Now that June is pretty much coming to a close, it's about time to put all of our grades together and write up a report card for the second quarter of 2011. After the year got off to a pretty solid start, the second quarter really picked up the pace and hosted a bevy of games that made these past 3 months a special time for gamers. With mulitple titles that could be in the running for Game of the Year, the second quarter has a good shot at being the best quarter this year will see.

Back in the day, long before the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Wii, teens spent their hard-earned money at on arcade games at pizza parlors, miniature golf courses and malls. It’s now been 40 years since the arcade game was introduced to popular culture. “Firefly” star Nathan Fillion talks about his favorite arcade games in this exclusive video interview.

The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund (CBLDF) applauds the Supreme Court decision to affirm the First Amendment rights of creators, readers and retailers by denying states the ability to create new restrictions on violent content in Brown v. EMA.  In a 7-2 decision, the high court struck down a California law that would have banned the sale and rental of violent video games to minors, and would have made violence a new category of unprotected speech.

Bo Andersen, President & CEO, Entertainment Merchants Association (formerly Video Software Dealers Association), applauds the decision by the U.S. Supreme Court that found California’s video game restriction law to be unconstitutional. The EMA took the battle to Arnold Schwarzenegger (Video Software Dealers Association v. Schwarzenegger) when he was in office and aligned with the Entertainment Software Association for the case, which was heard last October as Brown v. Entertainment Merchants Association.

Developer High Moon Studios has been using Epic Games’ Unreal Engine 3 technology since for over five years now. The studio is working on its second straight Transformers game for Activision and Hasbro, although Transformers: Dark of the Moon is actually its first Hollywood licensed adventure. Last year’s Transformers: War for Cybertron, was an original game not set within the timeline of the films.

The colossal battle between the  Autobots and Decepticons is underway as Activision Publishing’s new video game, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, is now available. Created by acclaimed developer High Moon Studios and based on Hasbro’s legendary Transformers property, the game lets fans fight through epic battles as they unravel Megatron’s sinister plan and is set in the world of director Michael Bay’s upcoming movie from Paramount Pictures that will be released in theaters on June 29th.

The 15th Annual E3 Game Critics Awards has unveiled the nomination list for Best Games of E3 2011. The group of judges from leading video game and mainstream outlets has selected the best games from this year’s video game trade show and will vote on which games win in each category.  BioShock Infinite and Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception lead with four nominations each, including Best of Show.  Other Best of Show nominees include Batman: Arkham City, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, and Tomb Raider. Electronic Arts and Sony tied for most nominations, 14 each.  Xbox 360 was the most nominated platform with 55 nominations, followed by PlayStation 3 with 48 nominations. The PS Vita received seven nominations, while the Nintendo 3DS got three nods.