If you’ve passed on Sony’s PlayStation 3 “answer” toGeometry Wars,Super Stardust HD, you’re doing yourself a great disservice. Not only is it an arguable better game than Bizarre Creation’s twin-stick Xbox LIVE Arcade shooter, but it’s the PS3 title to award trophies, and your street-cred is in jeopardy if your trophy score is still “zero.” Whatever your excuses for not playing it are, they’re dwindling. At this year’s E3, Sony announced that a portable version of the title, cleverly titledSuper Stardust Portable, will be coming to the PlayStation Portable this year....

Ever since Christopher Nolan’sBatman Begins, Batman has been on a quality comeback. And this comeback doesn’t just apply to film! In a weird way, it’s kind of like the quality of Batman films and Batmanvideogameshave followed the same rollercoaster of a timeline. Batmanfor the NES was one of the very best Batman videogames ever made. Actually, scratch that:Batmanfor the NES may be theonlygood Batman videogame ever made. And the same goes for the films: The first two Batman movies were pretty darn awesome, and — untilBatman Begins— well …not so much....

As the resident Xbox LIVE Arcade nerd, let me take this opportunity to gush about how we’re finally going to get some more decent titles on the service thanks to another “Summer of Arcade” line-up. The folks at Microsoft sure know how to hold off on releasing the good stuff, don’t they? The “Summer of Arcade” part deux starts on Wednesday, July 22, with five games coming once per week from then on out....

Bungie just demoed a portion of theHalo: Reachcampaign and damn this game is looking beautiful. The environment looked detailed and polished and there was a lot of action going on throughout the area. As for what was going on, a group of four Spartan IIIs were dropped off onto the battlefield just as Elites are flooding the area via drop pods. What was really impressive during the demo was seeing one of the Spartan AI partners use Armor Lock to destroy a charging Ghost....

While we saw a huge list of 3DS games announced at today’s Nintendo E3 conference, one we didn’t see wasPilotWings Resort, the firstPilotWingsgame in 14 years. Taking place at Wuhu Island — the same setting asWii Sports ResortandWii Fit Plus— you’ll be able to pilot a hang glider, jet pack, airplane and more, each with its own unique controls and feel. Oh, and before I forget to mention, it’s all in 3D, too....

Sony’s just announced that NCSoft, the people behindLineage,City of Heroes, andGuild Wars, will be creating several PS3-exclusive titles. No word as to what the titles are yet, but I can only expect them to be something big. Hell, evenGuild Warson the PS3 would be amazing. In addition, they’re working with Epic to modify the Unreal 3 engine for the PS3. So this means that Sony will have the heads up withUnreal Tournament IIIthis year, as it’ll be a PS3-first game....

There are a lot of magical nuggets to be found at the LA convention center before E3 has started — nuggets that would likely go overlooked once the show has properly gone underway. I went to look for them nuggets, and this is what I found.

So where do I start with this bizarre little piece… you know Ashton Kutcher? The actor and dude who swept Demi Moore off her feet, right out from under you? Right. So that guyhas a Twitter account, which he’s actually pretty active on. Kutcher is hip to the social media, as the kids would say. Well, now he’s issued a challenge to CNN, saying that if he reaches 1 million followers on his person account before CNN’s account can… he’ll “ding-dong ditch” Ted Turner’s house....

Last year, EA Tiburon included co-op online play inMaddenfor the first time. But the mode was limited to two players on one team, and the implementation left something to be desired. So Tiburon has gone the extramileyard inMadden NFL 11— this time around, they’ve expanded the online team play to three players per team, and it sounds like the mode is much better designed. Each player will choose a particular skill position, and while they’ll stick with it, they’ll be able to switch between the different players there....

God of War IIImay still be a distant figure on the horizon, but the hype is gathering pace as we hurtle ever closer towards its “bugger-knows-when” release date. This morning, we’ve got a batch of fresh screens for you to look at, so make sure you hit up our gallery and check them out. Do itnow, for crying out loud! I think you’ll agree that the game is looking very sweet indeed....

It’s been quite a while since we had an ESRB content summary to laugh at, but North America’s videogame rating board has returned in a blaze of glory. Today we have the rating forDeathsmiles, a Cave Shooter that a select few people are very excited for. However, you might want to hold off your purchase until you learn what the game contains. After all, do you want to risk your child witnessing a PARTIALLY EXPOSED PELVIS!...

On August 27, The Behemoth’s side-scrolling beat-’em-up role-playing gameCastle Crasherswill finally be available for a cool 1200 Microsoft Points on Xbox LIVE Arcade. Although the reality is thatCastle Crashershas been in the making for “a normal amount of development time,” it sure has seemed like forever, hasn’t it? But why make the next week of waiting any harder than it has to be? After much begging and pleading, we’re being allowed to share with you the first 15 minutes ofCastle Crashers....

Microsoft’s Deal of the Week isFable II Pub Games, an Xbox LIVE Arcade joint with a special history. The downloadable released in mid-August 2008, months ahead of Lionhead Studios’ new fangled RPG,Fable II. It allows players to earn future in-game cash via a suite of chance mini-games featured in the core game it was attached to. Pre-patched versions of the gamehave a nifty exploitthat can net players mad money in a quick manner, leaving them to enjoy the colorful Albion without having to scrounge for bits of gold....