MapleStory is wooing main stream American youth with videos to air on television networks and as previews for the latest Harry Potter movie this summer. This brings MapleStory into the American public eye, the realm only pierced by  Halo 3 and World of Warcraft so far. The 2D side-scrolling MMORPG is already pretty popular enjoying a 6 million strong player base in North America alone. It’s aimed at kids 10 and up, but has a very wide age range of players, most of whom seem to take their cute super-deformed characters pretty seriously.

MapleStory is a free to play MMO with a cash shop that allows players to purchase Nexon Cash to trade for premium items. MapleStory Nexon Cash cards have been available at local retailers like Target, CVS and Best Buy for a few years. The MMO has also spawned the MapleStory card game and videogames for the Wii and DS. Still MapleStory seems to be simmering just below the surface of casual gaming culture. Perhaps these new videos can tip MapleStory into the mainstream spotlight. Look for the video shorts to start appearing on tv and in theaters later this month. Until then, you can check it out for yourself at http://maplestory.nexon.net.

Grandmaster Flash has signed onto the growing list of DJs for DJ Hero. This hip-hop legend was the first to use the turntable as an instrument. Grandmaster Flash will walk you through the paces of the tutorial as you learn the turntable controls and game mechanics. He’s also created mixes exclusively for DJ Hero and will be an in-game character. Here’s the latest DJ Hero video from Activision featuring Grandmaster Flash gameplay.

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Having run completely dry of any other Zero Punctuation material, Yahtzee has turned in desperation to the bottom of the bin and set his sites on The Sims 3. If you’ve watched Zero Punctuation, you know not to expect the glowing recommendation he gave inFAMOUS. However this could be the funniest, most painfully accurate review ever from a certain point of view.

The Sims is a highly controversial, emotionally charged subject in the Sines household. The kids and I really enjoy it while Shawn… he just realized he’s been channeling Yahtzee all this time.

Zero Punctuation is regular weekly feature on The Escapist.

I’m a fan of machinima productions, from the high quality like Red vs. Blue and the “Still Seeing Breen” music video to the Neverending Nights series, its amazing what a few creative gamers and cinematographers can come up with using video games as their tools. Well stumbling around the net I found an interesting article at LowPings.net featuring a number of interesting Half-Life 2 machinima that I’d previously not seen before that feel more like professional cinema productions than fan films.

The post includes some roughs and I found Combine Nation, which is like Combine Cops, and Ignis Solus which is like an existential art piece with flamethrowers. We keep having this debate as games not being or creating art.. but these cinema pieces definitely show that while you may debate the merits of games themselves, as tools of creation they can be something quite a bit more.

The post also links to some interesting series like Maintenance Man, Freeman’s Mind and Escape from City 17, a live action production I mentioned a few months back.

Here’s a quick reminder of how awesome video editing can make HL2 a tool for movie creation:

Any way you cut it the convergence of games and cinema is here.. lucky us, we just get to sit back and enjoy the results. I’m always on the look out for new series or shorts, feel free to share your favorites in the discussion boards in this post and maybe we’ll highlight them in a future article.

Red Faction: Guerrilla is one of those life altering experiences for me.. a game where you can freely roam the landscape of a sandbox with all intent and encouragement to maim and destroy property and people. Sure, it sounds a bit aggressive but after playing Red Faction it makes you wonder why more games don’t treat their world so destructively.. I mean, sure there is a bold story of a man revenging himself upon the oppressive government that liberated the people from their original evil corporate overlords, but this is a game that is all about the booms.. like a Michael Bay video game that doesn’t suck (Yes I’m looking at you Transformers!)

Well, if you’re like me and you need even more to do on the martian sandbox then THQ has some good news.. well actually it wants more money but come on.. it’ll make you feel better! Today the publisher revealed that it has three new doses of Red Faction goodness on the way via download.

The press release only really talks about the first pack, which is called Demons of the Badlands and will sell for 800 Microsoft points/ $9.99 via PlayStation Store. The new content will include a new single-player mission arc that expands the game into a new Martian environment. The download is planned for release August 13th, 2009 so that gives us all time to sharpen up our best “Ahnold” impersonation and re-watch Total Recall a few times for good measure.

Oh and since the Total Recall game was utter drek.. you can just act like Red Faction is really a continuation and go looking for Kuato yourself.

Get a chance to see Ryu and Wolverine get it on in the first Marvel vs. Capcom 2: New Age of Heroes trailer. The game is the fourth and final Marvel vs. Capcom match up. It seems to runs much smoother than previous versions an has a simplified the engine to make it more user friendly for the casual gamer. You and your friends can get into 3 on 3 tag in New Age of Heroes.

Here’s the Marvel vs Capcom 2 Wolverine vs Ryu Trailer. Since it’s labeled Episode 1, hopefully we can look forward to more of these match ups. I’d like to see Magneto vs. Bison. You can play through that fight yourself July 2nd on Xbox 360 and PS3.

There’s a playable demo up for the PC version of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince game. This free Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Playable Demo will give you a taste of potion making, dueling and playing as the Captain of the Gryffindor quidditch team.

Gamers and Harry Potter fans should watch the Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince Quidditch Preview for four minutes of gameplay footage. The new motion capture setup for quidditch is really great. It’s more believable than ever before.

Check out the star studded Making of the Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince trailer as well.

This weekend Xbox has hooked up with Linkin Park to offer gamers a shot at playing frontman Mike Shinoda at Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. For your chance to Game With Fame with Mike Shinoda of Linkin Park, Xbox LIVE gold members should send a friend request to Gamertag Mike Linkinpark and be online Friday June 26th 30 minutes before the 4:00 pm EST (1:oo pm PST) start time. You can also follow the game on Twitter.

Linkin Park contributed “What I’ve Done” off their Minutes to Midnight album to the original Transformers live action movie. Their new hit single “New Divide” is on the Revenge of the Fallen soundtrack.

More details from the press release follow the break.

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After last week’s stellar review of inFamous, Zero Punctuation pits Cole McGrath and his thunder god impression against Protoype. The main character Alex Mercer is more of a “you are who you eat,” type of guy.

I thought this comparison piece of InFamous and Prototype was rather inevitable actually. Early on in their development cycles I often became confused over the two games only being able to straighten it out because one main character eats people and the other… doesn’t. What with all the government interference in the natural order of things coming back to bite them in the ass, in Prototype’s case literally, they seem very similar at first glance.

A more detailed Impression of inFamous is available on Gaming Today.

Tom Felton, better known to some many as Draco Malfoy, leads gamers into a virtual Hogwarts for the Making of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince part one. Most of your favorite actors and actresses from the movies are in the video including Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter), Bonny Wright (Jinny Weasley), and Emma Watson (Hermione Granger). You’ll get glimpses of new story elements and characters; the most fantastic of them being the castle itself.

You’ll hear from EA developers Kevin Tuite, Art Director, and Chris Roberts, Lead Designer, of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince game as well as Executive Producer Jonathan Bunney as they talk about the new virtual Hogwarts built from all the information from the books and films. Gamers will be able to fully explore the castle and the grounds for the first time. You also play seeker, mix potions, and duel other students in addition to completing the storyline.