You have the option to click play on the video below and completely spoil your sexual experience in Dragon Age: Origins, or you can simply turn away and go about your business. The scene below came after hours of my City Elf rogue wooing and coddling the human rogue Leliana.

Considering the amount of crap BioWare caught for Mass Effect's sex scene, one can't blame them for leaving the tops on. Besides, once the PC version hits tomorrow I'm sure some enterprising modder will figure out how to get their tops off, as it's probably easier than removing a real bra. That's why I keep scissors on my bedside table.

Again, spoiler! Don't blame us if you click the shiny, candy-flavored button. And if you want more Dragon Age: Origins, be sure to stop by tomorrow for our full review of the PlayStation 3 version.

The skippable scene of terrorist atrocities in Modern Warfare 2 first came to light via leaked footage on YouTube early yesterday. News travelled quickly, however, with an AP report dropping yesterday afternoon, distributing the news to just about every news organization on the planet. Word obviously reached Australia, prompting Australian Council on Children and the Media Jane Roberts to call on the Australian Classification Board to reconsider the MA15+ rating the game received, which is the highest rating given games in the country. Reconsideration would effectively ban the game from release. Roberts claims that even with the MA15+ rating, the game would still be readily available to children.

"The consequences of terrorism are just abhorrent in our community and yet here we are with a product that's meant to be passed off as a leisure time activity, actually promoting what most world leaders speak out publicly against."

Do not read on if you wish to avoid Modern Warfare 2 spoilers.

Here's the report regarding the offending scene filed by the Classification Board that accompanied the MA15+ rating decision.

"Several civilians are shot with blood burst bullet wounds; civilian corpses are strewn across the airport floor, often in stylised pools of blood; injured civilians crawl away with lengthy blood trails behind them."

The report goes on to mention that you cannot inflict post mortem damage on the civilians, and that all other missions of the game will result in failure if a civilian is shot.

Activision released a statement to Kotaku yesterday regarding the scene, explaining that it was "meant to evoke the atrocities of terrorism."

Back in Australia the debate rages on, with Nicholas Suzor, spokesman for the lobby group Electronic Frontiers Australia, using the situation to call for a R18+ rating for games released in the country, while rejecting the idea that a video game could foster terrorism.

"Films often show the villain's perspective and, by doing that, they get across the character's story and the heinous nature of people who carry out atrocities. Games, too, are becoming more expressive, and are telling more involved stories. We may make an argument that these sorts of topics are not suitable for children, but I don't at all accept that it is unsuitable for adults."

The Classification Board cannot review its own decisions, so anyone interested in getting the rating reviewed will have to apply directly to the board.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is slated for Australian release on November 10th.

Outrage as terrorist game lets players massacre civilians [The Sydeny Morning Herald - Thanks Ted!]

The scenes are so powerful that despite already having a Mature rating, players can choose to skip playing through it.

Details of the scene came to light after footage from the game was leaked on the Internet. Activision says that the footage comes from a game obtained illegally and "is not representative of the overall gameplay experience in Modern Warfare 2."

You probably want to stop reading now if you don't want to hear anything about the game.

"Infinity Ward's Modern Warfare 2 features a deep and gripping storyline in which players face off against a terrorist threat dedicated to bringing the world to the brink of collapse. The game includes a plot involving a mission carried out by a Russian villain who wants to trigger a global war. In order to defeat him, the player infiltrates his inner circle. The scene is designed to evoke the atrocities of terrorism.," according to the statement provided to Kotaku from Activision.

"At the beginning of the game, players encounter a mandatory "checkpoint" in which they are warned that an upcoming segment may contain disturbing elements and they can choose not to engage in the gameplay that involves this scene. Consistent with its content, the game has been given an "M" for Mature by the Entertainment Software Ratings Board. The rating is prominently displayed on the front and back of the packaging, as well as in all advertising."

It sounds like Modern Warfare 2 isn't planning on riding on the success of its predecessor. Whether the game goes too far will have to wait until all of us can play the game and experience the scenes in context.

However, because you're paying for this Blu-rayjust to get an extended sneak peek at Final Fantasy XIII and because I sat through the film twice to try and wrap my head around whatever new plot points they'd thrown in — I'll break it down for you in 15 minute format.

If even that's too long for you, just know that the sneak peek is footage we've already seen in demo footage and teasers, plus a couple of extra scenes at the end where Snow and Lightning get into an argument about something called Focus and whether or not Serah (the woman Snow drops at the end of the demo, perhaps?) is alive. Other than that, the extra 26 minutes in the film are mostly expository scenes about Denzel — the orphan that's living with Cloud and Tifa — and if that's not enough for you, the Blu-ray also includes an anime called "On the Way to a Smile" which gives you even more exposition on his sob story.

Other things you may want to know before buying Advent Children Complete are that the subtitles are still the closed-captioning for the dub instead of accurate translation. There's another FF7 retrospective that uses footage from Crisis Core and that cell phone game that never came out in the United States. The anime Last Order isn't on the disc, sadly.

Oh, and the Blu-ray looks pretty amazing.

SPOILER ALERT
The opening scene is the ending scene from Final Fantasy VII if you sat through the credits. Red XIII and his inexplicable progeny (since Red XIII was supposedly the last of his kind) race up to a destroyed Midgar, implying that Cloud's efforts to save the planet from "rock falls, everybody dies" syndrome were unsuccessful.

RED XIII: Rawr!

Next scene is set in people-infested Midgar, so apparently Cloud's efforts were successful. Sort of — a lot of people seem to be suffering from some disease called Geostigma that makes them seep black tar or green boogers. Gross. Two orphan children huddle together with a Moogle doll in an alleyway, watching some hobo vomit up black tar and die.

Meanwhile, in Seventh Heaven, which now appears to be a delivery service instead of a bar…

DENZEL: Hey, Marlene, is my face still seeping black tar?

MARLENE: Who are you again? And why do you live in my house?

PHONE: (rings)

PHONE: (rings)

PHONE: (rings)

PHONE: (rings)

We cut to a scene out in the wilderness around Midgar where the sword Zack inherited from Angeal and later gave to Cloud is rusting in the dirt. The title crawl finally rolls and Cloud, perched on an expensive-looking black and gold motorcycle, checks his voicemail.

TIFA: Reno wants you to pick something up from Healen. By the way, we're out of milk.

CLOUD: Can't talk right now, babe, about to get attacked by Sephiroth rejects for no apparent reason. Luckily, I just installed this sword dispenser in my motorcycle!

After a random motorcycle/sword fight, the Sephiroth rejects — Loz, Yazoo and Kadaj — call off their attack and Cloud, left with nothing better to do, heads for Healen. Reno and Rude appear for five seconds of much-needed comic relief and then Rufus Shinra rolls out in a wheelchair and blanket, apparently horribly scarred — but still alive.

RUFUS: Hi there. I'm...

CLOUD: What the? You're dead!

RUFUS: ...not dead. Anyway, so, this whole mess is really all Shinra's fault…

CLOUD: Seriously, how are you alive?

RUFUS: …and you may have encountered some Sephiroth-looking guys…

CLOUD: They scratched my bike!

RUFUS: Can't a man finish a sentence?! Sephiroth…

CLOUD: (looks like he's about to cry)

RUFUS: …might not be dead. Lifestream tomfoolery, you understand. Anyway, about those kids you live with...

CLOUD: (leaves)

RUDE: I think he took it well.

RENO: Took what well? I was locked out of the room the whole time!

The next scene is set in the church where Aerith hung out in better days (y'know, the ones where she wasn't dead). Cloud appears to have set up house in the ruined building beside a patch of flowers. Tifa and Marlene enter the church and find his sleeping bag next to a big box. If you want to see what any of this looks like, check out this Korean music video.

MARLENE: Look, Cloud's stuff is here. Let's wait for him to come back!

TIFA: Well, we could be waiting for days. But he owes me rent, so why not.

We cut back to Healen where Reno and Rude perform more comic relief.

RENO: Boy, sure wish Tseng and Elena were here.

RUDE: Yep.

DOOR: (seeps ominous black smoke)

Now the scene cuts to a new segment with Denzel that provides some back story. Filthy and seeping black tar, 10-year-old Denzel wanders around a ruined Sector 7 outside Aerith's church. He spots Cloud's shiny bike with his cell phone in it.

DENZEL: (deliriously attempts to dial his dead parents)

DENZEL: (checks missed calls section)

DENZEL: (calls Tifa)

TIFA: Cloud?! You never call! How long does it take to get a dozen eggs, anyway?!

DENZEL: (has a black tar seizure)

TIFA: Oh, crap, you're not Cloud.

CLOUD: (comes out of the church) Oh, there's my phone!

The new scene ends with Denzel blaming himself for Cloud never coming home. Then Yazoo speeds by on a bike, reminding us that the Sephiroth rejects are still relevant to the plot. We cut back to Healen where Kadaj — the Sephiroth clone with the woman hips — has evidently laid out Reno and Rufus and is now whining his little white-haired head off at Rufus about Jenova.

KADAJ: Where's my mommy, I want my mommy!

RUFUS: Oh, you mean that head that we keep in a jar? I dropped it. Out of a helicopter.

KADAJ: That's too bad. I killed your henchmen.

RUFUS: I have more.

KADAJ: You mean these guys I laid out on the floor here?

We cut back to Aerith's church where Marlene and Tifa are still waiting for Cloud. Loz — the biggest of the Sephiroth clones — slams open the door and Marlene, who must be near-sighted or something, runs toward him.

LOZ: Hey. Wanna play?

TIFA: (throws down, gets ass kicked)

MARLENE: (gets kidnapped, along with Cloud's box which contained materia)

Now we get another new scene of Denzel; but unlike the previous scenes which didn't do much to clear up the cluttered plot, this scene shows how it is that Denzel winds up with the bad guys.

YAZOO: Hey little boy. Want some candy?

DENZEL: Will it fix my head?

YAZOO: Just get in the truck.

Meanwhile, Cloud finally returns to the church to find his material box gone and Tifa collapsed among the flowers. He runs to her side.

TIFA: Oh Cloud, you do care!

CLOUD: You let them take all my materia?!

Cloud passes out. They're rescued by Reno and Rude, who take them back to Seventh Heaven.

RENO: So, the Sephiroth rejects took your kids.

CLOUD: Guess I'll pull a Hamlet and delay.

TIFA: Oh Christ, this again?! You always dilly-dally, shilly-shally!

CLOUD: Dilly-dally, shilly-shally?

The next scene is the Sephiroth rejects gathering the sick children around a pond in the Forgotten City, which is like Sin City, but with white trees instead of hookers. In a bizarre hazing ritual, Kadaj has the sick kids get into the pond with him and drink the water.

KADAJ: Hey kids. My mom says you're sick and you need to drink the water to be cool. You wanna be cool, right?

DENZEL: I do, I do!

MARLENE: (who was kidnapped by Loz for no real reason) Hey, I remember you. You live at my house!

Eventually, Cloud shows up on his sword-dispensing bike and hallucinates Aerith giving him a pep talk that's way more effective than Tifa's. Then he wipes out on his bike so as not crash into a brainwashed Denzel. Fifteen minutes of fighting ensue wherein Cloud drops his cell phone in a pond and passes out right as Vincent shows up to save him.

Vincent takes Cloud to some other part of the Forgotten City to explain what we already know: that geostigma has to do with the Lifestream. Then he explains that Tseng and Elena aren't dead and that they've found Jenova's head. Marlene shows up, apparently having freed herself from Loz with no assistance.

MARLENE: Gee, thanks for the rescue, Cloud. Can I borrow your cell phone and call Tifa? She's the only who really loves me.

CLOUD: I dropped it in a pond.

VINCENT: A cell what?

MARLENE: I feel safer with the vampire than with you, Cloud. You suck!

CLOUD: I do suck. I'll work on that.

CLOUD'S PHONE: (falls to the bottom of the pond, playing voicemails from Reeve, Yuffie, Barrett and a bunch of other characters that haven't gotten cameos yet)

Now we actually get to the fan service portion of the film where there's fighting and stuff. It starts when Yazoo and Loz decide to pull down a statue in the middle of Midgar because they think Jenova's head is inside it. But the fighting doesn't start yet because Cloud still has to drop Marlene off at home.

MARLENE: So...let me get this straight. You've been wandering off in the wilderness trying to find a cure for Denzel, plus it turns out you have Geostigma, too, and you're convinced that you can't be with people because you can't take care of yourself and you don't want to burden others?

CLOUD: Uh, yeah. I guess.

MARLENE: Seriously, you suck.

CLOUD: I said I was working on it!

Now we actually get to fighting. Dog-demons attack the bystanders in the plaza where Loz and Yazoo are working on pulling down the statue.

TIFA: Denzel! What are you doing with this riff-raff? You're coming home with me, young man!

Meanwhile, a block or two away, Kadaj has a moment with Rufus in some half-constructed building that Rufus should not have been able to access in his wheelchair. Kadaj summons an evil Bahamut to tear up the monument because I guess his brothers are going too slow. Then Reno and Rude show up and fail to be effective while verbally sparring with Loz and Yazoo.

YAZOO: Mother wouldn't approve of you.

RUDE: Tell your mom thanks for last night.

LOZ: What did you say?!

RENO: He said your mama's a ho' and she like it nasty!

More fighting ensues, but we can stomach it because finally get some cameos from the rest of the FF7 cast as they shoot, spear, gun, shuriken, and claw at evil Bahamut. Cid's got a new ship, Yuffie still hasn't hit puberty, Cait Sith... is, well, Cait Sith. And Vincent has decided to buy a cell phone. Denzel meanwhile has another flashback to his dead parents and then Cloud shows up.

At this point, you might expect Sephiroth, but there's still a good 20 minutes of fighting before that can happen. Denzel — in another "explosive" new scene — defeats a fire hydrant, while the real heroes completely defy the laws of physics to perform the ultimate alley-oop on Cloud to defeat evil Bahamut.

Cut back to the half-constructed building where Rufus reveals to Kadaj that he's actually not a cripple! Also, he's had Jenova's head in a box the entire time. He flings the box over the side of the building and Kadaj shoves him off before jumping after the box. Elena and Tseng make a long overdue comeback to save their boss with hammock-dispensing guns.

RUFUS: See, this? This is what I pay you for.

ELENA: You don't pay us anymore, sir. You don't have any money.

Kadaj snags the box and takes off. Cue second over-long motorcycle chase of the movie. People smash bikes into one another and somehow flying them through helicopters. Some freeways get destroyed and there's a bit of business with homemade bombs. It's all very Die Hard.

Finally, Kadaj is singled out from the Sephiroth reject pack and ends up in Aerith's church, where he discovers the box is apparently empty. After a minor freak out, he winds up blowing a hole in the ground beneath the patch of flowers. This causes a Lifestream wellspring to flow into the church, which cures Cloud's Geostigma and gives Kadaj a case of hives. They escape via motorcycle to battle outside on a roof somewhere.

The rest of the FF7 cast in Cid's new ship flies to Cloud's aid.

YUFFIE: I'll throw him some materia!

CID: I'll drop bombs on him!

VINCENT: No. This is Cloud's battle.

TIFA: Yeah, Cloud can handle this on his own.

CID: (flies the ship away)

CLOUD: Uh, guys? Guys?

Meanwhile, Kadaj shoves the contents of what wasn't an empty box into his chest and turns into Sephiroth. For the next eight minutes, this is the best movie ever.

Cloud finally sustains enough damage to perform a limit break and hallucinates Zack.

ZACK: Hey, buddy. You want me to beat the boss for you?

CLOUD: Nah, I got it. (Limit break)

SEPHIROTH: I'll never let you go, Cloud.

Sephiroth turns back into Kadaj who mercifully has only a few lines before fading away into sky-sperm. A Lifestream rainstorm then cures all of Midgar's Geostigma cases. Except Denzel, who's at home, presumably grounded for being brainwashed.

YUFFIE: Yay, we won!

CAIT SITH: Yay, we won!

TIFA: I told you he could do it!

CLOUD: (gets shot)

LOZ and YAZOO: Ha ha! Gotcha!

The remaining two Sephiroth clones fade into sky sperm and Cloud goes into hallucination mode where a wolf drools on him and a disembodied hand strokes his forehead.

CLOUD: Mommy?

AERITH: Why does everyone call me that? Do I look old or something?

CLOUD: Am I dead?

AERITH: Don't be silly. You're the main character of Final Fantasy VII. How's Square supposed to milk more money out of this franchise if you're dead?

Cut back to Seventh Heaven where the phone rings again. Denzel actually picks up the receiver this time, but still can't manage a simple "hello." He hangs up and takes off to the church with Marlene, that orphan girl from the first scene and all the other children of Midgar to Aerith's church. There, they find Cloud floating face-up in the Lifestream pool. The entire main cast gathers in the church to watch Cloud baptize Denzel with Lifestream. Then Cloud hallucinates dead Aerith and Zack one last time before the closing credits and has a sudden epiphany.

CLOUD: I'm not alone. I see dead people.

Roll credits for 11 minutes.

Special thanks to Michelle!

We've known that this week's See the Future DLC for Fable II would tease the next phase of the Fable series.

Now we've seen it and started asking questions.

This is your last SPOILER warning.

Still here?

The Fable II DLC suggests that the future of the series could either be grander or more intimate than what players have experienced in the first two Fable games. Those games starred the player as a ground-level hero, a legend among towns of peasants, a man or woman capable of starting a family or three.

See the Future allows your hero to meet a soothsayer who narrates a playable sequence that puts this character in the future. The hero wears a crown and cape and is described as a king. He walks among his knights and subjects. A narrator, Theresa, talks about how he deals with the "responsibility of an entire kingdom."

The hero's throne is shown, and the implication is that Fable could be embracing lead creator Peter Molyneux's god-game past (see Populous, for example), expanding its scale to let the player's decisions not just affect their character's body or property but the lives of a kingdom.

Then the camera turns and the narrator says: "But this is of the least importance… this is the real future, his child, not yet born, but destined for greatness. A child on whom the fate of Albion will depend one day. As will the fate of Aurora."

The player is shown a baby in a crib. (You can watch all this on YouTube.)

What's it all mean? Is Fable going to become a child-rearing adventure? Who or what or where is Aurora? Is the first part of the tease misdirection, or is it the latter half?

A representative for Peter Molyneux deferred such questions to Microsoft.

A Microsoft rep told Kotaku via e-mail that "See the Future does give a glimpse of Albion's future, fictionally speaking, but we can't comment on what's next for the franchise."

We followed up asking if players could at least expect more Fable II DLC that would maybe shed more light on this. The rep replied: "We have nothing new to share right now as it relates to more content for Fable II."

Did we just see Fable III early? And if we did, what does it mean?

I'm placing the main image below in case the spoiler warning tag isn't enough to keep you from peeking inside. It really is one of the more humorous little cross-title nods I've come across lately, and I certainly wouldn't want to spoil the surprise for anyone else. Let's just say that millions of people across the world will recognize what they are seeing immediately upon finding it and leave it at that. Now go away now if you don't want to know. Seriously.

Given you plenty of time to leave now. Without further adieu, here's a shot of the hidden area I stumbled upon while playing X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

Not only did this discovery nearly make me piss myself laughing, it also scored me an achievement, aptly titled, "WoW!". with the description, "You feel cold as you examine the skeleton and read the name "Arthas" etched into the nearby sword."

Technically not a spoiler really, seeing as it's been outed on achievement lists all over the internet, but nonetheless an amusing little nod to one of Activision Blizzard's slightly more popular franchises.

UPDATE: Here's a pic of another hidden location that a reader sent in, which unlocks the achievement "Found!". I wonder what's under that hatch?

And here's a hi-rez screen of the Frostmourne scene, complete with Wolverine in his unlockable Legendary costume.

Good thing the preview 2K showed was a "fake" level that won't appear in the final game, making it impossible to spoil BioShock 2 for anybody and focusing more on the game itself and less on the spoiling. But, if you're the sensitive type, you have been warned: *HERE BE SPOILERS*

"Hunting the Big Sister" is a short preview level that contains elements of BioShock 2 that will be in the final game. The first of those elements is obviously the protagonist – the original Big Daddy. See? Not a spoiler. Nothing new here, move along, move along.

It's 10 years after the events of the first game and for some reason, we're back in Rapture and not much has changed. The producers say there's a reason for this and that they don't want to presuppose a canon ending for the first game. Fingers crossed it's not "the first game was all a dream," because that would make both games terrible instead of just the sequel.

The demo level starts with your character coming to in a partially flooded chamber of Rapture as Tenenbaum orders you to get up. Since you are the first Big Daddy, you're not subject to the mind control the other Big Daddies suffer – but how can you refuse a beautiful woman with a German accent?

Tenenbaum tells you about the Big Sister – antagonist and second element of BioShock 2. She looks kind of like the Scarecrow from The Wizard of Oz, only made up of wire mesh and pipes. She also goes into murderous rages periodically, especially where Little Sisters are concerned. For whatever reason, Tenenbaum blames herself for all of this and enlists you to help her fix it/save it (sound familiar? Then it's not a spoiler!).

The fake level presents you with your first Big Sister encounter by having the rampaging thing blow open a wall of glass in one of Rapture's ocean-view rooms. This puts you at the bottom of the ocean surrounding Rapture; but because you're in a diving suit, this isn't a big deal for Big Daddy.

This third element of the game – the ocean explorer segments – is technically the only new thing I saw in the demo, since you really didn't get to wander around the ocean in the first game. But don't get too excited – 2K says you won't really get to wander around much in BioShock 2, either. The ocean segments are "guided experiences" where the Big Daddy is supposed to follow a mostly-linear path to an airlock to go back inside Rapture. It sounds like instead of having to build stuff to open doors, you'll be asked to find airlocks and go out into the ocean to find ways around locked doors.

Once back inside Rapture, the game introduces combat. No real spoilers here, since the only enemies around were Splicers. No explanation what they're still doing in Rapture after 10 years, but they're just as agro as ever – even considering that you're a Big Daddy with a drill for an arm. You come upon one or two of the whacked-out buggers and they immediately start mobbing you with about three more coming from nowhere to join the fray. You can drill them with the drill arm (big fun), use plasmids (new ones are promised, but we didn't get to see them) or firearms to kill them off (yay, magnum rivet gun!). But sometimes they run away so you can't kill them; and they might even be able to kill you in larger packs so think twice before charging after the ones that flee. Additionally, there will be "differentiated" enemy types to keep the playing field level – but we didn't get to see anything besides Splicers.

After the combat, we were shown another main element of the game that's supposed to be the big ticket item: the Little Sister interactions. It's tempting to say that this doesn't count as a spoiler since it looks almost exactly the same as it did in the first game – but I guess changing the word "Save" to "Adopt" is significant.

The producers are well aware that people didn't really like the Hitler/Jesus split endings in the last game (especially since they were practically the same and there was no significant payoff or penalty for choosing one over the other). To address that, they've made the Little Sister interactions more complex than just "Harvest" or not-Harvest. This will in theory impact the endings more profoundly and since there might be more than just two endings, this might actually matter.

When you "Adopt" a Little Sister, you carry her around a level with you and can deploy her to go gather Adam from corpses. But doing so agros pretty much every Splicer in the area and they all come running to kick the shit out of the Little Sister. Again, not really a spoiler, since this same mechanic went on in the later levels of BioShock. The difference here is that the Little Sister has a Harvest limit and once she's reached it, you have to send her back home via the little pipe system.

Or – and this is a spoiler and quite possibly the most interesting thing to say about BioShock 2 so far – you could Adopt her, max out her Adam limit and then Harvest her. If you really want to be a bastard, that is.

After we saw the Little Sister Harvest a corpse, the Big Sister showed up again to knock out the Big Daddy, thus ending the fake level presentation.

P.S., said the developers, there will be multiplayer, there will be side stories and audio logs and they promise not to apply retroactive continuity to the first game. But since we didn't get to see any of that, none of that counts as spoilers.

*END SPOILERS*

So here's what we don't know, even having played the first game, fantasized about a sequel and read every scrap of pre-preview coverage out there:

1) How are we back in Rapture? We know why we're back in Rapture: it's easier for the producers to work with. But how is this city still functioning after Jack supposedly liberated or enslaved it at the end of the first game?
2) Why are we a Big Daddy? Not that I'm complaining about having a huge drill arm – I'm just confused as to how a speechless dude in a diving suit is going to sustain an emotional connection for the player.
3) How many endings will there be? The producers won't say, but they did say that the whole game would be "a smidge more linear" while still "empowering exploration." Very cryptic.

Make of BioShock 2's early looks what you will. But I'm going to take a moment to remind you of another Sad Truth About Sequels: like a second bite of cookie, the second installment of any game is rarely ever quite as sweet as the first simply because it's no longer new. You've already been spoiled... get used to it.

This of course carries a bigtime spoiler alert, so, you been warned. Visit the write-up at your curiosity's peril. Or you can peruse the following, which contain the write-ups more more generic comments after Gamespot played a demo entitled "Hunting the Big Sister." (Come on, that title's not a spoiler, I guess).

• "[Bioshock] had a fairly self-contained story that ended pretty definitively. This posed a challenge for 2K Marin, but the studio has taken the world of BioShock and used it to tell a whole new story."

• "We watched our boy as he lumbered around a new section of Rapture - the team pointed out that the original game let you check out only a small part of the massive ruined metropolis."

• "A new gameplay mechanic lets you make use of your fancy diving suit to take a stroll on the outside of the city."

• "At first blush, the visuals in BioShock 2 seem on par with those of the first game—but after carefully scrutinizing them, we saw many subtle improvements. Lighting has been polished up considerably, and the overall level of detail seems to have been increased, too. We're especially fans of the particle effects we saw both indoors and underwater. The game is using an enhanced version of the technology from the original game, which helps maintain the look and feel of the battered city."

• "Given the raw power and range of abilities the big daddy you'll play, the team felt the need to create a formidable predator."They're not referring to the Big Sister. They were. I'm a jackass.

BioShock 2 Exclusive Impressions - First Look [Gamespot, SPOILER ALERT throughout]

What begins with giant tentacles soaring out of the water (and flinging blood when they're cut up) swiftly turns into a bad-guy reveal that, wow, would make me cringe if I saw it in high-def for the first time. "Shit!!!!" Marcus says (I think), and he is right. The clip features some strategy on how to beat it. Of course at the end, whomever is playing just can't resist getting close, and he gets clobbered.

Leaked Gears of War 2 Boss Battle [Thoughts of a Random Gamer]

Proton packs don't need reloading, but they do need venting or they'll overheat. Hmm, wonder if those clouds of steam could have something to do with the blood in my urine?

The PKE Meter is great at tracking down errant ghosts and seeing in low light situations but don't get caught holding one, other wise empty handed, when a ghost comes at you.

Slapping a ghost around a room, while fun and even necessary before trapping, really cuts into profits after you pay for the damages.

Sure Ghostbusting is fun, but tragically, watching someone Ghostbust can lead to nightmares, especially if you're seven and about to go to bed.

You can't start fires or blow stuff up with your unlicensed nuclear accelerator, but you can cross streams. Turns out that doesn't do anything really.

SPOILERS AHEAD

Yesterday I got a chance to take a July build of Ghostbusters: The Video Game for a test drive on my Xbox 360 debug unit. (The same one, it looks like, that McWhertor tried at Comic-Con) While it was loads of fun to play, it was also exceptionally short, more a tease than a taste.

The demo started out with my character, an entirely new trainee for the growing Ghostbuster mythology, standing in front of the New York Public Library in front of a mammoth crowd of cheering, chanting New Yorkers held at bay by police. After a short intro by Egon, Stantz and Winston, and a bit of surprise ghost action, we made our way inside to start off what turned out to be a training mission.

First up, learning how to use the proton pack. Pressing a button has you pull out your neutrona wand and brings up a small crosshair. (You can turn the crosshair in options) Pulling the trigger fires off a suitably impressive proton stream that wavers and flicks around the screen as you aim it. When the stream licks across objects it leaves a scorch path traced with angry red glowing lines. While I was able to mark up the wall and break a few small items I wasn't able to light up my friends. Instead the stream went dead automatically whenever I pointed it at another Ghostbuster and they quickly told me off.

After a bit of playing around a ghost, sort of a leaner, meaner, bluer looking version of Slimer, came zipping through the library's cavernous entrance. The graphics were fantastic, and surprisingly, a little creepy.

After the spectral display Ray tells me how to use the P.K.E. Meter. The one downside, you can't equip it and the wand at the same time. Hellooooo Doom 3. As soon as you equip the meter you also slip on a pair of paragoggles which allow you to see ectoplasmic activity, like ghosts flying straight at you when you don't have an F-ing wand in your hand.

Fortunately, this first intro to the meter has you walking around the entrance looking for activity and eventually tracking the ghost to other rooms. Eventually you meet back up with the other busters, who took another route, in the central reading room. As you walk in Ray and Egan are lighting up the place.

As you walk through the room things start flying all over the place, first desks and chairs and then books. As the books fly about they start to swirl back together and form a monstrous book golem. This first battle with a ghost doesn't last too long, but gives you a sense of how the streams work (crossing them doesn't seem to cause any issues) and how you can do things besides soaking ghosts in them. For instance you can also shoot pulses down your stream called Boson Darts and even use the capture stream (after the ghost is weakened) to slam the thing around the room.

I eventually tore the thing up so much it just dissipated, meaning I didn't have to tinker with my containment traps. Not yet at least.

After you take care of the golem you start to realize that the group is actually here after the Grey Lady, the ghostly librarian from the first movie. You spend a big chunk of the rest of the demo tracking her movements through the library. The tracking is actually kinda fun and filled with quite a bit of unexpected frights and supernatural signs, like things stacking and floating about. It's really done quite well.

The demo culminates with a battle with a pair of of these lean looking Slimers, capturing them pretty much requires using the containment traps. To capture a ghost you have to wrap it up in a capture stream and move it over the trap you've dropped. Once you do that it opens up and pulls the thing is. But before you can do that you have to weaken the ghost. The best way to do this is to slam the ghost all over the place, into walls, into the ceiling, the floor, objects. Eventually the thing goes limp and you can move it around. The whole thing felt very physical, which I think is what they were going for when they designed the mechanic.

I was always sort of looking forward to this game, but this first chance to put my digital paws on a proton pack and neutrona wand has me hungering for more. The thing is, it wasn't all about lighting up and capturing ghosts, which I think is a very smart move on the part of the developers.

It was nice to capture a tidbit of some of the stories that I hope will fill the game, making it an exploration of ghost stories. I was also delighted to find that the humor of the movie, at least some of it, seems to have find its way into the game. But what really surprised me was how the game actually gave me a few frights. In fact, I made the mistake of letting Tristan sit next to me as I played through it and it managed to make both of us jump in our seats several times. It actually frightened Tristan so much I had to tell him he couldn't play it. I think that's a good thing, not because I like to scare the bejesus out of my son but because this is a game that I don't think could thrive on humor and proton streams alone, it needs to explore the darker side of Ghostbusters as well.

I've got a very cruel test for you Star Wars fans. What we have here is a video dialog from the LucasArts folks that goes over some pretty major, pretty spoilerish, plot points for The Force Unleashed. It also shows off a lot of the game. Yes, painful. So you decide, hit the game fresh and untarnished or stoke your fan engines now. Either way, know it looks pretty bad ass.

Now, I know how some of you are about spoilers, so I am posting this after the jump. You do not have to look. You can move along right now and forget that this post even exists. Completely up to you. Me? I'm not looking, but I'd be remiss in my duties if I didn't at least draw your attention to it.

Enjoy the extremely difficult choice.

Okay, but you asked for it.

Hit the jump for the course run down and the video for two hours of spoilers.

Two Hours of Mario Kart Wii Direct Feed, All 32 Courses [Wii Nintendo]

Course Rundown:
Mushroom Cup:
Luigi Circuit
Moo Moo Meadows
Mushroom Gorge
Toad's Factory

Flower Cup:
Mario Circuit
Coconut Mall
DK's Snowboard Cross
Wario's Gold Mine

Star Cup:
Daisy Circuit
Koopa Cape
Maple Treeway
Grumble Volcano

Special Cup:
Dry Dry Ruins
Moonview Highway
Bowser's Castle
Rainbow Road

Shell Cup:
GCN Peach Beach
DS Yoshi Falls
SNES Ghost Valley 2
N64 Mario Raceway

Banana Cup:
N64 Sherbet Land
GBA Shy Guy Beach
DS Delfino Square
GCN Waluigi Stadium

Leaf Cup:
DS Desert Hills
GBA Bowser Castle 3
N64 DK's Jungle Parkway
GCN Mario Circuit

Lightning Cup:
SNES Mario Circuit 3
DS Peach Gardens
GCN DK Mountain
N64 Bowser's Castle

Two Hours of Mario Kart Wii Direct Feed, All 32 Courses [Wii Nintendo]

While the alternate playable character probably won't come as a whopping surprise to longtime Nintendo fans, in the interest of helping some of our more sensitive readers spoiler-free, details on the secret are after the jump.

Yes, Luigi will be playable once again in a proper Super Mario adventure, but only after you've secured 120 stars, completed the purple coin missions, and defeated Bowser a second time. According to the alleged guide scan "Luigi jumps higher and further, and also runs faster, but has trouble stopping. They each have the same moves, such as the long-jump or backflip, but the difference in their basic jump, running speed, and stopping ability makes completing the game harder."

A nice little bonus that ensures I'll be getting every damn star in the game.