingly if not ever. Stop punishing the player for making the wrong move, give them branching options of varying danger. And it’s a post-apocalyptic world, don’t look at Fallout, look at Silent Hill: Shattered Memories for enemy encounters; in other words: drop the “combat”. While we’re at it, take a cue from Richard Matheson, give us a story about the characters’ motivations, not the zombies, or whatever you’d like to call them. The Last of Us has potential if Naughty Dog will let it.

We know, the Angry Birds are so 2010. The amount of viral fandom around them, however, continues to grow. Take a look at the clip above from the folks at Random Encounters. It’s a full-on puppet musical with birds singing about their distaste for the green pigs. Also: sock puppets.

Not bad at all, considering I’ll be digging into a bird tomorrow for my own gluttonous enjoyment.

Another video you’d do well to check out is the live-action clip for APB Reloaded. We can’t say that we’ve been keeping up with this game very much, but the trailer actually has managed to pique our interest. Nice art direction, too.

And finally, the last clip above is all about Street Fighter x Tekken. We’re already excited about this game, and don’t need much to work us up any more, so seeing a few folks fake-pummel themselves doesn’t enhance our love for it. In fact, the video isn’t all that exciting, either. However, seeing a few folks fake-pummel themselves DOES enhance our love for the impromptu bouts of Capoeira that kept happening in art school.

At least we all have this majestic dinner to look forward to tomorrow. YUM:

Angry Turkey Angry Bird

Whenever a new Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is released, it’s followed by its fair share of controversy. Usually that controversy revolves around the high levels of violence portrayed in the game. It is war, after all. Al Jazeera English this week took a look at the successful series and the recently released Modern Warfare 3, asking EIC of Icrontic, and good friend of SideQuesting, Brian Ambrozy to comment on the new game.

Watch as Brian does a great job of relating modern culture’s views of violence in entertainment art to those of the past, like books and movies.

Read up on the rest of Brian’s thoughts here as well: Icrontic News

[Image credit: Al Jazeera]

If you’ve ever been interested in the intricacies of dragon husbandry, epic heraldry and scrapbooking then you must watch this video. Both intelligent and informative… Just kidding. It’s about dragon-f*ckers. Also dragon-humpers, dragon-sluts and just general dragon-f*cking.

In the latest in its Off Book video web series, PBS takes a look at the many aspects of gaming, including the competitive and storytelling sides less touched on by mainstream media. The piece is only about 7 minutes long and features interviews with many SideQuesting friends, like Leigh Alexander and Eric Zimmerman, and Jesper Juul. It’s worth checking out, as it’s rare that the medium gets this kind of exposure in the mainstream.

Via VIMEO.

Arin Hanson, A.K.A. Egoraptor, creator of “Metal Gear Awesome” and other awesome ‘Awesome’ shorts, has gone and made himself another great cartoon series. ‘Sequelitis’ features Hanson and his special brand of thoughtful ranting while he discusses video game sequels throughout the ages.

As it turns out, Arin has been keeping secrets from us. Beneath the facade of a raging funny-man beats the heart of a true game design afficianado. In this latest episode of ‘Sequelitis’, Hanson goes far beyond just discussing Mega Man and its subsequent sequels and actually provides stirring insight into the way games are designed and played. Game designers, take note; you just might be surprised to at how much you can learn from this video.

And it doesn’t hurt that it’s actually really funny.

I still have my floppy copy of Wolfenstein 3D. I acquired it from Babbage’s, nestled in a stack of shareware disks. I played the heck out of those 3 levels on my Packard Bell, in awe of the “true” 3-dimensions of mobility. I then played a version of the game on the Super NES, and again on XBLA and iPhone. I think I was even playing a port of it once that worked on an old Kodak camera’s LCD screen.

The point is, I’ve played a heck of a lot of ports of Wolfenstein, each with its own nuances and changes. I’m not the only person, either. Ben Paddon appreciates ports of video games, and is looking to create a web video series about the subject. PortsCenter is planned to examine the many ports of games that Paddon’s come across, and if the pilot episode (above) is any indication then the series looks to be both entertaining and informative. The pilot takes a look at the legendary game DOOM, peering into it’s history on PCs and consoles, and deep-diving into the excellent Playstation port.

Paddon is planning on creating 13 episodes, but being a starving artist in California has its disadvantages. The cost to create the series is about $7000, and so Ben has turned to the generous community of Kickstarter to help fund it. Through different pledge levels Paddon is offering various recognitions, and even guest spots and production credits.

Really, though, if you like seeing fresh video game content on the web then this is a good endeavor to support.

Visit the PortsCenter Kickstarter page to donate a few bucks, or at least enjoy the fun pilot. You can follow PortsCenter on Twitter as well to keep up to date!

We’ve chatted about our quickly growing love affair with Saints Row: The Third over the last few months.

Then this. This happens. THQ/Volition drop what is undoubtedly the most epic trailer we’ve seen in a long time.

Just take our money, guys. We love you, but you’re clearly wallet bullies.

We love crazy-ass videos, as you can tell by the sweet, sweet video features that Steven’s been running these last few weeks. Well, we have a few more to wrap up the weekend, starting with some juicy Pac-Man claymation love. The rest of this list is surprisingly heavy on celebrity action. Just have a look, and enjoy.

Syndicate Announcement Trailer

We have a boner for this game already, and this is all we’ve seen of it. You can find the Facebook page here to keep up to date. I’m sure we’ll have more about the game later on as well. Also, mutha-truckin’ Skrillex supplies the soundtrack to the clip. OH. HELL. YES.

The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords trailer

For the Legend of Zelda‘s 25th Anniversary, Nintendo is giving away stuff left and right. Most recently, the company let loose and updated version of the Four Swords for the 3DS/DSi. This clip shows us Robin Williams with a terrifying beard. But you know what’s better than that? His incredibly cute daughter, Zelda. Yeah, he named her after Princess Zelda. +1, Mr Williams!

Forza 4 Launch Trailer feat Jeremy Clarkston

Hey, did you hear? Forza 4 hits the pavement tomorrow. You’d best buy it, or Jeremy Clarkston’s appearance in the following trailer will go to waste. You know what that means, right? Yup: no more Top Gear*. Shame on you.

*Top Gear will still continue. We just wanted to give you a hard time.

Aperture: A Triumph of Science

The fan-made Portal films are always incredible. That continues with this flick, which details the rise of Aperture Science, Cave Johnson’s background, and our favorite computer-voiced girl. It’s a great little mockumentary that’s worth checking out, lest your bones turn to jelly.

Bit Trip: Runner 2 Brainstorm Session

And, finally, we come to Gaijin Games’ promo teaser for the just-announced Runner 2. It shows no gameplay, but it does tell us that even small development studios like to be geeks every once in a while. It’s actually fairly entertaining, and it’s Area5′s handiwork, so good all around.

Burnout Crash – Part 2

It’s more Hoff, and he’s more crazy. YIKES!

Mr Kong – The Movie Trailer

And finally we come down to Donkey Kong. Or in this case, Don K. Kong, the mild-mannered cubicle worker that loses it when he’s fired. It’s strange, but somehow works. (How does Machinima keep coming up with these things?)

Modern video games can produce some of the grandest vistas, most heart-pounding set-pieces and amazingly fantastical worlds found in any form of fiction.

However, it was not always this way. There was once a dark time in the era of our chosen medium, when full motion video and daytime television actors walked the surface of the gaming sphere. While that time may have passed and we no longer need to hire washed up Sci-Fi Syfy Channel actors to star in our games, we may still witness the last vestiges of that bygone epoch in the form of the mighty live-action trailer.

And so, over the next couple of weeks I invite you to explore that nostalgic shard of video game apocrypha. Some of these trailers are truly great! Some of them are truly terrible… And some of them are just, plain weird.

Best:

Golden Sun

I’ve never actually played Golden Sun before, but if it’s as awesome as this trailer, I probably should.

There’s something about old, innocuous-looking men acting like complete badasses that really appeals to me. Maybe it’s just that American trait of rooting for the underdog or maybe I’ve just watched far too many kung-fu films. Regardless, the level of badass-ery shown here combined with classic symphony, genuinely creepy monsters and a beautiful girl casting spells is one recipe for a great, live action trailer in my book.

Halo Reach: Deliver Hope

Now we’re talking! Last week’s lackluster Halo Reach trailer didn’t exactly set a high bar for Bungie’s last hoorah but this TV spot goes a long way towards making up for it.

What can I say that the trailer doesn’t already show? We’ve got aliens, cyborg super-soldiers, jet-packs, spaceships, sacrifice and things that go boom real nice. It’s pretty much all you could ever ask from a Halo feature film condensed into about a minute of footage. If you’re a fan of Halo, or even if you aren’t, it’s easy to appreciate this truly great bit of marketing.

Homefront

Say what you will about how the game actually turned out; no one can deny that Homefront had a truly biblical marketing campaign.

THQ spent millions slapping the Homefront brand onto everything from taco trucks to skyscrapers in an attempt to make their answer to Call of Duty a household name. Personally, however, I think that the best part of their PR blitz was this grisly trailer.

Sure, the game might not have encompassed the scenes of a dismally war-torn America depicted with as much finesse as this trailer, but at least it did well enough for THQ to green-light a sequel.

Worst:

Prey 2

Ugh, is there anything more boring (not to mention just plain lazy) than using the “found footage” technique in the trailer for your game?

This video depicts some nondescript douchebag drone on about how awesome it is to have a camera in 2011 until some blurry, even more nondescript monster shows up and mercifully ends his worthless existence. In other words, it’s every “found footage” film ever made.

On the bright side, Human Head did do us the favor of commission this far more exciting trailer for us shortly after the above snooze fest. And boy-howdy does the actually game look fantastic!

Timeshift

TimeShift was a game with a lot of potential and a lackluster execution that no one remembers. It also had a live action trailer with similar levels of potential and lackluster execution that even fewer people remember.

What exactly is going on here? The shoddy editing timey-wimey special effects that confuse more than amaze make it difficult to tell. Some hard-core scenery chewing from the actors playing our master criminals and a prosthetic suit that looks like someone cos-playing as The Guyver pretty much sum up the most interesting aspects of this commercial.

Xbox 360: Hollow Heads

I always found it interesting that Sony got such a bad rap for their early, bonkers Playstation 3 ads (see below) while almost no one ever discusses these absolutely terrifying (not to mention terrible) TV spots.

Who at Microsoft thought that a lobotomy from Ed Harris and the Borrowers living in someone’s skull would evoke the family friendly fun that they’re trying to force on us here?

For God’s sake, look at those eyes! Those cold, dead, empty eyes…

Weirdest:

Playstation 3: Crying Baby

Now, just because I blasted Microsoft’s One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest brand of unmitigated horror, don’t think that Sony gets a free pass.

Seriously, what the hell is this trailer even supposed to be telling me? And why is that doll in the time chamber from 2001: A Space Odyssey?

Honestly, this trailer did back in 2006 was give me nightmares and make me feel mighty terrified whenever it came on in the middle of the night. When I was alone. In the dark… All by myself! Quick, let’s look at something whimsical!

Spyro: Year of the Dragon

Ah, here we go. Something nice, whimsical and only mildly racist.

A large, fake city of presumably Japanese individuals is destroyed by an off-screen Spyro the Dragon while bystanders cry out Western colloquialisms. I get it; it’s a Godzilla parody. But who at the PR firm thought that a reference to 1960′s Japanese cinema was going to resonate with the kids of the day?

Burnout Crash

What the hell, Hasselhoff!?

As if the concept behind an isometric Burnout game wasn’t strange enough, we get this to go along with it. Regardless of how the actual game turns out, I will forever remember the time that I saw Michael Knight dress up as a chicken-based superhero and bomb an ice cream truck with his goddamn mind!

And there you have it! Another week down, another nine pieces of video game apocrypha thoroughly appreciated/harangued. Be sure to check back next Monday for the next batch and feel free to leave your thoughts and suggestions in the comments below.

Fan films are always a tough thing to parse. If they’re “too true” to the source material, they can come off as campy. If they stray too much from it, they anger fans.

Dan Trachtenberg, of Totally Rad Show fame (and friend of SideQuesting… Hi Danny!) has done the impossible and created a wonderful interpretation of one of our most beloved games, Portal. There’s not much to explain, and we don’t want to ruin the film by giving away the plot.

Just sit back, enjoy, and hope that he makes more.

The film Beyond the Game is being put together buy Animatronic Ackbar to document gaming culture, from giant fighting tournaments to home gaming.  This latest trailer above debuted at EVO 2011 recently, and features clips of Street Fightin‘, cosplay, and Atari 2600s.

Check it!

Thanks to Brandon for the link!

I love film students. I love when they mix their trade with their hobby of choice: video games. The combination can be hit or miss, but at least they always give it their all and create some, um, unique clips.  That’s the case here, as the folks at RandomEncountersEnt continue to have fun with the genre, this time at the expense of one of our most-beloved series.

In The Legend of Ganondorf, our anti-hero sings his own praises in Vaudevillian fashion.  Or, should that be “VaudeVILLAIN”..? Regardless, he slowly descends into self-pity, only to turn a complete 180 and throw a Hyrulian kegger of epic proportions.  Oh, and Link’s not invited.

Big ups to RE for the Link.  Errr, link.

During Zelda week, we’re taking a look at several of the Zelda games over the years.  Today, we’ve got a complete walkthrough for the first Legend of Zelda courtesy of Nintendo Daily.

The series, a 12-part video walkthrough of the original Legend of Zelda by Classicgamer, Nintendo Daily’s Content Specialist, is sure to be great viewing for the old school fans.

I’ve posted the first video below, but definitely click the link here to watch the entire thing.

The 12-part Legend of Zelda WalkThrough.

I’m an absolute sucker for the Forza series.  Forza 3 is one of my favorite games of the last 10 years, with super-detailed visuals and a wonderful match of simulation and casual racing.  Damn, just thinking about it makes me want to play it RIGHT NOW.

In the mean time I’ll spill a little info about Forza 4, the latest in the ultimate racing game series coming to Xbox 360 this Fall.

If the preview is at all indicative of the final game then I’m just going to build my racing bunker and hibernate until then.

There were several stations for Forza 4 on the show floor, each showcasing a different control method and technology.  We’ll focus on the non-Kinect demos right now, which included the standard Xbox controller and the new wireless “mini-wheel”.

Standard Controller

The Xbox 360 controller is going to be the de facto control method for somewhere around 70% of the people who play this game.  It feels exactly like Forza 3, which feels like just about every other racing game this generation.  The only (major) difference is Forza’s super-precise translation of physics into the game, committing to making each car drive exactly like it’s real-world counterpart.

I choose to race with a blue 2011 Subaru WRX STI and immediately blew past the competition on the fictional “Alps” course. Having played a few races of Forza 3 before E3 week I was already primed and familiar with the controls.  The improvement to the visuals is immediately noticeable. The new dynamic lighting creates accurate highlights on the sheet metal, rendering each vehicle more realistic than even those of Gran Turismo 5. The cars looked better than ever, and the shadows cast on the pavement, grass and gravel helped me visually position my Sube on the track a little better.

The audio, though a little difficult to hear with all of the show floor noise, seemed at least on par with previous Forza installments.  As cars passed me or I passed them, the engines boomed on either the right or left audio channel.

I mentioned above that I immediately took the lead as the race started, and used the “rewind” feature a couple times to stay up front.  That is, until I blindly slammed into a wall around 1/4 of the way around the final second track and fell behind.  I think I actually only completed the race in 6th position.

This was everything I’d wanted in a taste of the game.

Wireless Wheel

Here’s something a bit different. Microsoft has aped Nintendo’s Mario Kart-loving Wii Wheel.  The rep explained to me that in order to try and make the casual gamer feel a bit more at ease with the game, they’ve created a new wireless wheel held out in front with both hands.  Yeah, exactly like the Wii Wheel. It’s not a bad design, but I don’t think that the casual gamer will want to drop another $60-$70 on the new controller just to make an already-$60 experience that much more palpable.

Regardless, it didn’t seem to work quite as intended.  As you can see by the video above, the players are constantly checking and re-adjusting the wheel.  When I prompted one person why, he noted that it seemed to be over-steering a lot, and he was looking for a slider or dial to turn down the sensitivity.

With my time with it, I can’t really agree with his assessment.  Again, this is because I’m a little more understanding of racing games and mentally adapt to overly sensitive controls fairly quickly.  The casual player may not.  I don’t expect my wife to grab this wheel and be able to easily drive an Enzo.  The car is still tuned to be fast and precise.

I actually really did like the idea of the controller and its design, and the lights at the tips of it are a neat little gimmick. But… that added price for just one game.  Hrrm.

It’s all about the physics

I mentioned it above, but it needs reiterating: Forza 4 is all about recreating accurate track and vehicle physics.  Turn10 teamed up with Pirelli Tires to run tests on several of the world’s most famous and diverse tracks to map out how tires grip each kind of texture, under a variety of speeds, vehicle weights, and weather.  A more accurate racer doesn’t exist, and neither does one that is as deserving of my money as this is.

What goes on at E3, behind the scenes? Sure, seeing our ongoing previews, hands-on, and breaking news is enough to give you an idea of the work we’ve been putting into presenting E3, but it doesn’t always get you the gist of how hectic the event can be. Doug and Adam have put together their second video (you might remember this one from a couple years back) detailing their E3 adventure. Yeah, ALL OF THAT HAPPENED IN 4 DAYS. That’s a lot of walking, and even more gaming. Oh, and malnourishment , too.

As a part of our demo at Zelda, we recorded some of the gameplay from the show floor.  We know, the trailer (below) looks good enough, but seeing the actual unscripted play of the game is a better impression of what to expect when you grab the WiiMote and Nunchuk later this year.

While it wasn’t “playable”, Nintendo’s demonstration of the video streaming capabilities of the Wii U included an HD presentation of the Legend of Zelda.  This was the same video shown during their press conference, but now longer and allowing for some nifty features.

The demo began with Link strolling into a cathedral-like dungeon. The background textures were extremely detailed, the lighting extravagant, and Link’s fairy pal Navi buzzed around him, casting light and shadow on Link as she floated past.  It was definitely HD, and looked as good as any fantasy console game today. The television was HUD-free, with all information posting to the controller’s screen.  The controller displayed a map with the location of the camera as well as a few touch-screen icons. With the touch of the “flip” icon, the video on the television is sent to the controller and vice versa.  The transition was instant.  I flipped it back and forth a few times to try and stump it, but to no avail.  Flawless.

By pushing the camera icon on the controller’s screen, I was able to switch the view on the television screen around Link and the room.  Finally, another icon changed the lighting of the room from daytime to night and back. This was done actively, as the demo was rolling, proving that it was all being done in real time.  Extremely beautiful, and instantaneous.  I was told by the representative showing us the demo that indeed it was being done wirelessly.  I can imagine this simple little “trick” becoming an awesome gameplay addition.  Use a magic spell to change the lighting in the room to see different items, of change the weather from Summer to Winter to weaken an enemy, or even flip time between the future and the past in one area to solve a puzzle.  Amazing!

The demo ends with Link facing off against a giant Armogohma spider boss.

I want this demo to be a game, right now.  Unfortunately, it’s just a giant tease that won’t make it into a Wii U Zelda game until years down the road.  Dammit Nintendo!

For many viewers the most exciting part of last week’s Manchester United v. Barcelona match was the “Gears of War 3 Campaign Trailer” that Epic was gracious enough to drop after the match.

Maybe it was just Epic’s little idea of a joke to include so many explosions within such a blowout match but, while the trailer may be big on carnage and exposition (such as it is) we here at SideQuesting really thought that what this latest trailer for the chainsaw-bayonet-slash-curb-stomping-simulator really needed was a little ambiance.  It didn’t take long, of course, for us to realize that we could make a much better version if we just took out all of those unnecessary ‘talky bits’ and made it more like Gears of War trailers past.

What do you think?  Does its quality hold up to the creepy/sad tones of the trailer’s predecessors? Or is Black Sabbath just too metal to play with the other kids?  Let us know in the comments below, yo!

In this edition of Game Bytes, I take a look at Outland. Outland is published by Ubisoft and Developed by Housemarque. While I played this on Xbox 360, it should be live in PSN as soon as the store goes back online. Outland reminds me of Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands with the frantic switching of colors in mid-air.

What do you think of Outland? What games does Outland remind you of? I found it to be something very unique while still having that familiar feel.

A gameplay trailer for Modern Warfare 3 was just released. This shows battles taking place throughout the world in rural and city areas. At the end of the trailer, WW3 is shown before changing to MW3. This confirms that the story of Modern Warfare 3 will put players in the middle of a world wide battle. I am personally excited and the Call of Duty series often has some of my favorite trailers.

What do you think of the trailer? Does the franchise interest you anymore?

The leaks from the last few days were true. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is real (we all knew it in our hearts, didn’t we?) and it’s coming this year.  All we have to go with right now are these three teaser trailers from the official Call of Duty YouTube page, which depict New York, London, and Berlin (?) being attacked by Russian terrorists, presumably completing the trilogy’s story.

The video above shows America Under Siege, with England and Germany not seeming to fare so well either (in the clips below).

How will this stack up to what we’ve seen of Battlefield 3?

November 8th looks like the date that we’ll be locking ourselves in our rooms.  Expect more information from us when we visit with Activision at E3 in just a couple weeks.

England Under Siege:

Germany Under Siege: