
If you've been itching to get your greedy hands on Sony's PS Vita before its scheduled February 22nd launch data, GameStop is helping scratch that urge by making playable demos available in over 3,300 of its retail stores starting today.
You'll get to test drive Sony's latest portable wunderkind's beautiful 5" OLED sceen and dual analog sticks for yourselves with high-profile titles like Uncharted: Golden Abyss, Little Deviants, FIFA Soccer, wipEout 2048, among others. Of course, expect to be nagged, nagged, and nagged again to pre-order one for yourselves while doing so.

In the wake of disastrous third-quarter results that saw massive losses and delisting warnings from NASDAQ, publisher THQ has decided to trim the casual fat from their catalog and no longer publish kid-friendly licensed gaming adaptations, instead focusing on more mature content for a different audience. Among the fat is their console-specific tablet peripheral, the uDraw, which let Wii, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3 users add stylus control to uDraw-specific games like Pictionary, Spongebob Squarepants, and Disney Princess: Enchanted Storyboards.
Only the tablet's own story wasn't so enchanted, as disappointing sales of the HD versions failed to impress, leaving THQ little choice but to discontinue production. Like many ports from Nintendo's console, the uDraw failed to find success with Xbox 360 and PlayStation audiences, selling far less than the Wii version's reported 500,000 units sold when it was originally released back in 2010.
President and CEO Brian Farrell said during the company's conference call: "We were looking at uDraw as a bridge to the digital future, and it turned out to be a plank that we walked off of." If only they released a uDraw version of Saints Row: The Third...


Microsoft promised its arrival during last month's CES show in Vegas, and today they deliver: Kinect is now (officially) available for Windows users to tinker, develop, and control their Windows-based computers hands-free.
But don't go thinking that Microsoft is just slapping those 'extra' Kinect sensors in a fancy new Windows box and calling it a day. Not at all. Instead, Windows users are getting a technical upgrade to help make their hands-free future that much sweeter. Read more after the jump!
Read More »That clunking sound you hear right now are the collective heads over at HBO hitting their desks in frustration that Sarah Palin, former VP Candidate, declined to run for president this election cycle. While the media's obsession with Alaska's former Governor still borders on the bizarre, the rest of the political world won't have Palin to kick around (politically) anymore, but that doesn't mean they won't poke when they can in whatever media they can. Enter Game Change, HBO's latest poke at the GOP drama that chronicles McCain's failed 2008 presidential bid at the hands of his VP pick, played by Julianne Moore.
Director Jay Roach (Meet the Fockers) is no stranger to charged political films, having previously helmed 2008's Bush vs. Gore election scandal drama Recount (also for HBO), and the rest of the cast looks surprisingly strong, especially Ed Harris as John McCain. While nobody was and shouldn't be expecting anything remotely resembling fairness or objective reporting from a tele-movie like this, Moore looks great as Palin and the production values seem pretty high.
Game Change is set to launch on HBO this March, and should have less impact on the upcoming election as the producers would have liked. Sorry, guys.

The head of Nintendo, Satoru Iwata has just announced that the company is set to release their own online service, appropriately called the Nintendo Network. Here gamers will be able to compete, communicate, and purchase digital content, much like Sony's PlayStation Network and Microsoft's Xbox Live.
There's also special plans for when the Wii U is released, as users will have personal network accounts for their new tablet-sporting consoles, with the promise of being able to purchase DLC and play game demos (who'd have thought?). While there isn't a release date for the service, it's good to know that Nintendo is finally getting on the ball with this, as it's been a long time coming. Thanks to Engadget!


The NeoGeo is back, baby! Well, that's partly true, as SNK Playmore seems to have licensed one of the most popular arcade-friendly lablels to an upcoming portable machine. No, it's not the long-rumored return of the NeoGeo Pocket (thank heavens), but an entirely new machine that's built with the nostalgic (portable) gamer in mind - at least in Japan.
Check out more details about the 'return' of the NeoGeo right after the jump - no Japanese required!
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We typically don't publish box-art for upcoming games (there are billions of other sites that do that just fine), but when you've got one that's so utterly happiness (or seizure) inducing as Nintendo's Marty Party 9, we couldn't resist. The return of the developer's party extravaganza looks to add "80 all-new minigames" to the Party for Wii, and while the artwork itself closely mirrors the Japanese version we saw a few weeks back, the good people at Nintendo of America seem to have added quite a bit more of Mario Galaxy sparkles, sprinkles, and best of all, Luigi (look in the tower).
If you can survive the cuteness overload and are still interested in more, look for Mario Party 9 to return to your Wii on March 11th.

Just when you thought the Academy Awards were safe to watch again, they release a nominee list that contains more block voting than you can shake a rusty movie reel can at. Led by Martin Scorcece's Hugo (with a whopping 11 nominations) and the ode to silent-cinema The Artist (with 10 nominations), the 84th Academy Awards could be anyone's year as the rest of the nominees are a strange mix of predictable (George Clooney and Meryl Streep), the unpredictable ("Man of a Muppet"), the strange (yes, Transformers: Dark of the Moon is a multi-nominee), and the shunned (no nomination for Alan Rickman in the final Harry Potter).
Check out the full list to see if your favorites made the cut at the official site HERE, and watch the predictable show unfold when it airs on February 26, 2012!
