CVG is spilling the beans on Deus Ex 3, following an exclusive preview of the game in PC Zone magazine’s 200th issue.

The original game, released for PC in 2000, was showered with awards. Deus Ex’s roots were in the first-person shooter genre, but the combination of RPG elements, branching story lines and open-ended game play impressed critics and built a loyal fan following.

A sequel, released for PC and Xbox in 2003, was warmly received but also criticized for being shorter and less RPG-like than the original.

The good news this time around? Warren Spector and Harvey Smith — the guys behind the original title — have given their blessing to the project,  and original writer Sheldon Pacotti is on board. The story will be a series prequel, with a conspiracy forming around the biomechanical augmentation industry that helped create the heroes of the first game.

The graphics are also breathtaking, according to those who have seen PC Zone’s screenshots.

But CVG forsees controversy, as some of the RPG elements that were a cornerstone of the original game could be missing from Deus Ex 3. For example, players can gain experience and upgrade their arsenal as the game progresses, but those stats don’t actually influence combat skills. Like most other first-person shooters, players will have to rely on marksmanship above all. CVG also predicts a debate over a new auto-heal system similar to Call of Duty and stealth aspects that rely on cover rather than shadows.

Publisher Eidos has promised not to repeat the mistakes of the sequel that irked fans, but already, the PC-loving, console-hating contingent on CVG is making its opinions known.

“It sounds far too action-orientated [sic],” writes TheTickler. “And console-mass-market-orientated [sic]. And we know what happened the last time Deus Ex tried to be mass-market and console-focused…”

PC Zone’s preview hits stands on Thursday, if you want to decide for yourself.

Admit it. You loved SEGA. Even if you didn’t buy the Dreamcast or Saturn, if you couldn’t afford the Sega CD and wanted no part of the ill-conceived 32X, you were still sad to see the mighty Genesis-maker bow out of the console hardware arena.

Don’t worry, you still don’t have to feel guilty about not buying the company’s upcoming gaming device, the SEGA Vision, because it’s not a gaming device. The company has flatly denied rumors from last week that the Vision is a “PSP beater,” as reported by Register Hardware.

Unofficial RPG Site had their doubts about the original story, so they asked SEGA for an explanation. The response:

The Sega Vision is a real device, but it is not intended as a re-entry to the gaming hardware market or a rival to Sony or Nintendo’s systems.

Sega is committed to remaining a software third party in the videogames industry, but also has several non-games products in the market. The Vision is primarily an MP4 video player with some basic games functionality, and not a new handheld gaming machine.

Unofficial RPG Site then says that upon further investigation, the Vision is actually a Chinese-made iPod knockoff, rebranded with SEGA’s name. The games are just Java applications that you’d find on a mobile phone. And Register Hardware notes that while the device won’t be released until next year, it’s somehow available at an arcade skill crane game in London.

Now for an admission of our own: The whole thing sounds fishy. [Thanks Joystiq]

Did you think Hollywood’s scribes just sat on their hands during the 2007-2008 writers strike? Screenwriter Stuart Beattie (Pirates of the Caribbean, G.I. Joe) didn’t. A self-described Halo fan and the writer for an upcoming Gears of War film, Beattie spent his free time penning a prequel to the plot of the original game. Now he’s in talks with Microsoft to get the movie made, GameDaily reports.

Beattie was not involved with the Halo movie that was planned in 2005 and indefinitely postponed in 2006. Gamers who were desperate to see a decent game-to-movie adaptation had high hopes for that film, to be produced by Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson.

“The Halo movie in its initial incarnation is dead,” Beattie told reporter John Gaudiosi. “No one is pursuing it any more. When the writers guild strike hit last year I suddenly had three months to write a Halo script.”

He continues:

As a Halo fan what I want to see in a Halo movie is Master Chief kicking alien butt and we have plenty of that. But we’ve also got this great story that goes along with it. I always thought that was the way a Halo story should be so when I got time during the strike I decided to put my money where my mouth was.

Beattie said his script begins with the early years of John, who is kidnapped at age 6 and told he will be a soldier. John’s fate of becoming the hero, Master Chief, becomes apparent as the Covenant begins tearing apart the human race. It’s a story arc inspired by Halo: The Fall of Reach, one of several novels based in the Halo universe.

The next step is to continue discussions with Microsoft. Joe Statton, who wrote all three games and directed the cinematics, “read it and loved it,” Beattie said.

Amidst a flurry of press announcements from Nintendo came official news of a Punch-Out!! remake for the Wii.

The seminal “boxing” series, which hooked countless gamers for the original Nintendo Entertainment System, will get the motion-control treatment some time next year, according to 1UP.

A brief trailer is available at GameVideos. Judging from the action, it seems that original opponents Glass Joe, Von Kaiser and King Hippo are all set to get back in the ring.

For the unfamiliar youngsters, Punch-Out!! follows the meteoric career of Little Mac, an appropriately tiny boxer who often had to face fighters twice his size. There’s very little in this game that resembles actual boxing. Rather, Punch-Out!! puts the emphasis on timed dodges followed by a series of counter-blows. For a time, the Nintendo game featured Mike Tyson, but was later reissued with the generic “Mr. Dream” as the game’s top fighter. We don’t expect Kid Dynamite to return on the Wii.

A follow-up to the classic game was released for Super Nintendo, but it didn’t nearly match the critical acclaim or popularity of the original. The series hasn’t been touched since then.

No journalist has yet to play the game, but hopefully more details will emerge soon. To hold themselves over, Wii owners can at least grab the original game — sans-Tyson — through Virtual Console.

Nintendo revealed this morning at a press conference in Tokyo that a new version of the Nintendo DS was hitting the market. The DSi, scheduled to be released November 1 in Japan, includes a number of upgrades. The cosmetic look is similar to the DS Lite, but includes multimedia features such as for music and pictures.

The DSi will be equipped with two 0.3 megapixel cameras, one on the outside and one between the two screens. Each screen is slightly bigger at 3.25 inches diagonally, a quarter inch more than the DS Lite. An SD memory card slot is included for users to transfer data from the DSi to other devices, such as moving music and photos to your computer. Users can also edit photos using the touch screen.

Included will also be mp3 player capability along with a web browser. Unforunately the Game Boy Advance cartridge slot has been removed, although Nintendo will most likely be offering these incompatible games via their DS Ware store wirelessly.

The DSi is scheduled to hit the European market by Spring 2009 and “well into the calendar year” of 2009 for the North American markets.

Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata announced during the fall Japan press conference that the company will be addressing the storage overflow problem with the Wii.

Coming Spring 2009, gamers will be able to download and save items directly to SD Cards in their SD Slot. Furthermore, gamers will be able to load and play software (classic ROM games, anyone?) directly from the SD Card.

This seems like a reasonable, cost-effective solution to the storage problem, praised by Nintendo fanboys everywhere. However, it is said at this time that the SD Card size limit will be 2 GB, so stock up on those 2 GB cards.

Microsoft announced that it will be introducing its Zune “Gears of War 2″ Special Edition mp3 player with its upcoming game Gears of War 2 for Xbox 360, developed by Epic Games. The game is scheduled for shipping on November 7 and is available currently for pre-ordering.

The custom Zune is based on the new 120 GB version but will feature a laser-etched Crimson Omen on the special gloss black enclosure. Included is collectible “Gears of War” packaging, 244 “Gears of War” media selections including the original game soundtrack, game trailers, art concepts, and behind-the-scenes videos. The entire package, mp3 player and game, is set at $279.99.

“Gears of War 2” is a fast paced third person shooter game and is expected by Microsoft and Epic Games to be the biggest video game of the 2008 holiday season on the Xbox 360.