Last week, it was revealed through a customer complaint that EA's Burnout Paradise requires a hard drive in order to play online, thus making that impossible with an Xbox 360 Core/Arcade. Oddly enough, this missing feature was never revealed, and now Criterion issued a statement in an attempt to justify the decision.

Octomania is a new online multiplayer family-friendly game offering challenging puzzle gameplay, and a variety of different play modes, with a story of mischief and mayhem filled with zany characters.

The Club is a 3rd person action shooter focused on addictive and rewarding gameplay, testing your skills to the limit and offers relentless, frantic, and fast paced gameplay with a unique style, tone and storyline that drips with energy, attitude and anarchy. The Club PC demo is coming to our fileserver network later this week.

SEGA's Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity is a fast-paced new Sonic racing game created by Sonic team that takes Sonic into never-before seen worlds with edge-of-your-seat racing intensity and all-new gravity controlling moves.

Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters is an all-new sci-fi action adventure featuring many new and returning weapons and gadgets, drawing players into a galaxy spanning adventure set across new levels with diverse gameplay. While we wait for the official announcement, here are the first screens ...

AGEOD's American Civil War enjoys a very intuitive interface and is easy to learn. Compared to its predecessor, Birth of America, it features many additions such as new economic and political features, player control of troop recruitment, full chain of command from armies to brigades and much more.

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:

• Naruto: Ninja Destiny [NDS] - Trailer
• Faith and a .45 [PS3/X360/PC] - Teaser Trailer
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  We will update this throughout the day when new trailers become available. Read more for download links ...

Conflict: Denied Ops, previously called Crossfire, is a new paramilitary themed co-op FPS from Pivotal Games, putting you in control of two of these merciless operatives, each of them highly specialized in both weapons and military tactics.

Drakensang: The Dark Eye, developed by Radon Labs, brings back epic party-based RPG gameplay in a breathtakingly detailed world, based on one of the world’s biggest pen & paper franchises.

CoD 4: Modern Warfare is a new action-thriller that will arm gamers with the most advanced and powerful arsenal of modern day firepower to fight a new war in the world’s most treacherous hotspots. Activision announced that Infinity War is working on downloadable multiplayer maps, but only for PS3 and X360, not PC.

Transform your Sims’ homes with new design options for their kitchens and bathrooms. Create a romantic hideaway in the bathroom or an ultra-modern space with streamlined glass showers, claw-foot bathtubs, contemporary sinks, and more.

American McGee, known for American McGee's Alice, revealed that, apart from working on the "Grimm" project, his China-based Spicy Horse studio has just started working on a second project. While details were not provided, it was revealed that it will be powered by Epic's Unreal Engine 3 and be a "multi-platform, twisted tale project." An update on "Grimm" indicates the title is at the halfway point, with 12 of 24 episodes finished.

Void Star Creations takes the puzzle game genre to a whole new level with Poker Smash, an action packed puzzler with a poker twist where players rush to clear rows of cards by arranging them into poker hands. To keep things interesting Poker Smash offers card-blasting bombs and a super slow-motion trigger for players caught in a bind.

Since Troika is no longer amongst the living this patch is not official, so use at your own discretion. This update brings Activision's Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines retail game to v4.6 (requires v1.2 patch installed) and addresses a number of known issues, gameplay tweaks, bug fixes and so forth.

The recently announced online game from Beijing-based Perfect World Network Technology, Chi Bi, based on John Woo’s feature film "Red Cliff," was inaccurately linked Woo to the game project. While Perfect World is developing the online game, there is no association, cooperation or involvement with Woo or his company Lion Rock Productions, and all quotes attributed to Woo regarding this project were fabricated.

Prototype tells the story of Alex Mercer - a man haunted by his past, fighting a secret war in New York City. As the action spirals out of control, a conspiracy tied to his origins threatens the future of mankind itself. Barry Pepper (Flags of Our Fathers, Saving Private Ryan) will voice Alex Mercer, while Gordon Clap (NYPD Blue) and Paul Guilfoyle (CSI, L.A. Confidential) have also signed on.

As society succumbs to a worldwide energy crisis, a new global depression takes hold. Amidst this desperate backdrop, two superpower alliances emerge. Join the battle on the frontlines of tomorrow as the Western Coalition or the Red Star Alliance.

Midway Games' NBA Ballers: Chosen One marks the return if fast-paced one-on-one and two-on-two action as players can select from more than 65 NBA superstars to be the next "Chosen One". Public Enemy's Chuck D will serve as announcer and studio-host, while producer Just Blaze will produce the entire instrumental score.

Koch Media announced that its Deep Silver label has signed a publishing agreement with Egosoft for its latest title X³: Terran Conflict, a brand new, stand-alone game set in the universe of X³. It is the culmination of the X trilogy, with a grand finale that takes us all the way back to Earth's own solar system.

UK based Indie developer Introversion Software has yet to officially announce, or issue any details whatsoever about its latest project, Subversion. The only thing known is that its latest title has been in development since 2002, but was shelved twice during the process, to make room for its other cult titles Darwinia (initially called Future War) and Defcon.

Last time in our Under the Radar roundup, we delved into games featuring Cthulhu-esque monstrosities and poor, terrified little children. Now that we've had enough of nightmares, though, it's time to brighten things up a bit with some comedy. For those of you who didn't read the previous articles, these are games that you've probably not played, but you really should.

Buzz! for PSP packs over 5000 questions – on topics including music, celebrities, TV, sport, science, nature, movies and general knowledge – alongside 1000 pictures and videos, into a handheld PSP game ready to test your knowledge at home or on the move.

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:

• Nobunaga's Ambition: Rise to Power [PS2] - Trailer #2
• 
  We will update this throughout the day when new trailers become available. Read more for download links ...

Playlogic has acquired RTL Enterprises' point-and-click adventure game Simon the Sorcerer 4: Chaos Happens, in which players take control of the witty sorcerer during his new quest in the Magic World.

SEGA's Condemned 2: Bloodshot is a first-person action thriller immersing players in a world of psychological terror, featuring all-new fighting mechanics and online multiplayer functionality.