The 10 most anticipated games of E3 2011 (Nintendo DS)

As the Donald Rumsfeld so cleverly put it, “There are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns the ones we don't know we don't know.& The “known knowns& we’re interested in today are announced games we know are being shown at E3; the titles we can’t wait to learn more about. Here’s a list compiled from an informal poll of GR editors that comprises the 10 announced games we want to see more of at E3... ...

Pokemon Monday 45 - A champion Amoonguss (Pokemon Black / White)

This week we report on the happenings at Saturday's Pokemon West Regional Championships - it was a glorious day for sportmanship, cosplay, and a special fungus named Amoonguss. Plus we discuss the latest news from Japan, including upcoming download events and a new Pokemon game announcement. Download link and more inside! ...

Games that every other game should copy (Nintendo DS)

Cheating off another student’s test in school isn’t cool. When that student is earning straight A’s and winning all the college scholarships, however, it probably wouldn’t hurt to take a look at his or her study habits and maybe think about trying them out for yourself.

End of forced metaphor. What we’re trying to say is that sometimes copying your competitors is okay, even admirable especially when your competitors are the bar-raising, standard-setting, envelope-pushing geniuses at places like Nintendo, Valve, Rockstar and BioWare. Gamers won’t care or complain if you shamelessly rip off better ideas, as long as that means an industry full of better games.

So steal away! Here’s a cheat sheet to get you started... ...

The Top 7... games to hate because they make you feel like an awkward, self-conscious dick (Nintendogs)

These are the Top 7... games we hate because they make us feel like awkward, self-conscious dicks when we're playing them. Screw these games. Assholes. ...

GamesRadar's box art battle (Nintendo DS)

Scientific studies have shown that 82% of all geek arguments derive from pitting two entities against each other in fictional battle.* Xbox vs PlayStation. Mac vs. PC. Mario vs. Sonic. Lara vs. Samus. GamesRadar is no exception as we’ve done battles for both our most hated and loved characters. Nothing fuels us more than arguing amongst ourselves over unanswerable, completely hypothetical situations, so it only makes sense that the next logical step would be to pit some of our favorite box art against each other in a truly geeky fashion. That is, in the design geek fashion.

That’s right, I don’t care about your warm and fuzzy feelings of nostalgia over certain games. I don’t care if a game’s cover betrayed its utter lack of decent gameplay. I don’t even care if your absolutely brilliant game with a mediocre cover didn’t make it onto this list. I played both Mass Effects and loved them immensely but I would never include either of their predictable covers on any best of list... ...

GamesRadar remembers Macho Man Randy Savage (WWE SmackDown vs Raw 2010)

Only one thing could ever overshadow the Earth’s impending Doomsday, and that event has unfortunately occurred. Randy Poffo, better known throughout the universe as Macho Man Randy Savage, has tragically passed away at 58. To honor one of THE GREATEST entertainers of our day, we’ve put together a highlight reel of all our favorite Macho moments from this legendary man’s two-decade contribution to our favorite wrestling games... ...

Gaming's most heartbreaking betrayals (Lufia: Curse of the Sinistrals)

Some do it for gold. Some do it for love. Some do it for patriotism. Some do it because the developers decided they needed an arbitrary twist. Whatever their reasons, there are few ways to make a previously loved character universally despised faster than having them turn traitor.

While some betrayals you can see coming a mile away, and some just make no sense, this list is a tribute to the traitors who really hit home. Whether they shook us to our core, or were just so sympathetic that we couldn’t harbor any resentment; these characters did more than break our bodies…they broke our hearts... ...

A history of Friday the 13th in video games (Nintendo DS)

Friday the 13th. Superstitiously the unluckiest day of the year. But in 1980, it proved to be particularly unlucky for a bunch of fictional summer camp councelors at the Crystal Lake resort, as a bloody reign of terror began in the first Friday the 13th movie. That legendary gore rampage has continued through nine sequels, a Nightmare on Elm St. crossover and a more-fun-than-it-had-any-right-to-be remake, and has cemented hockey-masked aficionado of disembowellment Jason Voorhees as one of horror cinema's most iconic antagonists. So, with today itself being Friday the 13th, we thought it was high-time for an in-depth retrospective look at the movie franchise's storied history with our beloved video game medium. ...

GamesRadar's favorite box art (Nintendo DS)

We discuss box art a lot at GamesRadar. From our yearly worst box art feature, to our most hated clichés, to misleading covers it tends to come off like all we do is talk about what we dislike. And, while it’s generally more entertaining to bitch and moan about things, you know what’s better? Unadulterated, warm and fuzzy, completely nonsensical love. Here we’ve compiled GamesRadar’s most loved box art chosen for reasons as deep as childhood nostalgia to as shallow as “Cows!& ...

Pokemon Monday 44 - Trainer etiquette (Pokemon Black / White)

Pokemon news is slow this week, but we make the best of it by discussing the ins and outs of multiplayer etiquette in the Pokemon world, and discuss our hopes and dreams for the first Pokemon game on Nintendo's new console. Download link inside! ...

TalkRadar: Brink, Thor, and forgotten Sega games (Thor: God of Thunder )

It's a brand new day for TDar, but the more things change, the more they stay the same... ...

10 merciless Mario re-imaginings (New Super Mario Bros)

Mario may be one of the most instantly recognized and universally beloved game characters of all time, but even by the standards of game characters, his whole mythos is pretty simplistic. Bowser kidnaps Peach, his soldiers get in the way, Mario stomps everything and rescues her, and that’s more or less all there is to it unless you count all the times Mario, Peach and Bowser have gone kart racing. Or played tennis, or partied, or teamed up to fight gastric distress, or did any of the numerous things that have, in the past 10 years, become much more frequent and visible than their fights. Once you factor in that inconsistency, it all starts to get weird.

With that in mind, it’s hardly surprising that so many fans have felt compelled to fill in the blanks with their own works of fiction and that some of those works have gone to some pretty dark places. Most of you have probably already seen Handre de Jager’s unspeakably manly Mario fanart, or the countless one-off parodies across the web that paint Mario in a nasty light, or his enemies in a sympathetic one. For the purposes of this article, however, we wanted to find fan projects that dove to the heart of the Mario universe and remade it around the dark, slimy things they found there or, failing that, that at least put a uniquely sadistic slant on the whole thing... ...

TalkRadar 150 - Beginning of the End (Nintendo DS)

Surprising spinoffs, your most hated game characters, tons of prizes, and a special announcement that could change everything… ...

Why every Final Fantasy game is the best AND worst in the series (Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings)

If there’s one thing nerds love to do, it’s argue about our favorite things and which one is better. SNES or Genesis? Batman or Superman? Mike or Joel? Amongst the myriad of geeky topics than can spur internet flamewars, there’s a particularly contentious one: which Final Fantasy game is the best?

Anyone who has attempted to engage in such a debate has discovered something: your favorite FF game is somebody else’s least favorite FF game and oftentimes for the very same exact reasons that you love it. With that in mind, we’ve set out to settle the debate once and for all. We’ve taken a long, hard look at all the mainline, numbered FF games no spinoffs, no direct sequels ala X-2 and have decided to end all arguments once and for all by describing why each and every one is simultaneously both the best and the worst Final Fantasy game ever. In the face of such irrefutable evidence, all arguments are certain to cease now and forevermore… right? ...

Recycled characters you see in every BioWare game (Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood)

Before you get started with this article, we’d like to begin with a very sincere, simple statement: we love BioWare a whole squishy huggy bunch. Their narratives are usually awesome and we’ve spent an embarrassing number of hours playing their games.

That said… with the recent release of Dragon Age 2, it dawned on us how many similarities there are in their recent games. It’s gotten to a point where we can immediately recognize an NPC archetype after only spending a couple minutes with the new character; we took some time to jot down a detailed guide of each of these copy-paste characters so you’ll know precisely how to act the moment they open their easily written mouths... ...

The games of May 2011 (Nintendo DS)

Remember back when the summer used to be a barren wasteland for game releases? Dark days. This month kicks off what looks to be the busiest summer break in years, with more games coming in May than we can reasonably get to. We're getting a healthy mix of surefire hits and potential surprises across PC and all consoles - even the 3DS is picking up some steam. Pour one out for your bank account, a true friend who simply can't survive the overwhelming demand of May... ...

Pokemon Monday 43 - Pokemon (oh) Snap! (Pokemon Black / White)

Thanks to the listeners, this week we've got enough Pokemon-themed jokes to keep your fellow Pokemon trainer pals impressed for the next year. Plus, we discuss the latest Pokemon Global Link news and reopen the investigation on Yoshi's status as a secret Pokemon. Download link inside! ...

The Top 7... Coolest video game islands (Yoshi's Island DS)

Islands are the biggest 'get-out-of-jail-free' cards in videogame design. Firstly, they allow developers to create a defined perimeter without having to explain away invisible walls with forcefields or malaria. It also gives them license to plausibly fill said island with anything from dinosaurs to trifle. It's an island it can be anything it needs to be.

It was playing Treasure Island Dizzy recently that became the basis for this list. The excitement of an uncharted island to explore may not have changed over the years, but its execution certainly has. Where we used to play on islands of treasure or rainbows, we now face convicts, pimps and ninjas. Both kinds have their merits, but which is best? Let's find out...

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