#madden This is sure to rankle a ton of axe-grinders, which makes it remarkable the development team for Madden NFL 13 chose to poke this snake. But there will be a "Tebowing" celebration animation in the game this year, according to Mike Young, the game's creative director. More »

Well look at that! A TT Games employee just sent this picture out on Twitter. I'm marking this rumor just to be safe, but it looks like we're losing those Circle Pads! Thanks to all that sent this in.

Spider Man games are, generally speaking, made or broken by how satisfying it is to traverse New York City as your Friendly Neighborhood Spider Man. Slingin' webs is the essence of that fantasy, second only to being an accomplished journalist. That's why everyone likes Spider Man, right? The journalism?

Beenox's solution for The Amazing Spider Man, the "Web Rush," pulls double duty as both locomotive and combative solution by slowing down time, thus allowing the player to select their next web-oriented target of interest. Slowing down time will also be helpful for making J. Jonah Jameson's incredibly strict deadlines, which we know you're also concerned about. No one ever said the life of a genetically enriched photojournalist would be easy.

Those dying to play Diablo 3 online don't need to sit by their PCs to see if the servers are up and running anymore. A Diablo 3 server-checking app, aptly named "Diablo 3 Server Checker," is now available for free (ad-supported) on Google Play for Android devices.

Developed by Eluamous, creator of other server-checking apps for games like World of Warcraft, the app pulls status messages from US.Battle.net to view updates from Diablo 3 servers in the US, Europe, and Asia. The app also includes a widget for use on the home screen of Android devices.

The app is in obvious response to the recent server issues Blizzard has been dealing with.

Facebook went public yesterday, and its unexpectedly less-than-stellar performance on the trading floor has had powerful ramifications for its social soul sister Zynga, which finished the day's trading at a record low of $7.16 a share.

It's possible that Facebook's unimpressive IPO, closing out Friday at $38.23 a share - four dollars less than its $42.05 opening price - caused Zynga's value to drop in tandem, as the two platforms are inexorably intertwined in the public mindset. It's also possible that Zynga share holders jumped ship in favor of that new Facebook hotness, no longer having to settle for social second best.

Regardless, the severe downturn in value lead to two trading halts on Zynga shares over the course of the day; once after reaching $7.17 a share, and once again after a slight increase in market value. Despite this, share values eventually dropped to as little as $6.93 before finally settling at $7.16.

- Some folk at Retro Studios wanted to develop a new ip that involved 3rd person sci-fi action with intense aerial combat.

- Others apparently were leaning towards taking the Star Fox helm.

- Nintendo sees Retro Studios as a very competent developer and worked with them in creating the hybrid title of Star Fox – Metroid: Fusion Saga.

- The title has multiple gameplay mechanics and needed a wide staff of talent to incorporate the many ideas.

- The story begins as you control Fox McCloud and the Star Fox team on deep space mission in your Arwing, flying through a Meteos-like stage. As you enter a light speed warp, there’s a collision with an orange ship (Samus’) and the game continues with you now plummeting to a planet as Samus in her craft. You’re in mild control of her ship, using the Wii U controller to look around and touch screen press the lit up buttons to prepare for impact (while the TV stays locked on what you see out of the cockpit). You’re now on land, as a “yet again” stripped down Samus Aran with the most basic of weapon abilities, in first person perspective, traversing through this unknown planet
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- The game switches off between intense Arwing space and planetary battles as Fox makes his way to the planet that Samus crashed on and a Metroid Prime-like experience of gameplay as Samus on this planet, gradually uncovering its mysteries, leveling up, etc.

- The Star Fox stages represent what the series is best known for, including the chatter and coming to the aid of the rest of your team, all range mode battles, and on rails stages.

- The Metroid part of the game puts you alone, void of human or any talking character contact, and like the Prime series, sees you gaining upgrades, battling bosses, and in this case, repairing your ship.

- The game is said to be epic in size, scope, ambition.

- The pacing has been perfected to not interrupt what the feeling is behind either franchise, since Star Fox is more often known for being acceptable to have short sessions with and Metroid rather the opposite. You can opt to continue playing either just Samus’ part or Fox’s part without crossing over for much of the main game (or play it as it’s scripted back and forth), but will eventually have to complete both, as the characters will ultimately meet up.

- There will be later parts in the game where you do get to control Samus’ ship and fly it Star Fox style.

- Likewise, Fox McCloud will be controllable by foot (both the above and this bullet point represent a period in the game after the two sides meet up) and be played via 3rd person perspective. Think of Jet Force Gemini with Fox’s known agility as he’s portrayed to having in the Smash Bros. series. (Fox will move more like Ryu Hayabusa from Ninja Gaiden and less like he did in Star Fox Adventures).

- Though a tentative title, the idea behind the story of “Fusion Saga” is both a play on the fact that the two series are fusing together into one game and of course, a storyline behind Andross using Metroids to enhance himself, his army, etc.

- Star Fox – Metroid: Fusion Saga is wholly a satisfying adventure game as Samus, an equally electrifying aerial combat game as Fox, and something that delivers an exciting, special change that fans will love.

- In consideration was the Star Fox portion having 4 player co-op online, but instead the game will have leaderboards for time and percent complete for all parts of the game and multiplayer will be simply versus mode based.


Thanks to all that have sent this in!

#sonic Yesterday, Nike's football division—that would be football football, not American football—cranked up "My Time is Now," which looks like the big campaign it'll have going during UEFA Euro 2012 in about three weeks. It shows a soccer pitch, the locker room, a team dinner all overrun by ordinary joes. OK, I get all that. More »

#themoneysaver Fantasy RPG Game of Thrones and fantasy MMO TERA Online already are seeing modest discounts. The upcoming RPG from Capcom, Dragon's Dogma likewise is getting about $10 off from one retailer. These and another 50 discounts, credits and savings can be found in this week's Moneysaver below! More »

#professorlayton The Professor Layton games have long demanded a soundtrack a bit more sophisticated than the one they have—the plinky, "ooh boy, we have a mystery!" music is fine at first, but eventually I've found that it begins to grate. This is especially true of the first game that I played in the series, 2008's Professor Layton and the Curios Village. More »

Way, way more Master System and Genesis games are on the way to PS3 and Xbox, including the long-awaited release of Monster World IV. Sega announced the next few "Vintage Collections," which will be sold individually on PSN and in bundles on XBLA.

For XBLA, the Monster World Collection brings together Wonder Boy in Monster Land (arcade) and Wonder Boy in Monster World and MWIV for Genesis on May 23. On May 30, Golden Axe's arcade original joins Golden Axe 2 & 3 on Genesis, concurrent with a three-volume Streets of Rage Collection. The collections sell for 800 MSP each.

Meanwhile, PSN will see all of those Wonder Boys, Super Hang-On (arcade), Revenge of Shinobi, and Alex Kidd in Miracle World on May 22, for $5 each.

#easports Going on about five years now, EA Sports' FIFA and NHL series have been reliably acclaimed, strong-selling titles, a remarkable run for a video game genre and publisher so henpecked by hardcore gamer criticism. Both games have smart, motivated, multinational communities that greatly value evangelizing for their sport in North America and appreciate what these two video games have done in that regard. It's easy, from a distance, to get the sense these are perfect sports video games. More »

EA's Origin is jumping on the Kickstarter bandwagon - no, not by Kickstarting an EA game (that would be hilarious) but instead, by presenting itself as an ally to crowd-funded games.

EA announced today that it will waive distribution fees for crowd-funded games for 90 days after launch. The offer is extended only to "fully-funded, complete and ready-to-publish games designed for digital download to PC platforms." InXile's Brian Fargo and Pinkerton Road's Jane Jensen voiced their support in the press release.

"The public support for crowd-funding creative game ideas coming from small developers today is nothing short of phenomenal," said Origin SVP David DeMartini in the announcement. "It's also incredibly healthy for the gaming industry. Gamers around the world deserve a chance to play every great new game, and by waiving distribution fees on Origin we can help make that a reality for successfully crowd-funded developers." EA also gets a nice patina of indirect indie cred by supporting Kickstarted games.

18th May 2012 - In an exciting Nintendo 3DS exclusive, a massive Yoshi hunt will soon become available for the upcoming Mario Tennis Open launch on 25th May. The hunt, entitled The Yoshi Chase, will involve tracking down a series of different-coloured Yoshis, playable in Mario Tennis Open, through corresponding QR codes released over the coming weeks through various channels. The Black Yoshi and White Yoshi will be the first to be released but there are many more in the pipeline so keep your eyes peeled.

Each Yoshi QR code will be released in a variety of different ways and at different times, so you will have to stay alert to find them – the Black Yoshi will be distributed first through special sampling events at 30 Asda stores around the UK. Look out for Black Yoshi on Friday 25th and Saturday 26th May - see the list below to find your closest store!

Mario Tennis Open is packed full of Mario-themed arcade tennis action. Choose from singles or doubles matches, single player and multiplayer modes and a variety of special games such as Super Mario Tennis, Ring Shot and Galaxy Rally. With easy-to-pick-up-and-play gameplay and a range of modes to suit your mood, you will be serving up a storm before you know it.

As well as the ability to customise your Mii character with new rackets, clothing and trainers, there is also a choice of 11 different court surfaces which affect the angle, speed and bounce of the ball, with each one set in a familiar location from the Mario series. In addition, you can easily select from a range of classic tennis shots such as Topspin, Slice or Drop Shot to take down your opponent via the Touch Screen on your Nintendo 3DS.

Mario Tennis Open also makes full use of the online capabilities of Nintendo 3DS by allowing you to play against random opponents and friends on Nintendo Network as well as playing over local wireless connections. Depending on your performance in Open Matches played over Nintendo Network, you could get added to the leaderboard and see yourself rise to the top. Online matches will see you paired against opponents with similar strengths and weaknesses to you; defeat them to rise up the rankings!

For more information, please refer to Nintendo’s UK Twitter feed @NintendoUK and the official Mario Tennis Open website.

Participating Asda stores - May 25th and 26th:

Full list of participating stores here

Cambridge, Mass. – May 18th, 2012– Harmonix today announced that six tracks from Iron Maiden are headed to the Rock Band™ Music Store of downloadable content for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system and Wii™.

Rock Band provides the deepest and best selection of artists, songs and albums through the Rock Band music platform, which features more than 1,400 artists and more than 3,500* tracks via disc and download purchase (complete list of tracks at www.rockband.com/songs). Rock Band’s gigantic music library dwarfs that of any other rhythm video game on the market. More than 100 million songs have been sold through the Rock Band Music Store since its launch on Nov. 20, 2007.

Tracks downloaded from the Rock Band Music Store are compatible with the award-winning full-band Rock Band 3 experience, as well as the upcoming controller-based Rock Band Blitz, coming summer of 2012 for Xbox LIVE® Arcade and PlayStation®Network!

Rock BandDLC Additions for Xbox 360, PlayStation®3 system and Wii™

Unquestionably one of the most influential forces in heavy metal, Iron Maiden spearheaded metal in the early eighties and continue to define the genre. With over 85 million album sales, more than 2,000 live performances worldwide, and 15 studio albums to date, Iron Maiden are one of the hardest rocking and hardest working bands in rock.

On May 22nd, the six song pack “Maiden Epics” comes to the Rock Band Music Store. "Maiden Epics" represents a selection of Iron Maiden's most powerful and epic tracks from their albums recorded during the 1980s and thus ties in with their 2012 “Maiden England” Tour, the set list for which will be almost exclusively filled with classics from that remarkable decade.

Tracks in the “Maiden Epics” pack include: “Phantom of the Opera” from the band’s 1980 self-titled debut studio record; “The Prisoner” from 1982’s Number of the Beast; “The Flight of Icarus” from 1983’s Piece of Mind; the 13-minute epic “Rime of the Ancient Mariner” from 1984’s Powerslave; and “Infinite Dreams” and “Seventh Son of a Seventh Son,” from 1988’s Seventh Son of a Seventh Son.

This June, Iron Maiden will embark on an extensive "Maiden England" North American tour starting in Charlotte, NC on June 21st and finishing up in Houston, TX on August 18th. For more information, head to http://www.ironmaiden.com/tourdates.php.

Available on Xbox 360, Wii and PlayStation®3 system (May 22nd, 2012):
Iron Maiden – “Phantom of the Opera”
Iron Maiden – “The Prisoner”
Iron Maiden – “The Flight of Icarus” X
Iron Maiden – “Rime of the Ancient Mariner” X
Iron Maiden – “Infinite Dreams” O
Iron Maiden – “Seventh Son of a Seventh Son” O
(These tracks will be available in Europe on PlayStation®3 system May 23rd)

Tracks marked with “X” will offer Pro Guitar and Pro Bass expansions for $0.99 per song; tracks marked with “O” feature support for keyboards.

Price:
$9.99 (800 Microsoft Points™, 1000 Wii Points™) for the “Maiden Epics” pack
$1.99 USD (160 Microsoft Points™,200 Wii Points™) per song
$0.99 USD (80 Microsoft Points™,100 Wii Points™) per song for eligible Pro Guitar/Pro Bass upgrade

** Dates for Rock Band game tracks are tentative and subject to change. **

*Available on-disc, via download and disc export. Internet connection and export key purchase required. Wii™ Shop Channel has more than 1,500 song tracks available for purchase on the Rock Band platform on-disc, via song import, and download. Not applicable to Nintendo DS™.

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Alien Shooter 2: Conscription is Now Available on Steam and 20% off until 10AM PST Thursday, May 25th.

Alien Shooter 2 - Conscription is the continuation of cult Alien Shooter 2, which is a unique blend of two game genres - Action and RPG.

The Great War has begun! The world population capable of functioning is mobilized to serve in the army. Hordes of monsters are destroying the cities and capturing new territories. The situation on the battlefront reached the critical emergency point and there's nobody to help. Try to fight with the aliens as a private soldier from the regular army, which happens to be in the center of the action. The outcome depends on you!

The IMDB page for PlayStation All-Stars: Battle Royale reveals some more all-stars appearing in the game as some form or another. Listed in the voice cast are Nolan North as Uncharted's Nathan Drake, David Hayter as Snake, Eric Ladin as Infamous's Cole McGrath, and ... Jerry Lambert as fictional executive Kevin Butler.

It's tempting to imagine Kevin Butler's in-game stint as the VP of Special Attacks, but these characters aren't necessarily playable. The game is full of cameos, like Captain Quark in the background of a Ratchet & Clank level. We're asking Sony to clarify this information. Kevin Butler would tell us, if he existed.

In celebration of stores like Steam and the App Store that allow developers to price their games at whatever they feel like, a group of indies are putting their games on sale next week for ... whatever they feel like.

The "Because We May" sale will run from May 24 through June 1, and will feature sales on the iOS and Mac App Stores, Steam, Google Play, direct downloads from developers, and assorted other venues. The participating games include World of Goo, Osmos, Eets, Bit.Trip Beat and Runner, Canabalt, Waking Mars, Super Meat Boy, Cave Story, the Double Fine Bundle ... basically, you'll find something to buy. As for the prices, it would appear nobody has decided yet.

Publisher Kalypso Media and Tropico series developer Haemimont Games are bringing mob city simulator Omerta - City of Gangsters to Xbox 360 this fall. The game was previously announced for PC, but will now make its way to Microsoft's console, much like Tropico 3, Tropico 4 and Tropico 4: Modern Times (albeit, a little later).

Instead of controlling the day to day of Tropico's banana republic operations, Omerta takes place in the 1920s, as players work their way up as a powerful mobster on the macro level. The made men and women of Omerta must construct or buy building to create speakeasies, distilleries, illegal boxing rings and much more to be good earners. If they don't, well... we hear fishes make great cuddle buddies.