67,600. That's the number of nerds and gaming fans that rushed Seattle's PAX Prime show this year. It's easily the largest gaming event in the US open to the public, and it shows no sign of losing momentum. This year's show made headlines, too, with the surprise reveal of a fully playable Duke Nukem Forever.

Speaking with Gamasutra, the Penny Arcade duo noted that the establishment of PAX not only serves gamers, but publishers as well. "[Publishers] need a place like PAX to promote [their products]," the team said. This year's show gave fans (and journalists!) an additional opportunity to check out games like Epic Mickey, Swarm, and Outland before release. PAX's timing, the Penny Arcade duo argue, allow for games to be spread more evenly throughout the year. "Before, if a game didn't make its Christmas launch it was a nightmare. This year was much more distributed as far as big releases."

Penny Arcade Expo will return to Boston next year for PAX East 2011, which will undoubtedly also turn up big numbers. But, PAX may have its eyes set on an international show. "A third PAX would likely take place in a different country," the Gamasutra report states. "Preferably somewhere the duo want to visit." PAX South Africa, perhaps? Cause we've got that covered!

Oh great, a Wii game with "Party" in the title. Do we really need another one of these? I mean, we've already got Raving Rabbits TV Party, Pool Party, Game Party, Babies Party, Mario Party 8, Boom Blox: Bash Party, and ... trust me, I could go on.

Wait a second. What's that? Disney Guilty Party's actually fun? It doesn't look like the developers were locked in a closet throughout the design process? Oh, fine. I guess I'll give it a shot.

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Space Invaders: Infinity Gene is coming to PS3 and Xbox 360 next week, on September 14 and 15, respectively. Although based on the iPhone version of the game, the HD presentation and the much-needed ability to use a gamepad makes it a worthwhile upgrade over the iPhone version. It's far easier to pull off combos, powered by consecutive shots, with a controller -- especially when you're able to see your ship (instead of your thumb).

For those unfamiliar with the game, the concept centers around the evolution of the shooter. Starting with the iconic intro stage to the original arcade game, Infinity Gene introduces new gameplay and visual elements as you reach certain score targets. The first upgrade allows you to move your ship freely across the X and Y axis, and eventually you'll be able to move along the Z-axis as well. The visuals transform from a monochromatic not-even-8-bit look, to a wild barrage of colorful vectors.

Like the rest of the recent Space Invaders games, Infinity Gene may be more fun to look at, than to actually play. The entire presentation is high-concept -- every time the bright white "EVOLUTION" screen appears on the screen, it's hard not to think how odd this title really is. It's definitely intriguing, but perhaps not everyone's cup of tea.

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Tucked away in this morning's press release revealing the 250GB Xbox 360 with Kinect bundle was news that, at this year's Tokyo Game Show, Microsoft will be showing off new Kinect games. The release says that the company will unveil "even more new controller-free games and experiences never before possible," without making any mention of the Microsoft-hosted keynote or the recently announced brain game from Dr. Kawashima and Namco.

At the very least, we know to expect dozens -- if not hundreds -- of videos showing Japanese people waving their arms and legs about, trying desperately to maintain control while piloting Kinect-based games. We can hardly wait.

By naming its flight combat franchise "HAWX," Ubisoft created an expectation of ... something more. Something to do with the letter "X." It wasn't "HAWKS" -- that X was a built-in promise, right there in the title, of something x-otic and x-treme. While the first game in the series attempted to make the genre a little more x-citing, its sequel isn't so much a thrilling melange of dogfights and bombing runs as it is a simulation of working nine to five for a missile and bomb delivery service.

Hey, a game where you pilot a flying UPS truck -- that could be pretty neat! Oh, sorry. See, I'm already forgetting HAWX 2. Let me get this all down before I move on to something more exciting, like a documentary on how they make packing peanuts.

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A lot of people have been making a big deal out of multiplayer in Torchlight 2 -- and rightfully so -- but not so much talk has been about modding. The first game had a substantial mod community, thanks in part to Runic Games offering mod tools for free to all players. And during my demo of the game at PAX, a Runic rep confirmed that the company will once again freely distribute mod tools to the public.

But because of the addition of multiplayer, I was concerned about how mods will be shared now. The rep confirmed to me that players will be able to use the new multiplayer framework to find games incorporating mods but, better yet, all XP earned in these games will stay with your character. I was promised persistence across all games, be they mods or standard games.

One final interesting tidbit: all loot dropped in multiplayer games will be client specific. This means that the items you see in your game are only in your game. No need for mad dashes to grab all the high-level loot drops!

"The Lair of the Shadow Broker" is the perfect epilogue for Mass Effect 2, adding closure to an important story arc, and offering a brief glimpse at the potential of Mass Effect 3. It's essential content for the Mass Effect fan: not only does the DLC push the canon forward, it provides some of the most thrilling action in the franchise thus far. There's a new alien race, a new Spectre, the best boss battle in the series, heck, there's even a car chase. It's a thrill ride, albeit a brief one.

Liara's return in Mass Effect 2 has had a rather divisive effect amongst fans, many of whom found disliked her unexpectedly dark turn. The prequel comic Mass Effect Redemption offers some insight into her drastic personality change -- her search for Shepard's body led to a messy exchange with the Shadow Broker, a mysterious entity that's been teased throughout both Mass Effect games. The DLC gives you new information on the Shadow Broker's whereabouts, courtesy of Cerberus, which gives you reason to return to Liara on Illium. Exactly who is the Shadow Broker and what does he do with the information at his disposal? How does Liara want to exact her revenge? These questions are all finally answered.

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Here's the thing: we refuse to watch this video. Sorry, guys, but Halo: Reach is a little less than a week away and we want to go into it fresh. Still, not everyone has the same desire to remain pure, so for those of you chomping at the bit for more Reach stuff, head on past the break for a video walkthrough of "Tip of the Spear." If you need us, we'll have our fingers firmly planted in our ears, shouting "la-la-la-la-la-la-we-can't-hear-you!"

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Nintendo has released a new firmware update for the DSi -- the first update in over a year. The update does not add any new functionality to the device, but instead provides "behind-the-scenes improvements to system performance." Translation: Several DSi flash cartridges, which enable the use of homebrew or pirated software, have been blocked.

According to GBAtemp.net, the affected carts include (but aren't necessarily limited to) the Acekard 2i, Supercard DSTwo, M3i Zero, iPlayer and DSTTi. A handful of carts are reportedly unaffected by the update, including the EZ-Flash Vi, iSmart DS and Hyper R4i.

And thus the cycle begins anew, with hackers diligently hacking away at Nintendo's new anti-piracy efforts (which didn't take too long last time). Joystiq does not condone piracy, but flash cartridges also have plenty of legal, entertaining uses. For example, did you know the DS makes a handy SCUMM emulator?

Welcome back, Briefanatics! After a short, Summer of Arcade-induced hiatus, XBLA in Brief is back again to give you a heads up on the latest games to hit Xbox Live Arcade. This week we hail the long-awaited arrival of Plants vs Zombies and ... well, Dance! It's Your Stage is available too.

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There are new Xbox Live Arcade games released every week. We realize that our readers are busy, attractive people, and may not have time to download and examine each and every new XBLA game. You've got busy, attractive person stuff to do, after all. Not to worry though, because we've done the work for you, downloading every single trial game and giving you a taste of what to expect. Watch XBLA in Brief every week to see which games deserve a closer look. When you have the time, of course.

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We hope you've mentally prepared yourself for this: Square Enix's Mindjack has been delayed until 2011. Siliconera received confirmation from the publisher that the Feelplus (Lost Odyssey, N3 II: Ninety-Nine Nights) developed title would not be making its scheduled October launch.

Square recently adopted an educational stance in a "how to play" video, showing off the shooter's frantic, out-of-body respawning feature. lt looked a little rough, so a delay seems prudent . And besides, Q4 2010 is already packed.

One of the cooler features Microsoft touted in its first Project Natal (now Kinect) video was the ability to scan objects and use them in your games. Unfortunately, that feature is nowhere to be found in any Kinect game announced so far, and Microsoft has been mum on the subject ... until now. Kinect mastermind Kudo Tsunoda told Eurogamer that although current games may not utilize it now, it's something we can expect in future titles. "Being able to digitise real-world objects and take them into the virtual world ... I think we're going to see a lot more games start using that as well as we go forward."

The future of Kinect won't be entirely controller-free, either. While Sony has taken shots at the Kinect's lack of button input, Tsunoda says that "it's not like we're trying to take controllers out of the equation." While the current library is focused on an entirely controller-free experience, Tsunoda says that "games that involve both controllers and Kinect as well are totally possible."

"That's one of the unique things about the Xbox platform: we can do controllers; we can do controllers with Kinect, which is more than just motion control, it has voice and human recognition as well." So Kudo, when are you going to reveal the head-tracking enabled, voice-command Halo tactical FPS we just imagined?

"Boom!" as one Mr. Steve Jobs might say. Just as promised, iOS 4.1 is available for download through iTunes and, with it, we have Apple's Game Center, the company's first foray into a more connected gaming experience. As seen on the slide above, Game Center offers multiplayer games, matchmaking, leaderboards, and new ways of discovering games. Of course, while iOS 4.1 will run on all sorts of iProducts, Game Center only works on post-3G iPhones and iPod Touches.

With Xbox Live coming to Windows Phone 7 in just a couple months, and rumors of PlayStation integration on the Android platform, things are about to get wild on the mobile gaming front. If you're the early adoption type, fire up iTunes and get downloading. If you're the wait-and-see type, maybe the early adopters will share their progress in the comments. We'll go first: Update complete, everything's working fine.

[Update: Things are still pretty spartan on the Game Center front. The service is up and running, but with just one game out that supports it – that would be the less-than-stellar iPhone port of Ms. Pac-Man – we're holding out for something better. C'mon Angry Birds! Quick feedback: You can't see your friends' friends, and you can't see their achievements either. We're assuming that changes if you each have the same game but, again, there's not a lot of software available right now. Anyone want to play some Fruit Ninja with OpenFeint?]

[Update 2: Touch Arcade is keeping track of the Game Center launch titles, and which ones have been updated, here. To put it more directly, that's the page you're going to want to sit on until Plunderland gets a "NOW LIVE!" note next to it.]

Sure, the weather in Tokyo may be frightful right now, but there's good reason to fly over for TGS. The latest issue of Famitsu has revealed a sequel to Edgeworth-starring adventure Ace Attorney Investigations. According to a Siliconera report, Capcom's new courtroom caper will include new kinds of game systems, including one that's supposedly chess-like. (How appropriate!)

Further investigation has yet to reveal additional details, but we can deduce using logic (and enthusiasm) that Ace Attorney fans will demand an English localization. Any rebuttals?

Microsoft has apologized to a 26-year-old gamer after suspending him from Xbox Live because his online profile listed "Fort Gay" as his location. It turns out that nobody Binged Fort Gay, West Virginia, the happy hamlet of 819 citizens. Heads-up, Microsoft: Mount Gay, West Virginia is also a real place.

Xbox Live enforcement master Stephen Toulouse acknowledged the mistake and said that the training of his banhammer-wielding team had already been updated. Microsoft altered its Xbox Live policy earlier this year to allow acknowledgement of sexual orientation terms for people, following concerns over the company's policies toward the GLBT community.

EA has been mum on Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Vietnam since announcing the multiplayer-only expansion during its E3 press conference three months ago. But Battlefield Community Manager zh1nt0 says that's about to change. "I am going to Tokyo Game Show to showcase Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Vietnam for the first time," he said on the studio's Battlefield Blog.

He reiterated the original feature set – "4 brand new maps built in Frostbite, as well as Vietnam specific weapons, vehicles, persistence, unlocks, and achievements/trophies" – and, well, that's about it. We're shipping out to Tokyo next week where we'll rendezvous with the expansion and deliver the intel back here. Still think they're going to hit that "this winter" release window?

King of all kings of the cosmos -- Katamari Damacy and Noby Noby Boy creator Keita Takahashi -- is leaving Namco, reports Play.tm. A Namco representative confirmed Takahashi's resignation.

The developer expressed his dissatisfaction in the past with developing for the Japanese publisher, even saying he was disappointed with the support he received for Noby Noby Boy. He's also expressed interest in branching out to other careers, telling the BBC in 2005, "In 10 years time, I am not going to be making games any more." More recently, he got to work on plans for a playground in Nottingham, UK.

Despite its long list of problems, Gladiator Begins gets the most important thing right: beating, bashing and slicing dudes feels good. It's just as well, because that's the only thing this PSP game ever lets you do.

The premise is simple to a fault: You hop in a box with Roman slaves and then stab 'em until they're dead. That's it. For some, non-stop brawling makes for the best kind of action game; the beat-'em-up genre's survived on this kind of repetition. Gladiator even takes advantage of a handful of elements inspired by role-playing, which keeps things from getting stale too quickly.

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