A foolish child caused his middle school to be locked down this past week after bringing in a handgun. However, rather than pay tribute to Columbine or Virginia Tech, the boy had brought the firearm inmerely to swap it— for a PlayStation Portable. The boy nabbed the gun from his father’s collection, and brought it to Mason Middle School in Tacoma to trade with another kid. When I was his age, it was all about swapping POGs and Mini Boglins....

Just about any hardcore fan of the Shin Megami Tensei: Persona series would probably sacrifice their first born child to see a well-made Persona movie. Leave it to the seemingly endless power of the Dtoid community to make the next best thing: community membersylphxrecently posted his own take on what the trailer for such a film would actually look like, and it looks pretty damned good, actually. Go see it after the jump....

Welcome to the first ever Destructoid Import Spotlight. Every episode of this feature will take a look at games that never quite make the journey to American shelves. What better way to launch said serial than withOneechanbara vorteXfor the Xbox 360. I believe the above video just about sums it up: a Japanese cowgirl, in a bikini, with a samurai sword… fighting zombies. F***king. Awesome. Hit the jump for more bikini-clad mayhem and details on why those pervy Japs get all the good games while we’re stuck with crappy hand-me-downs likeZelda,Shadow of the Colossus, andFinal Fantasy…...

Before you get irritated, just give me a moment. Iknowwerecently did a storyon the game’s release, and that there have been a few Cblogs about it. I don’tcare. I don’t care becauseBarkley, Shut Up and Jam: Gaidenis better than anyone could have imagined. I don’t care because if I can’t gush about how hilariously clever, how goddamnedbrilliantthis game is right this second, I’ll explode or something. I don’t care because if you haven’t playedBarkley, Shut Up and Jam: Gaiden, you are not a complete human being....

At my last job, things were pretty miserable. I’d often drag myself into work two hours early to finish an eight day project I’d been given three days to do. My boss would harass me by making lewd comments towards me about my mom, and by fashioning “sexually explicit” dioramas using offices supplies. Cleaning the toilets was not in my job description, but it certainly seemed like a reward when it gave me the opportunity to spend a few precious moments away from my superiors or co-workers....

Last week, Destructoid sat down withLeft 4 Deadseries writer Chet Faliszek to talk about the followup to 2008’s critical smash-hit zombie co-op game,Left 4 Dead 2. We discussed why the sequel was announced so soon after the original’s release, why New Orleans makes a great game location, and why charges of racism in this new game are “utter insanity.” We also discuss how the original Special Infected are gettingnew models and voices, the integration of melee weapons into Versus Mode, and whether Batman could take on a Tank....

I had never written a serious articleabout a mouse until this weekend. It was liberating to do so, to get out my comfortable creative box. But as I busied myself in front of the keyboard I had a realization: I needed help. I didn’t know much about luxury mice and I didn’t know squat about how Razer operated and where the PC peripheral manufacture got its design ideas. So, I asked for an interview....

UnlikeDuke Nukem Forever, some games are determined to come out no matter how long it takes. A platform game from Iraq has managed to stay the course for sixteen years without becoming vaporware, and is finally ready to launch for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Nowthat’sdedication. The game in question has a name almost as long as the development time —The Babylonian Twins: The Quest for Peace in Ancient Iraq.Platform action is flavored with puzzles that revolve around switching between a pair of characters....

Unlike games likeFableand BioWare’s ownMass Effect,Dragon Age: Originsdeftly sidestepped framing its character interaction systems as a set of moral binaries. It’s a subtle shift: actions aren’t judged in absolutes, but situated in the larger social structures of the game. In-game characters — complete with their own backstories and affections — keep tabs on you, but only as a measure of your relationship together. It’s a more nuanced system: being kind to a Chantry priest, for example, might net you points with Leliana, a former nun; but Morrigan, hunted and persecuted by the church, finds it alienating....

Ken Levine, creative director for 2K Boston, recently toldForbesthat he wants PC gaming to find its stride again. The only problems were the ones he enumerated in the interview – it takes too much of a technical eye to get a PC up to the specifications for a new and awesome looking game. Unfortunately, Levine didn’t exactly say what could fix his broken PC gaming. From the interview: I wish the industry could find a way to make PC gaming more broadly successful....

If for whatever reason you haven’t playedRatchet & Clank: A Crack in Time, there are only two acceptable reasons – you’re broke or you don’t have a PlayStation 3. “I’m not interested” is not acceptable; the game is good, I say. But there really are no reasons you shouldn’t check on theClank “Race Through Time” mini-gamethat Isnomniac has up online. It’s a timed side-scrolling affair that has Clank racing through obstacles to a finish line, with the ability to slow down and speed up time....

Love it or hate it,Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfarestarted a whole new craze when it introduced “perks” to the series. A class system that brought multiplayer rewards might not be to the taste of some players, but I enjoyed it and I’m quite chuffed thatit’s comingtoKillzone 2. A diagram has been released that detailsKillzone 2‘s grading system, which has a variety of unlockable goodies for each rank in the game....

Namco Bandai has a “brutal action game” in the works, as recently revealed by Japanese propaganda pamphletFamitsu. Details on the new game as scarce thus far. We know there are at least two playable characters — Heinrich, a knight with a big scythe who has an unfortunate case of immortality, and the witch Gretchen, who has an unfortunate case of fighting intense battles with no armor on. Knight’s Contractis a ways off with its 2011 release window, but it seems like this is gearing up for a Western release as well as a Japanese one....