While it is known today for Halo, Bungie first made its bones in the mid-90s with Marathon, an acclaimed trilogy of first-person shooters originally released for the Mac. Today, the revered developer revisited their past. Superannuation has reported that Bungie has filed a new trademark registration for Marathon.

Because this could understandably fuel a great deal of speculation, let's be clear about exactly what this means: Bungie has filed a new trademark registration for Marathon. That's all we know for now. Sure, it could mean that a new Marathon game is in the works, supporting a popular rumor that emerged following the ending of Halo 3 on the Legendary difficulty setting. But it could also mean that Bungie simply wants to maintain the trademark out of simple nostalgia for one of its earliest accomplishments. Right now, it's far too soon to know anything other than Marathon® is now the property of Bungie.

Still, it's fun to wonder...

Editor's Note: With the release of God of War 3 now less than 24 hours away, we've decided to take you on a stroll down memory lane. Okay, we really just wanted an excuse to blabber about Greek mythology. The point is, if you've been living under a rock for a few years -- or if you've avoided the God of War franchise because you just don't like dudes with goatees -- then this article is for you. Here, Addam will explain the extremely convoluted minutae of the series up to this point, and he'll give you an idea of where this franchise is headed. If you're thinking about picking up God of War 3 tomorrow but don't have a history with Kratos, you'll want to check this out.

It’s hard to deny the drawing power of Greek mythology combined with pure rage.  That, in a nutshell, is the most succinct way I can describe the God of War franchise.  Winning numerous awards and garnering millions in sales, the crazy world of one of gaming's most beloved icons, Kratos, is one of the most memorable.

On the eve of the release of one of the PS3’s most hotly anticipated titles, God of War 3, we’re going to take a look back through the series that has helped define Sony in a huge way.  We’ll take a look behind the curtain to describe how the series came to be and explore the Greek world of God of War.

The Mega Man series has always been close to my heart. The music, characters, levels and the Blue Bomber himself were the right mixture for an epic 2D side-scrolling platformer. But, like many games that originated during the 8-bit era, their difficulty was center stage. The harsh difficulty was one to make a sane gamer snap their controller into two or yell feverishly at the television. Come to think of it, I once believed that some masochist developed these titles and programmed them in blood.

Those were the days, people. They just don’t make video games like they used to back then. Until, that is, when Capcom paid tribute to many Blue Bomber fans and released Mega Man 9 via digital download. After the success of Mega Man’s return to 8-bit form, we thought of this as a one-time experiment. Glad we were wrong on that one. Its successor, Mega Man 10, is more or less what you would expect out of the series: nostalgic 8-bit visuals, catchy music, lame boss names (I’m still waiting for Out-of-ideas Man) and, of course, the difficulty that will cause us to shout expletives. All in all, Mega Man 10 is another nod to fans of the series, all while doing little to drastically change its formula.

Hit the jump and find out if this one is worth your Wii points or if Capcom should go back to the drawing board.

I would prefer to see gameplay, but hopefully the upcoming Brink from Quake Wars developer Splash Damage will deliver a multiplayer experience as diverse and exciting as what's on display in this latest cinematic trailer.

While it is not one of my rare must-haves, Brink is one of those games that I am intensely curious about, and am crossing my fingers that it will deliver the goods and live up to its potential. Of particular interest to me is the game's complete merging of single-player and multiplayer experiences: whether you are playing by yourself or with a full party, the game plays exactly the same. Rather than having a single-player campaign and a separate multiplayer mode, Brink is designed with a consistent structure that doesn't change because it's being played by more than one person. It's an interesting premise, to say the least.

For the first time since 2007, the Xbox 360 came out victorious against the Wii. The last time that happened, a little game called Halo 3 was releasing. Seems like the Xbox 360 could have had a sales boost due to the release of Bioshock 2, which came in number one on the software top ten list. Overall though, retail sales in the U.S. video game market are down 15 percent, falling to $1.26 billion from $1.48 billion.

"Sales came in slightly better than we anticipated (privately, we were forecasting down -19 percent)," says EEDAR analyst Jesse Divnich. Divnich also noted that Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 hardware sales exceeded expectations. "Of course, stronger hardware numbers do influence software numbers as PS3 and Xbox 360 hardware purchasers typically purchase at least 1 software SKU attachment," he added.

While the Xbox 360 version of Bioshock 2 topped the software list, the PS3 version was nowhere to be seen. It was not all bad news for the PS3 though. PS3 exclusive Heavy Rain came in at number ten on the list, selling 219,000 copies in five days. We will see if the momentum keeps rolling for Quantic Dream's latest. And in another small victory, the PS3 version of Dante's Inferno outsold the Xbox 360 version 242,000 copies to 225,000.

Continue reading after the break for the complete rundown of hardware sales as well as the top ten list for software.

This week's show is dominated by news. Join Faitios, Robbiejo, Shayward, Golfrat and community member Prophet209 as they tackle the latest in videogames. Expect to hear conversations about Resident Evil, Army of Two and the Just Cause Demo.

Moving into the second half of the show, the talk moves to hype in games and the crew reminisce on their favorite PlayStation 2 games. Finally, they hit the news and cover Portal 2, Activision firings, Socom 4 and PlayStation phone rumors.

AUDIO

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MTV Games and Harmonix have announced that Green Day: Rock Band will hit retail shelves on June 8th for the Xbox 360, PS3 and Wii. It will include 47 exportable tracks, character likenesses and rare access to the band's media vault.

GD: RB will support up to six players - three instrument tracks and three vocal parts. The set-list will cover the band's entire career and include the songs "Brain Stew", "Jaded", "Hitchin' A Ride", "American Idiot" and "Boulevard of Broken Dreams". All 47 tracks will be exportable to Rock Band, Rock Band 2 and the recently announced Rock Band 3 for $9.99 on PSN and 800 points over XBLA. The game will cost $59.99 for the Xbox 360 and PS3. A "plus" version will be released for $69.99 that includes special packaging, an export code and six DLC tracks. Only the regular version will be available on the Wii for $49.99.

Check out the trailer below and let us know if you will be picking this up in the comments.

Sony was kind enough to give an official name to its motion controller during its GDC event yesterday. The motion controller, which is set to release in the fall, will now be known as the PlayStation Move.

Sony is planning an "aggressive" marketing campaign and will ship the PlayStation Move in several bundles. You will be able to pick up the Move solo, bundled with a PS3 or in a starter kit which includes the Move, a PlayStation Eye camera (required to use the Move) and a currently unnamed game for under $100.

Socom 4 (funny how Socom: Confrontation doesn't count), LittleBigPlanet and EyePet were all demoed with the Move. Sony also announced that "in fiscal year 2010, SCE Worldwide Studios will also release more than 20 games that are either dedicated to or supported with the PlayStation Move platform."

Continue reading after the break for some pics of the PlayStation Move in all its glory. Does Sony have it in them to continually support a peripheral? Time will tell.

After taking a year off to create The Beatles: Rock Band, Harmonix is back to focusing on the next evolution of the Rock Band series. Today they announced (via their Facebook page) that Rock Band 3 is in development and that we should be able to play it this Fall.

"Harmonix is developing Rock Band 3 for worldwide release this holiday season! The game, which will be published by MTV Games and distributed by Electronic Arts, will innovate and revolutionize the music genre once again, just as Harmonix did with the original Rock Band, Rock Band 2 and The Beatles: Rock Band. Stay tuned for more details!"

Rock Band 3 will be the second Rock Band game released this year. Green Day: Rockband will be releasing in the Summer with the option of importing the songs into your overall Rock Band music library. Seems like a no-brainer that Harmonix will let you import all your Rock Band 2 tracks (for a small fee of course) once Rock Band 3 is released. We will update you when more information is announced on this.

The Beatles: Rock Band added three-part vocal harmonies to the mix. What kind of direction do you feel the series should take now? What improvements would make Rock Band 3 a day one purchase for you? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Move over Billy Mitchell and Steve Weiebe - there's a new king in town. According to record-keeping organization Twin Galaxies, newcomer Hank Chien has taken the Donkey Kong world record with a new high score of 1,061,700. The record was set during a 2 hour and 35 minute play session at an arcade cabinet in New York.

"I remember the exact day I knew I could get the world record: September 13, 2009," Chien said in an interview with Twin Galaxies. "That was the day I first broke a million on Donkey Kong to reach 1,037,700. I didn't even realize how close I was to the world record. I was going on a business trip that day and had a flight to catch, but I had about two hours to kill and figured I had enough time for one game. So I fired up my Donkey Kong machine - I wasn't recording of course - and on my first game, boom! Too bad getting 1,000,000 takes about 2 1/2 hours. Still, I caught my flight without getting any speeding tickets, but I realized I couldn't speed and text."

Chien says that he started playing the game after seeing the popular documentary The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters. That documentary ended with Weibe overtaking then record-holder Mitchell. Mitchell then took the record back with a score of 1,050,200 which stood for three years until Chien showed up on the scene.

<via 1UP>

Did you really think you could escape from Lady Gaga? Not content with her songs taking over pop radio, she is now coming to conquer the Rock Band universe. Harmonix and MTV Games announced today that a four-pack of the pop diva's songs will be added next week to the Rock Band Music Store of downloadable content for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Wii.

"Lady Gaga Pack 01" will include "Bad Romance," "Just Dance," "Monster" and "Poker Face" for $6.99 over PSN and 560 points over XBLA. You can also purchase individual tracks for $1.99 (160 points) or 200 Wii Points. Additionally, a special version of Lady Gaga's "Poker Face," made famous by South Park's Eric Cartman, will also be available in the Rock Band Music Store next week.

So we all know what this means right? You need to keep your girlfriends and wives away from your consoles next week. This is not a drill. Bad, bad things could happen...

With PAX East approaching, the anticipation continues to grow at a rapid pace. Episode 93 of the Post Game Report offers a small taste of what Boston will bring as JVB, SugarFree, SoldierX, Phoenix410 and HeroicSuperman welcome Pallidian from SFX-360.com to talk about all kinds of fun topics. SFX-360 is hosting an epic party at PAX East, so naturally we have to talk about that. Additionally we discuss the good, the bad, and the ugly of Battlefield: Bad Company 2, the chaos of the Just Cause 2 Demo and in the spirit of spring training JVB has some kind words for MLB 10: The Show. There's also a host of news items to get to including the Halo: Reach Beta footage, the Rock Band Network launching and much, much more.

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Valve announced today it will bring Steam, Valve's gaming service, and Source, Valve's gaming engine, to the Mac. Steam and Valve's library of games including Left 4 Dead 2, Team Fortress 2, Counter-Strike, Portal, and the Half-Life series will be available in April. Portal 2 will be Valve's first simultaneous release for both Windows and Mac.

"Our Steam partners, who are delivering over a thousand games to 25 million Steam clients, are very excited about adding support for the Mac," said Jason Holtman, Director of Business Development at Valve. "Steamworks for the Mac supports all of the Steamworks APIs, and we have added a new feature, called Steam Play, which allows customers who purchase the product for the Mac or Windows to play on the other platform free of charge. For example, Steam Play, in combination with the Steam Cloud, allows a gamer playing on their work PC to go home and pick up playing the same game at the same point on their home Mac. We expect most developers and publishers to take advantage of Steam Play."

"We looked at a variety of methods to get our games onto the Mac and in the end decided to go with native versions rather than emulation," said John Cook, Director of Steam Development. "The inclusion of WebKit into Steam, and of OpenGL into Source gives us a lot of flexibility in how we move these technologies forward. We are treating the Mac as a tier-1 platform so all of our future games will release simultaneously on Windows, Mac, and the Xbox 360. Updates for the Mac will be available simultaneously with the Windows updates. Furthermore, Mac and Windows players will be part of the same multiplayer universe, sharing servers, lobbies, and so forth. We fully support a heterogeneous mix of servers and clients. The first Mac Steam client will be the new generation currently in beta testing on Windows."

This is great, great news for Mac users. Any Mac users excited about this news? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

What would the launch of a new Battlefield game be without server issues? They seem to go hand in hand. Many players (myself included) hoping to hop in over the weekend and take Battlefield: Bad Company 2 for a test spin, had to deal with occasional server shutdowns - the latest taking place this morning at 9:30 AM PST. DICE has released an update on these server issues via the official Battlefield blog.

"All teams are actively engaged in diagnosis and remediation. We are adding additional services to alleviate load. Despite having a major infrastructure in place, the peak traffic this weekend has been huge, 400% higher than any other Battlefield's peak simultaneous users. The teams will continue to monitor the services closely. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience and will provide further updates on the latest developments as they are relevant."

The Xbox 360 and PC communities seem to have been the most severely impacted. The service is being restarted for both while they are closely monitored. The PS3 experienced a "brief outage, but has quickly recovered and the service is functioning properly at this time."

Such a shame. A series that focuses on multiplayer as its main component and this always seems to happen. It took a couple days for Battlefield 1943 to function properly when it was released over XBLA and PSN this past summer. Hopefully we will see a quick turnaround this time also. There are soldiers down that need my excellent medic skills. If only I could get to them...