The Nintendo 3DS has been on the market for quite some time receiving positive reception pretty much across the board. Quite obviously, the biggest selling point of the console is the fact that it features a glasses-free 3D display and a 3D camera. However, while this is certainly enough to lure people in, it’s going to be up to the game library to keep those people around.

As of now, the Nintendo 3DS definitely has some great games but hard hitting franchise like Zelda, Mario, Kirby and more have yet to make the jump. While we’ve known for quite some time that an Ocarina of Time remake would be making its way to the 3DS at some point in the near future, we haven’t heard of an official release date for a Mario 3DS title.

Luckily, Shigeru Miyamoto himself recently commented to Gamesblog.fr regarding the release date of Super Mario 3DS saying the following:

“I promise to do all I can to deliver the new Mario game this year.”

So, while that does not officially confirm that the game will be out this year, it’s nice to at least know the folks over at Nintendo are doing everything they can to get it out of the door.

It seems that just about every new game that hits the streets features multiplayer functionality of some sort many times being online multiplayer. This, of course, is no problem as the Xbox 360 and PS3, for example, have Xbox Live and PlayStation Network. Both of these services feature their respective pros and cons and allow gamers to play games against one another, download content and much more. However, the major difference is that the PlayStation Network is free and Xbox Live requires a monthly subscription.

Luckily, if you’re looking to get down on Xbox Live but don’t want to pay a dime this weekend will be your calling. The reason I say this is because Microsoft will be giving free access to Xbox Live all weekend starting now and running until Monday. The reason they are doing this is because they are attempting to set a world record with Kinect Sports that is to see the most people simultaneously running a virtual 100m dash.

While it seems to be quite the feat, is there even a previous record? Check out more details regarding the world record attempt here.

Big time developers and publishers are having a tough time competing with the emerging smaller devs that exclusively work on iPhone games. Because when your competitor offers a $0.99 cent game on iPhone that’s of decent quality, it’s a lot harder to sell a game for 60 bucks to the same audience, and gamers are now expecting cheaper and cheaper games, something AAA titles simply cannot offer.

Epic games knows this, as Epic president Mike Capps said in an interview with GamesIndustry. Capps said “How do you sell someone a $60 game that’s really worth it … They’re used to 99 cents.”. It’s not surprising that major developers see the 99 cent market as a huge threat to their business. But both Epic and the big publishers have tried to get into the iPhone market, Epic especially with Infinity Blade and they’re now even offering an Unreal Engine SDK for the platform as well.

The original Portal was a breath of fresh air for all gamers, as it offered wonderful gameplay, lots of humor and style. All while being quite limited to only a few hours of gameplay and with minimalistic visuals. After much anticipation, the sequel is here, and it delivers across the board for any Portal fan — any videogame fan, period. Not only does it offer great puzzles, lots of humor, but also sports a wonderful story and characters.

Portal 2 has the same ground principles as Portal 1, you’re still armed with your trusty Portal gun, where you create entrances and exits to Portals in order to solve puzzles. Portal 2 ups the ante by introducing several new gameplay features, including gels that propel you, light bridges, tractor beams, jump pads and lots of other stuff. The puzzles are far more intricate this time, and are still based around the same principle: open the door to exit the level. Usually this is done by transporting companion cubes to activate a switch etc. And while the puzzles are a lot more intricate and complex, they never feel impossible, and you can usually beat any level with a few tries and some creative thinking. And you’ll be doing a lot creative thinking in Portal 2.

There’s also multiplayer in Portal 2, with co-op gameplay. Here, you play as two bots, and you have to work together to solve the puzzles and get through the levels. Teamwork in Portal 2 co-op is a must, and you won’t solve a single puzzle without working together. Since this can be a little tricky if you can’t talk to the person (Portal 2 supports VOIP), there are a set of tools you can easily access in order to communicate with each other — a great touch many games seem to be forgetting these days when it comes to co-op.

Visually, the game looks an order of magnitude better than Portal 1. But Portal 2′s visuals still don’t fully stack up with the recent shooters like Crysis 2. What the visuals in Portal 2 do, is create an amazing atmosphere, with wonderful lighting effects, shadows, and art design. There is a lot more details and style in the world, and despite still using the aging Source engine, it manages to be just enough for a game like Portal 2.

Overall, Portal 2 is the must have sequel to Portal, it offers everything the previous game had, only a lot bigger, better, and with a ton of new features (like co-op). It’s our first must buy game of 2011.

The Good:
Amazing gameplay and puzzles
Never feels frustrating or impossible
Lots of humor
Great atmosphere and story
Cp-op is a blast

The Bad:
Somewhat dated visuals
Too many loading times

Overall score: 9/10

While Portal 2 is getting all the news coverage in the gaming industry these days (our review will be published tonight), its predecessor, Portal 1, has been a critical and commercial success, that much was known. But what we didn’t know was that the game has sold and impressive 4 million copies to date through its bundling with The Orange Box, and through separate sales.

What’s surprising is that Valve only included retail sales numbers on not sales on Steam, where the game has been a top seller for years. It’s not hard to believe that Portal 1 could have easily sold more than 5 million copies to date. It’s successor, Portal 2, which is a standalone game, has been on a pre-order frenzy and looks like it’s gonna be a top seller. It should, be cause our initial experience with the game have been nothing but pleasant. Full review coming up later today.

Call of Duty is without a doubt one of the most iconic game franchises to ever hit the scene. First released back in 2003 Call of Duty has gone through many different development studios amassing countless titles. In fact, the most recent title to hit store shelves, Call of Duty: Black Ops, has managed to sell like hot cakes.

Now that the game has been on the market for quite some time it’s time to start thinking about DLC. Then again, the First Strike DLC pack has already been released so I suppose it’s time to start thinking about the next DLC pack. We’ve known for quite some time thanks to a leak that the next Black Ops DLC pack would be entitled Escalation including some of the maps that will included is said DLC pack.

However, now that the pack has gotten a bit more official Treyarch is coming forth with their own information regarding the pack. In fact, they have just come foward today with a preview video for the pack which we’ve included above for your viewing pleasure.

Check it out and let us know what you think. The Call of Duty: Black Ops Escalation DLC pack will be made available for the Xbox 360 on May 3rd of this year and other platforms on June 3rd.

The Nintendo Wii is quite the iconic console as it’s largely been regarded as the one to introduce the mass market to motion controlled video gaming. However, as of late both the PS3 and Xbox 360 have got their own motion controllers that, when paired with high definition graphics, have given the Wii a run for its money. Luckily, there have been rumors that say Nintendo will be coming forth soon to release a second generation Wii that will include beefed up hardware but we’ve yet to hear any official announcements.

Well, it seems that some heat is about to be added to the rumor mill as several big name retailers, including Amazon.com, have cut the price tag of the Wii from the previous $200 price point to $170. If the past is anything to go by this means that Nintendo is looking to ramp up sales and sell off their remaining stock prior to an announcement of the second generation Wii. That or these reatilers are all in cahoots to throw off the trail.

We’ll keep you posted as more information is made known.

While Sony and Nintendo decided to take a similar route when it comes to their motion controllers Microsoft decided to go an entirely different route. As you’re sure to know the Xbox 360 Kinect is nothing more than a camera capable of capturing a gamer’s movements in a 3D space. This quite literally allows the gamer to use their entire body as a controller for any game.

The concept itself is quite an amazing one, the Kinect’s price tag of $149.99 most likely will be out of reach for most – especially when you take into consideration that you’re going to have to buy some games that actually utilize the peripheral’s technology. However, if you’re looking to get down on the Kinect with a game or two but want to break the bank as little as possible you’re in luck. Amazon has just cut such gamers a deal by offering the Kinect with a select title 50% off. As you’re sure to know select title usually means that you’re going to have to choose from some pretty lame games and it seems that this promotion is no different.

Included in the batch is Fighters Uncaged, Fantastic Pets, Your Shape Fitness Evolved, The Biggest Loser Ultimate Workout, Dance Paradise and Dance Masters. Check out the full list of titles here.

As we’ve told you many times in the past Minecraft has managed to defy the odds and become a best seller despite being an entirely independently developed game. This is great news for Markus ‘Notch’ Persson as he was the original sole developer of the title and it has now gone on to sell nearly 2 million copies which is quite a feat considering there has been virtually no advertising efforts pushed out by the game.

Luckily, for you Minecraft-heads out there Notch and the rest of Mojang have come forth to let us know that beta version 1.5 of the game is now available for download. This is the long awaited update that includes things such as achievements, statistics, weather effects including rain, snow and thunder and various other performance upgrades.

If you have the Minecraft client on your computer make note that it will update itself but if you’re running a Minecraft server you’re going to have to update it yourself. Check out more information as Notch’s official blog here.

As you’re sure to know dedicated game consoles like the Nintendo DS and PSP have seen a ton of competition from the likes of mobile platforms such as Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android. Much of this competition comes from the fact that just about everybody now a days has a smartphone and included within the application stores behind these smartphones are thousands upon thousands of games with very palatable price tags.

Well, it seems that we have our first causality from the onslaught of these smartphone platforms. According to recent reports, Sony has done away with production of the PSP Go. As of now this has not been officially confirmed but reputable retailers including Amazon have updated their PSP Go product listings to say that production for the handheld will soon be discontinued by the manufacturer.

While much of this can be attributed to mobile platforms, it can also be attributed to the fact that Sony is gearing to launch their next generation portable handheld the NGP, commonly refereed to as the PSP 2.

If these reports are true, farewell PSP Go, you unfortunately won’t be missed.