Here’s the official launch trailer for Michael Phelps Swimming.

Ted DiBiase and son lead THQ grappler’s roster additions; coming add-ons to include Big Boss Man, Chris Jericho, with an R. Truth free-for-all.

Konami unveils a host of AI improvements for its football sim PES 12.

FIFA 12 wasn’t the only football game on show at this year’s E3 expo, with Konami unveiling a bunch of new features for Pro Evolution soccer 2012. As yearly updates go, PES 12 is looking like a big one, with improved animation, visuals, and AI updates that attempt to make it a more realistic experience. With FIFA currently taking the football crown, Konami’s certainly got its work cut out to return the series to its glory days, and back to the top of table.

Of all the new features, PES 12′s AI improvements are the biggest, with changes being made to almost all aspects of the game. Our first look started with Active AI Overlap, a new feature that’s designed to improve the performance of players off the ball. In PES 11, if you passed the ball forward to an open area on the pitch, more often than not supporting players wouldn’t chase the ball down. Players will now run forward to receive passes, letting you make better use of open space.

This is enhanced by improvements to Dummy Runs and Diagonal Runs, which see players drawing out defenders to give you space to play the ball, and make runs across the whole length of the pitch, rather than just along one side of it. The next new feature we were shown was Zonal Defence. It attempts to improve defensive lines, so players now stay in formation. We were shown a clip from PES 11, which showed defensive players in a zigzag formation outside of the box. In PES 12, that line has been straightened up, more accurately mimicking real-world players.

The final AI improvement we were shown was called Zonal Marking, which attempts to improve the defensive play of your teammates. Players will automatically pick up on attacking players’ runs, chasing them down and launching tackles. As well as AI improvements, we were shown one tweak to the controls, which allows you control players off the ball. For example, if you’ve got a throw in or a free kick, you can move other players around the pitch, as well as line up your throw or shot.

The AI improvements are substantial, and if they work as promised, they’ll go some way towards making PES 12 a more realistic experience and a better alternative to FIFA. With the game currently only 60 per cent complete, there’s still a lot of new features Konami have yet to implement, including new personal update data, animation improvements, and more responsive button presses. Pro Evolution Soccer 2012 is due for release in Q3 of this year. Look out for more on GameSpot soon.

New version of original game’s popular “Tackle Alley” mode exclusively hitting Microsoft’s online store this summer; price, release date TBA.

505 Games’ arcade style football game Backbreaker was released last summer to middling reception. The game was, however, lauded for its Tackle Alley game mode, which was later spun off into an iOS game. Now, that mode is getting a release all its own this summer exclusively on the Xbox Live Arcade.

The news stems from Backbreaker’s official Facebook page, which confirms Backbreaker: Vengeance and redirects players to a preview of the new game at Cheat Code Central.

If Vengeance replicates the Tackle Alley mode found in the original Backbreaker, in the game players will start 100 yards away from the end zone with the ball and must avoid a slew of oncoming bruisers by evading and effective juking.

Vengeance is powered by the Euphoria game engine, which was also used in hot Rockstar properties like Grand Theft Auto: IV and Red Dead Redemption.

Currently, Backbreaker: Vengeance is slated for a “summer” premiere on XBLA. Unfortunately, 505 Games has not placed a specific release date or price on the game.

Legendary skateboarder says fresh series entry “probably” coming sometime next year; developer/publisher not named.

In early February, Activision announced that it had put the Tony Hawk skateboarding series on hold, saying that no new franchise entry would arrive in 2011. However, the birdman will crash back onto the scene in 2012, if comments from Hawk himself prove accurate.

In an interview with PixelatedGeek, Hawk was queried as to whether or not gamers can expect more Tony Hawk games in the future. He responded, “We’re going to do something probably for next year but I can’t give too much away.” Activision officials have said they still see potential in the franchise, saying in December that Tony Hawk has the staying power of Michael Jordan.

The most recent Tony Hawk game–Tony Hawk: Shred–was developed by independent studio Robomodo and sold under 3,000 units in its first week. It was the second game, following Tony Hawk: Ride, to use the much-maligned skateboarding peripheral.

Programmer of original football sim sues megapublisher, claiming he was excluded from series’ massive profits. Since its inception, Madden NFL Football has grown into the biggest sports franchise on the planet. Since it was introduced nearly 23 years ago, the series has sold 85 million units and generated in excess of $4 billion in profits, helping publisher Electronic Arts lock down a monopoly on the NFL franchise until 2013.

The riches EA has reaped from the franchise have apparently angered Robin Antonick, who helped create the original Madden game back in 1988. Now, according to Reuters, Antonick is suing EA, accusing the megapublisher of withholding royalties and demanding a share of the massive profits the series has generated over the years.

According to Antonick, even though the Madden series has become much more sophisticated, it is still based on his original game, meaning he is due a share of the franchise’s income. He claims he hasn’t received any form of payment from the game since 1992, the year before the franchise was renamed from Madden Football to Madden NFL Football.

“Only recently, as a result of publicity surrounding the 20th Anniversary of the ‘Madden’ videogame did Antonick become aware that Electronic Arts did not independently develop subsequent versions of its Madden NFL software,” reads the complaint. “Instead, according to recent statements by Electronic Arts founder Trip Hawkins, the current generation of software apparently derived from software developed by Antonick.”

As of press time, EA had not commented on the matter.

Eddie Guerrero and Rey Mysterio battle it out in this video explaining the depth of the combat system featured in each class, as well as the incredible array of moves, combos, reversals, and back-and-forth over-the-top fighting action you will perform in WWE All Stars.

2 new shots posted.

6 new shots posted.

GDC 2011: Creative director behind EA’s 2010 multiplatform hoops game explains how the team decided what was kept and what was tossed for a new console take on the hit arcade franchise.

Who was there: EA Sports creative director Trey Smith was on hand for a presentation titled “Bringing back the ‘BOOMSHAKALAKA!’”

What they talked about: Smith opened his talk by explaining the origin of the new NBA Jam, which wasn’t an NBA Jam at all. At first, Smith was told to make a Wii basketball game for kids where the only thing players had to worry about was dribbling the ball virtually with the Wii Remote. The game became Bounce, which was an original intellectual property that was essentially inspired by NBA Jam. When they nabbed the NBA Jam license, Smith said the team partied like rock stars that night.

However, they woke up the next day and realized the enormity of the task ahead of them. In 1993, the original NBA Jam brought in billion in arcades, Smith said. That’s more than three times the highest grossing film of the year, Jurassic Park.

To start with, Smith said the team invoked “The Sequel Rule of Thirds.” One-third of the game had to be the same as before, to “take players back to their Happy Place.” The next third of the game had to be improved over the original. Enhance the recipe, but don’t change it so much that the audience doesn’t like the taste anymore. The final third had to be all new, taking the franchise places it had never been before. But above all, Smith emphasized the need to be true to the source material.

As for what to keep the same to appeal to the hardcore fanbase, Smith pointed to the arcade-style features of the original NBA Jam. It had to have over-the-top dunks, Big Head mode, players catching on fire, backboard shattering dunks, and a strong multiplayer component. (He remembered it being a vary rare sight to have just one person at the old four-player Jam arcade cabinets.) Finally, there was the amped-up play-by-play announcer yelling “BOOMSHAKALAKA!”

That announcer, Chicago actor Tim Kitzrow, wound up being part of the one-third of the game Smith said was kept the same. Mark Turmell was another returning face from the original NBA Jam development team. Turmell, who Smith described as “the godfather of arcade sports,” was enlisted to work on the NBA Jam revamp a few months after development began.

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