To all the gaming dads of little girls. If you’ve just been hassled and pleaded with to get your daughter Hello Kitty Online, then you need to be warned that Littlest Pet Shop Online is just about to be launched in the UK. This browser-based game will attack your little one’s penchant for all things cute, collectable and sugary sweet. Details on a subscription model haven’t been clarified but I’m guessing that it’ll be free to play, and certain collectable in-game items will be available through cash transactions.

LPSO will also have a range of toys released by Hasbro in the next few months. If you’re offered overtime at work over the next couple of weeks then jump at it. That’s the online advice that I can give you.

Head to the LPSO site for more information. Hit the jump to see the full press release.

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Atari and Cryptic studios are celebrating the first birthday of Champions Online today and to celebrate, they’re opening a free one-week trial to those of us who aren’t already playing it. Not only that, but they’ve announced a 20% discount sale at their store where you can buy new gear for your avatar.

Hit the jump for the full story, or click here to get into the free trial.

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After initially delaying the launch on the 31st of August, Square Enix have announced that critical work that had to be carried out on the game is complete and that the open beta will be launched tomorrow, the 2nd September.

Hit the jump for the full press release or if you’re the impatient type, click here to sign up.

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Harmonix and MTV Games today confirmed the entire 83 song on-disc soundtrack for the highly anticipated Rock Band 3 music video game, including new tracks from Jimi Hendrix, Avenged Sevenfold, Paramore, The White Stripes, Jane’s Addiction, Phish, Anthrax, The Cure, Bob Marley, Def Leppard, Ozzy Osbourne, Dire Straits, The Smiths, Foreigner, Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Doors and many more. Rock Band 3 will be released Oct. 26 in North America and Oct. 29 in the rest of the world for the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, PlayStation 3 computer entertainment system, Nintendo Wii and Nintendo DS.

“The Rock Band 3 soundtrack represents the strongest, most diverse collection of music ever assembled for a video game,” said Paul DeGooyer, senior vice president of electronic games, music and programming for MTV Games. “The addition of keyboards and vocal harmonies to the Rock Band platform massively broadens the music selection available to our players. You haven’t sung Queen’s epic “Bohemian Rhapsody” unless you’ve sung the harmony parts – and you can’t do that unless you have Rock Band 3.”

Without further ado, here is the entire, jaw-dropping Rock Band 3 setlist: Read more »

-The history of Samus Aran and the Metroid franchise-

Years before the introduction of 3D gaming, the original action heroine was already ripping up the rule book and blasting her way into history. The Metroid series has given us over twenty years of girl power and the series has sold over 15 million games, thanks to its female bounty hunter star, Samus Aran.

In the mid-1980s, a young game designer called Shigeru Miyamoto was busy revolutionising the industry with Mario and a young adventurer named Link. But while he created these masterpieces, Yoshio Sakamoto and the legendary R&D1 team at Nintendo were working on one of the most ambitious projects ever seen.

Set in the depths of space their latest creation was the first real non-linear home console game as well as one of the most atmospheric titles the industry had ever seen. What’s more, R&D1 took the bold step of making the game’s main star female! In the years since the original title Samus has starred in a series of Metroid games as well as featuring in other well-known Nintendo titles like Super Smash Bros.

Samus Aran is not your usual helpless videogame heroine, nor is she a typical scantily-dressed female star. Our heroine is clad head to foot in a Power Suit, complete with helmet to disguise her identity. In fact, in the original title, Metroid, released on the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1986, players didn’t even realise Samus was female until the ending when she removes her helmet. In the latest titles this sense of mystery is maintained with only the slightest hints such as reflections of the character’s face in the helmet visor giving her identity away.

One of the things that have made the Metroid series so famous is the atmospheric nature of the games. Samus often finds herself alone on a hostile planet with no help aside from clues she gathers and items she manages to uncover. The original Metroid game gave players a sense of enormous foreboding and all its sequels have managed to capture a similar feeling as Samus battled against insurmountable odds.

Unlike first person shooters where players spend most of their time blasting waves of enemies, Metroid has a greater emphasis on adventure. There are vast, desolate areas to be explored and clues to be uncovered as well as intense firefights to be won.

The Metroid series takes its name from one of Samus’s main adversaries, a species of lethal jellyfish-like creatures called Metroids. These creatures feature in each game along with an army of hostile Space Pirates bent on using these lethal organisms to help them take over the universe.

Now, you should prepare yourself for a Metroid adventure like no other as stunning action, cinematic cut scenes and an enthrallingly personal story come together unforgettably in Metroid: Other M, launching across Europe for Wii on 3rd September 2010.

Samus Aran takes centre stage in this unprecedented collaboration, blending the slick, action-packed production of the Team NINJA development team with the game design talents of the original Metroid’s creators.

And for the first time in a Metroid game, you will seamlessly switch between third-person and first-person gameplay, exploring and fighting in third-person but able at any time to look through Samus’s eyes by simply pointing the Wii Remote at the screen.

With a host of new moves and weapons to be unleashed and a deep and engaging back story to the character, waiting to be uncovered, Metroid: Other M is the latest adventure for this seminal character. Amidst all the new features, however, the development team have not forgotten what makes Metroid games so immersive and memorable: atmosphere, exploration and a truly great story. In Metroid: Other M you’ll find yourself drawn into a deeply personal story that finally tells Samus’ own tale, revealing her failings, her flaws and ultimately her motivation for being a Bounty Hunter.

The story begins immediately following the events of Super Metroid, when a baby Metroid gave its life to protect Samus and with more than an hour and a half of beautifully rendered cut-scenes in total throughout the game, Metroid: Other M is not simply fun to play but also exciting to watch. This is a dramatic new direction for a legendary franchise and a bold new blend of cinematics, storytelling and stylish, no-holds-barred action. Charge up your Beam, arm your Bombs and get ready to scan your environment for a copy of Metroid: Other M when it launches across Europe for Wii on 3rd September 2010.

The Metroid story and timeline (in order of in-game timeline): Read more »

Announcing the winners of our £40 iTunes lottery and Starcraft competition!

This week Leon’s talking about Saints Row 2, Forza III, Earth defender: first Encounter, DoDonPachi Resurrection and more.

xib’s still madly in love with Starcraft II!

We also do our usual mailbag and talk about some gaming news.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

I mean really, this is just ridiculous. Those demigods at Valve are just showing off now. Check out these videos:

WUT!?!?

Unusually for a continent-hopping adventuress, Lara Croft has walked the safe path for a long time.

The Guardian of Light (the final installment of this year’s Summer of Arcade, released on 18^th August) marks her first appearance since 2008′s unremarkable Underworld, and her first outing under her own name.  Tomb Raider’s has always been a literal title, and the occasional diversions from the Howard Carter school of infiltrating and pilfering ancient labyrinths have often been seen as the points at which the series has gone awry.  Indeed, its most acclaimed recent entry has been Anniversary, a remake-cum-homage to the original game.

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So Shank’s out today on PSN and Xbox Live. Tasty 2D beat-em-up violent action for you to consume, rinse and completely forget about. Can you tell that I’m really excited about it? I mean really? Hit the jump for the press release and put it out of its misery, for God’s sake.

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Now look, I have no idea why I’m running this story. I’m kinda hoping that you – the reader – will have a glance at this article, chuckle and then move on. It’s not like I’m encouraging anyone to play it. Not unless you’re a Hello Kitty fan, of course.

Anyway, Hello Kitty Online has now been launched in the US, Canada and Europe. If you’re a paedophile then please, just stay the fuck away from it, eh? Buy a shotgun and make sure you get your whole head in front of the hole at the end of the barrel, then pop a couple of cartridges into your face. Leave the kids alone.

Hit the jump for the press release.

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