Twisted Pixel, the developers behind The Maw and Splosion Man, are hard at work on their new XBLA title – Comic Jumper, and have shared some new assets with us. Plus, we also have a 10 minute video preview for those who want to get an inside glimpse at the upcoming comic based game.

Attending the upcoming PAX East and want to see more from Comic Jumper? Make sure to check out the Twisted Pixel booth (#601) at PAX East at 1p / 3p / 5p and see a live demo of the first 10 minutes of gameplay from Comic Jumper. Fresh screens of Captain Smiley are in the gallery below. BA-DOOOM!

Ever since hearing about EA Sports making a new MMA game, we have been hearing about all the signings for the game and such, but haven’t seen any actual gameplay. We finally got our first bit of footage from the upcoming EA SPORTS MMA title.

EA Sports sent us this new video which showcases the Strikeforce environment, as well as unique fighter entrances. Inside the cage, each fighter has a distinctive style that adds a new layer of depth and strategy to every matchup.

Beyond Strikeforce, EA SPORTS MMA will also feature fight venues from across the world, complete with rules sets and environments authentic to each location.

Enjoy the latest trailer, which showcases all these elements. EA SPORTS MMA is scheduled for a late 2010 release.

FPS. It stands for First Person Shooter, meaning the ability to witness and engage in combat through the eyes of a game’s protagonist, literally putting you in his or her combat boots. A genre that has exploded into one of (if not THE) most profitable types of gameplay experiences on the planet, FPS’s are the driving force behind a significant portion of the gaming market. Looking at juggernauts like Halo, Battlefield, or Modern Warfare and breakthrough achievements such as Half Life, Borderlands,or Bioshock it’s hard to reach for any new title without your hands at least brushing past the latest attempt at cashing in on visceral combat simulation.

Yet for all the billions that the FPS has earned over the years, many of these titles consistently fail to deliver on the cornerstone of their existence; first person perspective. One of my biggest pet peeves with these games are their tendency to somehow ignore an aspect of the perspective that ruins the immersion, marring the experience and pointing out the fact that yes, this is just a video game  tricking you into thinking you’re doing all these crazy awesome heroics. Redundant walking animations, devices and keyboards that magically enter codes without any physical interaction, lack of a discernable lower body and floating camera syndrome; its these flaws that get the nitpicker in me fired up and engage in some seriously elitist gaming judgement on games that nevertheless manage to keep me enthralled with their shooting bits.

Enter Metro 2033, a new FPS/RPG/ Survival Horror hybrid just released by 4A Games and published under the THQ banner. Based around the plot-line of a novel bearing the same name, Metro 2033 will drop players in a post-apocalyptic Russian wasteland and see how they fair against shadowy mutations, crazed bandits, killer elements, and creeping horrors. Okay, I’ll admit this sounds like your typical post-apocalyptic tom foolery at first, but its the developer’s attention to detail and commitment to compelling narrative that I believe will set this title apart in the days to come. Also, don’t feel bad if you’ve never heard of this darkly moody title seeing as how it has had little media presence to speak of and managed to pop on and off my radar over so many times I completely forgot it released yesterday. That being said, the minute I realized the game had gone gold, I was ecstatic at the prospect of diving into what has been building up to be an incredibly unique combat experience in a market littered with cheap cash-ins and mundane sequels.

Metro 2033 takes place in the near future, beneath the streets of a Moscow buried in the fallout of nuclear winter. Human survivors have managed to cling to life by holing up in the abandoned subway stations of the city’s elaborate metro network. Many of these communities are self sustaining and there is little contact between one another save for groups of hunters who traverse the railways hunting strange and deadly mutations which make travel near suicide. While most of your time will be spent exploring each of these unique and varied stations, you will also be forced to venture out onto the surface. Russian winters coupled with radioactive fallout have made habitation impossible, and your only way to breathe is by way of a gas mask whose filtration systems require constant replacement and maintenance.

Few concrete details have emerged concerning the way in which plot unfolds, not surprising considering the game is especially focused on a single player campaign due to lack of a multiplayer component. To be honest, i find this particularly refreshing considering how some franchises seem to suffer when money is milked developing a trendy multiplayer add-on at the expense of a compelling single-player campaign. What I do know is that the developers seem very keen on crafting a dynamically epic story with some awesome scifi, supernatural, wartime, and darkly comedic adventure elements. Expect to experience something a little bit new from this Ukranian based team, some of whom worked on the favorable S.T.A.L.K.E.R. franchise.

There is no HUD to be found in Metro2033, and everything you need to know will come from the ambient environment around you. When you are lost you’ll unfold a map that you keep in a pocket, while taking down enemies requires a steady hand coupled with a clear line of site. One of the coolest things about this HUD-less interface is your gas mask, the filters of which will degrade over time. In order to keep track of your air, you’ll have to set your watch before you go outside, then look down at it to figure out how much time you have left. You’ll also know that the air is going bad as the glass begins to fog and your breath runs ragged, while taking too much gunfire will splatter more and more blood across your face and even shatter your breathing apparatus, and event which will leave you scrambling around for a replacement amidst the rotting corpses topside.

Little things like the watch mechanic, the way your gas mask obstructs your field of vision, grasping at allies, doors and ladders and seeing your legs as you hurdle over an obstacle do wonders to really sell the experience. From what I’ve seen and read, the developers find many innovative ways to convey story without leaving the first person perspective, adding authenticity and leading to some truly visceral set pieces. Fighting enemies in pitch black tunnels by muzzle light, swinging from a rusting ladder, fighting off the eviscerating claws of a mutant going for your throat are all the more engaging thanks to the way the team committed to their first-person vision.

Trailers and screenshots reveal a pretty gorgeous looking game, filled to the brim with atmosphere and ambiance. From the ramshackle metro communes to the bombed out shopping malls, the landscape shows its character through its horrific scars. A sense of world events will be conveyed through the environments, surrounding chatter and NPC interaction, breathing life into a world beneath the city streets that is said to rival those found in more well known titles. Combat scenarios and firefights look to challenge you in different ways, encouraging equal parts stealth, strategy, diplomacy and defense.

Thrills and fear abound in this title, thanks in part to the way you handle your ammo. Bullets are scarce in a nuclear war zone, even more so when they are used for currency as they are in Metro 2033. Trade your ammunition for supplies, upgrades and newer weapons or hoard it all for the tougher firefights. You’ll have to make some hard decisions when it comes to taking out foes, as every shot will have to count in order to ensure you’re not throwing away your life and livelihood. This adds a sense of urgency and focus to the combat, rewarding precision and forethought as opposed to run-n-gun or dumb luck.

Metro 2033 released March 16th on Xbox 360 and PC, so you can check out the title for yourself right now.  Stop by and check out  the game’s newly released launch trailer at the official site right here.

On Sunday, Major Nelson released his newest podcast which detailed the upcoming Modern Warfare 2 Stimulus Package DLC.  The DLC is a map pack that consists of 5 maps for 1200 Microsoft Points ($15).  However, 2 of the maps are simply being rehashed from the original Modern Warfare.  This immediately set the gaming community into a frenzy.  Many sites wrote posts suggesting that gamers boycott the map pack, and Twitter was ablaze with anti-Stimulus Package sentiment.

Now that some tempers have cooled off a bit and more rational thinking can take place, we simply want to know what your stance is on the issue.  Will you be buying it?  Is Activision only trying to rip you off?

Here’s a few talking points to start you off.

• The original Modern Warfare map pack was 4 maps for 800 Microsoft Points ($10).
• Many people think that the impulse purchase price point stops after $10; people will think for a while about spending $15 and ultimately decide that it’s not worth it.
• Activision is a business, and they know that they can charge whatever they want for DLC for a game as successful as Modern Warfare 2 and people will still buy it.
• Why is it called a “Stimulus Package” when many users feel as if it’s a blatant rip-off?  Isn’t that sort of a slap in the face

Those are just a few conversation starters, but there are plenty of other valid points that can be presented.  So go get to it; we want to hear from each of you that is even mildly interested in this.  Make your opinion known in the comments!

The sequel to the popular sandbox shooter, Crackdown, now has an official release date. Ruffian Games and Microsoft announced that Crackdown 2 will hit store shelves July 6 in North America, July 8 in Asia, Australia, and New Zealand, and July 9 in Europe.

Crackdown 2 offers many new features, most notably the multiplayer gameplay. Along with the four-player cooperative play, gamers can battle it out against each other in Pacific City with up to sixteen people. A series of video documentaries will be released soon highlighting the game’s new items and game modes, such as renegade orbs and the Rocket Tag game mode. The first ViDoc is embedded above.

Nostalgia is a hell of an emotion.  When Perfect Dark for the Xbox Live Arcade was announced at E3 ‘09, I was absolutely giddy.  You see, back when Nintendo 64 ruled the roost, I was one of the few people that legitimately liked Perfect Dark more than GoldenEye.  In fact, it happened to be my favorite game on the N64.  So, one of my favorite childhood games adapted for the big, bad Xbox 360 must be a match made in heaven, right?

Well, the answer is “Sort of”.  As it seems is the case with almost everything, the things that you held so dearly as a child almost never quite live up to your sky-high memories and expectations.  It didn’t take long at all for Perfect Dark to remind me why I loved it so much, and at the same time, how far we’ve come in gaming.

When you load up the game, the first thing that you’ll probably notice is how outdated the menus look.  I realize that the developers wanted to capture the essence of the original and bring it to the next-gen consoles, but I honestly think that the menus could have been polished up a bit in order to resonate with newer gamers.  I realize that this sounds like I’m nit-picking, but it really is the things that we take for granted now that stick out so blatantly.

If there’s been one main selling point to this game, it’s definitely been the 1080p graphics and the 60 frames/second movement.  It took all of three seconds to realize why this was the case.  Joanna moves (or rather, glides) incredibly fluidly, and everything moves super-smoothly.  On top of this, the 1080p graphics add a new shine to the game while still allowing it to feel like a semi-retro title.  It all works very well, and 4JStudios was wise to make these changes a focal point of the port.

The solo and co-op campaigns were hands-down the most fun and interesting aspects of Perfect Dark, and that still holds true today.  Upon starting the campaign, the layout of the levels and the objectives suddenly rushed back to me, and I knew exactly what to do.  The only problem with this is that for those who have never played the game before, older games used to be pretty unforgiving.  Specifically, there’s little to no help explaining how to achieve your objectives or where they can be found.  A lot of time can be spent wandering around trying to figure out what exactly what to do.  Also, we’ve been spoiled as of late in regards to health systems (i.e. get away from the action long enough to recover).  In Perfect Dark, you have a health bar that never recovers (although you can find shields).  Furthermore, if you die, there are no checkpoints; you have to start the level over.  It’s systems like this that make you realize how ‘hardcore’ games of yesteryear used to be, and how fluffed up a lot of them are now.

Perfect Dark’s control scheme is, for lack of a better word, unusual.  The controls feel rather unintuitive and take some getting used to.  Also, it seems crazy now, but Perfect Dark had a setup where you had to toggle between the primary and secondary functions of your weapon.  Again, a far cry from modern shooters, and it takes some training to get used to.  To be fair, there are three different control setups that you can pick from – Classic (Perfect Dark), Spartan (Halo), and Duty Calls (Call of Duty), but I had to keep it real and stick with Classic.

There were a few other gameplay nuisances that I encountered; the biggest one being the aiming system.  Perfect Dark has an auto-aim system that can make the game entirely too easy.  I’m assuming this is because the N64 didn’t lend itself as well to shooters as the dual-stick consoles of today do.  However, if the auto-aim doesn’t lock onto your target immediately, you’re going to have to dodge some bullets to take down your opponent.  Additionally, the scoped aiming system is incredibly difficult.  While zooming in on your target, your character stays planted where she is standing.  This means that tracking your enemy isn’t much of an option, and renders sniping almost impossible.

For all of the slightly negative things that I have to say about Perfect Dark, make no mistake, I love the XBLA port.  In my opinion, besides the beefed up frame rate and graphics, 4J Studios made an absolutely perfect adaption of Perfect Dark.  Everything about the game feels exactly like it did on the Nintendo 64.  The game’s problems aren’t anyone’s fault per se.   It’s just that that’s how games were back in 2000; they were very different than they are in 2010.  However, at the bargain-bin price of $10, you can’t really go wrong with picking up Perfect Dark.  If nothing else, it’s well worth the trip down Nostalgia Lane.

This may be our last batch of BLUR Beta codes, so grab a code if you need it, and make sure to share them with some friends as well. You’ll need to redeem them on this website before you can get into the game. Good luck, and here they are:

• EPVU-KWTY-EDXR-CJHY
• ZW3N-X7AQ-GV6L-6N7F
• E766-YAJW-GEYU-AY7V
• 4VJD-9HHP-HVPX-GNW9
• M4RC-HGQ9-ZY47-JTAP
• 9RMP-Q7LG-GMAM-3GQ6
• 4NYA-KFLF-VPYR-XLUW
• XQEL-ZNPF-MWWY-L3XT
• PLYY-7NEM-4ZQF-EP9N
• FE97-CVMY-HVDU-LKWR
• EWA3-HVRE-KN37-DECX
• PLVL-7GA6-C2VW-3M93
• YRKX-LVXD-XUNN-C4NJ
• 4733-GQ3P-U3LR-Z9JV
• U2QN-QJAW-HAP6-NVQ7
• 6AXK-LT3E-Q32Y-4WU4
• NUQ3-LU4J-Z6LV-YPAY
• 2R9E-2QFW-6PEQ-RUWD
• HPG6-FVGX-YN3Y-JH42
• E2G6-FM7C-YHTH-DW9L
• RMKG-D7HD-XJPH-XJX3
• 9ZWN-GK4K-RRK9-XZ3J
• MPXK-4DLY-QUZY-7AE7
• GMCH-7EF7-WVUF-FTKD
• X43D-UE43-RKYT-GJQL
• KAYX-V76M-K96P-272J
• PUFH-VEMR-PYTU-VERN
• 7ELF-PYLD-7HHU-AUXQ
• GQUF-A2WH-TN46-U3UW
• 2QDG-QNZJ-3VHW-VHPR
• WC74-YZU4-HDDD-EUTR
• DHFA-HUNH-CTKZ-U3TQ
• DN72-P7QA-RMMP-76JM
• C2QE-EMRT-TL93-E4G2
• 3WW3-39EN-XPUU-FRKY
• G2FR-ZJWJ-AUKK-YF7P
• LF29-KNKU-ZZKX-9XUG
• 6UCF-Z3RK-2KJV-2NYU
• 4Y6J-6NQT-DE9R-9HQV
• MTVW-VR7T-J76H-EDXC
• CZXD-YKN9-PHTC-E3TN

We questioned aloud the status of Green Day: Rock Band on Tuesday, and it only took two days for our inquiries to be answered.  It turns out that, yes, the game will still be released.  In fact, it’s coming much sooner than we thought it would – June 8th.  On top of this, Harmonix released a whole slew of details pertaining to the game.

Green Day: Rock Band will include 47 tracks, five of which have already been announced – “Brain Stew/Jaded”, “Hitchin’ a Ride”, “American Idiot”, “Wake Me Up When September Ends”, and “Boulevard of Broken Dreams”.  It’s a pretty good bet that all of the really popular ones will find their way onto the game, too.  Of course, the six DLC tracks off of 21st Century Breakdown will also be playable in the game.

Like The Beatles: Rock Band, Green Day: Rock Band will utilize the three part harmonies vocal system.  Predictably, previous Rock Band and Guitar Hero instruments will be compatible.  Also, there’s the option to export all 47 tracks into any three of the Rock Band’s, but there’s the standard export licensing fee of $10.

There will be two different packages released.  Bargain hunters, listen closely!  The normal copy of the game will cost the standard $60.  However, there will be a special edition that includes special packaging, an export code (a value of $10) and the six Green Day songs that have been released as DLC (a value of $12) for a retail price of $70.  So, if you plan to export the songs anyway, your best option is buy the special edition because you essentially get six more songs for free.

Konami today announced that 3D Ultra MiniGolf Adventures 2 will be available for download on the XBLA sometime in early 2010. The sequel to the first game, which was published by the now defunct Sierra Games, has already fixed the biggest problem I had with its predecessor, lack of characters, by announcing that it will support Xbox 360 Avatars!

In 3D Ultra MiniGolf Adventures 2, players are challenged to navigate their ball beyond obstacles using the help of secret shortcuts, game-changing power-ups and traps to sabotage the competition. Players can also manipulate the game by using special pick-ups to destroy course obstructions or even interfere with competitor’s shots.

Gamers can bring their A-game as they play in matches of up to four players locally or online. The sequel also offers an intuitive Map Editor tool, allowing full customization of virtual courses and the strategic placement of power-ups and traps.

Putt through over 50 fun-filled holes in diverse locations, such as a Haunted Manor, a Manic Museum and a Winter Wonderland. As an added bonus, players can choose from up to four customizable animated characters and are invited to play using their own Xbox 360 Avatars and watch as their personalities unfold in every course.

Infinity Ward launched a new website yesterday, entitled Mapathy, which teases the new Modern Warfare 2 DLC, and the release date of March 30. Nothing else was teased, but we have a feeling that more information will be posted on the new site as we approach the release date.