If you haven’t read the latest issue of Game Informer or seen the scans online – Rockstar has discussed some of the changes they are making to Max Payne in his upcoming title.

The most obvious change is his appearance – he’s fat, he’s bald and the only resemblance between him and Mark Wahlberg is that they’re both male. He’s not exactly the clean cut cop we saw in the original titles. What’s even more surprising is that Rockstar plan to keep the “bullet-time” gameplay – does this mean we’ll see some jiggling when he make dives through the air? Will he run out of breath when running down a corridor? Will junk food replace the painkillers?

The article also mentions that James McCaffrey, the original voice of Max, will not be returning as the voice of Mr Payne. Rockstar has promised they’re not looking for an “established star” but will find someone that suits Max’s new appearance.

It appears that only aspect of the new game that will remain true to the series is the themes – art director Rob Nelson said that “manipulation, betrayal and the stuff that really made Max Payne” will remain intact and further explore Max’s psyche.

The internet seems to have mixed feelings on the changes to their beloved character but we’ll all have to wait and see what else Rockstar has in store for us when Max Payne 3 hits shelves later this year.

I purchased Sam and Max Season 1 and 2 via Steam a couple of months back and I’ve got to say – I’m kind of disappointed I didn’t get to them when they first came out. I’ve just finished Episode 3 of Season 1 and I’m loving the whole concept of episodic gaming. You get 3-4 hours with a game, the presentation is as good as a full priced game and you still get that sense of accomplishment when it’s all said and done.

I know this is not the first title to head down the path of episodic content. Of course there is Half-Life (it’s funny Valve can make a sequel for Left 4 Dead within a year but make us wait a couple of years for Episode 3), Alone in the Dark attempted it by splitting the entire game into episodes and the horror series Siren for the PS3 has also dabbled with the concept. Telltale Games seems to have nailed it with not only Sam and Max but Strong Bad’s Cool Game for Attractive People and Wallace and Gromit.

It got me thinking that I would like to see more games head down this path. I’ve got a full time job and in my spare time I might get a couple hours of gaming in a night if I’m lucky. I don’t have a lot of time to commit to a quest in an MMO or spend hours roaming a vast land to rank up in an RPG. With episodic games I get a decent story, solid gameplay and the opportunity to see the credits roll at the end. The best part is that it’s not burning a hole in my pocket.

There are plenty of titles out there that are sold at full price but you only get 6-8 hours of gameplay – I’m looking at you Mirror’s Edge. With both Microsoft and Sony heading down the path of digital distribution this could be a way for developers to get more out of their beloved franchises. Telltale Games is leading the charge with Monkey Island the latest franchise announced to get the episodic treatment and Sam and Max is also returning for a third season. But I’d love to see some episodes from Bungie to flesh out the story in between Halo games, maybe something from EA for Dead Space and Mirror’s Edge to help establish them as solid franchises and even something from Naughty Dog for Jak and Daxter because that dynamic duo are sure to produce something memorable.

Telltale has shown that the system works – now it’s up to other developers to jump on board and give it a shot to see what they can do with it. What games would you like to see go down the path of episodic content?

According to the latest Kojima Productions Podcast, the team is working on developing a brand new engine for Raiden’s next outing stating the reason is so they can “realize this multiplatform goal”.

Host of the show Sean Eyestone went on to say that they’re redoing the engine from scratch and are serious about making it look as good as possible on every platform. They also mentioned it is going to be a big project like Metal Gear Solid 4 – translation, expect to see it later rather then sooner.

But all you Xbots can now rest easy.

Destructoid.com has discovered that the American version of the Xbox 360 version will not be region locked. So that means all you Europeans and Australians can start hunting for the best price you can on American shopping websites.

Sure the Euro, Pound and Aussie Dollar are all pretty horrendous thanks to the crappy economy – but after seeing this in action at E3 this is definitely a game you don’t want to miss out on. Like the theme song says – busting will make you feel good!

EA Games Label President, Frank Gibeau, was quoted as saying that they have no plans to publish another one and that there was no sign of it in the schedule for the next three years. We’ll leave it up to you to decide if this is a good thing or not.

According to Joystiq, EA’s PR contacted The Times to let them know that no decision has been made on the series and that they enjoy having Paramount has a partner. It’s left everyone speculating that EA has toned down their focus on licensed properties and is more interested in creating solid original franchises. Quite a difference considering this is the company that was famous for milking every last drop out of their franchises.

For those of you who are behind with the times – Assassin’s Creed 2 will take place in Italy during the Renaissance era. The man under the hood this time is known as Ezio, who is a civilian turned assassin. We also know you’ll have not one but two hidden blades in your sleeve which is pretty bad ass.

Ubisoft was also kind enough to share a new trailer with us and even though it doesn’t look like gameplay footage – it still looks a treat. Enjoy.

For those of you unfamiliar with the title - Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 will see a civil war between the superheros due to a new Government “Super Hero Registration Act”. At the start of the game you’ll be forced to side with the Pro-Registration side headed by Iron Man and Mr Fantastic or the Anti-Registration side lead by Captain America and Luke Cage. All of the other characters in the game will choose their side as the game progressed – although we have no idea who will be playable yet.

Hopefully we’ll have a better idea at E3 where the game is expected to be showcased.

Many of you will remember the days when full motion video games starring live “actors” took over the games industry. A lot of these games were of extremely poor quality but there were a few gems in the pack. Some of these were the Tex Murphy games – Under a Killing Moon, The Pandora Directive and Overseer. There was just something unique and fantastic about a Sam Spade-style private investigator solving cases in a mutant infested future.

Unique and fantastic is how I would also describe the creators of the Tex Murphy series new point-and-click game Three Cards to Midnight. The game centers around a girl named Jess. She has just turned 30 and has found herself trapped in a room with a man she has never met before holding tarot cards – it’s not what you think. Jess has no memory of how she got there and the man insists she choose a tarot card to help remember how she got to where she is.

The game is broken up into seven stages with three tarot cards to a stage. At the beginning of each stage you’ll be asked to pick one of the three cards. Each of the cards represents a location relevant to Jess’s memory for instance Jess’s apartment, her parents home and even a sleazy motel – no, seriously it’s not what you think. After you select a location the unidentified man then asks Jess to select some key words that remind her of that particular location. You then need to match the items at the location with the keywords.

For example, one of the locations is a restaurant where Jess’s boyfriend proposed to her – so one of the keywords is ring. On the table is a box (ring box), next to it is a gummy worm (ring worm) and on the wall is a telephone (telephone ring). There are also items on the screen that have no relevance to the keywords – select one of these and you’ll earn a miss. Get 10 misses and you’ll have to start the location again. If you get stuck on a keyword then you can also use a hint – although it’s not as much of a hint as it is blatantly highlighting one of them remaining items.

Once you’ve found all the items relevant to a keyword you’re rewarded with a cutscene that reveals one of Jess’s memories. When you’ve solved all the keywords for that location you’ll have one final puzzle before you can select another tarot card – these can be anything from reassembling a shredded document to card puzzles featuring blackjack.

Solving these puzzles also reveal more of Jess’s mysterious history, which is the biggest puzzle of the game. Because you have complete control over the way the story transpires, it is up to you to put all the pieces together.

It’s not for everyone though.

If you only interested in playing games with high end graphics then Three Cards to Midnight is not for you. The visuals are a little dated but they don’t take anything away from the game. The other aspect that may turn off players is that some of the items you need to select in order to progress aren’t as clearly illustrated as some of the other items. There was a whip that looked like rope, a pea that looks similar to a gobstopper and an onion slice that looked a little like a drink coaster. Sometimes you’re just going to have to guess but other times you can access one of the hints – but you are punished at the end of the chapter with a lower score ranking.

There are not a lot of games like this out there and it’s only $20. If you’re a fan of games with a great story then this is a highly recommended title but for everyone else they should probably check out the trailer on the website before they part with the cash.

However I do think they can compete with Apple. As we all know Apple has had over a billion app downloads – while not all of these are game related apps it’s still quite an achievement… no pun intended. Microsoft is just as big a corporation as Apple and would have no problem offering applications based on some of their popular software like Microsoft Word and Excel. But they could also bring some of their software too like Gears of War, Mass Effect (which is already coming to the iPhone) and the granddaddy of them all – Halo.

Microsoft has already established the Zune Marketplace so they’re already halfway there. The only problem is that while the Zune is a competent music player, it just doesn’t have the audience like the iPhone. But If Microsoft rebranded the Zune with the Xbox brand then I’m sure they would see sales soar – as long as there is no way it can red ring. They could even use the same Marketplace as the 360 and offer TV shows, movies, Arcade titles and Community Titles for the system. Maybe your avatar could even show up if you really want them too.

I think this direction would be a much more profitable option for Microsoft as opposed to developing a brand new system from the ground up, getting software developed for it and then trying to convince third-party publishers to develop games for it.

I guess we’ll know in a few days what Microsoft means by “changing the way we look at home entertainment”.

The last straw for me was Hideo Kojima’s timer that revealed nothing but a new countdown set to expire on May 30. Why didn’t they just make the first timer countdown expire on May 30? Why not just post something on the website letting the gaming community know that Kojima is set to unveil something new at E3? Wouldn’t that be just as effective?

Sadly it’s not the first instance of companies going down this road trying to build hype for their latest blockbuster. Some have been subtle like Blizzard when they unveiled Diablo III. They used a graphic that evolved over a few weeks to finally reveal the logo for the sequel. Others haven’t quite mastered subtlety like Eidos who released a press release that featured an unannounced title that was described as “a sequel to a popular franchise beginning with T” – anyone with a brain figured out it was Thief 4.

Are these methods effective? Because I don’t see these countdown clocks or hazy images doing anything but pissing off their audience. I’m betting that hits on Kojima’s website have dropped after the unveiling of the new countdown and I don’t think anyone is going to be visiting until May 30 – I wouldn’t be surprised if we report a tumbleweed rolling by the timer. Or maybe they’ll just visit this website to find out what the big secret was. How many of you continually visited the Blizzard website to see if anything had changed since the previous day? I’m guessing it was only the gaming journos who did this to see if they had something to write about that day.

What’s wrong with a simple teaser trailer? If publishers want to go with something original then take note of Infinity Ward’s teaser for Modern Warfare 2. The way they used a simple wave file to create images from the game was unique, original and fantastic. It created a lot of discussion on the internet but all of it was positive. Someone even went to the lengths to post all the individual images from the teaser. The bottom line is that it got everyone excited. Now they’ve just backed it with an awesome trailer.

Take note publishers – there is a right way to hype a game. Abort the countdown.