Recently, I was given the opportunity to visit Santa Monica Studios to demo two new upcoming games. The first was a Celtic magic adventure called Sorcery exclusively designed for the Playstation Move. You play a young wizard apprentice armed with an arsenal of spells and abilities fighting through a variety of fantasy locations to free the world of evil. Using the motion controls as the on screen character’s wand via the Sony Move was actually quite fun.

We're just going to say it right now.  Far Cry 3 is shaping up to be the best game in the series yet.  The first two games set up great tales of survival, with one man battling the odds through lush terrain and occasionally using feral abilities to get the jump.  The third looks to follow suit with an even more engaging single-player campaign, along with a new focus on multiplayer, where teams can battle it out to control parts of the terrain.  We recently went hands-on with the demo to see how it was coming along.

Sony’s push for independent games continues to be a pretty solid one, with the likes of Shawn McGrath’s Dyad, the innovative Papo & Yo and several others coming to the PlayStation Network over the next few months.  But one that slipped under the radar for some time – and is just now resurfacing – is The Unfinished Swan.  First started as an independent project under the guidance of Ian Dallas in 2008, the game has since grown into a huge exclusive for the Sony camp.  Recently, the company, along with Ian’s team at Giant Sparrow, invited us to get a first look at the game, leading into the huge showing it’ll be getting at E3 next month.

God of War: Ascension was confirmed a few days ago by Sony after months of (badly) being kept secret by the company, and while many are interested in seeing the origins of the series’ violent hero, Kratos, there’s a new element that’s even more interesting.  Sony recently invited us down to an event in Los Angeles to get a first look at the game, but instead of seeing any aspect of single player, we were treated to a glimpse at the proposed multiplayer mode.

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.

As the sun finally started to subside, an amber glow receded behind the looming mountains in the distance. The sunset was short lived, for a chilling darkness approached. Putrid, red goblin corpses were strewn about in bloody disarray across the hillside. Evidence of a recent battle that paled in comparison to the magnitude of what was to come.

Retro/Grade has quite the story behind it.  This downloadable game for PlayStation Network has been in the works for some time, introducing a new style of music/rhythm gameplay that ties in with a space shooter -- in a way.  We've seen it at a number of events, including last year's PAX Prime in Seattle, but upon seeing it at this year's PAX East 2012 event, we were treated with some good news.  The game is finally coming out later this year, as part of Sony's push to bring innovative new downloadable experiences to the PlayStation 3.

Sega’s downloadable game slate is looking incredible.  We certainly won’t lie.  Along with a revamped version of Jet Set Radio, the recently released House of the Dead 4, the upcoming original game Hell Yeah (more on that shortly) and the return of Sonic the Hedgehog (part four, episode two), Sega has a lot of genres covered.  You can count fighting in there as well, as the company is bringing Virtua Fighter 5 back to market with the upcoming expansion Final Showdown, set for release on Xbox Live and the PlayStation Network.

The first person shooter genre is one of the staples of the video game industry. Influx of high quality AAA shooters hit the market, making this one of the toughest market to crack an identity. Even though there are hundreds of entries into the genre, the market has recently become static due to the lack of new ideas brought to the table. What’s the solution? Ravaged!

For the longest time, Square Enix’s role-playing games have followed a usual tradition, a pre-set game pattern involving an intricate battle system or characters that could easily be adapted to, depending on their techniques and weaponry.  While fans can certainly appreciate such an approach, others can be turned off by it, merely due to the monotony.  But the company is listening, and ready to provide something a little different this summer with Theatrhythm: Final Fantasy.

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.

Remember Double Dragon in the 80’s?  No, I don’t mean the dreadful Hollywood retread where Robert Patrick was playing a shadow lord and Alyssa Milano turned into the most undesirable blonde ever.  I mean the ORIGINAL Taito game, the one where Billy and Jimmy Lee tore through an enemy army before realizing they had to fight themselves in order to save the girl.  Well, that good ol’ feeling of butt-kicking is making a return this July, as WayForward, the developers behind Contra 4 and Mighty Switch Force, are working on a Double Dragon relaunch.