You're probably getting sick of our frequent comparisons between the God of War series and EA's upcoming poem-to-game conversion of Dante's Inferno. Well, GameTrailers recently got its hands on the first Infern-al gameplay footage to hit the internets, so now we invite you to make your own judgment on the two franchise's similarities. The video's posted after the break -- go ahead and watch it, we'll wait.

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See? We know! Crazy, right?

In fairness, Metanet Software's first video for Robotology (found after the break) is more physics demo than it is gameplay demo -- or even proof of concept, for that matter. Though considering the pedigree behind the game (Metanet made N+, this week's Xbox Live deal!), we're willing to overlook the less than thrilling minute-plus video in celebration of the sheer tenacity with which Metanet attacks its game development.

In fact, according to the Metanet website, the action in the video represents, "almost 800 lines of code, painstakingly hand-transcribed from graph paper and Flash mockups" -- oh my! Here's hoping it all pays off when the game ships ... eventually. And now, friends, we play the waiting game.

[Via Eurogamer]

Seven minutes and six seconds, to be exact. That's pure, raw, Starcraft 2 footage coming at you just beyond the break, and it features Terran, Zerg, and Protoss units going at it. If you're still not sated, try out the direct video file here (it's 250MB), free from flash encoding.

See how much you can resist trying to move the screen around with your own mouse, continually forgetting that – alas! – it's just a video. For us it happened right at the very end when that swarm of Ultralisks started pounding on that poor Terran Command Center. Ouch.

To kill time until the game ships (hopefully) later this year, be sure to check out our new hands-on with the multiplayer and our interview with lead producer Chris Sigaty, both coming later today, and the new images in the gallery below.

Yesterday morning, PlayStation 3 owners discovered access to Hulu was no longer functioning through the console's Internet browser. According to Engadget, PS3 users of the video content provider were treated with an apologetic error message, citing the desired content was not available on their "platform" of choice. Engadget is quick to point out that, while Hulu's recent Terms of Service changes make no mention of the console, changing an Internet browser's user-string to match the console reveals it is specifically being targeted. Conspiracy theories? Throw them in the comments below while we try to clear up this cloudy situation.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in. Image Credit: FormatWarCentral.com]

We're all still reeling from the passing of the King of Pop, but fortunately, Microsoft's got a nice (albeit brief) memorial for Michael Jackson up on Xbox Live. This weekend only, the Video Marketplace is giving away the full, ten-minute version of MJ's classic "Thriller" music video for your viewing pleasure. Yep, the greatest music video of all time is free to download until the end of the day today.

It's a nice gesture -- but why not just make the video permanently free? We're not sure these wounds will heal in such a short period of time.

Update: Looks like they've already take the deal down. If you don't feel like paying two dollars to watch a music video (and you shouldn't), you can just watch it on YouTube for free.

[Xbox Live Marketplace link - US only (and no longer free)]

This video dropped earlier this month, so we offer our humblest apologies if you've already seen it -- actually, scratch that. You could do with seeing it again. Watching a single man go all Ong-Bak on an unsuspecting sedan is damn near the most inspirational thing we've ever seen. Oh, and it closely resembles the bonus stage from Street Fighter II, which is why its relevant for our gaming-centric news establishment. Oh, and it features a song by Rage Against The Machine, which we understand is quite the popular band with the kids nowadays.

The reverse vehicular manslaughter demonstration is posted after the jump.

You might have already seen this at the MTV Movie Awards, but if you're the sort of person that's sworn off the MTV Movie Awards entirely (perfectly understandable) then we'd like to present Doubt: The Video Game as imagined by The Lonely Island. Check out the hot, 16-bit action after the break.

Interesting side note: This video was made in conjunction with Fatal Farm, the crew responsible for a bitching TimeShift ad and one of the funniest things on the whole internet.

A survey we reported on back in March about the possibility of Netflix video streaming on the Nintendo Wii has popped up again on our radar, but this time with one very noticeable difference. Today, a former Joystiq staff member was given a similar survey to fill out, but instead of the $10 charge for the "Netflix Instant Streaming Disc" mentioned in the previous questionnaire, this time it noted the disc would be "available for free."

We contacted both Nintendo and Netflix for comment. The House of Mario had nothing to say on the matter. A Netflix spokesperson informed us, "Netflix is always looking for ways to expand its service, but for now our game platform is the Xbox 360."

We'll say exactly what we said last time: This survey in no way validates that Netflix support is confirmed for the Wii, but it wouldn't be the least bit shocking that the service would want to tap into the Wii's "particular" demographic.

When we heard Home was pitting Hamsters (Read: Virtual Furries) against Humans in a virtual world dance-off, we were intrigued. Actually, first we re-read our news feed to make sure we weren't hallucinating and then we became intrigued. Last night we decided to log onto Home and find out what all the fuss was about. Like cars slowing past a train wreck, we were unable to look away as dozens of PlayStation 3 users came together for the "ultimate dance-off."

The winning faction has not been officially revealed, but humans appeared to be the clear winner during our multiple login sessions. If you're wondering what the point was: based on which side showed the most support, Home users would receive a different free item. If Hamsters are the decided winner, the PlayStation Home community will receive Viking and Valkyrie helmets. If Humans win, Home users net free Fedoras and Aviator headwear.

It's easy for us to be dismissive of the wacky promotion, but users involved seemed to be enjoying themselves. Seriously. As avatars bumped (also, grinded), users would motivate and compliment each other on their "sick moves" ... it was one of the strangest things we've ever seen on a gaming console. The horrors of a giant hamster "shakin' its money maker" can be viewed above. Fair warning it's 3 minutes and 41 seconds that cannot be unseen, nor is it time you can ever get back.

Another StarCraft II battle report just hit the interwebs. This one is out a little early, as you won't find it anywhere on the official site just yet. Blizzard's third battle report (as obtained by Gamez.nl) shows off some new units, a new map called Scrap Yard and also features over 17 minutes of Zerg vs. Protoss action.

While 17 minutes may not be enough to completely satiate a decade-long deficit of StarCraft goodness, it sure does leave us smiling and gets us excited about playing it later this year. Get briefed on the full battle report right after the break.

[Via Incgamers]

Internet video service Joost has just launched a special PS3 version of its site, and we have to admit it's pretty slick. The interface is designed specifically for the PS3, using the D-Pad to quickly go through the streamlined interface. Holding down the X button will bring up a special on-screen menu that allows you to quickly switch between windowed and full-screen playback. It's all very intelligently designed and easy to use.

Joost follows the footsteps of YouTube, which also offers a special portal for use on PS3. However, we found Joost runs much more smoothly than YouTube, offering better video quality at a better framerate. Unlike YouTube, you'll see advertisements before your video, but the improved interface and quality make for a significantly better experience. To check it out, visit http://labs.joost.com/tv on your PS3 browser. Don't forget to hit SELECT if you want to add it to your PS3's bookmarks.

Augmented reality (AR) has mostly been limited to research labs and the occasional cool webcam trick, but it's slowly becoming more plausible as a means for new forms of portable games. We saw one such title -- Sony's Invizimals for PSP -- at E3 and were wowed by its insertion of CG objects into "reality" using the system's camera add-on. Now a tech demo from Georgia Tech Augmented Environments Lab and the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD-Atlanta) gives us a glimpse at even more possibilities for these games on devices such as iPhone, PSP and Nintendo DSi.

Titled ARhrrr (geddit?), the game is a zombie shooter in which a flat tabletop map produces a cityscape seen on the handheld (in this case a prototype device from Nvidia). The city's populated with zombies, the handheld can be moved around at any angle and the overlayed city rotates accordingly. The idea behind the demo is that players are controlling a helicopter flying above the outbreak and can shoot zombies by tapping the screen. It's limited, but nonetheless really cool.

We've popped the demo footage after the break to rock your non-augmented reality. It's pretty impressive. So, what implimentations of AR on handhelds would you like to see?

[Thanks, Michael!]