To enhance the experience and provide gamers with an authentic yet unique simulation, MLB 2005 has integrated new gameplay options in order to make it one of the deepest baseball games ever produced. By incorporating EyeToyTM and Voice Recognition functionality, both exclusive to MLB 2005, gamers can literally see and hear themselves in the game. Using the USB headset (for PlayStation 2), Voice Recognition allows gamers to call pitches or defensive shifts without the touch of a button, while the EyeToy USB camera for (PlayStation 2), sold separately, allows gamers to take a snapshot of themselves, put their face into

Developed by Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. in conjunction with Sony Computer Entertainment America's Santa Monica Studios, SIREN puts the player into an alternate reality, capable of raising the heart-beat and creating a true sense of suspense and fear allowing for a new horror entertainment experience. In the blink of an eye, everything can change in SIREN. Set in a fictional Japanese village, a terrible force slowly turns the civilians into vile creatures. Seen through the eyes of 10 characters, SIREN immerses the player into a personal fight for survival and to unravel the truth behind the mysterious force.

With a story

Created and developed by Naughty Dog, Inc., Jak 3TM is the team's follow-up to their best-selling title, Jak II TM and their Greatest Hits PlayStation®2 debut title, Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy®. Together, Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy and Jak II have sold more than 2.5 million units worldwide, both playing a part in revolutionizing the action platform genre. Combining a variety of genres including driving, adventure, action-platform, puzzles, strategy and exploration, Jak 3 promises to deliver one of the most entertaining and interactive experiences to gamers this holiday season!

In Jak 3, nothing is the same. The story

Genre: 3D Action/Adventure
Publisher: Activision
Developer: Treyarch
Release Date: TBA

Ultimate Spider-Man, at its core, is a re-telling of the classic Spider-Man story with a slightly younger cast and a contemporary spin.

You all know the gist of it by now: a nerdy kid gets bitten by a radioactive spider, gets super powers, and uses both them and his mind to solve crimes while at the same time possessing the ability to upstage just about everyone on Def Comedy Jam without even trying. The Ultimate line of comic books puts the Spidey stories in the here and now, with today’s

Developed by Insomniac Games, the company that helped define the action platform genre with the award-winning Ratchet & Clank franchise on PlayStation®2 and the highly acclaimed multimillion unit selling Spyro the DragonTM series on PlayStation, Ratchet & Clank: Up Your Arsenal once again sets the standard in its category by delivering online gameplay for the first time in an action platform game, as well as featuring the much-anticipated return of the dynamic duo Ratchet and Clank.

The third installment of the Ratchet & Clank franchise incorporates new elements of gameplay not seen previously in the series, including online and offline multiplayer

Genre: Action
Publisher: Bethesda Softworks
Developer: Seven Studios
Release Date: Q3 2006

In case you missed the memo the first time around, here’s another copy of it:

Pirates Are Cool.

Heck, just go ask Guilty Gear X’s Johnny, or the entire cast of Skies of Arcadia. Pirates are always fun to play as in video games. There’s just something about being able to break all the rules, play dirty, and fight as underhanded as one possibly can whenever one feels like it that translates wonderfully to the genre.

Few pirates are better at all of this than one Jack Sparrow, and he’s going to

Rise of the Kasai, the sequel to the critically acclaimed The Mark of KriTM, builds upon the original with new storylines, characters, weapons, and cooperative online gameplay - offering a game three-times larger than the original. With 10 captivating levels and numerous collaborative fighting stages, gamers will start the journey by playing through events that took place 10 years prior to The Mark of Kri and then jump to 10 years later when a series of new spells have taken hold. Players can either assume the role of Rau, a heroic warrior unmatched in skill and strength, Tati, his younger,

Gears of War

Genre: Action
Publisher: Microsoft
Developer: Epic Games
Release Date: Q1 2006

Going into E3 2005, the game I was most excited about seeing was by far the very impressive Unreal Engine 3-based Gears of War for the Xbox 360, and it sure didn't disappoint.

The story behind Gears of War paints a pretty bleak picture for humanity, thanks to some really nasty creatures that will send chills up and down your spine the first time you see them, and many times after that as well. The setting is the planet Sera, which is very much like Earth, just slightly more

Genre: Action/RPG
Publisher: Konami
Developer: Konami
Release Date: Fall 2005

If nothing else, Castlevania: Curse of Darkness answers one question I’ve had for a while about the Castlevania series. Simply put, it’s this: when you leave and come back into a room in a Castlevania game, where does the fresh wave of monsters come from? Is there a hidden wing of Dracula’s castle that’s entirely dedicated to the care, feeding, construction, and breeding of new monsters to replace the ones you’ve been hacking to bits?

Apparently, there is, and it’s staffed by people like Hector. As a Devil Forgemaster, Hector