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It's the sequel to 2009's official Game of The Year. The artwork is hot. The screenshots are mind-blowing. So it's no surprise that anticipation for Batman: Arkham City has gone mega-off-the-sphincter-scale in the GamesRadar offices. We don't have the game, but we do have an interview with developer Rocksteady Studios. ...

The Lost Labyrinth level in Sonic 4 was a shocker. It wasn't that it was bad...it's that it was so bad, we ran an article on it in the hope that Sega would listen and either fix it, or remove it. Thankfully, if the latest trailer is anything to go by, they've pretty much done both.

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High in self-esteem, are we? Maybe a little too high? Worried that you're beginning to get a bit cocky, and are in danger of alienating those around you? You need to dig out a Gamecube, fast. No, not to revile the years of fanboy ridicule that came with being a Nintendo fan when everyone else had a PS2 or Xbox (it still hurts, damnit!). Nintendo's little purple fun box has a completely different way to resize your ego. And it comes as part of a recently discovered unlockable mode in first-party jet ski racer Wave Race: Blue Storm.

Long story short: With the correct cheat mode inputs (Remember them? They were great), it's possible to make the game's commentator hurl vile and slanderous word venom at you, crushing your spirit with insults and brutal sarcasm at every turn.

We knew Nintendo were unhealthily nice. That kind of repression was always going to spill out somewhere. Full details and video are through the click. ...

Just to be clear, we don't go around believing everything that industry analyst Michael Pachter says. He was, after all, rather spectacularly wrong about how well Red Dead Redemption would do at retail. However, he's actually said something very interesting today that is cause for thought.

His thinking is that Microsoft's recently-announced hike in Xbox Live Gold subscription rates (which he called, admittedly) has come in to boost revenue with the aim of using the money to develop a third tier on the Xbox Live subscription options. We already have the basic Silver and premium Gold memberships - Pachter reckons we'll have a 'Platinum' level membership option in the not-too distant future. For $100. Ouch. Here's what he believes that would mean for you.

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Far away from the charts and the mega-commercial releases and the grinning Bobby Koticks, there is an exciting world of games loaded with passionate expression, dazzling ideas and a staggering wealth of creativity. They are independent games and they are being celebrated at next month's International Festival of Independent Games, aka IndieCade. The 32 finalists of this year's IndieCade awards are full of innovation, originality and win. Give them your time... ...