Image quality is poor because I snapped it with my cell phone, but I found this on the floor of Arcadia Winery (upper portion). One of those musty old cheese wheels and what looks like floor dirt forms a cute and not-so-subtle little nod from the cutting edge of gaming to the old, old school. Rock on.

God of War IIwas always considered the last great PlayStation 2 game. The last great example of why the PS2 is and should be considered the greatest gaming console of all time. But what do we at Destructoid think about it? Is it as great as everyone makes it out to be or is what you’re hearing just a bunch of hype? Take a look at what we think after the jump....

It was something of a surprise to me when I heard thatRetro Game Challengewas going to have a release outside of Japan.Game Center CX, the television show on which it is based, is very clearly a product of that country, and its crossover appeal could be very limited. Yet, here it is on American shores. But is it just another collection of minigames on a system that already suffers from a glut of such content, or something more?...

It should come as no surprise that puzzle games are prolific on the Community Games channel. After all, complex, ever changing level design and narrative aren’t required, and it’s simple enough to throw together aTetris-style block puzzler. That said, it takes skill to make a truly outstanding puzzle game, regardless of its simplicity. A game has to be more than a simpleTetrisclone in order to make a name for itself among all the other XNA games....

Famed director andsoilerof childhood memories, Michael Bay, has stated ina forum poston his website that Microsoft has been deliberately spreading confusion in the HD DVD vs. Blu-ray format war, in order to push the world into the age of digital downloads. In an argument that already feels tired and old barely a year in, Bay is quoted as saying: “That is why Microsoft is handing out $100 million dollar checks to studios just [to] embrace the HD DVD and not the leading, and superior Blu-ray....

Who cares what it’s called? I still want it. If you saw our story about Nintendo’s 2010 release schedule, you would have come across a Japanese listing forXenoblade. Yep, that Xeno. This is a Wii game that comes from the people at Monolith Soft, the folks that did my belovedXenosaga. Xenobladewill be known in the west asMonado: Beginning of the World. Same game. Japan gets their version this spring (import?!). It’s on the North American schedule as TBA....

The multiplayer beta forDawn of War II: Retributionrecently opened up considerably, and with it, a meme was discovered. The original motivational poster is attached, so no one has to feel left out. Relic Entertainment, y’all rule for coming full circle with this. It’ll be a sad day when strategy developers stop putting goofy dialogue in their games. [Thanks,Metotka] Bonus: The Imperial Guard are also known to say “It’s dangerous to go alone....

Sony had to react to Microsoft’s shocking coup eventually, and Trettonhas stepped upto voice his disappointment overFinal Fantasy XIIIbeing stripped of exclusivity status. Claiming that Microsoft “curried favor” with Square-Enix, the Sony boss talked moneyhats and the future of exclusive games. “I guess disappointed is clearly an appropriate term,” stated Tretton during a Q&A session. “I think Microsoft has spent the majority of their money on trying to curry favor with third parties … I think software companies look and say ‘there’s no check big enough for us to do exclusive development’ … I think it’s going to be harder and harder to have third-party exclusives as we move forward....

Art is a very important part of gaming. It all goes in a great big circle. Concept art gives way to videogames, and then those who love the games pay tribute to them through art of their own. It only makes sense that there is a special place within E3 where game art takes a front seat. TheInto the Pixel exhibitwas back again at E3 09 to delight all those who love videogames, art, and the two combined....

If you own an Xbox 360 you know the most annoying thing about it is the RRoD. You probably know the second most annoying thing about it as well, and that is that it can scratch the sh*t out of your discs. Nothing like plopping down $60 bucks just to get home and have the game ruined because your console destroyed it. You’d think this would be something the Microsoft would take care in theirnew version of the consolesince it seems they’ve taken care of many of the other issues the console had....

We know Microsoft’s Kinect is making its way to North America on November 4. Although the device was the main focus of the company’s press conference, they never really got around to mentioning how much it’ll cost. Yeah, so you noticed too. Thanks to a slew oflistings from GameStop, we have a better idea of what to expect and how much budgeting we’ll need to do before November. The retailer lists Kinect at $149....

Gearbox’s sexy sexpot Randy Pitchford was at the Ubisoft E3 press conference to discussBrothers in Arms Furious 4. It’s about a quartet of insane soldiers who live only to, as Randy says, “Kick Nazi ass.” Basically, it’sInglourious Basterds: The Videogame. The trailer showed Nazis getting mowed down with chainguns, suffering axes in the face and feeling the full payload of a stun gun to the nuts. I am already sold, but it’ll also include four-player co-op for the campaign....

We received the most entries so far this week for yesterday’sNASCAR 09giveaway, which, I suppose, was proof positive that stock car racing is the second-most popular sport in America behind football. I was amazed to find that, through over 20 entries, only two palindromes were repeated: I saw “deleveled” three times, and a variation of a sentence involving a “fast Toyota” twice. I was also surprised to see that no one submitted my favorite example of a palindrome: “Rise to vote, sir,” which I’ll never forget, thanks to the episode ofThe Simpsonsin whichLisa is accepted into Springfield’s Mensa chapter....