I’ve been gone all week with real life kickin’ me in the saq but I’m sure none of you have missed me so let’s just get to it shall we? Console gaming has pretty much dried up this summer with nothing special other than GTA 4 to keep the living rooms bumpin’ and even that didn’t have the staying power we all expected. But there’s some good 360 news on the horizon…

• Dead Space is an upcoming EA action horror title from the evil Empire of EA. While I have disdain for all they do I do love a good horror game. Check out some screenies and see if it’ll scare the shit out of you or not.

• The game I have been anticipating is the Viva Pinata sequel as they are really expanding the worlds you’ll be able to cultivate. If you’ve never played the first one you are missing out. Sept. 2nd is the big day!

• A new FPS on the horizon is called Raven Squad: Operation Hidden Dagger. This FPS will blend RTS elements and actually looks like it could be decent.

• Not that anyone cares but there’s a new Halo 3 map being released called Cold Storage. While it is a re-make map it’s FREE. As well, the legendary map pack will drop in price by 200 MS. But the real Halo good news is the first shots of Halo Wars.

• Rock Band 2 will be unveiled at E3 this month but the setlist has already been leaked. And people continue to uncover more tracks! Can’t wait even if there’s no track editing.

• The Arcade titles have been quite lackluster lately but one that just hit is the original Soul Calibre! While it’s nice how fast it is, with the aspect ratio, lack of Online and Mission modes it’s kind of anti-climactic. How long till SC 4?? Hopefully soon because it looks damn good.