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Talk about spoilt for choice. Microsoft is playing to win this Christmas, with a huge advertising campaign aimed atcopying Nintendo’s successbringing in brand new gamers. To capitalize on its huge promotion, Microsoft will soon be assaulting Europe with not one, not two, butEIGHT different bundles. This certainly will give 360-lacking gamers plenty to pick from, but will it confuse thecasualnew gamers that Microsoft is hoping to attract? So much choice can be alienating at times, which is something I’d wish both Microsoft and Sony would learn....

Facebook’s new policy to disallow Apps from sending notifications has had a significant effect on the social network’s gaming arena, according to new figures gathered by Gamasutra. In just four weeks since the rule went into affect, there has been a sharp decrease in Facebook gamers. The figures show thatFarmvillehas suffered a loss of 4.4 million players since the notification ban. In fact, 18 of the top 25 Facebooks have lost players, with 12 of them losing at least a million....

Way back in January,we heardthat Danish developer Deadline Games had putFaith and a .45, its Bonny and Clide styled shooter set in the Great Depression, on hold because a publisher could not be found. It seems that was a portent of things to come, as Deadline has nowfiled for bankruptcy. Yes, in a case of situational irony, a developer making a game about a depression can no longer make the game due to a depression....

And before you ask, “duodecim” is “twelve” in Latin. Scans from ever-leaky Japanese game magazines confirm that at least two new characters will be making it into the lineup:Final Fantasy IV‘s Kain and (unsurprisingly)Final Fantasy XIII‘s Lightning. But what does “duodecim” mean for the game? I’m hoping that it doesn’t allude to the character roster, which in the first game ran totwenty-two(“viginti et duo”) once you countedFinal Fantasy XII‘s Gabranth andFinal Fantasy XI‘s Shantotto....

Courtesy ofNeoGAF poster Blimblimwho “Just got these from Ubisoft”, we bring you a gallery of five new screens from the upcoming current PS3 exclusiveHaze. Based on the pics, it’s quite obvious that the game looks good, but after so many recent, stunning FPS titles, I’m thinking the game is going to need a bit more to set it apart. I like theNectarangle that essentially has you playing the role of a high-strung junkie with a gun, but can that really compete with a fist full of lightning or a gun that creates intra-dimensional portals?...

Here’s a great game to play if you feel like destroying the screen on your iPhone. Who needs it anyway, right? Toaster Kunis a game of endurance where you have to tap the screen with as many fingers as possible, for as long as possible. Pretty simple to the point of barely being a game, but it has loads of desu desu pictures and music, so some people will love it for no good reason....

Apologies for the lateness of the results, but this has beenone bitch of a contestto judge. The competition has been surprisingly stiff, with some of you guys going above and beyond the call of duty and dignity in an attempt to win an Xbox 360. After much deliberation, I believeWake Up Sammydeserves the grand prize. He scores points for the quality of the costume and the depths to which he sunk in order to get a laugh....

WiiWare, the Wii’s channel for original downloadable games, will officially launch in North America on May 12th, according to all around awesome guy N’Gai Croal over at Newsweek’sLevel Up. This is very exciting for people (like me!) who are very much looking forward to the creativity and overall retro feel most seemingly simple downloadable games have to offer. With the continued success of the Wii, a lot of smaller, independent publishers will have the opportunity to have their games seen by millions of people around the world....

Screw Barbarians — wizards can roll hard, too. This afternoon I played a peculiar action adventure title calledMagicka. In brief, it’s a ranged-heavy twist onDiablo. You play as one of four multi-colored wizards, each with the ability to cast and combine a diverse amount elemental spells via a quick-snap radial menu. For example, you can combine a lone Water and a Lightning element to make a super nasty electrical attack or couple a Water and Fire for a steam attack....

Nippon Ichi isn’t done punishing you.Prinny: Can I Really Be The Hero?was a ball buster, and now a sequel is coming. As far as details go, there isn’t much. An article onDengekiabout the Japanese re-release of the original title at a new price (2,079 yen, or about $22) as a The Best Price title, and as a PlayStation Network download (1,500 yen, November 26th) dropped the news. Really, all we have is a logo for the sequel, seen above....

If you’ve been waiting to buyVampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlinesand wanted to see what all the fuss is about, but not for $20, then here’s your chance. Steam is currently holding a 75% offweekend salethat is running until 10 a.m. PDT on Monday, August 1st, making the game a mere $4.99/€4.99/£3.74. While you’re at it, you might want to grab the latestfan patchthat fixes a million bugs and read up on one of ourpromoted blogs, which delves into what madeBloodlinessuch a great game without going into spoiler terroritory....

Nuzzled deep in the inconsequential city of Millbrae, CA, EA hosted a hands-on trial of their much anticipated co-op gameArmy of Twoat the Bay Area Paintball facilities. Press was greeted at the door with an onslaught of high-sugared delicacies and caffeinated beverages to effectively rev us up for play, and an ambitious few opted for a few bouts of press-on-press paintball.With an ambiance that resembled a middle school birthday party, I cozied up to play the game alongside Gametap’sJared Rea; he assuming the role of the character Rios (as he dances on the sand) while I opted for the sexier soldier of the two, Salem....

Today, Xbox LIVE Arcade isn’t getting one new game — it’s technically getting four.Hasbro Family Game Nightis merely a game launcher so to speak. It’s a hub that allows you to playScrabble,Connect 4,Battleship, andYahtzee, all of which launched today and run for 800 Microsoft Points a piece. It’s somewhat hard to make out, but if you look close enough at the image above, you’ll noticeSorry!,Boggle, andSorry! Sliders. Those are being released “in the coming months,” so settle down there, Sherlock Jr....