The first thing you’ll notice about R.U.S.E. is its daring presentation. The combat zone is depicted as a scale model sitting on a table in a murky war room. Units are represented by colourful poker chips and troop movements are illustrated by arrows sweeping from one end of the table to the other. You can then magnify your view to the extent required and once you’re close enough, the poker chips will be replaced by more realistic models of your soldiers, tanks and aeroplanes. Alas, the bold art design is undermined by frequent texture pop-in. This is probably to be expected when the camera is zooming, but it also occurs during lateral camera movement. The animation and special effects also have a distinctly budget feel. Read the rest of this entry »

Presented in glorious alphabetical order, New Media: Retail Roundup is your indispensible checklist of the home console and handheld titles arriving in stores this week. What will you be playing?

MICROSOFT XBOX 360 Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood * Brunswick Pro Bowling * Crossboard 7 * Dance Central * Dance Evolution * EA Sports Active 2 * Fighters Uncaged * Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows * Kinect Adventures * Kinectimals * Kinect Joy Ride * Kinect Sports * Marvel Super Hero Squad: Infinity Gauntlet * Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit * Sports Island Freedom * Your Shape: Fitness Evolved

NINTENDO Wii Disney Chanel All Star Party * Dora’s Big Birthday Adventure * Combat of Giants: Dinosaur Strike * EA Sports Active 2.0 * Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows * Karaoke Revolution: Glee * Marvel Super Hero Squad: Infinity Gauntlet * Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit * Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X. 2 * U-Sing 2: Australian Edition * We Sing: Robbie Williams * Wheel of Fortune DS Dora’s Big Birthday Adventure * Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows * Marvel Super Hero Squad: Infinity Gauntlet * The Penguins of Madagascar

SONY PLAYSTATION 3 Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood * EA Sports Active 2 * Get Fit With Mel B * Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows * Marvel Super Hero Squad: Infinity Gauntlet * Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit PSP Nothing

VARIOUS PC Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows * Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit * Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X.

New Media: Downloadable Digest is your handy reminder of the downloadable titles released during the past week.

MICROSOFT XBLA Faery: Legends of Avalon * Guwange * The Undergarden

NINTENDO WiiWARE DSiWARE Legendary Wars: T-Rex Rumble * Robot Rescue

SONY PSN Nothing PSP MINIS 3, 2, 1… Supercrash! * Fort Commander II: Counterattack * Jewel Keepers: Easter Island

VALVE STEAM Call of Duty: Black Ops * Guardians of Graxia * The Undergarden

Welcome to The Black List, your one stop shop for all of the stories published on the site this week.

MONDAY Black Panel Podcast 27 > In this episode of Australia’s grooviest gaming podcast, we discuss Enslaved, Hydrophobia, Hybrid, Monster Island, Wardevil, MicroBot, HD remakes and Romero’s Facebook game. READ MORE

TUESDAY Battlefield Play4Free > EA has revealed that a new PC exclusive Battlefield game is in the works. Dubbed Battlefield Play4Free, the latest instalment in the long running series of class based online shooters will be supported by microtransactions. The announcement follows the success (or at least the existence) of Battlefield Heroes, the first game in the series to adopt the free-to-play model. READ MORE

WEDNESDAY Behaviour Interactive > When Artificial Mind and Movement announced that they would henceforth be known as Behaviour Interactive, I naturally thought they were wanted to leave the demons of the past, such as the almost unplayable third person action game WET and a myriad of licensed titles, behind them. Nope, Behaviour Interactive has confirmed that WET 2 is already in pipeline. READ MORE

THURSDAY nanoBITES 18 > Check out the latest info on Darksiders 2, Mass Effect 2 for PS3, Forza for Kinect and more in our ongoing feature devoted to small but important news items. READ MORE

FRIDAY Wildlife: Forest Survival > EA’s Salt Lake Studio has unveiled Wildlife: Forest Survival, a colourful action game in which you play as one of four adorable and/or deadly woodland creatures. Each of the animals boasts a unique skill set. Do you prefer the stealth of the fox or the speed of the rabbit? The high flying hawk certainly has its appeal, but the raw power of the alligator may be more to your liking. READ MORE

Recent instalments of The Black List: 06.11.10 l 30.10.10 l 23.10.10 l 16.10.10 l 09.10.10

EA’s Salt Lake Studio has unveiled Wildlife: Forest Survival, a colourful action game in which you play as one of four adorable and/or deadly woodland creatures.

Each of the animals boasts a unique skill set. Do you prefer the stealth of the fox or the speed of the rabbit? The high flying hawk certainly has its appeal, but the raw power of the alligator may be more to your liking. For those not keeping count, that’s the entire cast. That right. Sloth fans have been snubbed yet again.

The goal of Wildlife: Forest Survival is to hunt and kill your prey (even if your quarry happens to be a root vegetable) while avoiding the snapping jaws of your predators. You’ll also be encouraged to take the action online, with adversarial matches available for up to 12 players across eight maps.

Wildlife: Forest Survival is slated for release on XBLA and PSN. With both Wildlife and Tokyo Jungle deep in production, 2011 is shaping up nicely for animal lovers. Just try not to mention Cabela’s Dangerous Hunts 2011.