Epic Games VP Mark Rein wasn’t turned off by theiPadat Apple’s press event the other afternoon. Speaking toKotaku, Rein said he was “really impressed with the iPad” and its larger App sizes. He also got the same kind of good vibes from the game demos shown seemingly hours and hours after the initial reveal of Apple’s new and bigger touch device. “I was very impressed with the game demos,” Rein told Kotaku....

Only a few hours left for you to make the difference between 24-hours and Rick Astley and me getting away with 12-hours andMetal Gear Solid 4. If you have not donated yet, DO IT. If you consider yourself a member of the Destructoid community, prove it. Donate. Help children with cancer, and do your bit with the rest of the Dtoid Army. I’m serious here. I’m not doing twenty-four hours for the fun of it, and it won’t happen unless I get what I ask for....

Since our last ratherin-depth previewofNeed for Speed World, we’ve been lucky enough to get some more hands-on time with the title. At its core, there’s not much more to say since last time: it’s an ambitious and potentially fantastic MMO version of theNeed for Speedseries. If you like those games, there is a good chance you’ll like this. However, for those who missed last time, EA Black Box has taken much of what made upNeed for Speed CarbonandNeed for Speed: Most Wanted, tossed together some new areas to unite the worlds, added a stronger focus on multiplayer to MMO proportions, mixed in power-ups and new games modes, gave it a whirl, and are now almost ready to release it to the public....

While the game’s been shown behind closed doors more than a few times (GameStop managers had a chance to see it at a conference earlier this year), last night’s Spike VGAs marked the first public look atFight Night Round 4. The follow up to EA Sports’ 2006 boxing title, the game looks every bit as good as expected, although the flashy effects and cuts of the trailer could obscure how the game will truly look in action....

Forza Motorsport 3 Ultimate Collectionis the original game, all the previously released DLC add-ons, and 90 minutes of new Top Gear TV content. This brings the car count to 5000 and the track count to 100. In the box you’ll get an Xbox Live download card giving players access to three new cars: The Koenigsegg CCX, LEXUS LFA, and Mercedes Benz SLS-AMG. This kicks off a collaboration between BBC’s Top Gear and the Forza brand....

Got big plans for this evening? Let’s hope not, for tonight is Friday Night Fights, and we all know that playing games is a hell of a lot more fun than helping underprivileged children or working at a soup kitchen. Tonight’s festivities will be more or less the same as usual, but that’s nothing to be sad about. There’s plenty ofTeam Fortress 2,Call of Duty 4,Halo 3,Burnout Paradise,Warhawk, andUndertowto go around....

Fruit Ninja‘s a great game, for sure. But it’s always felt a bit empty to me. Mostly because it was missing a key fruit, the pomegranate. No more — developer Halbrick has updated the iOS versions ofFruit Ninja(includingFruit Ninja HDfor the iPad) with a pomegranate. Basically the way it works is that the fruit appears and you go apes**t on it to get a bunch of extra points. It’s going to appear randomly in Classic Mode, and at the end of every Arcade Mode game; don’t expect to see it in Fruit Ninja’s Zen mode, however....

Super Street Fighter IVis punching your mother in the womb onApril 27, and to celebrate, here’s a peek at what you’ll be looking for on the store shelf when you rush out to buy it. There are things on the box like words and pictures. Very important things for box art, so it’s good to see them. I wish I was even halfway decent at fighting games so I could look forward to playing it with everybody else....

Outspoken game director David “Glistening Bull” Jaffe has criticized games that release huge amounts of patches in a short space of time, suggesting that a game should be updated four times a year at most. “Hardware manufacturers, I feel, should only allow one to four updates to the software per game per year,” he suggested, to a large applause from a GDC crowd. “None of them should come within the first one to two months the game is shipping....

I’m not sure what Germany is thinking, messing with a country that spawned a man who can take down a Predator, a Terminator and be twin brothers with Danny DeVito, but Germany doesn’t make senseon many levelsso they’re going for it. It seems the Commission for the Protection of Young Persons in Germany (name conveniently translated) wants toban the sale of all Austrian online games. They’ve requested that the Federal Department for Media Harmful to Young Persons take this step immediately, though how to go about this still seems a bit up in the air....

While the originalGodfathergame was considered veryGTA-ish in its approach, and maybe a little shallow in comparison to the books and films it was based on, the sequelis promisinga much more strategic approach that will make players feel more like a scheming crime lord. Godfather IIwill have a “Don’s View” mode which can be accessed at any time to distribute goods and check up on your gang activities in the cities of Miami, Havana and — wait for it — New York....

Monolith’s weirdo Batman-universe downloadable multiplayer shooter,Gotham City Impostors, is going into a closed beta next month. “Be aware that this is a closed beta with a limited number of codes,” the developer said on its website. This means you’ll want to register now, whichyou can if you’d like. No specifics on which platforms will be included in the test have been revealed, although the sign-up process allows you to choose all three thatGotham City Impostorsin in development for: PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC....

[Every week, we put out a call to our Community for blogs on a specific topic. This week, the assignment was to write a blog about handheld gaming. Our first promoted Community Blog this week is from kidplus, who reminds us all about the game.com. If you want to see your own work on the front page next week, ensure you write a blog forour current topic: Being Social. — JRo]...