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It's not often we tell you not to click after the break. But this time around, you're going to have to make a choice: will you watch the ten minutes of unedited gameplay footage of Heavy Rain from G4TV, or will you restrain yourself? Let's not forget that David Cage believes multiple playthroughs of the game "kill the magic of it." This scene, which takes place in the Blue Lagoon nightclub, has some revealing moments you may want to enjoy during your own playthrough.

Should you refrain from taking a look, we'll reassure you that the game looks absolutely gorgeous. Heck, even the load screen is beautiful!

If your pure, pure love of Castle Crashers and Alien Hominid has left you starving for more info regarding The Behemoth's next title -- a multiplayer platformer tentatively titled "Game 3" -- then you should check out G4's recent hands-on with the title, in video form after the break. Adam Sessler got a chance to check out the idiosyncratic game while Dan Paladin rides shotgun, explaining a couple of the game's modes, as well as the overarching story for the title. In a nutshell, said plot features a schizophrenic madman who's managed to kidnap your friends, whom you must rescue. Sounds appropriately bizarre.

The video shows four players slugging it out in "Whale mode," and also gives a brief demo of the co-op mode. We can't wait to check it out -- sadly, with a nondescript launch window of "2010," it seems we'll be doing a great deal of waiting before we can do checking.

You know Techland, right? No no, not that weird Discovery Zone ripoff your Dad used to take you to when you were a little kid -- the Polish developer! You know, the comany that makes Call of Juarez and ... ummm ... not much else. Anyway, while speaking recently with G4TV, the company's international brand manager, Blazej Krakowiak, confirmed a second title from the developer, albeit one announced way back in 2007, named Dead Island.

Unfortunately, the game's website tells us little to nothing about the game's current status. So, we emailed Techland this afternoon and Krakowiak told us, "As far as Dead Island goes, nothing has changed regarding our media silence .... the game's worldwide publisher is still waiting for their best moment to strike and reveal the awesome stuff we're preparing for zombie fans and gamers." He also confirmed to us the game's still in-development status, saying, "The game's still alive (or better yet, still Dead) and doing great."

As G4TV rightly points out, when the game was shown last it was without a publisher, so if anything, this means good things for Techland's zombie game. After all, we're still wondering what happened to the company's open-world FPS game, Warhound ...

Sure, it can't compare with the excitement of our liveblog of the event, but we figured you might like to know that G4 will be broadcasting highlights from the Game Developers Choice Awards tonight at 6:30 Pacific / Eastern time with a rebroadcast at 8:00. The highlights will be shown as a special episode of X-Play, meaning you'll also get your daily dose of vitamin Sessler.

Sure, it's over two weeks after the fact, but how many times do you get to see Tim Schafer cracking wise in a tuxedo? Not enough, that's how many.

At least that's what Mr. Diesel, owner of Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena co-developer Tigon Studios, told G4TV's X-Play this week. When asked if his studio's upcoming remake of 2004's Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay will feature online multiplayer, he had this to say: "Big props to the whole team working on this because we were well into production in the game and I begged for some multiplayer component on this and everyone rose to the occasion and created something really compelling."

And we must say, between the recently released Riddick demo on Xbox Live and Diesel's starring role in Wheelman, the actor turned development studio owner has been making quite a name for himself in the video game industry. Now all we need is a Vin Diesel/50 Cent mashup full of ulaks and exploding ramps. We can dream, can't we?

Miss the inFamous footage on X-Play last night? You can watch the full 12 minute video after the break and see Sucker Punch's Nate Fox talk through a section of the game. The video actually raises our excitement for the game, though there's still a lot of the game that's a real unknown quantity and it seems that they're saving a lot of stuff for us to discover as we play. Though Fox does start talking a little more about morality choices and power upgrades in this video. We're looking forward to more upcoming information that is revealed between now and the game's release in Spring.

The moment you've all been anxiously anticipating is finally here! The winners of X-Play's "Best of 2008" awards have finally been announced -- though perhaps a bit prematurely, as Calvin Tucker's Redneck Jamboree won't be hitting store shelves 'til next week. Fable 2 took the gold in the "Game of the Year" category, beating out Gears of War 2, Fallout 3, Metal Gear Solid 4, Grand Theft Auto IV, Left 4 Dead and Resistance 2.

X-Play made some solid choices for the winners of other categories -- The World Ends With You took home "Best Handheld Game", Rock Band 2 clinched the "Best Music/Rhythm Game" category, MGS4 won "Best Action/Adventure Game", and Fallout 3 beat out Fable 2 in the "Best RPG" category. So, for those playing along at home, Fable 2 is the best game that came out this year -- but not the best RPG. Can someone whip up a Venn diagram to try and explain this one to us?

For those who know of "the giggle loop," we're attempting not to succumb as we earnestly report this information. The Championship Gaming Series (CGS) announced it will begin airing 90-minute episodes exclusively on cable-station G4 beginning July 16.

During its inaugural season on DirecTV, CGS CEO Andy Reif says 50 million "cumulative viewers" watched the series. G4 president Neal Tiles believes the competition "is certain to appeal to our viewers." What viewers would those be ... wait, no, must not give in to urges. We wish all the best for the show's ratings on the network. People watch other professional sports, why not this?

If you find yourself in the mood to pay to watch G4's gamer-oriented line of television programming, you can now scratch that puzzling itch on the Xbox Live Marketplace, where several of the network's original television programs have been made available for download. These programs include Attack of the Show, snowboard documentary series The Block, and animated comedy series Code Monkeys (which includes a free sneak preview of the show's second season).

Oddly enough, X-Play is not one of the shows featured on Microsoft's service, despite the fact that the daily half-hour Sess-fest is one of the highest rated programs on the network. A shame, too -- we would actually dish out some Microsoft buckz to avoid wading through the countless reruns of Fastlane, Cops, Cheaters, and other "gamer-oriented" programs to watch the oft-renamed program. Alas, we must continue to suffer the seemingly limitless douchebaggery of Joey Greco.

You guys guessed it! The new Star Trek game on PSP didn't fare too well at all. The series certainly looks like it's on its dying breath: no new movie, no new television series, and no good games. Let's find out why the critics disliked Bethesda's offering for the franchise:

• G4TV (60/100) - "The actual ship controls leave something to be desired... Since weapons need time to charge between each burst, combat is also rather slow-paced-particularly before your officers reach higher ranks. Overall, the action feels too slow for an action game, yet too arcade-like for a real tactical experience."
• GameSpot (62/100) - "Star Trek: Tactical Assault is brimming with good ideas that just don't feel fleshed out. It's got a nice strategic concept but doesn't run far enough with it. Even with two lengthy campaigns and skirmish options, it doesn't feel quite complete. The underused license is also a shame because a little Captain Kirk goes a long way. Trekkies will find Tactical Assault worth a look, but there isn't enough Star Trek or strategy to give life to the game's promising concept."
• IGN (64/100) - "As far as Trek games go, Tactical Assault beats out many of its predecessors. Sadly, that's not too hard to do. It offers a decent mix of strategy and action, though both halves never gel very well. The option to pilot several vessels in two different campaigns is definitely nice, but the story and missions could have used more variety. Lastly, Tactical Assault looks and sounds the part, though Trek aficionados will still find the game's presentation ho-hum."

Each week Dennis McCauley contributes The Political Game, a column on the collision of politics and video games:

At the vgXpo in Philly last weekend I was asked to serve on a panel discussing how to make Philadelphia into a video game Mecca. Tough question. Among life's imponderables, that's right up there.

At first blush it seems like a mega-long shot. Sandwiched between New York and Washington, Philly has a long-standing municipal inferiority complex. And even though it's the nation's fourth largest metropolitan area (behind NYC, Los Angeles and Chicago), this Rodney Dangerfield of a town seemingly gets no respect.

Although Philly area people are avid gamers, from a game development standpoint, there isn't a whole lot happening in or around the City of Brotherly Love. A suburban company, eGames, cranks out some nice casual fare for the PC crowd. Majesco, more familiar to console and handheld fans, is headquartered in New Jersey, closer to New York than Philly, truth be told. Maybe the most happening thing in town right now is Newgrounds.com, the Flash portal operated by Tom Fulp, who also designed the indie hit Alien Hominid.

We wouldn't normally suggest you watch anything on G4 (Cinematech is alright), but tonight could be something special. Tonight, Larry Hryb, Xbox Live's Major Nelson, will be featured on Attack of the Show's "The Loop" segment. The subject: microtransactions. Ooh, we smell a Lumines fight a comin'! If you'd like to watch, you can check it out at 7:00PM EDT (11:00PM GMT). Hey, it could be worse, right?

The recently-ragged G4TV is getting ready for its annual awards show and it has just opened its website for voting. According to the official line, the awards show, set to air August 8th at 6 p.m. EST, will be less sensational:

This year will be very different than past years - no big BS Hollywood party or non-gaming celebrities reading poorly written jokes off teleprompters - more lo-fi, by the people for the people... you get the picture. Spike TV clearly has the lame, made for mainstream, disingenuous MTV-like award show covered, we're happy to let them have it.

According to Robert Juster, executive producer of G4 Interactive, the show will use the theme of an "election night coverage special -- with a very Colbert Report / Daily Show feel to it." Juster then provided this video as an example of the "awesome 'attack' ads" produced by the G-Phoria team.

The Game Rag could not wait any longer, so it posted the rest of its feature chronicling 21 hours watching G4TV. As the day progressed, and a new episode of Attack of the Show shone through crappy re--runs like a dimmed light, author Michael Piercey lamented at the cold truth: even if G4TV got the right formula for gamers, would we even watch?

Many of us yearn for a return to the days of TechTV, for various reasons (Leo LaPorte being one of the most frequently cited, but we also loved Eye Drops). Back then, GameSpot TV / Extended Play (the ancestors of X-Play) still got flak for being out-of-touch with gamers. We are a disparate lot, whose tastes have only be satiated by the multitude of outlets available on the internet. We are not defending G4TV; we just wonder if it is even possible to make a successful gaming channel.

It would need a few improvements and additions: