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Out of the ashes of the now defunct Bizarre Creations rises the North West England-based studio Hogrocket. The tiny studio consists of three former Bizarre Creations folks: Peter Collier, Ben Ward, and Stephen Cakebread. While they’re all talented in their own rights, focus here on Cakebread: he createdGeometry Wars. (Also, his last name is a combination of two things that are awesome.) The studio says it will be focusing on creating “high-quality games across multiple platforms, initially targeting iPhone/iPad, PC, and Mac....

The list of stuff you’re able to herd (or flock) in the PC version ofFLOCK!grew today with the release of a seasonal update. The additional content adds six more campaign maps, a gigantic carrot, herd-able rabbits, and tweaks to the level editor. All of this is available for the fair price of, uh, free. If you purchasedFLOCK!via Steam, the update should automatically download. Those who still haven’t figured out that Valve’s digital distribution service is the best on the Internet can manually download the patch fromthis location....

Well, there were two highly anticipated game releases this week:Killzone 3andBulletstorm. That means lots of opportunities for Friday Night Fight games! First, we haveKillzone 3. Not only did the game get aperfect scorefrom Jim Sterling, due in large part to its multiplayer, but we also have a hilariously awesomeunboxing videofor you to watch. Second,Bulletstormis a game that has had much controversy even before its release. Max Scoville did not shy away from how he felt about the game, which featuresinterestingly namedskill shots and tons of violent ways to score points....

You know it’s a slow month when I’m sitting here talking about games likeRogue Warrior.Worse yet, I plan on talking aboutAvatar: The Gamefor next week’s post. Why? Excluding any smaller digital games that could potentially come out of nowhere, this is pretty much all we’re left with for the rest of the year. Multiplayer-wise, of course.The Saboteuris looking good but it is a single-player-only affair, sadly. Thanks for pushing everything back to the early months of 2010, guys....

Last weekwe finished the first round of our best gaming heroine debate brackets by arguing over the women fromFinal Fantasy VII. Here were the results: That leavesSamus,Jade,Jill, and Tifa left in the competition. Since I’mwatchingResident Evil: Apocalypseon Ventrilo right now (it’s terrrrrible), and since Jill and Tifa both only let their opponenets get 31 votes, that’s who will be competing this week to start off round two —Final Fantasy VII‘s Tifa versusResident Evil‘s Jill....

Last weekwe witnessed two of the most played Sega Genesis games go toe-to-toe on the court, and the battle spilled into overtime before a clear winner was decided. Right from the start,NBA Jamtook a monstrous lead, butAladdinjust as quickly tied the game back up, only to fall far behind once again by half-time. Just as I thought the debate was over,Aladdinrallied with a wall of votes and tied things up to force the game into overtime....

With the NPD results rolling in, it’s been made clear that things are not all roses and gumdrop rainbows in the land of videogames, with the industry seeing afourth consecutive monthof decline. Hardware, software and accessory revenues are down$1.17 billionfrom June, seeing a 31% downturn. A slump this bad hasn’t been seen since September 2000. I’m not going to blame ridiculous over-saturation of the market during an overall economic downturn, but now would be a good time to push that particular point....

The full name of the talk was “Tripping the art fantastic: A beginner’s guide to the brains of these here artists”. It featured Edmund McMillen (Super Meat Boy), David Hellman (Braid) and Derek Yu (Spelunky). As a fan of all three and an artist, you couldn’t drag me away from such a panel! These three talented fellows willingly had their brains picked in front of a live audience. There was laughter, tears, drawings of boobs and artistic wizardry abound....

Wow … I don’t think I’ve seen a developer bequiteso forthright in his willingness to admit that one version of a game is better than another, but Gearbox’s Randy Pitchford haslaid his cards on the table, stating that the PC version ofBorderlands“destroys” console versions, at least with the right hardware. “The PC version destroys all the console versions in terms of the image fidelity — assuming you have the hardware for it,” explains Pitchford....

George “Geohot” Hotz has become something of a celebrity for his part in the cracking and distribution of thePlayStation 3’s security code. Thanks to him, many hackers have torn their PS3s apart, and not all of them have done so withnoble goals. Hotz, however, accepts no responsibility for nefarious activities in online games. He did, however, seem to back up Sony’s decision to ban cheaters from the PlayStation Network. Either that, or he backs the cheaters themselves....

If you missed your chance to pick upSneakKingalong with your Triple Whopper with cheese, fret not. Burger King is offering up all three of their classic titlesonline at their BK Store, for $3.99 a pop. They’re also offering the “BK® Games 3-Pack” which contains all three games for an extremely reasonable $10.99. With great deals like this, it’s amazing that anyone is willing to blow $59.99 on Xbox 360 games likeCrackdown,when they can cart Brooke Burke around on a pocketbike for less than a fiver....

Today isn’t a bad day to hit the virtual streets of Sony’s PlayStationHome. At some point this afternoon Electronic Arts will open itsGodfather IIspace, complete with mobster furnishings and interactive Poker tables. You won’t be able to earn real money at the tables, however Sony is planning something to sweeten the new addition: tonight, you may have the opportunity to rob acelebrityof his digital coin. According to theofficial PlayStation blog, a Celebrity Poker tournament will be held in the space at 8:00 P....

Big thanks to everyone that was able to make it out. I think it’s safe to say that we’ll definitely be doing this again next year. I’d say more about the party, but pictures say a thousand words and the gallery below has over 100 photos for you to check out. Plus, most of the night was a blur to me … How did a Dtoid sticker geton my crotch?!...