In the wake of Take 2 Interactive’s decision to push Max Payne 3 into fiscal 2010 earlier this year, the publisher has now set back the title’s release even further by announcing that it won’t be launched until August 2010 at the earliest. It strikes me that Take 2 is experiencing its own slow motion Bullet Time with the third instalment of the game. Max Payne 3 now won’t arrive until the fourth quarter of Take 2’s current fiscal year (sometime between August 1st and October 31st next year). This delay might not be a bad thing, however, as the first batch of screens for the game weren’t received too positively by fans of the franchise. The extra time gives the developers more time to produce a solid game.

Those of you twitching with impatience in respect to news of the Japanese gangster game can let out a long sigh of relief. Sega has confirmed (via Sony’s PlayStation Blog) that Yakuza 3 will arrive exclusively for the PS3 in North America, Europe, and Australia in March. Yakuza 3 will be a direct sequel to the contemporary-set Yakuza 2, continuing the exploits of Tokyo gangster Kiryu Kazuma. Sega noted that the title’s Western release will maintain the original Japanese voice-over work, offering English subtitles. However, you do have 3 months until March – ample time to become fluent in Japanese. If that wasn’t enough to make you shake with excitement, Sega producer Toshihiro Nagoshi recently unveiled Yakuza 4 for the PlayStation 3 at the 2009 Tokyo Game Show.

Splash Damage recently unveiled its first gameplay footage of an impressive looking first-person shooter titled Brink. The company who brought Enemy Territory to id Software can be pleased with what we saw. The footage was so good in fact, that there is already talk that the game could be one of the surprise hits of 2010.

The story is set on Earth in 2035, after the full effects of global warming have kicked in. The planet’s seas have risen to the point that the only viable city is a floating megalopolis in the middle of the ocean. So pack your swimming shorts, and prepare to assume the role of either the “resistance” or the island’s security forces. The game will be developed for the PC, Xbox 360 and PS3.

The achingly long anticipated World of Warcraft patch 3.3 has hit the servers! Much joy and weeping will be had around the land. The patch flings open the doors of Ice Crown Citadel, affording players the chance to face off against the dreaded Lich King. Bring flowers and chocolates.

The patch also offers a neat new utility called the ‘Looking For Group system’, where players from other servers can join your team to make up the numbers. Groups will now be automatically teleported to locations once a group has been found, instead of waiting for members to fly there to summon the rest. There will also be a built-in quest tracker that places markers on the map to indicate where players should go to either interact with specific NPCs or front up against certain factions. Full details of the new patch are available on the WoW Channel.

In Fairy Tale Fights, four formerly beloved, fairytale characters are looking to become popular once again, but so are all the minor characters (gingerbread men, gnomes etc.). Open warfare is declared. The game is a linear gory hack and slash beat em up – with cutesy graphics and gallons of blood.

The Fairytale Fights White Room demo will be available on Xbox LIVE today and will make its way to the PlayStation Network on December 10. So, if you want to create some alternate – not so happy ending- fairy tales get downloading! Playlogic Entertainment has also announced that they have slashed the price of Fairytale Fights throughout Europe and North America.

No, not in terms of shooting at people, running them over, stealing cars, engaging in vandalism or enjoying random acts of arson. I meant in terms of my poor spine! Forget all the commotion about video games being the psychological tool of the devil – it’s the ability to bend my spine into contorted unnatural shapes that keeps me awake at night.

One of the most common medical problems connected typically to playing computer/video games is crooked posture. There is a considerable percentage of children in Junior High and High School who have a crooked posture as a result of frequent gameplay sessions. Personally I think this counteracts the video-game-begets-violence argument quite well – I mean, how intimidating is a limping, arched-over, neck-crocked game player? He probably can only see my shoes, let alone try to throw a punch at my face! The press recently had a story about a boy who ended up in hospital thanks to the fact that he used his force-feedback controller seven hours a day, which severely damaged his wrists, knuckles and hand nerves. Hardly stands him in good stead to terrorise his local community, does it?

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It seems EA has managed to lob a hornets’ nest into the Battlefield: Heroes gaming community. EA and DICE have received a hasty and vocal backlash to their announced pricing restructure of the free-to-play, combat shooter. Formerly the game held two different kinds of currency; Valor Points (VP) which players earn by simply playing the game (they operate as a form of loyalty currency) and Battlefunds (BF) which are purchased with real dosh. After EA’s changes to the game, the bottom has fallen out of the market value of Valor Points effectively forcing players to pay for Battlefunds in order to stay and play with the big boys.

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Creative Assembly is preparing an open beta for Empire: Total War that will deliver online multiplayer support for the series’ flagship Campaign mode. This has been the one feature at the top of many of the Total War players’ wish lists, and so comes as an early Christmas present.

Available via Steam on December 7, it will allow 2 players to play the Campaign mode together, either against each other or co-operatively against the computer across all three theatres of war. As if that wasn’t enough to get you into a festive fizz the company is also providing more DLC for the strategy game, which will introduce 15 new units. The Elite Units of America pack will include new elite units for the American, British, and French factions. Looks like for some of us Christmas dinner will go cold this year! North America

EA has announced that a free sample of their RPG Dante’s Inferno will be available later this month. PlayStation 3 gamers will be able to pick up the Dante’s Inferno Gates to Hell demo on December 10, while the Xbox Live edition will be coming out on Christmas Eve. The free download will allow players to enter the planes of hell (if you weren’t there already of course) and play through the first level of the game. In the full game you play Dante Alighieri who is on a crusade to find his kidnapped other half Beatrice. He has to negotiate the nine circles of hell and then face death itself! Dante’s Inferno is due for the Xbox 360, PS3, and PSP on February 9 in North America. Of course, if you want to live a live action version of the game, wait to do your Christmas shopping until Christmas Eve.

Game developer Fuzzyeyes Studios has apparently stalled on their work for the upcoming RPG Edge of Twilight. Worse still is the rumour that The Australian outfit may also be silent for good. Edge of Twilight was due out for the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC this year, and was billed as a third-person action adventure, complete with a “post-apocalyptic, Steampunk fantasy world”. So far publisher Southpeak Interactive has also been quiet on the fate of both the game and the studio, which has added further fuel to the rumor. We have contacted Fuzzyeyes for a comment and hope to hear back from them soon.

After the remake of Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter, Croteam is currently hard at work on a second installment. Like the First Encounter, this latest version will also be in HD. The game will feature all the madcap action of the original, but with new visuals rendered to today’s standards, and will also include a new Co-Op Tournament mode. The Second Encounter should be available for PC and the consoles in early 2010. In the mean time, Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter is available via Xbox Live and for the PC via Steam. If you take your gaming as seriously as Sam – you’ll get it!

Alice, from the original PC game by American McGee, will be returning in 2011. The sequel, The Return of Alice, is to be developed by Spicy Horse (in conjunction with McGee and EA), and will appear in PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 formats.

“This new project is a dream come true for me and the fans who’ve kept the Alice flame alive,” said McGee. “EA gave us creative latitude and support on the original game which resulted in something beautiful and daring. This trip through the looking glass promises to be even more exciting.”

Those of you now grinning like the Cheshire Cat will want to check out the trailer.

With expected sales of more than 3 million copies for Ubisoft’s Far Cry 2, there is already talk of a Far Cry 3! Ubisoft writer Kevin Shortt revealed recently that while he wasn’t personally working on it, “I know the team are and what I’ve seen looks pretty exciting.” There is a growing feeling that the next installment will be based in Africa rather than Antarctica (two locations hinted at in the past). Ubisoft’s Patrick Redding confirmed they had a “commitment to the African setting” for the next game. Of course, game developers being what they are, this has all probably changed and we will find Jack Carver in a diving suit at the bottom of the Great Barrier Reef.

With the new movie in production there comes news that a Tron game is set to accompany it. It is rumored that the game will release alongside the film in 2011. The last Tron-themed game was Tron 2.0 way back in 2003 – so it will be interesting to see how Disney handles this new title’s development. A fleeting (bootlegged) trailer does hint at it having some potential. I for one, being a fan of the first film, will be looking forward to revving up my light cycle!

Today, Wii Shop Channel will make available the original Super Nintendo version of Super Mario Kart (originally released in 1992). It was the first installment in the long-running series, which has more recently manifested itself as Mario Kart on the Wii system. Following in its wake, due this festive season, will be other series starters, beginning with the 1991 SNES launch title Pilotwings. Make sure you bring tissues to mop up all the misty eyed nostalgia.