Okami

The twilight days of the venerable DS may have already begun, but that’s not to say that there won’t be anything worthwhile coming out for the long-lived handheld now that the 3DS is set to enter the arena. Capcom’s awesome-looking Okamiden, the follow-up to their PlayStation and Wii classic and all-time GamesRadar favorite Okami (by the way, you should play Okami), is set to release on March 15. We sat down with Okamiden’s producer, Motohide Eshiro, to talk about the origins of the game, its release timing, where all of its new gameplay ideas were spawned, and just what it takes to bring back a fan favorite for another go. Some of the answers might just surprise you...

Ten years ago today, Sony released what would go on to become the world’s best selling game console. With 140 million units in people’s homes and games released to this very day, it’s lived the longest and healthiest life of any games machine we can think of. But what made it such an unparalleled success? How did Sony leave all its competitors in the dust when so many of that generation’s biggest hits were multiplatform releases?

We can answer that, of course. But in doing so we also trumpet how truly amazing the system was, which makes this the perfect article to celebrate the most well-rounded console of all time...

If you should take away anything from the last few days of this weeklong anniversary feature, it’s that the PS2 is damn near unstoppable. 10 years after its North American launch, the thing is still on store shelves, with new games still produced every so often. But while the PS2’s story doesn’t end with 2006 or 2007, these were the years when the PS3 debuted and rose to prominence, and the industry’s interest was correspondingly pulled toward current-gen, HD-enabled consoles.

Even with increasing competition from the new breed, though, the PS2 still had a few massive hits left in it – just not as many as we’d gotten used to. So, rather than stretch 2006 and 2007’s relatively thin PS2 lineups out over two days, or drag things out into the PS2’s increasingly dry twilight years (post-2007, it’s been tough to find 10 decent PS2 games, let alone 10 great ones), we’re going to finish out our recognition of the black box's best with the collective bang of the last two years it spent at the front of the pack...

Every character in the history of games is a simpering moron. That's the only explanation we can think of that solves the mystery of how the virtual stars inside managed to fool everyone with the most half-assed, obvious costumes since Zorro chose the smallest Spanish mask in existence and thought: "F*ck it, who'll know." And whether dressing up as the enemy, the opposite sex or a homicidal clown, these characters rubbish disguises rarely got rumbled.

Being the internet connoisseurs that we are, we stumbled upon a highly amusing article that pondered the deadly serious question of what superheroes would do if they were assholes. After we’d successfully boarded the roflcopter, we knocked up our own version starring game heroes abusing their skills. So if you’ve ever wondered what would happen if Solid Snake used his powers of super sneakery for evil, you’ve come to the right place…

There's nothing like an art contest to make you realize how many super-talented folk are out there. This week's winner of the Mega Man 10 art contest over at the Capcom Unity blog is a stunning Solar Man re-imagined in an Okami style. As you can see, it's pretty frickin' sweet. Artist P-RO is talented.

The entire top 10 entries in the competition are well worth a look. Go check 'em out. Also, if you haven't already done so,

In real life, everyone knows sharks are perfectly lovely creatures that hold down good jobs, drive responsibly in hybrid cars, and almost never prey on humans. In popular media, however, they’re vicious aquatic bastards who like nothing better than to sneak up on unsuspecting swimmers and devour them as gruesomely as possible, preferably in front of an audience.

Sam Fisher’s gone through some midlife crisis-sized changes over the past couple of years. One minute he’s a tortured emo agent on the run, with as little respect for the law as he does for kept facial hair. The next he’s a malicious murderer, who makes Jack Bauer look like Jack Osborne.

Above: From badly groomed to just plain bad

The Conviction of 2007 has heavy influences from

How noble, the human species! Once a year we selflessly take a break from wrapping products in toxic plastics and burning piles of old tires to appease this stupid, stupid planet we live on. How dare it demand more trees, breathable air and animals that don’t choke to death on our trash?

Our weekly Top 7 lists usually cover timeless topics that could probably post any point throughout the year. But this week, with the newly released, critically fellated LittleBigPlanet inspiring countless cases of tiny heroes roaming gigantic worlds, we wanted to be a bit timelier and celebrate the very best of the very small.