As the Supreme Court prepares to hear arguments about California's controversial gaming law interested parties on both sides of the debate are coming out of the woodwork to add their two cents. Both sides are doing everything in their power to sway the courts nine members, with several states and organizations filing amicus curiae (friend of the court) briefs laying out their position on the banning of selling violent games to minors.

One one side, 11 states have sided with California in support of the ban, claiming that it will be good for children. While that may sound significant keep in mind that it's more common for 40 or more states to band together in similar cases, so there's hardly a united front. Meanwhile the Entertainment Merchants Association (EMA) and Entertainment Software Association (ESA) have filed their own briefs opposing the law. The industry also has an ally in Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff, who is spearheading a push to find states who will side with game developers and publishers in an attempt to thwart the new law.

More on the case after the break.

Before I start gushing, let's get this table of contents out of the way:

I. Hands-on with Nightfall
II. Hands-on with Tip of the Spear
III. Hands-on with Firefight
IV. Hands-on with Forge World
V. Hands-on with Multiplayer
VI. A Chat with Brian Jarrard Part I
VII. A Chat with Brian Jarrard Part II

(There, Bungie likes 7s, right?)

Bungie, I swear to god, you have been too good to me all my life. First, you change the way we play shooters on consoles forever. Then, you change the way we play shooter on consoles online, followed by a satisfying conclusion to an epic trilogy (how often does that happen?) and a gritty spinoff.

And as if all that wasn't enough, you go and invite me to an exclusive event in San Francisco to hang out with you and play Halo: Reach for two whole days straight? Wow, Bungie. Seriously. You're the coolest.

Welcome to Kombo's Halo: Reach blowout.

Bungie's Community Director Brian Jarrard is a serious authority on all things Halo, be that the subtleties of Reach's campaign narrative or sweet custom Firefight scenarios like "SN1PERTIMEZ." That's why we were so excited to get a chance to chat with him last week in San Francisco.

In part II, we talk about the future of Bungie, Halo and the Master Chief, character cameos in Reach, space battles, and more. Plus, Brian admits that they "absolutely" knew all along that September 14 is my birthday. I knew it! Check out part I here, and don't forget our hands-on blowout!

Bungie's Community Director Brian Jarrard is a serious authority on all things Halo, be that the subtleties of Reach's campaign narrative or sweet custom Firefight scenarios like "SN1PERTIMEZ." That's why we were so excited to get a chance to chat with him last week in San Francisco.

In part I, we ask Brian about Bungie's motivations behind a lot of the changes in Reach, including why they chose that particular chapter of the Halo lore, making sure the game lived up to expectations, and more. Check out part 2 here, and don't forget our hands-on blowout!

For some, few things elicit more excitement and sweet remembrance than the sizzle of a crackling blue plasma grenade or the distinctive, smoky trail of a sniper round betraying the location of a distant fellow player. Plenty of gamers made the jump to the Xbox generation of consoles without many expectations, having only recently begun to grow tired of shooting the crap out of one another in Goldeneye 007 and Perfect Dark on the N64.

It was Halo, of course, that single handedly ushered in the current generation of console shooters, and it did this in no little part thanks to its unique and sexy multiplayer and co-op modes. At an exclusive Halo: Reach event in San Francisco last week, I discovered that Reach does justice to this legacy, and more.

Hit the jump for the rest of the preview.

In Halo 3, Bungie introduced the Forge so that players could customize their multiplayer experience. It provided the tools necessary to adjust which items and weapons appeared on a map, where players spawned, what their objectives were, and more. On levels released as DLC post launched, creative players could even use pieces of geometry, like walls and ramps, to alter levels to an even greater degree.

Now, in Halo: Reach, the Forge has evolved into the expansive, humongous Forge World, and it will provide players with all the tools they'll need to create custom levels that, gameplay wise, should rival many of Bungie's own.

Hit the jump for more details.

Three comrades and I are holed up at the top of a heavily fortified slope, brows dripping sweat and hands white-knuckled, clutching our weapons (controllers) as if they were our frantically beating hearts themselves. I hear the beat of Covenant war drums in the distance, and several Phantom drop ships enter my field of vision. They spread out in front of me, coming to a hovering stop high off the ground at strategic points throughout the battlefield. From the insectile hulls pour dozens of majestically bestial Elite, their mandibles snapping wildly in anticipation.

Our only weapons are sniper rifles.

Hit the jump for more dramatic Firefight narrative.

The end of Halo: Reach's fourth mission, Nightfall, revealed that the Covenant are invading the agricultural planet in greater numbers than anyone could have predicted. By the start of next mission, Tip of the Spear, the war for Reach has really begun. The opening cinematic sees a formidable force of Warthogs, complete with an escort of Falcons, the more versatile version of Halo 3’s helicopter-like Hornets, barreling forward under a hot, noonday sun.

As a contingent of banshees unleashes volleys of plasma on the approaching 'Hogs, the one containing Noble Team Spartan 6 "does a barrel roll," as one random marine may put it, and throws Noble 6 from the passenger seat.

Hit the jump for the rest of the preview.

Inching along a midnight-dark ridge, my Spartan brother beside me, I think to myself, "I've done this before." The thought makes me giddy, and memory sets in to make me fall in love with yet another Halo game.

Nightfall is the fourth mission in Halo: Reach.

Hit the jump to continue reading.

According to various sources, Nintendo fans who haven't already played every Mario game to death will soon be able to do so. Again. A listing for the Super Mario Collection Special Pack on Nintendo's Japanese release calendar piqued the interest of some. Alongside this, information leaked from a Nintendo retailer conference in Japan also got people intrigued.

What could it mean? Find out more after the jump.

People love to throw around the words “best of all time” quite often in video games. Be it from misplaced nostalgic tinglings, or just shock and awe from the latest game design/technological revolution, it's safe to say we are easily impressed. But the world of video games is comparatively young. It is difficult to call anything the “best ever” in an industry so young with such a long future ahead of it. With that in mind, here is a top ten listing featuring some of the most overrated games ever.

Gears was always billed as being this console generation's Halo.  Well, it turns out that this generation's Halo was...well, Halo. Gears of War is still one of this generation's most prominent faces, but the sequel didn't quite live up to the reputation of the original.  For starters, the shallow yet badass one-liner heavy early 90s action movie storytelling from the original was replaced with something far more melancholy (and easier to franchise) which drastically altered the mood.  Beyond matchmaking, the multiplayer received no real game making innovations over the first installment, and the weapon rebalancing pissed off as many loyal players as it appeased.  Perhaps Gears 3 can offer a true step up in the formula.

Video games have become mainstream, and with that blessing/curse comes consequences. When any form of media begins to gain popularity and achieves mainstream approval such as video games have in the past decade, there is going to be a phase where those in power over-analyze each and every little move in an effort to reach the broadest possible audience by not offending anybody. True enough, focus groups have become a bigger part of western game development. One of the more public recent examples of this over sensitivity would be the neutering of Epic Mickey based on the skewed childhood nostalgia emanating from the mind of a random biker dude gathered as part of a Disney focus group. Also worthy of mention is the alleged sexism going on at Activision where female protagonists have been banned from the lead role in all Activision software – all for the sake of reaching a more stereotypical mainstream male audience. There are surely dozens of other examples that could be named off, but you get the point. Self censorship is becoming a normality in the world of video games. Sometimes, sensitivity or political correctness, while not entirely positive, can at least be understood such as back in 2001 when due to the then recent September 11^th terrorist attacks, Sega canceled the release of Propeller Arena (an awesome arcade style plane shooter that served as the possible inspiration for Crimson Skies) simply because you could fly into buildings. However, at other times self censorship can border on the ridiculous.

Much is said about game designers. They are the celebrities of our industry, much akin to those who sit in the director's chair in Hollywood. But just like the film industry, little is ever mentioned concerning the folks behind the scenes. Without video game hardware, video game software cannot exist. Here's a look at ten of the most influential engineers in the history of video game hardware.

The iPad and the iPhone may not exactly be a haven for quality video game experiences, but one cannot dispute the influence of Steve Jobs on the world of video game tecnology. While it was Nintendo that initially brought the touch-screen interface to the mainstream populace in 2004, it was Jobs who perfected the interface over many years of R&D. The iPad can recognize up to eleven fingers simultaneously and is arguably the most inviting casual gaming platform. The screens of the two devices offer one of the most natural input experiences of any platform, even if the finger is considerably less accurate than a stylus or mouse.

The Tenets of a Metroid Game

Although Metroid can be categorized as a platforming shooter within a space-themed context, the franchise isn't so much about the shooting or the jumping at all. Rather, Metroid is all about that misplaced bit of space rock. You know, the one with a little bit of extra fungus. The one that, after met with a morph ball bomb, will string you down a tiny alley to a small chamber containing the next power-up. Progression in Metroid hinges on the abilities granted by various power-ups which are connected to a string of environmental puzzles. It's in the player's ability to realize these puzzles through acute observation and then use their ability set to act upon their observations that Metroid reveals its true colors as a game of deep observation and multi-faceted problem solving. Metroid has always relished in being more than what it presents itself as, and series fans appreciate the franchise for valuing the deep implicit over the loud and overt. There's a maturity in the series which has gone untarnished even as the franchise has evolved from two to three dimensions.

Destructoid has heard from some anonymous tipsters that Sony's about to begin prepping an army of motion control experts to attend to shoppers' needs as Move demonstration kiosks start rolling out to stores across the country. To the average gamer, this may not seem like a necessity, since pretty much everybody has already used the Wii.

For a casual store browser who's curiosity may be piqued by the technology, though, a friendly Move instructor may be just the thing.

Hit the jump to keep reading.

One of the major red flags for Kinect to this point has been the belief that the machine will only support two players. After all, in tech specs released just after E3 Microsoft claimed the device could track "two active players." Thus, the conclusion was drawn that Kinect games would support two-player multiplayer only, but it appears that may not be the case. At Gamescom Xbox general manager Kudo Tsunoda said that the device will support more than two gamers at a time, and that player limits are really an issue individual developers must decide on.

"Certainly if you look at a game, go down on the floor, Dance Centralis already incorporating a lot more than two players. So you know it's not necessarily any kind of limitation as much as it is developers just trying to customize the experiences around what they think is the best way to play," Tsunoda said. "You can see like sometimes in a split-screen game it's hard to add more and more players because it's hard to see what's going on - and that's true of any game."

More on the other side of the break.

We're going to make you an offer you can't refuse (sorry, couldn't help myself). Kombo is giving away a copy of Mafia II for the Xbox 360, and entering couldn't be simpler. All you have to do is comment on this post and send an email to prizes@kombo.com telling us, in a Mafioso kind of way, how you'd make your enemies sleep with the fishes. Make it creative and original, and if we like it enough to fear what might happen to us if you don't win, we'll send you a copy of the game.

For those who don't win, please don't have me whacked. I'm just the messenger of Don Joey Davidson (Corleone). The Angry Fanboy Mafia has already left a chopped up Xbox controller on my pillow, I don't need any more stress right now.

Microsoft has announced a brand new controller for the Xbox 360, and this one finally has a d-pad worth using. The new controller features directional buttons which, when rotated 90 degrees, raise up about a quarter inch off the surface. The reasoning goes that this extra space will lead to more precise controls for fighting games and other titles which require specific d-pad tapping. The device will debut on November 9th and retail for a cringe-inducing $64.99.

Is it worth it? Find out after the break.

People love to throw around the words “best of all time” quite often in video games. Be it from misplaced nostalgic tinglings, or just shock and awe from the latest game design/technological revolution, it's safe to say we are easily impressed. But the world of video games is comparatively young. It is difficult to call anything the “best ever” in an industry so young with such a long future ahead of it. With that in mind, here is a top ten listing featuring some of the most overrated games ever.

Gears was always billed as being this console generation's Halo.  Well, it turns out that this generation's Halo was...well, Halo. Gears of War is still one of this generation's most prominent faces, but the sequel didn't quite live up to the reputation of the original.  For starters, the shallow yet badass one-liner heavy early 90s action movie storytelling from the original was replaced with something far more melancholy (and easier to franchise) which drastically altered the mood.  Beyond matchmaking, the multiplayer received no real game making innovations over the first installment, and the weapon rebalancing pissed off as many loyal players as it appeased.  Perhaps Gears 3 can offer a true step up in the formula.

Recent comments from DICE following Battlefield 3’s announcement are starting to paint the PC version of the game as a slightly different beast from the console versions. This may alleviate the fears of some long time Battlefield fans.

Posts and interviews from the developer have shed light on how DICE intends to use the hardware of each platform to push Battlefield 3 as far as they can. This is especially true in how they are further optimizing Battlefield’s latest engine for the PC.

Video games do not spring from development studios fully formed and ready to go.  Your favorite games began as a rough concept document outlining the title's storyline, characters, offensive attacks, defensive moves, level outline, and other basic building blocks.  Yesterday we revisited Sunsoft's Aero The Acro-Bat franchise and explored the development process with Aero's creator, David Siller.  Now Kombo offers this original Aero The Acro-Bat rough draft concept document from 1992 and some period promotional artwork from Sunsoft's presence at the Consumer Electronics Show in 1993 as a look at how an average game was developed and promoted during the 16-bit years.  After all, some of Kombo's readership had not yet been born during Aero's heyday.  Enjoy this rare peek behind the curtain at the dawn of the acrobatic bat.

Madden NFL 11 is the latest game in a series that has traversed the annals of gaming from its first game in 1989. Over the years, the series has often been the definitive football game, but it has also suffered from withering criticism about its annual installments with fans claiming each new game is little more than a roster update. Sometimes, the criticism has been justified, but this year's version of Madden isn't just good - it's legendary.

Read on to find out why this year's Madden is head and shoulders above every other football game of this generation.

Genres in video games are already confusing mazes of definitions: Action games, adventure games, platformers. As gaming technology develops, some genres slowly become obsolete, such as top-down racers and on-rails shooters, yet we as an industry cling to ancient terminology and archaic descriptors for modern games: what exactly is a Role Playing Game, and how can Western and Japanese versions of the same genre differ so dramatically?

Traditionally an RPG would have taken the form of a pen and paper game, like the timeless Dungeons and Dragons. It may also be live action, known as LARPing, yet no matter where you look the basis for such games will be individuals assuming the role of an imagined or pre-created character.

If this is the sole prerequisite for a game to be considered to be an RPG then almost every video game is one, as players have been assuming avatars for the past thirty years, from Pac-Man to Mario. Instead of having a human game master however, the actual game environment and ruleset becomes the limiter and director of the role-playing. We no longer bother to classify a film if it has sound or color as practically all of them do, so what on Earth is the point of having a genre called RPGs within a field almost entirely made up of them?

Over the years the Mythbusters have taken down a plethora of movie and television myths about falling, blowing stuff up, driving and more. Up until now though the crew hasn't every really tested the cornucopia of gaming tropes, which seem to be fertile ground for a show about separating the real from the impossible. It seems the time has finally come however, as the cast confirmed at Comic-Con panel that several gaming myths are on their radar.

More after the break.

It's a sad fact that when developing a game, not everything proposed makes the final cut. Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Gamewas no exception. Ubisoft artist Stéphane Boutin has shared a huge array of concept art and information on things that were cut over on his blog. It's a fascinating insight into the development process.

Find out more about what didn't make the cut after the jump.

The next PSP may be closer than we think - and it may not be exactly what some people are expecting. Engadget has today revealed the existence of a new device that Sony is "actively and heavily developing" that will truly bridge the gap between traditional portable gaming systems and mobile phones.

The device is part PSPgo, part Sony Ericsson cell phone, and, apparently, part awesome.

Hit the jump for the details.