Despite the monetary success, those closest to the original Transformers consider Michael Bay’s work on the movie franchise nothing short of abomination. Just hearing the word can now send a shiver down our spines as so much of our childhood was violated by his racism filled robotic romp.

Hearing there was going to be a new Transformers game brought us that same feeling. However, there was a shining light coming through the clouds, as bright as the AllSpark, when it was announced that the upcoming Transformers: War for Cybertron would be based on the original G1 universe.

Not only would Transformers: War of Cybertron take place in the most beloved of Transformers canon, but it would fill in the blanks for many fans of the series. All under the watchful gaze of franchise creators Hasbro, High Moon Studios has put together the pieces of what happened during the civil war between Autobot and Decepticon before the two factions found themselves warring on earth. In the video after the jump, it is obvious that High Moon Studios shares the affinity for Transformers Generation One that Michael Bay looked over.

Published by Activision, Transformers: War for Cybertron will come out for the XBox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, Nintendo DS and the PC in May of this year. Click through to take a look at what is in store for longtime and newfound fans of the Transformers.

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Who hasn’t walked down the street and seen people with their heads buried in their iPhones? And you know they aren’t all looking up stock quotes or making work calls. Most are playing Paper Toss or checking in with Foursquare. We even see those jealous Verizon customers with their Droids as they secretly wait for their carrier to pick up the iPhone.

Smart phones are the way technology is pointing with their layers of functionality and ever increasing capabilities. That’s why it wasn’t a surprise Thursday morning when the Wall Street Journal reported that Sony would be entering the smart phone arena. Of special interest to this particular item though is that it will be “capable of downloading and playing PlayStation games”, possibly referring to PlayStation One titles specifically.

Reported as a device that “blurs distinctions among a netbook, an e-reader and a PlayStation Portable,” they are already expecting a 2010 launch. It is possible that Sony may make a big announcement regarding this phone next week during the Games Developers Conference.

With ever declining PSP sales and the lackluster response to the PSP Go, one would think the portable device market was in trouble. Nintendo has shown with the DS and the record breaking game sales of Plants vs. Zombies on the iPhone have shown that this isn’t the case however and that Sony is just searching for its niche still.

2010 has already proven itself to be a big year for games and only two months have gone by so far. From the look of things, March doesn’t seem like it is going to slow down either.

Cross platform heavyweights Battlefield: Bad Company 2 and Final Fantasy XIII start off the month strong while Mega Man 10 finds itself sprinkled through the month on the various consoles. Closing out the month on the cross platform titles is Just Cause 2.

Likely the biggest individual release will come from the PlayStation 3 with God of War III. After being the inevitable comparison for Dante’s Inferno, Kratos comes out on March 16th ready to take no prisoners. The PlayStation 2’s lifecycle finally looks to be coming to an end as it only has one release this month.

Take a look below at every game coming out for the month of March.

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Mark your calendars Nintendo fanboys (and fangirls). After a slow start to 2009, Nintendo finished with a vengeance with the release of New Super Mario Bros. for Wii. Not wanting to give Sony or Microsoft any time to regain the top of the NPD sales charts, Nintendo has announced release dates on their biggest titles for the first half of 2010.

According to Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo of America’s executive vice president of Sales & Marketing: “Nintendo finished 2009 with a bang, and we’re continuing our momentum into 2010… With Nintendo DSi XL, Super Mario Galaxy 2 and Metroid: Other M coming in the first six months of the year, we’re making sure all our fans have great game content to enjoy year-round.”

Here’s what we have to look forward to from Nintendo in the next 6 months and what Nintendo has to say about them.

March 23rd – Nintendo DSi XL
Suggested Retail Price: $189.99
The screens of the Nintendo DSi XL are 93 percent larger than those of the Nintendo DS Lite model, providing a more vivid and engaging play experience. The screens of the Nintendo DSi XL also feature a wider viewing angle, letting friends and family members join the fun.

The new system launches in both Burgundy and Bronze colors, and comes loaded with pre-installed premium software Brain Age Express: Arts & Letters, Brain Age Express: Math and Photo Clock, as well as two free applications: the Nintendo DSi Browser and Flipnote Studio. Nintendo DSi XL will also come with a larger pen-like stylus that allows for a more comfortable grip and enhanced ease of use when playing games that use the Nintendo DS touch screen.

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Numbers of console and games sales were released by the NPD group for the month of January 2010 today with some not so surprising results. The Nintendo Wii and Nintendo DS (including the DSi SKU’s) lead the console war as they continue to dominate this generation in terms of sales. Even after their record setting Wii sales in December, the little white box with waggle controls still is flying off shelves. With that comes five of the top games being Wii titles.

The griefer’s paradise New Super Mario Bros Wii tops their charts, follwed by evergreen favorite Wii titles like Wii Fitt Plus, Mario Kart Wii and Wii Sports Resort. The only surprise on the Wii comes from the critically panned Just Dance from Ubisoft (averaging a score of 47 from Metacritic).

XBox 360 surged back in front of the PlayStation 3, no doubt with some help of their over half a million selling release of Mass Effect 2. The XBox 360’s version of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 also outsold the PS3 version by a firm 65,000 units. Co-op shooter Army of Two: The 40th Day debutted on the charts in the number 8 spot, followed by the apocalyptic release of Darksiders, both the games being the XBox 360 versions.

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Capcom has been proud to bring customers the Nintendo DS hit Ace Attorney: Phoenix Wright in the past. Now, they intend on trying to capture lightning in a bottle once again by moving the investigation from the court room to the crime scene itself. Coming February 16th, Capcom is releasing Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth for the Nintendo DS and DSi.

Remembered as the rival of Phoenix Wright, Miles Edgeworth returns from a month long vacation to find out that his office has become a crime scene. This demo lets players go through the early part of the investigation as Miles tries to figure out who the victim is, contradictions in the crime scene that point to foul play and a rival prosecutor who is looking to muck up Miles’ investigation.

The game takes Miles through a series of episodes, the first of which can be played below in the included Flash Demo. The game itself will feature over 15 total hours of gameplay (a hefty amount for a hand-held game). Players will investigate scenes and logically try to piece together pieces of evidence. When confronting possible suspects, they will have to listen carefully to the logic being used in their testimony and find inconsistencies from what they are being told and what they know as fact.

Check out the first trailer for the game below, which will be available for the Nintendo DS on February 17, 2010.

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I probably spend as much time playing brand spankin’ new video games as I do replaying my old favorites, not just because of nostalgia but just because they’re awesome games. Which is why it’s exciting to hear that Sega will be releasing a Sonic Classic Collection for the Nintendo DS next year, according to Kotaku.

Many Sonic classics have already been released for systems like the PS2 and Xbox, but what’s exciting about this collection is that since it’s on the DS, you’ll be able to take them anywhere. The collection will include classics Sonic The Hedgehog, Sonic The Hedgehog 2, Sonic The Hedgehog 3 and Sonic & Knuckles.

The game will also have a nifty “save anywhere” feature, which is a relief for those of us who used to just leave on their Sega Genesis  for hours on end while we had family dinner and did homework. The Sonic Classic Collection will ship in March 2010.

Late last week, the NPD Group who is in charge of tracking, compiling and interpreting sales numbers for the video game industry released their console and game sales figures for the month of October with some surprising results. These numbers do not include Walmart sales or digital distribution of games. Let’s take a look.

Console Sales

1. Nintendo Wii: 506,900 (up from 462,800)

2. Nintendo DS: 457,600 (down from 524,200, includes all Nintendo DS SKU’s and Nintendo DSi)

3. Playstation 3: 320,600 (down from 491,800)

4. XBox 360: 249,700 (down from 352,600)

5. PSP: 174,600 (up from 146,000, includes all PSP SKU’s and PSP Go)

6. Playstation 2: 117,800 (down from 146,000)

So what does this mean for the video game industry? A few things. Nintendo takes back their top non-portable spot after losing it last month to the price reduced Playstation 3. Back over the half million a month mark, the Nintendo Wii price reduction to $199 had been a long time coming and has shown it was enough of a stimulus to even beat out the Nintendo DS as the top selling console of the month. While Sony made a huge campaign out of their price drop back in September, Nintendo has been more subtle about theirs, only posting in circulars instead of the TV adds Sony has used to attempt to make up ground.

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I’ve recently fallen in love with The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, so I was excited at Nintendo’s Big Apple Comic Con booth to have the chance to try the sequel, The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks, due out for the Nintendo DS later this year.

Animated in the same style as Phantom Hourglass and the Gamecube classic The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, Spirit Tracks plays very much the same. Players control Link by dragging the stylus across the screen in the direction you want him to move. Attacking and other actions are also done using the stylus. While I had hoped they would have worked in the use of the directional pad to control Link in this game, it’s understandable that they’d want to keep the mechanics the same for returning players.

What is very different about Spirit Tracks is the ability to control a Phantom, one of the enemies in Phantom Hourglass. The Phantom can do a lot that Link cannot, such as walking through fire or across a pit of lava. Controlling the Phantom was as easy as tapping the Phantom, and then drawing a line in the path that you wanted him to go. This was a little frustrating when trying to get the Phantom to turn corners, because if the line was drawn too close to the wall he’d get stuck.

Even more frustrating was the fact that if the Phantom had to go ahead of Link to clear the way, Link wouldn’t just follow after him, you have to direct him over to the Phantom. It wasn’t difficult, mostly just time consuming. However, the addition of the Phantom added a lot to my experience and made Spirit Tracks feel like its own game, rather than just a straight sequel to Phantom Hourglass.

The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks will be available for Nintendo DS on December 7th.

Good news for all the rockers and Lego fans everywhere! The entire Lego Rock Band set list was released for both the PS3/Xbox 360 and Nintendo DS versions of the game and includes songs from Queen, Bon Jovi, P!NK, Jimi Hendrix and Blur. Warner Bros. and MTV Games also announced that tracks from the Rock Band Store will be available for play within Lego Rock Band, and for $9.99 (800 Microsoft Points), the Lego Rock Band tracks can be exported for play in any other Rock Band games. An internet connection will be required for this export.

LEGO Rock Band will feature everything we know and love about the previous Rock Band games as well as the family-friendly, silly antics gamers have come to expect from the LEGO franchise. Players will be able to design their whole band as well as their roadies and manager. Keeping with the family-friendly theme, only songs that are suitable for all-ages will be available for purchase and play within the Lego Rock Band store.

Lego Rock Band will be coming to your Xbox 360, Playstation 3, and Nintendo DS consoles this holiday season. While you get ready to rock, check out the full track listing for all versions of the game after the jump.

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