They're not all about killing animals and finding out why planes go down - National Geographic announces the formation of NGG: National Geographic Games.  Their mission: to bring the NatGeo experience into gaming. Find out more.

Downloading torrents is one thing, but attacking merchant ships with guns at the ready and stealing their goods is quite another. I'm talking real maritime pirates here.

Attacks from pirates off Somalia have been increasing recently, which might force merchant ships to take different trade routes. This could potentially cause shipments of various goods, including video game hardware and software, to get seriously messed up.

Guess who's back for another round in the Resident Evil franchise? For the third time now, Chris Redfield is going to be bumping into a very familiar face in Africa. Famitsu details other characters confirmed to appear in Resident Evil 5: one of them is Mr. Sunglasses here (the man usually quoted for his adamant insistence in not opening mansion doors), and the other, a new corporate baddie to strike fear on her enemies care of a scanty dress and a tight bun... like, hair bun, of course.

Those of you who aren't satisfied with the knowledge of Resident Evil 5 (PlayStation 3, Xbox 360) being set in Africa, here's a few more juicy game tidbits for you to chew on. UK magazine Xbox World 360, a sister publication of GamesRadar, wrote a preview of RE5 and revealed some very interesting features that will make it in the game. Find out what these fresh details are by clicking on the "read more" link found below.

In some parts of the world, people are making profit off arcades hosting consoles. In particular, business in Sierra Leone of Africa is booming due to the popularity of the PlayStation brand. Head over to the full article for more details.

It sure is a hassle to watch a video interview in a foreign language without being able to understand it, isn't it? Worry not, as we now present the same Resident Evil 5 interview with Capcom's Jun Takeuchi - this time with subtitles. Turn to the full article after the jump and pay attention as Takeuchi talks about Chris Redfield, Africa and what not.

Pivotal Games and Eidos Interactive are confident that their February 2008 release Conflict: Denied Ops (PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PC) will carry explosive action and good graphics. Now they want to make sure that the musical score is just as intense. They've decided to get Richard Jacques for the job to do just that. Find out why in the full article.

In a game where breathtaking visuals are mixed in with totally destructible surroundings, it's really interesting when the developers talk about the painstaking details on how they were able to build up the very malleable in-game environments for Conflict: Denied Ops (PC, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3).

Watch the video of the developers diary in the full article!

It's better late than never; while European gamers have always been a little behind on software title releases for the different consoles, the recent team up of Namco Bandai Games America, Inc. and Deep Silver shows that gamers on the other side of the world will never be left out no matter what.

For more information, check out the full article after the jump!

A small group of journalists was invited to an exclusive preview of Halo 3 in Seattle. There they were given control of the human forces to what may be mankind's final battle as they face off with the Covenant. But they did so only for two missions.

The group previewed the third and fourth missions of Halo 3, both set in South Africa. The third mission, named Tsavo Highway, is the first vehicle mission of the game. The mission starts with you riding a Warthog through a mountain path as you fight your way through enemy forces.

You are eventually forced to leave your vehicle and move forward on foot, through a destroyed highway and over a bridge. Suddenly, you are ambushed by Covenant Brutes backed by a Covenant Wraith tank.

The fourth mission, called The Storm, takes you through a factory complex where you will face off with hostile forces until you come face to face with the Scarab. The battle, as one of the group testifies, "has more enemies and allies than the entire first mission of Halo 1."

The Scarab will have have improved AI in this game. Jamie Griesemer, the design lead, describes it:

In Halo 2, he was a big piece of moving geometry. He wasn't really real. He was hand-animated and didn't really react to what you were doing. He had a scripted path that he went on. But in Halo 3, he's an AI (artificial intelligence). He'll chase you around, he'll acquire targets. If he can't find you, he'll search for you. He's the biggest character we've every done, essentially. And there are dozens of ways to kill him.

Developers promise that this game will provide all the answers to the huge questions by the end of the game. Halo 3 will be released this September 25 on the Xbox 360. It's time to finish the fight.