We’ve already discussed the greatness ofRunMan: Race Around the Worldin some detail. But now that you’ve played it, beaten it, donated money and unlocked all the characters, what’s left to do? Well, depending on co-creator Matt Thorson’s faith in his own code, youmayget to play some user-made levels sometime in the future. In an email interview, Thorson said, “I’m thinking of releasing the source on my forum at some point, so people can make their own stages or whatever, but the sheer messiness of it might scare everyone off....

Certain Affinity’s action RPGCrimson Allianceis gradually approaching it’s September 7 launch date and to help tide you over, they’ve released the first of a three-part trailer series introducing the games playable classes. This time around, it’s Gnox, the mercenary. Direwolf the wizard and Moonshade the assassin, the rest of the game’s trio, will be getting their spotlight soon enough. In the mean time, it’s worth noting thatCrimson Alliancehas been announced as a reward for XBLA users who purchase all five of the Summer of Arcade releases, as if you needed any more motivation....

It’s come to my attention that, due to the harsh opinions of some Destructoid editors (chiefly myself, of course), some of you have taken to believing that this site is “anti-3DS.” Naturally, nobody has ever had a critical opinion of something theylike— any negative opinion is evidence of pure, unfettered hatred, right? Well, no. Only fools and the willfully ignorant think like that.You’renot an ignorant imbecile, are you? Surely,you’renot too stupid to see that a lot of the harshest criticism out there comes not from a place of hate, but of love....

A single-player demo for Crytek’s upcoming PC killer,Crysis, will finally be available. According toVoodoo Extreme, the demo will also come fully-loaded with the “CryEngine 2 Sandbox 2” game editor. This gives modders and map makers a one-month head start; maybe we’ll see some Halo 3 maps at launch! Our ownHamza Azizhad a chance to play it at a recent Electronic Arts event. Before that,David Haughtonwent hands-on with it at Leipzig, and beating all of them to the punch,Fronzplayed it back at CES way early in the year....

WhenDemon’s Soulsreleased two years ago, it literally came out of nowhere. It was, and still is, one of the most refreshing, difficult and satisfying RPG experiences to date. Itssurprise successproved that you don’talwaysneed big-budget marketing to sell a fantastic game and that a game could sell almost by word-of-mouth alone. In addition toextending the serversfor the game into 2012, Atlus is also celebrating the second anniversary ofDemon’s Soulsby shifting theworld tendencyto all-white, the game’s easiest difficulty setting, from today until October 17th....

Since Ben came back with his hands onimpressions of Destineer’s upcoming Xbox 360-exclusive snowboarding title,Stoked, I’ve had my eye on the game. The game’s deep, true-to-life boarding mechanics look to be — much like EA’sskate— challenging, but rewarding. I’ll find out sooner rather than later. The game’s finally been given a release date of February 24. And best of all? It carries at MSRP of $39.99. That’s at least one hundred dollars cheaper than an average getaway at to Vail, Colarado … and it’s safer....

Ah, Vanillaware — two games within two months of each other and already they’ve managed to capture the hearts and minds of 2D enthusiasts everywhere. It’s not as though they haven’t earned the affection, either. Vanillaware’s first effortOdin Spherewas a flawed but beautiful game that really showed what these lads were all about, mashing up unparalleled beauty — even among its next-gen brethren — with an unusual take on the beat-’em-up genre that got me thinking what a beat-’em-up ought to look and feel like....

Two decades is a damn long time, and that’s how longMadden NFLhas reigned supreme in the realm of simulation football videogames. The franchise has had its ups and downs, to be sure, but in general, EA has delivered a quality product every year since 1988.Maddencelebrates its 20th anniversary this year, and for one-fifth of that time period — the last four years — it has been the only officially licensed pro football game on the market....

Ah,Rez— the cult classic of cult classics. Tetsuya Mizuguchi’s attempted synthesis of retro graphics, pulsing trance beats, simplistic on-rails shooter gameplay, and rhythmic vibration remains etched in videogaming’s collective memory, despite (or perhaps because of) how damned hard it was to find a working copy of the game for under fifty bucks. That all changes withRez HD. Costing only 800 Microsoft points, gamers the world over can now experience Mizuguchi’s synaesthetic slice of weirdness without having to break the bank or deal with dated, 4:3 graphics....

Ah, another day, another RPG. It’s easy to feel that way with all the genre’s releases as of late (and it makes me a bit nostalgic for the days in which I would patiently wait through the months between releases), butStar Ocean: The Last Hopestands out from that group for one reason: the setting is not medieval or even in some fantastical invented country, but in space. Like Star Trek....

Those planning to play theEVE-themed shooterDust 514will be expected to pay a $10-20 “cover charge” to get started, although that charge will refunded as in-game money. “In the beginning you have to pre-buy credits, so you pay something like $10-$20 to enter the game and you get the equivalent number of credits in the game once you do that. We call this the ‘cover charge’,” said CCP CEO Hilmar Veigar Pétursson to GI....

In this video, Zhao Yun jumps forty feet in the air from horseback, bounces from the side of horses like a pinball, runs horizontally along a wall, avoids a ball and chain before swinging off that very chain to kick a horse in the face, grabs a sword and crossbow out of the air and then proceeds to surf vertically down a waterfall while fighting other soldiers that are also surfing vertically down a waterfall....

I was ambivalent aboutThe Conduitbefore playing it. It’s presumably meant to be the Wii’s version ofHalo: a space-centric FPS that looks pretty much like every other space-centric FPS, apart from the fact that it’s remarkably pretty for a Wii game and sports some supposedly cool motion controls. After playing the game, my opinions have not changed. Hit the jump for more. The Conduitfeels like a good game. It is not mindblowing, or innovative, or life-changing, but it’s goddamn good....