Developer Blazing Lizard has hadPirates vs. Ninjas Dodgeballcooking for a while, and has cleverly exploited the Internet’s memetic fascination with pirates and ninja to ensure that the game would get at least glancing coverage at regular intervals. Internet memes can only get a game so far (just look at Jeff Minter,) and now that this Gamecock-published title is available on Xbox Live Arcade, we can judge for ourselves if there is a solid game backing up the pop culture pandering....

As some of you know, Colette and I have been on vacation this week. We apologize that we haven’t been able to update much, but we have been drunk almost constantly since Wednesday. Updates will start flowing again come next Wednesday, but until then, you’ll just have to do without us. To tide you over, I’d like to share with you a story about a trip to the zoo we took yesterday afternoon....

Need to tasteDivinity IIbefore smashing a fat wad of bills and coins on a messy GameStop counter? DTP Entertainment has you covered. This morning, a demo for the upcoming RPG appeared on Xbox LIVE Marketplace. We’re not sure what’s in the over 1GB demo, but we’re in the process of finding out and plan to bring you video coverage later this afternoon. Major Nelson’sblog postabout the demo’s arrival doesn’t provide much information, but it does hit ye’ old heart pumps in a beautiful way....

Okay, okay, it’s quite obvious thatDragon Quest Monstersis an amalgam of thePokémonandDragonQuest universes but based on the above clip and how utterly difficult it would be for Squenix to screw up what is essentially a copy/paste job of the two gameplay styles, we’ve got high hopes for the title. Plus, since the above trailer is so stylish, we almost want to put on form-fitting nylon jackets and a ton of pomade while watching it....

RejoiceDragon Questfans, for we finally have more information onDQ Swordsfor the Wii. Up until now, not much was known about the game at all, but Adam Riley over atCubed³managed to get his paws on an early version of the game. Read on to see what he had to say about it. The game itself is a self-contained, on-rails adventure. The main character cannot deviate from the path set ahead, other than to head backwards from whence you came, alternating directions by use of the ‘A’ and ‘B’ buttons on the Wii controller (which, by the way, was the control option in the demo version shown, although whether the nunchuk has now been implemented is unknown at this time)....

Last week was insane,especially yesterday. The Destructoid (the show) was pretty nuts as well. We started giving away a bunch of rareSuper Meat Boy,Super Mario, andBit.Tripstuff, we reviewed Kinect and its launch games, there’s a clip of zombie mode inCall of Duty Black Ops, Tara openly mocked a Microsoft big wig, Carnage got drunk, and so much more. Did you miss any of that? Well, I got you covered. All of last week’s episodes are right down there in “the full story”....

The gaming world threw out a collective “WTF” when they first heard the news of Nintendo and Sega mascots Mario and Sonic teaming up for a new Olympic-themed game. The pairing alone blew plenty of minds, and some didn’t even believe it until they saw a trailer. At E3 we were able to give you ourimpressions, and Hamza brought us ateaser hands-on,but now we’ve had a chance to get some quality time with the title at the E for All Expo....

[Editor’s Note: We’re not just a (rad) news site — we also publish opinions/editorials from our community & employees like this one, though be aware that it may not jive with the opinions of Destructoid as a whole, or how our moms raised us. Want to post your own article in response? Publish it now on ourcommunity blogs.] Four years have passed since the start of the current generation of consoles and with time the predictions made by industry analysts, journalists and experts based on old obsolete beliefs have been disproved time and time again....

With our coverage of the biggest and brightest PlayStation 3 games, you probably thought we all forgot about the exciting new PlayStation Network titles that were shown at Sony’s E3 08press conference. Well sir, we did not. First up isFat Princess, DarkStar Industries’ team-based arcade game. It’s your task to rescue the princess from the enemy dungeon. Sounds simple enough, right? Wrong! Your foes have overfed the princess in an attempt to make your mission that much harder....

I love the fact that the Entertainment Software Association gets together every year to organize and fund what really amounts to a giant, industry-wide case ofblue balls. Take, for example, this footage ofFinal Fantasy XIIIfor the Xbox 360, captured yesterday during Microsoft’s press conference. Without getting into any PlayStation 3 vs. Xbox 360 shenanigans, it looks awesome. But that doesn’t change the fact that I’ll have to wait at least a year to actually play the damned thing:as Colette announced yesterday,FFXIIIwill hit North America in the spring of next year....

Well, here we go: Kojima’s new project isMetal Gear Solid: Rising, which will featuring Raiden as the main character. With the tagline of “Lightning Bolt Action,” we now have the start of the Metal Gear franchise on the Xbox 360. That’s all the word Kojima had to say as he came onto the stage to speak to the Microsoft panel crowd. So,no, it’s notMetal Gear Solid 4on the Xbox 360. [Update: Press release after the jump....

When EA Sports president Peter Moore presentedEA Sports MMAat EA’s E3 press briefing yesterday, he focused on the global nature of mixed martial arts. This trailer does the same thing, taking you around the world to faraway places such as Brazil and Japan. Beating the crap out of each other is a universal part of the human condition, apparently — everyone speaks the language of punches and kicks. Even the game’scoverunderscores the international-ness of the sport — it features Randy Couture (an American) and Russia’s Fedor Emelianenko....

I did not realize at the time how many games based on television shows I saw at this week’s E3. I probably only scratched the surface, for that matter, but it seems like a lot.Deadliest Catch: Sea of Chaosis another such game. The television show, which I’m really only aware of through hearsay and passing glances, it’s about fishing for crabs, right? That’s what the upcoming game is all about. Crab fishing....