After playing a good few hours ofRed Steel, one’s thoughts tend to drift back to Nintendo’s other attempts at light-gun games. We’re all aware (and likely in love) with the Zapper andDuck Hunt, but there is another peripheral that is often pushed aside in gaming’s collective memory. That peripheral is the Super Scope, and while it was too big, too expensive, and took too many batteries, it provided some cheap fun for a very, very small library of games....

Further exploiting theiracquisition of Flash game portal Kongregate, GameStop has announced in a press release an extension of their PowerUp Rewards loyalty program into that site. PowerUp Rewards members will be able to earn additionalfrequent flyer milesbonus points that they can spend on coupons at GameStop, virtual currency at Kongregate or a wide variety of other gaming-related junk. So, how do you earn those points? Linking your accounts and installing theAndroid appwill get you some, but there’s also going to be opportunities to earn points by playing games....

It’s been awhile since we’ve heard anything onCrysis 2. The news on the game has been slow, but what we have seen so far ispretty enticing. A couple of new videos from GamesCom 09 have popped up and while I’m glad to see some new stuff on the game, the trailers really aren’t that informative. Yeah, the Nanosuit 2 is pretty badass. In fact, I think they’re the bestvideogame armor around....

Sierra Online has announced that theBattlestar Galacticagame for XBLA will be half price — 400 Microsoft Points — this Friday, April 4. Admittedly, I’ve never seen more than three episodes ofBattlestar Galactica, but I hear it’s totally killer. It’s got something to do with Cylons and stars that battle each other in the galaxy, right? I’ve also never played the Xbox LIVE Arcade game of the same name, either, but I sure do like a deal....

Concerned that fans would want to start their own Web sites, Sonyhas updated its officialGod of War IIIsite with a “God of War Fan Kit Starter Pack.” Thrown into the zipped bundle of files is some previously seenGod of War IIIscreenshots, some images of the games logo, theGod of Warseries font, as well as some music and sound effects. What’s interesting to us is the concept art that’s also included, which we believe is previously unseen....

Microsoft today unveiled further details and an official call to entry for the “Halo 3” beta program. Beginning Monday, Dec. 4, by visiting http://www.halo3.com, gamers in North America will be able to register for the opportunity to be one of the select members to join the unprecedented “Halo 3” public beta program, scheduled to kick off in spring 2007. Today’s announcement confirms the first path of entry for gamers to participate in the beta program and be among the first to experience the most anticipated game of 2007....

It’s December, and you know what that means — holiday card time! Blizzard kicked it off today, with this cute little holiday card landing in our inboxes. If Santa Claus was an orc, that’s something I could definitely get behind, let me tell you. Happy Holidays back at you, Blizzard. Now give us the surprise gift ofStarcraft 2beta. OrDiablo III.

Our own Benjamin Perlee got some quality time withScratch: The Ultimate DJrecently, and came out of it calling the title one of his most anticipated of the year. Words like that are sure to make people sit up and take notice, and these new screens definitely have me interested to see more of what this new rhythm title may have to offer. You can expect to see artists such as Gorillaz, Kanye West, Run-D....

If you happen to have any time between reading hands-ons and coming to grips with the major announcements from this year’s E3, perhaps you would like to check out this week’s episode ofHey Ash, Whatcha Playin. It is based onKatamari Damacy, intentionally bummer-inducing, and not funny.

Metal is a lot of things. Metal is ripping off a chimera’s head and spitting down its spine hole. Metal is the swagger of a cool protagonist as he walks out of a bar full of corpses he created. Metal is a tone or a plot. Metalis an f’ing feeling. For theBorderlandscrew, metal takes some serious space to describe. “How f–cking metal isBorderlands,” game creative director Mikey Neumann asks me in response to my question....

I Must Run!is a recently released autorun platformer for iPhone and PlayStation Minis in which, well, you must run. And while it’s not directly in the title, you’ll also be falling to your death quite frequently. Ahead of the game’s Android and iPad launches, there’snow a demoyou can grab for PC. I’m not entirely sure how long it is, because I sure as heck couldn’t complete the level in the relatively short amount of time I gave myself to play before starting this post....

Even thoughMass Effectdoesn’t actually contain any full-on nudity or graphic displays of sexuality, we still like it. So when the “Bring Down the Sky”downloadable content pack was announced, we were thrilled to continue our adventures. Set for release on March 10, the pack will contain an additional 90 minutes worth of gameplay. Cool beans. For those who have already played throughMass Effect, though, now might be a good time to start playing again....

In Soviet Russia… I got nothing. But I do have some details on the Russian release of Blizzard’s highly anticipated game,StarCraft II. It will come in…installments. The Escapist guesses that they’re trying to combat the crazy piracy that goes down in Russia with this release method. Or help with the high cost of the game. So get this: There’s a roughly $35 (999 rubles) version in a standard DVD case, and there’s a jewel-cased version for about $17....