Consoles and PC's have had a slow month interms of new AAA quality games arriving for your respected platform. While January got off to a slow start, it quickly recovered to bring us high quality tittles through digital distribution. Plenty of great downloadable arcade tittles were made available through XBLA, PSN and Steam, giving us many hidden gems on the digital marketplace. Let's look back at the games we reviewed over the past month.  

Despite a recent string of down months in U.S. video game sales at retail this year, a new report from research firm Gartner paints a very rosy picture for the global video game industry. When adding in revenues from burgeoning online, mobile and digital gaming sectors, Gartner estimates that worldwide spending on the gaming ecosystem will exceed $74 billion in 2011, up 10.4 percent from the $67 billion spent last year. By 2015, spending is expected to reach $112 billion.

At E3, Konami had a large number of upcoming games on display, and among them was No More Heroes: Heroes Paradise. Heroes' Paradise is a PS3 port of the original Wii version, featuring updated HD graphics and Playstation Move support. No More Heroes is definitely a franchise aimed at the “core gamer” demographic, and the Playstation 3 is more widely accepted by that demographic than the Wii. Porting the game over sounds like a smart move.

 With L.A. Noire being the first video game ever to be featured at the Tribeca Film Festival this year, a lot of people were wondering if this is the time that video games could finally be accepted as art. Video games have come a long way since the days of the Atari 2800 with the gameplay, graphics, and storytelling much like how the film industry evolved from short films to being longer in length and having sound. Because of this, we have seen much more complex storylines and visual styles that have enhanced our experience. Though it may seem like the logical progression to become art, I actually believe it would be counterintuitive.

Videogames have been inspired by books, movies, television shows and celebrities. I-play has released a new game based upon the true-life romance of game designer Cara Ely’s grandparents, Bill and Helen.  The seventh installment in the wildly successful Dream Day series is now available for PC download.  From the war in the Pacific to Paris in the 1950’s, players will follow the journey of Ely’s grandparents as they plan the ultimate 70th anniversary party.

According to a new report from international research firm Parks Associates, nearly one-fifth of active gamers in the U.S. currently spend money on virtual items in popular online games like Farmville, World of Warcraft and Free Realms. The gaming business is undergoing a major shift away from subscription models as virtual items become a larger part of its economy. Parks Associates forecasts this business will reach almost $6 billion in revenues worldwide by 2015.

ZeniMax Media, parent company of noted game publisher Bethesda Softworks, continues to expand with key gaming talent. The company has joined forces with acclaimed game designer and director, Shinji Mikami. ZeniMax has acquired Tango Gameworks, the development shop founded and run by Mikami. Best known as the creator of the Resident Evil series, Mikami is a 20-year veteran of the industry who has developed numerous award-winning titles. Tango Gameworks now joins creative developers like id Software and Bethesda Softworks.

While game companies like Zynga is charging players real money for virtual items in Facebook games like Farmville and Cafe World, Apps Genius Corp (www.appsgenius.com) has a different take on things. The developer and publisher of social games and software applications has launched a new social game, My Mad Millions for Facebook.  The game challenges players to spend an entire $300 million virtual inheritance by indulging in the excesses of the rich and famous.  Users are rewarded with varying points for accomplishing their digital spending sprees and twice a month, the top 20 percent of active users will reap the rewards offline by sharing in 50 percent of Apps Genius’ game revenue.

NEW YORK CITY -- After topping $621 million in the global box office, Jon Favreau’s Iron Man 2 has come home to Blu-ray Disc and DVD with a slew of special features from Paramount Home Entertainment. One of the men behind the iron suit, Marvel Comics scribe Matt Fraction (The Invincible Iron Man), worked with Favreau on the film and helped game publisher Sega craft an original interactive story. He talks about the new Blu-ray Disc and the game that’s available for multiple platforms in this exclusive interview.

HAMBURG -- The casual gaming boom now gets a collection of cute pandas, gorgeous gorillas, hyperactive meerkats, and cuddly polar bear babies with Bigpoint’s Zoomumba. In this new game, players will fall be in charge of taking care of both the zoo animals and the visitors who come to see them. The game challenges gamers to create the best virtual zoo around. The creator of the game talks about this unique new title in this exclusive video interview.

As Crave Entertainment builds up the awareness for the videogame launch of its Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Wii title, Deadliest Catch: Sea of Chaos, Captain Keith Colburn of Redmond, Washington took us aboard the Wizard to showcase the new game. Colburn talks about his own gaming background and what players will experience when they take control of a virtual crab boat in the new game this November in this exclusive video interview.