Microsoft Game Studios unveiled plans to bring 2006 big seller Gears of War and Rare's Viva Piñata to Windows XP and Vista this year as Games for Windows-branded titles with LIVE support.

"Windows gaming is set to see one of its best years ever," said Peter Moore, corporate vice president of the Interactive Entertainment Business in the Entertainment and Devices Division at Microsoft. "With an incredible range of phenomenal titles, amazing hardware and the rapid adoption of Windows Vista, Windows gamers will remember holiday 2007 as a landmark year for PC gaming."

Microsoft's Games for Windows initiative is in full swing and

During its E3 press conference, Sony announced exclusive third-party PS3 games and key partnerships with NCsoft Corporation, Ubisoft, Midway and Konami.

The strategic alliance with NCsoft, the world's leading developer and publisher of online games, will provide a wealth of connected gaming expertise and create several online games exclusively for PlayStation platforms, including PS3 and PSP, accessible through the Playstation Network. NCsoft is the creator of Lineage, the world's largest online game franchise with a customer reach of more than 60 million. In addition, PlayStation fans will have further reason to get excited about growing their game libraries as Sony Computer

Genre: Platformer
Publisher: Nintendo
Developer: Nintendo
Release: Q4 2009

Nintendo came out of E3 2009 much stronger than they did in 2008. They started off our booth tour with their big announcement of New Super Mario Bros. Wii, and I got to squeeze in some play time with the game.

If you've played the DS version of New Super Mario Bros., most everything is going to be familiar, including major elements of Super Mario Bros. 3 from the NES era, new and entertaining power-ups, and a fair supply of secrets to keep things interesting for a good, long

Get the Spider-Man 3 trailer off WP (30mb)

Genre: Sports
Publisher: Nintendo
Developer: Nintendo
Release: July 26, 2009

Before you read any further about Wii Sports Resort, go do a bit of bowling in Wii Sports. Notice the subtleties that are there in the simulation, and those that aren't. The Wii Remote, ultimately, is limited, and many of those limits have been removed with the recent introduction of the Wii MotionPlus, which links to Wiimotes to let you do more with them. While it is launching with two EA Sports titles for Wii, the MotionPlus clearly seems custom designed for the upcoming Wii Sports

Get the Halo 3 (X360) Trailer off WP (55mb)

The Covenant controls Earth. The Flood is unleashed and on the loose. With the fate of the galaxy hanging in the balance, Master Chief is the only one who can save the human race. The entire epic story arc has led up to this moment. Master Chief, the last of his kind, is a warrior born for combat and bred for war — and is humanity’s only hope.

After stowing away on a Forerunner spacecraft, Master Chief, a genetically altered, cybernetically enhanced Spartan supersoldier, must race back to Earth to stop the

Genre: Rhythm/Music
Publisher: MTV Games
Developer: Harmonix
Release: September 9, 2009

How can a game be both so much more than its predecessors, and yet so much less at the same time? This conundrum defined what I saw of the upcoming Rock Band release, The Beatles: Rock Band. The game floored me as a Beatles release, but its heritage as a Rock Band game seems a bit tenuous.

The basics are all there; this is Rock Band, with one significant evolution and some major interface modifications that I'll get to in a bit. The big new idea

NCsoft announced an exclusive game development deal with Sony that provides for NCsoft to create several online games for Sony's PlayStation platforms, including PS3 and PSP, accessible through PlayStation Network.

The announcement was made today at the E3 Media and Business Summit taking place in Santa Monica, California.

Although company officials did not divulge any details regarding the names or types of games in development, NCsoft officials did say the games would be created from both existing intellectual properties (IP) owned by NCsoft, as well as new IP.

"This is a great step forward for online gaming," said Geoff Heath, CEO of NCsoft

Genre: Puzzle
Publisher: Warner Bros. Interactive
Developer: 5TH Cell
Release Date: September 15, 2009

5TH Cell is perhaps the best DS game developer that no one has heard of. They've only developed a few games, but those games have been fun and innovative, making excellent use of the DS' various features to create games that would not be the same anywhere else. Drawn to Life was a platformer designed around creating your own character, while Lock's Quest was a combination tower defense and hack-and-slash game. Their upcoming game, Scribblenauts, is easily their most ambitious to date, and