The way Call of Duty Elite -- the subscription service for the massively popular FPS series -- worked never really seemed like the most sensible way to go. By having free and premium tiers, there was always a great deal of confusion among gamers, and this led to some unfair criticisms about how the money-hungry Activision was charging for stat-tracking services other games offered for free when, in reality, that was not the case. As Elite approaches the beginning of its second year in existence with the launch of Call of Duty: Black Ops II next month, Activision is doing the sensible thing: it's making Elite (sans downloadable content) free for everyone to access.

When it was originally launched last year, the $50-per-year version of Elite offered a year's worth of downloadable content, extra storage for replay videos, the ability for clans to level up, tournaments with real-world prizes, and Elite TV. The DLC was obviously the big attraction, as on its own that same content would cost $60. But the manner in which DLC was handled was not immediately apparent: If I purchase an Elite membership this past June, do I get all of the previously released content? Do I get Black Ops II DLC released prior to next June? It was needlessly confusing.

Recently I've called attention to the fine job Sony has done of giving gamers reasons to spend money on the PlayStation Network. Between Day One Digital releases, a solid October promotion, and PlayStation Mobile on Vita, there is a lot happening on that front. Not to be forgotten, Nintendo today announced a lineup of games coming to the 3DS eShop over the next few months, and it's looking awfully good.

Pushmo was a particularly pleasant surprise when it launched on the eShop late last year -- for those who played it, that is. It was released with very little attention called to it, leaving it to word of mouth and reviews (1UP gave it an A) to make people realize that, yes, there really is such a thing as an original eShop game worthy of their time and money. It was a game that should have gotten more support from Nintendo than it did; there simply aren't a lot of good, original titles on the 3DS eShop, and Pushmo was an exemplary example of one. As Jeremy said in his review at the time, it deserved better.

Handheld game systems like 3DS and PlayStation Vita are facing competition unlike anything their predecessors ever had to deal with. Like it or not, phones and tablets are eating into the market for handheld games. That's not to say dedicated gaming handhelds are dead or that no one wants the type of experiences they can provide anymore, but there is a lot more pressure on Nintendo and Sony than there has been in the past. Sony, especially, is faced with a less-than-desirable position; whereas Nintendo has a massive war chest and a system in 3DS that has done relatively well since its price cut, the Vita, like Sony itself, has been struggling worldwide.

Part of what makes iOS and Android devices so attractive to some people are their respective app stores. Although the cost of iOS devices in particular might be rather high, once you get one, you have access to what can feel like a never-ending stream of App Store games that typically cost very little. That's a major point of distinction between iOS devices and the Vita; while the latter has access to cheap games from the Minis line, those have never really gained much traction. The bulk of the games you're likely to spend your time playing are full-priced, $40 games and smaller, downloadable titles that cost more than most iOS fare like Plants vs. Zombies ($15), Tales From Space: Mutant Blobs Attack ($8), and Super Stardust Delta ($10).

We're recording a special Resident Evil episode of Games, Dammit! and we'd like you to be a part of it. Send us a link to your 90-second SoundCloud clip. In it, explain why you love RE or tell us a story about your favorite moment in the series. One lucky winner will receive an Astro Gaming A40 Audio System courtesy of Capcom.

After last year's PlayStation Network breach, some questioned whether Sony could regain the confidence of PSN users. Surely anyone in their right mind wouldn't dare to buy anything from PSN or trust it with their personal information, some said. Yet here we are, not even two years later, and PSN sales are higher than ever before. Not only that, but Sony is doing the best job of any platform holder to encourage users to spend money on their online service.

Sony Computer Entertainment America's Jack Buser recently shared some impressive facts about PSN sales with Joystiq. In the quarter spanning April through June, PSN saw more content sold than during any other quarter since the service's launch. On a similarly positive note for Sony, "membership sales in PS Plus almost doubled" during E3 week in June.

Digital versions of retail games being sold on PlayStation Network are nothing new; we've seen numerous games made available in this fashion. In most cases, these digital versions have been released at some point after the game in question debuted at retail. Last week's release of Borderlands 2 was a notable exception -- it could be downloaded from PSN on the same day it became available in stores and online. That's something we'll be seeing a lot more of soon, as it will be far from the only game released in that fashion on PSN this fall with Sony today announcing the PSN Day 1 Digital program.

Eight games coming out in October will be released on PSN on the same day they hit retail, including Assassin's Creed III, Dishonored, and Resident Evil 6. That the number is so high is an aggressive move by Sony -- it's one thing for the occasional game to be released simultaneously on PSN, but this list now accounts for almost every high-profile game release in October. There are some missing, like XCOM: Enemy Unknown, WWE 13, and the HD Collections of Zone of the Enders and Killzone (the latter of which I'm sure will end up on PSN), but it's pretty comprehensive otherwise. The omission of Skylanders Giants is not a big deal, even though it is sure to be a major seller. That's because it's a game that relies on the player having more than just a controller to play, and also because it's not a game geared toward core gamers, which is the primary market for downloadable versions of games.

Tokyo Game Show may not be the mighty presence it once was (unless you're really into Japan-only mobile games), but there'll still be plenty of sights to see during the show -- and even before it! Starting Tuesday night (that's early Tuesday morning for you America-based types), Dylan Cuthbert, James Mielke, and John Davis from Q-Games will be broadcasting their TGS experiences live via three different mobile cameras.

PixelJunkCam 1 (Milky)

Streaming live video by Ustream

PixelJunkCam 2 (Dylan)

Broadcasting live with Ustream

PixelJunkCam 3 (John)

Live broadcast by Ustream

Word that Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 would be coming to Wii U had been circulating for months; it was reported to be the case back in June and was seemingly confirmed when it showed up on a QA tester's resume in August. It wasn't until yesterday's Wii U press conference that we got official word that it was coming, and since then Nintendo has positioned the game as being one of the main ways it will attract hardcore gamers to the system. In reality, I think it's another third-party game announced yesterday that is far more important in this regard.

Informed that EEDAR analyst Jesse Divnich thinks the Wii U's price is too high to interest core gamers, Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime told GamesIndustry.biz, "He needs to see Call of Duty that we have here, or Assassin's Creed." Asked if he thinks Nintendo has done a good job in convincing Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 owners to pick up the Wii U versions of third-party games, product marketing manager Bill Trinen (read our interview with him here) also highlighted Black Ops 2. He told GameSpot, "We've got third-party games like Call of Duty. They've done a really good job of integrating the GamePad, particularly having that two player experience on two different screens. You're no longer playing split-screen; you can play together full-screen. And to me that in and of itself is a reason to go out and say I'm gonna get Call of Duty on Wii U because that's the way I want to play.

While Nintendo's press conference in New York City on Thursday revealed many of the key details on Wii U we had all been waiting for -- namely its price and release date -- there were many lingering issues left to be addressed. Nintendo of America's Bill Trinen may be best known as the frequent translator for Shigeru Miyamoto, but he's also the company's Product Marketing Manager. Jose Otero and Anthony Parisi turned to him to find out more about transferring digital content from a Wii to Wii U, the reason for the disparity between the Japanese and North American eShops, plans for selling standalone GamePads, lessons learned from WiiConnect24, and why online play wasn't an emphasis for Nintendo's first-party games at launch.

1UP: From what you've seen, how is Nintendo adapting to the U.S. market right now, considering the state of the Japanese yen versus the dollar? How does that influence the approach?

As expected, Nintendo finally revealed the details on Wii U we've been anticipating for months: a price and release date. The new system launches on November 18 in the United States in two distinct versions. The Basic set includes a white system and will be priced at $300, while the Deluxe set containing a black system will come in at $350. We also now have a clear impression of what to expect in terms of software in the console's first few months of availability. With that knowledge in hand, it seems as if Nintendo is gearing the system to a more casual audience, but if that's the case, it could be that these prices are a bit too high.

Part of the Wii's resounding success was its $250 price and the free copy of Wii Sports all systems came with. The cost of tax and an extra controller aside, you were getting a complete experience for only $250, a price that gave it an edge over the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 to go along with its more approachable nature. It was improbable Nintendo (or any game console manufacturer) would be able to recreate the degree of success the Wii enjoyed; this price only makes it more difficult to begin to approach those heights with Wii U.

More than a year and a half after it was first announced (Valve Time, remember?), Steam's Big Picture mode has been released in beta. The primary purpose of it is to enable Steam users to easily navigate the program with a controller when it's plugged into a television, and in that regard it is extremely successful. The question, however, is whether this is really all that impactful.

Big Picture mode is certainly useful, provided you have a workable setup. After opting into the beta (head to Steam's Settings page to do so) and restarting Steam, a button in the upper-right corner appears. By clicking this or tapping the Guide button on an Xbox 360 controller, Big Picture mode launches and provides a controller-friendly way of navigating Steam's core features: the store, game library, and community sections. Also included is a surprisingly decent browser, giving you quick and easy access to a browser on your TV screen that can be accessed even while playing a game.

One of the first things that come to mind when you think back about Final Fantasy VII are the amazing cutscenes that blew our collective minds in 1997. During those brief snippets, the visual fidelity in which Square was able to present their creative world melted faces faster than an Ark of the Covenant left slightly ajar. And while it was a bit strange to see your stumpy avatars suddenly exist in a realistically-proportioned world, there's no denying the impact that those classic cinematics made at the time. But time doesn't always look kindly on things, which is why 1UP's Jeremy Parish and Kat Bailey decided to celebrate Final Fantasy VII's 15th Anniversary by rewatching the game's nearly-45 minutes worth of cutscenes. This video's a bit of a doozy, so make yourself comfortable as 1UP grades Final Fantasy VII's cinematics.

Ubisoft is not held in the highest esteem among PC gamers. There are a variety of reasons for that, the most prominent being the manner in which the publisher has handled DRM. Its games have been saddled with what is perceived by many as being unacceptable forms of digital rights management, the technology used to combat piracy. The company has now declared it is changing the way it handles things, and while it hasn't given us the satisfaction of admitting it was wrong, the important thing is one of the world's biggest biggest publishers now appears to be taking computer gaming much more seriously.

To be fair, Ubisoft had already taken some steps to further capitalize on the PC gaming market recently. It announced several new free-to-play titles last month and then launched Uplay PC, a digital distribution platform for its PC games that operates like Origin or Steam. Whom this was targeted at was unclear; with Ubisoft having the reputation it does, many hardcore PC gamers shy away from buying PC versions of Ubisoft's games in the first place. (I count myself among this group; I think Anno 2070 looks great, and even though it has been discounted numerous times on Steam, tales of its DRM were enough for me to take a stand and not buy it.) The odds that these people would not only support its games despite the way they are treated, but do so directly through its own distribution service were not high.

The much-vaunted Steam Greenlight opened for business last week, and immediately there was a strong response. After only a day there were already 2.3 million votes registered for the 622 games submitted to the service, giving us a glimpse of the monumental task Steam's approval team has been faced with in the past. A pair of problems also emerged pretty quickly.

Discoverability was a major issue -- it's more challenging than it should be to find the best Greenlight has to offer. The other problem is that not every submission has been a legitimate one. For days it wasn't difficult to stumble upon listings for Half-Life 3, Left 4 Dead 3, or something equally fake but far more offensive, like WTC Plane Simulator. Users have been called upon to report submissions that don't belong on Greenlight, but Valve has now implemented a more effective, albeit controversial, method for stopping these games from ever getting onto users' screens: all submissions now require a $100 donation to the Child's Play charity.

After a special showing at the Metal Gear 25th Anniversary event in Japan, we could't wait to see Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes. At special PAX '12 Saturday panel, 1UP editors Jeremy Parish and Jose Otero finally saw what all the hubbub was about, and the duo lined up outside the Paramount Theatre to record their impressions of developer Kojima Productions' ten-minute demo.