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As a fan of Snowblinds third-person action games, I’m psyched for next year’s Lord of the Rings: War in the North.

But I’ll admit I’m not a big fan of Lord of the Rings, so it’s the game’s gritty, cooperative third-person action that has me hooked. This latest trailer tells a bit of the game’s story, which sounds Lord of the Rings-y enough to me, I guess. But I’m serious, I don’t know too much about this stuff. If there were a robot came out from behind a bush and attacked the dwarf I’d be like “Yeah, that’s cool. Robots. Totally.”

So Lord of the Rings fans, how is this looking from a story standpoint?

Valve has just announced that Portal 2 will now be coming out on April 18, 2011 for the PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. For reals this time. The game was pushed back by two months and marks the “shortest delay in Valve history.” The e-mail release was short, but in classic Valve fashion, is pretty hilarious. Check it out after the fold.

Still no word on the longest delay of any news on a game people are dying for, Half-Life 3.

Valve today announced that Portal 2 — the sequel to the ground-breaking title that won over 30 game of the year awards, despite missing its original ship date — will now be available the week of April 18th, 2011. This two month slip not only marks the shortest delay in Valve’s proud tradition of delays, it represents the approaching convergence of Valve Time and Real Time. Though this convergence spells doom for humanity, it will not affect the new Portal 2 release date.

For more information, please visit www.thinkwithportals.com

I’m usually a big fan of NECA’s work. Their Aliens toys are great and they do some remarkable videogame figures. This Dead Space 2 Isaac figure, however, makes me want to vomit onto my hands and balls. 

It may be a case of bad photography, but since this is an official shot, and official photos tend to make toys look better, I can only assume that the figure looks just this bad. Or worse.

From the gaudy, child-like bloodstains on his armor to the bizarre body shape that makes it look like he has a wasting disease, I can only feel sorry for the Dead Space 2 protagonist. He looks ill and sad, and I want to wrap him in a blanket and tell him it’s going to be alright. 

Definitely not one of NECA’s best. I’ve seen more convincing Playmobil figures. 

Dead Space 2’s Issac now in color and- whoa, what the-? [Tomopop]

This has to be some kind of record! And this one song had better be a great song.

The soundtrack CD for Echochrome 2 is 75 minutes long, which is a pretty good length for any game. What’s crazy is that the whole CD is just one track. AndriaSang says that the soundtrack, “Mugen Kairo Hikari to Kage no Hako: a Soundtrack,” has but one track, named “Prime # 4507.” It will be released in Japan on December 29th, right after the PlayStation Move game, which comes on December 23rd. 

Everything we’ve seen (and heard) of this game looks fantastic. It looks to be one of the better uses of the PlayStation Move that I’ve seen. 

One MIT student has created a little robot that uses Microsoft’s Kinect motion sensor to see, with its cameras serving as robot eyeballs. Philipp Robbel has hacked together the Kinect an iRobot Create to create a little guy that can accurately map its surroundings and also respond to human gestures. The robot actually “sees” its surroundings and can send them wirelessly to a computer. You’ll see in the above video how quickly the mapping is laid out.

Robbel has also incorporated the ability to use gestures to control this robot. One hand swipe to the left and the robot moves left. The creator imagines this type of robot being useful in disaster relief.

A Singularity Hub article jokes that this tech could be used to improve Roomba. Someone should get on that. Being able to point to spilled Cocca Puffs and have Roomba pick it up would be fantastic.

You would think Donkey Kong would be on top of the world.

He is one of the most iconic videogame characters ever created, his love of banana coins is known the world over, and his new game, the most excellent Donkey Kong Country Returns, comes out in just a few days for the Wii (review coming soon!).

But behind this furry life of banana bliss lies a simple gorilla with a dark past. A past full of family secrets, abandonment, tragic loss, and shocking crimes of passion.

A past that would even make Dickens himself gasp in disbelief.

Hit the jump for the true story of Donkey Kong and his family.

The epic tale … of the Kongs.

The early years

It was 1981 when Donkey Kong was born. Kids around the world, adorned in jelly bracelets, would flock to their local arcade after watching Danger Mouse on TV to play the game that everyone was talking about.

Donkey Kong, a giant ape created by Nintendo, was the star of his own arcade game.

It was the hottest thing at the time.

He was going to be a star.

But, immediately after his arcade game was sucking in quarters around the world, the sad and troubled times began.

Donkey Kong’s name was plastered on the side of every colorful arcade cabinet, yet it was his nemesis, the plumber Jumpman (later to be known as Mario) that garnered all the attention.

Jumpman. Mario. Whatever you called him, he was out to do nothing but destroy poor Donkey Kong. An angry animal-hater armed with a hammer, Mario had his eyes set on Pauline and would do anything to steal her away.

But Donkey Kong, being the generous simian he was, did nothing but extend the olive branch to Jumpman. He offered him giant barrels (most likely filled with cupcakes or puppies) to show Mario how much he cared. Donkey Kong just wanted to live in peace with his love Pauline at the top of his construction site.

But what did Mario do? He just ignored these gifts by jumping over them or, even worse, destroying them completely with his horrible hammer.

As his videogame came to a close, Donkey Kong was alone. Pauline had left him to be with Mario. A plumber. The brooding, strong Donkey Kong lost his true love to a plumber. In red overalls.

A family is born

A year later, a miracle happened. Donkey Kong had a son.

Although almost nothing was known about the mother, rumor has it Donkey Kong met a younger gorilla in a local banana bar. After wooing her with — what else! — barrels full of cupcakes and puppies, this mysterious woman spent the night with a smitten Donkey Kong.

Nine months later, Donkey Kong Jr. was born.

In a sad twist of fate, though, Donkey Kong Jr.’s mother left the family, leaving behind only an oversized white onesie wrapped around her precious baby gorilla.

Donkey Kong was left to raise his son as a single father. A single father who, because of his original arcade game, was being viewed as a villain around the world.

Nothing was going right.

Donkey Kong Jr.

Soon after Donkey Kong Jr. entered the world, he was asked to star in his own videogame. A moment any father would be proud of … if it wasn’t for the fact that Mario kidnapped Donkey Kong for no apparent reason and locked him a in a tiny cage.

(I love Mario, but, damn, 80’s Mario was kind of an asshole.)

So before he even had the chance to talk or go to his first day of school, Donkey Kong Jr. was tasked with rescuing his father from an evil plumber. A plumber who had already broken his father’s heart a year earlier.

Even for the most precious of Kongs, life was already proving to be quite the challenge.

A decade of silence

After Donkey Kong was freed, he (understandably) descended into a major depression.

Pauline had forgotten about him. He had been humiliated in front of his newborn son.

For an entire decade Donkey Kong chose to go into hiding. Unable to even afford a second outfit for his child, Donkey Kong and Donkey Kong Jr. left the videogame spotlight to see if they could get their lives back on-track.

In the early ‘90s an opportunity arose that promised to make things much better.

Asked to be a supporting player in a brand new racing game for the Super Nintendo, Donkey Kong Jr., now a teenager, jumped at the chance to stage a comeback for the Kong family.

Even though he was asked to sit alongside Mario in the unfortunately titled Super Mario Kart, Donkey Kong Jr. wanted nothing more than to make his father proud. He looked past the old rivalry between Mario and his dad and jumped at the chance to star in a videogame once again.

In a twist of bad luck known only to the Kongs, Donkey Kong Jr. ended up being a “heavy” character, paired up with despised villain (and noted kidnapper) Bowser as one of the least played characters in the hit kart game.

Donkey Kong Jr.’s return to the world of videogames was once again met with disappointment.

A Rare case of good fortune

Although Super Mario Kart was a huge international success, Donkey Kong and his son found little to be happy about. It wasn’t until a couple of years later when things finally started to turn around … but in a completely unexpected way.

After cashing in on a critically-acclaimed reimagining of the original Donkey Kong for the Game Boy (one that humiliated poor Donkey Kong once again), things entered into a major downward spiral.

Donkey Kong Jr. had a son, this one also named Donkey Kong, making communication between the three Kongs very confusing. “Hey, Donkey Kong, can you pass me that banana?!” was met with the entire family turning around and answering with a deafening “Aroooraroooooooraaaaa!”

So confusing.

In addition, grandfather Donkey Kong became crankier and crankier, doing nothing but constantly complaining about old times and how things were so much “harder” for him in the retro era.

The family was struggling, living out of a tree house stocked with nothing but bananas and bouncy tire swings.

It was a sad state of affairs.

But, in what the Kong family would come to refer to as “The Golden Year of 1994”, a British videogame development company named Rare would change the Kongs’ lives … forever.

Donkey Kong Country

In 1994, the Super Nintendo was losing steam. The SEGA Genesis was starting to take over with many hit games, most starring the popular (and known speed dealer) Sonic the Hedgehog.

Rare, sensing they needed to do something daring, created a game starring the grandson of Donkey Kong, the son of Donkey Kong Jr., Donkey Kong (see how confusing the similar names are?).

Donkey Kong Country, the graphically revolutionary platformer, was an enormous hit, skyrocketing sales of the Super Nintendo past the Genesis.

The Kong family was on top. They single-handedly saved the SNES!

And instead of being viewed as villains, Donkey Kong Country had Donkey Kong and his new nephew Diddy Kong starring as the protagonists. Protagonists. The word was music to the Kongs’ ears.

And not only was Donkey Kong Country a beautiful, beloved masterpiece, it actually starred the entire, ever-growing Kong family. No more would Donkey Kong and his direct line fight enemies alone. The whole family would join the fight, united. One big, happy family.

The Kong klan

Like the Jacksons, the success of one family member inevitably led to the entire family wanting to become stars. Having the entire Kong family starring in Donkey Kong Country and its two successful sequels was a nice change of pace, but it threatened to derail the fantastic momentum Donkey Kong was gaining.

Sure, the family had its successes — nephew Diddy and his girlfriend Dixie were a brave, energetic match made in heaven.

But then the more “colorful” members of the family started coming out of the banana-stained woodwork.

First there was Cranky Kong, the original Donkey Kong. Now a grandfather, Cranky lost the use of his legs and was forced to walk around with a cane. Gone were the days of jumping on vines and destroying metal girders.

Confined to a rocking chair on most days, Cranky’s role in Donkey Kong Country was nothing more than a complainer, an old gorilla angry at the “kids of today” and longing for a time when videogames were a much purer form of art.

And then there was Candy Kong. Oh, Candy. Donkey Kong’s girlfriend started off as a great gorilla girlfriend, but the minute she opened her “save points” up to any random adventurer, well, the relationship went completely downhill.

Throw in not-the-ripest-banana-in-the-bunch Funky, slow (but sweet) Kiddy, absolutely bonkers Lanky, and hoarder Chunky, and poor Donkey Kong had an entire dysfunctional family tree to worry about.

Lucky for him, these wacky family members only added to the appeal of his games.

The Kong bad luck was starting to turn.

And in a shocking twist, Cranky Kong’s wife, Donkey Kong Jr.’s mother, Wrinkly Kong — the mother thought to have abandoned her family all those years ago — made a grand return in Donkey Kong Country 2. Her return was completely unexpected, but just the sight of her, the grandmother he thought he never had, touched Donkey Kong’s heart.

She sadly passed away before the release of Donkey Kong 64, but the family reunion was so special it erased any bad memories the family once had.

Despite their eccentricities, the Kong family stayed strong through many hard times. And it was this support that helped them in the years to come.

The later years

Following Donkey Kong Country, the Kong family (in particular, Donkey Kong) was admired and respected all over the world. Even though some people still viewed the family as troublemakers, gamers everywhere embraced the Kongs and welcomed them into their homes.

After a successful platformer on the Nintendo 64, Donkey Kong and his family went to star and costar in many future games. No longer ignored by Mario and his friends, Donkey Kong became a playable character in the palm-ripping minigame fest Mario Party, an instant classic.

Popping up in many videogames, Donkey Kong even went on to star in new genres of his own, as was evident in the releases of the bongo game Donkey Konga and rhythm/platformer hybrid Donkey Kong Jungle Beat.

Sure, there were some callbacks to darker times (Mario vs. Donkey Kong), but, all in all, Donkey Kong’s post-Donkey Kong Country years were flush with positive starring roles and a slew of unexpected success stories.

After dealing with a life of lost loves, ridicule, kidnapping, abandonment, and loneliness, the Kong family was finally happy.

The future

What could the future hold for the Kongs? If the upcoming release of Donkey Kong Country Returns is any indication, things are looking up. The stellar Wii platformer is absolutely outstanding — one of the best games of the year.

You hear that Donkey Kong?! You and your family are starring in one of the best games of the year.

Somewhere, Pauline is staring into a single, peeled banana, wondering what life would have been like, had she just made a different choice atop that collapsing construction tower …

Aroooraroooooooraaaaa!

THQ has been getting out of its comfort zone lately, by turning some of its franchises into movie and television properties, and now, by experimenting with lower-priced games. CEO Brian Farrell talked with Gamasutra about some of these new strategies.

“We spent a lot of time in Asia watching that freemium model. I think our markets are migrating that way, but you see it more in iPhone and iPad games right now,” he said. As such, the next MX vs. ATV title will launch at $40, and this cheaper price will be supplemented by downloadable content.

An interesting concept, for sure. I could see it working quite well in the right hands. Of course, Farrell was quick to point out games with bigger budgets, like Homefront, would remain at the normal $60. He also mentioned that the Saints Row movie is still in the works. Yeah — it’s really happening.

The full announcement will be made next month. THQ is hoping to align this release with the launch of Saints Row 3, but Farrell mentioned that’s subject to change.

Interview: CEO Farrell On THQ’s Path Through The Changing Game Landscape [Gamasutra]

Today, Ubisoft has revealed the details of the Assassin’s Creed: Ascendance project it teased just yesterday. As suspected, it’s a short animated film, and its release will coincide with the November 16 launch of the game, Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood.

Ascendance is said to bridge the gap between Assassin’s Creed II and the upcoming Brotherhood, with Ezio Auditore in the lead role. The film will be available on Xbox Live Marketplace, PlayStation Network, and “other digital channels” for $1.99.

In Space no one can hear you vomit. However, in Dead Space 2 multiplayer not only can you hear vomit, you can taste it! In the new multiplayer you can take charge, or to be more precise, be overtaken as a Necromorph. In my interview with Dead Space 2 Producer Scott Probst, we dive limb-first in Dead Space’s multiplayer and get a talk’n about gore and body part dismemberment.

If you want more Dead Space’N you should also check out Ben PerLee’s article. Its filled so with so many more words than my video.