We never made it to the actual Strip the evening of Midway's Gamer's Day in Las Vegas, but that's okay. At least one of the games in the sneak peak party-in-disguise was the next best thing. If you haven't already heard about it, you will shortly. Or, come to think of it, now:

This is Vegas (PlayStation3 and Xbox 360):
This is Vegas is an open-world, sandbox-style game that parodies the hotels and casinos of the real-world Strip, and offers a sandboxy style of gameplay that Midway reps probably wish everybody would stop comparing to Grand Theft Auto (see our recent Q&A with the TIV designers for a deeper look at the overall game). We'd previously learned about the free-roaming auto-based, melee and gambling-challenge gameplay, but this was our first real glimpse at how "partying" and "clubbing" could translate into actual gameplay.

After walking into an in-game nightclub, we were tasked by the non-player character DJ to literally "get the party started" -- by working up the crowd on the dance floor, slinging drinks and lighting cigarettes for clamoring patrons, cold-cocking unruly, undesirable club-goers, and finally leading entire lines of vogue-ing dance-floor wannabes to a triumphant, club-rousing orgy of lights, sound and rhythm-based button-pressing. Imagine a pre-blackout blur of elements from Space Channel 5, Tapper, Grand Theft Auto and the choreographed bits from the Michael Jackson Thriller video, and you have a fair idea of This is Vegas' virtual party-heartying. This is Vegas is slated to ship later this year.

Wheelman (Xbox 360)
Remember when Vin Diesel was vowing/threatening to make his own games, some time back? By all accounts, Vin -- can I call him Vin? -- is actually quite the accomplished game-freak; a devout Dungeons & Dragons dork (who knew?) and serious videogamer. Apparently, he's also a man of his word. Wheelman is an automotive action game that strives to take the feel of legendary cinematic car chases (Bullitt, Ronin, The French Connection, The Bourne Identity, etc. -- note that no actual Vin Diesel movies were harmed or even looked at in the making of this list) and put players in the role of a hard-driving hero who -- what the hell do ya know? -- looks exactly like Vin Diesel (if nothing else, that should add to the authentic-cinema cred, and save quite a bundle on facial animation, too [Editor's note: bahdoompa!]).



The chases we saw took place in meticulously-realized, convincing Barcelona, and showed off some pretty dramatic, cinematic super-moves, like suddenly spinning the car around and then driving backwards away from your opponent, shooting out their oncoming windshield as the camera swoops in for over-the-shoulder targeting.

God help us all, it looks pretty compelling. More on this as details surface.

TNA Impact! (PlayStation2, PlayStation3, Xbox 360, Wii)
Powered by Epic's Unreal Engine (and a bit more than friendly rival of THQ's forthcoming SmackDown! Vs. Raw 2009), TNA Impact will feature over ten modes of play, including the much-coveted Tag Team and Mayhem. But the big look-at-me winner is definitely the Ultimate X mode, which challenges fighters to be the first to get their mitts on the big ol' red X dangling over the six-sided ring. TNA superstars like Kurt Angle, Christopher Daniels, Samoa Joe and Jeff Jarrett bust out with painful, goofily-named wrestling moves like The Olympic Slam, The Gore, and everybody's favorite, Petey Williams' "The Canadian Destroyer." Pick a favorite, bellowing spandex-wearer, or create your own custom fighter to smash his way through the story/career mode. TNA Impact is slated to ship September 2008.

Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe (PlayStation3, Xbox 360)
Actually, this kinda stuff shouldn't even remotely phase me, at this point: If Namco Bandai can Force-push Darth Vader and Yoda into the ranks of the forthcoming Soul Caliber IV, then why the hell shouldn't Midway bring in Batman, or even Superman? Sure, go nuts.

And yet, one is compelled to ask... which of the parties involved here, Midway or DC Comics, has lost its frickin' mind? It seems pretty clear that a game which allows Sub-Zero to do a spine-ripper Fatalilty on Batman ain't gonna happen, but it also seems pretty clear that, whatever esteem you hold the franchise in, a Mortal Kombat game without Fatalities would... would... well I'm not sure exactly, but it would suck like a nuclear Hoover, wouldn't it? At least for the die-hard fans?

And another thing, Fatalities or no: I'm as big on creative wiggle-room and suspension of disbelief as the next guy, but come on; Superman against any of these clowns? (Didn't anybody else read "Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex?" Hands? Nobody?) I foresee an unprecedented reliance on differently-colored suns in this game, or at the very least an inordinate supply of Kryptonite. Still, visions of a Bat Utility Belt full of nasty surprises are dancing in my head. We'll see. Beyond the Man of Steel and the Dark Knight, no other DC superheroes have been iron-clad confirmed as of this writing.

Furthermore, the showing of this forthcoming brawler was limited, as you can probably guess, but we did get to see the cool Freefall system, wherein one fighter grapples another and they both fall off a precipice, continuing to beat the high-poly crap out of each other even as they plummet through the air, tumbling past and/or plowing through successively lower environmental tiers -- it's a very nice comic-book/anime sort of touch.

We won't know much more 'til this summer's Electronic Entertainment Expo E3).

Speaking of which, to my excessive bummin', E3 will evidently not return to the warm, sun-shiny, seaside-rollerblade-chicks wearing-next-to-nothing shores of Santa Monica, but will in fact revert to its previous downtown L.A. venue. Sigh. At least they might still have those sketchy, delicious, sidewalk-vended, thrice-wrapped-in-bacon valve-blocker hot dogs. Stay tuned.