It is hard to imagine how a game based on a scantily-clad, half-vampire woman who battles Nazi’s could fail, but somehow, BloodRayne managed to be a fairly mediocre series. When the license was handed over to Uwe “I have a grudge against all gamers” Boll to be mangled and humiliated, it was all but certain that the proverbial wooden stake had been shoved through Rayne’s heart. However, BloodRayne has clawed its way back thanks to Way Forward Technologies. With a new veneer and focus on inventive combat, this 2D, side-scrolling BloodRayne manages to reinvigorate the series and give it a new lease on life. Read the full story

Calling your game “Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet” creates an expectation right off the bat. Is the planet shadowy? Is the planet twisted? And most importantly, is the twisted, shadowy planet INSANELY twisted and shadowy? The name alone creates a list of criteria that must be met. Does Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet (say that five times fast), the third entry in this year’s Summer of Arcade following Bastion and From Dust, live up to its name? If it does live up to its name, is that necessarily a good thing?

SPOILER: it does, and it is. Read the full story

Castlevania: Harmony of Despair is being featured as XBLA’s Deal of the Week this week. Select Harmony of Despair content will be discounted by 50%, today through May 9th. On top of that, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night will also be dropped by 50% for this promotion. Castlevania: Harmony of Despair is best played as a multiplayer game, in my opinion, so now is the perfect time for you and your friends to grab some of your favorite Castlevania characters and kick some Dracula ass. Read the full story

I remember when Outland was announced at last year’s PAX. I instantly fell in love with both the visual feel of the game and the game’s expected polarity-platforming mechanics; I believe my exact phrasing was, “Unfortunately, Outland is not due out until next year, so I can’t make sweet, sweet gamer love to it quite yet.” Well, it is now the aforementioned “next year,” and I have had many hours over the last two days to make that sweet, sweet gamer love to Outland…and there was much rejoicing. Read the full story

I actually looked up the definition of reverie before writing this. It means to enter a state of being pleasantly lost in one’s thoughts. Well…that doesn’t really seem to fit the horrific monsters and vampiric demons found in the Castlevania series, but whatever. We have some new screenshots to look at for the first DLC for Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, entitled Reverie.

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Some people might say that Castlevania is Konami’s greatest creation, while others may say Metal Gear. Some may find Silent Hill to be the crown jewel of Konami, while others may say Dance Dance Revolution. I humbly suggest that they are all wrong (though Castlevania would come close). As a matter of unarguable fact, Konami’s greatest contribution to the world of gaming has been Contra. This can be evidenced by the fact that the “Konami Code” was not made popular by Castlevania, Metal Gear, Silent Hill, or Dance Dance Revolution, but earned its fame through the efforts of Contra. Today, a new entry in the Contra series makes its debut in the form of Hard Corps: Uprising. Read the full story

The third episode of Marooners’ Talk, Episode 002, is now available on our site for listening and download in MP3 format! It should be available on iTunes this weekend, so make sure you keep your eyes open and your iTunes accounts ready to automatically download, since you must have subscribed by now. Episode 002, “Bo Knows Podcasting,” is a bit longer than the first two episodes, but it was fun, so tough. Read the full story

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Today, Konami announced new DLC for Castlevania: Harmony of Despair!

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So the Castlevania: Lords of Shadow ending. Confusing, right? It just came out of nowhere and then… ended. It raised more questions than it did provide satisfying answers. Well, now some of those questions are getting answered. Konami is releasing two DLC packs for Lords of Shadow that will serve as epilogues to the game. Read the full story

I shall call you Shadow of the Prince of the Lord of the God of Vania.

With some Portal thrown in at the end. Read the full story