Joystiq impressions: Cave Story (WiiWare)
New games this week: Fracture edition
If you're a sports fan though, you've got a double dribble of b-ball action with NBA Live 2009 and NBA 2K9 (thank goodness they're in the same week too, because we just used up all of the basketball lingo at our disposal). Check out the full list after the break.
Neopets Puzzle Adventure gets October release window

Capcom let us know that the PC and DS versions are due by the end of October, while a Wii edition is coming later. So you'll soon be able to share our love of the puzzler (and self-loathing). Check out our original impressions again for the full details.
The Best of Big Download: Sept. 29-Oct. 5
Exclusive Features
- Reviews: This week check out our final verdicts on Warhammer Online and Lego Batman. Also we have a look at several PC gaming hardware products from SteelSeries.
- Crysis and Crysis Warhead performance comparisons: Did Crytek really optimize Crysis Warhead? We check out their claims in our benchmark test.
- Is a broadband cap a threat to the game industry?: ISPs are beginning to put limits on how much you can download? Could you go over by downloading large game files?
- The PC Game Vaporware Vault: Which games are we still waiting to be released after years of promises? Quite a few actually.
- The College Try: Failed PC Ports of Console Games: Sometimes a great console game doesn't make a great PC game.
- Mac Monday: Our look at Mac gaming takes on the Wild Tangent online RPG Fate.
- MODMonday: Our mod column continues its look at Max Payne mods with a look at the Kung Fu total conversion.
- Independent Minds: Our look at indie games takes a different turn as we examine how social networking can help indie game developers.
- Boot Disk: Our look at classic PC game takes a gander at the original Interplay RPG Fallout.
- Big Ideas: Our look at big PC gaming trends examines the whole idea of user generated content.
- Big Iron: Our hardware column this week takes a look at the importance of frame rate in games
- Alt-Tab: What qualities does a good PC game need to have? We have an answer in our latest installment.
- Freeware Friday: Our look at games you can get for free gets a load of the arcade shooter Gunroar.
- Virtual Bargain Bin: Our look at games on the cheap takes a look at Steam's id Super Pack and X-Com Complete Pack.
- BigCast: It's our regular weekly podcast as the team debates all matters related to PC games.
Crysis Wars free trial coming next weekend
Of course, after you've registered on MyCrisis.com and downloaded the full version of Crysis Wars (right here), you can play the game immediately, albeit offline using a LAN connection. We're assuming you already have a cadre of PC gaming acquaintences with appropriately powerful rigs -- don't you, you sociable so-and-so, you.
Metareview - Silent Hill Homecoming (PC, PS3, 360)
- 1UP (B): "Homecoming stays true to the macabre Silent Hill atmosphere without feeling stagnant. Exploration's perfectly in line with previous games, complete with tons of locked doors, decaying structures, and doubling back between the real world and its hellish counterpart -- but some little nuances intrigue."
- Cheat Code Central (84/100): "This game delivers on the experience you have come to expect from the franchise. It will also give you reason to begin clamoring for the next installment. The folks at Double Helix gave me the Silent Hill I wanted: a nerve-racking, scary as hell experience to hold me over this Halloween season."
- IGN (67/100): "Unfortunately, I admit that the game feels like a bit of a letdown. The gameplay has been reduced from a tense psychological experience fraught with spine tingling jumps and scares to a generic, predictable action title set in the location with good graphics and a great soundtrack."
Dead Space scores 91% in first review
Oh, but there is one thing that worries us: the game's "film-worthy" script. Have they not been to the cinema recently? With rare exception, a poorly formatted paragraph describing a pair of voluptious breasts ramping a Porsche over an explosion would have to be dumbed down by a script doctor. Too arty.
[Via X3F and Twitter, which apparently works in outer space]
GameTap Thursday: Dancing with the Stars, Secrets of Great Art

But If you must know this week's additions:
- Dancing With the Stars (Windows) - The top-rated show infects your PC.
- Ride! Carnival Tycoon (Windows) - Another sub-par tycoon game.
- Secrets of Great Art (Windows) - Where's Waldo and I Spy meet high art.
Continue reading GameTap Thursday: Dancing with the Stars, Secrets of Great Art
Valve's Left 4 Dead box art, now with more puns
Dead Space goes gold, free DLC suit for early adopters
Remember, the North America EA Store is also offering the "Ultra Limited" edition (only 1,000 copies) for $150. Those will also begin shipping Oct. 14th.
Penny Arcade Adventures Ep. 2 done, priced at $15
The Xbox Live Arcade and PSN iterations are presumably still being tweaked (much like the PSN's Episode One), but will share the same price of 15 earth bucks. Hooray for subsequent episodic games becoming cheaper!
Fallout 3 hands-on: Four hours in the Wasteland

click to enlarge
We spent just over four hours utterly absorbed in the spectacularly bleak world of Fallout 3, sticking purely to side-quests and generally getting a lay of the land; its people, places, and many irradiated things. What you're about to read is our account of what we saw, shot at, and ran screaming from during our (all-too-brief) time with the near-completed game.
Continue reading Fallout 3 hands-on: Four hours in the Wasteland
Dead Space team to get a new name, make more games
EARS (yep, that has got to go) studio head, Glenn Schofield, says that the name change is part of an over-arching plan to pitch the team to gamers and new hires as one of "creativity, originality, and high quality third person action adventure titles" (our emphasis). So, while it may create another all-new IP after the
Look hard: Bionic Commando box art
Not your '80s commando. Gone is the green jumpsuit, the All-American bravado. This tall, dark and handsomygawditsabionicarmedman is pure dude. Dreads. Suspenders. And one smoking hot robotic appendage. *Sizzle*.
Silent Hill: Homecoming's Aussie exile detailed; hopeful release in Q1 2009
The OFLC apparently found several instances of gore in the game to be problematic. One scene involved the protagonist having a drill forced into his eye, while another had him drilling an enemy's skull. There were a few other issues, but nothing we haven't seen in horror films for the last few decades. It's really about time Australia got that "R18+" rating for games.































