With the holidays fast approaching and the recession still ongoing, we here at QJ.NET decided to do another round of bargain hunting at Amazon.com. If you're a first time game console owner, or maybe just looking for a great deal before the holidays, or one of those avid games collector, then you better checkout our list of 25 excellent games under US$ 25 and hopefully this can help you out with your purchasing decision. The full list after the jump.

We scored an interview with Clark Stacey, Vice President of Smart Bomb Interactive, the folks who brought us Snoopy vs. the Red Baron on PS2, PSP and PC. Clark was nice enough to answer our questions and divulge the first details of Snoopy's brand new adventure, DLC, multiplayer, gameplay mechanics, and brand spanking new screens lie just a click away!

It's better to give than to receive - this was the point of the new initiative set up by Ratchet & Clank developers Insomniac Games as it introduced a new technology sharing program entitled "Nocturnal" for other video game developers in the industry. Its aim is basically to create a central information hub which different devs can share with one another. You can find out more about the Nocturnal initiative by reading our full article after the jump.

If you loved Insomniac Games' Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction, then you'd be interested in what old pal Quartermann has to say about its next chapter. In the latest EGM issue, the gaming seer also talks about Tecmo Bowl and a possible challenger to Mario's platform game throne from Disney. We smell a hidden Mickey! All this and more after the jump!

The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences has announced that the nominations for the 11th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards has finally been closed. The final list of candidates has been compiled and is currently entering the general voting stage. Want to find out if your bet got into the final list? Read the full article!

A few months ago, Insomniac Games' Marketing Director Ryan Schneider had commented that they (Insomniac) were flattered by games that were apparently influenced by their Ratchet and Clank franchise. Among the title he noted was Shigeru Miyamoto's Super Mario Galaxy. So, was this the case? Read the full article and find out!

Let's face it: Square Enix' current lineup of games is made up of entries to known franchises that promise good sales.  Sure, we're still waiting for Last Remnant and Infinite Undiscovery, but aside from those big names, the rest of Squeenix' promising games are either of Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest lineage.

In this list, we'll take a look at games that deserve their sequels Sit tight, and prepare to ride the nostalgia train! Find the list at the full article.

September was a big month for Microsoft, when the Xbox 360 and Halo 3 topped hardware and software sales, but analyst Jesse Divinch of simExchange predicts that the Wii will once again take top spot for October's results, concurring with Pachter's own forecasts.

Read more on his predictions in the full article.

 

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and it seems that Ratchet & Clank is being flattered by a lot of game developers - one of them being Shigeru Miyamoto, the mind behind some of Nintendo's most beloved franchises. This little nugget of information comes from an interview with Ryan Schneider, Marketing Director of Insomniac and a creative contributor in most of the game development firm's biggest titles.

In the interview, Ryan Schneider mentioned that a lot of upcoming games today (as well as games from the last generation) have been influenced by Ratchet & Clank in some way or another. His statement (unedited and presented as is) went:

Yeah, I think that it's flattering... well OK, first of all, there was a PlayStation 2 game which I won't name, that was more or less a direct rip-off of Ratchet and Clank. There's evidence all around us I think, of certain games that have borrowed from Ratchet and Clank.

One that we're even extremely flattered by is Super Mario Galaxy, with their spherical worlds; we did spherical worlds in Going Commando, and Up Your Arsenal. It would be amazing to think that Miyamoto-san thought that was so cool that he wanted to incorporate it into Mario Galaxy. Granted, he's doing it in a different way, but it's still a spherical world, so it's flattering to see those sorts of things.

Flattering indeed. Of course, we can also cite previous games that have also meddled with spherical worlds - such as the special stage Sonic & Knuckles on the Sega Mega Drive, way back in 1994. Ratchet and Clank's first game on the PS2, Ratchet & Clank, was released on 2002.

In any case, it's certainly good that game developers influence each other in making more fun and exciting worlds for us to play in. Updates as we get them, and you can check out the full interview from the read link below.

 

Over at the U.S. side, the rental charts at GameFly eyes FASA Studios' Shadowrun for the Xbox 360 and the PC, which climbed a fair share of spots on either platform to become the most requested game on GameFly. Forza Motorsport 2, published by Microsoft, took the second top spot across the charts, with Codemaster's DiRT revving up Forza's tailpipe for a solid seat at third.

Nintendo's Mario Party 8, pegged by GameFly as last week's most request title, now slipped five spots down to number six in the overall charts. The top title at the Xbox 360 charts is Shadowrun, while Take Two's Darkness tops the PlayStation 3 wish-list. Mario Party 8 celebrates on top of the Wii charts, while Nintendo's Pokemon Diamond keeps its chances for the number one spot rock-hard. Apparently, size actually does matter for unlikely duo Ratchet and Clank as Sony's Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters get big on the PSP charts.

The list of the top five titles for each platform to follow right when you click "Full Article."