Normally, when you buy a video game, you get exactly what it says on the box, if
you're lucky. But Sony release LittleBigPlanet 2 (Buy | Search), out this week for the
PS3, ships with a toolkit (and exhaustive set of tutorials) that don't
just let players make their own levels -- they actually empower them to
make their own games. It's a level of flexibility above and beyond anything we've seen on console platforms so far.

Just how flexible is it? You'll see -- but before you do, here's a look at how the game looked before its recent beta test let fans really start fooling with it.

Pretty cool, right? Maybe -- but you ain't seen nothing yet.

Windows

Photos.
Media Player. Games. And yes,

At last, I've had a chance to spend quality time with the 3DS, Nintendo's new glasses-free 3D handheld—and yes, it lives up to the hype, although I found that a little 3D on the 3DS's 3.53-inch display goes a long way.

Slated to arrive in the U.S. on March 27 for $249, the 3DS looks pretty much like the DSi, complete with the usual dual displays, the DS slot, and the standard D-pad.

Take another look, though, and you'll spot the new analog stick on the left side of the console, as well as the twin 0.3MP cameras on the top cover for taking 3D pictures. (Click here for more specs, launch titles, and other details.)

The 3D slider switch

Of course, the feature we've all be waiting for is hinted at by the little 3D

The Grateful Dead Gamers are about to embark on a long, strange trip.

Provided, that is, they decide to truck along with a virtual world based on iconic jam rockers The Grateful Dead. Due to launch in August,
the online game is being handled by Curious Sense, who recently created 'Find Your Own Way Home,' an online venture based on the substantially less influential REO Speedwagon.

Sound crazy? Not to Curious Sense CEO Adam Blumenthal, who told Rolling Stone that the Dead is "one of two or three perfect bands for this kind of multi-channel game
experience."

Multi-channel is right. The new game world will be accessible from a variety of services,
including Facebook, the band's official site, and mobile

LittleBigPlanet 2

Platforms: PS3

LittleBigPlanet 2's star cracks a grin

Although
it's a lovable, character-packed platform game in its own right, it's
not new release LittleBigPlanet 2's supplied levels that are making
headlines this week. Instead, it's the game's astonishing array of tools
for creating your own -- a suite of intricate gadgets and gizmos that'll let you pull its gameplay apart, reassembling it as anything
from an action-packed shooter to a Rock Band-style virtual instrument.
Limited only by your imagination, and with the ability to share your
creations with a world of other players, it's gaming's Youtube.

Which is also one of its weaknesses, according to critics. Like many complex
tools, you're going to have to

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

The recent breaking of the Playstation 3's hardware encryption by a team of hackers is an unexpected windfall for Playstation owners
seeking to run homebrewed apps and games on their machine, but it's proving disastrous for fans of 2009 best-seller Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (Buy | Search).

The hackers' work, which allows savvy PS3 owners to run non-Sony-approved
code on their machines, has resulted in a wave of cheaters and hackers
targeting older Call of Duty titles, leaving them "in total shambles and unplayable," as one fan told Joystiq.com.

Some of those who happened upon hacked servers have suffered permanent
consequences, including the deletion of all their accumulated

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The good old days. It's rough being a video game icon in the transmedia age.

With titles like "Red Faction" and "Halo" starting to expand
beyond their gaming roots into novels and television, some of the rights owners
for the games that made the industry big in the first place are exploring their
options. And it's not a pretty picture.

Deadline Hollywood is reporting that Merv Griffin Entertainment is planning to adapt Pac-Man as a reality series.

No, really.

The show is envisioned to be a "big, crazy Wipeout-type
event with a lot of energy," Roy Bank, Merv Griffin's TV president, told
the site. "The idea we have is to take what Pac-Man is and bring it to
life, to bring what is essentially the world's

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Brain power! Gamers spend hours honing their skills by twiddling their thumbs. But according to new research, their expertise might be entirely in
their heads.

Researchers from the University of Illinois
at Urbana-Champaign say they can predict a subject's skill at video games simply by studying their brain using standard image scanning technology, reports Wired. The
study, which will be published in online journal PLoS One, set out to determine whether subtle differences in brain structure could be found in people more naturally gifted than others in performing complex tasks -- including games.

Fool your brain with optical illusions

Using MRI scans, researchers mapped out the brains of 34