Mafia 2's story is a work of art, a lesson in storytelling other game makers should listen to. It doesn't glorify the mobster lifestyle like part one did - it's darker and more depressing, showing the less-than-pleasant side of getting involved with the mafia. You lose contact with your family, you live in a constant state of fear, the politics at the top of the mafia and its families, being a pawn in something greater than yourself - it's all there. I don't want to say a whole lot more about the story, because I don't want to spoil it for you. I can explain, however, why Vito, the game's protagonist, is so much more lovable than, say, the schizophrenic Niko Bellic from that dreadful GTA4, even though they appear to be alike at first glance. If anyone still remembers my review of GTA4, you'll recall I found the game rather lacking on just about every front. My biggest complaint, however, was the main character. Niko whined for hours on end about how he regretted the things he did back in the war in Yugoslavia, how he just wanted to do it all over again. While at the same time killing about 45 people during every single mission. Niko just didn't make any sense, he wasn't believable, wasn't real, he was clearly "created". He was a schizophrenic hand puppet who shifted between being a hippie whining about the preciousness of life and a murdering psychopath with a total disregard for morality every other minute. Vito, on the other hand, is different. Unlike Niko, he doesn't whine about his past in the war or the things that he's done, while at the same time murdering ten policemen with a shotgun. Vito also breaks the rules, he also does things that he has moral issues with. Trafficking drugs is one of those - he despises it, he doesn't want to do it, it's beneath him and the mafia. However, at some point during the game, Vito loses all he has worked for, leaving him penniless - with nothing but the boxers and shirt he was wearing in bed. It is at this point that he has no choice but to resort to jobs that he normally wouldn't do. You'll see the conflict in his eyes. The writers behind Mafia 2 are simply better at their job than the guys who came up with Niko; Vito makes sense, Niko doesn't. In most of these types of games, the main character feels like a puppet on a string, doing random things that don't make any sense, things that do not logically follow from the story or the character. In Mafia 2, however, Vito's choices are clearly the products of circumstance. They are logical consequences from what's happening to him. That is what proper storytelling and character building is all about.

The Lord of the Rings: Aragorn's Quest is, arguably, the friendliest version of the epic, or so is the popularly held belief. Now we have a trailer as a testimony. Aragorn's Quest represents the very first gaming activity of Warner Bros. Interactive, since it acquired the literary and film rights to Lord of the Rings. The game is currently under development for Wii, Nintendo DS, PlayStation 2, and PlayStation Portable, and is due this fall. The trailer starts with children gathering around fire to listen to the story of Aragorn, and then it moves on to showing glimpses of his cavalier conquests. Aragorn's Quest is about controlling Aragorn though the events of three books. Now stream and let your path be guided by the courage of Aragorn. Elsewhere on the web you can also access some screenshots of the game.

A leak is a leak! Essentially it means things are available before 'official' comes into picture. And frankly we are suckers for anything in the name of a leak; footage, screens, quotes, every bit. That we harp on them and they come back to bite us is quite a different matter altogether. Anyway we have found Assassin 2's leaked footage and we are really (re-al-ly) excited about it. And of course we want to share our excitement. So without further ado here are eleven seconds of footage that could make or break your opinion of the game. Oh who are we kidding? Anyway the footage packs a lot of action in a really (re-al-ly) short span of time; jumping, climbing and running too. Wonder if Ubisoft will take the trouble to remove it from YouTube? And since we are on the topic, Assassin's Creed 2 has been promised for Q3, 2009.