The Need for Speed ProStreet gig didn't work out for Electronic Arts and internal studio Black Box, but the superstar publisher decided they could still make a turnaround for the franchise again, starting with Need for Speed Undercover. Perhaps guided by the popularity of night and illegal street racing movies, Need for Speed Undercover's design resettled for the open sandbox design of Most Wanted with a different story. A story, they say, that will include Mission Impossible 3's Maggie Q.

NPD Group's recent survey manged to investigate the niche segment of the gaming market that is extreme gaming, together with six other segments that the games industry has categorized gamers like us under. Feeling like a can of peaches at your local convenient mart? Well, welcome to new, modernized, cash-driven games industry, folks. Find out where'd you fit in among the 20,000 sampled at the full story.

Coming up for Game Informer subscribers is the "world exclusive" sneak peek at Eidos' new project on Unreal Engine 3 stilts: Batman: Arkham Asylum. The word is at in-the-know gaming forums is that the game is geared for the next-generation platforms and the PC, based on first-hand read-through of the exclusive material. Also, developer Rocksteady Studios has placed a counter up on a teaser page. More details at the full story.

Oh yes, a lovely assistant while fighting for the Allied Forces will be coming back but no longer in the form of the Lt. Eva Lee (Athena Massey). No sirree. Electronic Arts decided it was best to turn in a new face for the voice behind the strategic interface of the new Allied Resistance, and they settled on one beaut you'd best recognize as Lisa Hunter of British television soap opera Hollyoaks. *clap clap* Hey! Focus! Full story for more on the Red Alert 3's new  Lt. Eva.

Let's start this week early, shall we? Coming up on retail shelves starting July 27 all the way to the first few days of August is another hailstorm of PC games from the independent front, though you'd probably love this week for the release of Namco Bandai's SoulCalibur IV and its limited edition kits. But if there's anything more significant this time, it's the appearance of more Olympics-themed games as the week heralds the eve before the World Olympics in Beijing. We take them all at the full story.

It's a bit of a stretch, so to speak, as we're not sure how accurate the Office of Film and Literature Classification of the Australian Government is when it comes to video games. But as the situation stands, Silicon Knight's Too Human on the Xbox 360 apparently made the M for Mature rating cut for violence, after a revised version of the game was sent for review to Australia and other regions.

This week's release list can be described in a few words: college football. Tuesday marks the release of multiplatform sports game NCAA Football 2009 on every modern console there is to date. During our search, we've found that some games haven't surfaced in the previous weeks - even on online retail. So expect to see a repeat showing this week. Maybe we should consider renaming "On Shelves This Week" to "Should Be Out This Week"... Now there's a thought. Upcoming releases follows at the full story.

It's a different take of what Rockstar's founder actually did say in an interview as one of MCV Entertainment's exclusive feature, but it's factually accurate. Sam Houser, who many claim to be the driving force behind the Grand Theft Auto franchise, was executive producer of Grand Theft Auto 3. That game  became the direction of the subsequent iterations of the sandbox game later on. He says that powerful people have been out to put Rockstar out of business, and they're quite plenty.

So what's going to be in our videogaming menu starting this week? A whole lot of DS games once again, we tell you, though there's a few gems or two in the Nintendo handheld rough on Tuesday. There's a music rhythm game for almost every console out there, plus a couple new additions to the portfolio of PC games. Somehow we're also seeing another relaunching of Gears of War for the Xbox 360 the "Refresh" edition. We don't know why it's re-listed, but it is. The full list follows at the full story.

The Deer Hunter series doesn't sound like what most hardcore gamers would be excited about. But some do give it a try, and after a short playthrough which ended in being a bear's next gourmet, you can be sure of that this game's no slacker. A new version of Deer Hunter is on the way, and once again it's Atari's responsibility to return to the series to the PC. But wait - what's this? It looks like Deer Hunter Tournament is also debuting on the Xbox 360. Check it out at the full story.