The mythology of Dead Space is centered on a religion called Unitology. The church actively recruits members, solicits money from its followers, and worships an alien artifact called "the Marker," with an aim to bring about the "convergence" or "unification." It's a large part of a Dead Space world, which spans DVDs, games, and books. It's also uncomfortably close to another, real-world religion.

"We never really approach that discussion with the intention of poking fun at a particular religion, or sort of making a social statement about something that's going on right now," Wright Bagwell, the creative director of Dead Space 2, told MTV. "For us, Unitology's purpose in the story represents people's illogical thinking about things they don't understand. It was never really intended to be a jab at any particular religion." That particular religion is Scientology, and he claims most of us think there's a link because the "names are very similar." That's not exactly accurate; the latest game in the series presented a pointed, ongoing attack on Scientology and its leadership. Let's take a look.

Warning: the following feature will contain light spoilers concerning the Dead Space series.

Shady developers stealing assets from other developers and selling them on the iOS App Store isn't a new phenomenon. But what if that same thing happened on the Mac App Store, and instead of just repackaging certain assets, the shady developer ripped off the entire app and sold it for cheap, keeping the profits for himself? That's what those behind a game called Lugaru HD, Wolfire Games, are saying has happened to them, and so far, Apple has done little to help.

Lugaru HD is a combat game involving a "rebel bunny rabbit" that is on a mission to exact revenge on those who slaughtered his village. The app is available through Steam for both Mac and PC, but recently joined the Mac App Store at $9.99 per download. Shortly thereafter, another company going by "iCoder" uploaded an identical version of the game—this time named Lugaru—and priced it at $1.99. Since the games are otherwise identical and there's no indication that it was ripped off, it's easy to see how regular users would choose to pay for the cheaper, counterfeit option.

Fans of EA's Battlefield series who also enjoy playing their games on the PC aren't having a good day. DICE has announced that the long-delayed Battlefield 1943 has finally been canceled for the PC, and we likewise won't be seeing the Onslaught mode in our version of Battlefield: Bad Company 2

"We know some of you eagerly have been awaiting Battlefield 1943 and Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Onslaught on PC," Karl Magnus Troedsson, general manager of DICE, wrote on the official blog. "I'm sad to say that these two titles are now officially canceled. Instead, our talented teams will focus on delivering the greatest possible gaming experience in our next behemoth release. We're confident this will lead to an even better experience in Battlefield 3, not only on PC, but on all platforms."

Battlefield 3 will be unveiled to the press at an event before the upcoming Game Developers Conference, and PC gamers have had the release of Bad Company 2: Vietnam to keep them somewhat placated, but this is still disappointing. We wanted to play some Onslaught! Still, DICE is making it clear that it's looking forward, not back.

We will reserve our rage until after we see Battlefield 3. If it's everything DICE is hinting at, we can be considered satisfied. If not, the bitter complaints will begin again.

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There are two types of people: those who hate the lack of a jump button in the Bionic Commando series, and those who enjoy the complete focus on the grappling hook mechanic. Bionic Commando Rearmed 2 attempts to appeal to both of these groups. You can jump, but you don't have to. And you frequently won't want to since it doesn't work that well. 

BCR2 isn't necessarily a bad game—it still offers up some satisfying 2D, run 'n gun platforming action—but it's not at the same level as its predecessor.

The legal action between Sony and PlayStation 3 hacker George Hotz continues, with Hotz' lawyer Stewart Kellar fighting for jurisdiction in New Jersey, not California. His latest motion seeks a dismissal of the temporary restraining order due to improper venue and lack of personal jurisdiction.

The legal arguments are thick on both sides, but Sony may face an uphill battle claiming that Hotz was aiming his actions towards California, or that his tenuous links to businesses and services residing in the state require California courts to have jurisdiction. In a case where much of the "action" in question took place virtually, with so many parties in play, there is no easy way to sort this out.

Bionic Commando Rearmed 2 has no sort of online play at all. None. There is co-op, but only offline. There is no reason for you to be online if you're playing the game. Unless you want the stupid thing to work, of course. Capcom requires your PlayStation 3 to be online to play Bionic Commando Rearmed 2, the same requirement that everyone hated in Final Fight—a game that at least had online play.

This requirement is laid out in the game's description with a note saying you must log into the PlayStation Network every time you'd like to play, but this makes little sense. Is piracy becoming that large of a problem with downloadable games? Will this do much to stop piracy, even as it annoys everyone who actually buys the game? These are all open questions, but it's hard to justify spending money on a game that won't work if the PlayStation Network ever goes down.

We're busy playing the game for an upcoming review, but we're not sure what to do with coverage when we know most readers are going to reject the game based on this ridiculous online requirement. The Xbox Live version of the game does not require an online connection to play after download. That can't make Sony happy.

One theory states that this is a move to stop the game from being shared between players, and to track how many people are playing each copy of the game. There has to be a better way.

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Duty Calls opens with these words:

War. War never changes. Or does it? War has changed. Did it? The answer is no. Unless it is yes. No, of course it is. It is war.

It takes longer to download the free PC title Duty Calls than it does to play it, but the joke is amazing. The game spends ten minutes or so mocking the conventions of modern, big-budget war games, while praising its own realism and leveling your character for nearly every enemy you kill. 

One soldier points at you, tells you he's pointing at you, and says that this is very important. Then he gets run over. "Oh, I'm dead, increasing the drama of the story," he says mournfully.

But we won't ruin all the jokes, and you do get to look at that nice Bulletstorm trailer again once you finish the game's single mission. The content is slight for a 700MB+ download—sorry Canadians—but it's delicious to see a developer mock games that tend to take themselves so very seriously.

The premise is of course that gamers should enjoy a more funny, action-packed experience than we're used to from dour, "realistic" games, and having the player say the word "boring" while pulling the trigger on his gun makes the point... to an annoying degree.

Making fun of other games to help market them is a trick that Bulletstorm has already used to great effect, and we're hoping they keep it up. You can download the game at the Duty Calls website, and give it a play for yourself.

No one knows how to feel about Sony's NGP without knowing the price. The technical specifications are beyond impressive—many readers expressed something close to disbelief when we shared what would be included in the system—but how much are we willing to pay for a portable gaming system? Even with the lack of details, it's hard not to be filled with geek lust when looking at the delicious indulgence of the thing. Now we have a high-quality version of the trailer showing off many games and how they'll look on the system. It's time to start saving up.

This is how to get us excited about wanting to buy your hardware: show us games we want to play. Take a look.