Yesterday we found out that Koei was giving Fist of the North Star the Dynasty Warriors treatment, and there was much rejoicing. Now, the very first screenshots have been revealed, along with leaked footage from Koei’s recent Japanese press conference, and I’ve to say that it looks surprisingly awesome.

Warriors games aren’t exactly known for their graphical brilliance, but this is looking like some of Omega Force’s best work, visually. The gameplay looks suitably violent and unrelenting as well, which is exactly what you want from a game based on the rather brutal Manga where people regularly explode.

Electronic Arts has announced that it will be bringing Madden NFL Arcade to PlayStation Network and Xbox LIVE Arcade “just in time for the holidays in December.”

Developed by EA Tiburon, the game is designed to appeal to casual fans as well as “diehard NFL fans,” with an emphasis on pick-up and play controls. Madden NFL Arcade will feature 32 NFL teams (along with their home stadiums) that compete in five-on-five games, with no penalties and no field goals. The first team to score 30 points wins, as the games are designed to be more fast-paced that traditional football titles.

EA is also tossing “power ups” to the mix, with 13 “Game Changers.” You’ll be able to add a bunch of linemen to get a sack, freeze a player, turn off your opponents passing icons, and other things that will generally annoy the crap out of the opposing team.

Madden NFL Arcade supports four players on a single console, features online modes, and leaderboards. All this for only $14.99 (or 1200 MS Points on Xbox 360). Somewhere right now, our Sports Editor Samit Sarkar is freaking the hell out.

Via Destructoid

Valve can now breathe a sigh of relief, because the profit-rending, company-crushing behemoth that was the Left 4 Dead 2 boycott has officially been killed. That’s right, Gabe Newell can have the first decent night’s sleep since E3, no longer weeping because a handful of people don’t like more of the game they enjoy.

“The recently released Crash Course was just the start. Future updates will continue to roll in, and 4v4 matchmaking is first in line,” writes boycott leader Agent of Chaos. “Valve has confirmed to us that it’ll be available before the release of L4D2. Also don’t forget, we’ve another DLC pack confirmed for sometime in the near future and of course, there will be bug fixes. This is as good as it can get people.”

I knew the boycotters would come crawling back in time for the game’s release, and what do we have here? The boycotters save face by claiming that they’ve “accomplished everything they can,” which basically means they got all the whining out of their systems and have probably been too excited by Left 4 Dead 2. It helped that Valve also flew the boycott leaders out to Seattle to have them play the game. I envision it’s hard to keep on hating after the royal treatment.

I’m a total dork when it comes to the Halloween rituals — I love hanging the stupid skeleton on the door, going to pick out a pumpkin to carve, queuing up the scary movies. I’m not so sure how I feel about carving a pumpkin virtually, but if you feel good about it, now you can do it. Siliconera spotted indie game Pumpkin Carver on the Xbox Live store, which, as you can guess, is a pumpkin carving sim.

Sure, it’s definitely aimed at children with its easy interface, but considering it costs 80 Microsoft points (basically $1.00), you can’t really complain. Thing is, all you really do is decorate the pumpkin with precut stencils, so if you’re thinking you’re gonna get fancy in there and make a Bayonetta pumpkin, I gotta shoot you down now. If you can do that to a real pumpkin though, send it to me, because I’ll put it on the front page of Destructoid faster than you can state First Climax.

Via Destructoid

Racing games are not for everybody. Well, the old ones were, but time went by, we slowly got away from the simplicity of just getting over the finish line first. Now we’re at a point where we’re controlling high-end simulations where realism and physics play a major role. You can’t mindlessly mash the gas pedal anymore. Now you’ve to mind your racing lines, consider your cornering, perform upgrades and modifications, and put your mind in a place where you can focus on each aspect of the car as you speed through insanely detailed recreations of real-world tracks. One missed step and you’ll find yourself smashed against a wall.

Even with as complex as these games have become, fans of these racing simulation-style titles still come out in droves to pick up the latest “car porn.” The realism in these games grant racing enthusiasts and automobile lovers to toy with vehicles they might not otherwise get to handle. For many years now, Polyphony Digital’s Gran Turismo series has been the front runner for these racing sims, but Turn 10’s Forza has been on their six, looking for an opportunity to pass. The race is not over yet, but it looks like Forza has pulled out in front.

Turn 10 has set a new high mark for racing games with Forza Motorsport 3. Fans of racing games are already frothing at the mouth at the level of game play and vehicle offerings included. But what’s most interesting is how the game now also caters to those that may have written off racing games in the past. Now’s time to get back into the race.

Forza Motorsport 3 (Xbox 360)
Developer: Turn 10 Studios
Publisher: Microsoft
Released: October 27, 2009
MSRP: $59.99, $79.99 for Collector’s Edition

You know how this works by now. You start out by hopping into a starter vehicle, usually some low end hatchback vehicle, you enter a race, win, collect your winnings, and then use it to buy a more massive and superior car. Repeat and repeat again until you’re the ideal racer that ever lived with every vehicle ever created.