Haven't downloaded pirated versions of Forza 3 and Borderlands? Of course you haven't -- you're decent human beings. But for those miscreants who did, here's a practical reason to stop playing immediately: Microsoft is permanently banning any gamers they determine are playing illegitimate early copies on Xbox Live (via VG247)."You know, when you play a pre-release title on LIVE when I know you shouldn't have it, it's not hard for me to figure out," ominously tweeted Stephen Toulouse, Xbox Live director of policy and enforcement. But if you somehow managed to purchase a copy of Forza 3 or Borderlands early, you're in the clear, as Toulouse clarified that "in general, if you got a receipt, play away. These are illegit copies we're hitting."So in summation: Playing a game you paid for: Safe. Playing a game you stole online: Unsafe. So even for your own good, don't do it.

  Sony has announced that LocoRoco Midnight Carnival will release on October 29 -- just in time for Halloween -- for $15 on the PlayStation Store (via Shacknews).The game is more of an add-on of sorts than a sequel to LocoRoco, adding 16 new night-themed stages, two new mini-games, and new competitive and co-op multiplayer modes which Sony plans on detailing soon. The game will be a PlayStation Store-only release, and you can check out a trailer for it here.

  Do you love the insanely titled Holy Invasion of Privacy, Badman! What Did I Do to Deserve This? so much that you want to own it as a nice and physically real UMD, perhaps in order to hug it with all your might? Then you better sign-up for a pre-order and get as many of your friends to do so as well. NIS has announced that they'll re-release the bizarre underground-demon-lord-layer-building strategy/sim on UMD if they get 1,000 pre-orders.You can place your pre-order at RosenQueen.com, where the listing explains they'll "be able to start shipping out to you by the [sic] mid December if 1,000 units of preorder [are] received." Also be aware that you can't rig the system by placing multiple orders and then cancelling all but one: "Order cancellations may result in canceling the manufacturing of this item," the listing notes. Pre-orders end on November 13.NIS also revealed, however, that they may manufacture the UMDs even without the 1,000 pre-orders if they receive enough "support from retailers," although exactly how much retailer support they'd need wasn't specified.

  When Capcom announced that Super Street Fighter 4 would be a standalone game and not a downloadable update, they promised it wouldn't be full price. And if GameStop's recent listing is to be believe, that seems to be the case: MTV Multiplayer reports that the retailer has listed Super Street Fighter 4 for release on March 23 for $40.Which begs the question: Is $40 as cheap as you were expecting? A March 23 release would put it at retail just over a year after Street Fighter 4's release back in February, and Capcom promises "roughly" eight new characters (including newcomer Juri and returning characters Dee Jay and T. Hawk), updated online functionality, rebalanced gameplay, and a mysterious "bonus" for people who already own Street Fighter 4. Whether that'll be enough new content to justify a $40 purchase will, in the end, be up to every individual owner of Street Fighter 4, but for perspective, keep in mind hundreds of thousands of Madden fans spend $60 dollars for a new addition in their franchise every year.And it should also be noted, of course, that Capcom has yet to confirm (or deny) that this price and date are official. But they've mentioned the game would be released in spring of 2010 before, so this sounds about right. Once weget any kind of confirmation, we'll pass it along.

  Five hours into Dark Void, developer Airtight Games' history of working on Crimson Skies games is clear: this is pulp-action with leading ladies (not damsels in distress), gritty heroes and -- most importantly -- beautiful aerial combat that makes you feel like an ace.Five seconds in, you find yourself fully powered up and ready to fight. But like so many "fully powered up" starts, this doesn't last long, and soon after the game hits the reset button and installs your amateur status. In fact, you find yourself thrown back to Earth in 1938. There, you step into the shoes of Will, a devil-may-care pilot-for-hire who finds himself shaken when his new client (a private courier) turns out to be Ava, an old flame. And then of course their plane crash lands in the mysterious Bermuda Triangle.Will's time in "the service" seems to have prepared him for "the Triangle." He picks up one of the human resistance rifles and starts mowing down the serpentine robot enemies, called Watchers, without even an eye blink. Despite Will's machismo, Ava is clearly the senior partner. She eggs him on, jolts him to action, and even leads them to sneak through a local human tribe to meet Nicolai Tesla. That's not a jumpy recap because this is a preview -- that's about how the pacing of the story moves.

  It seems like it wasn't that long ago that a Tiger Woods PGA Tour videogame hit the shelves. And that's because it wasn't all that long ago. With the 360/PS3 versions out, along with that great MotionPlus integration for the Wii version of Tiger, some may have wondered where the PC version was. Enter Tiger Woods PGA Tour Online, a browser-based Tiger Woods for PCs that looks to integrate social networking aspects and multiplayer golf, all for a monthly subscription.The subscription fee hasn't been finalized yet; a detail I'm told that EA is still ironing out. Until then, the game is free to play since it's still in beta (you can head over to Tiger Woods PGA Tour Online right now and sign up to be in the beta).

  You can pretend Lucidity is about beautiful watercolor-style artwork, a light story told through artsy postcards, or a puzzle game disguised as a downloadable $10 platformer. But it's really about killing a little girl. Many, many times.Not intentionally, of course -- and technically, you're in her dreams, so the developers probably use a loophole like she "wakes up" when you fail -- but because of the game's design, you fail a lot. And that works as both a positive and negative.The idea here is this girl, Sofi, automatically walks towards the right side of the screen at a slow, consistent pace. You don't directly control her, but instead stamp platforms and power-ups around the screen with a cursor, using them to indirectly guide her. You set up fans to boost her into the air, slingshots to fling her across gaps, bombs to clear paths, etc. Think of it as a game-long escort mission, a la Lemmings or Mario & Wario -- you spend your time trying to construct the ideal mousetrap-style path so she doesn't get stuck for too long, run into an enemy, or fall into a pit at the bottom of the screen.

  Frontier announced today that LostWinds: Winter of the Melodias will be coming to WiiWare next Monday, October 19. The game has been available in Europe for just over a week, and company founder David Braben commented on its impending release here in the States in the press release. "The original LostWinds was embraced by the U.S., and the sequel has major new gameplay features and improvements across the board," he said. Among those new gameplay features are a season-changing mechanic, the ability to swim, and new wind powers, along with an in-game map and hint system for those who may have gotten lost in the first title. Even without these tweaks, the first game was a critical success, earning a very positive review from us and generally favorable ones across the board. Based just on the reviews garnered from its European release, the sequel has a higher Metacritic score, so fans of the adorable puzzle adventures should have something to look forward to next week.

  Looks like the concerns that the God of War Collection would be pushed back next year were indeed unfounded. Sony has released a brand new trailer, showcasing the first two games while confirming that the compilation will indeed be arriving this fall. The trailer features several great moments from God of War and God of War II, newly remastered in 720p. The collection will be contained on a single blu-ray disc, and both games will include trophies.

  Two days past the one year anniversary of SOCOM: Confrontation's release in North America, Sony has announced a big downloadable content pack that is in the works. Known as the Cold Front pack, this is the DLC that was hinted at this summer and includes, among other things, two new maps and three rebuilt classic maps from previous SOCOM games. An entirely new Eastern European area should breathe some new life into game, provided you're willing to pay for it.Here's what you'll find in Cold Front:New Russian / Eastern European Area of OperationSnow setting complete with snow effects, new snow gear and camo for both the Special Forces and Mercenaries, and thermal visionNew ARMS RACE gameplay mode5 New Maps: Uprising, Entrapment, Blizzard, Night Stalker, VigilanceAll new mercenaries characters with new looks and new VO.New Special Forces squad, the Russian SpetsnazGun turrets emplacementsNew musicAll new character specialization/progression systemAllows players to pick a primary and secondary specialization and unlock new equipment exclusive to those specializationsNew weapons, including: 3 new weapons, 6 enhanced versions of weapons available as part of the new weapons specialization system, 2 new weapon attachments (including the thermal scope), 5 enhanced versions of weapon attachments also available as part of the new weapons specialization system.2 new grenade launcher ammo types (flash and smoke)New TrophiesMore details will be forthcoming on the PlayStation Blog -- specifically, we're waiting on a release date. Whenever Cold Front does makes its way onto the PlayStation Store, you can expect to pay $14.99 for the pack. It's not an outrageous sum, given that you're getting more than just the usual slate of new maps you often see in DLC releases for shooting games.