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Take an inside look at how the Israeli martial art Krav Maga and real-life firearm techniques inspired Conviction's new gameplay.

"We had to find a martial art that fits the characters and the situations he would find himself in," animation director Gilles Monteil tells us in this new dev diary for Splinter Cell Conviction. "We needed something very quick, efficient and brutal -- something without any rules. That's why we chose Krav Maga.""Krav Maga is not a big flashy martial art," game designer Steve Masters adds, which may explain its relative obscurity. Turning to Wikipedia, we discover it has its origins in street fighting and literally means "close combat" in Hebrew, and that the Israeli Defense Force and Special Forces use the martial art to this day. Apparently, stabbing someone in the hand is kosher in a form that has "no rules."

Adventure RPG brings dramatic post-apocalyptic world to life.

The next FF epic before April? Square Enix CEO says it's possible.

Experience the sensation of skateboarding and snowboarding like no other.

Three new must-see images.

See San Gimignano and the new notoriety system up close.

Twelve months, one million community levels, and a PSP spin-off later, some are wondering if it's time for Media Molecule to begin working on an honest-to-goodness sequel to PS3 platformer LittleBigPlanet. The answer seems to be a very clear no. "We'd never want to do that," level designer told Danny Leaver told Critical Gamer. "That'd be the most counterproductive thing you could do I think." Certainly, the release of a sequel would splinter one of PlayStation's most dedicated online communities. Would user-created levels be compatible with a future game? Would DLC costumes carry across into a new title? These questions, thankfully, won't need to be addressed. Instead, Media Molecule plans on supporting LBP with additional downloadable content. "I think what you've seen so far from LittleBigPlanet, that's the way it's going to continue." said producer Martin Lynagh. We already know of two major patches: water and support for the PlayStation Motion Controller. However, Lynagh explains that there's much more to expect, especially in 2010. "We have a lot of stuff coming out, especially next year. We can't really talk about specifics for a lot of it at the moment, because a lot of it hasn't been announced." One of Media Molecule's unannounced expansions may be similar in execution to the Metal Gear Solid pack from earlier this year. "We're looking forward to some really good original content, and some really strong brands we're working with," Lynagh teased.

Look, but be careful.

Azeroth is finally invaded by pets.

Third expansion to grand strategy game coming soon.

New tower defense/card game amalgam hits PSP system and PSPgo today.

Fuse powers with Magneto, Carnage, Psylocke, Cable, Black Panther and Juggernaut in new missions.

The developer of Ghostbusters is hiring for a new project.

If you're a Netflix user and haven't bothered to sign up for the free disc that enables Netflix streaming on your PlayStation 3, you should go do that. Like, right now. Netflix just sent out emails indicating that the discs are shipping today, and if you have yet to indicate your interest in the service, your disc is obviously not going out today. And that means you may have to watch The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep on your computer instead of on the television, where it belongs. Do you want to be the one to break that news to your family? Of course you don't.

Electronic Arts brining first established franchise to social network.

Movie fans rejoice.

New shots from Black Box's latest entry in its skateboarding franchise.

Experience all-out modern warfare open to all players with demo in early 2010.

If this Thursday finds you in a superheroic mood, a recent addition to the Xbox Live Marketplace might just serve as an excellent outlet for you to dish out some costumed justice. Major Nelson recently confirmed that a demo for Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 has been added to the service. Sure, it's a bit tardy, considering the game came out nearly two months ago. Still, we'll happily accept any free opportunities we can get to pretend to be Gambit for a few minutes. We kin' try talkin' like dis', ma cherie, but ... well, it doesn't really cut it.

Photoshop trickster tries to pull a fast one.

Wait a minute. Now we're confused. We thought one of the major development incentives for joining the motion revolution was to conserve resources in the production department. When your players are busy flailing and flapping -- surging with euphoric endorphins -- they don't exactly notice that you've scaled back on the fancy schmancy rendering and physics; all that excessive cutting edge tech. Heck, they'd barely notice if you repurposed and resold them a game you'd made 5 years ago. Motion control, man, it's about getting back to our roots -- a simpler time -- when games were, like, about connecting with our bodies, you know? So when we caught wind of a job opportunity posted by Ghostbusters developer Terminal Reality and calling for experienced Xbox Live programmers to create "an exciting AAA Natal title," we were sorta like, whoa, guys, you're kinda missing the point. Check this: "If you have a passion to create seriously high-quality action/adventure titles, we're interested in hearing from you!" Really ... passion? That makes it sound like there will be sweat involved -- that's the players' job now. You guys gotta dial it down, maybe dig up some of that old BloodRayne code, put a little "kick-punch-slap" control in there ... Save. Press. Box. Ship. Done. [Via Shogun Gamer; thanks, Ian]

Direct link here More here and here (thanks Marco!)

This time, you're not alone.

Photoshop trickster tries to pull a fast one.

PS3 owners will soon have another exclusive to brag about in addition to Uncharted 2. EA and DICE announced today that the multiplayer beta for Battlefield: Bad Company 2 will launch on Thursday, November 19, exclusively on Sony's console. As with the recent God of War III demo, a beta code will be offered as a pre-order incentive from GameStop, Amazon and Best Buy (visit the game's official site to check which other retailers are participating). The beta will focus on one of Bad Company 2's new multiplayer game types: Rush. This multi-stage battle takes place on a map called Arica Harbor, which is broken into unique areas for each round. American forces push forward on foot and in vehicles to scrap with Russian troops outside a military base, in an urban environment and eventually at the harbor itself in a "last stand" scenario. EA plans to begin a PC round of the beta in December, followed up by an all-new multiplayer demo for PS3, Xbox 360 and PC early next year. The finished game hits shelves on March 2, 2010. We recently had the opportunity to play in the multiplayer beta and will bring you our hands-on impressions tomorrow morning, November 6 at 9:00 a.m. PT / noon ET.

New enemies, info on downloadable content, and much more.