Remedy’s original blockbuster franchise gets the Rockstar treatment with its latest installment, Max Payne 3. It’s been almost nine years since we last encountered the titular hard-boiled mess of a man, but he’s clearly returned with a fresh look for today’s consoles and a few new tricks up his blood-stained sleeves. Reviews are pouring in and, as is expected of a new Rockstar title, they’re glowing.

Read for yourself at Polygon, IGN, Kotaku, and wherever ex-cops sit in smoky bars, popping pills, and waxing existential.

Also in this week’s news: we discover who was really behind Diablo III’s error 37 fiasco.

[Kingdom Hearts, The Last of Us, and haunted videogame stories within...]

As many avid Blizzard fans (or gamers in general, really) already know, Diablo III’s release is less than a week away from becoming reality. The May 15 launch date is welcome news to jonesing players who were unable to get their hands on a beta invite during Blizzard’s extensive beta-testing period (if you’re interested, you can check out our earlier impressions of the beta here). We already know that Diablo III begins in the town of New Tristram, where a fallen star has plunged through the town’s cathedral, leaving scorched earth and a plethora of demons in its wake. As (bad) luck would have it, the star has also awakened the undead, who are now laying siege to the township. Enter, you.

[“Stay awhile, and listen.”]

Independent game developer Jon Blow recently ignited a mini-firestorm across the Internet due to his comments in a feature piece in The Atlantic, in which he proclaimed the mainstream game industry to be “a fucked-up den of mediocrity. There are some smart people wallowing in there, but the environment discourages creativity and strength and rigor, so what you get is mostly atrophy.” (Coincidentally, this exact quote serves as an accurate assessment of several aspects of modern post-secondary education... but there’s a different argument for a different day.)

[Click indignantly for more.]

EA has released the first substantial gameplay trailer for their latest entry in the Crysis series, Crysis 3. Set in a futuristic New York overgrown by rainforests, and encased within a nanodome by a corrupt billion-dollar corporation intent on world domination, the player is thrust into the role of Prophet, a recurring character in the series, who makes his way through the city looking for vengeance and, of course, kicking some alien ass along the way.

[Don your nanosuits after the jump]

Microsoft and 343 Industries have announced that Master Chief will awaken once more this winter, in the upcoming Halo 4. The latest installment of Microsoft’s gaming magnum opus marks both a transition in development studios (from Bungie to 343) and the start of a new trilogy in the Halo franchise. Perhaps as a result of this culture shift, Halo 4 purportedly departs somewhat from the more traditional FPS tropes of the previous games and instead assumes more of a mysterious, exploratory mantle.

[Click to victory crouch on Conan O’Brien’s face]

Jack Tramiel, founder of Commodore International and Atari Corp, passed away on Sunday, April 8, 2012 at the age of 83. Born in Poland, Tramiel’s family was sent to Auschwitz during the German invasion of World War II. After the war, he emigrated to the United States and repaired typewriters for the Army.

He is most famous for his role in the development of the Commodore 64, the best-selling home computer of all time. The quote most attributed to Tramiel is “We need to build computers for the masses, not the classes.”

[Other gaming news this week]

“War. War never changes.”

A special treat this weekend for all you 90s gamers up for either a little nostalgic gaming or, if you missed it initially in 1997, a chance to play one of the most iconic games in video game history for the first time, thanks to GOG.com.

[Click to save Vault 13]

Microsoft and Sony, ever at one another’s throats, are embroiled in yet another competition: the race to put a next-gen console out onto the market first. According to reports, Sony is in the lead and plans to release the Playstation 4 sometime prior to the end of next year, beating the Xbox 720’s projected release date of Christmas 2013. Early speculation indicates that the Playstation 4 will not be backward compatible with the Playstation 3, so gamers would do well to hold on to their old consoles — a bit of a cashgrab, undoubtedly, but such is the way of technology today.

One wonders just how much room is left for technological improvement in gaming hardware. Developer Warren Spector observed recently, and we wholeheartedly agree, that the biggest next-gen challenges have to be creative, not technical.

[Click to declare your allegiance]

The newest games are great and all, but every know and then we get a little nostalgic. Thankfully, GOG.com sells DRM-free downloads of some of our favorite games of yesteryear.

Created in 2001 by Ion Storm and Square Enix and developed by the brilliant Tom Hall, Anachronox was released to little fanfare but positive critical reviews. A sci-fi RPG with Japanese and Old West elements, Anachronox is a shining example of engaging characterization and sharp wit coming together to create a memorable gaming experience.

[Read on...]

So, we’re a bit late to the table with this, but as we’re sure many of you now know, Blizzard’s latest installment in the Diablo series, Diablo 3, is set to release on May 15. Gamers will return to the quiet , frequently victimized town of Tristram to investigate a fallen star that has woken the dead, thus beginning your fight to turn back the demonic hordes invading Sanctuary once more. Conveniently enough, the release is timed for a date just a few weeks before flu season ends. Not that we’re implying anything.

[A big stink over Mass Effect 3]

Is anyone surprised that developer Big Robot is making a game about big robots? Not just any robots, mind, but dapper gentleman robots on a safari in the British countryside hunting the most dangerous game. (That’s you, meatbag.) There sure are a lot of visually striking indie titles coming out these days. And now we’ve got a Flight of the Conchords song stuck in our heads.

Also in this week’s roundup: we eat like video game characters, defend the Mass Effect 3 Day 1 DLC, get a free pass to play The Old Republic, explore some alternate history titles, and... My Little Ponies? Really?

[Behold the adorable abominations within...]

Grab your battle rifle and don your Spartan armor — Master Chief is back in action. 343 Industries released their first “Making of” video for Halo 4 earlier this week, containing an extremely brief look at in-game footage. Highlights include a revamped HUD geared toward establishing a sense of looking out through Master Chief’s visor, a significant focus on multiplayer (no surprise there), and a storyline heavily focused on Master Chief’s character development. Halo 4 news will begin to ramp up in the near future, as the game is believed to be scheduled for a holiday 2012 release.

[Read more]

Take to the skies of Columbia, the floating city of 2K Games’ BioShock Infinite, on October 16th. Neither a sequel or prequel to the hit Bioshock, this steampunky standalone adventure takes place in 1912 during the height of American Exceptionalism. You play Booker DeWitt, a former Pinkerton agent sent to find a young woman with exceptional talents. (And a very tight corset.) BioShock Infinite will be available for Xbox, PS3, and PC simultaneously.

In this week’s gaming roundup, we bring you news of an eagerly-awaited update to the XBL dashboard for Game of Thrones fans, rumblings of new DLC for Kingdoms of Amalur, Downton Abbey Sims, nerdy footwear and more.

[Ready player one...]

Few video games exist that allow a reasonable argument to be made for the consideration of video games as an art form, although Ico, Shadow of the Colossus, Limbo, Okami, and Grim Fandango could construct rather strong cases. You can now add Dear Esther to this list. This indie experiment defies categorization — indeed, Dear Esther is best described as an instance of interactive, atmospheric storytelling rather than a game. To say more would run the risk of ruining a very worthwhile experience, but Dear Esther is at once a poignant, beautiful, and slightly melancholy journey worth taking. You can grab Dear Esther now on Steam for the extremely reasonable price of $9.99.

[Read more]

We love games, so welcome to a new feature wherein we (we being Pritpaul Bains and Theresa DeLucci) collect links of win from around the web.

Ever find yourself wanting to scream an Unrelenting Force shout at someone? If you have Kinect, you can! Horses too glitchy for you? Ride a dragon instead! And who wouldn’t want to adopt a scruffy little street urchin from Whiterun? With my track record for accidentally killing followers, I’ll pass on that last one. See above what Bethesda employees almost added to Skyrim....

And just in time for this presidential holiday weekend, get lost in Tamriel, drink some homebrew, and save the galaxy with returning patriot Commander Shepard.

[Read more]

RPG fans, take note: Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning releases in North America today — a game of particular interest to fans of R. A. Salvatore and Todd McFarlane, who played significant roles in universe creation and art direction, respectively. Of note to sports fans is the fact that this is the first game overseen by avid MMO enthusiast and former Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling, who founded 38 Studios in the latter years of his career.

[Read more]

BlizzCon 2011 came and went this past weekend in Anaheim, California, and naturally, much of the fanfare surrounded Blizzard Entertainment’s highly anticipated third instalment of the Diablo series. Diablo 3 invites players once more into the troubled realms of Sanctuary to war against the invading demonic forces of Hell. Originally slated for release in December of this year, Diablo 3 was — to the surprise of, well, no one already familiar with Blizzard and their projected release dates — delayed by its developers into the first quarter of 2012. To tide over rabid fans and finetune gameplay, Blizzard released an invite-only closed beta last month, and yours truly was fortunate enough to gain access.

[Where’s the loot?!?]

PAX Prime 2011 came and went this past weekend in Seattle, and with it, as with all gaming expositions worth their salt, came a steady stream of neckbeards, cosplayers, geek celebrities, and, most of all, the latest video games. PAX, the brainchild of the Penny Arcade creators, opened for registration in mid-April and sold out completely by the end of May – the fastest the exposition has ever sold out. Here are some of the weekend highlights.

[How many utilikilts can fit into one convention center?]

The Alien saga is one of science fiction’s most-mined franchises, a true pop culture landmark. With its iconic action sequences, James Cameron’s Aliens is arguably the most popular film of the series and certainly a natural choice for a first-person shooter spinoff. In fact, there’s been Alien games almost as long as there have been consoles. And finding homages to facehuggers, power loaders, and the evil Weyland-Yutani sprinkled throughout other popular franchises such as Half-Life, isn’t hard. In Spring 2012, Sega and developer Gearbox Software are bringing the latest incarnation to Wii U, PS3, Xbox 360 and PC with Aliens: Colonial Marines.

[“It’s game over, man. It’s game over.”]