Stranglehold

Normally, we’ve got no problem with video game villians. Sure, they nick our bustiest wenches, salute digital democracy with a middle finger, and are inconsiderate enough to make us waste valuable bullets shooting them during a recession. Thing is, they’re always upfront about being assholes, which makes the shit they pull almost endearingly evil. What really gets on our teets, though, are those deceitful dastards who pretend to

Anyone want to take bets on how long Bioshock 2’s multiplayer will last? If a multiplayer mode isn’t hugely popular, it isn’t at all. They either prosper or die, especially on consoles, where the community that can develop around dedicated servers isn’t present.

In the context of a game, Achievements and Trophies are harmless. They're just carrot-dangling tactics that we're happy to indulge for our greedy pursuit of intangible virtual rewards. We wouldn't think twice about nail-bombing a kitten orphanage if it meant five more gamer points.

But, let's say, purely for the purposes of this here article, that we take Achievements and Trophies out of their virtual world settings and reconsider them

Damn, was this a tough category to comb through. Both High-Def formats have an insatiable thirst for loud noises, taking to things that go BOOM like a politician to babies. There are a lot of deceptive titles out there, like Shooter and Shoot 'Em Up, purporting to be the ultimate purveyor of balls-out ballistics. Don't you believe it. To paraphrase Shakespeare, those titles "be bullshitin' on Front Street."

What was it like working with John Woo and Chow Yun-Fat? Offerman: Chow Yun-Fat is doing the voiceover for his character (Detective Tequila) and hes mostly in Hong Kong, so we sent an audio guy out there to work with him. They had someone to help him with his pronunciation, a voice coach, because English is only his second language. We took scans of his face and body and, even though it wasnt contractually required, we asked him whether itd be OK to take shots of him with different facial

Were behind a pillar. Sorry - Hollywood action hero Chow Yun-Fat is behind a pillar, face grim, eyes narrowed and hands gripping dual Beretta pistols. As moonlight bathes the museum, gloomily illuminating the looming dinosaur skeleton above, we hear the muffle of incoming footsteps. Hopelessly outnumbered, desperately low on health, we swing into the open and - in a few violent stabs of PS3s Sixaxis pad - erupt into a spiraling slow-motion weave of bullets and trace-lines, spinning and firing