In 
space, no one can hear you scream…unless you’re screaming obscenities about the new Aliens video game. We’re hearing that loud and clear.
Critics are eviscerating Aliens: Colonial Marines, Gearbox’s long-anticipated game/sequel to 20thCentury Fox’s film franchise, making the horrors the game’s xenomorphs inflict seem paltry by comparison.
Begun 
the clone wars have.
Though the U.S. government decided not to fund research into a Death Star, Star Wars fans longing to witness the power of a fully armed and operational battle station have taken to Kickstarter to get it done.
The Rebel Alliance isn’t taking that threat lightly, though, and has countered by using the crowdfunding site in an attempt to build an X-Wing fighter.
If 
you thought the idea of an Angry Birds movie was ridiculous, how about a cartoon based on Farmville?
Zynga’s long-in-the-tooth Facebook hit is being transformed into a half-hour animated series, and it has managed to snag bigwig Hollywood director Brett Ratner to lead the effort.
They’re 
at the center of an increasingly heated debate these days, but when you look at the hard numbers, games carrying a ‘Mature’ rating aren’t quite as big a part of the video game industry as they seem.
The ESRB — the board that assigns ratings to games released in the U.S. and Canada — says only 9 percent of the 1,218 games released last year received an ‘M’ rating. Such games are intended for those 17 and up and “may contain intense violence, blood and gore, sexual content and/or strong language.”
The 
Scottie dog is about to have a new friend to chase around the Monopoly board.
Following a month-long nationwide vote from fans, Hasbro took to the Today show to announce that it will retire the iron from the game’s iconic pieces, replacing it with a cat.
The 
sad truth of the modern video game industry is that regardless of how talented (or lucky) a game maker is, nobody has unlimited lives.
January was certainly proof of that. A one-time powerhouse publisher was ripped to shreds. A legendary developer was handed a pink slip. If things don’t radically reverse course, the next month or two could see another studio and another game god meet the same fate.
Given 
how phenomenally successful the Skylanders franchise has been for Activision, it was just a matter of time before the company accelerated its expansion.
Last year’s Skylanders Giants supersized the “toys meet video games” figurines. This year, you’ll be able to mix and match their components.
Okay, 
EA, this is getting a little bit creepy.
The Madden franchise added to its impressive Super Bowl prediction track record by not only correctly picking the Ravens over the 49ers in Super Bowl XLVII, but even managing to nail the point spread.
Rumors 
about the PlayStation 4 have been floating around for over a year now, but on February 20, we’ll finally get a glimpse at the real thing. That’s the day Sony will hold an event in New York where it reportedly plans to unveil its long-awaited next-generation console.
The company got the hype machine rolling Thursday evening with a mysterious teaser video. To amp things up further, the company posted a Twitter update reading simply “see the future.” Within minutes, news outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, confirmed through sources that this would, in fact, be the company’s launch party for the PS4.
The 
console war is about to get a lot more crowded.
While announcements of next-generation devices from Microsoft and Sony are bound to grab headlines this year, a wave of new machines from various corners of the games industry is threatening to shake up the traditional three-company battle over your living room.
Chris Morris: Journalist 