What a weekend! This was really the kick start of the holidays for me. Vancouver was blanketed by snow--I know, BIG DEAL(!!) if you're from anywhere else in Canada or big chunks of the US, but for us folks in the warmest and wettest urban center in the country, getting several inches of snowfall this close to Christmas IS a big deal, trust me! My wife and I also attended our first Christmas get together with friends and that was a great party with a collection of people ranging in ages from 8 months to parents in their 70's. (The Chief and Athena were at the party too, so that was pretty sweet for this BSG fanboy!) And then last night, after a solid snowed-in day of gaming...I've gone back to the final stages of God of War II to finally complete the game--don't ask! I get busy with new stuff to review every week and it's taken me forever but man, I love God of War!!! Anyone that is fully enamored with the new Prince of Persia and its simplified design, should really take another look...

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Someone has been practicing their voodoo and conjuring up the dead. It looks like Valve will be releasing a demo for their survival horror shooter Left 4 Dead. Details have yet to be finalized, but we could see the walking dead overtaking a hospital in both single player and co-op action.

Another demo for a very unusual but cool action shooter is heading our way next week. LucasArts will be releasing a demo of Fracture later this month. The game allows players to turn the environment into a weapon thanks to a real time terrain deformation feature. Gamers can raise and lower terrain to give themselves cover and height advantages, not to mention messing up opponents in other creative and earthy ways. The free demo will be released on September 18th on both Xbox Live and the PlayStation Network; the full game will be released in October. If you can tear yourself away from Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, which is being released next week, give a try.

READ MORE: Check out our Fracture Preview.

FIFA fans, do you like head-to-head play? Well, you know what they say, 20 heads are better than two. EA Sports has announced a new online mode called FIFA 09 Clubs. Clubs mode allows gamers to form or join user-controlled soccer clubs anywhere in the world, forming a roster of up to 50 friends. Pretty impressive, but that’s not all. In Be A Pro: 10 versus 10 Online Team Play, 20 people on 20 different consoles anywhere in the world can connect online to play a single match. That’s right. Twenty people in a single online match of soccer. We can’t wait to give it a try. Speaking of which, a free demo of FIFA 09 is now available on both the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live.

Hey, World of WarCraft fans, all 11 million of you. We know you’re eagerly awaiting the Wrath Of The Lich King expansion pack. Well, there’s more for you to get excited about. Blizzard has hinted that more expansions for WOW are in the works, including more landmasses. Wrath Of The Lich King is already adding the continent of Northrend to the game, so a really huge game is about to get even hugerer. That’s a word, I looked it up.

Another legendary rocker has signed up to be a part of Guitar Hero World Tour. Ted Nugent will appear as an in-game character in the upcoming game. Nugent, who has sold over 35 million albums over a career than spans five decades, will bring his hit song Stranglehold with him to the game. Nugent joins other real-life rockers Ozzy Osbourne, Billy Corgan, and Jimi Hendrix.

We just can’t stop talking about The Dark Knight. Even though the movie is still playing in theatres around the world, Warner Bros. has announced plans to re-release The Dark Knight in January. What, they wanna make more money? I’m sure they do, but that’s not the real reason. January is Academy Award voting season, so it looks like Warner Bros. is trying to pimp the movie for some Oscars. It could turn out well for The Dark Knight, there was Oscar buzz surrounding Heath Ledger’s performance as The Joker even before the movie was released. He’s certainly got my vote.

With his Gubernatorial duties, Arnold Schwarzenegger hasn’t been able to make movies. But the folks behind Terminator Salvation are about to bring him back…or at least his face. It seems that a digital version of Arnie’s, or the T-800’s, face will be superimposed on actor Roland Kickinger, tying all the films together.

If you haven’t had your fill of superheroes yet, there’s a new super-powered TV show coming to ABC. Director Barry Sonnenfeld, of Men In Black fame, is at work on a new TV series about a family of superheroes called The Nelsons. Similar in style to The Incredibles, The Nelsons will be a live action, hour-long comedy.

It looks like JJ Abrams could return to the land of the lost. The Lost creator mentioned recently that he would love to return to the series and direct an episode of the final season. He’s even open to helming the series finale, but adds that frequent series’ director Jack Bender has done a great job and doesn’t want to take anything away from him or his efforts.

Some sad news from the world of literature. Gregory Mcdonald, author of the Fletch novels, has died at the age of 71. The first Fletch novel, about the adventures of investigative reporter Irwin M. Fletcher, was published in 1974. Chevy Chase starred as Fletch in two movie versions and ardent fan Kevin Smith was long rumoured to write and direct a new flick. However, Fletch will live on in a new movie that is being planned without Smith, based on Mcdonald’s 1985 novel Fletch Won.

This is sure to stir up some Halo 4 rumours. Microsoft has posted an ad on job hunting site Monster.com. The ad is seeking a Program Manager to join the Halo Team and “help define the next generation of gaming software technology.” Hmm, what could it mean? Although Microsoft said that Halo 3 would conclude the story arc that began in the original Halo, anyone who’s played through Halo 3 knows there’s lots of room for Halo 4.

There’s a videogame world record up for grabs. The Personal Computer Museum in Brantford, Ontario is hosting an attempt to establish a new record for the most participants in a Tetris Tournament tomorrow. Museum founder Syd Bolton says they want as many participants as possible, so head on over to tetristournament.ca if you want to register and flex your line-making muscles. Four rounds will eliminate the participants until there’s one big winner standing tall. By the way, the Personal Computer Museum has over 300 functioning computers and gaming systems dating back to 1976. Check it out, it’s a fascinating place and you can see how our ancestors used to game.

READ MORE: Check out the museum.

We’ve got some new neighbours around the EP HQ. Microsoft has officially opened its first Canadian development centre in Richmond, British Columbia. The Microsoft Canada Development Centre quietly began operations last year with 20 employees, but now they’ve grown to 300. The centre works on over half of Microsoft’s products including Windows, Office, the Zune, and the Xbox 360. The managing director of the new Microsoft Canada Development Centre said that they’ll be working on “the next wave of Microsoft products and services.” I’m sure it won’t be long before we’ll be stopping by to visit…maybe I should bring a housewarming present.

Fallout has taken a page from Nancy Reagan and just said no to drugs. Apparently Australia\'s Office Of Film & Literature Classification didn’t like the game’s use of real world drugs, such as morphine used as a painkiller, and other chemicals that gave the player’s character a boost. Thus, the office refused to give the game a rating, effectively banning it from the continent. This has lead Bethesda to change the game so that there are no real world drugs in Fallout 3, and the fictional drugs don’t benefit the player to same extent. For consistency, the changes have been made in all versions worldwide. But don’t worry folks, it’s a minor thing and Fallout 3 is still looking amazing. Watch out for our making of documentary soon.

READ MORE: Check out our hands-on preview of Fallout 3!

2K Sports is recruiting the best virtual athletes for Team 2K. Team 2K will consist of an elite group of the best players from both NHL and NBA 2K9. The company is holding a 10 week online contest to find one kickass player per week. Winners will earn 2K Sports gear, a library of upcoming games, and some pretty strong bragging rights. If you’re interested in joining Team 2K, head on over to 2KSports.com.

The Force is strong in Arkham Asylum. Mark Hamill is set to reprise his role of the Joker, for the upcoming Batman: Arkham Asylum game. Hamill has performed as the Joker in various animated and videogame forms, including Batman: Mask Of The Phantasm and Batman Vengeance.

Excited about the new James Bond movie yet? I know I sure am. Well, MGM just released a new trailer for Quantum Of Solace. The 22nd Bond film sees the return of Daniel Craig’s Bond as he battles a plot to seize Bolivia’s water supply, and avenges the death of his lover, Vesper Lynd, from Casino Royale. This is the first ever direct sequel to a Bond movie and we’ll all be able to see it when it opens on November 14th.

And now it’s time to fuel the Batman rumour mill some more. Mission Impossible III’s Philip Seymour Hoffman has responded to rumours that he’s being considered for the role of The Penguin in the next Batman movie. Hoffman says that grew up a fan of comic books and thinks the Christopher Nolan movies are true to the Batman character. Hoffman was a pretty good villain in Mission Impossible III, don’t you think?

There could be more Marvel superhero movies swinging into theatres. 20th Century Fox is holding a meeting to discuss more superhero movies. There’s speculation the studio is considering a return to Daredevil, and more X-Men spinoffs including a young X-Men and a Deadpool movie. Incidentally, Ryan Reynolds, who already played a superhero of sorts in Blade: Trinity, will be playing Deadpool in X-Men Origins: Wolverine. One thing’s for sure, with the success of The Dark Knight, we’re gonna see a lot more superhero movies which is just fine by me.

Actor Johnny Depp is reteaming with director Gore Verbinski, only this time it’s not on a pirate ship. The Pirates Of The Caribbean duo are getting together for Rango, an animated flick about a household pet that ventures on a journey of self-discovery. Verbinski will direct and Depp will be the voice of the main character. The movie is expected to be in theatres March 2011. And don’t forget, Verbinski is also working on the big screen adaptation of BioShock. Am I being naive, or is it okay to be optimistic about this one?