It looks like the strenuous wait for Doom 4 will continue on, as neither Bethesda nor id Software have any new information about the sequel -- and it won't likely be present at E3.  However, it looks like we'll have the next best thing, as the companies did announce this morning that it is bringing back an Xbox/PC favorite for the current generation of gaming.  Hope you've got your boomstick handy.

You’ve seen the first trailer for Call of Duty: Black Ops II, right?  The one where our own drones are turned against us in the face of a new enemy and plenty of chaos happening around Los Angeles?  Well, that’s just the tip of the iceberg.  Recently, Activision invited us to a pre-E3 event, where it showed off the first gameplay footage, a good ten minutes worth of tense future action.  And we can tell you right now – Treyarch hasn’t lost a step between the first game and the second.  In fact, it’s learned quite a bit with the tweaks it’s made to the familiar Infinity Ward tech.

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.

While we’re big fans of where the SSX series has gone as of late (the February 2012 release has blown us away, and we’re still challenging leaderboard times), we can’t help but think back to the classic days of the series, back when we were playing SSX Tricky and SSX 3, not caring about sudden drop-offs or weather conditions and instead just having fun grinding down the mountain with a hotly dressed babe or some dude with a red-headed afro.  Apparently, Electronic Arts lovingly remembers those days too, and on May 1, it’ll be celebrating them with an upcoming SSX Mt. Eddie and Classic Characters Bundle Pack, for both Xbox Live and PlayStation Network.

It sounded like a fair enough idea.  Capcom signed on Slant Six Games to produce a new Resident Evil game that takes more of a team initiative, and rather than controlling the usual heroes (or anti-heroes, depending who you choose), you’re instead in charge of someone working for Umbrella, in this case some Spec Ops soldiers sent in to do clean-up.  It sounds like a compelling idea, but how did Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City go wrong?  Well, it’s right there in the opening sentence – Slant Six Games.

I’ve spent quite a bit of time with Capcom’s Street Fighter x Tekken, not only because I wanted to make sure to test out the online play and the additional PS3-exclusive fighters (y’know, “fat” Mega Man” and Cole McGrath from Infamous), but also because it’s not just another typical crossover fighter.  Yes, it combines characters from both Capcom and Namco’s respective fighting universes, but its controls are set up a little differently, rather than relying on the mechanics that worked so well in the Marvel vs. Capcom games.  That’s not a complaint by any means.  In fact, I can’t think of a hardcore fighting fan that wouldn’t dig into this thing like a treasure chest.  Casual fans, too.