It’s been almost six years since Agent 47 last donned his trademark black suit and dual .45s, and not much has filled the void he left behind. While game series like Assassin’s Creed and Splinter Cell have given us plenty of stealthy, stabby action, they don’t deliver the same rush of excitement or sense of accomplishment gamers received when playing the Hitman titles. Next year, however, the bald assassin returns in Hitman: Absolution, the fifth game in the series cannon. Yesterday, IO Interactive and SquareEnix release a whopping 16 minutes of gameplay footage.

The demo introduces several new abilities, including improvised weapons (such as unplugging a power cable to use as a garotte) and ‘Instinct Mode.’ Instinct allowes players a glimpse into the mind of 47, showing weapon and item locations, enemy positions, even the path that the Hitman thinks they’ll patrol. Footage also showcased some impressive and dynamic enemy AI, dubbed by IO as the “comprehensive intelligence spectrum.” It not only allows NPCs to counter your tactics individually, but actually work together as a team to  take you down.

In an interview with IGN, developer Martin Amor noted that, “In the earlier Hitman games when you started to shoot, the AI would take out their weapons and start shooting back … Now the AI is like – what exactly is going on? And the AI is always talking … Very complex AI is worthless if you don’t make it clear to the player what it’s doing and what it’s thinking.”

Check out the full 16-minute gameplay demo after the jump; while the official release date for Absolution has yet to be announced, but keep an eye out for it between Q2 and Q3 of 2012 on 360, PS3 and PC.

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Just when you thought both Tomb Raider films couldn’t get any better, it looks like GK studios has now obtained the rights and are planning to go back to the drawing board with the entire franchise, and a complete reboot starting in 2013.

The rights were purchased last week from GK. Here’s the official press release.

In a pre-emptive strike, GK Films has come on board to acquire the feature film rights to TOMB RAIDER and will reboot the successful action-adventure franchise aiming for a 2013 release for the first film.

Produced by Graham King and Tim Headington, the films will create daring new adventures for the young and dynamic Lara Croft.

GK Films acquired the film rights from interactive entertainment company, Square Enix Ltd. In Dec 2010, Square Enix subsidiary, Crystal Dynamics, revealed a new game for TOMB RAIDER based around the origins of the Lara Croft story.

“We are very excited to be rebooting what is already a hugely successful film franchise and continuing the TOMB RAIDER phenomenon,” said King.

Though the original films were considered blasphemous to most legitimate gamers, they did pretty well financially. The first films, both in 2001 and 2003, grossed over $430 million worldwide. We’re sure GK is hoping to capitalize on that with a brand new face and brand.

Last year, we took a more traditional approach with our Best Video Games of 2009 article with categories such as Best Music Game or Best Action Platformer. This year we are going to depart from the traditional and give what we think are categories that truly deserve to be rewarded their due.

Best Use of Zombies / Best Downloadable Content – Red Dead Redemption “Undead Nightmare”

The ultimate “What If” scenario brought forth to one of the best games of 2010, “What if the undead invaded the old west?” And the answer doesn’t just involve a lot of people dying. There are horses of the apocalypse, big foot, some hard choices to be made and people turning on or abandoning their fellow man left and right.

This awesome story told over the revamped look of Red Dead Redemption using characters players have already grown to know, love or despise makes Undead Nightmare not only the best zombie game of 2010 but also the best exmple of DLC for the entire year as well.

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Have you ever watched a snuff film? Hopefully not. But you have also more than likely never played through one either. And while Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days isn’t exactly a snuff film, it has the potential to have been one. Taking two gun toting criminal psychopaths with foul mouths and a fetish for explosions and combining them with a YouTube feeling camera and grainy film effects in this game gets you about as close to being a part of a murderous duo as anyone should ever legally be a part of.

Gameplay:

Kane & Lynch 2 plays a lot like a standard third person shooter. Progress through a guided path. Shoot any and everything that gets in your way. Along the way, pick up more ammo and better guns. Repeat until completion. Just as it sounds, the basic mechanics of Dog Days are fairly cookie-cutter.

There are a few instances where the game derives from the usual formula however. One such noticable feature is not automatically picking up ammunition your character comes across. Instead you need to search it out and manually pick it up. This winds up making players a lot more conscious of their surroundings and prevents total run and gun play.

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In the world of MMORPGs, the players who excel are the ones that have the most time to devote to the game. It makes sense that the longer you have to dedicate to grinding out levels, stocking up on gear and materials, and running dungeons, the more of an advantage you’d have.

While other MMOs give minor rewards to players for resting between gameplay, like World of Warcraft‘s “rest bonuses”, they don’t have any kind of system comparable to what Final Fantasy XIV has planned.

In Final Fantasy XIV, players will be allowed eight hours per class at full experience points. After the eight hours are up, the amount of experience gained will decrease over the next seven hours. Once these seven hours are up, you will receive no experience points for the rest of the week. Players have the option to change classes at any time in FFXIV, so they’d have eight hours of gameplay per week, per class.

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So XBox Live Arcade brings the latest Tomb Raid— Oops. Still getting used to the title change. Let’s try again. During Microsoft’s Summer of Arcade, the XBox received a five week exclusivity deal for Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light.  A completely different take on the traditional gameplay Lara is used to from the Tomb Raider series, this downloadable only title gives an overhead perspective mixed with two stick gunplay and puzzle solving.

Gameplay:

The control scheme of Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light seems simple enough. One analog stick moves, the other aims and the buttons help Lara dodge, jump, set explosives or grab objects. The game also attempts to assist players with certain jumps like leaping from the edge of a platform to one of Lara’s golden spears that can be used as an extra step.

Unfortunately due to the 45 degree angle of the camera and the lack of feedback of hitting those perfect 45 degree angles from the XBox’s controller, some tasks become unnecessarily difficult. They aren’t challenging on purpose but because they are hindered by the game’s control scheme. Sometimes the auto-assist on the jumps sends Lara off in a direction you didn’t intend to take her.

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There’s been a lot of sequels to the Kingdom Hearts franchise ever  since the first game hit the Playstation 2 in 2002, and while Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep won’t be the last, it certainly looks to be the best Kingdom Hearts game we’ve seen in awhile. I fought the crowds and cosplayers at San Diego Comic-Con and made my way to the Square Enix booth, where I was able to play a few short (but very sweet) minutes of Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep.

Firstly, I couldn’t help but notice how vibrant the graphics were in Birth By Sleep. Maybe I’ve been playing too much of Kingdom Hearts: 356/2 Days on my Nintendo DS and I’m just used to lower resolution, but the PSP is definitely one powerful portable and Birth By Sleep looks great. I demoed the Lilo and Stitch level, Deep Space, and the backgrounds and characters were super detailed and vibrant.

In Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep, you play through three different scenarios as characters Terra, Aqua, and Ventus. While playing, I found that the standard hack and slash gameplay was pretty standard and I was finding everything unfamiliar. But a huge problem I had with the gameplay was using the analog stick instead of the D-pad.

While this sounds like a simple change, it won’t be easy for someone like me who’s played a ton of similar RPGs like Final Fantasy on the PSP and is used to using the D-pad. I was constantly accidentally using the D-pad to run around and as a result selecting things I didn’t mean to, which was wasting some of the short time I had to play. This isn’t something that is going to deter me from playing the game straight through, it’s just something annoying that needs some getting used to.

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For a series that was once created in order to save of a game studio, Final Fantasy has become one of the defining RPG series in video games. With twelve traditional releases, one MMO, and over a dozen spinoff titles, Square Enix is readying itself for a fourteenth Final Fantasy, again jumping back towards the MMO routes of Final Fantasy XI.

Since its announcement at 2009′s E3, only a small sampling of information has been released about the game, mostly to not get in the way of the hype of Final Fantasy XIII, released earlier this year. The game will follow a skill progression system, mostly resembling the structure of Final Fantasy II. Developers have taken what they have learned from Final Fantasy XI and admit to also borrowing inspiration from other titles such as World of Warcraft (the MMO industry leader), Diablo and Warhammer Online.

Coming to both the PC and PlayStation 3, Final Fantasy XIV already looks to surpass Final Fantasy XI. With a console generation to build upon and not being hampered by PlayStation 2′s internet limitations, Final Fantasy XIV may have a shot at becoming the dominant console MMO.

Below, take a peek at a side by side comparison of footage from the Alpha build of Final Fantasy XIV compared to the Beta build. For those who don’t understand that difference, Alpha code is an earlier version in the game’s creation life cycle. This is where more of the bare bones of the game is laid out. In Beta, more testing occurs and polish has been put over details in both gameplay and graphics.

Still set for an unannounced 2010 release date, be sure to check back right here for more news on Final Fantasy XIV. In the meantime, check out the video and some pics from the game after the jump.

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So E3 starts tomorrow officially while today is the Microsoft Press conference. As you have already seen, we have gotten some advanced notice on some of the happenings going on at the event.  A few changes will be happening with our coverage of the event compared to last year.

This year we won’t be giving a fully detailed recap of the BIG 3 Press Conferences from Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo as a formal post. We will, however, be posting our thoughts and coverage on the big announcements and trailers as well as give a full indepth discussion with Matt Raub, Chris Ulrich and myself on this week’s episode of the podcast.

We have also gotten official word from various industry sources on what companies will be showing at the event. These have come from various press releases, other industry insiders and various leaks from the LA Convention Center itself regarding the event.

There has also been tremendous speculation around the event. Some of those rumors will be examined below as well. Finally, some of my own personal E3 2010 theories and predictions will be put out there too.

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As we previously reported, Lara Croft is making her return to gaming this summer. But even though she’s no longer under the Tomb Raider moniker, don’t think Lara is changing her MO. She is still going through dark underground lairs in search of treasure.

But this game will not be a full retail release. Instead it will be a digital download only game. In addition, gameplay will drastically be changing as it takes a 3/4 overhead view which resembles a dual stick shooter than a traditional third person action platformer.

Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light stars Lara Croft as she discovers the lost Temple of Light, resting place of the ancient artifact the Mirror of Smoke. When she finally reaches the mirror, she is ambushed by a devious Mercenary named Vasco and his army. Vasco steals the mirror and releases the evil Xololt who was imprisoned in the mirror.

As you will see in the trailer after the jump, Lara isn’t alone as she teams up with Totec in her first ever cooperative adventure. Hopefully Totec doesn’t whine about his wife the whole game like Dom insists on in Gears of War. It’s refreshing to see Crystal Dynamics attempt to take this series in a new direction much like Ensemble Studios did to the Halo franchise with Halo Wars.

While keeping to the core mythology, they created a drastically different gaming experience still keyed in on what players loved about the Halo world. We are hoping to see the same with Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light.

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XBox 360 (Also Available on PC and Playstation 3) – Square Enix – $59.99

Most gamers playing now can look back and remember their first time stepping in to the ultra-violent sandbox of Grand Theft Auto III. Given run of a city where ever car could be stolen and every pedestrian was a target to run over and every cop could be shot at. It quickly brought out the dark side of many people who were just looking to live life on the other side where they finally got to be the bad guy. Even though the game’s narrative didn’t require the player to become a violent terrorist who got hookers and then killed them after to get their money back, that’s pretty much what all of us became.

Just Cause 2 takes that to a whole new level. Taking that original Grand Theft Auto III formula and adding helicopters, planes, boats, a grappling hook and unlimited parachutes, the mayhem that can be caused is elevated even further. Add in a story and game mechanic that not only encourages but actually requires destruction and chaos, you have a recipe for disaster (the good kind that is).

Gameplay:

The fictional patch of islands known as Panau stretches across 400 square miles of in game world. Every inch of it, be it desert, mountain, city, swamp, beaches and all of the airspace above it are areas for mayhem. Using the game’s 200 vehicles and a variety of upgradable weapons from handguns to rocket launches, players are given the opportunity to cause chaos (measured by an on screen Chaos meter which unlocks more missions and black market shopping opportunities) by destroying statues, oil tanks, gas stations and weaponry of the Panau government. In the process, government forces are summoned depending on the level of chaos being caused. A few frag grenades can quickly lead to helicopters raining down machine gun fire on our protagonist.

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She’s had scores of games released, two movies and is probably the hottest video game vixen out there. And from the looks of things, everyone’s favorite Tomb Raider, Lara Croft, doesn’t plan on slowing down in 2010. Thursday, Crystal Dynamics, which is a part of Square Enix Europe, announced the next chapter in the Lara Croft story with the upcoming digital download only Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light.

Other than the announcement and logo, very little information has been released about the upcoming title. Darrell Gallagher, General Manager of Crystal Dynamics, says that, “This is a really exciting project for Crystal Dynamics, we have created something completely new and very different to what people might be expecting… Lara Croft is such an iconic character in video games, with Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light we have created what we believe is a truly original digital experience.”

At the moment, Crystal Dynamics has said that Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light will only be seen “behind closed doors” at next week’s GDC conference.