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God of War 3 is a revenge tale, and not the kind with the happy ending that leaves you feeling fuzzy about everything that happened. This is dirty, nasty payback, fueled by the kind of single-minded rage that can take even the noblest of heroes to a dark place.

Sony Computer Entertainment's latest (and presumably last) installment of its famed franchise is also its most ambitious, exploring the powers of the PS3 as much as the mental and physical odyssey of its hero, Kratos.

It accomplishes both tasks in impressive fashion, giving players an grand action-fest with bloody fun, guilty pleasures and even some brains -- as in smarts, not what ends up smeared on the wall.

According to this, one can now express their sexual orientation via their gamertag or Xbox Live profile. Stephen Toulouse, the director of Live's policy and enforcement, announced the changes. The new regs state you can use the words lesbian, gay, bi, transgender or straight in your profile or gamertag.

On one hand, it would be easy to see this as a progressive and commendable step for the Xbox Live community -- a chance for people to know more about you and, as a friend of mine put it, a chance for someone to at least stick his or her toes out of the closet.

However, while there are certainly regular, level-headed people on Live, there's also a staggering amount of duncery coupled with idiotic, racist and sexist drivel that populates a lot of online gaming sessions. I'm not sure what the incentive would be for some to post that kind of information and give the dregs of the online community more bullets in the chamber. A femaIe co-worker of mine can't get through one Modern Warfare session without some spoiled, brain-damaged 12-year-old telling her to go make a sandwich.

At the same time, there's no progress without pain. We'll see how this unfolds.

Revenge is a dish best served cold, and there are few chefs better at preparing it than Kratos, the protagonist of the God of War series. Roughly a year ago, I talked about how his blend of bravado, skill-tempered power and pure rage helped him stand alone as Sony's Computer Entertainment's alpha dog and helped craft a franchise that aimed to reshape the concept of scale in game design. With the full power of the PS3 behind God of War 3, Kratos' debut (and possibly lone appearance) on the system needed to be something special.

A few days ago, Sony gave us and others a big taste of Kratos' vengeance ... and it was good. WARNING: I talk a lot about the first 30 minutes of the game, especially some but not all highlights of what I saw ... if you find that to be spoiler-worthy, be careful if you choose to read on.

Quantic Dream's Heavy Rain can leave you feeling drained and beaten. As the name implies, it aims to soak you in sheets of emotional precipitation, doing so not with hurricane force, but with unrelenting, constant pressure.

Stories are the lifeblood of almost any game that doesn't involve a ball. Told well, they can keep the player sucked in for hours, jostling everything from their psyche to their moral compass. A poorly done story turns the experience into a chore, also shining the spotlight on the game's other problems.

Thankfully, Heavy Rain leans more toward the former, while also doing as much as it can to forward Quantic Dream's efforts to advance a gameplay style past the "acquired taste" phase of acceptance.

I had meant to post this earlier, but got swamped. Everyone who's played ME2 has mined random planets for minerals. Minerals, as you know, contribute to research for weapons and ship upgrades. Some people, like myself, compare the scanning experience to that of maintaining a miniature zen garden, while others liken it to watching paint peel.

And there there are those who attempt to make hip-hop gold out of it. See. Love it. It even uses the music from the scanning / probing screen. Warning, there's EXPLICIT LYRICS, kids.

By Kristina Hernandez
Staff Writer

Have you caught the Flo yet?

PlayFirst, the creator of the popular Dash! PC game series, will launch its fifth installment, Diner Dash 5: Boom! this week.

This time around, its up to the player to rebuild a customized diner using 1,000 possible combinations using tips received after completing each level. (Tips can then be used towards the purchase of fixtures, decor and more, to create your dream diner.)

PlayFirst will release a special Collector's Edition on Thursday, which includes five advance levels of exclusive Diner Dash 5: Boom! game play, a strategy guide walk through to reach expert level, a behind-the-scenes digital art book (with sketch art and production concepts), an animated screensaver and wallpapers and a "Flo Over Time" Historical Retrospective.

The game also marks the franchise's first-ever Facebook Connect where players will be able to "gift" special in-game sneakers to their friends on the popular social networking site, as well as post high scores and trophies and take screen grabs of their decorated diners to post on their walls.

The collector's edition will be available for PC and Mac download for $19.99, followed by a standard edition of the game, which will be available for download on both formats March 4 for $6.99. The game can be downloaded off PlayFirst's website at www.playfirst.com, as well as other fun titles including a personal favorite of mine, "Cake Mania."

Dante Alighieri should have been a game designer.

The Inferno section of the 14th-century author's famed "Divine Comedy" is proof. His depiction of Hell and its punishments featured intricate level design, a stable of potential boss characters and the kind of imagery that could spark an artist's imagination.

Enter Dante's Inferno from EA and Visceral Games, who provide six to eight hours of button-mashing fury, a feast for both the eyes and reflexes. But the shadow of the God of War series looms over it, as does a curious design choice near the end that made me practically abandon all hope for a classic finish.