By now I'm sure you've heard EA has purchased PopCap Games for the cool price of $750 million. I have mixed feelings about the acquisition. Hopefully, PopCap doesn't lose any of its charm now that it gets to sit at the popular lunch table.

Still, I have to wonder: How will this affect future titles for both PopCap and EA? Will we see Tiger Wood Pro-Bejeweled Tour 13? How about Plants vs. Madden? A more realistic application may be in games like Mass Effect 3. Imagine if when you had to open a locked door or a safe you had to solve a quick round of Peggle instead of matching shapes!

How do you think the sale will affect EA and PopCap games?

Let's face the facts: there are less video games released during the summer. There are still some gems, like Shadows of the Damned but other than a few games here and there I keep finding myself with time to play games but nothing new to play. So I look to you internet, my one true friend, what should I play? 

[This picture seemed summer-y to me.]

Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon comes out today. It has become a cult classic already and it's not even out yet. I played EDF: Insect Armageddon at GDC and it was actually more fun than I thought it would be. But despite the controls being easy to use and the gameplay being fast-paced, I couldn't get past the bugs. I hate bugs and I have them even more when they're giant. Even when I'm armed with a rocket-launcher I can't allow myself to enjoy it.

I can't be the only who hates bugs. Will your crippling fear of insects keep you from playing Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon?

Today is the 4th of July, which is the day America celebrates its independence, or so I'm told. I don't actually dwell on the historical meaning of the holiday, instead I focus on chips and dip. I will be putting down my controller and venturing into the sun for a real life BBQ today. How are you going to celebrate the 4th of July?

Fireworks, fireworks, fireworks! That's what's on my agenda this weekend. Maybe some barbeque but all I'm really  interested in is finding the most badass fireworks show that I can. I'm thinking of heading over to Booty Bay in Stranglethorn Vale or maybe Stormwind City to find the absolute best ones. Oh, you thought I meant real-life fireworks as opposed to World of Warcraft ones? Well yeah, those are cool too I guess. But let's cut to the chase, what games are you going to be playing over the long July 4th weekend? Perhaps you bought a few games to play this weekend in Steam's summer sale?

It's usually the little things in games that get me the most excited. Collecting all of the little bricks in the LEGO games, smashing pots or barrels in just about every game, stuff like that. Yesterday I was playing through the Journey beta and during the second part where the jellyfish pet things come out just made me so excited and happy, even though they weren't really doing anything other than guiding me. What types of little things get you really excited when it comes to games, or do you not get excited by the little things?

Of course most games require your full attention in order for you to get the best experience, but for some you only need to half be there, so what else are you listening to in the meantime? I find that whenever I play a PC game, especially StarCraft, I always have music on in the background. Usually some sort of trance music that isn't too distracting but still gets me fired up. What about you? When you play games do you listen to music? Watch TV or a movie in the background? Or do you find that you generally always listen to the game soundtrack? Let me know below, and maybe I'll try out some of your favorite tracks during my next gaming session.

In a rare event in my life, I didn't play a single game this weekend. I did sign up for Hulu Plus on my Xbox, though, and was amazed to see the entire Criterion Collection of films available for instant streaming. I came up with a ridiculous plan: I'm going to watch all of them. In alphabetical order. So this weekend, I watched Androcles and the Lion, a gladiator movie based on a play by George Bernard Shaw.

Id' post a review, but I'm sure you're already bored. What did you play this weekend?

Anyone else check out Toby Turner's literal Assassin's Creed: Revelations trailer we posted yesterday? It was pretty rad, and that beat is darn catchy. I listen to game soundtracks pretty often, and the Assassin's Creed series has been a consistent favorite, along with Mass Effect 2 and the multiple Final Fantasy themes (yeah, I saunter to work to the beat of Dash De Chocobo, what of it?). So naturally, I was pretty happy.

I figure I can't be the only one out there who appreciates a game for its musical score though. So why not let us know some of your favorite tunes and themes from video games? And on a related note, what bands or songs have you discovered through gaming?

Duke Nukem Forever has poop in it. I'm sorry. I didn't know if you knew. It also lets you microwave rats, and interact with strippers among a great many other items and activities on its "Did That Really Just...?" list. And love it or hate it, you can't deny Duke is an over-the-top franchise. But still, he's hardly the only one. How about Bulletstorm, or even the newly-released Shadows of the Damned?

Over-the-top is over and in right now, so I want to know: What are some of your favorite outrageous moments from gaming? They can be gross, action-packed, scary or whatever. Let us know in the comments below!

Oh, P.S. I double dare and challenge you to talk about poop and other grossness while keeping vocabulary safe for work.

Now that we've put the lid on another E3, and gone way into depth about all the games that were there, let's talk about what wasn't there. To me, the most notable absence from the show was one game: The Last Guardian.  Check out this video:

I can't believe we didn't get to see more from this eagerly awaited title!  How about you? What did you miss most at E3 2011?

MMO games have flooded G4! I'm drowning under a SWTOR preview, a TERA interview video, and a WoW: Cataclysm patch 4.2 "Rage of the Firelands" trailer! And don't forget it was just a couple weeks ago we learned about Dust 514, the ambitious FPS that will connect to hugely-successful EVE Online, not to mention our eager anticipation of Guild Wars 2. All this has made a few co-workers and I wonder just what we'll be doing with our lives in the upcoming months, because it certainly won't be anything productive. I'm already starting to lose sleep since discovering and following the Star Wars Galaxies emulator project.

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Last night I played both Duke Nukem Forever and Alice: Madness Returns on my PC. For both games I was using a wired Xbox 360 controller half of the time and the other half of the time I was using my mouse and keyboard. I'd never used a controller with a PC game before but I found that, especially with Alice, the controller worked a lot better for me than the m/k controls. But in Duke, a mix of controls worked best. The first person shooter aspects worked better with a mouse, whereas the RC car parts were better with the controller. Long story short, I'm wondering if you've ever switched around your controls like this and if you've found that some games just work better one way or the other. Or, do you use weird hotkeys and settings when you play games that other people find abnormal? For example, I always use the "R" button for autorun in every game rather than "Numlock."

Some games that deserve sequels get them, like with StarCraft 2, while other games, like Psychonauts, leave us constantly hoping that we'll hear word of a successor sometime soon. This morning I want to know of some games that you'd love to see a sequel for, and how the new game would improve upon the original. For me, other than Psychonauts I'd love to see a new Borderlands game with even more guns, classes, and character customization. You?

Well ladies and gents, it's finally time to kick ass and chew bubblegum, and we're all out of gum. Duke Nukem Forever released today and honestly a few of us here at G4 never thought it would happen. Games that have been in development for over ten years often leave us skeptical that they'll ever see a release. What other games can you think of that you've wanted for so long that you question if they'll ever see the light of day? The first one that comes to mind for me is Half-Life 3 or even a new Counter Strike. I was so sure I'd hear about one of these as a special surprise at this year's E3 and was sorely disappointed. Ugh! What about you?