First, we posted anin-depth noteexplaining how song compatibility in theGuitar Herofranchise is going to work. Hit it up if you’re unclear about any aspect of the process of playing on-disc and downloadableGuitar Hero World TourandSmash Hitssongs inGH 5andBand Hero. Next up was apreview ofGuitar Hero 5. You can’t necessarily fault Neversoft for making smart changes that Harmonix happened to implement first, but even so, unique features like Party Play are significant enough to warrant a look....

Out of all the PlayStation 3-exclusive games coming out this year,inFamousis shaping upto be one of my most anticipated. While we’re still months away from the game’s launchin June,GameStop is alreadyletting us know that you aren’t going to be pre-ordering elsewhere if you want to have all of Cole McGrath’s powers. ReserveinFamousand receive a code that unlocks the GameStop exclusive Gigawatt Blades Power. With electric blades extending from his wrists, a single blow annihilates any foe and transforms Cole’s hands into instruments of sheer destruction....

Resident Evil‘s “The Mercenaries” mode is now even morehandheldas Capcom has launchedResident Evil Mercenaries VS.on the Apple app store. It’s $2.99 for a promotional period, so if you want to check it out you should probably get on it sooner rather than later. The fellows over atTouch Arcadedon’t seem too impressed by it though, noting that it looks like crap and that the multiplayer gameplay doesn’t really suit theResident Evilstyle of play....

I know I say this every Monday but,hooray Monday!Not too much has changed over that course of the last week, but then again, not much does in the world of retro. I hear that in the next-gen world, a 360 burned a house down, Nintendo is still on top, and Sony fans are chomping at the bit for the newMGS 4. None of that effects us in any way, but we can throw in our 2¢ by talking about the originalMetal Geargames, right?...

Angry Birdsdeveloper Rovio is earning itself a reputation as abit of an egotistical studiolately, and these latest comments from business manager Peter Vesterbacka are unlikely to change that opinion. After all, he takes a considerable dump on both NintendoandMicrosoft. “It’s interesting to see people like Nintendo saying smartphones are destroying the games industry,” he boasted. “Of course, if I was trying to sell $49 pieces of plastic to people then yes, I’d be worried too....

[UPDATE]According to David Jaffe’s twitter — “LOVE that Kratos is in the new MK. So bummed he’s not in the story portion. Heard about it from Ed at E3 this year and had to keep super mum on it but man, fucking LOVE it. He totally fits in that world.I shit you not- on some level I feel like all the characters I work on are alive and that I have a relationship with them and I can tell you, if I know Kratos- and I do!...

If the rumors are right, theYakuzateam is making a sci-fi shooter calledBinary Domain. This all came from a supposed Famitsu leak. According toSiliconera, members of theYakuzateam plus overseas (presumably Western developers) staff are collaborating to create the game. The game is set in Tokyo in the year 2080, and it will feature online play and high-level AI. The leaker says that Sega will release this game globally. Screens from this supposed leak are all CG....

I haven’t had the pleasure (or displeasure according to some reviewers) of playingSacred 2on the PC yet, so I’m in the dark. However, I did get a chance to play the Xbox 360 version at Gen Con last summer. I came away with the impression that the controls were great. It was an alpha build, so it was hard to judge anything else. CDV (the developer ofSacred 2) recently released six new screenshots for the Xbox 360 version of the game....

First off, an admission: I never realized that the first part of the title was word play. Rush’N = Russian. I get it now! This upcoming XBLA and PSN release is a remake of a 1980’s arcade game where you’d…well, rush and attack, armed only with a knife. I met with Konami to play the latest build of the Vatra-developed game, where I knifed throats and crawled in air ducts, thinking all the while about how stupid I am to have never realized that the game’s title was wordplay....

Early this morning, our boy Pedram Saleh sent in a tip about an utterly bizarre find; A site called UK: Resistance hadpostedsome pictures of a machine found in an arcade in Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan that kindly gave out foot massages to all the weary gamers. While this normally wouldn’t be that off-the-wall (after all, Japan is a country where you can find arcade machines that will fellate you whileforcing adorable kittens into glass bottles), the machine was apparently manufactured by Sega....

With two versions ofSonic Colors,Sonic the Hedgehog 4andSonic Free Ridersall slated to release before the year is out, Sega is concerned that it has too many Sonic games on store shelves and has de-listed a number of games that received tepid review scores. “We could make a lot of money on back-catalogueSonictitles, but let’s keep the number of Sonic games available under control,” says Sega EMEA SVP Jurgen Post. “Otherwise you can have cannibalisation....

Ska Studios has pulled the sheet off its“Fervor Shine” countdownshenanigans to reveal — you guessed it — the sequel to its Xbox LIVE Arcade title,The Dishwasher: Dead Samurai. Confirmed for a “when it’s done” XBLA release,The Dishwasher: Vampire Smilewill make its premiere at PAX East this coming March. The downloadable title keeps the gory, graphic novel sketch style of the original, bringing back the same style of action the title is known for....

We’ve never visited theofficialSplinter CellWeb site. In fact, the last time we visitedanyofficialSplinter CellWeb site was way back when theSplinter Cell Convictionpage debuted.Thatsite greeted us with a flash-enabled page with interactive bullet holes. A few of thoseclickableholes led to videos related to the game, which is still slated to hit in February 2010 — moons and moons from now. But things are much different over at the properSplinter Cellpage. Much different....