These kids today have it too easy. Back in our day there were certain aspects of being a gamer you just had to deal with. Polygons could be maxed out on screen. You’d have to use your imagination to see what the little collection of blocks represented. And one thing we all knew was that if you made it into the beta testing phase of a game, things were bound to be broken. But that was to be expected. A beta wasn’t a finished product and you “paid” for the early gameplay by dealing with the bugs. Kids today don’t get betas. They just get an extended demo and that’s why they don’t know the pain we went through growing up.

What brought on this jaded old man tirade you ask? The Titanfall beta of course. Don’t misinterpret, there is nothing wrong with the Titanfall beta. Between the beta and the awesome art book I got today (don’t worry, a review is coming soon), I am going to be picking up Titanfall on launch. But when playing it, it hasn’t been a beta experience. The game runs smooth, controls great and looks fantastic. The only limits are some of the maps and weapons not being fully unlocked. It’s basically a smaller version of the final product. And that’s not a beta. It’s a demo. But they’ve changed the name because beta access is a better buzz phrase for marketing.

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.

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.

As we reported yesterday, a title update went live for Left 4 Dead which updated the Infected HUD. Many people also speculated it would play a role in laying the coding framework for the new “Crash Course” Campaign, even though it hadn’t been given a release date. On the heels of that update comes the announcement that “Crash Course” is indeed coming before the end of the month to both PC and XBox 360 on September 29th.

The update will be free for PC players but will be 560 Microsoft Points ($7.00) on the XBox 360 due to XBox Marketplace rules regarding free Downloadable Content. “Crash Course” is presented as a more streamlined multiplayer experience for L4D players, containing a half hour campaign that links together the events of the original retail release’s “No Mercy” and “Death Toll” campaigns.

Who here hasn’t been freaked our during a video? Playing a game in a room that is pitch black except for the light of the TV screen and walking down a narrow corridor with your character only to have something jump out of a corner and scare the hell out of you causing you to scream in terror and wake up the rest of your house. What? Only me?

Well one of those games that has gotten a reputation for scaring its players on every playthrough has been F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin and today, it’s getting a free demo for its latest expansion pack.

F.E.A.R. 2: Reborn, as the expansion is titled, will give the player a four level single player campaign from the perspective of Replica Soldier Foxtrot 813, a character in the F.E.A.R. lore that no player has had the opportunity to play from before. Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and Monolith Studios should be praised for the release of this free demo as most downloadable content is usually purchase only, leaving players uneasy about dropping money on something they cannot try before they buy.

The full release of this downloadable content will hit the XBox Live Marketplace and Playstation Store on September 3rd. Also coming the 3rd will be a free title update/patch featuring a new Slow-Mo Deathmatch mode.

On Monday, we brought readers a first look at the adventure they’d encounter as the Dark Knight in his upcoming title, Batman: Arkham Asylum. This Friday August 7th, XBox 360 and Playstation 3 players will get a chance to have a crack at this new game.

Things start off with the opening cut scene that has made its way around the internet for the past few months. In classic Batman formula, the master detective (voiced by Kevin Conroy) brings his nemesis Joker (Mark Hamill) in to Arkham custody, things go wrong and the Joker escapes. Who would’ve thought?

The demo then takes the player through Arkham Asylum‘s Free Flow Combat, allowing the player to see how the combinations of moves flawlessly tie in to each other during the game’s numerous fights. Following that, Detective Mode comes in to play as the player must investigate the area around them to continue in their pursuit of the mad jester that has literally allowed the inmates run of the asylum.