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Alan Wakehas been a long time coming. Back in 2005, we were shown a game featuring a guy who looked like Johnny Depp in the filmSecret Window. Which would make sense — both are both about male writers dealing with writer’s block, and its effect on how they deal with the important events in their lives. But after years of development,Alan Wake, is finally nearing release. The game is basically done, actually, with only some minor tweaking left to ensure the experience is perfect....

In this latest trailer for EA Maxis’The Sims 3, viewers will get acquainted with a bit of the personality involved in the game. Instead of the happy-go-lucky Sims we’re so used to watching (and taking to the restroom every five minutes), it appears as if Maxis is trying to appeal to our evil side. The side that removes doors and replaces them with a walls so the Sim slowly starves and wets itself to death....

EA Black Box’sSkate 2hits the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 sooner rather than later — January 21 to be exact. It looks like a demo for the game is coming even sooner, at least on the Xbox LIVE Marketplace. According to an official Xbox “Download and Win”contest page, a demo is on its way, if the words “Skate 2 Demo Download & Win Sweepstakes” are any indication. And as far as I’m concerned, that’s a pretty damned good indication....

Boom, handheld headshot! Slant Six and Sony released a teaser trailer forSOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Fireteam Bravo 3yesterday. It doesn’t mess with intrigue or address any of the plot elements we received word on a few days prior. Instead, it focuses on the bullet-to-the-brain kind of stuff that mostSOCOMplayers crave. It’s probably better for it.Bravo 3is visually impressive, so the action elements displayed for us actually carry weight. I wish I could have seen more of the squad and how you’ll maneuver them, but I guess I’m a dreamer....

Nintendoll, come on down!! While ourSpider-Man 2: Web of Shadowsswag contestwas one hardest we’ve had to judge in ages, the picture above pretty much summarized everything we could have possibly dreamed of when it came to a comedic representation of Spider-Man … and then some! We’ll get that swag to you in the mail asap, Nintendoll! Thanks to everyone for participating in the contest and keep an eye on the homepage for some new ones very soon, as we can’t stand to live in an office packed full of cool sh*t, so we feel the burning need to give it all away to you, dear readers....

Microsoft has just announced thatStar Wars: The Force Unleashedis now available in demo form. The demo has already won praise over atPenny Arcadefor its incredible physics and ability to turn everything into a playground of death, so make sure to try it out. I’ve been told there is some “unique” ending to the demo as well. Intrigue! This is definitely one of the year’s must-have titles for me, so I’m going to stop talking to youarseheadsright now and go download it....

Here’s a new trailer forChild of Eden, Tetsuya Mizuguchi’s motion controlled eyeshagger that is being used to prove that Kinect is for everybody. If you’re expecting trippy visuals and killer music — as befitting a game from the man who madeRez —then you won’t be disappointed. There’s no denying thatChild of Edenis an audiovisual treat and it certainly retains the “lol you should play it after smoking the drugz lol” feel of the classic Dreamcast/PS2 shooter....

Midway has released a handful of new screenshots for their upcoming wrestling title,TNA iMPACT!, and they’re looking pretty slick. Literally. Look how much these dudes are sweating, for cryin’ out loud. Truth be told, the Unreal Engine 3.0 powered game does look pretty damned good, but this good? Ihad a chance to playan early version of the game last October, and even though it wasn’t close to being complete, the game’s arcade-style action definitely caught my attention....

For this week only, developer Telltale Games is offering the full season of itsTales of Monkey Islandseries andSecret ofMonkey Island: Special Editionfor 20 bucks. Why both games — the latter developed internally by LucasArts courtesy of CEO Darell Rodriguez’s embracing of older IPs — are being bundled is anyone’s guess. We’re willing to assume that it’s to give newer folks to the near two-decade old series a glimpse of the new beginning and hook them into Telltale’s five-part episodic series — and then perhaps make them interested in the upcoming release ofMonkey Island Special Edition 2: LeChuck’s Revenge....

Thanks to episodic gaming, we rarely have to wait for a sequel. Such is the case withSam & Max: The Devil’s Playhouse. The series is slated to pick up again “in just a few short weeks” with the release of the second episode: the “Tomb of Sammum-Mak.” Creator Telltale Games released just a bit more information about the game earlier last week, confirming more psychic powers are on the way for Max, and promising “peculiar foes” and a “journey” on a train called the “Disorient Express....

Despite delays, the marketing people at Remedy Entertainment and Microsoft have been pretty good about releasing in-game images ofAlan Wake. Tons of oft-delayed titles rarely get this sort of treatment. With most games inWake’sposition, we get the singular “hey, this thing is still happening,” screen or theDuke Nukem Forever2×2 pixel. ButWakeis noDead Rising 2orDNF. The stuff below proves that. Microsoft released these babes for TGS 09. All of them feature a stoic Alan Wake doing something in the dark — stuff like looking backwards, evading a car, and even diving away froma helicopter....

If you know anything about Japan’s gaming culture, you may already know that giant billboards advertising upcoming releases are commonplace to them, but considering that the first time I saw aFinal Fantasyad on the side of a building was during this year’s E3, they’re still kind of a novelty to me. As we walked around the streets of Shinjuku this morning, I made a point of taking photos of all the game ads I saw (even as the natives stared at me and wondered why I was doing so)....

[For last week’s Bloggers Wanted, I asked you to tell me your reactions to the announcements made at Tokyo Game Show. Time Glitch is first up for promotion, and he has quite a bit to say about the Vita. If you’re interested in seeing your own work on the front page next week, write something aboutour current topic: Obscurity. — JRo] It’s no secret: anybody that knows me knows that I don’t enjoy many Japanese games....