Fresh from of BlizzCon 2011, new information and an amazing new trailer have just been released for the next expansion in theStarCraft IIseries,Heart of the Swarm. In the trailer, we get to see a post-Queen of Blades Sarah Kerrigan still clinging onto the fact that a certain Terran Dominion Emperor may have left her for dead on planet crawling with Zerg. No biggie. After donning a new set of Ghost armor, and somehow gaining telekinetic abilities, she starts on a quest for vengeance across the stars....

I went into a local thrift shop (game hunting) the other day and found that they had about 8 shelves full of what looked to be brand-new DVDs, Blu-ray movies and videogames in stock. They had stickers on them from several retailers, including Wal-Mart and Best Buy. Most of them were between $5 and $7. Probably hot. Who cares. I bulked up my Blu-ray horror movie collection for almost nothing. They had lots of games, but they were all dogsh*t titles....

Big Red’s seeing black The casual observer might assume that Nintendo’s having a good run of things lately, what with its wildly popular Switch having recently released and whatnot. A dive into the company’s financials proves this assumption to be spot-on. Nintendo’s having the exact kind of year you’d expect for a company that’s in the midst of a successful console launch. Nintendo has just released itsconsolidated financial reportto investors for the quarter that ended on June 30....

The story isn’t done If you aren’t ready to leave Parvati and [your second-favorite companion] behind, heads up: Obsidian is working on DLC forThe Outer Worlds– the good kind, I mean. The story-centric kind. “To all of those who voted for us in The Game Awards, you are all fantastic and we are so grateful for your support,” said social media manager Shyla. (It was nominated infour categories, but didn’t win....

Open beta soon, probably Ghost Recon Wildlandsplayers will soon have the opportunity to turn their firearms toward a new enemy: Other players. The four-player squad-based cooperative shooter is adding a free competitive multiplayer mode sometime this fall. Ubisoft recently released this trailer for the new mode, which is called Ghost War. The PvP retains the squad feel, as it’s limited to four people per team. Roll in with the same cowboys that help you tackle the cocaine cartel in the campaign....

The originalKillzoneis scheduled to infiltrate the PlayStation Network on January 24, in an announcement that came out of nowhere. It will be a straight port, not a revamped HD version, and it’ll cost you $9.99. Killzoneis one of the most famous examples of dangerous pre-release hype. The PS2 exclusive was labeled a “HaloKiller” almost immediately, and while the final product was pretty good, the failure to live up to ludicrous expectations did some damage to its reputation....

Such wonderful music The Kickstarter for Fresh3D’s high-defOutcastremake hasn’t made as much progress as I would’ve thought. There’s still time left — the project is sitting at just over $220,000 of its $600,000 funding goal with 13 days left inthe campaign— but there are no guarantees. Maybe this footage will help. As I said in my earlier coverage, the biggest elementmissing from the pitchwas straight-up gameplay — the more, the better....

If you were planning on making the trek toMeccaSeattle this August to attend the PAX Prime expo and haven’t yet picked up a pass for the show, you may want to look into some alternate vacation plans. Just over a week after Penny Arcade opened registration for the show, the entire event has sold out of passes. In a statement to Joystiq, PA’s Robert Khoo lamented that the show could not accommodate more attendees, saying that their, “hands are tied on the issue,” as it pertains to venue capacity limitations and fire code regulations....

Earlier this morning I showed off theludicrous Chaos Eater swordthat THQ sent me in the mail. Those of you who could concentrate on anything other than how fat I am were immediately impressed by what is clearly theultimateswag. You want one. Obviously you do. You can win one, too! Yes, we have a secondDarksiderssword to give away, courtesy of THQ. All you have to do in order to win it is to prove that you are manly enough to handle its power....

Don’t throw things, but IPixelJunk Edenon the PlayStation Network was one of my favorite downloadable titles of 2008. Yes, I enjoyed it more thanBraidandWorld of Goo— sorry, Internet! So when Dylan Cuthbert, the President ofPixelJunk‘s developer Q-Gamespromises two to threenew games from the company in 2009, I get excited. Cuthbert offers no details, making this one of the first teases of the New Year, and a nasty one at that. But considering thePixelJunkgames have gotten consistently more interesting and larger in scope — starting with the straight-forward slot-carPixelJunk Racersto the stunningEden— this bodes well....

The switch flips on Wednesday, April 27 [Update:The transfer process is live. You can open up the Bethesda Launcher to queue up the process automatically through a prompt (which is ideal)or head here. Link your Steam account, accept/hit yes on everything, and the transfer will begin.For me, it took roughly 30 seconds. Afterward, my Bethesda Launcher Games instantly showed up in my “recent” category on Steam; and the transfer site will show you what actually transferred in a list to the right of the confirmation....

Bone-shattering sniping — now with motion control! Sniper Elite V2, the stealth-action World War 2 sniper shooter that released on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC last year, has been announced for release on Wii U, though no specified date was given. “Sniper Eliteis just the kind of mature game that is perfect for the different mechanics of the Wii U,” said Jason Kingsley, CEO of developer Rebellion Games. “It’s been a challenge to get it right, but thanks to our team and the fantastic support of our partners at 505 Games we believe we’ve brought the unique gameplay to a whole new platform....

Pew, Pew, Pew This week, your retro friend and mine, Hamster, has pulled up another classic ’80s arcade and given it a new lease of life on a modern platform, as SNK shmupAlpha Missiontakes to the skies once more on Nintendo Switch. Released in arcades way back in 1985, before being ported to the Famicom a year later,Alpha Mission, (known in Japan asASO: Armored Scrum Object), is a basic, single-player, vertically-scrolling shmup, with players guiding a spaceship into battle against relentless waves of enemies....