A much-needed patch is coming to Lucidity PC and Xbox LIVE Arcade in the near future. According to the latest Lucas Arts Workshop blog post, the Lucidity team is dropping a checkpoint system into the downloadable title, thus allowing the players to continue from somewhere better than the beginning of the f’ing level.

The update launches for the PC version this afternoon, while the XBLA patch is said to launching in “the coming weeks.” Neat, right?

Kind of. I, like others, found the lack of checkpoints to be an issue with the game, but I considered the lottery-style item selection the bigger bummer in the beautiful package. This update won't fix the core problem, the reason why people bite the big one the majority of the time. Still, it’s nice to know that the game is still being supported. Keep it up, guys.

The first bit of Uncharted 2: Among Thieves DLC is live and available -- but don’t bother digging around in the couch for that wallet. It’s free.

As promised earlier this week, the Naughty Dog crew rolled out a new multiplayer map dubbed “The Fort,” as part of a free update to the core game at some point within the recent past. The map itself, according to an official developer blog post, is a “throwback map” created from a chapter in the original Uncharted. 

An epic video of the spacious map is available above.

In addition to this, two new stat-tracking features have been added to the multiplayer menu: leaderboards and the Player Card. Both of which should come in handy if you find yourself caring about that whole K/D thing or how many times you wished people would just stop camping during a given match.

The latest Halo novel from Thor Books has been released in stores this week. Halo: Evolutions is a collection of stories from multiple perspectives within the Halo universe. The book features multiple authors, such as Eric Nylund, Tobias Buckell, Karen Traviss and several more. 

The one thing Halo 2 and Halo 3 did horribly wrong was the story. Rather, the lack of story. The Halo novels, for the most part, fill you in on what has been going on in the Halo universe. The books have covered very important things such as how the Covenant wars started in the first place and how the SPARTAN IIs were created.

The books really do a great job at getting you sucked into the Haloverse. I highly recommend that any Halo fan should at least read the first Halo novel, The Fall of Reach. If that doesn't do it for you, then I don't know, go play Modern Warfare II or something.

Senior producer of R.U.S.E. Mathieu Girard is about to take you on a journey. A journey in which you learn what the real-time strategy game of ridiculous zooming and deception is all about. And he does all of this while standing in front of a futuristic backdrop. Talk about classy.

The "war" takes place on a massive table, guys. Did you know that? I swear they took the concept from a twist ending to an episode of The Twilight Zone.

The game is still looking impressive as always. A lot of the neat tricks at the game's disposal aren't exactly mind-blowing for the genre, yet they're able to mesh together to form something cool. Also, the thumbnail for the "decoy army" ruse is creepy as all hell. Silent Hill .. is that you?

Instead of being stupid and thanking the gods for my family this Thanksgiving, I decided to give props to Nolan North. After all, dude did a voice for almost every videogame I’ve played the last few months -- Dragon Age: Origins, Halo: ODST, Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2, Shadow Complex, and of course, Uncharted 2. I should, I believe, be thankful for a guy that delivers as much as he does.

Speaking of delivering and Nolan North, the man behind Nathan Drake’s smooth vocals is now offering something other than his voice: a prediction that Uncharted 3 is going to happen.

According to CVG, North tells Official PlayStation Magazine that it would be irresponsible -- much like thanking the gods for your family -- for Naughty Dog not to do another Uncharted title. “Well, I know we’re going to be assured a third one,” he said. “That would just be financially irresponsible, not to do a third one.”

Spoiler alert: North might be on to something here. We’ll check in with Naughty Dog and see if they’re interested in continuing the series. We'll let you know how that goes.

Say what you will about contemporary game design. With all the technological advancements made in the last few years, gamers have been able to play games that offer something closer to a real-life experience in terms of graphics and gameplay. Unfortunately, those hyper-realistic experiences, while offering something that truly resonates with gamers, have a habit of falling apart when creating the human face.

Call it the “Uncanny Valley,” that bizarre occurrence when developers create realistic-looking games with realistic characters that have something “off” about them. It could be the way that the eyes are dead and heavy, or how the skin looks like tight plastic stretched over a skull, but whatever it is, something is wrong about how that person manifests in the game. And it's not just videogames, it is all forms of entertainment that rely on realistic facial animations. Anyone who has seen The Polar Express, well, they've seen deep into the pit of the Uncanny Valley, and it ain't pretty.

After all, the human face is integral to interpersonal communication. Without the face, much of what is communicated, whether intentional or not, is lost. A subtle droop of the mouth, a minuscule lift of the ears, Tyra Banks' infamous “smile with the eyes,” each is a way to convey a message. Deep in the heart of the Uncanny Valley, such communication is lost. For humans comforted by the familiar, to enter the world of the Uncanny is to look at someone who looks like a person and sounds like a person, but whose human representations look alien.

So what can be done? Well, I was lucky enough to talk with the Executive Vice President of Image Metrics, Brian Waddle. What does Image Metrics have to do with videogames? Well, it is this company that is trying to literally change the face of animation. Their job, whether it is a film or a videogame, is to create the most accurate facial animations possible. Seen in games like Assassin's Creed II, GTA IV, and the upcoming God of War III, they are a well-respected company known for offering a variety of options for dev studios to use. Follow the jump to peek at our discussion.

More videogame-related beans are being spilled in another magazine. According to CVG, the January issue of PC Zone magazine has the first shred of information about Splinter Cell: Conviction’s co-operative component as well as the first details on a lone “brand new mode” planned for the game.

This magazine hits on December 23rd. So, if you’re inclined to read something with actual pages and colorful pictures, go ahead and dig around for it in the magazine aisle later next month. Or don’t. It’s up to you now. Find our car and stop the New Order. And remember: music is the weapon.

[Editor's Note: We're not just a (rad) news site -- we also publish opinions/editorials from our community & employees like this one, though be aware it may not jive with the opinions of Destructoid as a whole, or how our moms raised us. Want to post your own article in response? Publish it now on our community blogs.]

There’s this kid I used to know. Pretty decent guy all around, to be honest with you. But looking back on him, his flaws become more apparent, and perhaps none are so noticeable than those related to his gaming.

See, many of his choices were spotty at best. He spent two years on World of Warcraft, enjoying his time immensely but ignoring nearly every other game that came out during that period. He would choose a game like NFL Street over Beyond Good and Evil. Worst of all, he would take lengthy breaks from gaming altogether, playing little to nothing at all besides random games already in his collection -- some old, many bad.

Worst of all, he missed out on the great offerings on entire consoles. It’s hard to say exactly why: perhaps out of financial necessity, perhaps out of a misplaced and nonsensical sense of loyalty, and perhaps some combination of these. But the reason is unimportant, as the sad fact is that he deprived himself of great things.

Let this kid serve as a warning to you all, for this misled youth was me, and I’m still paying the price today for his past transgressions. 

Unsurprisingly, the second set of Steam sales during this five-day-long promotion in which a bunch of new deals are activated each day is another attention grabber.

The $50 uber THQ collection that I mentioned last time is still available, and I still think you should purchase it. As for the limited-time-only stuff, there's Left 4 Dead 2 for $37.49, Knights of the Old Republic for $2.49, and Dead Space for $14.99.

There are a few more to pick from, but those were the select ones that really stand out in my mind. Also, there's Majesty 2, which is a lowly $9.99. I think I'm going to get that, for sure. Is that a wise idea, anyone who's played it?

Believe it or not, Media Molecule is still supporting LittleBigPlanet. And it’s not just through costumes and other forms of PDLC -- the studio is releasing updates on a frequent basis, ensuring that the stellar game remains as such. For example, take a gander at the latest update set to go live November 30th. Dubbed "Leerdammer," the patch adds online level creation functionality (with up to three others) as well as profile tweaks that should give users more saved space to mess around with. If that wasn't enough, they're tweaking the network stuff in the game to give users better matchmaking results. Rad.

A big list of all the new things that came with update 1.21 is available at the official LBP blog. It has cute text and bubbly visuals to go along with it, if you’re into that kind of thing. If you’re a pictures-in-motion kind of person instead, give the above MM-produced video a good look. It reveals all.

_{[Whenever possible, Destructoid critiques overlooked design aspects of games both old and recent for our "Revisited" series.]}

There exists in the gaming community a particularly virulent strain of anti-intellectualism that would assert, among other things, that Gears of War 2 "is just a game, bro." On the opposite of the spectrum is an equally uncharitable position: Gears of War 2 is nothing but a testosterone-fueled male power fantasy with no real merit.

Don't get me wrong: Gears of War 2 is definitely a game, bro, and one that I like very much. It spends too much time with clumsily-stitched-together set pieces and not enough time letting me take cover and shoot things (which is a testament to the quality of its core mechanic), but it's a definite narrative step up from the first one, and it's still the third-person multiplayer shooting experience par excellence.

But Gears of War 2 is also, I want to argue, a modern treatise on masculinity, agency, and anxiety, and perhaps strangely, a recasting of the Pinocchio story.

Seriously, just hear me out.

Longtime community member dyslixec, or as he now goes by, WastelandTraveler, has spearheaded the movement to bring PC gaming back into Friday Night Fights in a huge way. For that, I am eternally grateful.

If I have ever come off as insincere because of how hands off I tend to be with the planning of these weekly online get-togethers, I apologize. FNF started off as an idea from the community, and I've always wanted to move forward with that same sentiment in mind.

For the community, by the community. That's how I want it to be. Always have. I'm simply the guy who embraces and helps to promote it.

And now that you've learned a little Destructoid history, let's play some games! Well, you can play some games. I can't -- darn broken Xbox! Hamza says he'll be doing it up Modern Warfare 2-style, so at least there's one editor who will be in attendance.

[Image: CaseModGod]

"Dead to Rights is all about extreme visceral combat," says Dead to Rights: Retribution character art manager Dan Calvert in this latest developer diary, "it's all about action, adrenaline. We have awesome violence."

The game is so violent, in fact, that the team says it had to tone down the look and feel of the characters because of it. While they initially went for a photo realistic look, they found that the game was so violent that it actually made people uncomfortable. Because of that, they went with a more stylized look for in-game character models.

The team also goes on about the design choices made for the game's dog, Shadow. You'd think they just sat around and said "Let's make a bad ass wolf dog thing that gnaws people's faces off." But it's a bit more complicated than that, as things usually are. There's more details in the video if my "bad ass wolf dog thing that gnaws people's face off" explanation isn't good enough for you.

Dead to Rights: Retribution ships for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in 2010.

Apparently, several people using the Internet believe that the next iteration in the Deus Ex franchise is destined to be PC-exclusive. The rumors are being fueled by a recent and lone mention of PC-exclusivity in a Bit-Tech article, which sources a Shacknews story spun from an Edge interview with Eidos Montreal project lead Jean-Fancious Dugas in which the man says he's not quite sure what platforms Deus Ex 3 may hit. How that got to exclusivity is beyond me, but hold the bus: Developer Eidos appears to be brushing off the rumor as such -- in a vague way, of course.

In a recent official message board post about the game’s exclusivity, Eidos community manager Rene said, “Only the PC version has been announced so far.” He then listed PC-specific magazine coverage that the game has had before exclaiming, “I dunno where that Web site is getting its info from!”

The PSP and DS versions of Deus Ex 3 are slated to hit retail in February 2010. Both will star Mickey Mouse. Also, dragons.

[via Eurogamer]