When you’re Newsweek’s N’Gai Croal, you can just show up at Rockstar Games’ New York City offices and kick your feet up on their waiting room coffee table, knocking the latest issue of Substitute Press right onto the floor. Then, Rockstar’s VP of development Jeronimo Barrera brings him a drink (non-alcoholic — N’Gai’s working, after all) and spill the beans on an upcoming patch for Midnight Club: Los Angeles for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

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Quietly announced at Activision’s “not E3″ conference, X-Men Origins: Wolverine — a game based on a motion picture which is based on a comic book — is still on track for its 2009 release.

Activision has released new details on the game, none of which are necessarily surprising, but “new” nonetheless. Surprise, the game will ship alongside the X-Men Origins: Wolverine feature film, which stars Hugh Jackman and hits theaters in Might 2009. Raven Software (Marvel Ultimate Alliance) and Amaze Entertainment (which has worked on a slew of licensed handheld titles) will be handling the development duties across multiple platforms, including Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Computer, Wii, Nintendo DS, PlayStation 2, and PlayStation Portable.

Oh, and Wolverine is going to be beating things up using “lightning-quick combat, evasive maneuvers, in-depth combo attacks, and an array of brutal finishing moves.” But you could have guessed that too, right?

The good news is that Raven’s worked on a few awesome Marvel-based titles, like the X-Men Legends series and Marvel Ultimate Alliance. The bad news is those games were awesome partially because of their killer co-op components, and kicking ass with a friend is usually a good time. So unless Wolverine has a sidekick, it’s likely Origins will be a single-player affair. Let’s hope it holds up on its own.

[Update: Activision just sent over a big old in-game-looking image of Wolverine doing what he does best …

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Eidos’ Batman: Arkham Asylum is looking care about it could wipe the taste of all the bad Batman videogames from our mouths. The above trailer is included in the standard-definition version of The Dark Knight DVD that goes on sale at most major retailers on December 9. It is a delightful teaser that shows little gameplay, but a lot of great art decisions.

Notice the seriously dark and gloomy conditions of Arkham Asylum. It is something that the developers have seemingly homed in on. Also, check out the character design. The Joker, Batman, and Killer Croc (towards the end of the teaser) are wonderfully rendered and reflect a visual style that a Batman title truly needs.

Our expectations for this title are quite high, and while the trailer serves to illuminate design choices, we would really like to see the game in action.

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Just when you thought all of this holidays releases have dried up, Codemasters has announced that its action role-playing game Rise of the Arognauts will be released … next week. The game will ship for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Personal computer on December 16 in North America.

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Crackdown is one of those games that decent people struggle to find a bad word to say about, even if it’s not one of their favorite games ever. It’s simply a damn fun little title, and that’s a real accomplishment. But where’s the sequel? Word of a follow up game is as quiet as ever, but Microsoft Game Studios boss Phil Spencer has at least hinted that Crackdown 2 is definitely on the cards.

Speaking with Major “Larry Hryb” Nelson on Mr. Major’s Spectacular Podcasterooni, Spencer had the following conversation:

Nelson: I’m here to tell you on behalf of the community, I want – we need – another Crackdown. That’s all I’m going to say, so you don’t have to confirm for deny anything. I’m just saying we want it.

Spencer: Yes, Crackdown’s one of my favourites. I’ll leave it at that.

A Crackdown sequel is inevitable, I think. It’s a hot community favorite, reviews were generally favorable, and it’s one of the more unashamedly fun Xbox 360 exclusives out there. Microsoft wants it, we want it, all that’s left is for Realtime Worlds to add those numbers up and make it.

Via Destructoid

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Q Entertainments addictive puzzler Meteos Wars will be coming to Xbox LIVE Arcade this Wednesday for 800 Microsoft Points. The game was originally set for an October release, but was delayed because Microsoft likes to make your lives miserable.

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Space Invaders Extreme is a damn fine DS title, and it’s sure to look even prettier on an HDTV when it comes to the Xbox Live Arcade. If you don’t like pretty things, however, don’t worry. The XBLA version looks care about it will include the old school Space Invaders game for nothing.

As always, it’s left to the ESRB to give the details away, stating that Extreme “includes the original version of Space Invaders, as well as new stages, bosses, and alien types.” Good old ESRB, the best spokesman the games industry never had. This may be a case of dodgy writing on the part of the ESRB, but if not, then free retro for all!

If you haven’t played Extreme, it’s worth a go, original version or not. It shall be a fine addition to the XBLA roster, especially with the DS version discontinued.

Via Destructoid

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Like many members of the Destructoid staff, I’m finding constant enjoyment from Left 4 Dead. While it’s not a game of the year contender for me, I certainly can’t deny that it’s a lot of fun, and one of the best co-op experiences I’ve ever played.

Unfortunately, I don’t Computer game. I’ve just never been comfortable with a mouse and keyboard setup when I game, even when it comes to first person shooters. As such, I bought the Xbox 360 version of Left 4 Dead and have, on the whole, been enjoying the title non-stop.

That’s, until the day YOU assholes discovered it. I’m talking to you, the generic, uninteresting, stereotypical moron who ends up polluting each Xbox Live game with your Halo-drenched presence. The complete dickhead who makes it his ambition to turn Xbox Live into the inner city basketball court he’s too much of a pussy to hang out at in real life.

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