More Dead Island is coming June 26th. The Dead Island – Game of the Year Edition will be released for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC for $30. Originally released in September of 2011, Dead Island was named Gamecritics.com’s 2011 Game of the Year and received multiple Editors’ Choice awards. Dead Island quickly became a fan favorite, topping the charts of #1 best-selling games worldwide during its launch and going on to delight over 3 million zombie lovers across the globe.

Earlier today, Take Two announced that 2K Marin’s first-person shooter XCOM has been delayed to fiscal 2014. This isn't the first time that Take Two delayed XCOM as the project had a 2011 release date, but is now set back to Take Two Interactive's 2014 fiscal year ranging between April 2013 to March 2014.  

It’s a very big week for Tom Clancy fans. Ubisoft, which now owns the rights to the Tom Clancy brand, is making the most of it. They’re launching a new short format Ghost Recon Alphas movie, Ghost Recon Future Soldier for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 and the new free Facebook game, Ghost Recon Commander, an isometric tactical combat game.

Poor Max Payne.  All the painkillers and alcohol in the world just can’t seem to wipe away the memories of his slain family, nor the troublesome situations he lands in with enemies who want him dead.  So, of course, he’ll jump at the chance to take up private work elsewhere, offered by his cohort Passos, who provides him a gig where he provides protection for a real estate tycoon.  But it isn’t long before trouble sets in with a Brazilian drug trading gang snatching the tycoon’s wife, Fabiana, and Max has to do what he does best.  And so begins the long-awaited Max Payne 3, which easily lives up to the first two games…and stands as another fine accomplishment by the team at Rockstar Games.

Seth Killian knows more about fighting games in his sleep than most people do awake. Capcom’s resident pugilist has been helping the development team improve the Street Fighter X TEKKEN console experience with the new Sony PS Vita portable game. Check out the exclusive video interview below from Captivate 2012.

Hockey has gone Hollywood with the Los Angeles Kings skating into the Stanley Cup Final. EA Sports is capitalizing on all the buzz with a deep dive into NHL 13. The developer is introducing True Performance Skating and EA Sports Hockey I.Q. to the franchise, which promises to deliver a revamped gameplay experience that accurately captures the speed, creativity and strategy of NHL hockey. In addition, NHL 13 will also deliver new experiences that connect hockey fans to their friends and the real world of hockey with the all-new GM Connected and NHL Moments Live modes. NHL 13 will be available on September 11, 2012.

Atari has been digging into its classic catalog as of late for a new generation of games.  A few months back, it brought out the entertaining Asteroids Gunner, a twist on its rock-shooting classic from the 80’s.  And just recently, it broke out the old ball-and-paddle for Breakout Boost, complete with new modes and features.  Now another classic gets a remake, and this time it’s Circus Atari.  A game that originally started out on the Atari 2600 as a humorous collaborative effort, where you had to balance two people on a bouncing see-saw as they collected balloons, it has since been turned into a variation of Doodle Jump for the iPad.  While that’s bound to entertain a few folks, I can’t help but think what might’ve been had Atari taken the development in a different direction.

One of the most-anticipated games of 2012 is now coming to a lot more screens. Adhesive Games’ free-to-play PC game, HAWKEN, will be available in 720p running at 60 frames per second through Gaikai’s cloud gaming network. That means anyone who has a Smart TV or high-end tablet will be able to play the new Mech shooter from publisher Meteor Entertainment. Check out the video demo below showing the game in action.

When it comes to the global sport, soccer still reigns supreme. EA has sold over 100 million copies of its FIFA games over the years. With E3 around the corner, Electronic Arts unveiled five new innovations that will bring big changes to EA SPORTS FIFA Soccer 13, along with the largest and deepest feature set in the history of the franchise.

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.  

Taking full advantage of Kinect for Xbox 360, Steel Battalion Heavy Armor is a first-person perspective action game that will put players in the cockpit of futuristic Vertical Tanks (VTs) starting June 19. Set in 2082, the game depicts a world devoid of semiconductors, where war is waged with rudimentary weapons as new superpowers struggle for dominance. In a twist of fate, the U.S. army has been forced to begin major landing operations on what was once its own soil. Playing as pilot Lt. Powers, players control one a VT as he embarks on a mission that will see the action shift from North America to battlefields and war-torn streets across the globe. The multiplayer mode of the game made its debut at Captivate 2012.  Capcom’s Antoine Molant was on hand to discuss this sequel in this exclusive interview.

Game journalism isn't as easy as it looks.  Oh, sure, you think we just sit around all day and play Max Payne 3, but the truth is, playing is just part of the job.  Writing is a huge, fundamental part of it, as you have to be able to express yourself in the right manner, not just go "This is cool because blah blah."  You need to FEEL right about the job.  One step to getting an idea of what video game journalism is all about is getting the book Critical Path: How To Review Videogames For a Living, written by Dan Amrich.  Dan, also known as One of Swords on Twitter (@oneofswords), worked in journalism for the longest time before taking a job working with Activision.  Still, he remembers his days fondly enough, as he put his experience into words to help guide young minds of tomorrow down the RIGHT path of journalism.  You know, the one that doesn't involve "blah blah".