Bioware’s Mass Effect has been one of the most popular and most beloved video games in recent history.  Like any video game, Mass Effect 3 needs a little more than to simply roll out into stores and wait for people to buy them.  Oh no, Mass Effect 3 needs a trailer, and boy did Bioware really up the ante for video game trailers with this one.  Dubbed Take Earth Back, Mass Effect 3′s trailer got a big debut on Sunday’s episode of The Walking Dead and is now available online with extra footage.  You can check it out below.

Mass Effect 3 is coming out on March 6.  If you can’t wait that long, two levels of the game’s single player (as well as multi-player co-op mode!) are available for download for PC, the Xbox 360, and the PlayStation 3.  It’s the foremost action sci-fi roleplaying game, so it’s probably worth checking out if you’re into that kind of thing.

So, you bought yourself a nice new PlayStation Vita and you’re looking to get your portable video game on.  That’s all well and good, but who wants to play a video game system with only a couple of games?  Fortunately, Amazon.com has a great solution to that problem thanks to a brilliant sale.  B2G1, as the kids say.  That’s right, gang: buy two get one free on all launch PS Vita games.

GameStop and Target are doing similar deals, but only Amazon’s deal covers basically all the video games available for the Vita.  You don’t want to be limited, do you?  No; when you’ve got a buy two, get one, you want your one to be anything you want, and Amazon is making that happen.  Now, a tougher assignment might be to pick out just three games, or to find three games you like among the launch titles, but that’s an entirely different article for a different time.

Are you a user of the PlayStation Network for Sony’s PlayStation 3 system?  Well, prepare yourself, because the PlayStation Network is going away.  Shocking, isn’t it?  Well, don’t worry, while the PlayStation Network is leaving, the Sony Entertainment Network will be rising in its place, phoenix-like, to take over.  The Sony Entertainment Network will debut on February 7, replacing the PSN.

So why the name change?  Well, since the PS3 is destined to be a full-service entertainment system, Sony wants to unify its various services to properly reflect this.  Basically, PSN is being rolled into SEN, but nothing else will really change; it’s simply a rebranding of the existing service and a bit more cross-promotion for the group.  However, not all PlayStation services will be unified under the SEN banner.

Sony’s PSP system will remain under the PlayStation Network banner.  Why?  I have no idea why.  I’m sure that when the PS Vita comes out, it will also be a part of the SEN.  I figure there’s no need to rebrand a service that’s about to be obsolete.

When it comes to video game addiction, there are people who are worse off than others.  However, most people can’t produce a brilliant video like Sevrin of Quel’Thalas.  He’s a third-year film production student at a university in Great Britain, and he’s the mind behind “IRL-In Real Life,” a video composed of screenshots, internet messenger logs, voice-overs, screencaps, and general whatsis about his personal battle with video game addiction, compulsion, and how an escape from reality can become a permanent vacation.  IRL is a bit longer than the usual video I post here, but it’s brilliant and worth watching.

There was also an interview with Sevrin at WoW Insider.  It is well worth reading, and well worth watching, in case you or someone you know or love might be a video game addict.

As for me, I spent a whole lot of time on WoW and spent a whole lot of money on WoW, but one day I just realized I wasn’t enjoying myself.  I was tired of avoiding friends and begging off of hanging out to sneak in a little more WoW time, tired of getting a few hours of sleep every night while trying to raid and get up to write and go to work, and tired of not having anything to show for myself and my efforts (as my guild was butting heads with tough content and player burn-out), so one day I just quit cold turkey and haven’t looked back.

Sony has the Playstation Network.  Microsoft has XBox Live.  Nintendo has… well, not much.  Nintendo has a virtual marketplace and a way to download DLC content and buy downloadable verisons of classic games, but a robust online multi-player environment just doesn’t exist for Nintendo at the moment.  It’s probably their biggest weakness from a marketing standpoint, and it’s something that they’re going to address.  Nintendo will be launching the Nintendo Network, an online hub for the 3DS and (hopefully) the WiiU console.

Here’s the kicker:  the Nintendo Network won’t just be a delivery system for downloadable content.  Nintendo has constructed it in such a way as to facilitate the purchase and use of digital, downloadable games.  That’s right, Nintendo (the first company to use motion control in its games) just may be the first company to adopt the PC-style Stream model of game downloading rather than physical purchases of games.  The Nintendo Network will also feature a personal account system to allow for multiple users on the same system and online communication.

Granted, Nintendo isn’t revolutionizing anything with the Nintendo Network; these sorts of console-based game networks have been around since Sega Channel was a thing.  Still, if the big N can catch up to the competition in the online network setting then bring streaming game purchases to bear… they just might shake up the video game world yet again without even taking into account the WiiU’s revolutionary construction.

You see that above?  It’s absolutely gorgeous.  That is a special edition of the Nintendo 3DS that has been embossed in a snakeskin pattern in honor of the most famous video game character in Konami’s history.  That would be Solid Snake, the star of the Metal Gear series of video games.  It’s not just any celebration in honor of Solid Snake, it’s a celebration of Metal Gear Solid:  Snake Eater 3D for the Nintendo 3DS.

There’s only one drawback to this 3DS:  the only way you can pick one up is to jump through a whole lot of hurdles in the process.  First of all, you can’t just walk into any store and pick it up.  You can only pick it up at Konami Style stores in Japan.  Even if you go to one, you’re probably not going to get your hands on it.  You go to the Konami store and enter a raffle before February 3.  If your name is drawn, then you get the privilege of plunking down $300 US (or just under 23,000 yen).

Still, if you win, you get more than just the system itself.  You win a copy of Metal Gear Solid:  Snake Eater 3D and two folders embossed with Metal Gear Solid characters.  Oh yeah, you also get the pride of having an epic Nintendo 3DS that no one else will have.

So, through the wonders of the NPD Group, the best-selling games of 2011 have been revealed.  If there’s one thing you can say about 2011, it’s that we were all getting our groove on throughout the previous year.  2011′s best-selling video games won’t be terribly surprising, save for two entries.  You’ve got your Call of Duty games (Modern Warfare 3 and Black Ops), your Skyrim, and your… Just Dance?

That’s right, 2011 is the year of the dancing game.  The dancing game genre shot up 66 percent from last year, and not one but two entries into the Just Dance pantheon made it into the 10 best-selling games of 2011.  Just Dance 2 ended up at number nine for the year, while Just Dance 3 made it all the way to number two, just behind all-world seller Modern Warfare 3.  Consider:  Just Dance 2 was ONLY for the Wii, yet it’s beating wide released games in sales!

My big question is this:  will it last?  Remember how big music games were for a few years?  And remember how now they’re all dead?  That’s my fear for the dance genre.  Then again, maybe there will be a market for downloadable dance content, a-la the Rock Band DLC tracks!

Earlier this month, I was one of two million lucky gamers who got to get involved in the pre-launch open beta of Star Wars: The Old Republic.  The newest venture from LucasArts and Bioware, ST: TOR is one of the most expensive video games in history.  It is believed to have cost over $100 million dollars for development alone, and that’s not counting marketing, production, and other assorted expenses.  It’s a costly gamble, but it seems like it is going to pay off.

When I quit playing World of Warcraft a couple of years ago, I swore I was done with WoW and MMORPGs in general.  Yet, here I am, sucked back into another MMO once again.  The difference, in this case, was BioWare’s emphasis on a single-player story in addition to multi-player questing.  Rather than just getting told to kill a dozen womp rats, my particular characters (a Sith Inquisitor and a Republic Trooper, among others) were given a quest line.  For the Inquisitor, it was becoming a true Sith.  For my Trooper, it was becoming a member of an elite combat squad and proving myself to my fellow soldiers.

The difference between the two is that my character actually has a progression arc.  It’s not just learning stuff and killing stuff, you feel as though your particular person is growing and changing and becoming more and more powerful until he or she becomes that epic character that every MMORPG character must be.  Rather than simply grinding to max level, the class quest lines feel like an actual epic achievement.  It’s a wonderful synthesis of single-player and MMO game, and so far I’m loving it.

Will the game be a WoW killer?  No, I don’t think anything can kill WoW; however, I think this game can put a serious dent in WoW’s subscriber base here in the US and Europe, because it’s the sort of thing that disenfranchised raiders like myself can really get behind and enjoy.

The Call of Duty series has become a cash cow for Activision Blizzard in recent years.  The latest of the line-up, Modern Warfare 3, follows in the steps of its predecessors.  Last year’s model, Call of Duty: Black Ops, grossed over $1 billion dollars and sold a staggering 25 million copies.  As for Modern Warfare 3, it just crossed $1 billion in sales and is believed to have sold an impressive 16 million copies on the way to success.

“What is exciting is it seems as though people who never played a video game before are looking at Call of Duty and saying, ‘OK, this is the one I want to play,’ ” said Bobby Kotick, CEO of Activision Blizzard.

Modern Warfare 3 came out on November 8, which means it took only 16 days to break $1 billion in sales; in contrast, Black Ops took a full month to cross $1 billion on its way to being the best-selling video game of all time.  It looks as if Modern Warfare 3 will be breaking that record handily, and in record time.

For the record, I have never played a Call of Duty game, be it Modern Warfare or otherwise.  Yes, I know that’s really odd to admit, but here we are.

It’s never too late to plan your, err… plan of attack for Black Friday.  After all, there are going to be lots of great sale items, and very little time in which to cash in on those great sales, so you’ll have to plan accordingly.  Fortunately, lots of places have put together buying guides for your Black Friday needs, but when it comes to video game buying, look no further than Joystiq.  Joystiq has put together a great listing of national retailer, regional retailer, and online video game deals.

One of the things that Joystiq does that other Black Friday lists don’t do is give you the Twitter and Facebook links for the online retailers, rather than just a link to their purchasing area.  That’s a neat little trick that should allow you to keep up with deals as they’re released, so you make sure nothing slips past your greedy little deal-hunting eyeballs.  As for the brick and mortar stores, you’re just going to have to get in line and hope you get what you’re looking for (like that rumored $200 42-inch TV from Best Buy).

Good luck out there, shoppers.