Every screen and trailer of the deliciously dark Alice: Madness Returns leaves me slightly giddy with anticipation, so when these gameplay videos hit, I was all over them like a fat kid on a doughnut.

With stunning aesthetics and a cute creepiness, these videos give an insight into how the game looks and performs, including a few examples of the game’s enemies and combat mechanics.

What do you think? Generic and predictable, or potentially a very interesting addition to your collection?

Alice: Madness Returns is published by EA and is scheduled for release on 14 June 2011 for the 360, PS3 and PC.

Source: TSA

Halo Waypoint have released information about a second batch for DLC for Halo Reach.

The new Defiant pack features three new maps – Condemned, Highlands and Unearthed – the latter of which will be Firefight ready, the former for competitive play. Here’s the lowdown on each area …

Condemned: Condemned takes place aboard Orbital Station Gamma, a massive space station high in orbit above the planet Reach. Prior to the Covenant?s overwhelming invasion, Orbital Station Gamma provided long range communications for UNSC fleets and a vital lifeline between Reach and Earth. During the Battle of Reach, the station suffered terrible punishment at the hands of the Covenant but a few fortified sections remain intact, fully pressurized, and ready for combat. Condemned supports 6-12 players in a variety of action-packed game types, including Team Slayer, Team Objective and Free for All.

Highlands: Highlands takes place on the top-secret Military Wilderness Training Preserve on Reach. The Preserve is a large, wooded area where Spartan super-soldiers trained long before the war with the Covenant began. During the Battle of Reach, the Preserve was the site of key battles between the alien invaders and a group of Spartans who used their familiarity with these UNSC training grounds to significant tactical advantage…but not everyone who enters these woods makes it out alive. Highlands expands the fight with massive-scale engagements for 8-16 players in Big Team Battle, Team Slayer and Team Objective.

Unearthed: Unearthed takes the battle for Reach to a large Titanium mine and refinery located in the Viery civilian sector of the planet. This particular mine was built to take advantage of the exposed titanium inside a massive meteor crater. The titanium produced here is used in much of the UNSC hardware, from the chassis of the Warthog to the meters-thick armor plating of capital ships like the UNSC Pillar of Autumn. While this facility was quickly abandoned when the Covenant arrived on Reach, it still has significant tactical (and economic) value and it won?t be long before both humans and Covenant return to battle for control. Unearthed allows up to 4 players to launch a counterassault against the Covenant in Firefight and Firefight modes such as Generator Defense.

And just in case that wall of text doesn’t interest you, here’s some moving pictures instead – enjoy!

The pack will cost you 800 MS points and is slated for release in March 2011, although when exactly in March has yet to be confirmed. Will you be buying it?

Source: Halo WayPoint and Kokatu

Hours of lost gaming progress resulting from b0rked consoles and a lax approach to backing-up your PS3 may soon be a thing of a past.

Kotaku are reporting that Sony have confirmed to developers that they intend to introduce “cloud” storage in the next firmware update. This means that rather than save everything to your cluttered hard drive players will be able to save remotely to a Sony server, freeing up your HD and keeping your data safe. Better yet, theoretically you’ll be able to pull down your data at any time and on any machine, enabling you to take your data with you if you play on another PS3.

Is there a catch? Well, kind of. Apparently, there’ll be an opt-out option for developers, so it’s possible that not all titles will feature the facility. Furthermore, at least initially cloud storage will only be available to PlayStation Plus subscribers, which means you’ll have to crack open your wallet.

Question is, how much are you prepared to pay to keep your data safe?

Source and picture credit: Kotaku

There was a time when the release of screens would send fan communities off into drooling, anally-retentive messes where they deconstruct environments, obsess over character clothing and complain that the second L in the logo isn’t as frightening as the first.

PREPARE YOURSELF, INTERNET. THIS IS ONE OF THOSE TIMES.

Konami have released a buttload of new screens of the upcoming Silent Hill Downpour, the latest installment of it’s established survival horror series, Silent Hill. These come hot on the heels of the confirmation of the game’s title and are the very first screens released outside of the Game Informer exclusive.

And as a veteran of the series (and a dedicated fan with seemingly too much time on her hands) I have to say … it looks good, people …

Check out all the screens on the other side of the jump.

How do they look to you? Room for improvement, or exactly what you’re looking for? Any surprises sitting in the images?

Source: Konami

Another year, another record-breaking total at awesome gaming charity, Child’s Play.

Child’s Play is a community-based gaming charity that provides toys, books and – naturally – games for sick children all across the world. Since 2003 the charity has raise a staggering seven million dollars in donations of cash and gifts for children, and it wanted 2010 to be the biggest and best year yet as it expanded across over 70 partner hospitals right across the globe.

They got their wish. The charity has now confirmed that throughout 2010 it raised an incredible $2,294,317. Put that with the donations over previous years and that means nearly $9 million has been raised to help sick children the world over. Not too shabby, eh?

“Just because we’ve surpassed our goal this year doesn’t mean we’re going to slow down, in fact we are planning to expand so we can help even more children next year,” said the charity’s Foundation Co-ordinator Kristin Lindsay. “The main focus of the charity is to donate gifts to sick children in hospitals around the world – including the UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Egypt as well as the US.”

Source: GamesIndustry.biz

And we finally have a date. Well. Ish.

Following rumours and speculation abound, 1Up are reporting that – according to today’s Asahi Shimbun newspaper – we’ll be seeing the PlayStation phone as early as spring 2011 across Europe and North America.

Whilst there were no new (or confirming) images, the paper confirms reports that the phone will run on the Android OS and be based upon the PSP Go design (ugh).

Sony have still yet to confirm or deny the reports. However, with rumours that just won’t go away, I’m inclined to agree with 1Up and their suggestion that it’s now a “matter of ‘when’ not ‘if’” Sony confirm the news …

Source: 1up.com

I wouldn’t mind all the trailers they keep releasing if I didn’t know that I still had a month to wait. Right now, it’s nothing but slow water torture – torture that’s further compounded by the fact I had to check, like, 900394 times that I spelled excavations correctly …

According to EA’s Youtube page, this new video “introduces you to the story, conflicts and Universe of Dead Space.” Although aimed at bringing newcomers right up to speed with the history to the Dead Space universe, there’s also a host of treats for seasoned fans, including “familiar faces and voices, easter eggs and some never before seen sights!”

Just in case you live under a rock, the demo for Dead Space 2 is out now. What do you think of it so far?

In a wonderfully frank exchange, lesbian, gay, bi and transgender employees of EA give an honest and often incredibly moving stories of their lives, from everything from school to bullying to coming out to loved ones. It’s a fantastic video and – given how desperately homophobic many facets of the gaming community are – genuinely needed, wanted and appreciated. (And for an idea of what I mean about mindless homophobia, just cast your eyes down some of the comments on YouTube – even the huge list of comments already removed due to inflammatory content is indication enough.)

For those who don’t know, It Gets Better is a project that aims to show LGBT youth “what their lives might be like as openly gay adults”. Whilst many young people are bullied and harassed growing up, this is especially true for LGBT kids and teens forced to conceal their sexuality for fear of persecution. Without other openly gay adults and mentors in their lives, they can’t imagine what their future may hold; It Gets Better aims to address this by showing them “what future may hold in store for them”.

No, of course EA don’t always get it right. The industry is rife with stories of poor customer care and, occasionally, the poor treatment of their staff. But that in no way should diminish this important and desperately needed message. Surely this YT comment says it all?

Almost 9 years at EA…watching this is one of my ‘most proud of EA’ moments. Proud of our company and each of you for the heartfelt messages of hope. I only wish my younger gay brother who took his life four years ago had seen this and many like it. God bless.

For more information, or to pledge your support, please visit It Gets Better.

Here’s hoping you weren’t holding you breath for the latest installment of the Deus Ex franchise. Square Enix have today announced that DE: Human Revolution is to be delayed until at least Q2 2011.

“We have decided to spend additional time to further polish our upcoming game, Deux Ex: Human Revolution, resulting in a shift in release timing from our prior plan of the current fiscal year to next fiscal year,” the company said in a press release today.

The news comes on the back of news that – as a result of poor sales and customer satisfaction – the company has revised it’s end-of-year forecast to predict a jaw-dropping 92% fall in profits.

A statement read: “with weak sales performance of console game titles that have been newly released during the current fiscal year as well as harsh market feedback regarding a key title, the Group recognises the reinforcement of development capability in our Digital Entertainment segment as our most critical managerial issue.”

“Additionally, since recognizing that our Final Fantasy XIV service has not yet achieved the level of customer satisfaction that fans of our Final Fantasy franchise have come to expect, we have restructured the development organization and will continue the free trial period until we can present customers with a clear plan outlining Final Fantasy XIV’s new direction.”

“Furthermore, we have decided to delay the release of Final Fantasy XIV for the PlayStation 3 computer entertainment system, previously planned for early March 2011, in order to include all of the improvements we are planning rather than simply converting the current Windows PC version.”

[Gamesindustry.biz]

“I love video games. I enjoy saying that because half the room are looking at you and going, ‘ah Jesus, you’re 38′. You’re not supposed to like video games – it’s the largest entertainment industry IN THE WORLD – and we’re supposed to not enjoy it. This is one of the weirdest things for me of all. I am a gamer and I’m very proud to be a gamer.”

I think this is the best ten minutes of mainstream comedy I’ve seen in awhile. Not only it is a smart, honest account of gaming – and the non-gamer’s perspective thereof – but it’s also bloody funny, too.

But enough of my rhetoric. just watch the thing and feel slightly better about the fact that you too probably arse about with your crouch button … (Don’t even try to deny it).

Uh, sorry in advance about the Wii-bashing, Mr. F …

[Eurogamer]