The Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB), which assigns the official age and content ratings for computer and video games, announced a new public service announcement (PSA) campaign starring San Francisco Giants catcher Buster Posey and pitcher Ryan Vogelsong at AT&T Park. The PSAs, which feature the players explaining the ESRB rating system and encouraging parents to use it when buying games for their families, will soon begin running on television and radio stations throughout northern California as well as at Giants home games this season.  

Electronic Arts never fails to showcase a strong array of third-party titles for both Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, as well as other consoles each year they attend E3.  Last year was a huge highlight between such games as SSX and Mass Effect 3, but what does the company have to lean on this year?  Well, besides big sports hits like Madden NFL 13 and the upcoming Overstrike from Insomniac Games, we’ve got a few ideas as to what the company should officially announce at the show.  With that, here are our suggestions…

Award-winning composers Jason Graves (Dead Space) and Kevin Riepl (Gears of War) have created an original score for Resistance: Burning Skies, Sony’s new PlayStation Vita first-person shooter. Developed by Nihilistic Software, Resistance: Burning Skies is the PS Vita debut of Insomniac Games’ Resistance PS3 franchise. Graves and Riepl each wrote forty minutes of orchestral music for the shooter. Resistance: Burning Skies ships on May 29.

Kart racers are usually a dime a dozen, especially back in the old days, when it seemed like every gaming company wanted to make its own version to capitalize on the popularity of the Mario Kart games.  But Sega did it quite effectively several months back with Sonic & Sega All Stars Racing, a smorgasbord of racing goodness stemming multiple characters and tracks inspired by various Sega classics, including the House of the Dead, Samba de Amigo and more.  The formula worked extremely well for both the company and players, so it should be no surprise that the long-rumored sequel was finally announced today.

NEW YORK CITY – EA Sports kicked off the countdown to the latest installment of Madden live in Times Square before the 2012 NFL Draft by allowing fans to choose the cover athlete of the game on ESPN’s “Sports Nation.” Calvin Johnson edged Cam Newton in the battle, but gamers will be glad to see EA is expanding its Madden franchise to new systems. Madden NFL 13 will debut on Sony’s PlayStation Vita come August 28th. And the game will implement Kinect technology for the first time.

Over the weekend at PAX East, we had the opportunity to talk with several folks about upcoming projects.  Among them was Zen Studios, a company that didn’t have a booth on the floor, but still had some exciting details about what was coming down the line in the future in terms of pinball content.  While we can’t reveal everything JUST yet (they’re saving some surprises for E3), we can talk about Zen Pinball 2, an improved pinball experience coming for the PlayStation 3 – and PlayStation Vita – starting next month.

When Okami came out a few years ago from Capcom, it introduced an awe-inspiring hand-drawn world, provided by Clover Studios, that few games can match today.  It’s still highly regarded as a classic, and for good reason.  That said, Acquire, the same studio behind the old Tenchu games, has teamed up with XSEED Games to give their own artistic touch a try with Sumioni: Demon Arts, a game that combines beautiful traditional art with platforming gameplay.  It sounds like a dreamy combination, but the lack of replay value sets in way too quickly.

REYKJAVIK -- Thousands of EVE Online fans have converged on the island nation of Iceland located 65 degrees North of the equator and they were in for a treat as CCP Games revealed a lot more about their upcoming console MMOFPS DUST 514. During the DUST 514 keynote speech, CCP developers showed off a "Shock and Awe" style coordinated orbital bombardment of a DUST battlefield by an EVE player in realtime. CCP also showed off the orbital command center and surface command centers which enable communication between the two games as well as the orbital artillery that lets DUST players retaliate against EVE players in orbit. It was an amazing first look at what CCP is envisioning in its innovative EVE and DUST 514 hybrid gameplay. We talked to DUST 514 Executive Producer Brandon Laurino to get more insight and details about DUST 514 in this exclusive video interview.

When ModNation Racers came out for the PlayStation 3 in 2010, United Front Games had created a great new portal for community for the PlayStation Network, allowing racers to not only engage one another in races and share their track creations with others to see what they thought.  Its community grew just as huge as LittleBigPlanet’s, making the game an imminent success.  Seeing lightning in a bottle for its handheld front, Sony decided to release a ModNation Racers game for the PlayStation Vita, Road Trip, complete with a new touch-screen track building feature and plenty of racing action.  But for some strange reason, this one feels somewhat stuck in second.

Mortal Kombat was a colossal hit when it came out for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 last year, reaffirming the strength in the franchise after all these years.  So, naturally, the development team wanted to continue the trend, releasing the Komplete Edition last month and following suit with the series’ debut on PlayStation Vita, coming next month.  What can fans look forward to when it comes to the portable edition?  Plenty.

One of the features that Sony is vehemently trying to take advantage of with the PlayStation Vita is its augmented reality.  This is where you can take a real location and implement some sort of gaming into it, and while others may not get why you’re so excited, the experience in itself is an interesting one.  Sony’s already offering a number of free games that take advantage of this feature, as well as offering the full retail release of Reality Fighters, a brawling game where you can not only take locations and have a fight anywhere, but also create your own.  It’s a great idea, though one that’s sorely lacking in execution.

When Hustle Kings came out for the PlayStation Network, it reassured our faith in video game billiards.  Usually, game developers just get something wrong with such a game, like the physics or the gameplay or the fact that, hey, the real thing is better.  But somehow, VooFoo Studios managed to capture the feel and essence of the game, while loading it with game modes and online options to keep everyone pleased.  (The 3D option didn’t hurt either.)  The company has since brought the game to the PlayStation Vita front, but does it still know how to sink the eight ball?  The answer is a resounding yes.