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You know what chess needs more of? Stabbing. Over the years there have been many video gaming attempts at translating the centuries-old game of chess, but most have been fairly imperfect thanks to the limitations of artificial intelligence (at least, when super computers aren’t involved). Or maybe they just needed more violence. In Check vs Mate (formerly known as Battle vs Chess), you don’t simply get to remove a piece from the board when you capture it. It’s as if the defending rook said to the attacking knight, “why don’t you make me get off the board, punk?” The two pieces then meet face to face with a squad of friends in mortal combat...

Sony has had a tumultuous 2011 so far. Highs included LittleBigPlanet 2, Killzone 3 and all the positive buzz about its follow-up to PSP, and the lows included its hardware being hacked to the point of a total online shutdown that ended very recently. Sunnier skies seem ahead, including more concrete details on the NGP (perhaps an official name that may or may not be Vita?), plus probable appearances by Resistance 3 and Uncharted 3, we couldn’t wait to soak in Sony’s E3 press conference...

As the lights came up from Sony's pre-E3 presser in Santa Monica, you could sense how eager they were to thrust an NGP – or whatever the hell they're gonna call it – into as many people's hands as possible and spread the word. Connectivity options like 3G and wi-fi, possible carriers and price plans were not the focus. Rather, Sony made a wise move in focusing on how games will rule the ray. Case in point: Little Deviants, a collection of 30 minigames all designed to highlight different portions of the NGP's functionality...

A brown-skinned Gandhi appears with our face, complete with glasses. He's trim and muscular, unlike us. He wears a yellow trucker hat, sports a Snidely Whiplash mustache and pink-printed jacket straight out of 1991. With golden, pointy shoes in tow and a gigantic hammer to wield, our fighter steps onto a coffee-table outfitted with LED lights and proceeds to destroy a zombie fighter, while avoiding my half-filled Coke...

It's hardly surprising the meteoric success the Uncharted franchise has experienced when you think about the elements of success that go into each game: locations that include beautiful vistas, long-forgotten temples and snowy peaks, fast stop-and-pop gun play, intricate puzzle-solving, death-defying platforming and great stories with even better voice acting. With the much-anticipated third installment's release date crawling towards us, we're turning our attention to another entry in the stand-out series...

Have you ever wondered what Super Smash Bros would be like if it was made by Square Enix? It's a hybrid that should have failed – who wants to play a game with SSB-style fighting mechanics meshed in an unholy matrimony with the intricacies, ridiculous length, and convoluted storylines of a Final Fantasy series? The answer: Apparently everyone. Dissidia and its soon to be released prequel, Dissidia 012 [duodecim] Final Fantasy, are games ignorantly dubbed as "fighting games." But it's not that simple...

Tentacles. If there’s one overall impression we took away from our hands-on with The 3rd Birthday, it’s tentacles. This game is full of them. They’re snaking out of various monster appendages, they’re grabbing people and turning them into meat showers, and – oh God – one of the early bosses has several of them dribbling out of his gaping mouth. It’s almost indecent...

When Square Enix originally announced it was releasing a fighting game starring its beloved Final Fantasy characters, eyebrows were raised (Ed: what, nobody’s old enough to remember Tobal 2?). But 2009’s release of Dissidia proved the RPG veterans are more than adept at handling the fighting genre, creating a game with solid scrap-happy mechanics and a fresh take on the Street Fighter market. A year later and we’re fresh from a good hands-on session with the forthcoming sequel, which is due for release in Spring 2011...

In the vein of Monster Hunter, Gods Eater Burst is a mission-based monster hunting action game that supports up to four player co-op. It's already been released in Japan under the title God Eater Burst (which was an enhanced update to God Eater, released earlier in 2010), and it's pretty much a known quantity – you probably know already if this kind of game is your cup of tea. If you're on the fence though, or you're curious about getting into a Monster Hunter-style game, read on...