The Kartel crew is here at the 2010 Game Developers Conference in San Francisco once again and we've got some interesting stories to tell! GDC 2010 is as rampant and engaging as ever, especially with the immense popularity of social media games and innovative gaming peripherals. Get your coverage here!

Find out what the buzz is all about in the videogame racing world this morning. The upcoming Blur game has garnered plenty of attention around the net and the online beta for the game starts today!

Fortunately, Activision has given us plenty of Xbox 360 beta codes for the Bizarre Creations' racing game, due out this spring for the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360. For a game that was once called by Activision CEO Mike Griffith "to do for racing what Call of Duty did for shooters", Blur should get more attention leading to its release.

Most people have been scoffing at the DSi XL because of its bulky size, hence eliminating any sense of portability for the Nintendo handheld. A fellow blogger here on The Kartel recently highlighted the reasons not to get a DSi XL here. However as Nintendo products are concerned, there's always going to be certain people that just have to get everything. Remember the Game Boy Micro? People bought that system because of its sleek portability despite sacrifices with the screen size. The DSi XL is no different. There's definitely something cool about this handheld, and I for one love it.

Here's five reasons why I love the DSi XL.

Capcom's recent fighting entry Tatsunoko vs. Capcom was definitely a risky move by the gaming mammoth, due to the unfamiliarity that Westerners like us had with its character roster. However, the move paid off big time. This is one of the best fighting games we played in a long time. The plethora of characters is one thing, but the mixing of two very different universes continues to be a fun way to spice up old school fighting.

The game has us abuzz at The Kartel, and we started to come up with our own ideas of what we'd like to see for an inevitable sequel. Some of these selections may just be wishful thinking, and others are downright silly, but hey, if it all comes to pass, we guarantee BLOCKBUSTER! Here's our top 10 Capcom Vs. sequels we'd like to see:

We've just finished our first play-through of Heavy Rain for the PS3 and it's already evident that this game is actually best played with a group of people intently watching. It's the kind of game that requires everyone's participation in memorizing key facts for puzzles later on and also helping to make mostly immoral decisions throughout the gameplay. It's just more enjoyable when the room is halved up with people telling you to shoot and the others telling you to walk away. Heavy Rain numerous branching paths make even the smallest decisions critically important.

So we decided to take turns playing the game during the first complete play-through and provide live commentary throughout the game's most interesting scenes, which actually turns out to be pretty much most of the game anyway. Note that the following responses are mostly gut reactions from a group of both casual and hardcore gamers.

It's also incredibly important to note that the following commentary has EXTREME SPOILERS  in the game. Read at your own risk!