As I reportedjust the other day, Factor 5 director Julian Eggebrecht is doing all he can to deflect the blame for the terrible reviews thatLairhas received from certain sites. First it was the fact that the PS3 hardware is new and that apparently excuses people from making bad games, then it was, quite amusingly, the fault of the reviewers that the game got bad reviews. Now,the pinnacle has been reached. It would seem thatmalevolent spiritsare now to blame forLairnot being very good....

Fallout: Nuka Break is a new non-profit fan-made short film from Wayside Creations. Apparently they took over the web series “Backyard FX” on Indymogul.com some time ago as well; who knew! The story? [Join] Twig (Zack Finfrock), a former Vault 10 Dweller, as he searches the barren wasteland of eastern California for ice-cold Nuka Cola. Along for the ride is Ben (Aaron Giles), a radiation-ravaged ghoul, and Scarlett (Tybee Diskin), a sexy former slave....

Here we are, the last week before E3. The last few weeks have been pretty thin on the fanboy ravings, if only because it’s been a terrible news month in general. No big games have come out, no major announcements have been made, and everyone is pretty much saving everything for the big show next week. One game did come out recently though, that a lot of people have kind of ignored becuase of the platform it’s on....

Nobody seems to do retro the way Capcom does it. They know how beloved their old franchises are and they could almost certainly sell them to us again just the way they were, adding nothing. But they tend not to do that, preferring to release updated versions of classic games, introducing polygon-based graphics and other modern conventions to their revivals. Final Fight: Double Impactis just another example. With alternate graphics filters and a remixed soundtrack (both optional), a bunch of bonus features, an online mode designed to recreate the arcade experience — not to mention two of their best side-scrolling arcade games — this seems like a pretty sure thing....

Not to be shown up by the Xbox LIVE Indie game,Pumpkin Carver, 505 Games has something up its sleeve for Wii owners:Halloween Greeting Cardfor the Wii. Rated by theESRB(for everyone, obviously), the game is described as “an activity game in which players can created customize Halloween cards to send to their friends.” On the cards you can put a little character with a Halloween costume, some stickers like a pumpkin or a ghost, and then a nice message....

eBox. That’s what many think this new Chinese game system will be called, set to be released later this year. It will have Kinect-like motion sensing controls integrated into the unit. One of the first games for the system will beFlyimal, which you’re able to see in action above. Developers Mixamo used the Unity engine to makeFlyimal. In this game you’ll be an animal. That flys. Through rings. You control it with your upper body movement, as shown by the staff in the video above....

Oh, c’mon. This isworthless. Seriously, we’re neck-deep in the next-gen of gaming, and this is what they give us? I know a lot of us have been looking forward to the reportedly “breathtaking” and “awe-inspiring” visuals of theGrand Canyon(due out in September), but it looks as though we’re going to get short-changed. I’ve never seen a vista more in need of anti-aliasing in my life. I know what you’re going to say: “but it’s fun to climb!...

What isFlower? That is the question many potential consumers — outside of the blog loop — may ask themselves before deciding to purchase the game. A demo seems like an easy fix. Not so fast, though. Kellee Santiago, president and co-founder of thatgamecompany, believes that a demo forFlowerisn’t necessary. In a recentreader responseon the PlayStation blog, Santiago made her argument: “… I think the prices of downloadable games are so small that they kind of make demos unnecessary....

Besides confirming that they indeed have absolutely nothing to do withGuitar Hero 3and the future of that franchise, Harmonix toldGamasutrathat they are instead working on something bigger and better. From Harmonix producer Daniel Sussman: “We are instead working on a different music game project, one that is a bigger and more ambitious endeavor than we felt we could pursue within the bounds of theGuitar Herofranchise.” Greater thanGuitar Heroand the entire franchise?...

TheHot Shotsseries has always been good for a few laughs and the occassional first date. This summer, the series is coming off of the green and hopping onto the clay withHot Shots Tennisfor the PlayStation 2. Are you sold yet? Yeah, me neither. But free demos are nothing to scoff at, and at least it shows that Sony are confident enough in their product to give away a taste (read: they’re drug peddlers)....

The good people at Capcom really do love youLost Planetplayers, and they’re going to continue proving that withsome morefreemap packs and an update for both versions of the game. DirectX 10 enhancements forLost PlanetPC will be available as a patch on August 16. If you’re using a DX 10 card, you can look forward to improved depth of field effects, motion blur, and fur shading (comparison shots are in the gallery)....

Half the fun ofCall of Duty 4was thinking up different scenarios and rules to further your own enjoyment of the game. Many times, this involved limiting weapon choices significantly. Running around with a knife like Micheal Myers while every other player is unable to fight back? Brilliant stuff. I haven’t really seen too much of this occur inModern Warfare 2, but wouldn’t you know it — I’m out of commission, and now the regular Xbox 360 crew is delving into these shenanigans....

Android is everywhere. There’s so many devices now! Thankfully there’s some companies that have been good about releasing games for Android devices. Gameloft is definitely one of them. The companytweetsthat they will be giving away three HD Android games this weekend: one each on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. The giveaway is only valid for two hours per day. You’ll need to follow@Gameloft_UKon Twitter to find out where and when. When they release that information you’ll be able to pull the game down from their mobile store....