Hi everyone. You may have noticed that GameSpot has opened up a new mobile games channel. We'll be starting off covering games for five major operating systems: iPhone, BlackBerry, Palm WebOS for the Pre, Google Android, and Windows Mobile. We are covering mobile games in response to the huge growth we've seen in mobile gaming, particularly in the case of the iPhone, which has thousands of games to play on the App Store. The site itself is intended to be community-focused and powered by your opinions, so please feel free to dive in, discover new games, and submit your own thoughts on your favorite (and not-so-favorite) games in a reader review.

And yes, with a new site comes some new GameSpot reviews of mobile games. Keep in mind we're not looking to cover every single mobile game on the planet right now, which is why you'll see GameSpot's reviews appear in a limited fashion on the site. This is because the world of mobile games is both enormous and constantly changing, so rather than focus on every last little detail, we're instead working to bring you coverage on the most important developments and absolute best of the best top games in the world of mobile gaming, to help you cut through all the clutter and zero in on the good stuff, and on the stuff you should know about. So, we're starting off GameSpot's mobile reviews covering a combination of both the absolute best in mobile games and also the highest-profile mobile games you may have heard the most about...the two are not always exactly the same. (And so, if you're wondering why your favorite mobile game wasn't covered, this would be why. Please do feel free to leave your own thoughts in a reader review for that game in the meantime.)

To this end, we've enlisted help from a content partner site, SlideToPlay.com, a site that fully focuses on covering mobile games, to help us with our reviews. Note that although the reviews are coming from a different source, they are still edited and checked by GameSpot's editors to be consistent with our site's standards of quality and consistency. Also, please note that GameSpot does not currently plan to post new mobile reviews every day, but rather, in regular updates throughout the year. Again, rather than looking to cover every last little detail in the mobile space step-for-step, we're looking to encourage you, our readers, to use the mobile site to discover and share your thoughts on new games while we here at GameSpot periodically weigh in with our own thoughts on the absolute cream of the crop.

That's it. Please feel free to start poking around and explore the site. Thanks.

It's been almost a week since I started playing Aion: Tower of Eternity and so, although the full review is probably still a week or two away, I wanted to update you all on how it's going. I'm also going to take this opportunity to call out some of the game's features that, for better or worse, have really made an impression on me. I already posted something similar on my personal blog earlier this week, but while some of what I talk about here will inevitably be similar, I promise not to go anywhere near the cut-and-paste button.

The first thing I should mention is Aion's launch which, at least from my perspective, was an incredibly smooth one. Two days before those of us with preorders were able to get in on the "headstart" early access program, we were afforded even earlier access to the character creations tools so that we could pick out our classes, reserve a couple of character names, and basically be ready to play as soon as the servers went live. I took this opportunity to create an Elyos scout and an Asmodian priest, the former being one of the "good" guys on what ended up being a high-population server, and the latter a "bad" guy on a less popular server. NCSoft was purportedly planning to prevent players from creating certain factions on certain servers if it became necessary to keep the two factions somewhat balanced, but I saw no evidence of this personally.

Not that it's unique amongst MMOs by any means, but creating a character in Aion is more like doing the same thing in an EA Sports game than it is World of Warcraft or any of the other MMOs that I've played personally. After settling on a class and a gender, you're presented with a few dozen preset characters to use as your starting point, and from there you can pretty much do whatever you want. There are dozens of hairstyles to choose from, there are skin tone color spectrums to play around with, and the seven or eight different preset physiques run the gamut from short-and-stout to lanky-and-lean. But that's not even the half of it, because after choosing all of your presets you can enter the advanced customization mode and use sliders to tinker with multiple attributes for facial features, limbs, and the like. The only downside to the character creation is that there are no safeguards in place to prevent people from making freakish looking beings with, for example, tiny heads sitting atop long necks and giant shoulders. Many, presumably PVP-oriented folks are also opting to create the tiniest characters they possibly can, at which point they're dwarfed even by the insects and other small enemies that you encounter in the starting areas.

Questing in those starter areas when the servers went live was, predictably, a little frustrating at times. With so many players trying to complete the same quests, the competition for both enemies to kill and items to collect was fierce. Nothing was taking very long to respawn, but there simply weren't enough enemies and items to go around. Both the headstart and regular launches are out of the way now thankfully, and as players level up at different speeds, so they're getting dispersed. That helps with overcrowding in the various zones that make up Aion's great-looking world, but it doesn't help with the overcrowding on certain servers.

On day one, some players were reporting queue times in excess of two hours, which is clearly unacceptable. I lucked out on that occasion since I was among the first people to log in and I didn't log out until several hours later. I've had to queue on one of my two servers a couple of times since then, though, for around 30 minutes on both occasions. This coming Saturday and Sunday will be the first full weekend since launch, so I'm guessing that once I log in I probably shouldn't log out. Something that's easily accomplished by setting a character up as a "personal store" with at least one item that isn't going to sell in a million years. Do that, and you can step away from your keyboard for as long as you like without any fear of being logged out automatically.

I'll admit that I've done that a couple of times, but for the most part when I've been logged in it's been because I'm busily running around completing the usual assortment of fetch quests, kill quests, and collection quests. So far I haven't had any problems finding enough content in each zone to level me up for the next, but this doesn't appear to be a game where you can afford to pick and choose which quest chains you want to take on since you should really be doing all of them. Not only do these chains earn you plenty of experience, cash, and some useful rewards, but some of them also reward you with titles for your character. One of the early Elyos chains gives you the option to precede your name with the title "Tree-Hugger" for example, and doing so affords you a +4 bonus to accuracy. Similar bonuses appear to be attached to all 50 of the titles that you can unlock, though at level 16 (hey, I have other games to review as well) I only have six or seven right now.

I'm told that PVP content and dungeons don't really kick in until somewhere between level 25 and 30, so I've got a ways to go before I can check out any of that stuff. Level 10 is a big milestone in Aion as well though, because at that point you gain the ability to fly (though only for a minute and in certain zones) and you have to decide which of two paths you're going to take with your chosen class. Having started out as a scout, for example, I had to choose between a ranger specializing in ranged attacks or an up-close-and-personal assassin. I opted for the latter and, without wishing to write too much about how combat works since I already talked a bit about that in my earlier blog (along with a little about gathering and crafting), so far I'm having a lot of fun it--even if the vast majority of my encounters do play out in much the same way. Surprisingly, to me anyway, all eight of the classes appear to be equally well represented right now, though tanks and healers are predictably the ones in demand when the LFG (looking-for-group) and LFM (looking-for-more) messages start flying.

Hopefully those dungeon groups will have room for an assassin when I've leveled up some more, and it'd probably be a good idea for me to get into a guild sometime soon as well. And, with that in mind, I think it's time for me to log in again and get back to stabbing small animals, retrieving stolen items, and running errands for villagers who are too lazy to do anything themselves. Check back next week for another update or two, and in the meantime be sure to check out the new screenshots in the gamespace.

So Champions Online came out this week, and if you're like me, you've been eagerly awaiting Cryptic Studio's newest superhero-themed massively multiplayer online role-playing game (whew, that's a tongue twister). Well, the wait is over, though as with all MMOs, we want to spend as much time with the game as we can before delivering an official review. In the meanwhile, we wanted to give you a quick taste of Champions Online before then.Let's start with a quick impressions video.

The character creation is likely the best you'll ever see in such a game, even trumping that of City of Heroes/Villains. The creation interface takes a few moments to get used to, but is otherwise slick and easy to use. If you have an idea for a character, chances are, you can build a good approximation of it here. Fresh out of ideas? Let the game randomize a character for you. Some of the random combinations are actually pretty awesome.

Winged Hulkbeast isn't pretty, but he'll get the job done.

The starting area is an extended tutorial, and will give you a good idea of the basic mechanics, as well as your starting powers. You see, when you create your character, you aren't just selecting a costume, but an entire persona. You can select an existing archetype (sorcery, might, dual blades, and so on) or customize your own from a list of available powers. Champions Online offers a great deal of flexibility, so you can follow through on any specific concepts you dream up. This flexibility comes at the cost of effectiveness in some cases, however. There are some obvious balance issues at work, and they seem to be magnified after a release-day patch that altered the entire game's balance. That patch favors specific builds, so you may find that your creativity may not necessarily be rewarded with consistently exuberant questing and player-versus-player battling.

Millenium City: Home of heroes, thugs, and escaped prisoners. Wonder what the property prices are like.

It's worth noting that the patch also broke starting sorcery powers for existing toons, an issue that couldn't be overcome if you were in the initial tutorial area. There are some other bugs I quickly ran into as well--controls that keep getting reset, hotbar keys that stop working, and a few other oddities, like enemies that won't die and keep doing damage, even when their health drops to zero. Lag has cropped up a good bit as well, and an extended downtime just a few days in left a bad taste in many mouths. But now that the bad stuff is out of the way (and it's worth noting that few MMOs launch without issues), let's throw out the good stuff: So far, Champions Online has been fun, both in solo play, and when grouped.

Here's the Canadian wilderness. Canadians note: These virtual Canucks say 'eh?' a lot.

The combat is packed with action. My current character, Taoist Angel, is a sorceress that can summon a white wolf and a ring of electricity-spewing totems, and possesses a few more terrific moves besides. Many powers can be charged up by holding the button down for longer, you can block, and you break free from holds by tapping a button. As a result, combat will keep you busy, as you can tell in the following clip:

Taoist Angel: An Oasis in the desert.

There's a lot more to tell you about Champions Online, but it's time to get back to the game and prepare for the review, which should keep me busy most of the long weekend! We'll have an official review in the next week or two, but in the meanwhile, should you see Taoist Angel online, be sure to wave hello and tell her you like her hair, and her fancy trenchcoat.

Gears of War 2's newest downloadable content, Dark Corners, comes out next week on July 28. It's going to cost Gears fans 1200 Microsoft points ($15), but the good news is that it's a worthwhile package for anyone who has exhaustively explored every nook and cranny of the game. Seven new maps and a new single-player level are included--and most of the content is excellent, which makes Dark Corners a great value. (Consider, for example, the Halo 3 map packs, which only included three multiplayer levels and sold for $10.) Warning: the following content contains Gears of War 2 spoilers. Read only if you have finished the campaign, or if you don't mind discovering important plot points.

According to developer Epic Games, the single-player level, Road to Ruin, is a "deleted scene," i.e., content that was originally conceptualized but didn't make it into the final game. The level takes place after Maria's death, but before Marcus and Dom enter Nexus, the central city of the Locust Horde. The action is typical Gears stuff in a number of ways; you battle it out in the series' signature stop-and-pop style, confront a hulking Brumak, and rain death upon a Reaver before you reach the end of the 20- or 30-minute mission. The twist is that you must make a choice at the beginning of the level: Either don Locust armor and try to sneak past your enemies, or gun down drones the old-fashioned way.

The idea of stealthy Gears is initially fascinating, but in practice it isn't as enjoyable as shedding Locust blood. You use the cover system to shift from one point to the next, occasionally pulling a lever or pushing a button, and staying far enough away from your foes to prohibit them from picking up your scent. It quickly becomes apparent that Dom and Marcus weren't meant to slink about; Gears-brand sneaking simply isn't as intense or as satisfying as curb stomping. Fortunately, an old friend from the original Gears of War joins you in the final third of the level, during which you must wreak havoc with your Lancer and Gnasher. Road to Ruin is much more enjoyable if you choose the guns-a-blazing route, not because it offers many surprises (it doesn't), but because it extends the experience and embraces the action that makes Gears of War 2 so great.

It's no surprise that the seven new multiplayer maps also embrace that action. You won't encounter many surprises within this suite of excellent battlegrounds, but there are some standouts amongst them. Two maps stood out as particular favorites: Memorial, and Nowhere. Memorial is set near the Eternal Flame and Tomb of the Unknowns, and its main feature is the monument in the center of the map. That memorial gives rise to intense action, and opportunities for flanking should keep you on the move, particularly during Annex matches. Nowhere is set in an abandoned village in the middle of the desert. The swirling sand is an authentic visual treat, and there are rusty derelict vehicles and stacks of tires that not only make the map look gritty, but provide plenty of opportunity for cover. Nowhere's highlight, however, is the vacant diner. A stairway leads to its roof, where a Mortar lays waiting for you. It's always fun to shower your enemies with fire, though you'll need to be careful, because you're highly vulnerable to anyone that would slink up the stairway. If you don't have anyone covering for you, an enemy can easily sneak up and blast you with his shotgun.

Rargh.

Most of the maps are more straightforward and symmetrical. One of these, Allfathers Garden, is visually striking. Cracked stone archways, crumbling sculptures, and temple columns provide plenty of good cover, while sconces glow softly and mist swirls about. This visual style is similar to what you find in Sanctuary, the third and final "exclusive" map from the PC version of Gears of War to be brought to Gears of War 2. The collapsing stone structures here are clearly more neglected than those in Allfathers Garden, though climbing vines of ivy lend some organic respite to the porticos they obscure. A couple of bridges and a web of stairways spread the action across multiple planes, so a coordinated team can spread across the map effectively and take the enemy unawares.

Way Station, War Machine, and Highway round out this septet of quality multiplayer offerings. The red-hued Way Station takes you clearly into Locust territory and features a trough of imulsion flowing down its center. Multiple platforms (look for the Scorcher on one of them) let you take higher ground, and some tight walkways make a well-aimed grenade toss particularly effective. Forsaken train stations have provided home to shooting action in any number of games, and War Machine is the latest to do so. Moonlight shines in from above, tinting the combat zone blue; and while cover opportunities are abundant thanks to numerous stacks of sandbags, you'll want to watch your step if you jump down on the tracks, since the tight corners and ledges restrict your movement a bit. You take the fight back to Locust territory in Highway, and it's one of the more atmospheric of the new maps, due to columns and altars inscribed with runes and elaborate patterns, almost a mixture of Gothic and Rococo sensibilities. Not only does it look creepy, but elevated areas provide good clear views across the map, handy if you've got the Longshot in your possession.

It just never gets old.

$15 is a good deal for all of this content. The additional scenario isn't as compelling as others in the campaign, but with two different ways to play it, there's reason to visit at least a couple of times, and of course, it supports the usual co-op play. While few of the multiplayer maps supply real surprises, they're laid out well and have a lot of visual character. If you're a Gears 2 fanatic, Dark Corners is a must-play. If you haven't downloaded any content for the game, you can get the new content as part of the All Fronts collection, which includes all downloadable content to date, including Dark Corners, for 1600 Microsoft Points ($20). Either way, you can't really go wrong: More Gears of War 2 is never a bad thing.

By: Shaun McInnis

A good six months after its initial release, EA is continuing to support Skate 2 with fairly regular DLC. We've already seen content running the gamut from 1980s clothing in the Throwback Pack to new camera angles and replay filters in the Filmer Pack. Now, the latest Skate 2 DLC to hit the market is the Maloof Money Cup Pack, due out for release today at a price of $3, or 240 MS Points.

The Maloof Money Cup is based on the real-life skateboard contest of the same name, and comes in the form of a brand-new arena outfitted with the same ramp and obstacle layout as what you'll see when the event is broadcast later this week. The contest grounds exist outside the city of San Vanelona, but you can get to them through the career mode event map or by setting up a freeskate session and choosing it as your location. The real estate is a pretty decent size, split into a street skating section and a vert ramp. The street area comes with a modest number of benches, ledges, and stair sets, and subsequently doesn't feel like anything you can't find on any city block in the regular game. But the vert section is substantially more interesting, with a giant kicker ramp leading into a big halfpipe that reminds us of the X-Games area from the first Skate.

In terms of events packed into this DLC, there's a street contest, a vert contest, and some online multiplayer freeskate challenges you can take part in. The two single-player contests are the same sort of events you'll find in the retail game, without any added presentation to let you know it's based on a flashy, high-stakes event. The prize for winning both contests, though, is a hefty $175,000 of in-game cash and 200 achievement points.

Altogether, $3 isn't a ton of money to spend on DLC that'll net you a bunch of quick achievement points and in-game cash. But the actual skating terrain you're buying feels much less interesting than a lot of what San Vanelona already has to offer, and since the Maloof Money Cup isn't exactly one of the storied events in the history of the sport--it debuted last year--there's not a lot of reason to check it out on name alone. If you're purely looking for new turf to skate, you'll probably want to hold onto your money and continue sniffing out all those great hidden spots San Van has tucked away. On the flip side, anyone who really enjoyed taking part in Skate 2's career mode contests and wants to pad out their gamerscore and in-game wallets will find a much more rewarding purchase here.

I'm sorry that we haven't been able to bring you a full review of Fight Night Round 4 this week, but because of some kind of mix-up at EA we didn't receive final copies of the game until late on Tuesday--several days after we first spotted other reviewers playing online. I've sunk maybe a dozen or so hours into the game since then, both offline and online, but as of right now I don't feel that I'm far enough into the lengthy career mode to judge it. With a fight record of 26(14)-1-0 I'm currently ranked tenth in my weight class, but as my opponents are getting tougher (and my attributes aren't improving nearly as quickly as I'd like), fights are frequently taking the full ten 3-minute rounds to win.

I'll be spending a lot more time with Fight Night Round 4 this weekend, and hope to have a review ready before end-of-day Monday. In the meantime, here are some notes on my experience thus far:

My Boxer
The first thing I do in any game that will let me is attempt to put myself into the game. My first attempt with the Xbox Live Vision Camera wasn't too impressive, but using a proper digital camera and using front and side photos of my face uploaded to EA's Website, I've ended up with a fighter that I think looks quite a lot like me--at least from some angles. There's no option to add tattoos though. /sadface.


Bolton Wanderers fan Justin Calvert ready for his first (amateur) career fight.

Other Boxers
Going into the review, I was completely unaware that it would be possible to share boxers online. I haven't uploaded mine for other people to beat up yet, but I've expanded the game's roster with a whole bunch of player-made fighters. Favorites include Zab Judah, Evander Holyfield, Joe Louis, Gary Coleman, Chuck Norris, and Bill Cosby.


Norris versus Cosby

Hitting the Canvas
One of my favorite features of Fight Night Round 4 right now, other than the fighting itself, is the new mechanic for getting back to your feet after being knocked down. The camera shifts to a first-person perspective, you use the left stick to straighten up and avoid swaying left and right too much, and the right stick to actually stand. I especially like the way that the ref checks you out before letting you continue.

Are you OK to continue?

Training
You don't get to spend a whole lot of time training in career mode, so fighter progression can be slow. The training minigames are fun, but their difficulty is wildly inconsistent.


This is one of the easier training minigames. Some of them are really difficult early on.

Online Play
I haven't entered the Online World Championship yet, but I've taken part in plenty of online bouts with friends that, to date, have been lag-free. That was before the game officially went on sale, though, so I need to see if the game is still performing as well now that there are a lot more people online.

That's about all I'm going to say for now. I'll be playing as JusticeCovert on both PS3 and X360 this weekend, so if any of you feel like stepping into the squared circle with me feel free to shoot me an invite. I can't promise that I'll jump straight into a game with you though--getting through the career mode has to take priority.

We downloaded the biggest Burnout DLC to date--the brand new Big Surf Island.

Burnout Paradise has received its fair share of downloadable content, and over the past year, it's definitely led the way in terms of postrelease extras. However, Big Surf Island, released this week, is the biggest and most expensive addition to Burnout yet. For $12.99/£9.99/€12.99, you can now drive over the bridge east of Paradise City and onto a totally new island, complete with new races, jumps, and vehicles. We downloaded the content fresh from the Net as soon as it was released, and we're pleased to say that while it's costly, it's still well worth checking out.

Check out our video hands-on to see Big Surf Island in action!

The big draw of the Big Surf Island DLC is obviously the extended playing area, but there's plenty more to experience other than new real estate. There are a total of nine new cars, including a dust storm buggy, which is open from the off. Big Surf Island is packed to the brim with insane jumps, and the dust buggy is the perfect vehicle to tackle them with because it's fast, light, and agile. There are also plenty of new challenges to complete--15 events, 10 freeburn challenges, and more than 100 billboards, smashes, and jumps to find. We can't profess to have found everything in the add-on, but Criterion promises more than five hours of playtime from the DLC.

The island itself is designed like a playground for the rich and famous inhabitants of Paradise City. Not only are there shops and malls all over the place, but there's also a ski jump at the very peak of the island. This attraction offers the highest jump on the island, but there are many humongous jumps to be had, from construction sites to lighthouses. Exploring this island offers some of the most fun we've ever had in Burnout Paradise because there's just so much barrell-rolling fun to be had with the new buggy.

The races on Big Surf Island take the form of checkpoint races, meaning you have to pass through gates on a looped track rather than race from A to B. There's also a new event type called island tours that is particularly challenging because it involves racing around the island to a very short timer. All in all, though, the new challenges should keep you going for quite a while, and you can still drive them in all of the cars, bikes, and other DLC vehicles that you might have previously bought.

It's an expensive business keeping up with Burnout Paradise's DLC--all of the collected content would cost you £48.54 if you were to download it on the PlayStation Network. That said, Burnout Paradise is still one of, if not, the best arcade racing games on the market, and if you only buy one piece of DLC for the game, then Big Surf Island should be it. Check out our impressions of previous Burnout DLC on our reviews blog, and if you're new to the series, check out the full review of the original game.