There’s no question that Final Fantasy XIII is a beautiful, dramatic affair, but according to reviews of the game, released outside of Japan today for the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360, it’s also a departure for the series. The verdicts aren’t much different than we heard in December, when Final Fantasy XIII was released in Japan: Open worlds, mini-games and exploration are hacked away in favor of eye-popping cutscenes and fast-moving narrative. Whether that appeals to you depends on personal preference.

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Spawn Labs reckons that it’s created the Slingbox equivalent for video game consoles, and now the Spawn HD-720 is ready for you to blow $200 on. It’s supposed to let you play a Playstation 3 or Xbox 360 from remote locations, such as your computer desk or someone else’s house. You feed the audio, video and controller inputs on your Xbox 360 or PS3 into the box. Then, you install Spawn Labs’ software on a PC. Finally, plug a USB game controller into your computer, and you’re able to control a video game console from afar. But does it work?

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If you’ve ever seen baggage handlers toss luggage around on the tarmac, you know perfectly well not to check your Xbox 360 on an airplane. Consumerist reader Adam wasn’t so wise, and after flying with his Xbox 360 in checked baggage, he got home and discovered that the console was busted open, with its metal components stored in Ziploc bags (actual Xbox 360 is not the one pictured above). US Airways won’t take responsibility for the damage even though a ticket agent said checking the console wouldn’t be a problem.

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Okay, so the last round of Halo: Reach screenshots were suspect, but when a batch appears briefly on EBGames’ Web site, you know they’re legit. On the sketchier side, there’s also a freshly leaked video, apparently of the Halo: Reach beta, that shows very little but hints at a “Murder Mode” for stealthily killing enemies.

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Chalk it up to the preview effect, but I had high hopes for Dark Void, out today for Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and PC. When checking the game out at a media day in Los Angeles and talking to executive producer Morgan Gray, there seemed to be great potential in combining the bygone era of aerial dogfighting with the Gears of War-style duck-and-cover combat that everyone wants a piece of these days. Alas, Dark Void’s jetpack-enabled adventure isn’t getting the love from critics. Almost uniformly, they acknowledge a good seed of an idea is dragged down by derivative design, a confusing plot the glaring omission of multiplayer.

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All this month, Game Informer’s going to tease scraps of information on Halo: Reach, but if you can’t wait, All Games Beta scanned up a bunch of the pages. The whole thing’s saddled with excruciatingly minute details that would satisfy the most rabid Halo fans — and if you’re one of those people, go out and buy the magazine. Otherwise, head past the jump and we’ll break down the important bits with a handful of handy bullet points.

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This took too long. A remake of the white-knuckle PC first-person shooter Serious Sam is coming to Xbox Live Arcade this Wednesday for 1200 Microsoft Points, after being announced in June with a supposed late summer 2009 release date, and after the PC version came out in November. Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter is just as you remember it, with the eponymous hero taking on the army of Lord Mental. And it’s quite an army, including headless, bomb-wielding kamikaze soldiers, flying demons and cyber aliens.

No duck-and-cover health regeneration here. This is mindless strafing and shooting at its very best, with players scrambling to keep distance between themselves and the endless onslaught of foes. It’s the perfect break from more cerebral shooters such as Modern Warfare 2 (yes, Serious Sam HD makes Modern Warfare 2 look cerebral) or the upcoming Bioshock 2, though we would have preferred it in the summer when there was nothing going on. Check out the trailer on YouTube, or head past the jump for screenshots. [via Major Nelson]

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Matching most expectations, Microsoft announced that Natal will be available for its Xbox 360 console near the end of the year.

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Xbox Live General Manager Marc Whitten addressed a range of questions in an interview with GameInformer, touching on but mostly deflecting the subjects of abusive online players and Microsoft’s use of points instead of money. Rather than disallow a rowdy bunch of 13 year olds from having a good ol’ homophobic time, Whitten explained that they’d rather allow every user to find the experience of their choice.

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