Not content with merely developing one episodic game series featuring a charming dog, Telltale Games has revealed a new game starring Aardman Animation's eccentric duo, Wallace & Gromit. In Wallace & Gromit's Grand Adventures, players will be able to control both the absentminded inventor and his expressive dog, no doubt developing bizarre Rube Goldberg machines, mechanized articles of clothing and an insatiable lust for delicious, delicious cheese.

Though details regarding price and number of episodes have yet to be confirmed, Telltale CEO Dan Connors has assured fans that the show's distinct clay-mated look will be maintained, and that Grand Adventures wouldn't seek to emulate previous (see: not so good) games based on the property. "We feel like the gameplay should be more of an experience," he said. "You should be able to interact with the other characters and really feel like you're in the world of 'Wallace & Gromit..." Given said world's clay constitution, that provides even more reason for us to stay out of the sun.

Whether delayed by last-minute technical deficiencies or a newly discovered apathy towards overblown trade shows, several announced, expected or downright anticipated games managed to escape our studious glares and hastened notepad summaries at this year's E3. Dash through our punchy list of MIA attendees and let us know which ones had you tapping your wrist watch and asking, "Do you have any idea what time it is? We've been worried sick."

ACCORDING TO CVG, WIPEOUT HD'S DELAY CAN BE ATTRIBUTED TO MORE THAN JUST TECHNICAL ISSUES AND "EXTRA FEATURES." THE GAME HAS REPORTEDLY FAILED EPILEPSY TESTING, REQUIRING IT TO BE "RE-ENGINEERED" BEFORE BEING RELEASED. IF ONLY THERE WAS SOMETHING WE COULD DO TO HELP SPEED UP THE PROCESS.

"Dude, I totally heard that Mass Effect 2 is going to be an Xbox 360 exclusive. Not only that, but my friend's brother's girlfriend's chiropodist who worked with guy who played a BioWare game with me says that the entire trilogy will be exclusive to Microsoft and will eventually cross over with the Halo and Viva Pinata universes. It's going to be an awesome dose of rad-tacular sweetitude." - Hypothetical Joystiq tipster.

While there's no question about the rad-tacular sweetitude that's bound to emanate from BioWare's future entries in the Mass Effect franchise, it's time to hang up on another telephoned rumor -- this one has the unannounced trilogy locked into Xbox 360 exclusivity. According to the eloquently named Australian blog, XboxOZ360-gamer, BioWare bigwig Ray Muzyka told Australian 360 magazine that the RPG developer was committed to bringing the Mass Effect trilogy exclusively to the Xbox 360. Yeah, not so much.

Speaking to Joystiq, a BioWare representative deemed the information "incorrect," noting that Muzyka has "never confirmed any plans of Mass Effect exclusivity for the trilogy." So ... there is a trilogy, right?

[Via X3F]

Survival plus horror. It's a pretty self-explanatory genre, albeit one that frequently produces thematically lopsided games that would rather have you yell "Eww!" than "Aiieee!" Running around with 43 different kinds of machine guns, a rocket launcher and an abundance of ammo is tremendous, limb-splattering fun (see: Resident Evil 4), but it's not scary.

When we say Dead Space is scary, don't take it to mean that EA Redwood Shores' ambitious, zero-g frightener shoves a stick in your hand and pushes you out an airlock. On the contrary, you're armed to the teeth and quite capable of defending yourself from everything with teeth thanks to an array of upgradeable weapons, including a shotgun, flamethrower and charge-up-in-the-nick-of-time beam rifle. Shooting isn't the problem -- it's knowing where to shoot. The face is usually a good place to start, though!

The deafening din of a million, argumentative keystrokes. Silenced. The endless wave of hyperbolic, hyperactive hype. Held back. The battle of technology, software and back-of-the-box bullet points. Over. At last, the console wars can draw to a close, the vision of its victor burning bright in our minds and hearts as it crushes off-white shells beneath its monolithic frame. Here is the "ultimate proof" that Sony is winning: A CNBC business reporter and Los Angeles Emmy award winner, Jane Wells, has a son who totally ditched his 360 for a PSTriple.

Now now, don't discount the 16-year old boy's prescient abilities -- Mom writes he "tells me the latest trend three months before I read about it in the media." An avid Xbox fan, trend watcher Jane Wells Jr. (not his real name) decided to trade in his cherished system for a PlayStation 3, shortly after hearing about a little game called Metal Gear Solid 4 in Sony's E3 press conference. Sony's 2008 E3 press conference.

Following this discovery, not to mention news of other exclusive titles and "the awesomeness of Blu-ray," he "promptly packed up his Xbox 360 and all his games and went down to Game Stop to trade them in." And that about wraps it up for Microsoft and Nintendo. Our biggest regret in all this? Not telling our mom about that time we sold our PlayStation to fund the purchase of best console ever, the Dreamcast. We could have made a difference.

[Via Deantak]

But Nintendo hasn't forgotten about the mythical "hardcore" gamer crowd, Cammie Dunaway tells Wired. The executive VP of sales and marketing, who insists that she's a "genuinely smiley, nice person," explains that "the Zelda and Mario teams are hard at work," possibly on something that could rival the infinitely desirable Super Mario Sluggers. "And even Super Mario Sluggers, which is certainly an expanded audience title, but what core gamer doesn't love Mario and baseball and finding out which combination of characters are going to do what kind of crazy things in the field?" she ponders.

Dunaway also notes that Nintendo is committed to a variety of games, catering to casual players with titles like Cooking Navi, and exciting tougher crowds with the DS iteration of Grand Theft Auto. We mean, she must have seen it, right? "I have not looked at the product. Have you?" Well, no ... but we haven't been incorporating it into our sales pitch either.

Short version: Mega Man 9 is, well, Mega Man. That's the whole point, isn't it?

Not quite as short and possibly more elaborate than the game deserves version:

"Attack the enemy base!"
"Yes sir, I'll enter a foot race."
"No, launch the missiles!"
"We'll harvest all nearby thistles."
"Attack the enemy units. Please, listen to me."
"Downloading latest DLC."
"Oh ... just forget it."

This doesn't happen in Tom Clancy's EndWar. It may be a sad comment on the history of in-game voice commands, but the best compliment one can give to Ubisoft's robust interface is that it works. There's no need to plead with it in a robotic tone or a slowed pace, and no voice training is required beforehand. Despite slipping in an "uh" here and there while contemplating orders, EndWar understood everything we said. Well, everything aside from the muttered curses prompted by our utter defeat.

Since we don't want you to be overwhelmed by the deluge of media emerging from E3, we've picked a bouquet of the best screenshots from Sony first-party PSN lineup, including luscious images from ex-seed expectations experience, Flower. Ratchet & Clank: Quest for Booty, PixelJunk Eden, Fat Princess, Siren: Blood Curse ... Which of these are you dying to download?

As revealed earlier in Sony's E3 press conference, popular platforming pair Ratchet & Clank are to embark on a $15 PSN adventure sometime this Summer. The cheaper, bite-sized game will serve as a "great introduction to what R&C is all about," depicting the adventures of the Lombax and robot following Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction's climax.

For those excited by the news but alarmed by the lack of a physical disc to cherish and smell when nobody's looking, SCEE president David Reeves has promised a Blu-ray disc version of Ratchet & Clank Future: Quest for Booty, just for PAL territories. There will also be PSN version, but we all know that'll look completely rubbish in your sprawling disc collection.

Le sigh. A sincere question coming from the developers of acrobatic Gears of Civil War shooter, Damnation, once again brings us in direct competition with longtime Joystiq nemesis and mistaken alternate identity, Joystick Magazine. "You guys did a cover for us, right?" asks a member of Blue Omega Entertainment, unaware of our disdain for paper and our geographical avoidance of France.

Being mistaken for Joystick has become one of our favorite trade show traditions (does it happen to them too?), if only for the ironic reminder that the Joystiq with a "q" is the one that isn't French.

There are plenty of reasons to attend tonight's second annual Joystiq E3 afterparty. The first one (pictured above) weighs in at roughly 200 pounds -- masses of game-related clothing, doohickeys, doodads, thingamabobs and pointless junk could be yours! You'll also be able to devour free food, meet your fellow readers and play some video games on our projectors. Which video games? That's a surprise.

As for the drawbacks of coming ... well, you might run into us. If you want to have a good time, be sure to avoid the individuals with pasty skins, bloodshot eyes and a habit of muttering endlessly about some unreleased game.

When: 6pm - 10pm PT on Thursday, July 17th
Where: Mahalo HQ, 902 Colorado Ave. Santa Monica 90401 (map)
Who: Yes, this event is all ages!
RSVP: Facebook

Just like last year, we'd like to give a shout-out to the folks over at Mahalo.com for hosting the event.

For some unfathomable reason, we've recorded a second E3 2008 podcast. Not only that, but we've uploaded it onto the interweb and constructed a largely vacuous paragraph urging you to listen to the show. What can you expect? There's talk of Prince of Persia, Mirror's Edge, Tom Clancy's Endwar and boring press conferences, not to mention a strict adherence to our remarkably high audio quality and professionalism. Ahem.

Get the podcast:
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Hosts: Chris Grant, Ludwig Kietzmann and Justin McElroy

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2:39PM PST: As is the standard procedure for attending an E3 press conference, we're currently waiting in line for Konami's E3 2008 event. Keep an eye on this post and brace yourself for unimaginable megatons and/or insipid fizzles!

2:41PM PST: We've taken our seats! Jay Boor, Konami's head PR guy welcomes us. Here we go!