With all theFinal Fantasy XIIIrelease date news floating around the Internet today, it would be criminal not to have a teasing selection of new screenshots to post. Luckily, our bases are covered anda small smattering of new imageshave made their way online. I am glad that the release date is imminent. I got sick of waiting for this and was incredibly burned out on any news, but as we edge nearer to a Western release, I’m starting to perk up a little more....

On Wednesday I was in San Francisco to playTransformers: War for Cybertron. After weeks of excited posts, many of our readers were waiting for me to report bitter disappointment, rubbing their hands with glee at the prospect of my misery. Who can blame them, really? It’s always funny watching someone set themselves up for a fall, and I’d been so interested in this game that I was set to fall hard....

[Editor’s note:VirtualGirlhas done it again! Our resident art school bombshell has devised the most professional looking trivia game on the subject of video games in the history of geekdom. The name is For Teh Win, a typo only endearing to the hardcore gamer. I’m dying to play this game — maybe we can get a round going at PAX? Hit the jump for photos and the rules of engagement. -Niero PS....

One thing you may not know about me is that I love frogs. I find them fascinating animals, especially the ones with the see-through bellies so you’re able to have a good ol’ look at their guts inside of them. With that in mind, I am obviously a fan ofPocket Frogs. Pocket Frogsis a rather laid back game in which you collect and breed frogs. There’s not a lot to it outside of the acquisition of amphibians, but there’s something oddly compelling about the whole thing....

Feeling lonely? Friday Night Fights is here to help. See this large list of Dtoidersright here? Yup, they’ll all be online tonight at 10:00 p.m. EST to play games, and as long as you aren’t a total assclown, they’d be more than happy to let you play too. Anyone who’s already purchasedCall of Duty 4: Modern Warfarealready knows this, but the game is highly addictive. In fact, I barely managed to pull myself away from it long enough to write this post....

Last week, I mentioned how I hadn’t yet playedSplinter Cell: Convictionoutside of single-player, but that’s changed in a big way. Since then, I’ve pretty much been playing Hunted and the other co-op modes exclusively. Who knew this stuff could work so well in a stealth environment? Next week is a big week for multiplayer gaming — do I need to say why?Super Street Fighter IV! It’s a shame fighting games always seem to bring out the gamer rage in me, because I want to have fun like the rest of you....

Inlast week’s debatewe compared and contrasted newer and much older games from a series that gets much praise in the RPG communities. The original and the sequel were tied for the first dozen votes, but eventually the fame of the original groundbreaking game left the others in the dust. Here are the results: As promised, this week we see the first and secondValkyria Chroniclesgames battle for the right to go on and represent their series in the upcoming RPG series debate tournament....

While I’m still upset about the game, I’m glad that Famitsudid an interviewwith Daisuke Ishiwatari regardingGuilty Gear 2a little while ago. They got a set of screens from the game to show, which were mildly interesting. Now, though,High-Score Onlinehas gotten a hold of a set of new images from the game. Some of the details that came from the Famitsu stuff is that you’ll be able to do some of the cool Guilty Gear stuff like move cancels into combos, in an attempt to move all the bells and whistles of the 2-D fighter into the 3-D realm....

Gather close and listen, o ye sons of men, o ye prodigal daughters, o mine long lost droogs: tohellwith Florian Eckhardt. We had a deal. It’s always been about solidarity. Whether he was lambasting my BBW status, or I was railing against the filthy way he insists on covering his trepanation pit with that crusted fez, we stoodtogether. I think by now, the felt has actually grown into the scabby keloids that crest his saurian head....

In a panel this morning hosted by Taku Murata, general manager of research and development at Square Enix, the White Engine internal game engine was renamed Crystal Tools. Murata says that since September 2007, Square Enix has been using ver 1.0 of Crystal Tools to createFinal Fantasy XIII, Final Fantasy Versus XIII, and an unnamed next-generation MMO. These in-house authoring tools and runtime libraries were developed for cross-platform use, supporting the PS3, Xbox 360, and PC....

A new job posting at Gamasutra from Sony’s Santa Monica studio, home of theGod of Warfranchise, reveals that the mythological brawler may be heading into the online space. The company is currently seeking a Senior Online Programmer, who will be tasked with designing systems to use in online tasks such as, “in-game communication, client-server, match-making [and] leaderboards.” That certainly sounds like a move towards multi-player, doesn’t it? Seems somewhat surprising to me, but I suppose it shouldn’t....

Not that you really need to explain zombie/mutant/freak outbreaks in this day and age, but the inclusion of them inCrackdown 2seems odd. Out of place? Not at all — these monstrosities tend to mesh nicely with open-world games. Still, there’s been little in the way of an explanation so far. I guess that’s where this animated series of videos, “The Pacific City Archives,” comes into play. In the attached second episode, they attempt to justify the creatures’ existence; for a game like this, I’m willing to believe just about anything and roll with it....

Yesterday, Rockstar Games released two new trailers for the upcomingGrand Theft Auto IVdownloadable content,The Lost and Damned. As usual, they tell us little about the game itself (guess: it’ll be likeGrand Theft Auto IV), but they’re both edited like Hollywood movie trailers. Because I’m easy, this excites me, of course.The first trailer, seen above, focuses on Billy Grey. Grey is a the leader of The Lost Motorcycle Club, and because he’s a Caucasian biker with tattoos, his trailer is set to rock music....