In the modern gaming world, with 24-hour news coverage supported by a veritable army of PR people, bloggers, and rabid fans, it’s nearly impossible to keep anything secret.  BioWare has done an especially poor job of keeping their next blockbuster, Mass Effect 3, under wraps.  First off, Mass Effect 2 was a huge hit, and a sequel was pretty much a sure thing.  Their release of a single image of a soldier carried with it more hints than BioWare had planned, and the EA store’s listing of the game pretty much sealed the deal.  Despite all these spoilers, the Mass Effect 3 trailer, which debuted at the 2010 Spike TV VGA Awards, was still freaking awesome.

This weekend’s VGA Awards on Spike TV were, as always, more about marketing next year’s games than about honoring this year’s best.  That’s okay; the trailers and reveals are why you’re watching anyway.  The 2010 version of the VGA’s was better than average, with a charismatic host (who couldn’t buy a laugh from the ice-cold audience), a semi-cool augmented reality stage, and plenty of massive game debuts.  Here’s a list of the highlights.

The last time gamers had a chance to play a wholly new SSX snowboarding game, it was on either the PS2, GameCube or the original Xbox. In the intervening years, there has been nothing short of an uproar from fans of the series for a new game, something to play on our HD consoles. Sure, 2007 saw the release of SSX: Blur for the Wii, but that really amounted to little more than a rehash of old tracks with added Wiimote support. In advance of the VGAs, the rumors started up in earnest that EA would be announcing a new game in the franchise, and now those rumors are confirmed.

This past weekend Spike TV held its annual Video Game Awards show, more commonly known as the VGAs. Among the host of new game announcements and first looks, we got the above trailer for the upcoming Mortal Kombat reboot, confirming the rumor that Kratos, the God of War himself, will in fact be included in the PS3 version of the game. As you can see, the trailer doesn't show a lot of his moves, but we do get to see that he will be bringing his trademark Blades of Chaos to the action.

DC UNIVERSE: THE STORIES OF ALAN MOORE
Written by ALAN MOORE
Art by VARIOUS

Featuring stories like “The Killing Joke” and “Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?,” this collection of Alan Moore’s work not only spotlights the man’s ability to write, but also serves to show off some of the best written stories to ever star Superman, Batman, Vigilante, and Green Arrow. Teamed with a slew of great artists like Klaus Janson, Brian Bolland, and Curt Swan, to name but a few, this book serves as a brilliant primer for everything that was wonderful about DC comics twenty years ago.

Whether they meant to or not, EA has confirmed the existence of Mass Effect 3.  A listing for the pre-order of the game showed up on EA’s online store, and surprisingly, it’s still there!

Normally a five minute trailer with no gameplay may seem boring.  This isn’t normal.  This is Deus Ex: Human Revolution, and despite the fact that there’s no actual in-game footage that’s not pre-rendered, it’s bad-ass in every way.

A new trailer has materialized for the cryptic Silicon Knights game, X-Men Destiny.  The trailer doesn’t include much new info, and no gameplay at all, but it gives us our first look at…something.  I don’t know what it is, but it looks huge, and it’s half-covered in metal.

Apparently, as far as EA is concerned, the blistering motion blur that is Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit just isn’t fast enough.  No, tearing ass through the streets of Seacrest County at 200 MPH in a Porsche 918 Spyder just doesn’t cut it.  To remedy this, they’ve revealed the first DLC pack for the game, the Super Sports Pack.

It’s in no way surprising that Gran Turismo 5 is selling well.  The franchise has been a consistent performer for Sony, with each iteration selling over 9 million copies, and even this year’s “paid demo,” Gran Turismo 5 Prologue, moved over 5 million units.  Today, Sony was proud to announce just how successful the game is via press release; in just under two weeks, Gran Turismo 5 has shipped over 5.5 million copies worldwide.

Entertainment Weekly isn't usually the premiere source for gaming news, but today they posted a revealing spotlight article on the third Uncharted game today.  Among the many details we learned was the game’s official; title, Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception.

It’s time for our monthly reveal of two more playable fighters from Marvel Vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds.  This time, we get a classic Marvel character who has appeared in pretty much every X-Men game ever, and a relative newcomer on the Capcom side.  They both have something in common, though; boobs.  Big ones.

One of the better DLC games released this year has to have been Costume Quest. Developed by Double Fine, the same studio responsible for Brütal Legend, its combination of simplistic RPG elements and clever writing made it a sleeper hit among anyone who played it. It was so well received, in fact, that it is a heavy favorite to take home Spike's Downloadable Game of the Year. If I had one complaint with the game, its that the fun was over all too quickly. But the fun doesn't have to be over, as Double Fine has announced a DLC pack for Costume Quest, entitled Grubbins on Ice.

It’s been said that Man is the most dangerous game.  Unlike animals, humans can rely on more than simple instincts and genetic memory.  We can think, plot, scheme, and even fashion tools and traps to elude or thwart any would-be predators.  That’s the average person.  How much more dangerous, then, would a hunt be if the prey were a superbly-honed martial arts master with an IQ of 220 and a full-body Kevlar body suit?  Someone in Gotham City is about to find out.

UPDATE: A press release sent out from EA has let us know what exactly Isaac will be getting himself into in the demo. Namely:

"[P]layers will take engineer Isaac Clarke on a terrifying adventure through the Church of Unitology, an expectedly “safe” place that quickly becomes dangerous and deadly, during the Necromorph outbreak on the Sprawl. Players will also have access to a variety of new tools that Isaac can use to fight Necromorphs, including the new Javelin gun, updated stasis recharge mechanic and enhanced telekinesis ability. Players will also experience the advanced suit, equipped with jets that will allow Isaac full 360⁰ control in Zero-G space."

Although this holiday has a few amazingly great titles that are sure to find their way under many Christmas trees, menorahs, and Kwanza... things, for my own druthers, the biggest game on the horizon is EA/Visceral Games' Dead Space 2. I've made no secret of my adoration of the original, and although Extraction was a serviceable enough shooter, nothing can compare to another full game starring Mr. Isaac Clarke for me. On the game's official Facebook page, Visceral has annouced that there will be a single player demo coming in two weeks.

Although a handful of characters have been confirmed for the upcoming Mortal Kombat, developer NetherRealm Studios has yet to announce a full list of fighters. In October, series creator Ed Boon did state that the final count would be "somewhere in the 20s", but that's about as close as we've gotten to a hard number. While fans eagerly await an official roster, rumors are starting to swirl that the new game will feature at least one classic character, although not one known as a Mortal Kombat fighter.

Ever since it was announced on October 9 that the 1992 classic arcade title, X-Men, would be making its way to consoles, fans have been clamoring to play as their favorite mutants (and Dazzler).  Now, it seems we have some info on when the Xbox 360 version is coming out, along with some confusion as to when the PS3 version is to be expected.

Since late last year, there have been rumors about a new entry in the beloved SSX series, but EA’s registration of two SSX-related domain names pretty much sealed the deal.  Since the game hasn’t been formally announced, though, we’ve gotten no details whatsoever.  Kotaku is claiming that they do, in fact, have some particulars about the most highly anticipated snowboarding title in years.

At the beginning of this month, Atari announced that it would be bringing a second game based on the Ghostbusters franchise to current gen systems. Unfortunately for fans of the original game, rather than creating a full sequel, the publisher announced that Sanctum of Slime would be a downloadable title, available for XBLA, PSN and PC. Today the company has followed up with a full slate of information about the game, including the game's first trailer (viewable above), a handful of screenshots, and a breakdown on what players can expect from the gameplay.

This week Blizzard celebrated the sixth anniversary of their hugely successful MMO, World of Warcraft.  In honor of this remarkable achievement the developer rewarded all of its current game subscribers with a free in game achievement, officially making it the most pointless achievement of all time.  This, of course, is in place of the traditional sixth anniversary gift of candy or iron.  This week (tomorrow, to be exact) also marks the release of WoW's third expansion, named Cataclysm, which introduces players to a world which has been devastated by a dragon named Smog Deathwing who wreaks havoc on the land and effectively changes the world forever (DRAMATIC)!