The Saturday 
morning serial model of the 1950s may be long dead in the film world, but a new eBook publisher is looking to bring it back in a more modern form.
Backlit is producing a string of Young Adult fiction in eBook form, recruiting Hollywood writers to pen the tales, which invariably end with a cliffhanger. It’s a model that, if it works, not only guarantees a fairly predictable revenue stream, but has caught the eye of producers.
If you’re looking 
for a plot-driven zombie game, Zombieville USA 2 isn’t it. If, however, you’re looking for a straightforward battle against hordes of the undead, it’s right up your alley. The violence in the game is nonstop, but cartoonish — almost cute. And the selection of weapons is refreshingly wide. What’s best about the game is there’s no set way to play. You can storm into the thick of battle, guns blazing, or spend most of the level’s allotted time running away.
Especially noteworthy is the game’s cooperative play mode (via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi), which makes it a social app. And kudos to the developers for bypassing the easy in-app purchase route, forcing players to earn their upgrades.
The expansion of uDraw 
to the PS3 and Xbox 360 brings a very family friendly option to both systems and opens up the artistic side of both. This game (which is also available as a standalone title for the Wii) is broken into three parts, each of which emphasizes self-expression in a different way. Art Camp lets kids participate in a half-dozen activities, such as paint-by-numbers and dot-to-dot pictures — as well as an arcade-like game where you whack aliens who fly across the canvas. (It’s a cute idea, but not a lot of fun.)
Art Studio is literally an open canvas, letting players use the game to create whatever they’d like via the peripheral. And Art School is a very thorough tutorial full of instructions on how to improve your art skills, covering all of the basics of art and design. The interface keeps tools on screen; and players can share and send images. While it’s a wonderful artistic tool, the peripheral isn’t perfect. The cord feels short and users will fight against it from time to time, which can be annoying — and drawing on a peripheral in your lap, while watching it appear on screen isn’t any easier than it was on the 2010 Wii game of a similar name. (Should you own that one, there’s more to this game, but probably not enough to justify paying full price.)
Looking at recent 
rumors of the Xbox 360’s successor supposedly poised to surface soon, Gamasutra’s Chris Morris explains why neither consumers nor publishers should really want a next generation at this point.
New consoles are one of the favorite topics of the rumor mill – and over the past couple of weeks, the system has been grinding out a seemingly endless stream of speculation and anonymously tipped whispers about the next generation.
Microsoft, specifically, has been in the spotlight, with several reports saying the company plans to unveil the Xbox 720 (or Xbox Next or whichever clever naming scheme you prefer) as early as next year – and perhaps release it before the next holiday sales rush.
Rockstar Games 
co-founder and vice president of creative Dan Houser doesn’t spend a lot of time on the interview circuit, and you’ll almost never find him on a panel of industry experts. Instead, he prefers to let the company’s work do the talking.
In this rare interview, Houser outlines how the company makes its decisions — from booting Max Payne into the future to deciding not to give players much of a window into its games prior to their release. He also discusses lessons learned from Red Dead Redemption and the creative bible for the Grand Theft Auto series.
Here’s a good 
way to ensure your kid gets his lunch money stolen on a regular basis.
Meet Dovahkiin Tom Kellermeyer. That’s right, Dovahkiin. As in, the protagonist of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Born 11/11/11 — the same day that the game was released — he’s made his family the winners (?) of a contest that ensures free Bethesda games for life.
Aquaria has appeared 
on other gaming platforms, but it feels at home on the iPad, offering an experience that is both intriguing and serene. As Naija, you’ll explore a stunning underwater world trying to fill holes in your memory. While there’s some combat, this is a game about character development. The most interesting element to the game is the use of music. Learning new abilities (such as transformation or shields) is essentially a game of Simon (i.e. parroting back notes), but the songs of Naija, blended with the background music, make this an incredibly soothing game that makes time fade away. The app suggests playing with headphones — and it really does improve the experience.
The records 
keep tumbling for Modern Warfare 3.
Activision’s action shooter has set a new standard for the entertainment industry, earning more than $775 million in five days, beating all gaming, theatrical and book sell-through totals. The previous record, not surprisingly, was last year’s “Black Ops” installment of the Call of Duty franchise, which took in $650 million.
Critics aren’t 
the only people falling in love with the latest installment of The Elder Scrolls.
Bethesda Softworks says it has shipped 7 million copies of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim to retailers, with about 3.5 million copies being sold through in the first 48 hours. Making that number even more impressive? That was just for the Xbox 360 version.
Oh PETA, you 
crazy kids. First, you get the gaming world up in arms by squaring off against one of its most-loved characters. Then, when the backlash hits, you quickly claim the whole thing was “tongue-in-cheek.”
After slamming Nintendo icon Mario for wearing a ‘Tanooki’ suit in his latest game, the animal rights organization says the outcry, which included the creation of a disturbing parody video game called “Super Tanooki Skin 2D,” was just a publicity stunt.
Chris Morris: Journalist 