We head deeper into the USG Ishimura in our latest hands-on look at EA’s Wii-exclusive sci-fi horror game.

The bad news only gets worse for the USG Ishimura in the upcoming Wii-exclusive Dead Space Extraction from EA’s Visceral Games development studio. This platform-exclusive survival horror game functions as both a prequel and side story to the acclaimed Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 original. We’ve seen the game a number of times so far (most recently, at GamesCom 2009), and yesterday, EA dropped by with an updated build of the game to show off a new level and give GameSpot an exclusive peek at the first boss in the game.

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We got a fresh look at this urban karaoke experience and battled 4mm Games president Jamie King for bragging rights.

Gazing around your local games store, you’ll notice that there’s certainly no shortage of rhythm or karaoke games. SingStar, Lips, Guitar Hero World Tour, Rock Band, and Karaoke Revolution seem to have karaoke gameplay pretty well covered, but developers 4mm Games is banking on the power of hip-hop, a partnership with Def Jam Recordings, and some unique features to swing the balance in its favour. We took a closer look at this infectious title at GamesCom 2009, in Cologne, Germany.

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The plumber, hedgehog, and friends are getting ready for Vancouver 2010, and we checked out a few new events at GamesCom.

After the enormous success of Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games–(Mario & Sonic win 5M Olympic medals) 5 million copies and counting–creating a sequel based on the upcoming Vancouver 2010 Winter Games seems like a no-brainer. So far, we’ve seen a number of fun events for Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games, including bobsleighing, speed skating, and downhill skiing, as well as numerous characters with which fans of Mario or Sonic games will be familiar. We recently got a chance to meet some more characters and events at GamesCom 2009 in Cologne, Germany.

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Lego Indy’s back, and this time, he’s entering the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

The original Lego Indiana Jones was a smash hit, and with the arrival of the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull last year, there’s suddenly more material for a sequel. That’s the thinking behind Lego Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues, which will also include material from the original film trilogy that didn’t feature in the first game.

We got to see reproductions of both new and old films in our GamesCom demo today, both with the diner section from The Crystal Skull and the opening of the ark from Raiders of the Lost Ark. The latter cutscene was particularly memorable, as the Nazis were compelled to perform funky dance moves before disintegrating into thin air. In-game, Indy can now do more with his whip, such as tie enemies up and drag them around, as we saw in the diner fight scene.

Lego Indy 2 also has plenty of upgrades that will please fans of the Lego series. When two players drift apart, the screen now automatically splits in two, letting players do what they want before joining seamlessly together once they’re close to each other. There’s also a new level builder that allows you to put down boards and pieces just like you might have done with real Legos as a child. However, with this being a children’s title, you probably won’t be able to share these creations online, although LucasArts is currently looking into this possibility. At least you and a friend can both work on your design at the same time.

The hubs in Lego Indy 2 have also been expanded and improved, with three hubs from the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and three from the original trilogy. The hubs are themed around different areas in the films, and you can fly around in a plane, parachute out, and then jump into levels straight from these hubs.

Lego Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues is looking almost finished, which is a good sign given how close we are to release. The game will be released on all major platforms in the third quarter of 2009.

Check out the source at GameSpot

We finally got to slay some monsters with a localised European version of Tri.

Monster Hunter is a game that has been synonymous with the PlayStation brand up until now. The Japanese cult hit has sold millions of copies (and helped sell plenty of PSPs) in its home country but has experienced limited success in overseas markets thus far. Capcom hoped to challenge this notion with a marketing campaign in Europe for Monster Hunter Freedom Unite, which launched to strong reviews, and is following this up with the series’ first outing on the Nintendo Wii. We embarked on a hunting quest at GamesCom 2009 in Cologne, Germany, armed with our wits and a Wii Classic Controller.

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