LEGO Universeisn’t going wholly free to play, butstarting now, players can go through a good portion of the MMO without having to commit to a monthly fee. Access to two adventure zones, one player property area in which you may build LEGO models, and other content is some of what you’ll get. In order to experience everything being offered, including future content updates, you must have a full membership; these are $10 per month....

To no one’s surprise, Nintendo has announced that more Pokémon titles will be making their way to the Nintendo DS. Prepare yourself —Pokémon SoulSilverandPokémon HeartGoldwill be available in the United States and Europe in the spring of 2010. So what’s new inSoulSilverandHeartGold? Well, uh… it brings players back to the Johto region introduced in Pokémon Gold and Pokémon Silver. With updated graphics, and touch screen functionality. LikePokémonPlatinum Version, but with more heart… and soul....

Last year, the winner of the Dream-Build-Play competition wasThe Dishwasher: Last Samurai, game that has gone on to become a fully formed Xbox LIVE title, soon to be released. This year’s winner,CarnyVale: Showtime, is a whole different ball-of-wax. Instead of sidescrolling hacking and slashing,Carnyvale: Showtimeinvolves clowns and stretchy claws, which is not a creepy as it sounds. Strictly speaking, I’m not the biggest fans of clowns (they eat babies), but I was willing to giveCarnyVale: Showtimea chance....

Fishing Master World Tour is the sequel to Hudson’s originalFishing Masterthat came out last year. InFishing Master, players will fight against mutant alien fishes that are trying to conquer the world. OK, so that doesn’t actually happen, although you will find a couple of mutant fishes in the game … Fishing Master World Tourwill see players going around the world to become the best fishing master around. It’s kind of likePokemon, except instead of training the creatures you catch, you eat them....

Dylan CuthbertofPixelJunk-maker Q-Games has “posted a little sneak preview of something we’ll be revealing next week at Casual Connect” on Google+. Social media! His post, which includes the image above, isviewable here. Looks likePixelJunk Something or Otherto me. Possibly even a little Facebook-y, especially given thatCasual Connectis about “iPhone, Social, Android, Flash, Browser MMO, and Download Games.” Whatever it is, I’m on board. Q-Games hasn’t let me down yet....

It’s no secret that Rare has suffered one of gaming’s most trafic falls from grace. Once considered the cream of the British developer drop, Rare’s eventual subjugation by Microsoft and subsequent software output pretty much killed the company in the eyes of fans. For one major Rare fan site, however, the final nail was only recently hammered into the coffin. MundoRare, a fan community with a decade-long pedigree, has closed its doors after one last-ditch attempt to instill faith in Rare was shut down … by Rare itself....

BRAINS. Tonight we record the newest installment of ourRetro Limboseries, with a look at zombie games. They ate our neighbors, infected our friends and loved ones, and eventually made their way into our malls, at which point thingsreallygot awesome. It’s a special episode, being recorded for a couple of special reasons. Mostly because we love zombies. Love killing them, that is. There’s nothing quite as satisfying as driving a crudely sharpened object through the cranium of whoever happens to be passing by and totally getting away with it because they’re undead....

Heavy Weaponhas been available since the beginning of time. It was released in 2005, well before humans emerged as the dominant life form on Earth. In 2007, PopCap Games updatedHeavy Weapon, applied the subtitle “Atomic Tank,” and released it on Xbox LIVE Marketplace. It’s now 2009 and the updated version of the game has finally found a new home on PlayStation Network. You see? We get it.Heavy Weapon: Atomic Tankis old....

Licensedretailgames are bad enough, but nothing exemplifies “cheap crap” quite like Xbox Live Arcade. With lower expectations come far lower standards, and it’s so very easy to churn out a quick two-hour game based on the latest cartoon or movie without any remorse whatsoever. WithMadballs in Babo Invasion, I expected something equally cheap, rushed and bereft of entertainment. It’s quite surprising, then, thatMadballsis actually notthatbad. It’s certainly not brilliant, and nothing you could really keep playing forever....

I don’t think I have words to describe the majesty of the above footage. It comes from a cell phone game entitledRockin’ Stoneand not since Cassavetes’The Killing Of A Chinese Bookiehave I seen such a gleeful mineral formation. Apparently the stone (Skip) is on a quest to find his mate (Pebbie), a quest that, while cliché, leaves us all to wonder exactly how smooth stones “make babies.” I could see a jagged rock inserting its … y’know what?...

It’s time for your daily dose of PSP2 rumoring, with the latest details once again hyping the system’s power, as well as hinting at the most requested feature of all — twin analog sticks. The bit making headlines is the claim that the PSP2 is as powerful as a PS3, which hasalready been hinted atin the past. Sony is apparently coaxing licensees by billing the PSP successor as a “high-end portable equivalent” of the PlayStation 3....

The global economy is in the toilet as a result of the “financial tsunami,” and it seems like there’s never been a worse time to be working in the videogame industry. Companies are shrinkingleftandright, orshutting their doorsoutright, but EA seems to have had it particularly rough, what with their new IPsnot selling very well. At the end of October, theycut their staff by six percent, and in mid-November, they reportedlyclosed a “secret” division....

TheSAWvideogame is currently without a publisher. The information stems from a aBloody Disgustingsource, who stressed that the game was close to completion and voice-over work had already been started before the game was cut loose by Brash Entertainment. Last month, Brash reportedlygave the pink slip to 20 of its staffmembers and began to cash in on some of their licenses. One of the games axed was an unannouncedSupermantitle. Interestingly,SAWandSix Flags: Fun Parkwere two of the games the financially strapped publisher was supposed to keep....