Star Wars games have a tough time. With a few exceptions, they generally end up steaming piles of bantha fodder. For every Knights of the Old Republic or Rogue Squadron there's a Super Bombad Racing or Revenge of the Sith. Still, each console generation manages to grab hold of a few shining stars of the Star Wars galaxy, and oftentimes these games are universally praised and well-received -- after all, anything Star Wars George Lucas didn't manage to screw up is something worth celebrating.Star Wars: Republic Commando, developed in-house at Lucasarts, seemed to pass under the radar last generation, receiving less attention than most of its contemporaries. Those who gave it a chance were treated to a squad-based first-person shooter better than the Battlefront series and considerably darker in tone than most Star Wars games (hello, Lego Star Wars). Gritty, bloody, and atmospheric, Republic Commando is an underappreciated gem and a great opportunity for the Wii to bolster its rather meager library of first-person shooters.
Gallery: Born for Wii: Star Wars Republic Commando
Every week, Born for Wii digs into gaming's sordid past to unearth a new treasure fit for revival on the Nintendo Wii. Be sure to check out last week's entry in the series, Cubivore, and for more great titles that deserve your attention, take a look at Virtually Overlooked.
Some games are a little out there. You've got your No More Heroes brand of weirdness, where collecting coconuts is as commonplace as mass murder and sexual innuendo. On another level, there's 
As gaming moves forward, the perpetual improvement of technology naturally leads to the Gears of War 2 creed: "Bigger, Better, and More Badass." Unfortunately, the trend of increasingly film-like 3D games leads to fewer and fewer 2D titles finding their way to home consoles. Many series, such as Zelda and Mario, have successfully transitioned to 3D. But others never quite recovered after the jump, and were always in their prime in the 2D era.
If spending your existence selling travel packages to the dregs of society sounds like a peculiar form of Hell, that's because it is -- quite literally. For Manny Calavera, life-after-death in the Land of the Dead is little more than a series of disappointing clients and missed opportunities. But things are astir at the Department of Death. Strange things. On the Day of the Dead, Manny finds his life as an indentured travel agent in serious jeopardy -- but could hope lie in the saintly (and recently deceased) Mercedes Colomar?
It's almost Halloween, gamers: are you ready? For most of us, the approach of Halloween signifies a few things: a chill in the air as winter crawls ever closer, overdosing on candy, and concerned parents fretting over how many razor blades they're going to find lodged in seemingly innocent candy apples. For a few of us, it means wild parties and 
When you read "Cosmic Smash", does your mind instantly wander to brutal, over-the-top space battles full of massive explosions, flaming spaceships and 
Either 
If you're a gamer, chances are you've heard of it, played it, loved it. While not quite as ubiquitous as Pac-Man or Tetris, which have spread like wildfire across practically every platform known to gamingkind, Lemmings is one of the most recognizable franchises of gaming history, thanks to the endearing titular characters, inventive design, and brain-straining puzzles.
Mega Man. Mega Man X. Mega Man Zero. Mega Man Battle Network. With over 40 games in these series alone, one thing is obvious: there's a lot of Mega Man out there. The diminutive blue-clad hero has shown up on an impressive number of platforms in the past two decades, and often one game led to another, and another, and another, eventually spawning a whole bucketload of sequels. However, when Mega Man took a turn into the third dimension, the predictable half-dozen follow-up installments never materialized.
Sometimes you just have a bad day. It happens to the best of us; even video game bloggers are not infallible. And after a rage-inducing, hair-pulling bad day, you can go home, curl up in a ball and listen to 
Every week, 
Even though it's been eight years since Jet Set Radio was released for the Dreamcast, few games are its equal when it comes to style -- and even fewer have surpassed it. Jet Set Radio pioneered cel-shading in 2000, and just about every entry on the short list of games that out-cool it also followed in its footsteps. While Okami, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker and No More Heroes all feature gorgeous toon-shading to the same effect, they also owe their beauty to the original, which brought the wild streets of Tokyo-to to life in an exciting new way. It's so stylish, it even gives 
Every week, 
In 1987 Lucasfilm Games (now better known as 
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"Welcome to the Power Stone World."
Every week, 
Lock S-Foils in Attack Position. Not only is it a line any self-respecting nerd will recognize instantly, it's also the basis for many a successful video game from days gone by. It all started in 1993 with Lucasarts' X-Wing, which brought Star Wars to PC gamers in a big way. For the first time, they were really in the cockpit, fighting the Empire in glorious (by 1993 standards) 3D. However, it was the 1994 follow-up, TIE Fighter, that refined the flight-sim, Rebel-hunting gameplay to a buttery smooth degree of excellence. Well over a decade later, TIE Fighter still finds itself on many "Best of" lists. On the console side of things, however, it's an entirely different series that drew inspiration from the mighty X-Wing.
Wait for it. Don't leave cover too soon. You're nearly surrounded. Bullets fly in from three directions, ricocheting off the paltry bit of cover protecting your crouched body. A grenade goes off nearby -- too close for comfort. And then it's time to strike back and slaughter another wave of enemy soldiers. You stand up, twist your body to the side, and throw, sending a spinning blade of death towards the hopelessly unprepared, screaming soldiers who soon find themselves lacking torso cohesion.
Every week, 
