We're in for a brutal week to kick this month off, marked by Kratos' latest killing trip through God of War: Chains of Olympus for the PSP and Jimmy Hopkins' enrollment for scholarship in Bullworth Academy. War is nigh with Warhammer 40K's latest expansion and Army of Two, though there's still a couple of baseball titles inbound if you want a break from all the violence. All these are waiting at the full article, so hit that jump!

In an interview with Davide Speyrer, Half-Life 2: Episode Two project lead, he says that Valve is planning something "pretty ambitious" for Episode Three, addressing the interviewer's statement on the absence of a trailer after Episode 2.

It's been speculated before that Episode 3 will be set in the Arctic. Not much else we can tell you though, but Speyrer's explanation might help you formulate your own speculations. Read more on the interview in the full article.

We're getting right into the thick of things as we head into the holiday season, and the good times just keep rolling with big releases every week. Last week we saw The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass lead the launch charge, but this week's mood is a bit different as the Sony PlayStation Portable and the PC are piling up some good titles.

This week's offerings have a healthy host of action, RPG, sports, and puzzle games. We'll be seeing that Japanese prospect of a game as Folklore debuts on the Sony PlayStation 3, while the PSP also has some magic to share with Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions. Valve Software is offering up The Orange Box, while EA Sports and Sony are introducing FIFA 08 and NBA 08 respectively. There's a lot more in store so dig in!

Folklore. What do you do when you receive a letter from the dead? Will you get drawn into a mysterious town called Doolin just like this game's protagonists? Encounter musterious creatures, fairies and monsters which could help you unravel the mystery behind the bizarre happenings in this brand new Sony PlayStation 3 exclusive.

• PlayStation 3- October 12, 2007
• US$ 59.99
• ESRB T
• Sony Computer Entertainment

See the rest of the games released this week by clicking the Full Article link below!

With Metal Gear Online's beta testing recently commencing over in Japan's PlayStation 3s, we're sure plenty of fans would love to know how the game's looking so far.

With that in mind, we're reporting that NeoGAF Forums member Autumn Thread managed to get his (or her) hands on a beta pass, and was more than happy to debrief the rest of us.

For starters, the pack comes in at 650 MB, with users required to have a Konami ID to log in. There's also character customization based on what we're hearing, which ensures you've got plenty of leeway in how you want your character to look (Mullets ftw). Now, without further ado, here are Autumn Thread's first impressions:

• The combat is really f**king cool, there's different lobbies, each named after an MGS character ; Snake, Otacon, Liquid etc (yeah, 95% of the people are in Snake lobby).
• It's rather annoying to change to first person mode (L1+triangle) especially when you're fighting people. The box has made a return! It's pretty funny that I managed to kill quite from a cardboard box that totally didn't fit in with the environment.
• There are only two maps in the beta. One looks like the arctic and the other is something like the middle east that we see in the trailers and gameplay footage.
• Voice chat is supported as well as typing. To bring up chat window is left or right on the d-pad.
• To change to the position on your back once laying down is triangle, tapping triangle and holding the joystick in whatever direction will allow you to roll in that said direction.
• Grenades are cool, so are stun knifes.
• No slow down, solid frame rate.

That's a rough idea of how MGO's looking so far in Japan. Check back as more features are discovered.

Check out more first impressions behind the Full Article link!

It's not set in stone yet, but there's a strong possibility that Half-Life 2's Episode Three may just take place in the Arctic, the hint gleaned from a rather telling session with Valve Corporation's Doug Lombardi, as CVG reports.

It was during the preview of Episode Two that Tom Francis put forward the suggestion that the next installment would have you and Alyx traipsing in the Arctic, and instead of quickly shooting it down, Valve PR Doug Lombardi merely replied, "That would be exciting, wouldn't it?"

In a moment that would do a certain Ace Attorney proud, Tom put forward some evidence to solidify his claim: Valve's Half-Life 2 coffee-table book, Raising The Bar, which has within its pages a climactic battle in an arctic base, described in great detail. It's something to note that the same battle detailed in Raising The Bar was supposed to be the climax of Half Life 2 itself, but was cut out at the last minute.

It would make sense for Valve to flesh the entire thing on the final episode. When confronted with the fact that they gave away quite a lot with the book, Doug agreed (without confirming anything, of course), saying that for a US$ 25 book, they had to give away something.

What do you think? Will the trilogy get the ending it deserves? Updates as we get them!

Cosplaying. It's weird, it's goofy, and in some cases, it's Narutard-extreme. Whatever the case, anime otaku and gamer alike love the idea of dressing up as their favorite characters come convention time; everyone wanna see how far they can push their luck impersonating their favorite manga/pixelated hero.

We found these vids over at TechEblog, which are all fan-made skits of all our all-time favorite games. Kinda shows you what a dedicated gamer can do when they've got a bit of money, creativity, and a helluva lot of time on their hands.

The first video up is a skit on Nintendo's Super Mario Bros. It was made by students over at Gordon College in Wenham, Massachusetts. Hmm, early concept for the Wiimote?


The video up next is a homage to everybody's favorite tactical espionage game (Not you, Sam...). This MGS skit was done way over in Taiwan, and we gotta admit, we like the way they adapted an abandoned building for the game's original Arctic setting. On a side note, their Meryl looks cuter than the original, in a Tifa sort of way.

Click on the jump to see the rest of these skits!