Every time a new Harry Potter movie comes out, a new Harry Potter video game comes out. This year is no exception. You may be busy putting the finishing touches on your Harry/Draco slash fan-fic (please forward such materials to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , attention Jim Squires), but if you’re a true Pot-head you’ll get to the game in good time.

If you missed Sam & Max Season One (retitled for Xbox Live Arcade as Sam & Max Save the World) as a download, on DVD-ROM, or on the Wii, now's your chance to get with the program. All six episodes of the point-and-click adventure series reboot are available in bulk for $19.99 (1600 MS points). Is the dog and rabbit duo worth sacrificing several premium themes' worth of points, or are you better off digging out an old copy of Sam & Max Hit the Road?

Movie to game translations have almost always been terrible. Not just bad mind you.... terrible. So it was with a certain amount of trepidation that I allowed myself to get excited about Ghostbusters: The Video Game. I decided I'd give in to my nerd fantasy of bustin' ghosts and was thankful to find so many people involved with the original movie along for the ride. Obviously starting with the 4 frontmen themselves (Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis and Ernie Hudson) not only providing the voice work, but Aykroyd and Ramis wrote the damn thing!

So it's out and I've played it through. My reaction? After the jump!

2009 has been a 2D fighting fan's best year since the days of the Dreamcast - We finally got Street Fighter IV, Mark of the Wolves and KoF '98 Ultimate Match hit XBLA, and this month we see the retail release of two more 2D fighters, BlazBlu and KoF XII.  As Ken Masters might say, "Yay!"

Last week, I was saddened by the lag-infested online play of Mark of the Wolves, and since this week's KoF '98 UM is another SNK Playmore game, I was expecting the worst.  But thankfully, this one is seemingly programmed much better.  I did experience some game-killing lag, but it was far less frequent than with MoW.  Only when other players' pings were in the 200+ millisecond range did the game really start to chug.  My only complain, which is no fault of SNK, is that very few people are playing online.

Other than that, though, what can I say?  It's King of Fighters '98 with some extra characters, a few new stages, and a gameplay tweak or two.  If you've already played '98, you'll be right at home as not much has changed. If you haven't though, get ready for a steep learning curve.  This game is definitely not a simple one.  There are three different fighting styles, different roll commands, and different ways to pull off special moves.  KoF noobs should check out the more simple XI before they try anything in the late '90s era.

So if you're a fan of KoF already, this is a definite purchase, since it's the definitive version of '98.  It's the fastest-loading (other than Neo-Geo) and the most feature-packed version of the game.  You can choose between new menus and old, arranged or original music, and 3D [Dreamcast] or original backgrounds.  It would have been nice to see redrawn sprites and backgrounds but what can you expect for 800 MS points?  In any case, this will tide you over until KoF XII finally hits stores later this month.

Yay! It's KoF '98, tons of options, newly included characters, decent online play, cheaper than  the PS2 version.

Nay! Sometimes laggy, steep learning curve, pretty ugly for a game that kinda-sorta came out in 2008 [JPN PS2, arcade].

For those of you who REALLY hate reading, or only learned to read numbers: 9/10

The two brothers McCall, devil's disciples and die-hard rebels, live through the Civil War and celebrate by causing lasso-related ruckus, with some gold and women thrown in for good measure. You don't want your ladies bedding down with Yankee dogs, do you? Then saddle up, cowboy!

Waste management is a messy business.  Tony Soprano knew it.  Oscar the Grouch knew it.  That little raccoon fucker whose been getting into my cans all summer knows it too.  Now, thanks to Sony Computer Entermtainment Japan, you can just these illustrious names and venture deep within the Tetris-like bowels of the trash disposal industry.

Prototype is the greatest game ever made. Better than Grand Theft Auto. Better than Halo. Better than Zelda. You will never buy another video game again. Ever.

Yesterday, the XBLA release of Fatal Fury: Mark of the Wolves hit the Marketplace.  Everything I remembered about the game was intact.  I was pleased by the port and only had a minor complaint.  And then disaster struck.  Hit the link for the rest of the story.

Poor, poor Termies. You never quite get a fair shake, do you? All of your video games ever have been terrible. You could really benefit from the Ultimate Alliance or Wolverine: Origins treatment, couldn't you? Well, we know that you didn't get that...but did they at least scrape out a decent game for once in your life?