Dead Rising 2: Case Zero is kind of a landmark venture in the gaming world.  When it was first announced, many decried it as a paid demo, and why pay for something that is meant to convince you to pay for something else?  Others saw it as an opportunity for a new type of marketing, or even a new genre of games.  Now that it’s out, we can finally answer the question of just what it is, and more importantly, if it’s worth paying for.

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It’s odd how something that I hadn’t even heard of until about two months ago could suddenly become such a big part of my life, but in a short time I have become a completely devoted Scott Pilgrim fan.  I loved the movie, devoured the graphic novels, can’t get the movie’s soundtrack out of my head, and after finishing the game, am completely smitten by it as well.  The tale of Scott Pilgrim and Ramona Flowers has left an indelible tattoo on my non-Canadian brain, and while the game itself may not have quite the storytelling flare as its other renditions, it’s probably the best possible way that such a story could have been translated into a video game.  It takes all the tributes to gaming that the books and movie relate and condenses them into it’s own tribute, and it gets even more fun the more I play it.

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The Kill Kast is back again with Episode 15 where Rebecca, Dana, and Eric get together to discuss some new ways critics are reviewing games and much more. We chat about some games we’ve been playing, which includes Burn Zombie Burn!, Scott Pilgrim, Sam and Max, Dragon Age Awakenings and Mafia 2. We also spend a good amount of time talking about Final Fantasy 14 and its flaws along with other MMO’s. Finally we get into our main topic where we discuss the new ways in which critics are presenting reviews, for example displaying the hours played, achievements earned etc.

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If you do a Google image search for RPG, unfortunately most of the shots you’ll find feature a certain deadly weapon.  However, use that word around any gamer and they’ll immediately think something completely different. Role-playing games.  If you play games regularly, chances are good you’ve played at least one RPG at some point in your life.  Many of us thoroughly enjoy the genre in all its facets, which made this week’s Staff Picks even more difficult.  Once again, the staff here at Spawn Kill got together to each pick just one of our most favorite RPGs.  Again, no easy task.  However, we all managed to settle on one title to represent some of our favorite moments in gaming.  Check out our list, and feel free to list your picks in the comments.  And, unlike us, you aren’t limited to just one pick.

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The Kill Kast is back again and we hope to start a new streak of consecutive podcasts. In Episode 14 Stephanie, Eric and Rebecca get together to talk about what they’ve been playing which includes Dragon Quest IX, StarCraft 2 and Mafia II. We go through some recent news such as Mass Effect hitting the PS3, the Windows Phone 7 and the Sony PSP phone. For our topic(s) this week we discuss last week’s Community Voice and what you all said along with our recent Staff Picks and why we love those soundtracks. We also talk about Dragon Age a whole lot, mainly why Origins is so awesome and why Dragon Age 2 has us worried. It happens. I think it’s high time we just start a separate Dragon Age podcast…

You can download and subscribe to the podcast via iTunes and let us know what you thought about the episode. Thanks for listening!

The Spawn Kill crew has gotten together and mulled over the firey question, “What is your favorite PSN game?” and come to some unique and surprising results. We each selected our favorite PSN game that is available and put it together to form Spawn Kill’s PSN editor’s choice list. Some are critical favorites, some are unstoppable addictions we’ve held inside of us, but all of them are our loves. Check out our list of PSN favorites and let us know what your favorite is!

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Spawn Kill was recently given a rare chance to ask Visceral Games a couple of questions about their upcoming release Dead Space 2. Steve Papoutsis, Executive Producer of the studio, was more than happy to oblige. While he’s still a bit tight-lipped on some of the most sought-after information, Mr. Papoutsis did give us a closer look at some of the tweaks to the Dead Space formula that the sequel is going to offer.

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Atlus really does treat their fans well.  Many associate them with the lavish pre-order bonuses they include with their games, usually without any additional charge, running the gambit from collectible figurines or plushies to art books, soundtracks and more.  And while they are as willing and eager as most other developers/publishers to re-release games (i.e. for a new platform), they almost always are sure to update and add something extra to reward those who might be buying a title for the second (or third) time.  Obviously, Persona 3 Portable is a prime example of this.  Originally released in August 2007, the game was later re-released in a “director’s cut” version (with added content) less than a year later, also for the PlayStation 2.  Now, almost three years to the day after the first game came out, gamers old and new to the title can play it once again in a third iteration, this time for the PSP, with Persona 3 Portable.

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What would you do to win a free Slimline Limited Edition 250 GB Halo Reach Xbox 360? Well rack your brains because now is your time to shine. Spawn Kill is teaming up with Gladriel, the game marketplace, to give away one of those sweet, delicious, shiny $400 bundles to one of our lucky readers. To enter – well, what would you do? Stretch the corners of your heart to show us that you want this more than the rest in the way you know best – either via a Halo love poem (a Spawn Kill love poem?), a video confession, a piece of art or just plain and simply TELL US in simple terms. We want to know you want it, because we want to give it! Be creative if you’ve got it, if not just show your desire and it will show through in however means you want to tell us (and hit up those bonus chances!).

Rules & Bonus Entries

• This contest will run from today, 8/2/2010, until the first day of September (9/1/2010) at 12:00 AM EST
• Make sure you use your real email address when commenting with your entry (which can include a link to your entry if it is art/video/etc. hosted elsewhere)
• You can earn a bonus entry if you sign up at Gladriel.com and leave a comment on this page with your new Gladriel username
• You can earn additional bonus entries by tweeting the following message: “Want to win a Halo Reach Xbox 360 Slim from @SpawnKillTweets and @GladrielGames? Find out how here! http://bit.ly/SKReach“
• This contest is open to North American entrants only, as the prize will be an NTSC console shipped to you directly through Amazon
• You must be 18 or older to enter

The more interesting and creative your entry, the more points you’ll have to win – and everyone has a chance to win so go for those bonus entries to boost your chances!

DLC in games is hit or miss with a lot of people. If it attempts to expand the story and lore of the game, it more often than not succeeds at drawing in those who were face-to-screen for hours with the game the first time around. Alan Wake’s upcoming DLC release (July 27) “The Signal” is something I can easily label right now a “hit.” It successfully expands the story past the ending of the game, provides solid gameplay time, and actually intensifies any feeling of craving that light for shelter or just wondering if you will ever escape Bright Falls. In The Signal, Bright Falls manages to up the ante and gets a whole lot crazier. This place has been doomed from the start.

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I have the feeling that DeathSpank is going to appeal to a lot of old-school gamers. Too many modern-era games try to deliver a serious, intense, epic, and dramatic story with multitudes of plot twists, betrayals, and the like. DeathSpank goes the complete opposite direction. Full of crisp visuals and irreverent humor, the latest from Ron Gilbert and Hothead Games delivers what many gamers want, but not necessarily what they might expect.

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The Summer of Arcade returns to Xbox Live with a little known title called Limbo. If you are not aware of Playdead’s side-scrolling platformer, allow me to summarize it: direction-controlling parasites, giant spiders with piercing legs, and motion-detecting machine guns threaten to kill a young boy in search of his sister as he solves complicated puzzles across bleak, dreary landscapes. That sentence describes Limbo in a nutshell, although it is much more than that. It is a well-crafted masterpiece that leaves you feeling incredibly accomplished with every obstacle overcome. Although its brevity and disappointing conclusion detract from the experience, Limbo earns its spot as one of the best Xbox Live Arcade titles.

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Naughty Bear, when first announced, gave me a vibe that I’d get from those games I used to play as a kid but shouldn’t have, you know, like Conker’s Bad Fur Day. The games you had to have your friend’s less-righteous-than-your-mother parent to buy at Blockbuster for you because you’re 12. While not nearly as mature as anything like Conker, you can perform some incredibly criminal acts to the seemingly innocent sacks of fluff living on Perfection Island. Oh, if they had just invited me to their birthday party…

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Everyone likes loot. Especially when it’s loot you can personally win and hoard onto your Xbox 360s and PS3s. Spawn Kill is giving you all a chance to win a copy of the latest and greatest in comedic, lootable, single player and co-op action RPGs courtesy of Hothead Games. And that lootfest shall be crowned from here on out – DeathSpank.

DeathSpank officially releases for both PSN and XBLA this week. Sure, you could lay from your couch, hit the startup console button, type in some credit card numbers and pick up the game yourself. But why waste your witty/cornball/madman humor talent? You could be entering this caption contest using the image below and have a code just handed to you!

We’re giving away two codes, we have one for XBLA and one for PSN, so please indicate somewhere in your comment entry which console you’re entering towards. Make sure you use your real e-mail when you comment because we’ll need it to bestow your loot unto you.

Contest begins today (Monday, July 12) and ends July 21st and 12:00 AM EST. We might need co-op partners to play with… So get to enterin’ your comments using the DeathSpank image below!

Editor’s Note: It’s a Caption Contest so any entries that don’t enter with a caption will be deleted.

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E3 has come and gone faster than a lot of us had hoped. Some surprises were in store among the updates on games we had already been looking forward to. We got some hands-on time, we saw some sexy animated pixels fly by our computer screens with all-new trailers, and were taken aback by (or grossly unhappy with) new pieces of hardware from all three mega million dollar big daddies (Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony). Our team got together and we each chose our favorite game at E3 this year. What were your favorite surprises and games at E3?

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