I’ve made no secret of my disdain for Sony rebooting the Spider-Man franchise so quickly after Sam Raimi and Tobey Maguire’ trilogy came to an (unplanned) end. But after watching the new trailer for Marc Webb’s Amazing Spider-Man, I’ve finally found a reason to get excited about a new Spidey. Click through to watch the trailer and check out some high-res screengrabs of its blink-and-you’ll-miss-’em key moments.

First of all, do yourself a favor and bump the trailer up to full 1080p resolution, and expanded it to full screen. Totally worth it.

There’s lots of cool VFX in this trailer. There’s some terrific character moments (the one that will most warm your geeky little heart is when Spidey smack-talks a car thief). There’s some dynamic, fast-paced, brutal action scenes (seriously, Peter escaping the cops: whoa). There’s some fun dialogue (Gwen noting under her breath, “I’m in trouble,” I’m guessing comes shortly after she learns Peter’s secret, and realizes that she’s in love with him). The lighting and cinematography are appropriately dark and glistening (Webb’s New York City looks like the real thing more than Raimi’s candy-colored NYC). And there’s a noteworthy absence of any hokey FPS sequences, like we saw in the teaser trailer.

These are all things that fill me with great hope. But they’re not what changed my mind about The Amazing Spider-Man.

What captured my imagination is that the trailer reminded me once again why we love Spider-Man in the first place. We love him because he’s one of us. He’s a dork. A geek, who gets superpowers and finds the nobility to use them for good instead of gain. A fanboy who learns the hard way that being a superhero is a lot more complicated than the comic books make it look. A regular Joe who accepts the responsibility fate has thrust on him, despite the hardships and pains that it brings, and simply tries to do the best he can with the hand he’s been dealt.

I watch this trailer… And I believe. Again.

Raimi’s first Spider-Man was good. 2 was excellent. Just a brilliant, brilliant movie. But 3 was a hot mess. It had so many good things going for it, including a lot of potentially great ideas. Its problem was in getting away from the core of who Peter Parker is, by awarding him with fame and adoration, and letting him get caught up in it. Peter Parker is not Superman. He’s the underdog. People love him, but they don’t throw parades in his honor or give him the key to the city. I don’t fault Raimi for trying new things and attempting to push the character in new directions. I fault Spider-Man 3 for being a bloated, busy exercise in excess that lost sight of who its hero is.

From this trailer, it’s plainly obvious that director Marc Webb and star Andrew Garfield know exactly who Peter Parker is. And I can’t wait to see their dark new take on everyone’s favorite web-slinger.

Oh, and the mechanical web shooters? Flippin’ awesome.

Max Payne 3 screenshot

…But I don’t. Not yet.

I just don’t get the idea of taking a series that’s built on hard-boiled, noir-y darkness, and moving it to exotic, sun-soaked Brazil. What is Rockstar Games thinking with Max Payne 3?

The first Max Payne was a revelation, immersing players in an emotional story of righteous revenge in highly original ways. It was a tightly-woven tale wrapped in a game that pushed the medium forward with John Woo-style gun play and bullet time physics — long before Woo or The Matrix came to video games. The second game was pretty much “more of the same,” but at least the developers were smart enough to know not to screw up a smart formula that worked.

Max Payne 3 picks up the story and the character eight long years after the events of the second game, and rather inexplicably changes the formula in very drastic ways. And no matter how many trailers and developer videos that Rockstar releases showcasing how they’re using the latest technology to create a Max that’s more gee-whiz eye-popping than ever — and the tech does look impressive, I’m not disputing that — I just can’t get my head around this new setting. No matter how much research Rockstar conducts to ensure serious realism. Not to mention the screenshots that show this older Max going all John McClane, sporting a newly bald head and wife-beater.

Call it a classic case of cognitive dissonance if you want. And maybe I’ll feel differently if/when I get the chance to play the game for myself. I’m all for bold choices in game design; we need all of the envelope-pushing we can get. But from the outside looking in, Max Payne 3 — which was written by Dan Houser, the writer behind several of Rockstar’s Grand Theft Auto games as well as Red Dead Redemption — feels like an unnecessary course change that sends Max into the familiar “blistering sunset” aesthetic of Rockstar’s other games.

I hope I’m wrong. Max deserves better. In the meantime, check out the latest game video and screens.

Today, Bethesda let loose a whole slew of new screenshots from all of their upcoming titles, and they’re sell-a-kidney-to-afford-these-games good. Get yourself a bib to sop up all the drool that’s about to escape from your mouth, and then click on these thumbnails for some gorgeous, thrilling, terrifying, glorious new images of places that don’t exist that you’re going to want to visit right now.

Which title are you looking forward to most?

So..what do you think? Have you seen enough to think anything yet? I’m holding off my opinion until I see something in motion…

Yes ladies and gents, a new Resident Evil game has been announced for PS3 and XBox360 and first details have appeared from the Famitsu magazine:

Via GamesAreFun

• The controls will be based off of Resident Evil 4′s control scheme.
• Enemies will have much more character and personality. Takeuchi notes Ganado from RE4 as an example.
• Many of the staff who worked on the original Resident Evil will be making a return to work on this title.
• Don’t expect this out anytime soon; Takeuchi stated that any project that aims to surpass the standards set by RE4 would more than likely take three to five years to complete.

For the full magazine scans click on “Visit Site” below.