You see, there’s a dirty little secret surrounding this case, and here it is: if the Supreme Court makes a decision ruling against video games, the industry as a whole can and most likely will make a change for the worse.

How, you ask? Well, as part of its weekly video series, Extra Credits from The Escapist put together a short video explaining the significance of the imminent case, as well as detailing a few possible outcomes if it were to pass. Don’t worry, it’s not some boring lecture–it’s genuinely captivating.

Unfortunately, embedding this video is more difficult than you’d think with immediate PAX preparations currently in motion–so bear with us and click here to watch the video (it’s kind of important that you understand this case).

Free Speech [The Escapist]

But what does the average American think about this game? The Times-Herald of California asked its readers to send in their views either supporting or opposing MOH–the results were then posted online for the world to read.

I’ll warn you now, some of these statements will probably anger you in multiple ways. Feel free to vent some of that anger in the comments below–within reason. Unfortunately, there are too many responses to logically post them all here, so the following is only a small sample:

Patty Kelly Morris: Sounds like it should be used for our soldiers to train with instead of releasing it to the general public.

Terry Hilton: EA has lost me as a customer and gained me as a promoter — a campaign that Boycotts EA.

Amberly Stoddard Krupcznski: What a crock, that game should be burned off the shelves!!!!!!!!

Desiree Nelson: I would not buy it. It is very insensitive to the families that have fought in any war or lost loved ones in the fight against terror … this game is in bad taste.

Aubrey Cosentino: I don’t think they should have even made this game, let alone try and release it. I would never buy it. My brother is in the Navy and served over in Iraq. It’s a slap in the face to Americans is what it is; first they want to build a temple, now this game, come on now … Google: Islamic Terrorist Attacks on American soil…

Anthony Bernardi: It’s a game.

Tacuma Alexander: Violence is violence. Does it really matter what side you’re on? Whether you’re a character fighting for the American side or fighting for the Taliban side, it’s all the same effect.

That’s quite a bit of drama over something seemly so insignificant to those of us who have been playing video games for a number of years. To read all of the responses in their entirety, visit the Times-Herald.

Freedom to play … freedom to boycott [Times-Herald]

Using a series of patterns and pauses (which I cannot attempt to understand), this weapon fires a variety of projectiles at certain times and pitches in order to create the desired musical result.

Here are a couple of videos demonstrating the use of this weapon in the Half-Life 2 campaign. If you are so inclined, there are a few more examples of this gun featured on Hurricaaane’s Youtube channel (also featured is an explanation of how the Gunstrumental functions).

Hurricaaane [Youtube]

But wait, there’s more–four of these downloadable games happen to fall under Microsoft’s newest promotion, titled The Game Feast.

September 8: Plants vs. Zombies, 1200 points
September 8: Dance! It’s your Stage, 800 points
September 15: Sonic Adventure, 800 points

The Game Feast
September 29: Hydrophobia, 1200 points
October 6: Comic Jumper, 1200 points
October 13: Pinball FX 2, (tables purchased individually)
October 20: Super Meat Boy (Pricing TBD)

Currently, it seems as though Microsoft is pushing Super Meat Boy as the driving force behind this promotion.

Coming soon to the Xbox LIVE Marketplace [Major Nelson]

But that didn’t stop Bleenderhead from creating a short–fairly unorthodox–video for fans of either game to enjoy.

I must say that the Charger’s Minecraft counterpart looks significantly less intimidating compared to the original.

Mine 4 dead [Youtube]

Check out the video for yourself to see the numerous–and admittedly minor–improvements to the gameplay.

Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood is set to release on November 16, 2010 on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC.

Assassins Creed Brotherhood – GamesCom 2010 Demo [Youtube]

User HCallahanSBC has been working on this project for several months, and its release just so happens to correspond perfectly with the current Holy Hand Grenade promotion between Worms: Reloaded and TF2.

The animation itself is quite impressive, and almost perfectly recreates the original scene from the movie. Watch the clip below to see just how closely this animation mimics the source material.

Team Fortress 2 – Knights of the Round Table [Youtube]

When asked this very question, Alain Corre of Ubisoft said that he believed that neither the Xbox 360 nor PlayStation 3 would stay relevant “beyond another two years”. The following is Corre’s full response:

“Yes, it’s a good extension of the lifecycle for a certain length of time and it’s also a good way to capture some consumers they didn’t have on the casual side, because Microsoft’s 360 and Sony’s PlayStation 3 do not have the casual customers. So it will bring in a new category of customer for them. Now, will it prevent them from releasing brand new technology in the next five years? I don’t think so.”

What do you think? Can Microsoft and Sony resist the temptation of a new hardware cycle for approximately 5 more years? In addition, do you even want a new console generation to be released anytime soon?

Ubisoft: Ten Year PS3 And 360 Lifecycle Unlikely [Edge]

I can see the connection

When Gabe Newell, Doug Lombardi, and Erik Johnson are all placed in the same room–you know something interesting is about to happen. In this specific case, the three Valve higher-ups discussed the game that was in development prior to Left 4 Dead.

This prototype was an “action fantasy sort of role playing game that had no story”, as described by Gabe Newell himself, and,”was so clearly dumb that it made us say, ‘OK, what are we actually good at that we can do instead?’” The gameplay of this “flying fairy game” was originally envisioned to be based on simple mouse gestures. But obviously (and unfortunately?), this idea didn’t make it very far off the drawing board.

Now you may be wondering, “What does this have to do with L4D?” Well, the horrible failure (again, Gabe Newell’s words, not mine) of the fairy game forced Valve to sit down and choose a focus for its next project. From this line of thinking, the team ultimately decided to transition to a cooperative experience–giving birth to the Left 4 Dead series.

Valve were making a fairy RPG before Left 4 Dead [PC Gamer]