Remember the good ol’ days of arcade-style overhead racers?  I’m talking about stuff like Sega’s classic Hot Rod and even the original Codemasters NES release Micro Machines, where you would race along breakfast tables and garage floors trying to prove you were number one.  Well, these days, that formula of racer lives on, with EA’s Reckless Racing games doing some damage over on the iPad, as well as Bang Bang Racing, an offering from Digital Reality, doing donuts on Xbox Live and PlayStation Network.  But did these guys manage to get the formula right, or does it stall out of the gate?

It’s been a good five years since we stepped onto the battlefield with a full-fledged Ghost Recon game, cruising through the skies with Advanced Warfighter 2.  Since that time, Ubisoft’s been putting the finishing touches on its latest chapter, Future Soldier, only to run into delays and forcing its release date to move a few months.  Well, the time for delays is over, as the finished product has finally worked its way to store shelves.  Now the question is, has this long wait been worth it?

Ronimo Games dodged quite a bullet with the release of Awesomenauts, as the game’s publisher, DTG, was just about ready to file for bankruptcy, throwing its release into question.  But things got worked out, and now players everywhere will be able to experience the MOBA – multiplayer online battle arena – action that awaits within.  While there are things that are hard to overlook, the situations you can get into with friends really put the “Awesome” into the game’s name.

While I appreciate the fact that Sony is going for a more diverse game collection for its PlayStation Network service, that doesn’t necessarily mean everyone’s going to be batting out of the park with their efforts.  Case in point – Gelid Games’ Wheels of Destruction, a game that obviously takes its inspiration from the Twisted Metal series, but tries to add its own diverse touches here and there to make it feel different.  And indeed, it does.  Unfortunately, it’s not for the better.

Tell me if you’ve heard this before.  It’s the future, and a robotic threat has overtaken the place, threatening to put a damper on humanity unless they’re stopped before it’s too late.  Hello, Terminator?  Yeah, the storyline definitely may not be the most original we’ve seen, but Binary Domain still has more than enough to make up for it.  Though it can’t quite touch last year’s brilliant Vanquish, it comes close, which is more than we can say for a  lot of Gears of War clones these days.

It’s been roughly about five years since we’ve seen a new SSX title, and the last one we saw, SSX Blur on the Wii, left a lot to be desired.  Between the motion controls and somewhat too arcade-y approach, it just felt nauseating.  I think EA Sports realized this too, so it went back to the drawing board to bring the game back up to speed for a relaunch on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.  And after a few delays – and revamping the concept after the initial Deadly Descents announcement – we’re happy to say that SSX, the way we used to remember it, is back.

It seems no matter what kind of system is launching, Ubisoft and Gameloft are on standby with some version of its long-standing Asphalt racing series.  Not that there’s anything wrong with having an arcade racer on hand, especially one where you can ram into opponents and send them crashing to a halt, Burnout-style.  But it almost seems like the development of these games has become by the numbers, wherein going for a fresh approach would’ve been more welcome.  Alas, Asphalt Injection doesn’t do that, and so it stands as an “average” pick for the system’s launch today.

When SoulCalibur came out for the Dreamcast just over ten years ago, it defined a new direction for the team at Namco Bandai, one of promise and dedication.  Despite the software that followed over the years, nothing could knock the weapons-based fighter off its perch as the best game to come out for the system.  Fast forward eleven years later, as the company tries to repeat its success by launching the same game on Apple's mobile devices.  Is it just as successful this time around?  Not exactly...and that's probably due to the changes in the market itself.

When Namco Bandai released Ace Combat: Assault Horizon for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 back in October, I thought it was a great new direction for the series, one filled with plenty of adrenaline and excitement, even if the helicopter sequences aren't for everyone's tastes.  But if you prefer the Ace Combat of old, you should check out the recently released 3DS entry, Assault Horizon Legacy.  It does have some stuff in common with the other version, but it's heart is kept firmly in the realm of old-school.

For the past few weeks, I’ve been going on for a bit about Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, while occasionally taking jabs at Battlefield 3.  Yeah, EA’s press treatment hasn’t been the most favorable regarding this game (they basically denied some smaller outlets, even the ones they invited to events) while Activision has taken care of anyone and everyone with their product.  But when we get down to the good and gritty, the games should take primary focus.  So, with that, I took some devoted time to sit down with Battlefield 3 to see how it turned out.  And despite a few hiccups, it’s a mighty war machine.

Unicomm and The Bob Dowling Group have announced speakers and sessions for the second annual 3D Gaming Summit: 3D Gaming and Beyond presented in association with Variety. Scheduled for Thursday, September 22, 2011 at the Hollywood & Highland Center, Hollywood, CA, the new summit will take place the same week as the 3D Entertainment Summit and LA Mobile Entertainment Summit. The gaming summit is expanding beyond 3D this year to look at some of the hottest sectors of games, including cloud gaming, mobile game and augmented reality.  Producers have also confirmed Mick Hocking, Vice President of Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios, as a featured speaker. Hocking oversees all 3D game development for Sony.

2K Sports NBA 2K11 has sold over 5 million copies to date, thanks in part to no direct competition from EA Sports. With the NBA lockout in full swing, 2K Sports will once again face no competition this upcoming NBA season on the simulation front from EA Sports or anyone else. Sony exited the NBA game arena a couple years back. But EA will have a new NBA Jam: On Fire Edition being released digitally this fall filled with arcade action. The developer talks about what’s in store for EA’s second NBA Jam title in this exclusive interview from EA Showcase.