It's been nearly two years since we were first embarrassed in a StarCraft II multiplayer preview, but we recently got our long-awaited shot at redemption. During the interim, we've logged countless hours with the original StarCraft and its Brood War expansion (having picked up new, digital copies for a mere $15) in order to prepare for this opportunity. The bad news? We still managed to get owned. Although, in our defense, we were playing against some hardcore fansites, and the setup of Blizzard's recent hands-on event was not unlike being dropped into a televised StarCraft tournament match in Korea with an announcer saying, "Okay, and ... GO!"

That's the bad news. The good news is that StarCraft II looks simply amazing, and it plays even better. After you've pounded your brain with several hundred hours (for some of you, it's probably thousands of hours) of StarCraft, and you fire up StarCraft II, it's like being jolted by 1.21 jigawatts of mouse-clicking rapture -- which, thankfully, also numbed the pain of our ongoing losing streak.

Blur is a hyper-realistic Mario Kart. There is no sugar coating it.

After being behind the development wheel of realistic racing titles like PGR (well, realistic at least in look), Bizarre Creations has decided to do away with its half-and-half arcade style and create a different kind of racing experience. That experience is Blur, published by (new parent company) Activision.

As we sat down at the (ridiculously loud) Activision booth in the West Hall during E3 2009, we were greeted by an enthusiastic Bizarre employee who explained this was the game the developer always wanted to make. A fun, almost party-game style racer where players jump behind the wheel of powered-up, real-world vehicles. Yes, strangely, Blur features licensed cars -- with unreal abilities.

If you asked us to sum up Split/Second in one simple sentence it would be: Split/Second is like Burnout, except the world around you is the thing that gets smashed into bits.

Going into the racing-heavy E3, with showings of Forza Motorsport 3, Need for Speed: Shift and Blur (to name a few), we didn't know what to expect from Black Rock Studio (the team behind 2008's Pure). In the end we walked away with more anticipation we've had for a racing game since Burnout Paradise was first revealed. Forgetting some of the hang-ups we had with the demo, Split/Second is one of the most intense racing experiences we've had in ages.

MMOs on current-gen consoles? We've yet to see it really happen. However, DC Universe Online for PlayStation 3 and PC sure looks (and plays) like a game on its way to completion. When we last sat down with the game in February and talked to its producer, DCUO already had a ton of polish and -- even to our console-addled brains -- felt like an MMO we could get on board with.

The controls on PS3 felt quick and intuitive then, and not much has changed (other than graphical fidelity, character animation, and bug squashes) since we last saw it. We muscled our way around S.T.A.R. Labs, turning zombified security guards back into their old selves and then employing the security guards to take down our foes. While the squad mechanics felt woefully underdone (as in, they don't exist -- you roll with a gang and they take down fools as the gang sees fit), we appreciated the ability to pick up a crew mid-mission to assist us.

We got some hands-on time with an untethered PSP Go. So, unlike our one-hand-on with the system, this time we actually got to open and close it to our heart's content. The system definitely feels light, but solid. The opening and closing function is totally smooth, and we joked that the company should set up an IKEA-style live feed of it opening and closing until it snaps. Anyway, the video compares the Go's size (closed) to the iPhone and the standard PSP.

It's a rare thing for a portable game to best its console predecessor, but that's what might be happening in MotorStorm: Arctic Edge. BigBig, the team behind the cult PSP Pursuit Force games, know how to work the handheld and they've crafted an experience that handles far better than the console games. MotorStorm is known for its visceral races, but the juxtaposition of more "sim-like" controls in such an arcadey game didn't jive with us fully. Arctic Edge adopts the game a bit, by tweaking the controls to be a bit more responsive.

The end result is a game that's a bit more accessible, but no less fun and intense. Obviously, the PSP isn't capable of producing the visuals of a PS3, but BigBig has developed a brand new engine for Arctic Edge and it shows. This new generation engine far surpasses the last Pursuit Force game, by throwing an impressive amount of particles in fast, detailed levels. The animation on the vehicles is particularly terrific as each of the wheels respond to the various bumps on the ground.

While the controls are slightly tweaked, the overall gameplay should remain largely familiar to those that have played the previous two games. Once again, players will want to effectively manage boost and navigate a dynamic branching race course. Racing against a multitude of vehicle types is one of the highlights of the console games, and we're glad to see BigBig has expanded the garage with two new vehicles: the Snow Cat and the Snow Plow. Those of you that like the Monster Truck will get a blast out of this. The monstrous vehicle races at a surprising speed, and it's quite the intimidating vehicle to race against.

FROM: The Joystiq Office of Law Enforcement
RE: Vogster's CrimeCraft, a "persistent world next-gen shooter" due out August 25th.

Attention: CrimeCraft is to be considered armed and dangerous, and should not be approached in a video game store. Stay away at all costs.

Last seen location: E3 2009, in the Vogster booth.

It'd be a lie to say what we played of The Beatles: Rock Band was much more than the game you already know (and maybe love): Rock Band 2. We should also note, for full disclosure and all that good stuff, that we love The Beatles with all our hearts. And so, rather than tell you about the little of the game we could play (10 songs from the game and no campaign mode whatsoever), we're going to talk about the game's instruments -- the one notable change from previous Rock Band titles.

We sat down with the game's rendition of Ringo Starr's Ludwig drums and, erm, stood up with Paul McCartney's Hoffner bass for three different songs ("Taxman," "Here Comes the Sun," and "I Am the Walrus"). Here's the news: the drums are nearly identical to the drums that shipped with Rock Band 2, aside from a nylon screen, faking the outside of a bass drum.

After we got to get an eyes-on with Batman: Arkham Asylum's single-player campaign last week, we were hankering for our first hands-on with the game. Luckily, Eidos brought the title to E3 this year, offering more than just the challenge rooms (available for play on kiosks at your local big box store) but also a slice of gameplay from the single-player campaign. Twenty minutes later, we had silently "not murdered" a slew of baddies employing the game's Detective Mode, and found ourselves smiling ear to ear.

A cinematic guided us through the intro to the game -- essentially dropping off Joker at Arkham Asylum and witnessing the subsequent takeover of the facility. And that's when we started sluggin' dudes. Lots of dudes -- with big veins popping out of their arms. Each punch felt surprisingly satisfying and various on-screen commands helped to fluidly guide Batman's blows from one enemies' face to another.

Traveling to Osaka, Japan has its perks. For one, it's the food capital of Japan, so there's that. On the other hand, it's possible to get your mitts on early code of Lost Planet 2, Capcom's upcoming sequel to its planetary labyrinth action-adventure 360 near-launch title, as GamesRadar discovered this week.

In horrifying detail, they describe as a giant lizard (currently named, "salamander") is taken down by a crew of folks: one person takes it's legs, another it's back, and another is intentionally eaten as to attack from the inside -- and eventually drop out of the monster's ... ahem ... nether quarters. According to them, this time we'll see a much bigger focus on co-op, larger and more varied environments and a general focus on "more" -- "more towering bugs, more bosses, more players, more stuff to do." Bigger, better, and more badass, you might say?

Hey, that's a good catch-phrase! Someone should get on that!

Set two years before the movie bearing the same name, Terminator Salvation's, well, salvation from the realm of mediocre shooter-dom is in the hands of Bionic Commando dev Grin. Embedded within the film's production team from day one, sharing creations back and forth, the Swedish group hopes to set the game apart from every other third-person action game on the market by playing off the toughness and tenacity of the titular robots.

When we sat down to play the game for the first time, we found a functional shooter that didn't manage to terminate our generally low expectations of movie tie-ins.

While we were assured that the game does indeed look like the film on which it precedes in the series' canon, the wash of browns and greens which made up the first level's scenery, combined with its cover mechanic and even the look of John Connor himself, had us wondering if this really was a Terminator title or if someone had played way too much Resistance: Retribution. (It looks eerily similar at times; check out the screens.)

We actually got two hands firmly on a MotionPlus-sporting Wiimote for our demo of Tiger Woods 10, which, as it turned out, was a very good thing. Unlike EA's other 1:1 motion sensing sports offering, Grand Slam Tennis, we were able to more immediately appreciate what Nintendo's new tech brought to the game.

Playing one hole at Bethpage Black, we first got into the swing of things (sorry) by seeing how accurately our on-screen club matched what we were doing in reality. The answer was "very accurately." Bringing the Wiimote slowly back and up, we watched as Tiger perfectly matched not only the angle we were holding it at, but the twist of the club as well. We took our first real swing and found that, yes, it was quite true-to-life: we sucked.

We got better, though, and putting really seemed to benefit from the increased Wiimote precision. The slightest backward movement was shown via an on-screen meter, providing a really good sense of how much follow-through we'd want in order to sink the ball. All in all, our brief time with Mr. Woods' game was the most impressive implimentation of MotionPlus we've tried yet. You can get an even better idea of what we experienced in the above video.

No Gravity: The Plague of Mind just released last week in North America and it will hit the PSN today in Europe. Little is known about this homebrew-turned-commercial space shooter, but we're here to shed some light on Realtech-VR's latest as we go hands-on with the title. So strap your boots to the ground, we're going into No Gravity.

The overall feeling one gets from No Gravity is laced with modesty. Its a simple game, one where its homebrew roots are clearly evident. Its production values may not be as high as the Triple-A, big-name studio titles, but it does do a pretty good job at putting out a worthy shooter. The game may lack FMVs and the story is told through stills, but the controls are smooth and easy to pick up.