PlayStation 3 exclusive first-person shooterMAGhas been in beta since the beginning of summer, and it has been opening up to more players as time goes on. At a recenttraining sessionwith the game, a Zipper Interactive representative explained that the next phase of the beta makes the game available to GameStop pre-orderers. That phase begins today. Along with opening up the beta even further, a few new features have been added to the game....

If you’re aZeldafan and you have a penchant forThe Mangas, then put a few shiny coins aside for February. A Manga adaptation for the N64Ocarinasequel Majora’s Maskishitting the Statesnext year, courtesy of VIZ Media. In case you didn’t know, VIZ is bringingThe Ocarina of TimeandThe Phantom Hourglassto the United States in Manga form as well. With the 10-chapterMajoracoming in at $7.99 a head, andOcarinareported to be multiple books, you better dig deep for the full lot....

We’ve just had a tip from Dtoid artistic guruLaurenletting us know about some bizarre news relating to yetanothercase of videogame controversy in the UK, and this time the perpetrator of offense is none other than everyone’s favourite turtle killer Mario. The GAME retail chain has recalled the seemingly innocentMario Party 8mere hours after its release, citing the fact that the game contains “a swear word” as the reason. Of course, this isn’t the first time a supposedly benevolent Nintendo game has turned out to harbour linguistic horrors able to corrupt the sweet lexis of our poor children....

Mass Effect 2’s Grunt seems to like taking orders from Commander Shepard — at least, if those orders are to maim or annihilate something or someone. And we’re willing to guess that Shepard won’t be telling Grunt to do other things, like wash the new Normandy’s dishes or whatever. Considering such, it seems like the relationship won’t suffer as the game progresses. (Plus, we’re pretty sure Shepard knows how sensitive Krogan skin is....

Speaking at Wilfrid Laurier University in Ontario, Canada, Maxis co-founder Jeff Braun confirmed involvement in an upcomingOddworldsequel. “They’re such a talented group of people,” he said of the series’ creator, Oddworld Inhabitants, “and I really trust their ability to create compelling content.” This would be the first game since 2005 Xbox title,Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath, but don’t go trying to pre-order the game just yet. Braun admits the game may not ship for “years....

Ever sit back and wonder what a “child” looks like inDragon Age: Originsor wear a thong stitched together with human hair? We’ve done neither, we swear, but the former is the subject of a new piece of“Awakening”media from BioWare. But don’t think these children are the wailing, happy-go-lucky things we’re used to. These kiddies have gnarly teeth and shoot out from liquid-filled pods. Look — we don’t know what the hell is going on in the flick above or in the pictures below other than there’s an armored dude killing “the children....

The latest trailer forMetal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriotsreveals what looks to be the newest set of boss enemies for Solid Snake — The Beasts. Broken down soldiers who have been given new bodies, these villains look like the toughest bad guys yet … but wait a second … isn’t that? Yes it is. That’s frikkin’ FOXHOUND! Crying Wolf, Raging Raven, Screaming Mantis and yes … Laughing Octopus, the twisted, malformed re-imaginings of the bosses Snake killed in the originalMetal Gear Solid....

Don’t like the New Xbox Experience? Tough. Microsoft will be making the NXEmandatory for every Xbox 360 user, even those who don’t have their console connected to Xbox Live. Taking a page from the PSP handbook of annoyance, firmware updates will ship with retail discs, forcing an installation of the NXE before the game can be played. The original blade dashboard will henceforth be wiped from the face of the planet like some vile stain, starting with the release ofHAWXthis Friday, along withMLB: 2K9....

Microsoft has stated that its first-party offerings have been consistently better than those found on the PS3 or Wii, putting the likes ofForzaandFableagainst such titles asKillzone,LittleBigPlanetandSuper Mario Galaxy. Xbox CFO Dennis Durkin was asked if Microsoft needed to bolster its first party lineup, which has been flagging lately. Durkin was quite unmoved, retorting with: “I would ask you to go and look at some of your data, just to compare first party performance over the course of this lifecycle, because I think our first party performance in terms of quality bars and units per title this shift has been superior to our competition’s....

Do you remember Pocket Pikachu? This was a step tracker disguised as a virtual pet. Your steps and movement would earn you “watts” to feed little Pikachu, and the idea was that you might get your lazy ass off the couch and move around a bit to satiate the little electric rodent. And maybe burn off some of that excess Mountain Dew and pizza weight in the process. Ubisoft’s goals are similar for the previously announcedMy Weight Loss Coach,though this DS game is definitely more involved....

Namco Bandai’s VP of sales, marketing and publishing, Olivier Comte, has had some damning words to say about the current state of Nintendo’s software market. Confessing that most Wii and DS games have been “very, very bad,” the executive believes that the gravytrain has gone off the rails. “It’s a tough market,” he confesses. “We had a lot of product, and the average quality of a game on DS and Wii is very, very bad....

Earlier this afternoon, publisher Activision confirmed that another title in theCall of Dutyfranchise is slated for release this year — holiday, to besomewhatexact. No substantial details were given during the recent earnings call, but we did learn that the publisher believes theCall of Dutyuser base will continue to grow through sales of the new title, map packs, and a splash of marketing for older titles. “… this holiday, as we eluded earlier, we plan to release a newCall of Dutygame,” Activision Publishing CEO Mike Griffith said....

Good evening, Destructoid readers! It’s Friday night, and that can mean only one thing: it’s time for another episode of your favorite video game news show co-hosted by Max and Tara. First and foremost on tonight’s agenda,Modern Warfare 3leakage. Also, PSN is seeing somefallout(and not the good kind),GagaVilleis officially a thing that exists and is ridiculous, and will someone tell those pesky computerhackersto lay off already? Oh, also – the Xperia Play kind ofsucks....