I kinda feel bad for Midway. They just can't get a break. After getting a US$ 33M bid from Warner last month, here comes another lawsuit that could make the Warner deal fall through.

Like the endless horde that countless movies portray them as, zombies have seen a resurgence in gaming, the most recent one being XomB (pronounced "zombie") from 3G Studios. Set in a re-imagined version of feudal Asia and drawing heavily from Asian mythology, XomB has the player fighting against a sweeping darkness that's forcibly corrupting the landscape and reanimating the dead.

Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology 2 and Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time (Wii, DS) came out in Japan two weeks ago, so it'd be interesting to know how those games fared on their first week. Let's take a little trip to Japan and see how the Japanese gamers are spending their gaming cash, shall we?

Who you gonna call? And when are you going to call them? That's June 16, folks. That's when you get to roast the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man. I don't know why I have a fixation on Stay Puft, but I'm buying Ghostbusters just for him.

Let's talk about mythology for a while and no, this is not going to be a lecture similar to the ones you get in your Literature classes. Let's talk about gods and goddesses in relation to video games and the World Wrestling Federation (WWE).

The full article awaits after the jump!

Admit it, playing as a pansy would suck even if it was the best video game ever made. That isn't to say having some random well-built guy with a deep voice on screen is enough to make a game fun. In fact, we've seen so many pitiful attempts of trying to make "cool" characters that it's not even funny anymore.

Fortunately, there's a handful of really manly video game dudes out there that aren't just made of testosterone and big muscles - they also have the history, personality, and attitude to be considered men among men. In this list are the most epic piles of manly turned video game characters. Are you man enough to take it?


10. Ryo Hazuki - Being manly doesn't mean you have to be some barbaric dude with an axe and a loud voice. As they say, the deep waters are more silent. Ryo Hazuki sounds and acts like your typical quiet guy, but fans of Shenmue know what lies beneath. He's not a womanizer or a jock. In fact, he ditched his cute lover, plays with kittens, and drives forklifts. What makes him so manly, then?

Even while facing potentially the strongest organized crime group in China, Ryo is deadset on facing Chiyoumen's leader, Lan Di, to avenge his father. Just like a man with strong convictions, this guy fresh out of high school has left worldy matters behind to do whatever it takes just to get closer to the fiend that killed his dad.

Click on for the rest of list, in which we ooze machismo and hose the decks down with testosterone. RAWR!

Video game developer and publisher Namco Bandai has revealed a list of the games that it will be showcasing during this year's E3. The company currently has five titles in store for the Xbox 360, two for the PS3 and three each for the Wii, PSP, DS and PS2. Here's a list of the games:

• Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation
• Beautiful Katamari
• Culdcept SAGA
• Digimon World: Dawn
• Digimon World: Dusk
• Dynasty Warriors Gundam
• Eternal Sonata
• .hack//G.U. Vol. 3
• Namco Museum DS
• Namco Museum Remix
• Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Heroes
• Naruto: Uzumaki Chronicles 2
• Smash Court Tennis 3
• Soul Calibur Legends
• Space Station Tycoon
• Tale of the World: Radiant Mythology
• Time Crisis 4

Of the titles listed above, only Culdcept SAGA is scheduled for release in Q1 2008. All of the other games are slated for fiscal 2007 releases. This year's E3 will be taking place in Santa Monica, California next week.

If you ever want to recount "Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children" scenes, particularly Cloud's amazing launch into the air by his teammates you can do this more realistically with a paper model of Bahamut created by Ron at the Bahamut Blog.

Bahamut is one of the strongest summons available in Square Enix's Final Fantasy games. It's mega-flare attacks damages all enemies in a battlefield. In FF VII he came in three progressively more powerful forms: Bahamut with Mega-Flare, Neo-Bahamut with Giga-Flare, and Bahamut-ZERO with Tera-Flare. But did you know that Bahamut is not only a fictional figure in games, but also in Arabian mythology?

In the Moslem traditions, Bahamut is a monstrous fish that floats in a vast ocean. A bull rides its back, and on the bull is a mountain. There is an angel on the mountain over which are six hells, then the earth, then seven heavens. Bahamut may have been the origin for behemoth, which was mentioned in the Bible. In Jewish, behemoth means "beast".

Bahamut may be a fierce monster in the mythologies and a pesky enemy in "FFVII: Advent Children", but the author thinks it's quite cute. What about Bahamut plushies?

The rest of the images awaits after the jump!

Hexen: Beyond Heretic first haunted gamers back in 1995. It was an FPS game that features mythology-derived creatures and a trio-demon brothers known as the Serpent Riders. Actually, it was first ported to the DS August of last year. Rather in time for Halloween, developers Rich Whitehouse and Sektor update this hair-raising homebrew to v0.25.7z.

According to Sektor's site, much of the hard work was done by Rich and his participation includes adding support for more devices and modified the controls. While sound and touchscreen functions are now supported, the save game option still doesn't work. Saves are written to /data/hexen/ and trying to load them will result to error that reads: "Corrupt save game: Segment [108] failed alignment check."

Sektor added that the game needs the retail of hexen.wad and that it uses Chishm's libfat to read it. Accordingly, libfat is compatible with MK2/3, GBAMPCF, M3CF, M3SD, SCCF, SCSD and NinjaDS. Those who own a G6, EZ4Lite or a 256mbit flashcart will be needing the GBFS version (requires the .wad file to be attached to the .nds).

Another new feature is the special DS menu that allows for changing the gamma and other things such as level warp and cheat codes. Controls of HexenDS v0.25.7z are as follows:

• dpad to turn and move
• touch screen to look around
• A button fires
• Y button jumps
• L button cycles through inventory
• R button cycles through weapons
• X button uses objects (doors, switches)
• X button + dpad to strafe
• B button uses the selected inventory item
• Select brings up the menu and exits out of it (acts as escape)
• Start selects menu items, or toggles the automap when not in a menu
• X+Up/Down on dpad flies up/down while in fly mode

Download: [HexenDS v0.25.7z]

Inspired by Polynesian mythology, Bionicle Heroes brings to life the most powerful and exciting LEGO characters ever seen in one game. Players assume the role of a young hero as he steps out of the real world and into the Bionicle Universe. Only when you are able to master the powers and abilities of the greatest Bionicle heroes will you be able to overcome the many challenges that litter your path.

Bionicle heroes is being developed by TT Games, the team behind the success of LEGO Star Wars: The Video Game. The DS version of Bionicle Heroes is slated release in the US on November 7, 2006, while those in the UK will see it out in stores on September 30, 2006. As fans eagerly await those dates, take a gander at these screens to wet your appetite.