Steven Hopper

Last year's Joe Danger: Special Edition was one of the best Xbox LIVE Arcade experiences of the year. Its blend of addictive trick-based gameplay and great controls made for some of the most engaging gameplay around. Now, the team at Hello Games is readying to release their follow, Joe Danger: The Movie. At a recent preview event, we were given the opportunity to check out what Joe's next would offer, and came away extremely excited.

There were plenty of unanswered questions when Remedy announced a follow-up to their widely loved Xbox 360 game, Alan Wake. The change in setting to the American Southwest from the densely wooded Northwest, the stronger focus on action, and the fact that the game would be an XBLA game instead of a retail release raised a few eyebrows amongst fans.

The Mass Effect universe is one filled with a balance of subtle nuance and epic grandeur. Over the past two games, the team at BioWare has crafted a universe filled with rich cultures and some fantastic storytelling to drive forward the narrative. Each of the various races presented in Mass Effect bring with them a rich backstory, and has their own role to play in the upcoming fight to save the galaxy from the mutual threat of the Reapers. Here are a few we think could be big players in race relations in Mass Effect 3. Bear in mind, this isn't a complete rundown of all of the races and their role in the upcoming end to the trilogy, but simply a look at some of the big players in the fight to come.

Silent Hill: Downpour is probably not the Silent Hill game you're expecting, maybe even hoping for. Many of the calling cards from previous Silent Hill games, including a score by Akira Yamaoka, heavy exploration elements, and even much of the town itself won't be appearing in the game. Instead, it will focus on combat and puzzles, new previously unexplored areas of the town, and a new mechanic involving rain (hence the name, Downpour). However, after playing the recent build, I can say that this is the most engaging time I've had with a Silent Hill game in years.

When you break Tekken Hybrid into its respective elements, it’s really not a bad deal. Factor about $25 bucks for a 3D Blu-ray film and an additional $15 for Tekken Tag HD, and the $40 price makes more sense (since Tekken Tag 2 Prologue is basically a beefed up demo, we’ll just count that one as a freebie). However, as an all-or-nothing pack, Tekken Hybrid all but requires you to wholeheartedly want to purchase both the film and the HD reboot of the game; if you aren’t sold on or are ambivalent

Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary is a remake of a ten year old game that ships with what amounts to a larger-than-normal map pack for last year's Halo entry, Halo: Reach. With ample refinements to game design and general usability in the shooter genre since its original release, the game, a classic though it may be, hasn't aged as flawlessly as many of us long-time fans might have hoped or imagined it would, and the map pack delivers more of an add-on feel than a true revisiting of the LAN-lost days of yore.

Full disclosure: I'm not a very good guitarist. I spent my high school days clumsily banging around a Fender Strat snagged for 100 bucks at a pawn shop, looking up tabs online and learning simple chords, Incubus songs and the occasional Zepp riff, but for me, guitar playing never elevated from a light hobby to a skill. Therefore, I'm the prime market for Rocksmith; someone who has never had the wherewithal to stick with playing the guitar, but has always had that lingering fire inside, wanting to eventually learn to play and become more than a daydreaming would-be rock star.

I'll start by saying if you're currently reading this review, then Sesame Street: Once Upon a Monster likely isn't for you. If you're a hardcore frequenter of IGN looking for your next big thing to use with your fresh Kinect sensor, that one killer app that will make the 150 dollar investment you made last year all worth it, then keep on waiting. However, if you represent the other faction of the Kinect audience, those looking for a way to get their children involved and gaming, Once Upon A Monster makes for a great investment of your time and money.

There was a time when developer Silicon Knights was at the top of its form, creating some of the best games on the GameCube, namely the unnerving mind-funk that was Eternal Darkness and an excellent update of a PlayStation classic, Metal Gear Solid: Twin Snakes. The developer was a critical darling until its Xbox 360 debut Too Human hit. Considerable attention was paid to the title's development, which was long and much labored, switching (and outliving) platforms a couple of times before finally landing on the 360. Sadly, irksome gameplay and some piss-poor design choices ensured that the game was all but dead on arrival, failing to resonate with fans and not living up to its enormous hype.