In R.U.S.E., players use their brain as the ultimate weapon, fighting a war of perception, where the ability to deceive and mislead the enemy determines success. A first in a strategy game, R.U.S.E. reinvigorates the genre by using deception to give new-found depth to the gameplay.

Many museums have explored art inspired by video games, but The Art of Video Games will be the first to examine comprehensively the evolution of video games themselves as an artistic medium.

Another day, another batch of game trailers was released. Instead of giving them all their own posts, we grouped them, and so far there are trailers for:

• Dante's Inferno [PSP] - Cinematic Story Trailer

We will update this throughout the day when new trailers become available. Read more for download links ...

SOCOM: Fireteam Bravo 3 lets you join forces with like-minded players to tackle an adventure of realistic military action, tactics and teamwork wherever and whenever you want.

In a vast open world environment, Assassin's Creed II invites players to incarnate Ezio, a privileged young noble in Renaissance Italy who's been betrayed by the rival ruling families of Italy, and seeking vengeance. Ubisoft revealed it is working on a patch to address various issues, one being a reported problem with Sequence 11, when you quit the game right after upon return you get stuck in the hideout.

Toy cranes, dump trucks and other machines are very popular among young boys. Even adults have fond memories of them. But strangely enough there aren't many video games that feature them. The few that do, are realistic simulations lacking any form of gameplay.

In Crime Scene you are part of the forensic police department and have to find and analyze clues with sophisticated equipment, interrogate witnesses and suspects, build a file with enough proof so there is no room for doubt and condemn the guilty!

ModNation Racers is a thoroughly fresh take on classic kart racing that empowers the player to personalize their entire game. Players can create their own Mod character, styling their own racing kart and even building an imaginative track that can be shared with the rest of the PlayStation community.

Empire: Total War will maintain the series 3D battles, grand turn based campaign map and rich historical flavor while for the first time introducing 3D naval combat into the series. As previously announced, a the 1 vs. 1 campaign multiplayer open beta for Empire: Total War is now available, go sign up, while the promised DLC is now also available on Steam (thanks Blues).

FF XIII provides tangible, intuitive controls while delivering seamless transitions between real-time gameplay and stunning in-game cinematics. The latest in cutting-edge technology has been utilized in development of Final Fantasy XIII, thus making this newest addition to the Final Fantasy series worthy of the title next generation.

Designed to deliver a true driver’s experience that reflects contemporary motorsports, Need for Speed Shift is built by racers for racers, delivering an authentic and immersive driving experience.

Kim Swift, known best for her team lead role on Portal, has joined Airtight Games (Dark Void) as a Project Lead.  She will build and lead a team in the development of games aimed at a more diverse audience.

Super Street Fighter IV features the full roster of 25 characters from Street Fighter IV such as Ryu, Ken, Crimson Viper, Abel, El Fuerte and Rufus, while adding about eight characters new to the world of Street Fighter IV, such as classic combatants from previous SF games like T. Hawk as well as all-new characters such as the mysterious and deadly female fighter, Juri.

With customizable ships and characters from the Klingon Empire and United Federation of Planets, ground, space and shipboard gameplay and unique options for player-generated content set in the Star Trek universe, Star Trek Online is the MMOG that allows you to boldly go where no one has gone before!

Dragon Age: Origins represents BioWare’s return to its roots, delivering a fusion of elements from existing fantasy works with emotionally-driven narrative, heart-pounding combat, powerful magic abilities and credible digital actors.

Returning to Grant City, a boom town gone bust that is falling to the worst excesses of crime, greed and corruption; Dead to Rights: Retribution follows vice cop Jack Slate as he fights to expose shadowy figures that will stop at nothing to exert their deadly influence over the crumbling metropolis.

Forza Motorsport 3 unites the racing game genre, making it possible for everyone to experience the thrill of more than 400 of the world’s most exotic and exquisite cars on over 100 renowned real-world tracks and exotic road courses from around the globe.

Rare's favorite gung-ho future field operative finally gets the chance to relive That Thing With The Skedar on Xbox Live Arcade. Whether it's your first, second or tenth time facing off against the sly dataDyne Corporation and their allies, just be sure to keep a steady grip on your Falcon 2 as you prepare for infiltration.

The Settlers 7: Paths to a Kingdom gives gamers the opportunity to choose the best way to lead their kingdom to victory, in a rich environment set in middle-Europe during the early Renaissance. Ubisoft has narrowed down the original spring 2010 launch window to March 2010.

In Tecmo's third-person shooter players take on the role of the massive, gun-wielding warrior Syd and battle through intense action sequences in an unpredictable, shape-shifting battlefield. In addition to single player campaign, Quantum Theory also supports four modes of online multiplayer, complete with voice chat for real-time communication.

Brütal Legend is a 3rd person action/adventure starring Jack Black in the role of roadie Eddie Riggs, who sets on an epic quest to build an army of rockers with only a broad axe, a big block V8 and his faithful guitar in hand. Tim Schafer revealed that “We definitely want to do more DLC for both single-player and multiplayer, as well as some tuning patches."

BUZZ! Quiz World provides an ultra-realistic quiz show experience, putting you and your friends in the contestants' seats.

Hero Isaac Clarke returns for another heart-pounding adventure, taking the fight to the Necromorphs in this thrilling action-horror experience. New tools to gruesomely slice and dismember the Necromorphs complement Isaac's signature Plasma Cutter, empowering him as he meets new characters, explores epic Zero-G environments, and fights against a relentless necromorph onslaught.

Nintendo added two VC, five NDSi, and four WiiWare titles to the Shop Channels. Nintendo owners with online access can redeem Points to download: Flowerworks, Stop Stress: A Day of Fury, MAGNETIS, My Dolphin (Wiiware), Rayman, Ball Fighter, Pop Island, Army Defender, myNotebook: Red (NDSiWare), Street Fighter Alpha 2 and Shinobi (VC).

Mass Effect is a sci-fi adventure set in a vast universe filled with dangerous alien life forms and mysterious uncharted planets. In ME2, Saren's evil army of Geth soldiers has just been defeated, and humans, who are still struggling to make their mark on the galactic stage, are now faced with an even greater peril.

RealD announced that Namco Bandai Games has introduced its proprietary Stereoscopic Gaming API into their development environment, delivering an automated continuous approach to 3D that is compatible with real-time rendering and promises to bring 3D cinema experience to console gaming.

Another day, another batch of games shipped to stores. Instead of giving them all their own posts, we grouped them, and so far there are announcements for:

• The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks (NDS)

We will update this throughout the day when new announcements become available. Read more for details ...

Pirates: Adventures of the Black Corsair invites players to become marauding buccaneers in 17th century London. Double-crossed by their pirate Captain and branded traitors to their country, players will face countless perils as they struggle to clear their names and become the most famous of pirates, the Black Corsair – defender of the Crown.

Blizzard has released new update patches for Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos as well as The Frozen Throne.

World Basketball Manager is a basketball strategy game. It uses the same game-play principles as most soccer management games do and covers all basketball action around the world with 89 national and international tournaments, 852 teams, 10.000 basketball players and 1.000 managers.

Out of the Park Baseball 10 is a further evolution of the game offering gamers the ultimate in realistic baseball simulation with a completely revised individual pitch model and a host of other new and improved features.

SunAge is a futuristic RTS featuring 3 different races each with their arsenal of units, buildings and upgrades, taking place across 2 different worlds.

Continuing the storyline from the original, Dementium II will deliver better visuals, more haunting audio, and sharper scares than its predecessor, promising to take players even closer to the precipice of madness.

The Mass Effect trilogy is a scifi adventure set in a vast universe filled with dangerous alien life forms and mysterious uncharted planets. In this dark second chapter, Saren's evil army of Geth soldiers has just been defeated, and humans, who are still struggling to make their mark on the galactic stage, are now faced with an even greater peril

In Flo on the Go, Flo trades in her apron for a passport to paradise. Thrills, spills and a surprise restaurant await in this installment of the smash hit franchise.

Players can now enjoy some of the best shooter, sports, puzzle and twitch action video games ever created in one convenient package. Data East Arcade Classics features 15 nostalgic titles, including: BurgerTime and its sequel, Peter Pepper's Ice Cream Factory, Bad Dudes vs. Dragon Ninja, Burnin' Rubber, Heavy Barrel, Caveman Ninja, Magical Drop III, Side Pocket and many more.

Dawn of Fantasy is a 3D MMORTS/RPG under development at Reverie World Studios. Set in Medieval times, the game immerses players in an intense story of a battle for supremacy in the magical realm of Mythador that include Dragons, Elves and Orcs. Originally scheduled for earlier this year, the demise of publisher Lighthouse Interactive has now delayed the game to mid 2010, with a closed beta to commence late Jan. or early Feb. and an open beta planned for April 2010.

Havok has launched an Independent Developer Program,  enabling independent game studios to execute their creative visions using Havok’s middleware technology, including: Havok Animation, Havok AI, Havok Behavior, Havok Cloth, Havok Destruction and Havok Physics.

We're kicking off another week. Hope everybody out there had a great weekend. Very uneventful over here, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. We ran some errands, did some gaming (CrimeCraft, Borderlands, L4D2) and, of course, watched some TV. Checked out the latest episode of Flashforward and the season finale of The Amazing Race, even though our favorite team did not win.

With the holidays approaching, it will most likely start slowing down news-wise after the Video Game Awards until early January, but of course we will stay on top of the latest and report accordingly. Next weekend, we will be getting our Christmas tree and start preparations for the festivities and the obligatory year-end gaming features.