Battlestar Galactica's Tricia Helfer needs no introduction. Her work as one of the more eye-catching Cylons and time spent as Kane's right-hand gal in Command and Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars means she's got some clout with us gaming folk. And now, she's going to bolster her gaming resume with a pretty big project: Halo 3: ODST.

Helfer couldn't divulge anything other than who she would be playing in the game -- a character by the name of Dare -- during the GTTV reveal on Spike last night. And, that's about it. We're serious. This post is over.

[Via Geoff Keighley's Twitter]

The PlayStation Network Video Delivery Service will be getting a big boost from a new partner: MTV Networks. While MTV Networks includes the well-known "music" channel, it also includes VH1, Nickelodeon, COMEDY CENTRAL, Spike, Logo, CMT, The N, TV Land and Atom. Some shows to be added to the PlayStation Store include MTV's The City, COMEDY CENTRAL's South Park, Nickelodeon's SpongeBob SquarePants and VH1's Rock of Love Bus with Bret Michaels.

"We're thrilled to add content from MTV Networks to our line up, it's a perfect fit for the PlayStation demographic, one of the most coveted audiences in entertainment today," said Peter Dille, Senior Vice President of Marketing and PlayStation Network, SCEA. "Combined with the superior technology of the PS3 and PSP, the PlayStation Network's video delivery service truly provides consumers the best and most comprehensive content on demand from an incredible line up of entertainment brands to enjoy at home or on-the-go."

"From Nickelodeon to TV Land and everywhere in between, MTV Networks' brands feature some of the most popular shows and some of the hottest stars for almost every conceivable demo," said Greg Clayman, Executive Vice President, Digital Distribution and Business Development, MTV Networks. "By making our diverse content lineup available through the PlayStation Network, we're giving PlayStation users instant access to hundreds of hours of our very best programming in the comfort of their own living rooms."

There were plenty of stellar Wii games to release this year, but, as far as the last night's Spike VGAs goes, you should look to Boom Blox as this year's best Wii game. The game certainly deserves the recognition (and sales figures), but we're not sure we'd go and say it is the Wii game of the year. What about Brawl? What about World of Goo? Oh, and how about that little game No More Heroes?

So, you agree, or would you name something else as your Wii game of the year?

Oh really, Spike TV? You're really going out of your way to make sure we watch your Video Game Awards show this year. Not only are you debuting Uncharted 2, but you're also going to be giving us a look at God of War III? Really? The Gametrailers.com promo page for the VGAs lists Naughty Dog's upcoming sequel, Brutal Legend and the hotly anticipated GoW III. We can't wait.

December 14th. 9PM. Mark it on your calendars.

[Thanks, Hyams!]

With the end of the year hurtling towards us at an alarming speed, the time has come for prestigious critics and classy establishments to choose and reward the greatest video games of 2008. And because it's the fashionable thing to do, the Spike Video Game Awards will also let you folks know which games -- some "fueled by dew" -- were worthy enough to receive pointy gongs.

Peer past the break for the full list, which includes categories such as Best Studio, Best Independent Game and Best Shooter. There's even one that somehow manages to toss Dame Judi Dench in with Liv Tyler, Eliza Dushku and Jenny McCarthy. Never going to happen again, ladies.

Download to PSP
The third installment popular Japanese high-school gangster series Kenka Banchou is headed for the PSP. In Kenka Banchou 3: Zenkoku Seiha, the player will have the ability to fight rival gangs, participate on training trips, as well as meet some beautiful ladies. The game will retain many of the trademark mechanics of its PS2 predecessors, such as branching storylines and a peculiar battle system that involves picking lines of dialog to determine who will attack first. New additions to franchise include online play via ad-hoc mode and the ability to change the protagonist's name and place of birth.

The game will arrive in Japan on November 27th. Since the first two games were never made it to our shores, this appears to be an unlikely candidate for localization. For more information, check out the scan of Famitsu magazine, screenshots, and the official website.

[Via PSPHyper]

To celebrate the game's imminent release, publisher Spike invited three of the film's actresses along for an interview about the title, and also furnished us with new shots of the game, which looks attractive, if not very scary. Run into our gallery while screaming hysterically to see more.

We thought it was important to comb through Spike TV's E3 coverage plans, if only so we could plan our walking paths to put us in front of the cameras as much as humanly possible. But imagine our surprise when we actually found news hiding within our ticket to stardom. Check this listing:

"Geoff Keighley is on the E3 show floor to give Spike viewers the inside scoop on the sights and sounds of the show. Also, tune in for more world exclusive surprises including something special from id Software and Raven Software. -- Tuesday, July 15 and Wednesday, July 16 (11:59 PM - Midnight, ET/PT)"

Something special from id and Raven, huh? Could it be the 2-and-1/2-years-in-development Wolfenstein follow up that's supposed to arrive this year? Yeah, we think that's a pretty safe bet. Here's hoping we get to hear more about another return to the castle next week.

Famitsu has a pretty interesting video for those of you who've been watching Twilight Syndrome: The Forbidden Urban Legend. They sat down with three of the young ladies featured in the horror title for a behind-the-scenes talk about things that we can only imagine. We don't speak Japanese, sadly.

But there's footage from the game, along with a plethora of screens! As much as we're certain we'll never get this game in North America, we still like to pretend it can happen.

Fresh screens and the Japanese boxart have dropped for Spike's Jawa: The Mammoth and the Mysterious Stone, depicting the young caveman protagonist (you can also play with your own Mii) going about his usual business. The boxart, which is pictured to the right, actually kind of clicks with us. We know, line-ups are totally boring, but there's something about this line-up that just resonates with us. Maybe it's the huge, tusked Mammoth that's chilling behind the clan, soaking up the sun. Or, maybe it's just all of those darn dinosaurs going about their business in the backgrounds. That's probably it. Dinosaurs are pretty awesome, you know.

Head on past the break for a look a pair of new screens from the game.

If you're among the elite crowd who has spent precious seconds thinking about Spike's Jawa: The Mammoth and the Mysterious Stone, you've probably wondered two things: first, why the heck it's called Jawa, and second, what they're trying to push on us, here. This R2 unit has a bad motivator! how those rhythm-based battles work.

From the trailer, it appears to be a call-and-response type of system: the game shows a motion or button press right before you're to attack, and then a successfully on-beat press of the correct button connects. It's somewhere between Simon and a Quick Timer Event, or something.

Between the rhythm-battle system, the communication elements between players, the dinosaur-raising, and the animal-riding, there seems to be a lot going on in Jawa -- much more than the simplistic style suggests.

[Via NeoGAF]

As ominous as the quiet subway scene in the first 50 seconds of this video might be, there's little in this new trailer to convinces us that Twilight Syndrome: Kinjiraneta Toshi Densetsu (Twilight Syndrome: The Forbidden Urban Legend) will be even half as scary as Twilight Syndrome: Search for the PlayStation.

Check out the old commercial we embedded past the post break to see what we mean! The animated skeleton and bugs are a bit goofy, but the smiling girl that pops up at the end for half of a second freaks us out every time!

Fun trivia: Did you know that famed game designer Goichi Suda worked on the original Syndrome games during his tenure at developer and publisher Human Entertainment? More fun trivia: Did you know that we have Twilight Syndrome: The Forbidden Urban Legend's boxart after the break? It's all true!

Don't get your hopes up -- the above video isn't particularly fresh or tantalizing, though watching Geoff Keighley get repeatedly shot down by Ted Price, president of Insomniac Games, is rather entertaining. If you're looking for new gameplay videos and information on the sequel to the PS3's well-received launch title, you'll have to watch the entirety of last night's episode of GameTrailers TV, as the individual nuggets of new information about the game have yet to be compartmentalized into easily digestible clips.

There's some interesting gameplay footage spliced throughout the episode, but for those of you who don't have 22 minutes to kill, you can check out chapters one and two for details about the single player campaign, chapter three for new info about mutliplayer, and chapter four for new characters and weapons. We imagine there's enough footage of Keighley getting the silent treatment from Price to fill up at least seventeen additional chapters.

If there was ever a game destined to really nail a niche market in North America, it's this game. Japanese-speaking Hanshin Tigers fans, with a deep knowledge of the team's history and players, will be all over importing this bad boy. There's a new twist to this heartwarming story of an underdog title coming out to compete against the big evil team game -- it's not just trivia anymore.

Along with a new batch of screens, we've discovered the inclusion of mini-games, good for letting your hair down after all that baseball question-answering work. You'll be hitting them out of the park in Home Run Contest, doing something else (we have no idea, sorry) in Lucky 7, and also enjoying a bit of karaoke ... somehow. Baseball is one popular sport, and importing Hanshin Tigers DS when it releases on August 28 will make you one popular gamer.