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How many lives has your favorite hero saved? Chances are, it's probably less than those on this list. See which gaming protagonist is a savior savant after the jump...

How many lives has your favorite hero saved? Chances are, it's probably less than those on this list. See which gaming protagonist is a savior savant after the jump...

Happy Fourth of July, dear reader! To celebrate US independence, we’ve rounded up all the characters adorned in red, white, and blue from gaming’s past and present, in order to honor their dedication to patriotic fashion. Fireworks can wait; it’s high time you paid respects to these all-American heroes…

Deathmatch. Capture the Flag. Domination. Team… those things. These words have made up a familiar vocabulary for multiplayer games over the past 15 years or so, and they’ve been standard in nearly every game that’s allowed one player to shoot at another. These days, however, “standard” is seldom enough, and this year it seems like every other big fall release wants to reinvent, deepen or otherwise put its own unique spin on competitive and co-op play.

Some of those spins are more interesting than others, and they’re resulting in a fall lineup that – in spite of being composed largely of sequels – is doing enough big, unusual things with multiplayer to make even the most steadfast solo gamers take interest. And now that another annual 24-hour marathon is safely behind us, it seems like as good a time as any to take a look at the unique stuff that lies ahead...

How many lives has your favorite hero saved? Chances are, it's probably less than those on this list. See which gaming protagonist is a savior savant after the jump...

How many lives has your favorite hero saved? Chances are, it's probably less than those on this list. See which gaming protagonist is a savior savant after the jump...

We’ve all read countless “best franchise of all time” lists, and while they’re fun to write and then to argue about, there’s an inherent problem with the “all time” part – you have to consider the 30+ years of gaming history before you get to the modern generation. Heavy hitters like Zelda, Mario, Halo, Warcraft, Metal Gear and GTA are virtually guaranteed a place on the list, so how can there be much room left over for games of right now?

That’s why we’re ousting the old guard and choosing the best of the current generation. No decades-old legacies to consider, just the stuff that’s been dreamt up since 360/PS3/DS/Wii took control beginning in 2005. Our only criteria: you gotta be a NEW game that’s blossomed into a full-blown series and will likely carry on for years. And before we even start, sorry Red Dead – you either began with Red Dead Revolver (last gen) or are a fresh start with Redemption, meaning you’re not quite a “franchise” just yet...

You think you've fought some huge video game enemies in your day? These big bosses will make those guys look like pipsqueaks...

July is a bit dry in terms of new-stuff quantity, but we’re really looking forward to the majority of its releases. We have a healthy amount of oddball gems, sequels and re-releases to look forward to. It’s as much a month to experiment on weird stuff as it is to catch up on stuff you may have missed a year (or five) ago. What’s particularly exciting is that we’re seeing a solid number of awesome-looking downloadable games. If you’d rather not spend $60 on bananas-bullshit like Catherine (which we’re way into, by the way), put that money toward a few XBLA games instead. You’ve got slimmer pickin’s than usual, but them pickin’s look good...