There was plenty of awesome cosplay going on at PAX East 2012, and we've got the photo galleries to prove it.

Check out our Nintendo cosplay pictures (with plenty of Link, Mario, and yes, the Squirtle Squad), our Valve cosplay gallery (where our photographer managed to capture Ratman on film), our Capcom cosplay pictures (what's Ryu playing, anyway...), and our TV/Movies cosplay picture gallery (It's Nacho Libre!). Plus, check out the shots from the Bioshock cosplay contest and our entire PAX East 2012 cosplay gallery.

Well done to all of you cosplayers out there. You really make me wish I had the attention span to work as hard on anything as you guys do on these costumes. Keep it up!

One of the things that make Marvel Pinball so cool is that the tables look freakin' awesome. And when Marvel Pinball: Avengers Chronicles is released, there will be four more freakin' awesome looking tables.

But what goes into creating this arcade artwork? To answer that question, we put together a little video to show you the "World War Hulk" table at each stage of production.

Or, if video's not your thing, look below the jump for a more detailed description of each stage, complete with pretty pictures. If you want to see more of the completed table, check out the "World War Hulk" trailer, and for more new tables, check out our Marvel Pinball: Avengers Chronicles gameplay videos.

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Marvel Pinball has already succeeded at combining pinball and superheroes, but you can never have too much of a good thing, right? Of course not!

So in that spirit comes a nice bit of DLC, Marvel Pinball: Avengers Chronicles, due to be released in spring of this year on Xbox Live and PSN. We've put together gameplay videos for three of the four Avengers-themed tables included in the package: World War Hulk, Fear Itself, and The Infinity Gauntlet.

The only virtual pinballing I've ever done is over the Space Cadet variety, but I've got to say, these tables look pretty friggin' cool.

Check out World War Hulk below, and the other two are after the jump.

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There's always something interesing coming out of the Xbox Live Arcade. Adam Sessler took a look at three upcoming titles: Fable Heroes, South Park: Tenorman's Revenge, and Wreckateer. Check out the gameplay footage, plus interviews with Ted Timmons, lead designer of Fable, Glen McKnight, designer of South Park, and Dave Lang, CEO of Iron Galaxy Studios.

Forces of Nature, the latest DLC for Gears of War 3, came out yesterday, so naturally we put together a little video to show you the five new maps. Well,  technically it would be three new maps (Cove, Artillery, and Aftermath) and two old maps (Raven Down from Gears 1 and Jacinto from Gears of War 2), but the point is, we took the time to show you all of them.

The whole package costs 800 Microsoft Points, and also includes new character models and weapons skins.

So enjoy the fruits of our labor, even though in this case, labor = playing Gears of War 3 at our desk.

Check out our review of Vessel if you're in the market for a different kind of puzzle game! Here's a taste of what Rob Manuel had to say:

Welcome to the world of Vessel. Living water went on strike and you are the only man who can whip them back into shape. This physics-puzzler slowly puts you throw the ringer as you not only have to move liquid, but move the simple minded Fluro to get your masterpiece moving again. For any fan of steam punk or just a good brainteaser, this is surely one puzzle you can't pass up.

Here's the entire Vessel review.

Capcom isn't exactly known for fantasy games, but they're venturing in that direction with Dragon's Dogma, which is being developed by the same people who developed Devil May Cry 4 and Resident Evil. Adam Sessler recently spoke with Product Manager Mike Schmidt about some of the gameplay features in the upcoming fantasy epic. If you don't want to wait until the May 22 release date to play Dragon's Dogma, keep your eyes open for the demo which should be available a few weeks prior.

We've got a hands-on preview of Tony Hawk Pro Skater HD. The PSOne classic gets an HD reboot, but there's much more to it than that. Here's a taste:

"Unlike the majority of HD remakes that are arriving on digital platforms, Tony Hawk Pro Skater HD isn’t just a simple port. You can’t just slap HD textures on a PSOne game and call it a day, after all. Instead, developer Robomodo has gone about painstakingly recreating every rail, ramp, and vert to be exactly as you remember them. After the more recent unconventional and lackluster Tony Hawk games, Pro Skater HD is a welcome return to form."

Check out the entire hands-on Tony Hawk Pro Skater HD preview, plus check out our gameplay preview video.

We've got new Dishonored screenshots for you to look at with your eyeballs! You'll get to see a few enemies, a little combat, and plenty of atmosphere. Still no release date for this one yet, but after seeing these, I really hope it's soon.

Check out the Dishonored screenshot gallery!

Pretty pictures are one thing, but if you want to see Dishonored in action, you've got to tune into X-Play tonight. They'll be featuring a first-look preview of the game, so turn to G4 at 6:30PM ET, for a Dishonored preview, a look at a new BioShock Infinite enemy and a whole lot more!

The Battleship video game based on the upcoming movie will combine naval strategy simulation and first-person shooter action. The first gameplay trailer gives us a look at the latter. It's strange to think that a game with its roots in a board game, that uses plastic pegs and a grid to have fun, would have run-and-gun action, but that's the way it is. Everyone who played Battleship as a kid, never played it like this. See for yourself.

The voice-cast for Lollipop Chainsaw has been announced. You might recognize some of the game's talent, like Tara Strong, aka Harley Quinn. Lollipop Chainsaw is actually a pretty simple idea. What do gamers love? They love zombies, girls in skimpy cheerleader outfits, hilarious dialouge, and chainsaws. Add some of the gaming world's most talented actors and BOOM!  You've just mixed yourself a nice, cool glass of Lollipop Chainsaw.

Doing this concept justice requires a talented team of actors and writers to bring the twisted and colorful characters to life. The latest behind-the-scenes trailer gives you a chance to meet these awesome people, including voice actress extraordinaire Tara Strong, who stars as the chainsaw-wielding cheerleader, Julia.

Check it out!

Reports began to circulate about some Xbox 360 users experiencing problems with disappearing achievements and seeing their Gamerscore reset to zero. Many users have taken to the Microsoft forums looking for help and explanations; however, according to Microsoft, the problem has been fixed.

Previously, players complained about lost points, as well as losing previous achievements. Early on, explanations ranged from routine updates to profiles being signed in on other consoles.

Twitter Xbox Support has been busy addressing issues directly, and recommends that you sign out, and then sign back in. For many users, this will fix the issue. If this doesn't resolve your problems, M'soft also said you should try redownloading your profile. Be warned, however, that doing so will erase the achievements you've earned since this problem began.

What does this mean for you? Will March 13, 2012 will go down as they day you earned achievements and a technical hiccup cost you your hard work? Time will tell, but for now, if you may want to join the chorus of voices over at the Xbox forums.

Source

Former Sony executive Phil Harrison will join Microsoft as the corporate vice president of the Interactive Entertainment Business team, focusing primarily on their European division, Microsoft announced today in a press release.

Harrison will fill the void left by the departure of Peter Molyneux, who announced his resignation last week.

Here are some highiights from the press release:

"I am excited to be joining the senior team at Microsoft at a pivotal time for our industry,” said Harrison. “I am really impressed with the company’s long-term vision for growing the market for interactive entertainment globally and also with the incredible wealth of talent, technology and resources the company has available to succeed."

“We are honored to have Phil join a team that boasts a wealth of talent from across the industry,” said Phil Spencer, corporate vice president at Microsoft Studios. “Phil is one of video gaming’s true visionaries, and his experience overseeing global studios and deep industry relationships make him the ideal person to lead our European efforts. Under his leadership, we look forward to continuing cultivating the best talent and growing our business in the region.”

“Phil has played an instrumental role in shaping modern console history through his keen insights into both hardware and software strategy,” said Don Mattrick, president, Interactive Entertainment Business. “His addition to our leadership team will impact our global business in innumerable ways, as he aligns our studio development and growing portfolio of entertainment experiences in Europe to drive our continued growth worldwide.”

Harrison resigned from his position as presiden of Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios in 2008. He then worked with Atari until 2010, when he joined up with Gaikai.

Sonic Team is not planning any more episodes past Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 2, which is bad news for anyone hoping for more episodes of Sonic the Hedgehog 4. 

Producer Takashi Iizuka told Digital Spy that "We are looking forward to hearing the feedback from the users for Episode 2, but we are currently not planning to release another episode."

He did add that they "just want to see how the users accept this episode," so who knows? Maybe they'll change their mind somewhere down the line.

For now, though, Sonic fans will just have to be happy with Sonic the Hedgehog Episode 2, which will be availbe on Xbox Live Arcade, PSN, PC and mobile later this year.

And I suppose there is a little silver lining: now Half-Life fans aren't the only ones hoping for an Episode 3.

Source

Wasteland creator Brian Fargo has launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund Wasteland 2, the sequel to the PC classic Wasteland. This makes Wasteland the latest game developer to capitalize on the online fundraising service after Tim Schafer found success with his Double Fine Adventure Kickstarter campaign. 

So, do you want a Wasteland sequel? Well then get up and do something about it! The Wasteland 2 Kickstarter has gone live, and it is currently accepting pledges towards the project. Now, I suppose you don't literally have to get up, but it couldn't hurt.

At the time of this post, more than $150,000 has already been pledged. There are 34 days left to reach the $900,000 goal required to earn the project it's funding.

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