Devil's Brigade was set in Italy during the end of World War II, and unlike the series' first-person counterparts, it featured squad-based gameplay, exploration, and a "grim" story that followed a team of "skillfully trained killing machines."

During its time of development, Devil's Brigade was under the codename "CODAA," or "Call of Duty Action Adventure," under the studio Underground Development. The shift to the third-person realm seemed like a more logical fit for the series at the time, as opposed to the new modern day direction Infinity Ward was heading with Call of Duty 4. 

The team wasn't exactly creating a full game, nor a demo, but a vertical slice of the game's campaign.

Borderlands 2

Those who pre-order Borderlands 2 will gain access to the game's "Premiere Club," which will allow you to download the Gearbox Gun Pack, a Golden Key and the Vault Hunter’s Relic. The gun pack is a unique arsenal of weaponry to help you begin your journey in Borderlands 2, while the Relic is an in-game item that "boosts players’ gear-hunting fortune while playing solo or teaming up with friends." Lastly, the Golden Key is used to unlock a rare item in the world's mysterious Golden Sanctuary Loot Chest. If all that sounds amazing, then by all means, pre-order!

Studio co-founder Chris Lalli laid out his own thoughts on Reign of Thunder, and thinks it will not only be good for the genre and for gamers, but overall it's also "a great time to be a mech fan right now."

"As devs, there's always going to be competition for us amongst any other shooter, so at least Day 1 is bringing more exposure to the mech genre," Lalli said, commenting on MechWarrior Online next.

"I haven't seen any gameplay for MechWarrior Online yet, but traditionally that franchise has leaned more toward the simulation end of the spectrum. Reign of Thunder looks to be on the opposite end, as a really fast-paced and arcadey title (not to mention third-person)."

"Hawken would be somewhere in between as a mixture of those two gameplay styles, and visually the games all look pretty distinct. So I think there’s plenty of room for each game to thrive and appeal to different aspects of the mech fanbase. The great thing about the free-to-play model is that gamers don’t necessarily have to choose between just one or the other, they can try each game at no cost and decide which one suits them...or maybe decide that they all do!"

Hawken's closed-beta registration is taking place here.

“People have maybe forgotten about the adrenaline rush of the old school shooters like Quake, Unreal Tournament and, of course, Tribes," he tells PC Gamer. His idea on the reason behind the lack of twitch shooters? “I think a lot of it is the multi-platform consideration. Games have this huge marketing spend so many of these shooters look to go multi-platform, meaning not just the PC but at least two consoles as well.”

Todd adds that the standard console controller doesn't offer the same versatility and freedom that a keyboard and mouse setup does, which I'm sure many will agree with.

“That’s not to say that someone couldn’t make a fast twitch game for those consoles,” he adds, “But it’s easier to go to a lower common denominator – not having to turn as fast, not having to look 360 degrees in an instant – to make more of a hide-and-seek style, corridor-based, tactical shooter,” he says.

[PC Gamer] Tribes Ascend Dev on the Decline of Twitch Shooters: Blame "Multi-platform" Development

Valve is also ramping up the beta's player count in a fast and furious way, with 7,000 invites sent out last week alone, with another 2,000 planned for today. “We will also have a survey up in the coming weeks that can help you get your name on the list for a key,” Valve mentions.

Among the list of items Valve plans to fix, tweak and balance, weapon recoil is at the top, though the team says it's quite "tricky."

“A few weeks back we had pro player Salvatore ‘Volcano’ Garozzo by our offices and one of his biggest pieces of feedback he gave us was about recoil," a recent blog post writes. "It was still too hard to control.”

"It isn’t just math. It’s also about feel and one of the defining parts of Counter-Strike." 

In the last week alone, weapon recoil was adjusted twice, so hopefully third time's a charm.

[PC Gamer] Counter-Strike: Global Offensive Beta Expands with New Maps and Weapons

Posting on the NeoGAF forums, Naughty Dog community manager Arne Meyer stated the following: "We're not working on anything for PS Vita. I won't say never, ever, but there's no plans for it right now - we've always felt that consoles play to our strengths as a studio the best." 

“That can change with the right handheld," Meyer continued,  "as why I won’t ever say never. We’ve never made a handheld game, so us saying we’re not working on anything at the moment shouldn’t be some earth-shattering surprise.”

So, it seems we'll have to rely on the Uncharted: Golden Abyss dev team to knock it out of the park with the series' next [and inevitable] handheld installment.

No word on when the new prestige levels will hit the PlayStation 3, but we assume it'll be when the system gets caught up on the content drops.

[Twitter] @FourZeroTwo

Additionally, pre-ordering now will upgrade you to the game's "Premium Edition," which will contain day-one multiplayer perks and advantages such as: access to the AK-47 from the start, Double XP for the first week of play, and the ability to play as the "Officer" class, which gives your team reduced damage buffs and increased effectiveness in other classes. Then there's also the "FUBAR" pack, which grants you "unique accessories to customize your character's appearance."

Although Spec Ops: The Line's multiplayer hasn't been talked about much, 2K assures that more information about it will emerge as we near June. In the meantime, check out the multiplayer trailer here.

[Naughty Dog] Co-Op Shade Survival Mode Announced, Flashback Map Pack 2 Available Tomorrow

"Mech fans have been asking us for years to return to the genre and we’ve been listening," Day 1 said on its website. "We’ve been hard at work creating a hard-hitting, fast-paced, explosive action game with all the customization options you could ever want."

Being free-to-play points in the direction of Reign of Thunder being a PC-exclusive, which means it will be extremely interesting to see how the competition between indie studio Adhesive Game's Hawken and this will pan out. All we need now for the console crowd is Chromehounds 2. Hop on that, SEGA.

[Day 1 Studios] Reign of Thunder Reveal Trailer