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Sure, some of you probably went for flowers or evenings out or something romantic. But for many, February 14 probably went a lot like this. As it damn well should have.

[Bioware Hurrplz]

So, the new Twisted Metal game was quietly released yesterday. In honour of the affair, and the fact the game has also been picked up for a movie adaptation, here's some concept art from the latest entry in the long-running serires.

This art is all the work of Eat Sleep Play's Donald Yatomi.

If you're interested in picking the game up, be warned: there are spoilers in the images above.

To see more of Yatomi's work, head to his personal site.

GI Joe. M. Bison. Cammy. The Mushroom Kingdom. Mortal Kombat. I'm 31, and what is this.

(It's a trailer for Sacrifice of the Mushroom Kings by Jonathan Monaghan, which runs eight minutes in total and is viewable now at curator's office in Washington DC).

Microsoft has released a handy primer for Mass Effect 3 which shows how Kinect users will be able to vocally interact with the game.

Things look pretty simply, but I guess the simpler they are, the easier and more reliable they'll be to use.

Just remember this only applies to actual commands, not actual intentions. So don't just say "kiss lady space Nazi" or "EDI, remind me to feed the damn fish" and expect the game to do your bidding.

When the S.W.A.T. arrived at a North Texas home in Lewisville, there were told a shooter was in the house. There was, but it wasn't the shooter the police expected. It was a kid playing Call of Duty: Black Ops.

On Monday a little after 5pm, a teenage boy was playing Call of Duty: Black Ops on Xbox Live. He and his friends were hanging out and talking in an online lobby between matches. According to the teen, whose parents asked that he not be named: "Some dude just popped out of nowhere, and basically said he's going to hack me, he's going to get my information, call the swat team over to my front yard."

The teenager ignored the threat and kept playing with his friends on Xbox Live.

According to Channel 11 news in Dallas, a message was sent to the city via the AT&T Instant Message Relay Service, which is designed for hearing impaired individuals to contact someone via telephone. The message stated that someone had been shot, and there was a shooter inside the house.

Officers arrived at the boy's Lewisville home, but did not see any signs of a shooting. The boy's parents noticed a S.W.A.T. encircling the house. One officer began calling the boy's name with a bullhorn.

"We were all scared, out of our minds," he told Channel 11. "Didn't understand why they were here. We thought there was some stranger some dude running around our house, hiding behind the boat. We didn't know. We didn't expect nothing."

Frightened, the family called 9-1-1, and the operator connected them to the police, who told them to come out of their house.

The teen said he didn't know who pulled the prank. Police are looking into the matter, and trying to get a subpoena to get the necessary info to snag the gamer who sounded this false alarm.

Call Of Duty Game Leads To Prank Lewisville 911 Call [CBS Thanks Daniel!]

So you know how there were images of Team Fortress 2 action figures from last weekend's Toy Fair in New York? There weren't any pics of the Demoman. Even though he was there.

Why?

Because he'd been stolen. And not even the whole figure. Just a very important part of it.

Toy company NECA, who is producing the figures, reports that "a few hours" after opening their booth for business on the Sunday, they noticed that the Demoman's head was missing.

Adding that "a police report was filed, right at the booth", NECA has made up for it with a proper press shot of the figure, showing him in all his Scottish glory.

Highlights From 2012 NYC Toy Fair – Including Toy Espionage! [NECA]

Ah, Magical Sound Shower. Could there be a better soundtrack for driving around a two-dimensional landscape in an expensive car with a sexy lady beside you?

No. No, there could not.

The original piece from the original Outrun was composed by Hiroshi Miyauchi, but I very quietly prefer the campier version from Outrun 2, which I've also included.

Also included at the very end? A slightly different, but no less wonderful fan-made rendition.

It'll bring...well, the complete opposite.

Which is a pity. Wall-mounted control pad dispensers in dimly-lit sci-fi corridors would be great!

---

It sure looks like it.

This is Challenger, a Famicom game released in 1985 by Hudson. Look at the cover art and you'd be forgiven for thinking this was some shitty Lucasfilm clone, lifting its two biggest properties and dropping them in an unlicensed video game rip-off.

That would be a little harsh.

Sure, at first glance there are similarities. The main dude has a definite Indiana Jones vibe to him, which is understandable, since Challenger is an archaeologist, just like Dr. Jones. But Princess Leia's trademark "buns" soon turn out to be more of a traditional Chinese outfit, and what first looked like Darth Vader soon begins to look more like a Samurai Mazinger Z (fitting, as Samurai armour was the inspiration behind Vader's costume design in the first place).

Still, for the fun of it let's roll with this being Indiana Jones fighting Darth Vader to rescue Leia.

Challenger, whose opening stage is a remake of sorts of a 1983 Hudson computer game called Stop the Express, is notable for two reasons. The first is that it's got a cool feature where it's basically four games in one, the action split across platforming, action and even a Zelda-like overworld section.

The second reason? The game didn't have two difficulty levels. Or three. Or even four. It had sixteen, Challenger allowing the player to, VGDen says, "increase the number and type of enemies the player encounter throughout the game".

Challenger was later re-relased on mobile phones, the Game Boy Advance and Wii Virtual Console, though sadly only in Japan.