Well here we go. Our palms are sweaty with anticipation as we countdown to the next great Elder Scrolls game.

Fortunately our ravaging appetite for all things Skyrim has been temporarily abated by an in-game trailer from Bethesda Softworks. You can watch it after the break. And don't say we didn't warn you, if after watching the trailer you find you can hardly bare the waiting.

Well we knew it was coming soon and now we know when soon is. Today Microsoft announced that Gears of War 3 will be released on September 20, 2011 for the Xbox 360. So how excited is Microsoft? Excited enough to insert the following gushing sentence in their press release: "Gears of War 3 is the glorious conclusion to one of the most memorable sagas in video games' history and this is a date you certainly don't want to miss."

Glorious conclusion of a memorable saga?!? If that doesn't give you swells of emotional outbursts (i.e. crying to the layman) than you must be made of stone. Oh Microsoft, we won't miss this date...oh no we won't.

Just in case you guys aren't up to speed on why Microsoft is literally wetting their pants over this game, check out the following features:

· An enthralling cinematic story that captivates players in an intimately intense action game
· Five-on-five multiplayer experience as well as four player campaign co-op experience
· New multiplayer game modes including 'Beast Mode' – offering a new twist to the game where you take on the role of the locust horde and their assorted variations!
· New maps including: Trenches which features an impressive sand storm that reduces your visibility, as well as Overpass, Mercy, Checkout, and Thrashball
· New weapons including: The Bayonet Charge, The Retro Lancer, The Sawed-off Shotgun, The OneShot – a heavy sniper rifle that shoots through shields or cover for a surprise one shot kill, The Incendiary Grenade, The Digger Launcher and a few subtle tweaks to old favourites Hammerburst and The Classic Lancer. Don't forget that each weapon now has its own execution move!

In related news, the Associate Press is confirming that the public multiplayer beta test will be this spring. Nice! Also, the same had a juicy quote from the design director, Cliff Bleszinski, regarding Lambent (or is it 'The Lambent'?)...the game's featured new enemies. "They burst out of the ground in these veiny, treelike stalks that transport them throughout the world. It's like an embryonic sac. It's nasty stuff. You fight those guys for about a third of the experience, then for the rest of the game you deal with the latest evolution of — or should I say the devolving — Locust."

Oh wow...that does sound good. Ok, now we're really excited too!

Artistic filming meets zombie terror in the official trailer for Dead Island. Critics are saying it's the best gaming trailer ever made...we agree, but than we remembered that The Phantom Menace had the best Star Wars trailer ever and we know how that turned out.

So watch it, love it, analyze it and watch it again and again...but remember, it's just a trailer!

Video after the break.

On a recent episode of GTTV, Randy Pitchford of Gearbox Software announced that the typical game play length for Duke Nukem Forever is 16-18 hours. He also took the opportunity to make a dig at the Call of Duty franchise by saying, "I know, it's like 3 or 4 Call of Duties right? I'm not kidding."

This is good news for gamers since we're lucky if we get 8-10 hours of single-player goodness out of a modern first-person shooter. And, considering how long we've had to wait for DNF, we really do deserve more than a few sleepless nights with the Duke!

Bethesda Softworks is showing us some love on this Valentine's Day. They've released a handful of screenshots of Skyrim and, as expected, the graphics are breathtaking.

Check them out after the break!

We've got a new trailer for iD Software's Rage. Lots of vehicular manslaughter, mutants, mutant heads mounted on walls, super mutants, giant mutants, fat mutants, oh and what appears to be a controllable spider robot.

Clearly mutants are an important part of this game...which will be released September 13th, 2011.

Click on through to watch the trailer!

Wouldn't you know it. The same weekend that we get a release date for Duke Nukem Forever, we also get an official trailer. A pixelated NSFW official trailer by the way.

Check it out after the break!

Well what do you know...apparently Duke Nukem Forever really is going to be released! Courtesy of Game Informer we've learned this morning that the official North American release date is May 3, 2011...for everyone else it will be May 6, 2011.

The ever jovial Randy Pitchford (President of Gearbox Software) seemed very pleased to, as he put it, "reveal the moment of truth for the most inconceivable, incorrigible and inspiring turn around story in the history of the video game industry – the coming of Duke Nukem Forever on May 3, 2011."

Can't argue with you Randy. It certainly is inconceivable!

Oh and remember our news article about how Amazon.com was predicting a May 31, 2001 release date? Apparently their reliable source isn't so reliable.

One thing we've learned over the years about video game immersion is that quality sound effects are critical. We're no longer living in the age of midi tracks. Gamers expect 'movie quality' environmental sounds.

The problem with those expectations are that video games and movies are two completely different beasts. Movie directors have complete control over what sounds are played in any particular scene. But in video games (and in particular multiplayer action games) every shot, explosion, ricochet, scream, and recoil must have an accompanying sound...which tends to produce one giant mishmash of loud noise. This was one of Chris Sweetman's, the Audio Director at Splash Damage, primary concerns while he was developing the audio tracks for Brink. As he put it, "Having played many single player and multiplayer shooters, there was one thing that always concerned me - sonic space. In other words, how do you overcome the problem of having too many sounds all playing at the same time?"

Chris has posted a great blog on the Brink website detailing his efforts to solve this problem (and others) while providing top quality and innovative sound effects. It is a fascinating look at the effort that goes into an aspect of video gaming that often gets over looked by gamers. Which is probably a good thing. After all, when we notice a particular sound effect it tends to be for negative reasons.

Click here to read the blog post!

Bethesda Softworks has a long history of supporting the modding community...Oblivion was a prime example of this. Want to watch insects and birds flying around? There's a mod for that. Want to add fatalities? There's a mod for that. Tired of the 1,800+ bugs that Bethesda never got a chance to fix? Well there's a mod for that too.

Fortunately the Bethesda guys understand that the underpinning of a great PC Gaming community is the ongoing new content that modders can provide. So it really wasn't a surprise when they posted the following on their blog, "As Game Informer confirmed on Monday, Skyrim’s new engine has been dubbed the 'Creation Engine.' Accompanying that engine will be the Creation Kit, our suite of level-building tools that we’ll be releasing to the community, much like the Elder Scrolls Construction Set for Morrowind and Oblivion."

This is a excellent news! Frankly, we can't wait to run around Skyrim slaughtering NPCs with a lightsaber. Wootz!