Awesome Games

It’s not yet finished or stable, but Project Cloudwitch is a promising indie effort by C2 Estudio; there’s nothing like Robotech-style combat to get our heartrate up. Note: requires Unity Player.

Courtesy the fine folks at FinalFantasy-XIII.net: these gorgeous high quality scans are the best we’ve seen of Final Fantasy XIII; they come from a two-page spread from Famitsu.

You’ll need to read up on Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X. to figure out why Americans are taking out an M1 Abrams, but suffice to say this teaser has our geopolitical panties in a bunch.

If you liked the Dissidia trailer but wanted some more meat, the aerial battle gameplay video above should tide you over: dizzying midair combos with Squall vs. Cloud = epic win.

More Lord of the Rings: Conquest goodness for all you Gondor wannabees: while the graphics may not be jaw-dropping there’s nothing quite like watching Gandalf rush a Balrog head-on.

Even if you don’t know Randy Savage by name, you’ll no doubt recognize his “Slip into a Slim Jim!” tv spots, used to hilarious effect in the Macho Madness mod for Left 4 Dead.

Filled with surreal landscapes and even more surreal creatures, Zeno Clash is like the spawn of Beetlejuice and Spore; frankly, bashing our way out of a nightmare sounds pretty fun.

Coming to North America sometime in 2009, White Knight Chronicles is a third-person, full-length 100 hour RPG by Level-5; the trailer above is flat-out, jaw-dropping awesome.

An oldie but a goodie, Stackopolis lets you build pixel cities using blocks to a Cowboy Bepop-ish soundtrack. Seems easy, until you run out the clock and get your ass handed to you.

Yes, it’s yet another zombie game, but The Last Stand had us hooked for a solid hour trying to survive twenty successive waves of the undead; hint: invest in a good weapon early.

Seriously loaded skiing enthusiasts should check out the Ski Gym, which is essentially a self-contained motion simulator with 18 venues that helps you train for blue, red and black slopes.

It might get us impaled playing Rock Band or Guitar Hero, but that won’t stop us from ogling this PS3 Warbeast Guitar; angles aside, it features a glowing strumbar and faceplates.

It’s probably not wearable, but this life-sized Final Fantasy XII helmet will earn you some serious cosplay cred; it’s limited in availability for all you Judge Magister Gabranth fans.

Nothing will ever top the Heidi Kum Guitar Hero commercial, but this trailer for Dead Rising: Chop Til You Drop is pretty freakin cool, in a zombie mobbed, chainsaw flying way.

We could deal without the continuous operatic wail in the background, but this trailer for Japanese action RPG Demon’s Souls is an absolute eyeful for medieval fantasy fans.

What better way to ring in the new year than with a bid for world domination: Battle Gear offers both offensive and defensive modes, with a vast selection of land, air and sea units.