Castle Crashers is one of those games, like Poker Smash, that I really would love to see on a handheld console.

These games scream "take me with you!"

One of the biggest draws of the game is it's HUGE library of unlockable content. From the 22 characters to the recently announced 40 weapons this game has hidden jewels galore. In a stunning double reveal the folks at behemoth showed off two a new character and new weapon yesterday.

Yes ... that does appear to be a lightsaber.

Personally - I want to see this game on the PSP but if it's only XBL bound I'll probably break and make the purchase. I'm personally calling Castle Crashers one to watch and I'll definitely be searching more about the game as it develops.

Yes, I played Magic: The Gathering in high school. I played in a few tournaments and collected the cards as both a player and as a collector. The problem, of course, was that as a high school student I never really had enough cash to keep up with my habit.

When college came around I dragged a deck with me but I never really got to play again.

Nearly 10 years later I'm psyched to hear that Wizard of the Coast's killer collectible card game Magic: The Gathering will be coming to XBLA. Magic: Online was a solid interpretation of the game but relied too heavily on buying digital boosters and decks - hopefully the same isn't true for the XBLA version.

This kind of leads me to believe that Mass Effect's DLC, slated for release on March 10th, is geared towards players who already finished at least one playthrough of the game.

Apparently the Bring down the Sky pack requires that players basically be at the point where they've received the Normandy and have access to the Galactic Map. According to Stephen Totilo, of MTVs Multiplayer blog:

Yesterday at the DICE summit in Las Vegas, BioWare co-founder Ray Muzyka confirmed to me that I would have to get my Commander Shepherd back in control of the Normandy spaceship — in other words, past the game’s opening Eden Prime and Citadel sequences — in order to access the new DLC.

It remains to be seen whether spare save games will counteract the need to play through the Eden Prime and Citadel portions so we'll have to wait it out. Thankfully I left off my second playthrough having just received the Normandy so hopefully I won't have to do much more work to enjoy the added portions.

1. Do you struggle with the whammy bar in Guitar Hero? Good with a soldering iron? You may want to check out this hack presented by Googlemarks. With just a little bit of soldering and a basic knowledge of circuitry and you've got an automatic whammy bar capable of maxing your scores - of course if you still have to work those pesky fret buttons on your own or just go a step too far and build a Guitar Hero playing robot.
2. The folks over at DSFanboy have a post comparing the three different versions of N+ that will be coming to the DS, PSP and XBox Live Marketplace. There's also a very interesting point made - apparently because the game is essentially being developed by Atari for the handhelds and Metanet for XBLM, and because all three versions will have different aspect ratios, the three versions all basically have unique levels ... over 500 each! Looks like if you really love N you could buy all three games and experience a TON of gameplay variety.
3. I've been avidly watching TIGSource for news on independent games and once again they've come through. Check out this post which highlights the upcoming Bonesaw. Looks like it might be a lot of fun - it also looks difficult but that's a good thing no?
4. GamePro recently released an article concerning Gears of War 2 and it's possible release sometime in 2008.  Epic responded by calling the article "complete nonsense."  Want to read what the article?  Check out scans currently available on at Kotaku.

OK so I wasn't that interested to hear that Bionic Commando was getting a next-gen revamp. I loved the original game but I'm not too sure I'd like a next-gen version - I guess it all really comes down to what the final game ends up being like.

Of course as I said I loved the original game though - that's why I'm totally digging the trailer for the upcoming Bionic Commando Rearmed which is going to be hitting XBLA and PSN soon.

Check out the video courtesy of IGN and tell me you're not intritued.