Hidden away not so subtlety in Bungie's new Weekly Update is a sad relaization: Frank "Frankie" O' Connor, Bungie's ever popular Scottish-born lead writer and resident "content monkey", announced his departure from the studio. "WHAT!?", you say? I know. There there, dear Halo fan, everything shall be alright.

Whilst the Frankster will no longer "officially" be an employee of the House of Halo, he will still be very much involved with the series, as he says that he is "off to work more closely with Microsoft on the Halo franchise." See? That means any future installments of the possibly-not-starring-Master Chief franchise will likely still have a touch of Frank's finesse applied to it.

In his lengthy good-bye letter, Frankie teases out Bungie's future projects, and says that they will essentially blow gamers away "like nothing we’ve ever made before". He also thanks the fans for a multitude of things including "not following through with the death threats", and "being patient when things went wrong", or basically 'when s*** hit the fan, in the Halo's community. Farewell, Frankie. It's been fun. Good luck in your new ventures, we look forward to your inevitable work on Halo 4.

The full, tear-jerking letter after the jump. 

Sega sent us over this new Behind The Scenes look at The Incredible Hulk today, showing off a piece of the game's creation and some developer insight.  You also get some never before seen footage in the game, giving you an idea of where the game started.

Enjoy! 

Sony Computer Entertainment's pre-E3 Judge's Day event is underway today in Los Angeles, and being shown was, of course, Insomniac's Resistance 2. Having only had some vague multiplayer screens, and some non-officially released multiplayer footage out in the public up until now, the game has been being kept rather secretive by all parties involved. No longer, my friends.

Straight out of the event, the very first screenshots from Resistance 2's campaign mode are here, and holy s***, what an improvement over the original. We get our first look at the level "Chicago", the new Chimeran enemies, the Grim, as well as the incredibly detailed environments and lighting that the improved game engine brings. As always, keep in mind that these shots have been captured from an extremely early build of the game, and that any kinks you see (like some janky looking edges, textures, etc.) will be utterly eradicted when the retail product ships this November.

Hit the jump for the rest of the gallery.

The Entertainment Software Association has been in a constant downward spiral over the past few weeks as publisher after publisher have been dropping out of E3 , with major player ActiBlizz even confirming their exit from the association all together. Late last week, word broke that LucasArts may have also dropped their membership to the association when their company name had disappeared from the ESA website. Looks like yet another internet rumor has come true, as the ESA has confirmed the publisher's secession.  Rich Taylor, Senior VP of communications and research at the ESA issued a comment of:

Since its creation in 1994, the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) has grown and evolved into the pre-eminent voice of the video and computer game industry. The organization has 25 members, including three companies that were welcomed last year...Today, we can confirm that one of our members, LucasArts, has decided not to renew its membership. We value each member of our association, but respect the unique factors that led to LucasArts' decision.

Uh oh. That's definitely not a good sign - for the ESA, that is. One by one, it seems that whispers of the major players' participation in the association continue to crop up here and there, and with the already laughable state that E3 is in, it's not looking good. The financial situation for the association could be in the early stages of taking a steep, steep dive. LucasArts confirmed that they are still planning to attend the E3 Summit this July, despite this announcement. Margaret Grohne, PR Director for LucasArts said:

We can confirm that LucasArts is no longer a member of the ESA. As a company we are still committed to bringing consumers the best interactive experience possible and support the ESA's mission in the industry. LucasArts will be participating in E3.

Episode: 18

• Rburt makes an announcement on how the PGR crew plan on bringing the TAG Community together even more with the plan for a game night update show.
• A deep discussion is had on the rumors of a Blu-Ray Xbox 360.
• Viva Pinata coming to the DS, maybe the Wii???
• They put in their 2 cents...well actually 8 cents total...about video game violence and how the media is jumping on it.
• There is an in depth look at the Gears of War 2 footage and also talk about developers becoming household names.

You can let the gang know how you feel by calling 206-666-2041, by This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or by leaving a review on iTunes.

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Special Edition - The Spring Showcase Files (part 1)

We're bringing you a special episode today!  Today's special edition release offers up some audio clips we captured during the Spring Showcase this week.  It includes Denis Dyack talking about Too Human, and Cliffy B discussing Gears of War 2 during the Spring Showcase sessions, as well as part of the Q&A session.  It's not a formal interview, but it's still cool.

We're hoping to hear your thoughts on this special edition release, so drop us a line at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it and let yourself be heard!

Sony Computer Entertainment rolled out a lengthy press release this morning confirming exactly what PS3/PSP titles from their internal studios will be launching this year, early next, and when. It should be noted that most of these we already sorta knew about, since they were more or less confirmed at SCEE's PlayStation Day last week.

If you were looking for information on when Hot Shots Golf: Open Tee 2, Secret Agent Clank, WipeOut HD, the new PSN title Elefunk, PixelJunk Eden, SIREN: Blood Curse, SOCOM: Confrontation, LittleBigPlanet, NBA 09 (on all of its various platforms), the new BUZZ! titles, MotorStorm: Pacific Rift, Resistance 2 and Killzone 2 will be hitting (well, just about - there's mostly just a vague "window" for each), then hit the jump for the full list.

For you old school AJ supporters, you might rememeber back in 2006 when we initially appeared on TechNow  -  a half hour television show about technology, seen on NBC stations in San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego and New York City.   Scott McGrew and the folks at TechNow ran a follow up segment mentioning our recent adventures on Inside Xbox.  You can check out Scott McGrew and the TechNow crew at technowtv.com.  You can view  our  segment below: