While flight sims and dogfight combat games are something of a niche market, free browser based shoot em ups are beloved by every gamer. Good news then, as Ubisoft has released an awesome 8-bit SHMUP reminiscent of the classic 1942. ...

When Duke Nukem Forever was cancelled early this year, we in the games journalism biz thought, “finally we can stop writing about this game we all knew would never be finished.” Sure, some recent rumors popped up about Gearbox, developers of Borderlands, was now working on the game after 3D Realms' closure, but we all knew it was bullshit, right? ...

Bloody Good Time is Ubisoft's recently revealed downloadable FPS. It's coming out 'soon'. It's a cartoony shooter with comedic brutality and a pseudo-cel-shaded look, and it's coming out on PC via Steam, but that does not mean that it's a Team Fortress 2 knock-off. It's coming out on the 360 too, and has a clown and Goths and stuff. Not only that, but it has a unique and intriguing spin on competetive shooting, with roots in the indie design world.

I'll give you more fuller details and some screenshots over on the next page, but right now, I'll cut straight to the jump. Because I know you just want to see that clown get tasered. ...

It's the sequel to 2009's official Game of The Year. The artwork is hot. The screenshots are mind-blowing. So it's no surprise that anticipation for Batman: Arkham City has gone mega-off-the-sphincter-scale in the GamesRadar offices. We don't have the game, but we do have an interview with developer Rocksteady Studios. ...

The Lost Labyrinth level in Sonic 4 was a shocker. It wasn't that it was bad...it's that it was so bad, we ran an article on it in the hope that Sega would listen and either fix it, or remove it. Thankfully, if the latest trailer is anything to go by, they've pretty much done both.

...

High in self-esteem, are we? Maybe a little too high? Worried that you're beginning to get a bit cocky, and are in danger of alienating those around you? You need to dig out a Gamecube, fast. No, not to revile the years of fanboy ridicule that came with being a Nintendo fan when everyone else had a PS2 or Xbox (it still hurts, damnit!). Nintendo's little purple fun box has a completely different way to resize your ego. And it comes as part of a recently discovered unlockable mode in first-party jet ski racer Wave Race: Blue Storm.

Long story short: With the correct cheat mode inputs (Remember them? They were great), it's possible to make the game's commentator hurl vile and slanderous word venom at you, crushing your spirit with insults and brutal sarcasm at every turn.

We knew Nintendo were unhealthily nice. That kind of repression was always going to spill out somewhere. Full details and video are through the click. ...

Just to be clear, we don't go around believing everything that industry analyst Michael Pachter says. He was, after all, rather spectacularly wrong about how well Red Dead Redemption would do at retail. However, he's actually said something very interesting today that is cause for thought.

His thinking is that Microsoft's recently-announced hike in Xbox Live Gold subscription rates (which he called, admittedly) has come in to boost revenue with the aim of using the money to develop a third tier on the Xbox Live subscription options. We already have the basic Silver and premium Gold memberships - Pachter reckons we'll have a 'Platinum' level membership option in the not-too distant future. For $100. Ouch. Here's what he believes that would mean for you.

...

Far away from the charts and the mega-commercial releases and the grinning Bobby Koticks, there is an exciting world of games loaded with passionate expression, dazzling ideas and a staggering wealth of creativity. They are independent games and they are being celebrated at next month's International Festival of Independent Games, aka IndieCade. The 32 finalists of this year's IndieCade awards are full of innovation, originality and win. Give them your time... ...

There was no official news of a zombie mode at Activision's big Call of Duty: Black Ops event in L.A. this week. No official news at all. In fact there was close-to flat-out denial that the best bit of World at War was even going to make it in to Treyarch's new Cold War CoD.

But fear not. Official word only means so much in this industry. And the word that came out of the event unofficially was that not only are zombies definitely in , they've defected to Communism this time. Click on, and I'll explain all. ...

More familiar psychopaths and blood-soaked locations. Hit the jump to see the new stages compared with their classic inspiration... ...

A new Activision-published game, Blood Drive, has appeared on Amazon, but has not been officially announced. The combat racing game takes place, apparently, in "Lost" Vegas, and is due for release on October 26th of this year. We thought "blood drives" were things our annoying, charitable friends guilted us in to. And then all we get for giving our precious life juice is a cookie and a sticker?! Dammit. Right, but apparently it's also a new game... ...

When it was first revealed in July, Mega Man Universe was said to "break the mold and challenge conventional wisdom of what a Mega Man game can be." Imagine our surprise when the first three gameplay trailers, released today on IGN, Gamespot and 1up, revealed the same classic 2D gameplay we've enjoyed for decades.

Three trailers inside! ...

In an interview with Spanish website 3D Juegos, Capcom exec Keiji Inafune revealed that Resident Evil 6 is on its way post-haste, and that we'll have an announcement from Capcom shortly. We'll give the legendary designer the benefit of the doubt and assume that he isn't implying a game-compromising rush, but rather that RE6 is simply high- priority at Capcom: 

"Given the great success that supposed for us Resident Evil 5, we want that Resident Evil 6 leaves as rapidly as possible to the market. In fact, you will shortly have the news of Capcom about this," he said... ...

Still no official word on zombie mode yet (seriously guys, what the hell's going on?), but this new video from this week's CoD: Black Ops multiplayer event in L.A. reveals a a whole new online angle set to bring ecstatic joy and elegiac, murderous despair in equal measure.

Wager Mode allows players to bet in-game currency (COD Points, no doubt named after a high-level creative strategy meeting between a bunch of high-level creative execs, who rewarded themselves with yachts) on their final ranking, over four different match types of varying harshness. How harsh? Why, that particular knowledge is held within the fortified keep of a dark citadel, deep amongst the dread mountains of a faraway mystical kingdom. In order to attain it you must journey...

Oh alright, just click through the link then. Jesus, I try to spice things up... ...

Still can't get enough Mass Effect 2? There's a rather meaty addition coming this Tuesday, which looks to explain why Liara was all pissy and preoccupied when you bumped into her on Illium. We've actually had a go at this DLC already, we just can't say too much about it until later this week. Until then, here's the trailer, which arrives just in time to remind you to buy it on Tuesday.

Futuristic car chases inside! ...