MotorStorm: Pacific Rift's pre-release demo was originally intended to be strictly pay-to-play. However, that seems to be not exactly the case now as reports are circulating that SCEE's been sending out email invites.

Skrull-clobbering gameplay and a ton of new info in this three-video assault of the latest title sporting heroes in tight spandex, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. We're here to give you the skinny on the sweet next-gen gameplay and what Chase Jones, Lead Designer of Visual Concepts, has to say about the intrepid quartet's struggles with a certain Silver Surfer.

In the in-depth video interview, we learn of a major departure the title takes from its predecessors - specifically, four-player co-op. Jones explains that the reason for such a drastic change is that as a developing firm, they wanted to bring back the culture of friends coming over and playing with you for hours - also the reason why they opted not to tack on any online features like Xbox Live compatibility or Network Play. And besides, it's the Fantastic Four. Four heroes, four players. Genius.

Another big feature in the game, besides the team-up maneuvers where characters can combine their powers to create more devastating attacks, is the fact that you'll be able to see the upgrades you make for a certain character not only stat-wise, but graphic-wise.

For example, at the beginning of the game, the Human Torch's fireballs come out as slow, weak projectiles that you'd have to spam in order for them to be effective. With enough upgrades, you see them transform from pitiful sparks to devastating comets of hellfire and brimstone that can easily take care of a mob with one hit. Sweet!

Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer will be released on June 15 on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Nintendo DS and Nintendo Wii - around the same date as the movie. In the meantime, though, enjoy the videos!

The other gameplay video and the developer interview after the jump!

And you thought we had problem with spam... the town of Garner, North Carolina has been plagued with someone spamming "Ghost" all over buildings and street signs, reports the Charlotte Observer. It's ticked off local government officials, it's a pain trying to clean up after this guy, whoever he/she is, they can't tell who the heck's doing this vandalism the first place.

The town's Board of Aldermen have passed a resolution, which besides ordering the graffiti removed within 48 hours, are offering a reward of US$ 1,000 for the perp. And if the perp happens to be a juvenile, they sweeten the pot with either US$ 500, or an Xbox 360, or a PS3, or a Wii.

(Now you know why we placed this story under Deals... although, er, it's kinda akin to "deals" as in the ones suspects make with prosecutors when they want to turn state's evidence.)

All kidding aside, these town officials do take their civic pride very seriously. On the other hand, we kinda pity the workload they face: imagine the flood of tips - some of which will turn out to be duds - they'll have to sort through for that kind of reward.

Hey guys, we went live with a new build of our CMS today which now allows users to log in to the QJ.NET blogs, and also includes some other pretty cool features. In the interest of space, I'll just leave this small blurb as to not take up precious real estate on the blog, and you can read about the new site features at the "Full Article" link below.

Customizing your Google home page is quick, easy, and gives you all the info you want right on your Google page. Here is a tutorial on how to customize your Google home page with XML feeds from the QJ.Net site network.

To begin with, you will need a Google account. A Google account is free, doesn't create spam, and you do not need to have Gmail to get a google account, you can sign up with any email account.

Once you have created, and signed into, your Google, account, you will need to visit the Google personalized hompage site at http://www.google.com/ig . Here is what you will see:

This is your basic page layout. You can edit the weather and word of the day boxes by clicking on the edit tab, or close it out by clicking the ?x?. After you have that customized, head to the top left corner of the page, to the ?Add Content? button. When you open the add content bar on the right, you will see the following:

Simply open the "Create a Section" tab, and you will see the "Search by topic or feed URL:" entry box. Here is where you can select and add our RSS feeds into your Google Homepage.

Once you enter the URL of the appropriate XML feed that you want on your page, you can rearrange your page as you see fit. To customize the locations of your XML feeds and windows, simply drag and drop them where you would like them:

--> -->

Repeat the above step for each of the XML feeds from the QJ.Net site network that you are interested in. When you have added them all, you are done. You will be able to use this personalized page for your homepage whenever you are logged into your google account.