From the screenshots, you might deduce that Bloody Good Time is a Team Fortress 2 clone, albeit with a slice of cheesecake on the side. But consider that it's the creation of a Scottish studio called Outerlight. These guys made the fiendishly inventive Source game, The Ship, in which players had to mingle surreptitiously among NPCs while trying to murder each other. Outerlight's shooter sounds more action-oriented, but it'll likely feature some of The Ship's subversive twists.

In Bloody Good Time, players can be as devious as possible by killing other competitors in nasty and unexpected ways. Players can use an arsenal of wacky weapons including guns, a frying pan and even an exploding remote-controlled rat to transform the movie set into real mayhem. In addition, players will be able to choose from a variety of stereotypical B-movie characters, such as the bikini beach babe, the creepy clown and the super jock.

Gallery: Bloody Good Time is no Team Fortress, Too (5 images)   view full gallery

Come to tonight's WCG Ultimate Gamer, which features EA's latest hockey game, for the embarrassing freak-out overreaction from an unlikely contestant. But stay for the behind-the-scenes scheming. Finally! Tonight's episode has more behind-the-scenes scheming than all the episodes from last season combined. Not that I'm convinced anything effective comes of it. In fact, I still can't figure out what the plan was supposed to be. These guys might be gamers, but they're as bad at gaming the competition as they are at being likeable.

However, as Hannah observes at one point, "I feel like whoever comes back from Samsung Stadium tonight, it's going to change the dynamics in this house." Indeed.

Finally, tonight's episode reinforces something I've always suspected: hockey, virtual or otherwise, is the worst excuse for a spectator sport since soccer.

Telltale Games has secured the rights to create video games based on two of Universal Pictures' most popular intellectual properties, Back to the Future and Jurassic Park. The first game released under the agreement will be a Telltale Games "season" based on the successful Back to the Future series of films.

As for the Jurassic Park part of the deal, well, I'm not so sure. That series gymkata'ed the velociraptor a long time ago.

I'm not sure I'd call UFO on Tape much of a game. Here's the official description:

You are in a car recording a UFO in the sky. Keep it inside the frame as long as you can.

You can try it for yourself here. UFO on Tape is a response to a challenge at the Experimental Gameplay Project to design games that use no buttons or mouse clicks. Like Kane & Lynch 2 (see the third thing about the game that will make you sick), it's a great example of how the YouTube aesthetic can make a game look better than mere good graphics. Also, like the best UFO sightings, it's a canny combination of the mundane and the exceptional. As far as smart videogame experiments go, UFO on Tape is a striking example of how much you can accomplish with so little.

(Thanks Game Set Watch!)

In an effort to put their own stamp on Call of Duty: Black Ops, Treyarch is bringing some features to the series that former developer Infinity Ward probably would have considered beneath them. For instance, new modes that let players gamble the "cod points" -- yes, they're called cod points -- used to buy weapon upgrades and varying camo styles on their fanny packs and whatnot. Treyarch design director David Vonderhaar notes that the gambling adds a new level of tension. "It's also just super satisfying to take somebody's money," he adds. As you can see in the above video, the gambling modes look like an awful lot of fun and they look awfully familiar to folks who recall the heady early days of Unreal mods.

Speaking of mods, don't look for too many in Call of Duty: Black Ops. Although Activision promises dedicated servers, these will be entirely controlled by a single service provider. So they're dedicated servers in the sense of architecture rather than creative freedom. Finally, Call of Duty will finally be getting bot support. Black Ops will let you try the various modes against AI controlled opponents in some sort of tutorial mode. It's not full bot support, but it's the closest Call of Duty has come. Did you hear that, Halo?

While we're all blinded by Starcraft II, it's easy to forget that there are other good real time strategy games out there, even if they don't have Blizzard's slick battle.net front end. For instance, Supreme Commander 2. Which -- hey, look! -- just got a substantial update.

The update includes five new maps, although they're not really new. They're maps from a pre-order deal now made available to everyone who didn't pre-order. Among the balance changes are drawn out tech research, more expensive nukes, and nerfed mass converters (these are still the key to abusing availing yourself of the unique aspects of the game's economy). A new custom AI setting lets you muck around with these options:

Oh, and here's the sort of fix that makes reading patch notes worthwhile:

AI will try not to nuke its own units.

And while it's really nice to jump into another RTS after gorging for so long on so much Starcraft II, it's hard not to compare some of Starcraft II's features to Supreme Commander 2's features. And here's one area where I need to chide the developers of Supreme Commander 2. After losing a few games to the AI, I wanted to see what was happening. How was he getting out so many units so quickly and so consistently? Was he investing tech in his economy? His building speed? Time to check the replay.

At which point I was disappointed to see that Gas Powered Games still doesn't understand why we want a replay feature. When you watch a Supreme Commander 2 match, you can't see tech research, or what units are being built, or how many resources a player has. In other words, you can't see anything but the fancy graphics. Which are nice and all, but I was just now watching the fancy graphics while I played the game. I'm here now for some information and you can't be bothered to give it to me. A replay should be an analytical tool.

Gas Powered Games made the same mistake with Demigod, which they later fixed. Now you can see all the under-the-hood details when you watch a Demigod replay. You can see what powers a demigod has selected, what items he's carrying, and what upgrades have been chosen at his citadel. Here's hoping a similar fix for Supreme Comamnder 2 is in the works as Gas Powered continues their excellent and commendable post-release support.

Sometimes you have to lead a march against repressive salt taxes in India (pictured). Other times you have to refuse to kill anyone in Modern Warfare 2. In one instance, you get independence from the British Empire. In the other instance, you get, uh...surely there's gotta be an achievement for that.

Glen McCracken aims to find out. He has announced his intention to reach level 70, the game's maximum, without getting a single kill.

Currently Glen's kill to death ratio is zero kills and eighty-nine deaths. He says he primarily uses a riot shield and flash bang grenades [for non-lethal attacks]. Both of these tools can easily lead to a kill if an enemy is injured prior to engagement. Glen also uses rockets to blow up killstreak [drop containers]. He also achieves valuable experience points by securing flags in Domination. He does play team deathmatch, and as you would expect, his teammates are not happy with his zero kill performances.

You might think the new Xbox 360 controller looks like it belongs in a modern kitchen with steel counters and silver appliances. Shows how much you know. Matte silver is the new black. White is the old black, black is the current black, and matte silver will be the new black.

But the real reason to get one of these revised 360 controllers isn't so that you can proudly display it next to a Krupps blender. It's so that you can actually do what you mean to do when you use the d-pad. Now that Microsoft has fixed all the broken Xboxes, they're addressing the notoriously mush d-pad so that I won't keep dropping my assault rifle when I want to switch to a bag of chips in Dead Rising 2.

...a transforming D-pad that can be rotated to adapt to the user's gameplay, offering unrivaled precision. Use the D-pad in "plus" format for cardinal directional moves. Use the D-pad in "disc" format for sweeping moves.

Dead Rising 2: Case Zero is available for download today. It's a five-dollar mini-helping of Dead Rising 2 and it will take about three or four hours to play through. As you can see in my review, I quite liked it. However, I'd like to consider here a couple of things that Case Zero does better than Dead Rising 2 itself.

After the jump, how the prequel beats the full game

Those of us with Playstation 3's have been having a grand old time playing videogame pinball thanks to Zen Studio's bounteous Zen Pinball, which has included some fantastic add-on tables. Most recently, we got a really cool Mars table with some fancy gravity tricks and a space shuttle all up in our faces.

Meanwhile, on Xbox Live, Zen Studio's Pinball FX was the lo-res, lo-fi red-headed stepchild of pinball games. It was like the difference between watching a DVD on your 360, or a Blu-Ray disc on your PS3. But with pinball.

Now Zen is finally getting around to noticing the Xbox 360. On October 13th, they'll release Pinball FX 2, which will also apply as a free update to owners of Pinball FX.

When Pinball FX 2 releases, existing Pinball FX owners will simply need to import their original Pinball FX content into the new Pinball FX 2 dashboard system. Pinball FX owners will be stoked to discover that each of these tables have received graphical updates and a new list of Achievements to unlock. In addition to every classic Pinball FX table, Pinball FX 2 will feature four all-new tables available for purchase. Every new table built for Pinball FX 2 will include new Achievements, operator mode and stats tracking.

It's not cheap to fund avatars, Netflix streaming, multiplayer connectivity, and the replacement of a bazillion broken Xboxes. So Microsoft is asking you to do your part and chip in another ten bucks a year. What's ten bucks, right? It's the price of a cup of coffee, give or take. Don't be such a cheapskate.

The best replay features, such as those in Bungie's Halo and Blizzard's Starcaft games, let you see exactly what your opponents are doing. This is helpful not just as a learning tool, but as a way for the community to catch cheaters. For instance, in a Starcraft II replay, you can see exactly where a player is looking or clicking at any given moment. In the above replay, a player named Vnrock spends much of the match predicting the exact location of his opponents buildings and units, and also staring at points on the map where he normally wouldn't be able to see anything. He even knows exactly when to build the units that counter what his opponent is building, before he's even seen them. It's uncanny, and it's either because Vnrock is psychic, or is using a third-party hack.

Fortunately, Blizzard takes the competitive aspect of Starcraft II very seriously, and this sort of thing will be shut down as soon as they can figure out the loophole.

(Thanks, Rich!)

Gah! What the...? That...that...thing...up there looks like a Sea Monkey. Or a hairless newborn hamster before its mother eats it. The weird patch of hair on its forehead looks like a tattoo of a comet. Is it a boy or a girl? I'm not sure I want to know. Is that Wiimote inserted where I think it's inserted? I'm not sure I want to know that either.

That little pink abomination is part of Babysitting Mama, which is where Cooking Mama and me part ways.

Babysitting Mama offers an innovative new play mechanic: girls play with the Wii game and plush baby doll together. Players tuck the Wii Remote™ into the back of baby and then watch their newborn come to life as they enjoy 40 babysitting activities from feeding to bathing to playing! The game even supports two-player mode, making it even more fun!

Disney Interactive promises you some nifty toys if you pay extra for their games. If you get the collector's edition of Epic Mickey ($70), you get a 5" tall Mickey Mouse figure, a themed Wii skin and Wiimote faceplate, and a making-of DVD. If you get the collector's edition of Tron: Evolution ($130), you get that light cycle up there, with a display case to send the clear signal that it's not a toy.

I noticed something conspicuously missing from these collector's editions. Namely, exclusive in-game content. There is no special collector's edition red paint in Epic Mickey and no exclusive light cycle arena in Tron: Evolution. Kudos to Disney Interactive for giving all their customers the same actual game and reserving collector's editions for people who like collectibles.

As if Nintendo hasn't already sold enough hardware.

Nintendo is dropping the suggested retail price of its Nintendo DSi™ and Nintendo DSi XL™ video game systems. Effective Sept. 12, the new suggested retail price of the Nintendo DSi system will be $149.99, while the new suggested retail price for the Nintendo DSi XL system will be $169.99. The Nintendo DS™ Lite model will remain at a suggested retail price of $129.99.

Blizzard has announced their intentions for an upcoming balance patch for Starcraft II. They're going to do what they can to help the poor beleaguered Zerg.

Right now, it seems that it's too easy for swarms of Protoss Zealots or early Terrain Marauders to have their way against Zerg players. What's more, Terran Siege Tanks and Battle Cruisers are too brutally effective against swarms of squishy troops, which is exactly what the Zerg are. As for the Zerg themselves? The Ultralisk will be toned down a tad, but otherwise, they're pretty much perfect. In other words, it's not a Zerg problem. It's a Terran and Protoss problem.

So that's why I lose as often as I do! Blizzard can make it up to me by switching, say, 10% of my losses to victories. It's only fair.

The v1.1 patch is expected sometime in the middle of September. Further down the road, Blizzard intends to add chat channels to battle.net. They'll also rejigger custom game modes and maps, which currently get swallowed in a swirl of poorly organized noise.

Metroid: Other M is out this week. You'll spend the first half hour listening to Samus (pictured) talk about how she feels, mainly in regards to her postpartum since the last boss battle. Once the game proper begins, it seems like a serviceable enough Metroid. You'll have to get comfortable flipping the Wiimote back and forth. Sure, a Wiimote works great as a pointing device or as a traditional controller held sideways. In Other M, it's both. I'm not convinced the Wiimote pulls double duty very well.

Dead Rising 2: Case 0 isn't much of a wallet threat not because it's not any good. It is. It's a fantastic bite-sized piece of Dead Rising 2. Instead, it's not much of a wallet threat because it's only $5.

Plenty of love for the PSP this week. Ace Combat: Joint Assault was kind of cool until I had to fight a big fat boss airplane in the second mission. I shot it in the weak point. I haven't seen Valkyria Chronicles II yet, but I suspect it's going to be a must-have for fans of tactical RPGs. This sequel to a game that was only available for the PS3 has, for some reason, been dialed down to being available only for the PSP.

I have a confession to make: I'm not sure I can write an impartial review of Elemental. So I'm not going to try. Instead, I'm just going to tell you how it looks from where I'm sitting. I guarantee it's not going to be like anything you'll read from any other reviewer.

After the jump, Elemental and I.

Portal 2 looks like it's going to be all kinds of adorable. But the above teaser for the co-operative multiplayer doesn't exactly have me champing at the bit. Especially after I've dropped Totec into so many spiky pits in the recent Tomb Raider game. Will Portal's space bending puzzles, with its various liquids and jump pads and tubes, be double the fun? Or will it be frustration squared?

The best co-op is often about mutually enjoying the sloppy chaos of games like Saints Row, Kane & Lynch, Halo, and Dead Rising. Co-op is great in a puzzle game like Zak & Wiki, but more as an over-the-shoulder shared brainpower situation instead of a counting on the other guy to line up his blue or orange gun correctly.

But then again, what am I talking about? This is Valve. Whatever they release, I'm confident it's going to be carefully focus-grouped from here to Peoria.

For the most part, Dragon Age had a pat ending with various resolutions based on the choices you made. There was, however, one conspicuous loose end. Without venturing too far into spoiler territory, I'll just say that Morrigan presented you with your last important choice. It was, uh, a weird one. Then she vanished, without much by way of an explanation. For such a memorable character, her resolution was strangely open-ended.

Now it seems Bioware intends to sell you the resolution to Morrigan's storyline, for $7, available as downloadable content on September 7th.

...while rumors claimed she crossed over the mountains into Orlais no trace of her path could be found. She was never heard from again... until now. Nearly a year has passed since the Archdemon's death, and word has reached the Wardens that Morrigan has returned to Ferelden. She has been sighted in the southern wilderness where she was first encountered. Is it truly her? If it is, then why is she here and what secret does she carry with her? The Warden heads into the forest to find out and tie up this last loose end once and for all.