Question: are Activision's games still eligible for a "Best of E3" award even though the studio won't be present at the floor show itself? That's the dilemma the ESA and the Game Critics Awards are facing in the wake of Activision's departure from the convention. Story in the full article.

Time to load those guns with ammo and prepare for more zombie action! The official Capcom blog has announced that a new trailer for Resident Evil 5 (PS3, Xbox 360) will be available on May 30, or May 31, depending on your timezone. Learn more about this announcement after the jump!

The last we heard about LucasArts' Star Wars: The Force Unleashed for the PSP, PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, and DS, we heard that it was going to be delayed at least five months. Now, we get another update that's pretty much about another impending update - and this comes from none other than Geoff Keighley of GameTrailers. Hit the full article for all the details.

We've managed to pick up a recently released video that unveils some new details regarding the upcoming Command and Conquer: Tiberium FPS from EA for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC. The video will feature gameplay footage, as well as some new details straight from the developers. You can view this new flick over in the full article.

Geoff Keighley, host of Gametrailers' special feature Bonus Round, is back as Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter and Japanese games importer Pink Godzilla co-owner Nathan Paine discuss what's hot in Japan, and why American games have never been big in the land of the rising sun. You'll find a lot of interesting bits, much Nintendo love, and the secret of Japanese developers in making games that explode worldwide.

Pachter believes western developers, American or European, know how to please their respective audiences, and there's no reason to snatch an idea or two from Japanese game creators. Publishers in the west follow effective formulas to sell, he said.

He went on, saying only odd or Americanized Japanese games will sell outside Japan. Another worth noting is how, according to Pachter, gamers think of Sony and Microsoft when talking about games, and Nintendo is just an afterthought.

Paine, however, expressed his confidence in Japanese games right off the bat. He doesn't think there'll be any gaming industry in the U.S. today if it wasn't for Japan, particularly Nintendo which revitalized gaming after the 1983 crash. With the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) synonymous to fun back in the day, and Mario being the first widely popular superstar from a video game, it's difficult not to agree.

Paine mentioned other Japanese game franchises that have been successful worldwide, like Metal Gear, Resident Evil, Final Fantasy, and the likes. After naming Square Enix, Konami, and Capcom as the big three developers and publishers, he pointed at the three F's that make their titles hit: fun, fantasy, and freedom. By freedom, he meant how Japanese developers are able to be creative and are not obligated to make movie tie-ins or yearly football games.

For the U.S., the three R's come into play: rockets, realism, and rights. Realism is all about how Americans love their games oozing with detail in eye-bleeding graphics, while rights concern acquiring copyrights or licenses.

Rockets symbolize the hunger of American gamers to shoot things and cause big explosions, something that the Japanese don't like. Simply put, as Paine learned from Nintendo's Koji Kondo, gamers in Japan don't like mindless violence. Metal Gear Solid games, for example, pits players in the shoes of a super agent involved in political affairs. Good and evil forces battling each other like in Gundam games are also more attractive to Japanese gamers than murdering the covenant en masse.

To find out more, check out the Bonus Round by clicking on the Read link below.

News flash from Major Nelson: a launch trailer for BioShock will air tonight around 9:45 p.m. ET on Spike TV. It's going to be aired during the show "The Kill Point", after which, Geoff Keighley would be dropping in for a surprise announcement. Once the trailer gets aired on Spike, an HD version will hit the Marketplace soon after.

While the trailer is already enough to get some of us excited, Keighley's "surprise announcement" is making droves and droves of people (myself included) hoping that it's got something to do with a demo.

We previously reported of a supposed demo that USK had already rated, so maybe this could finally be it! Besides, the game is getting released in just a couple of days (August 21 in North America), so rolling out a demo between now and then couldn't come at a better time.

Time to clear the decks for this one. Whether it really is a BioShock demo or not (hey, it could be dashboard theme or maybe a walkthrough video, but still...), you just might want to clean out
some stuff on your hard drive. Just in case.

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And it has finally hit Live! Yep, go switch on your green machines pronto, cos BioShock's demo has finally landed (and that was really quick, too!). Currently, the QJ office is all abuzz with its arrival, and of course, we're already downloading it ourselves. Apart from the demo, there's also a trailer to look out for.

It's size is approximated at about 1.35 gigs. Well, we do hope you heeded our humble advice about clearing up that hard drive! No doubt one of our zealous writers will have his hands on it soon, and with a quick impression on it shortly thereafter.

Thanks to all those who commented on it, and to Anees for tipping us on it!

*Originally posted on August 12, 2007, 05:56PM