“This is an ambitious and completely unique feature that has never been attempted before for football videogames. The game will feel and play differently each week. With adidas Live Season if Ronaldinho has a great match on the weekend you’ll feel the difference when you pick up the controller as his in-game attributes increase.”

Heh, that’s really sweet! Even more, it seems a “global network of football scouts” will keep an eye on every player, providing “accurate and in-depth player and team data each week.”

Unfortunately, the service will be offered to PS 3, Xbox 360 and PC gamers, but will only be available for Barclay’s Premier League, La Liga BBVA, Ligue 1, Bundesliga, Serie A and Mexican Primera Division. Well, that’s life, I guess I can’t have the weekly stats of my favorite players in the local parking lot championships…

While Cortana has been the focal point of all the fan art spotlights thus far, she grudgingly takes the backseat this week to a rather unorthodox pairing of video game characters. Fret not though because our favorite enticing holographic AI character does make a brief appearance towards the end of this series of pictures so she’ll be there, just not as much as you are accustomed to.

Our first piece of featured fan art was jaw-dropping sexy, the second was morbidly disturbing, the third was classically cartoonish, and the fourth is none of the above. Actually a short series of pictures created by deviantART user Jedigeek93, it tells the triangular love story of an adventurous Big Daddy, a heartbroken Hunter, and a very mischievous Cortana. While this particular spotlight won’t appeal to everybody, I found the unlikely pairing of the Big Daddy and Hunter to be quite appealing. Maybe because it’s unexpected, perhaps because they have similar body types but it just seemed right to me (until the end of course). Enjoy the oddly unique tale these pictures tell, and then let’s swap personal interpretations. I’m curious to hear what everybody thinks.

*Images used with permission.

“All those with a nervous disposition must look away…now!”, forewarns the gravelly-voiced narrator in the trailer for Sega and Headstrong Game’s newest iteration in the delightfully-cheesy The House of The Dead series, The House of the Dead: Overkill.

What follows is a sixty-one second romp into the world of seventies shock horror, complete with grainy video and, unsurprisingly, strippers with guns. Make no mistake about it: the blood is certainly there as well, and in buckets. Sega and Headstrong Games promise “relentless, gore-drenched, over-the-top action” in the title, a feature that has already gotten it blacklisted in Germany, where regulations are strict and the title is unlikely to see a release. The House of the Dead: Overkill’s grindhouse-esque style is accentuated with various cinematic touches. HeadStrong Games developer Neil McEwan said in an interview with IGN that various filters and scratches would be used in an effort to give the title the grainy appearance of the film genre it is modeled after.

Built from the ground up for the Wii, The House of the Dead: Overkill will feature various implementations of the Wiimote’s motion controls, including (but hopefully not limited to) reloading and pistol-whipping. Overkill looks set to be a hyperbolic, graceful breath of fresh air in an otherwise increasingly hardcore game-devoid Wii library. And, as McEwan promises to all those somewhat-disillusioned Wii gamers: “It’ll beat the shit out of grooming a horse.”

Rabbids TV Party - Olympics

Neo Turf Masters review

Wacky Racers: Crash and Dash review

Backyard Baseball 09 review, screens

Skate It video

Little League World Series 2008 review

Big Beach Sports review

GC 2008: The House of the Dead: Overkill Brings Pulp Horror Action Exclusively to the Wii

Midnight Pool WiiWare review

CSI: Hard Evidence review

The Conduit to be featured at PAX 2008

World of Zellians announced

House of the Dead: Overkill preview

House of the Dead: Overkill trailer

My Baby Girl/Boy hands-on, screens

The Mummy DS - review

Suzuki Super-Bikes II: Riding Challenge Screens

Skate It DS videos

Hands-on, videos: Red Bull BC One

New title blasts its way into Europe

Relive Original Dragon Ball Adventures with Dragon Ball: Origins on Nintendo DS

SouthPeak Games Bringing My Baby to Nintendo DS in North America This Fall

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Last week's PS2 platformer debate brought out various different opinions from readers, with a healthy amount of fan support from all sides. While there was one clear winner, there was a vicious fight for second place, with a single deciding vote preventing it from finishing as a tie. Here are the close results:

• 1st: Ratchet & Clank series (42 votes) -- Winner!
• 2nd: Sly Cooper series (22 votes)
• 3rd: Jak & Daxter series (21 votes)

This week, not only do I feel like starting some retro debates, but I'd also like to rekindle an element of these debates we haven't visited in a while. I used to enjoy debates between two games that aren't very similar. Discussions that force you to think outside the box, consider all the pros and cons of each game, and compare and contrast them in a way that really makes you think about why you did or didn't enjoy a certain game.

With debates like these, it's not good enough to just vote with your gut -- it forces you to be more analytical and think like a game designer. It's my opinion that you should be able to compare any two games to each other no matter how drastically different they are in their nature.

For tonight we'll start off simple though, with Excitebike and Punch-Out!! -- two sports games with completely different gameplay styles. Which game do you think is better, and why? Give it some serious thought, get some NES friends to share their opinions as well, and check back next week for the winner and an even odder Retro debate matchup.

Bonus Question: What other NES retro games would you like to see fight to the death in a debate?

Last week's PS2 platformer debate brought out various different opinions from readers, with a healthy amount of fan support from all sides. While there was one clear winner, there was a vicious fight for second place, with a single deciding vote preventing it from finishing as a tie. Here are the close results:

• 1st: Ratchet & Clank series (42 votes) -- Winner!
• 2nd: Sly Cooper series (22 votes)
• 3rd: Jak & Daxter series (21 votes)

This week, not only do I feel like starting some retro debates, but I'd also like to rekindle an element of these debates we haven't visited in a while. I used to enjoy debates between two games that aren't very similar. Discussions that force you to think outside the box, consider all the pros and cons of each game, and compare and contrast them in a way that really makes you think about why you did or didn't enjoy a certain game.

With debates like these, it's not good enough to just vote with your gut -- it forces you to be more analytical and think like a game designer. It's my opinion that you should be able to compare any two games to each other no matter how drastically different they are in their nature.

For tonight we'll start off simple though, with Excitebike and Punch-Out!! -- two sports games with completely different gameplay styles. Which game do you think is better, and why? Give it some serious thought, get some NES friends to share their opinions as well, and check back next week for the winner and an even odder Retro debate matchup.

Bonus Question: What other NES retro games would you like to see fight to the death in a debate?

Preview here