Good morning Pixlbit Nation, how are you on this fine Thursday morning? It is a cool 45 degrees here in sunny Southern California, and while I am enjoying a nice donut, I thought it was about time I talk about my absolute favorite console that I own, the Playstation 2. Let’s take a trip back to when I bought my Playstation 2. It was a year or so after it’s release (remember when everyone was hoarding them and trying to resell them on eBay?) Well I waited because I didn’t want to spend the crazy cash for it, and I was deciding on which console to buy, the X-Box, or the PS2. I loved the Playstation brand but I was willing to try something new, but it all came down to one thing: which one will play DVDs. See before this I had a DVD player but my brother moved into his own spot and I gave him my DVD player and watching on a computer monitor wasn’t the most ideal thing. The X-Box needed a separate remote in order to play DVDs and the PS2 not so much, so after class I went down to the local Walmart and bought a PS2. The first game I played on my new PS2? Madden 2002…for the original Playstation. Yeah I didn’t buy a PS2 game until the next week.

We followed the slow and tragic decline of THQ here at PixlBit over the past year, and a few of us talk about it at length in the current Darksiders episodes of Backloggers Anonymous. As you no doubt know, the core THQ properties were auctioned off recently, but two franchises were noticeably absent from the big sell-off. Those would be the aforementioned Darksiders and the WWE license, which THQ had held the rights to since the release of WWF Smackdown for the PlayStation in 2000. We now know the fate of the WWE video game license, and it has fallen into the hands of 2K Sports. So what does that mean for the gamer itching to simulate Cena vs. Punk in a TLC match?

It was sure tough to follow the fantastic year of gaming we had in 2011, but 2012 did a bang up job of holding its own with plenty of amazing releases and some big industry changes to boot. As the current console generation appears to finally be wrapping up, we welcomed the Wii U on the scene as well as Sony’s newest flashy handheld. Game makers continued to stretch what’s possible from the Xbox 360 and PS3 while the PC seems to be roaring back into prominence thanks to Steam and other download services. Yet, despite some developers’ mastery of the current hardware, not every game released was worth spending your money or time on. The fact that there are plenty of sloppy and poorly made games being pumped out makes the ones that really wow us that much more noteworthy. And there were definitely tons of games to get excited about!

Virgin and Microsoft are joining forces to bring online gaming tournaments to Xbox Live. There will be a variety of different tournaments, Virgin promises, including both free-to-play and paid-entry tournaments, some of which will offer cash prizes.

2K Sports has produced the definitive official NBA simulation games for the past couple of years. Beginning their domination with their Jordan-centric NBA 2K11, they expanded upon the formula a year later with an entry that included a plethora of NBA legends. Jordan even shared cover duties with Larry Bird and Magic Johnson.

Take-Two Interactive, the parent company of 2K Sports, has confirmed the discontinuation of its annual MLB series of games. "Our legacy Major League Baseball agreement will sunset in fiscal 2013," a Take-Two spokesman said. "MLB 2K12 is our last offering under that agreement. At this time, we have no further comment."

It's time once again to take gamers out to the ball game with the newest installment in 2K Sports' digital realization of our nation's pastime. Major League Baseball 2K12 has implemented an improved pitching mechanic and updated rosters, but it continues to fall behind Sony's MLB The Show series due to recurring technical problems and less-than-intricate mechanics. Most damaging of all however is that this is merely a slight upgrade from the last title and essentially the same game MLB 2K10 was two years ago.

After being in development for four years, Irrational Games’ next entry in the BioShock series, BioShock Infinite, has a release date. Gamers will finally be able to explore the floating city of Columbia on October 19, 2012 on the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 or PC.

2K Sports announced today its plans to bring its $1 Million Perfect Game Challenge back for a third consecutive year. This time, however, a competitive eight man tournament will determine the winner. Beginning April 4, 2012 (the MLB's opening day), gamers can begin competing for a spot in the final tournament.

With 2011 coming to a close, it's that time of the year once again. A time to reflect on the year past, the experiences had, and the games that defined another year in the history books. Today begins the first of three days of awarding the absolute best games of the year across both genres and systems, as well as one game of the year that transcends all boundaries. These are the...

Nintendo didn’t have the most even release schedule in 2011. A year that could be characterized as lacking in terms of software releases was capped off by a small barrage of marquee releases in the form of Super Mario 3D Land, Mario Kart 7 and The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword.

While millionaires and billionaires argue amongst themselves on how to best split NBA revenues in the midst of a depressed economy, the fans that support them are left without the sport they love. Lucky for us the pesky lockout hasn’t stopped 2K Sports from delivering unto us what may be the very best game in the highly touted NBA 2K series to date.

Over the years, 2K Sports has struggled to make a baseball game that stands up to Sony's superior MLB The Show games. Being an owner of the Xbox 360 and not the PlayStation 3, it's been hard to find a good baseball game to play because ‘The Show’ is obviously a PS3 exclusive. Luckily there is an alternative baseball game series out there to play - MLB Power Pros - a favorite of mine on the Wii. Microsoft and Konami decided to bring this cartoonish series to Xbox Live Arcade as MLB Bobblehead Pros. Their most recent title, MLB Bobblehead Battle is not anywhere near the quality of MLB The Show, but it still proves to be enough fun to kill tons of time.

Jason Verlander had a year for the books this past season with the Detroit Tigers – a season that may end up seeing him as both the American League Cy Young and MVP winner. But both of those pale in comparison to the award bestowed upon him yesterday by 2K Sports: Cover athlete for Major League Baseball 2K12.

NBA 2K12 is getting some more content in the form of the "Legends Showcase" DLC. This new content will have a cel-shaded art style, is set in New York City's Time Square, and will allow players to use more than 150 legendary NBA players.

With the 2010 MLB season back in full swing, 2K Sports has released the latest in their baseball line, MLB 2K10. Given the past few years being a disappointment, MLB 2K10 offers a brand new look, new modes, and updated rosters. Though this is taking a huge step in the right direction, the game still has a few problems.

Today, Nintendo released their updated release schedule for all of their products both first and third party for the first quarter of 2010.
