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

MONDAY 1 REVIEW Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet > Metroid style games have returned with a vengeance in recent years. From Shadow Complex to Outland, it seems almost every month we are getting a new entry in the once almost extinct genre. Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet (ITSP from now on, as writing that mouthful in every second sentence would turn me into an Insanely Twisted Games Reviewer) was both my burden and pleasure and while it was nowhere near as good as the two games I previously mentioned, there was enough in the game to keep me going right ‘til the end. READ MORE

MONDAY 2 NEW TRAILER Dead Island > Thir There have been enough of the brain-hungry zombie games over the past few years to easily stand as a genre unto itself. However Techland’s Dead Island looks to be offering an interesting, if not new approach, to zombie murder. READ MORE

MONDAY 3 JUST ANNOUNCED Counter-Strike: Global Offensive > Valve’s online multiplayer favourite Counter-Strike is being updated for a new generation. According to the brief announcement, first person shooter Counter-Strike: Global Offensive will offer new maps, modes, characters and weapons. The new package will also include a range of updated content from the storied past of the series, including legendary desert map de_dust. READ MORE

TUESDAY 1 REVIEW Hunted: The Demon’s Forge > This is the latest is a string of rushed or seemingly unfinished games published by Bethesda. A co-op combat cover-based fantasy game should be a lot of fun, particularly as there is a generic feel to most of today’s fantasy action RPGs. There’s nothing wrong with what Hunted is trying to achieve, but it just isn’t fun to play, so really, what is the point of this title? READ MORE

TUESDAY 2 NEW TRAILER DOTA 2 > They’re certainly keeping themselves occupied at Valve Software. Just days after confirming that a new Counter-Strike is in the works, the increasingly prolific developer has issued the first trailer for DOTA 2. While it isn’t terribly informative in terms of gameplay, the clip does hint at the level of quality players can expect from the cinematics. READ MORE

WEDNESDAY NEW TRAILER Inversion > Publisher Namco Bandai has released another trailer for the latest project from developer Saber Interactive. Known as Inversion, the game is a third person shooter catering to those with a penchant for demolishing their surroundings. The video appears to consist purely of in game footage as the two protagonists we were introduced to in previous offerings take to destroying their enemies, their environments, and everything in between. READ MORE

THURSDAY NEWS nanoBITES 53 > Escape Plan is a monochrome PSVita adventure starring a pair of ink filled freaks. According to developer Fun Bits Interactive, you’ll need to “swipe, squeeze, poke and slap” your heroes in order succeed. It all sounds rather distressing, doesn’t it? This is just one of the stories in this week’s edition of nanoBITES, our ongoing feature devoted to small but important news items. READ MORE

FRIDAY NEW TRAILER Anarchy Reigns > A new multiplayer trailer for Anarchy Reigns, the forthcoming brawler from SEGA and Platinum Studios, has arrived with a bang (several actually). Though there is plenty of over the top action, there is also a decided lack of variety. READ MORE

Recent instalments of The Black List: 13.08.11 l 06.08.11 l 30.07.11 l 23.07.11 l 16.07.11

A new multiplayer trailer for Anarchy Reigns, the forthcoming brawler from SEGA and Platinum Studios, has arrived with a bang (several actually). Though there is plenty of over the top action, there is also a decided lack of variety.

Only a couple of modes are showcased in the 90 second video (one being Deathmatch, the other a Horde variant). Further, the handful of environments shown are drab, static and unimaginative, particularly in comparison to those of the Power Stone series. The game does allow players to whip out a rocket launcher in the middle of a fight, so that has to count for something.

Anarchy Reigns is also notable for its cast. It features a variety of characters from Platinum’s 2009 Wii exclusive MadWorld, including chainsaw wielding protagonist Jack Cayman and his arch enemy Black Baron (now known as Blacker Baron) along with a range of entirely new combatants.

Anarchy Reigns is set to arrive on 360 and PS3 in January 2012.

NanoBITES captures those small but important morsels of gaming information that otherwise might slip between the cracks.

ITEM! Just when you thought the PSP was about to go the way of the dodo, Sony has revealed that an entirely new model is the works. The PSP-E1000 loses Wi-Fi support but gains a lower price point. You can pick it up for $AU139.95 this November.

ITEM! The retail prices of the 160GB and 320GB PlayStation 3 models are being reduced to AU$349.95 and $AU449.95 respectively. You won’t have long to wait to take advantage of the new prices, with Sony announcing that they will apply from Monday 22 August.

ITEM! Escape Plan is a monochrome PSVita adventure starring a pair of ink filled freaks. According to developer Fun Bits Interactive, you’ll need to “swipe, squeeze, poke and slap” your heroes in order succeed. It all sounds rather distressing, doesn’t it?

ITEM! MMO mega publisher NCSoft is collaborating with Carbine Studios on a vibrant new project. With its colourful interstellar setting and wacky cast, WildStar may well be aimed at a younger market.

ITEM! Ubisoft has claimed that it will be supporting the PSVita with “new intellectual properties” but immediately undermined this pledge by announcing a raft of sequels, spin-offs and ports for the unit, including Assassin’s Creed, Rayman Origins and Lumines.

ITEM! Sony’s action packed Resistance franchise is to be the subject of a second handheld offering, this time from developer Nihilistic Software. An origin story of sorts, Resistance: Burning Skies takes place during the initial Chimera attack on American soil.

ITEM! When it was announced at last year’s Tokyo Game Show, many wondered how the mechs of Steel Battalion: Heavy Armor could possibly be guided exclusively with the Kinect. As it happens, they won’t. Capcom has revealed that the game will support a combination of traditional and gesture based controls.

Recent instalments of nanoBITES: 11.08.11 l 04.08.11 l 27.07.11 l 21.07.11 l 14.07.11

Publisher Namco Bandai has released another trailer for the latest project from developer Saber Interactive. Known as Inversion, the game is a third person shooter catering to those with a penchant for demolishing their surroundings.

The video appears to consist purely of in game footage as the two protagonists we were introduced to in previous offerings take to destroying their enemies, their environments, and everything in between. Although it is touched upon, the co-op aspect is not quite expanded on in the trailer, with only a few cut scenes featuring our two heroes.

Bombarded with more explosions then a Michael Bay film, we witness the potential of the destructive power they are able to wield. In fact, there is not one scene in which the environment survives intact. It would seem that the landscape is in perennial crumble-mode as enemy after enemy is dispatched by a combination of gravity manipulation and gunfire. Demolitionists are sure to be pleased by the sheer quantity of devastation on show which defies the laws of physics.

Inversion is now slated for release in February 2012 on PS3 and 360.