Terrible twosome is a pretty unfair way to describe Benny & Richie, considering Benny's really the only terrible one. This week Richie conducts a professional and interesting interview with legendary skateboarder Tony Hawk about his new game, and talks the sweet science with Aussie boxer and new Fight Night entrant Billy "The Kid" Dib. Benny on the other hand pushes the boundaries of good taste with his booth babe interviews and calls out Gamespot. GAMESPOT? One of them does Krav Maga Benny. What do I do, Couch Fu...

And we wouldn't have it any other way. Watch the latest episode now to see it all in action, and boys - don't change. (Also GameArena would totally whoop Gamespot's arse).

This week's update sees Andy talking Monster Hunter Freedom Unite with Ben Dwyer-Roberts - they're not kidding about the friends thing by the way. This game needs people with you to be any fun. He also takes aim at Obama again, although this time the Prez has resigned himself to the idea that kids will play video games. We also reflect on MJ's career in videogames, and Suze was back on the street asking people questions again!

Watch the latest episode now! If you were going to make a Michael Jackson game today, what the hell would you make? Nobody say anything related to kiddy touching.

Pricing may still be TBA for Australian versions of DJ Hero, but if you thought you were getting any change out of $200 you may wish to start thinking again.

The $RRP for the game in the States? $USD120. Which thanks to the US economy being in the toilet comes out to $148 and change as of the time of writing. Scary fact - the Aussie dollar only recently strengthened, so it could be a lot worse.

It's safe to assume our DJ Hero $RRP at launch will not go under this point (say $150 in nice round figures). If it does, I will eat a bar of soap while playing Guitar Hero (and upload the video).

However with the announcement of the UK's recommended retail - which our pricing usually follows closely after conversion - it may be that $200 is a closer mark. Eurogamer is reporting Activision has told at least one retailer the recommended price for the game in the UK is GBP107.99. Most retailers are likely to hit up punters at launch for around 99 pound, just to put off the psychological factor of shelling out triple figures. This - in Australian dollars - is just over $200 at the time of writing...

It's not easy being number one. Just ask Electronic Arts. After ruling the games industry for over a decade, a few reversals and a timely merger by the opposition saw Activision assume top spot like it was theirs all along.

It doesn't take much to get toppled, and the first real test of Activision Blizzard's top dog rating may come this Christmas, if Janco partners analyst Mike Hickey's comments - circulated to partners - are to be taken seriously.

Hickey - who previously predicted Modern Warfare 2 would be the biggest selling game of 2009 (if not the biggest entertainment launch of the year) - has communed with the spirits and identified a cluster of risks that could "compromise" Activision's end of year sales bonanza.


1. StarCraft II may not launch in 2009

Hickey believes it is "increasingly probable" StarCraft II will launch in "fiscal 2010" period. It seems Hickey is basing this on comments made by Blizzard to Kotaku (...) stating the beta period will run for 4-6 months - meaning a Christmas window would be very tight...

This is literally my first trip out to the Atari offices, and it's definitely larger than I imagined. Upon arrival I'm ushered into the media room equivalent of my dream lounge room. In the centre of the room are two chairs with swivelling bases and a small coffee table. On two walls are massive HDTVs connected to dev consoles - one is showing the Wii version of Codemaster's take on Formula 1, the other playing the menu screen for Batman: Arkham Asylum.

Around the room are life size figurines of Lara Croft and Kane & Lynch, but the real winner - the piece I contemplate stealth KO'ing my gracious hosts for - is a framed canvas for Metal Gear Solid, signed by Hideo Kojima. I'm considering a sneaking mission of my own...


Why do asylums always look so creepy?

Hudson Hawk-esque capers aside, even a MGS canvas couldn't hold my attention as long as Batman: Arkham Asylum. I waltzed in the room and I'm immediately asked the all important question "Do you have a preference? PS3 or Xbox 360?"

It's already on the screen on the 360, so my decision is made for me. The game loads straight to Batman escorting The Joker into Arkham Asylum, a sprawling island correctional facility. I'm immediately reminded of the beginning to The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay - except this time you're X to the Z, not V to the D...

Head through for our full first look!

Studio president of Bungie, Harold Ryan has revealed in an interview with the Seattle Times that Natal could be in the mix for Halo Reach, the Halo title coming after Halo 3: ODST.

Well, kinda. The full quote below essentially says Reach could be played with it - something you should be able to do with most games with varying levels of success.

Bungie also received an early look at the "Project Natal" motion-sensing controller Microsoft is developing for the Xbox. Studio President Harold Ryan said he's enthusiastic about the device and it could be used in "Reach," another version of "Halo" expected in the fall of 2010. "I absolutely think 'Reach' could be enabled with it," he said.

Also on the motion control front, word on the street is the new Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 on Wii has finally nailed a proper swing mechanic (using Wii Motion Plus). A whole stack of large outlets have been raving about how accurate the control is...

This week Andy shows off his mad skills once again with a sneak peak at the end of Red Faction: Guerrilla. He's also checking out his favourite iPhone game Flight Control from Aussie devs Firemint, sassing Barack Obama regarding his opinions on video games and we take a look at Andy from a few different perspectives on his new pocket video camera.






You can watch the video here. Have you finished Red Faction: Guerrilla?

12 years after the events of Max Payne 2: Maxer Payne, our hero has found himself in the city of São Paulo, Brazil working as a private security officer for a wealthy family, addicted to painkillers.

And that's probably your fault. You're the one who kept popping them every time you didn't dodge the bullets flying your way. Anyway, there's new screenshots available on the Max Payne 3 Games Page.

The real question here is - can you accept this new Max Payne? He's not a cop any more and he appears to be shooting things in the day time. He's looking more With a Vengeance than Maltese Falcon - do you trust Rockstar with Max?

P.S. We want to apologise to Rockstar for likening their game to Transformers 2.

Ok so somehow last week's joke option Final Fantasy VII won. Shame. Mechwarrior was relegated to a very close second, with the write-ins favouring either Age of Empires 2 (because Real Time Strategies desperately rely on graphics) and Planescape: Torment (yeah, ok).

This week you're picking the least heroic video game hero - these guys either look like cuddly little toys, or they're just not especially inspiring.

Bub and Bob - (Bubble Bobble) They're dragons and they shoot bubbles. They could be bloody velociraptors, schnick schnicking their way through legions of foes but instead they burp bubbles and eventually turn human where they fart rainbows. Very forward thinking, but not especially heroic.

Ash Ketchum - (Pokemon) This little kid leaves home at what, 8? Then he cavorts around the world training wild animals to fight one another practically to death before eventually capturing and enslaving them when he defeats them. What a horrid little boy.

Kirby - (Kirby's Dreamland)Even if you ignore the whole "he's a little cute, pink bubble" thing, you have to admit he's not very heroic. He eats and absorbs everyone he sees. He's the cute, pink, bubbly version of Alex Mercer from Prototype (well, Alex Mercer is a punching people in half version of Kirby).

Tidus - (Final Fantasy X) Cloud, the giant sissy from Final Fantasy VII is always an attractive option but Tidus... Come on. Shorts above the knees. Floppy hair. This (youtube is metered content). The only defense he has is that being cretinous isn't not heroic. Close enough though.

Gordon Freeman - (Half Life) A mute, vision impaired scientist? Not really setting off the swoon alarms. Some would argue that fighting off an alien invasion is pretty heroic - it's not when the space-time hole which let them in is your fault. That's called covering your arse.

Head to the front page to pick your favourite, or tell me I'm wrong in the comments below! No nominating anti-heroes either. They're obviously not heroes. They're anti-heroes. Low-hanging fruit is not close to the ground because it's full of juicy goodness.

The wining, dining and hookups have concluded and now the E3 Game Critics - a cabal of some of America's biggest hitting games media outlets - has announced their best games of this year's show.

We'll let the awards list do the talking until the bottom...