Once upon a time, the folks at United Front Games -- the developer behind ModNation Racers -- was assigned the task of bringing back Activision's True Crime series with an all new chapter.  But somewhere in the midst of the game's development, the publisher changed its mind, leaving years worth of work simply sitting on the table.  But not one to let, ahem, Sleeping Dogs lie, Square Enix picked up the project, changing its name but not its focus, and allowing United Front to finish up the project for action gamers to enjoy.  This August, the final product will arrive for both Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

Hot on the heels of Namco Bandai’s Soul Calibur V World Championship in Las Vegas this week, there are new opportunities for the best fighting gamers to earn cash. Major League Gaming (MLG) is offering several fighting competitions to its 2012 Pro Circuit Spring Season. Check out this video from the Namco Soul Calibur V event below.

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.

The story behind Activision’s attempt to revive its True Crime series is an interesting one and, at one point, a sad one.  The company hired United Front Games to work on True Crime: Hong Kong, and even announced it during the 2010 Spike TV Video Game Awards show.  However, months after its development (and a pretty good E3 showcase), the company chose to cancel the project, feeling it wouldn’t live up to its potential.  Now that COULD’VE been a sad story, had Square Enix not picked up the pieces and opted to release the game as an original adventure called Sleeping Dogs.  But it did.

When it released for consoles late last year, Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 marked some notable improvements over the original, including better fighting balance, extra modes (Galactus!) and the inclusion of some great new characters, such as Phoenix Wright (doesn't even fight, just shuffles papers and unleashes the ULTIMATE SECRETARY) and Ghost Rider.  Those who may have missed out on it, though, will have another chance to check it out, this time on the portable front, as UMVC 3 is set to arrive this month for PlayStation Vita.

We're only a couple of months away from the release of Capcom's latest crossover fighting game, one that combines two iconic franchises for the first time since the company teamed up with SNK many years ago.  This time around, the team's working closely with those over at Namco to mesh the worlds of Street Fighter and Tekken together.  The game's bound to be a hit on consoles, but one version you might not expect to be such a hot commodity is the one coming for the PlayStation Vita handheld.  We're here to tell you why it shouldn't be missed.

There's no question that 2011 was a big year for the Mortal Kombat franchise, as Netherrealm Games effectively relaunched the franchise and made fighting relevant again, complete with over-the-top fatalities and bonus characters that piqued our interest.  (Freddy Krueger?)  But it looks like 2012 will be just as eventful for the series, as the team has not only announced a new Komplete Edition that's coming to consoles later this spring, but also its debut on the PlayStation Vita.

Every year, Microsoft has a gaggle of Xbox Live Arcade titles held aside as part of a Block Party promotion, to entice subscribers to take part in some of the better downloadable titles out there.  It's been doing this for the past few years, and this morning, it continued to buck the trend with the announcement of XBLA House Party 2012, which includes what could very well be the best titles in the promotion to date -- including the long-awaited I Am Alive from Ubisoft.

When it was first announced back at E3, the UFC on Xbox Live app definitely had a few fans excited, especially with the promise of being able to watch live pay-per-views through the convenience on your console.  Unfortunately, last night proved that sometimes if something seems too good to be true, it usually is.

When UFC Undisputed 2010 came out a year and a half ago, many people were wondering why Brock Lesnar was chosen to be on the cover...and well, the answer was kind of obvious.  Despite controversy surrounding him, the guy knew how to put up a fight.  Now THQ and UFC has chosen another great cover star for its upcoming UFC Undisputed 3, and it's none other than one of the hardest hitting stars in the circuit today, Anderson Silva.

The original Mortal Kombat movie wasn't half bad.  Director Paul Anderson convincingly carried the tone from the video game over into an effective PG-13 rated product, and despite a few cheesy moments ("GORO!  YEAHHHH!"), it turned out to be one of the better video game movies to date.  But then New Line Cinema had to piss all over it by releasing Mortal Kombat Annihilation, a jumbled sequel with too many characters, a lame story, and the kind of special effects you'd see from a student production facility.  But luckily, it looks like the next Mortal Kombat film will be up to form...if it's ever released, anyway.