First, there were test tube babies. Now comes test tube blood! Scientists have managed to create test tubes upon test tubes of the rare type O-negative blood using those magic stem cells we hear so much about. Vampires need not risk getting staked just to get some ever food again!

If you liked last year's undead-slaying offering Vampire Rain, you'll be thrilled to know that its sequel has been announced and is already in the works. Developer Artoon and publisher AQ Entertainment call this prospect Vampire Rain: Altered Species, and it's looking to deliver more stealth-based action than ever before. See the full article ahead for details.

With over 100 games arriving for WiiWare when in launches in the US, it's going to be a little hard to choose which ones to purchase. Although LostWinds caught our eye from the start, Last Flight's premise got our interests hooked as well. It's hard not to look forward to fighting vampires on a plane. Details on WiiWare's Last Flight in the full article.

This week's new offerings for your Blu-ray home entertainment systems come from various genres and we're sure some of you would like the releases. This week's on Blu-ray stars Led Zeppelin, Takumi Fujiwara, Oliver Cromwell, a bunch of vampires, and the Justice League. Interested? Check out the full article for the complete list.

Big movies sell games. They may not necessarily be good games, but they sell. Some have chosen to avoid the genre altogether, choosing to stop buying video games based on movies. It spares them of potential heartache, but there are always exceptions to the rule.

Which of course begs the question: What movies have come and gone without getting themselves a video game?

It's an endless debate when talking about girls playing the same video games guys play. They say girls only like MMORPGs, then follow up with "there are no girls on internet." Others believe female gamers stick to casual games, but Mario and Pokemon titles have more fanboys than fangirls.

No matter what your stand is, here's a list of non-girly games that aren't Barbie, Bratz, or any of those glamorous stuff.

In an interview with Wired, the series producer of Konami's Castlevania series, Koji Igarashi, confirmed that they are currently working on a new Castlevania game for the Nintendo DS. He also gave out details on the pre-order promotions for the U.S. release of Castlevania: Dracula X Chronicles and shared some of his thoughts on Dracula's meat.

Regarding a new DS iteration of the Castlvania series, Igarashi said that they want people to enjoy Castlevania: Dracula X Chronicles for the PSP before they make the official announcement about the game. While he didn't give any details about this game yet, we can probably expect it to be pretty sweet if it turns out to be like Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin or Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow.

PSP owners who plan on pre-ordering Castlevania: Dracula X Chronicles will be happy to know that Igarashi said that those who decide to get the game from GameStop will be getting a special Simon's Quest figure which will come in black, white, and red. Be advised though that the number of figures made are very limited, so you may want to go see if your local GameStop will have any of them during the launch.

While Igarashi did give out lots of information about the direction of the Castlevania series, there are some things that even he cannot explain. So before we go, here is his answer regarding the presence of meat in Dracula's castle:

You should ask, why do they eat it! I've thought about this stuff. I've actually thought about the candles. The candles are people's souls that were taken by Death or by the vampires. In Japan there are candles that represent life. So, when you release the souls from the candles by whipping them, they give you a "thank you" present. Thank-you hearts, or thank-you holy water. The meat, I have no idea.

It's been a while since we last saw Vampire Rain screens, but IGN featured seven new ones and we thought we'd post them as well. These screens are exclusively for the Microsoft Xbox 360 game console and they're looking pretty scary indeed.

The story places you in the combat boots of a special forces operative whose unit is tasked to hunt down the bloodthirsty creatures of the night before they can get their hands on the public and plunge the world as we know it into chaos.

Using clever and modern weaponry, your primary mode of operation is to determine where the vampires dwell, take your assault rifle, make their rib cages the new home of your bullets, and make them wish they stuck to blood banks for their needs. We'll fill you in when new details are at hand.

  
  

Sometimes games have all these weird titles that don't really make sense. That's not true as far as Mario Party 8 for the Wii is concerned. The game is a must-have when you have friends over at the house for some hours of fun. The game essentially twists board-games with Mario flavor as Nintendo did with racing in Mario Kart back in the day. See this video and become a believer:

Mario Party 8 is more than a board game with a dice and a moving piece. It has countless mini-games that will spice up the play. Another fun thing is the transformation aspect where players can turn into all kinds of crazy things like coin-sucking vampires and boulders to crush other players and derail them in their quest to finish.

Up to four players can duke it out with Wiimotes in hand. The combination of puzzle mechanics and platform-style movements is looking great from what we can see and we think the game deserves the rave reviews it's gotten so far.

Game dev Ilucide was more than happy to talk about one of the more prominent places over at EverQuest II, and we figured you'd wanna hear about the new residence that's gonna be popping up too. Enter Castle Mistmoore.

Located across the Loping Hills, Mistmoore Castle's the residence of Lord Mayong - your not-so-friendly neighborhood elven vampire. The local villagers have long looked upon this castle with a twinge of fear, deathly afraid of the power that Mayong holds, and the aforementioned eerie atmosphere of the castle. If it's any good news, Mayong's often hidden away in his inner sanctum, studying the Zebuxoruk's prophecies.

For a reception, would-be visitors (Raiders, treasure hunters, demon hunters, Belmonts, Blade...) will first have to fight their way through the other vampires inhabiting this castle, which should prove to be meaner than your everyday brand of enemies.

Old-time EverQuest players will also be happy to know that the devs have taken special care to make this castle a tribute to its previous incarnation in EQI - evident in the the piano, stained glass, and gray stone walls that were faithfully copied from the EQI version. As for the rest of the castle's majestically malicious feel, you can thank Michael Bacon for his efforts, and numerous items such as the high ceilings which were inspired by European gothic cathedrals, specifically those in Barcelona.

Mistmoore Castle:  Your recommended party's tour destination for EQ2's EoF expansion.