When it comes to iconic video game characters fueled by pure undiluted awesome while maintaining respectable day jobs as civil servants, only one name comes to mind. Mike Haggar (seen above pile driving a shark).

But why is he the greatest mayor of all time? What trials did this Hercules body slam into oblivion to claim his title? Well listen close (to the below youtube video) and learn ye mortals, The Ballad of Mike Haggar.

Borderlands was a pretty awesome game that just about begged for a sequel and Gearbox guaranteed it from the get go. Now we've got the first images and a promise of more info and the Gamescon expo. The early promises are more weapons, more characters, more bad guys, more environments and better mission system to deliver a more structured story.

The next issue of Game Informer will also have a twelve page spread with lots of juicy details. Click through to see the awesome Borderlands 2 cover Game Informer will be rocking next month.

I didn’t want to write about this. I thought the initial finger pointing would die down far more quickly. But every geek and game blog I’ve looked at the last few weeks has covered it in some way or another. Jim Wallace from the ACL made has appearance on news programs with a rant so ridiculous it borders on self parody on the subject. The subject of Anders Behring Breivik.

Anders Behring Breivik; a name that will no doubt, much to its owners delight, live in infamy. For that reason alone I was resisting the temptation to comment on how gaming relates to this terrible tragedy. It seemed... trivial I suppose, in the wake of such a horrible tragedy. But under the weight of all this commentary I have broken; we’re in for a terrible hurricane of stupid in the weeks to come and I just wanted to say from my soapbox to my fellow gamers, keep calm and game on.

Be still my foolish heart. It seems after years upon years of teases, rumours and speculation the popular and much speculated on Pandaren race may make a more official appearance in World of Warcraft. After appearing in Warcraft III The Frozen Throne the Pandaren have been one of the most popular but mysterious races in Warcraft. It has recently come to light that Blizzard have filed a patent for the title Mists of Pandaria, strongly suggesting the Pandaren may make an appearance soon in the game. Off course this could be a spin off game, or something else entirely, and if it was an expansion for World of Warcraft, as we're quite close to when rumours usually begin circulating for the next expansion as Blizzcon approaches, it might not even include the Pandaren as a playable race.

But still, an exciting snippet of information for WoW and panda fans alike.

As the film Transformers Dark of the Moon rakes in billions while killing brain cells and inducing 3D related seizures at the cinema, gamers have the opportunity to play as Transformers once again in the game adaptation of the film.  While the game casts you in the metallic shoes of several iconic characters, a repetitive structure and ludicrously short campaign make this a title strictly for the die hard Transformer fans.

You really have to hand it to companies like Double Fine, they’re like the anti-Activision. While the majority of developers are focusing on sequels, prequels, remakes and rip offs they’re a studio not afraid to hang their junk out there with an original and unique title. Trenched, the third in their series of original download games, is a straight shot of pure, original, cartoon fun. Like Costume Quest and Stacked, it’s a title easy to pick up but excruciatingly hard to put down.

Demons, they have forges, they burn and defile things, they give nuns titillating dreams (or so I like to imagine), are worshipped by metal loving awkward teens and generally get a bad rap. Poor demons. Hunted doesn’t do much to repair demons poor PR image, but it does provide a violent and genuinely challenging game experience in a dark fantasy setting with a focus on coop. All of which are good things.