Action

Blizzard must love making us skwirm. The developer officially announced their action-RPG sequel Diablo III last June. Most of the time, that means the game's maybe 12 to 18 months from release at most. For Blizzard, that means . . . well not much really. They tend to announce titles and let their fans wait and wait and wait until sometime in the next decade they finally get around to releasing the title (or in the case of Warcraft Adventures or Starcraft Ghost, cancelling it).

We are not bitter. We were just wondering why Blizzard announces games and keeps releasing new screenshots like the four new images that appeared today for Diablo III on the game's official web site and then allows us to keep waiting for the game's release. And that waiting continues.

Games from Blizzard Entertainment not only have great gameplay and terrific CGI cut-scenes they also have some of the best music soundtracks in the industry. Earlier this week we reported that a free song from the Diablo III CGI trailer has been made available for free on iTunes and today Blizzard announced that soundtracks from a number of their older games have now been made available via Apple's music download service.

Some of these tracks have only been available until now in collector's editions of Blizzard games or on sale at part Blizzcon events. Six soundtracks are currently available for Starcraft, Diablo II, Warcraft III and three World of Warcraft soundtrack albums. Blizzard's podcast can also be downloaded via iTunes.

In Death Track: Resurrection players take on the role of a rookie driver that enters the tournament for the first time. They soon learn that the battle on the track is sometimes not fair and to achieve the top results they need to believe the end justifies the means. After each race all pilots leave the field, some in body bags some with prize money. Bigger engines and bigger guns can be all that stands between a good driver and tombstone.

Download the Death Track: Resurrection Demo (890 MB)

In a review of a previous American McGee's Grimm episode, I wrapped up my analysis by stating that each of the games has been fun, but those who don't feel like shelling out bucks for each entry's admittedly cheap fare should wait for their favorite fairy tales to come around. I'd like to amend that statement. True, Grimm episodes have focused on and will continue to feature popular fairy tales such as Little Red Riding Hood, but for many, the appeal of little-known tales (whether personally or universally) could be the saving grace of this platformer whose mechanics don't change much between episodes.

Take this week's installment: Godfather Death, a chilling tale with which I was unfamiliar despite being a fan of the Brothers Grimm. Grisly though they usually are, the brothers' tales are not quite macabre enough for Grimm, the titular protagonist of Spicy Horse's episodic series. In episode six, Grimm not only darkens the tale of Godfather Death, but manages to traverse many of the series' most clever and beautiful playgrounds yet.

Last week Yahoo debuted the final US trailer for Max Payne, the upcoming action movie based on the Remedy developed game series. But you haven't seen anything yet. Yahoo's UK division has the international version of the trailer available to check out as well.

This new version has a number of scenes that were not shown in last week's US trailer and still looks plenty cool with lots of supernatural-like elements, great looking fire effects and plenty of shooting, glass shattering and the like. Can Mark Walhberg make us forget that the studio making Max Payne, Twentieth Century Fox, also made the very crappy adaptation of Hitman last year? We will see when the Max Payne film heads for theaters on Oct. 17.

This new trailer for Battlefield Heroes shows off some gameplay, along with a new area called Victory Village. Battlefield Heroes will be a free-to-play online shooter using cartoon graphics. The game is currently scheduled to release late 2008.

Download the Battlefield Heroes Victory Village HD Trailer (99 MB)

Fans were impressed by the Mercenaries 2 TV commercial, especially its incredibly catchy theme song. This video, set to the full song, demonstrates how that commercial was made. You can download both HD video and song right now, then get straight to blowing things up.

Download the HD Making of Mercenaries 2 TV Spot Video (54 MB)
Download the "Oh No You Didn't" Full Song (3 MB)

Mercenaries 2 is out for consoles now and should ship for the PC later this week but commercials for the Pandemic-Electronic Arts open world action game are running on TV as we speak. The spots feature a cool little ditty of an original tune called "Oh No You Didn't" that's actually quite catchy.

Pandemic must have figured that fans would want to hear the whole song instead of just a 30 second portion so they have provided a free download of the full 3 minute version of "Oh No You Didn't" on the official Mercenaries 2 web site. You can also download a behind-the-scenes movie showing the making of the TV commercial but oddly enough the commercial itself cannot be downloaded. Weird.

Penny Arcade Expo was the first public showing of Demigod, the upcoming RTS-action-RPG from developer Gas Powered Games and publisher Stardock. Showing off the game to the vast PAX audience was good enough of an excuse to get Stardock to release some new screenshots of the game as well.

Actually make that a boatload of new screenshots; over 50 in fact. The new shots have been added to our gallery which should give you an idea of the look and feel of Demigod where you control one unit (either an assassin or general) to battle against others in a tournament setting. As with other games from Stardock you will be able to check out the beta of Demigod when you pre-order the title.The first "engine test" should beging later this month.

Divinity 2: Ego Draconis, the sequel to the action RPG Divine Divinity, puts players in the role of a dragon slayer, then gives him a major identity crisis by cursing him with the ability to transform into a dragon for aerial combat. This trailer shows off the graphics some some of the combat that will be featured in the game.

Download the Divinity 2 HD Trailer (76 MB)

It's almost a certainly that we have many, many, many months before the release of Blizzard's fantasy action-RPG sequel Diablo III but at least you can get a free listen to some of the music created for the game ahead of time. Apple's iTunes download service has offered up the "Diablo III Overture" as a free download as part of their Discovery Download program.

The theme, credited to the Russell Brower and the Eminence Symphony Orchestra was used as the music for the cinematic Diablo III trailer that was used to introduce the game last June. Of course you can check out that trailer right here at Big Download which also happens to be free. The wait for playing Diablo III is, of course, priceless.

Blackstar is an upcoming MMO that emphasizes space and ground combat. Players will be able to select from different races to throw down in an intergalactic war. This early trailer shows a little bit of how the game will look.

Download Blackstar HD Teaser Trailer (108 MB)

Multiwinia Mondays introduces the latest game mode for the Multiwinia, the follow-up to the indie developed Darwinia. It looks like the multiwinians will be competing in a great space race. Sides will have to take control of solar panels to power up their rockets, then load up 100 astronauts before taking off into space. In the meantime, opponents will be building up armies and blasting away to ensure that they're the first to blast off.

Download Multiwinia Rocket Riot HD Video (38 MB)

Midway has had a rocky 2008 as it fired its CEO, shut down a development studio in Los Angeles, and cut a large portion of its Austin, Texas based dev studio. Yet its current interim CEO Matt Booty has denied recent rumors that it will soon shut down its UK based studio. According to a chat at Gamesindustry.biz, Booty is quoted as saying that Midway has a "very strong commitment to that studio" and plans to stick with it "for the long term."

The UK studio is currently working on Wheelman (one of only two upcoming Midway games due for the PC), the action-driving title that "stars" actor Vin Diesel (who is also assisting with the game's design). Originally slated for release this fall, Midway has pushed the game's release date back to the first quarter of 2009.