I have to say, when I first caught wind of Spider-Man: Web of Shadows I was unexpectedly surprised by how interesting the game’s combat looked. Not content with simply throwing a few punch-punch-punch-ranged web attack combos, the Spider-Man in this game was shown moving from ground, to building, to aerial combat with extreme fluidity and grace. In short, it looked really awesome and made me want to try the game out right then and there.

Unfortunately, due to the whole “not being done yet” thing I’m forced to wait it out until Web of Shadows releases for everything that you can play videogames on this fall. Oh well, at least there are nice looking videos like the one above releasing regularly to tide me over until then. And hey, was that a symbiotic-infected Wolverine there at the end? Nice.

Even though I had a PlayStation when I was younger, I still managed to completely miss out on every game involving Spyro the Dragon. I remember thinking that the commercials looked pretty interesting, but I was just way too busy playing RPGs to give them a try. While I may be about ten years late to the party, I’m certainly going to try and rectify the situation when The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon comes out this October.

The co-op interaction with Spyro’s fellow draconic partner Cynder looks pretty interesting, and gives a very Prince/Elika vibe in the execution. Besides Cynder, the new screens released for Leipzig also show several other dragons, a cat person, and some sort of golden dragonfly ... thing that will be lending the purple protagonist a hand. I make that bold assumption based on their group shot being labeled ‘Allies.’ Also, Hamza briefly mentions them in his hands-on.

Is Dawn of the Dragon something you’d be interested in checking out this fall or are there just too many other excellent releases that demand your time?

It may not show any gameplay whatsoever, but that doesn’t keep Blizzard’s latest Wrath of the Lich King cinematic trailer from being any less awesome. The video shows paladin-turned-Lich-King Arthas wandering around his realm of Northrend with his dead father’s voice providing narration. After some contemplation on a snowy cliff, Artas summons a giant bone dragon which then flies over his assembled undead hoard.

There might not be very much action, but everything in the video looks incredible. So watch it. Now.

HD version available here.

[Via SilverDragon1979’s CBlog]

I'll admit I was skeptical when Dark Void was first announced. It looked like a very bland, generic "dark & gritty omg" style game. In many ways, it still resembles your typical current-gen shooting game. It's lacking in bright colors, and we're seeing the cover system that's become a staple since Gears of War. However, just because something isn't totally fresh looking, doesn't mean it can't be fun, and Dark Void is certainly looking fun. 

We have one video up above, and two more after the jump, where the story and gameplay features are discussed by the developer. You'll get to see some of the things that set Dark Void apart from the other Gears followers, including "vertical cover," which is both completely absurd and impressively clever at the same time. 

It's looking good. Give it to me.

I’m a huge Tiger Woods fan. The man completely revitalized the sport of golf at a time when it desperately needed an infusion of youth, color (literally and figuratively), and energy. Not only that, he’s one of the best golfers in the history of the sport, with such incredible performances as his playoff win in this year’s U.S. Open at Torrey Pines, which he pulled off with a double stress fracture and a torn ACL both in his left leg. He’s a wizard when he’s got a golf club in his hands, and now the marketing geniuses at EA have proved it, once and for all.

Last year, a YouTube user called Levinator25 posted a video of a (perceived) glitch in Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08. Tiger somehow ended up in the water hazard, and took a chip shot out of the pond right into the cup. Now, we’ve got a brilliant viral-video-slash-advertisement for Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09 straight from EA Sports’ official YouTube channel.

I won’t say anything about the video; you’ll just have to watch it for yourself. All I’ll say is this: the comments of Levinator25’s original video are now filled with gems such as “PWNT BY EA SPORTS.”

[Via Kotaku -- thanks, Joe!]

Some of you may recall a video for Mercenaries 2: World in Flames that I posted last month. I said "if this video doesn't sell you on the game, nothing will."

Well, now we've got an even better video that will surely impress those of you who are looking forward to picking up Mercs 2 later this month. It's a demonstration of the game's drop-in/drop-out online co-op with plenty of "wow, that's awesome" moments.

Whatever you do, make sure you watch the section where the narrator goes Voltron on everybody's asses by using his helicopter's winch to pick up his friend's tank. Why this mechanic hasn't been done in a videogame before, I'm not sure.

All I know is that I want to wake up tomorrow and have it be August 31st.

File this one under "Awesome Things that Japan Gets that We Won't": Namco Bandai's Tales of Hearts will get two separate releases, one featuring fully-rendered CGI cut scenes, the other with slick, 2D anime scenes. I'd be willing to bet that all of this could have fit on one card -- Mistwalker crammed all sorts of CGI into ASH, after all -- but the types of people who buy special edition Tales of Vesperia Xbox 360 bundles will also buy two copies of the same game.

Tales of Hearts will be the first of the Tales of... series to use CGI scenes, perhaps taking some of its cues from Tetsuya Nomura* (those character models could've been plucked straight out of Final Fantasy III DS or Final Fantasy XII). The 3D modeling will be handled by Shirogumi, the same company responsible for the environments.

However, if you're a Tales of... purist, a different version will feature the exact same cut scenes, rendered in the more traditional anime style. The animation will be handled by Production I.G., who also created the distinctive sprites.

Honestly, you probably can't go wrong with either version. The Tales of... series has always been gorgeous, and, if the above trailer is any indictation, Hearts will be no different. The 2D sprites on the 3D plane are kind of jarring, but, nevertheless, the style is growing on me.

Tales of Hearts is set for December 2008 in Japan, but God knows when we'll see it in the states. Which version(s) will you pick up? 

[Via Wired, 1up]

*And by Tetsuya Nomura, I obviously mean Akihiko Yoshida. Thanks to Spooky Electric pointing out my embarassing oversights.