Tony Hawk pretty much has a stronghold on the skating videogame market. The release of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater back in 1999 spawned many sequels (eight, if we're not mistaken) that have received good marks both from gamers and critics. With his licensing deal with Activision extending until 2015, there'll be more Tony Hawk games coming our way.

Well, EA wants a piece of that lucrative skateboard videogame market. Enter PJ Ladd. The name may not be as recognizable as Tony Hawk, but if you see PJ in action, we're quite sure there'll be a lot of jaw-dropping moments on your part.

EA is bringing the skateboarding wizardry of PJ Ladd into your Xbox 360 and PS3 through Skate. And to get the show started, EA has released a short clip of PJ Ladd. Though we won't see the hardflips and the mind-blowing moves in this trailer, the subtle intro about PJ Ladd is just the perfect teaser.

Download: [Skate: PJ Ladd Trailer]

If you're a collector of many things, you probably know how it is in the world of toy collecting. Buy a toy (say, an action figure) and keep it mint on card, then buy another one to open and display on cabinets for others to marvel at. We can't say the same thing about video game collectors though. So, this brings us to the question: "Would you buy a Limited Edition videogame even if you already have the retail version?"

Answers may vary, but the curious question would be what comes with the Limited Edition. Take for instance the Gears of War Collector's Edition currently offered for US$ 57.99 at Amazon.com. Sure, we were quite impressed by the game, with shortcomings and all. But really, would you be compelled to buy the same game with a few extras? And these extras happen to be: Destroyed Beauty, the Gears of War hardbound art book; "Art of Gears of War" trailer; an inside look at the making of Gears of War; and a mini documentary "Gears of War: The Race to E3".

Those who held off buying the game until all reviews are lodged in could very well be the lucky bunch who'd stand to benefit from the cheaper Collector's Edition. But those who already have their copies might just be tempted to grab their own Limited Edition copies just because they want to get as much Gears of Wars goodies they can get. Not a bad motivation.

Why aren't we surprised at all? We did see this coming. And it's all good. While the past videogame incarnations of Harry Potter were forgettable, we're eager to see what the next-gen versions have to offer. We can already picture players swishing and flicking the Wiimote while uttering "Alohamora!"

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix videogame will be the first in the franchise to be developed for the next-gen consoles. EA and Warner Bros. promise an accurate representation of the events surrounding J.K. Rowlings' fifth book, which happens to be Harry Potter's fifth year at Hogwarts.

The game will allow players to explore Hogwarts and take on missions presented in the book/movie.

Playable characters include Harry Potter (of course!), Dumbledore, and Sirius Black. Too bad, Ron and Hermione are non-playable. But we're pretty sure they'll get some exposure throughout the game.

The game is slated for a July 2007 release to coincide with the film. It'll also be released for the PSP, PS2, Gameboy Advance, and Windows PC.

Superman Returns: The Videogame for the Xbox 360 will soon hit retail with speed in excess of 800 miles per hour. Mighty fast, you say. Indeed it is. It's what Supervising Producer Jeff Peters guarantees, when you play the game, that is. The development team behind Superman Returns is giving the gamers total control of Superman, starting with the power of flight.

Art Director Phil Straub is given the unenviable task of making sure Superman looks cool from the ground level, from 20 stories up, and from a bird's eyeview. Watching the video, it would seem that the dev team has succeeded in capturing the "faster-than-a-speeding-bullet" part. Of course, using the maximum speed over and over can get old, that's why you, the player, has several options when you roam around Metropolis. You could start with a leisure flight, then opting for a full speed when the need arises (e.g. Bizarro wreaking havoc in the city).

This is just one of the cool features of the game, but it does make you feel that you are Superman.

BioWare's action RPG Mass Effect's impressive showing in trailers and screens may have been eclipsed by the hype surrounding Gears of War. But let's face it, it's hard to ignore something so graphically stunning. When the GoW frenzy subsides, we're quite sure that gamers will once again turn their focus on Mass Effect. Watching the awesome trailer from MTV Gamers Week 2.0 might start all that.

Set in the year 2183, the story revolves around an alien prophecy which threatens the existence of organic life in the galaxy. As human elite soldier Commander Shepard, players will have to stop armies from advancing to the galaxy.

The trailer may not have earth-shattering scenes and explosive alien battles, but the impressive graphics make the viewing worthwhile. Check it out!

Fans of Bizarro may have resigned to the fact that EA won't dish out a videogame for Superman's doppelganger. But it's not a total loss as Bizarro will have his own game mode in Superman Returns: The Videogame. It's probably one of the things that would make the game appealing to the Superman fans who are not quite convinced that the game would do the franchise justice. But that's a different matter altogether.

As a tribute to the imperfect clone of Superman, EA-Tiburon has released a short clip featuring Bizarro and his out of control antics. Don't you just love this twisted guy?

In the video, Bizarro showed off his Kryptonian powers, albeit opposite of Superman's abilities. So you'd find him using his freeze-vision and heat-breath to wreak havoc in Metropolis. But the highlight of the video is when Bizarro's cold vision clashes with Superman's heat vision, which according to game designer Jeremy Townsend is a Bizarro moment where the "ensuing power struggle is massively cool!"

Download: [Superman Returns "Bizarro" trailer]

Our day is not complete without getting the daily recommended dose of rumors. This time, we got the dirt from Xbox Way International. Rumor has it that Microsoft wants to acquire gaming powerhouse Capcom. If and when it happens, Capcom would become a first-party developer. Capcom has never been a first-party developer, not in its 27 years of existence.

The more interesting angle is that the acquisition would make Capcom's popular games Devil May Cry and Resident Evil series exclusive to Microsoft's next-gen console. This will definitely boost the sales of Xbox 360 in Japan.

You might want to check the previous issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly (EGM) as the rumor was said to have started on the pages of the magazine. While EGM can be a reliable source, we know better than to believe right away. But it does seem an interesting twist to the next-gen console wars, isn't it?

It's raining hot lead in this latest gameplay trailer for Rainbow Six: Vegas. Saving the hostages from execution in this kind of "weather" condition makes it even more difficult for the Rainbow Six team to complete the mission. When enemies fire at will upon seeing you and your team move inside the Calypso, you know you gotta "Duck and Cover". This tactic proves to be an effective option (and perhaps the only one) when the enemies get into a lead-pumping spree.

Of course, it would help if you have a 20/20 vision so you can spot enemies from a distance while stealthily moving to the nearest temporary shelter. The main goal is to save the hostages, but with bullets coming from all directions, your immediate goal is to stay alive.

The popularity of Poker hasn't waned a bit. And to prove our point, Crave Entertainment has upped the ante and released the third installment of the best-selling poker video game, World Championship Poker: Featuring Howard Lederer "All In" for the Xbox 360.

There are no signs of slowing down for this video game franchise as more successful poker stars keep making an appearance. Aside from Howard, his sister Annie Duke and Robert Williamson III joins this year's roster of poker superstars which already includes Marcel Luske, Thomas Bihl, and Erin Ness.

The Xbox 360 version features more detailed environments and cinematic view for added realism. It supports Xbox Live Vision and text chat, which allow players to see and talk to their opponents.

A few days ago, Dark Sector's game director Steve Sinclair finally shed light on the storyline of the mysterious game heading to the Xbox 360 and PS3. It didn't take long for the folks over at Digital Extremes to churn out screenshots to go along with the revelations.

In the game, all eyes are on Haden Tenno, a hired assassin tasked to look into the experiments that have gone horribly wrong, causing humans and animals to morph into monsters.

Sinclair and the development team admitted that Dark Sector has undergone considerable changes to add more realism to the game's setting. And one way to confirm this is by simply looking at the new images below. Without a doubt, the graphical representation of the environment and characters has gotten less of the sci-fi feel and more of the realism that fans of next-gen games are clamoring for.