Throughout the history of video games, the oldest stereotype surrounding the industry has always been do violent video games affect player behavior and personality. It is a known fact that people who play games are exposed to more violence than the average consumer. From nuking entire civilization to obliterating players online, it’s has become more and more common now that games are more focus on squarely providing violent action. For this reason alone, parents have long held an underlining negative attitude towards the industry and those who stand by it, but is this criticism injustice or have developers gone to far? Should government step in?

Epic Games and Train2Game have assembled a lineup of video game luminaries to participate in Make Something Unreal Live, the groundbreaking game development competition coming to the Gadget Show Live on April 10-15, 2012 at the NEC in Birmingham, UK. One of the judges is Cliff Bleszinski, design director at Epic Games, who can be seen below in an exclusive video interview from GDC 2012.

Epic Games announces that BBC Worldwide and Supermassive Games have licensed the award-winning Unreal Engine 3 technology to power the time-bending action game, Doctor Who: The Eternity Clock. Crafted by acclaimed developer Supermassive Games and based upon the BBC’s heralded franchise that has entertained audiences for nearly 50 years, “Doctor Who: The Eternity Clock” will be the first PlayStation (PS) Vita game to utilize the cutting-edge Unreal Engine toolset, which also fuels the PlayStation 3 and PC versions of the game.

En Masse Entertainment is launching its fantasy massively multiplayer online (MMO) game TERA to North America on May 1, 2012. The upcoming release of TERA will be available in standard and Collector’s Editions at retail and online stores. Marking a new era in gaming, TERA sets a new standard by delivering true action combat to players who want more than the stale and repetitive gameplay that exists in today’s MMOs. The developer talks about the new game, which is powered by Epic Games' Unreal Engine 3, in this exclusive video interview below.

Gears of War 3 players have been promptly rewarded with outstanding DLC thus far, including free-for-all content and the fun add-on RAAM's Shadow.  Now they can look forward to some fresh new content in 2012, as Microsoft and Epic Games have announced the new Fenix Rising pack, slated for release on January 17.  And you're getting a lot here.

Toward the end of the SpikeTV "Video Game Awards" live broadcast, Epic Games Design Director Cliff Bleszinski debuted the first teaser trailer for FORTnITE. The new multiplayer action game from the Gears of War 3 developer introduces a stylized look and a blend of action, horror and strategy as players build up fortifications by day to protect themselves from the undead invasion at night. Check out the video below from the "VGAs" to see what all the fuss is about.

It’s been a pretty big week for Epic Games on the technology front. Epic Games Chief Executive Officer, Founder and Technical Director Tim Sweeney presented the company’s award-winning Unreal Engine 3 (UE3) technology running fully inside an Adobe Flash-based environment during a keynote at Adobe MAX 2011 in Los Angeles, Adobe’s annual conference for developers, designers and business leaders. Epic Games President Mike Capps took the stage in San Francisco to showcase Infinity Blade II, the sequel to Chair Entertainment’s bestselling iOS game, running on the new iPhone 4S during Apple’s press conference. That’s on top of Gears of War 3 continuing to sell at a record pace, and with the first DLC already coming in November.

Gears of War 3 has been a tremendous hit for both Microsoft and Epic Games since its launch last month, racking up three million units sold, with plenty more to follow over the holiday season.  The epic trilogy conclusion was also a big hit with critics, who called it one of the most beautiful Xbox 360 gaming experiences out there.  And now, just in time for the holiday push, it's getting its first batch of downloadable content.  And we're more than ready for it.

PAX Prime may be over but the news keeps pouring in.  Gears of War 3 took a huge amount of attention at the show, attracting a huge line of players waiting to check out the multiplayer.  Along with that, Microsoft announced at the show that it would be introducing a new program for the game that would save them money on its upcoming downloadable content packs -- a "season pass", similar to what Rockstar Games did for L.A. Noire.

We're just weeks away from the release of Epic Games' epic conclusion to its third-person action series Gears of War 3, and to commemorate the occasion at GamesCom, the team released a trailer that tells the opening of the story.  It's minorly spoiler-ish...but definitely worth watching.

Like it or not, 3-D gaming is a trend that's pretty much here to stay, with several new titles supporting the format on both the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.  Epic Games is the latest company to jump on the bandwagon, as they have announced that they will be adding 3-D support to its upcoming Gears of War 3, releasing for Xbox 360 next month.  But it may not be the full 1080p 3-D gaming that you'd expect...

For the most part, developers and publishers work closely together when it comes to certain projects, in order to get the most out of them.  Sega has built a respectful partnership with Platinum Games through a series of projects (including Bayonetta and Vanquish), Microsoft and Epic Games have done quite well with Gears of War, and Sony is no doubt keeping in constant touch with Naughty Dog over the upcoming Uncharted 3.  But a relationship between the two doesn't always come easy.  One glimpse of the Rockstar Games/Team Bondi drama that's unfolding is a clear hint of that.