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Dead Rising 2 delayed until September

In February, Capcom announced that the sequel to its hit zombie-apocalypse action game Dead Rising would arrive on August 31. However, much like the lumbering undead masses players must fight in both games, Dead Rising 2's release date has fallen behind.

The Japanese publisher announced Monday that the new installment in its franchise will now arrive in North America on September 28, in Japan on September 30, in and Europe on October 1.

Read more of "Dead Rising 2 delayed until September" at GameSpot.

preGAME 17: E3 2010 preview

This week on preGAME, we gear up for gaming's biggest show of the year, E3. On today's episode we'll run down every last prediction and anticipated game we're looking forward to at E3 2010, from each of the three major press conferences to the individual titles themselves.

First up for debate is Microsoft. It sounds like we'll finally get an official name for Project Natal, as well as some game announcements made for the motion-capturing hardware. We also think we'll see an Xbox 360 Slim announced at the company's press conference; maybe there'… Read more

Digital City 83: Yankee Stadium bans iPads; new laptop CPUs; losing it over 'Lost'

Don't bother taking your iPad to Yankee Stadium--it's banned the device, along with other laptops. Also, Intel announces new ULV chips; Asus bundles Kindle software on laptops; and [Spoiler Alert] we skip out on the "Lost" island for the last time.

Also, for reasons too complex to go into here, we end up discussing, and digging up the opening sequence from, the '80s sci-fi TV cult classic "Automan" (it's basically Desi Arnaz Jr. meets "Tron").

Our current video game obsession is Red Dead Redemption, and not satisfied to merely play the … Read more

Red Dead Redemption: The last great Western

From the same development team behind Grand Theft Auto comes Red Dead Redemption, the story of an ex-outlaw named John Marston who has been given a second chance at life. Set at the end of America's Wild West, Redemption is a truly ambitious effort from every angle.

Does Redemption hold water on its own, or is it just Grand Theft Auto on horseback?

Jeff: Too many generalizations have been made that label Red Dead Redemption and Grand Theft Auto as the same game. Sure, at their basic cores the titles are similar, but on the surface Red Dead Redemption does a much better job at creating compelling narrative and emotionally charged characters. A big reason for its success is the time period in which Redemption does a convincing job at recreating.

Players are thrown into the end of the iconic Old West, where everyone knows one another and all there is to do is travel from town to town on your horse. It's because of this that everything your character does in the game carries that much more weight with it. Everything has a consequence and Redemption does an impressive job at making you think twice before acting.

The main exposition of Redemption takes a healthy amount of time to fully unravel, which allows for plenty of opportunities to explore the desert. We really enjoyed the fact that no side mission is meaningless because every action is documented via fame and honor, two of the game's RPG-style metrics. For example, the more "known" your character becomes can dictate whether he'll receive a discount at a general store. If he becomes more feared, people on the street will look the other way in passing. Redemption also incentivizes the player to cooperate with certain tasks and complete specific side missions in order to unlock bonuses like new outfits.

As we mentioned earlier, each character is impressively fleshed out with some voice-acting performances (Marshall Johnson immediately comes to mind) rivaling those of live-action dramas. The dialogue is calculated, believable, and is arguably the best display of human interaction as told through a video game.… Read more

preGAME 06: God of War III

This week on preGAME, hosts Jeff Bakalar and Mark Licea take a sneak peek at God of War III! Join us as we play it live on the show and talk to the game's lead designer, Todd Papy. We chat with Todd about wrapping up Kratos' epic saga, some of the new elements found in the game, and pushing the PlayStation 3 to its limits.

But before the demo, we kick off with some headlines that include a breaking announcement about a new game in the Rock Band franchise. That's right; Rock Band 3 will be hitting consoles … Read more

preGAME 03: X10 Showcase

This week on preGAME, hosts Jeff Bakalar and Mark Licea take a look back at all of the big announcements from last week's Microsoft X10 conference in San Francisco. Today's show is chock-full of debut trailers, announcements, and first look game play video of some of 2010's most anticipated Xbox 360-centric games.

But before we get into the big announcements, we'll chat about the death of local multiplayer. Long gone are the days of local four-player split screen action like Goldeneye 64. Now more than ever, game developers are overlooking the game play element that defined the "party game." Why is this upsetting trend so popular? And why do game developers choose to leave it out?

All this plus the week's headlines and releases on preGAME!

Want to be a part of our live taping? Make sure you head to http://cnet.com/live/pregame every Tuesday at 4 p.m. Eastern. If you missed any of the stories we talk about on today's preGAME, make sure to check out our links below.

Xbox Live coming to Windows Phone 7 Street Fighter IV coming to iPhone LA Noire screenshots finally surface Sony will show off motion controller at GDC Jeff's X10 wrap-up post on Crave… Read more

Microsoft X10 conference wrap-up

After a four-year hiatus, Microsoft held its X10 conference this week in San Francisco primarily to announce a bunch of release dates for some notable 360-only games due out this year. The company also flexed its exclusivity muscles by showing off some content that'll only be available on Xbox 360.

We've got all the highlights from the event below, along with all of the show's debut trailers in the video playlist to the right.

Halo: Reach: No solid release date for the game, but Halo 3: ODST owners can get a taste of the title's multiplayer … Read more

Halo: Reach to go into multiplayer beta on May 3

SAN FRANCISCO--If Master Chief means something to you, then get ready. The Halo: Reach multiplayer beta will open up on May 3.

"Reach," as it's being called, is the latest iteration of the hugely popular Halo franchise for Microsoft's Xbox 360. The game is expected to ship sometime this fall, but before that, "millions" of Halo fans will get a chance to play the game and help its developer, Bungie, get the title ready for the masses.

Just this week, Halo: Reach entered private alpha, and on May 3, fans who already have Halo: ODST will be able to access the Reach multiplayer beta using their ODST discs.

For Microsoft and Bungie, Halo: Reach is a crucial title this year. The Xbox has been performing strongly over the last year, but Sony's PlayStation 3 has finally begun to make up some ground on it over the last few months. For Bungie, the game is an opportunity to take on the success of Activision's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, which has set records as the best-selling console game of all time.

According to Bungie creative director Marcus Lehto, Reach is a standalone prequel to the existing Halo series, offering fans of the hit franchise an entirely new story and new characters on a scale unlike what Bungie has done with the game before.

Lehto explained that Reach will have a much darker story line and will focus on a "key turning point in the Human-Covenant War." Halo: Reach takes place in 2552.

In the new game, the planet Reach is humankind's last line of defense against the Covenant. But the planet is also home to the Spartan program, the heart of the human military. The game focuses on one group of Spartans known as Noble Team, led by Carter 259. … Read more

Razer and Sixense bring precise motion control to PC gaming

LAS VEGAS--With all three home consoles supporting motion control in one way or another it's certainly odd that PC gaming has yet to adopt the technology. Traditionally, PC gaming is the platform others look to emulate but in the current generation of Wii remotes, Sixaxis controllers, and Project Natal, gesture-based gaming on the PC remains untouched.

At CES 2010 we've found that this is about to change. High-end PC gaming accessory manufacturer Razer, in conjunction with Sixense, have teamed up to make precise motion control on the PC a reality. Better yet, the companies are doing it with … Read more