Since I always enjoy listening to the people who make games discuss their work, you can catch the full audio recording of the discussion below, which runs about fifty minutes.

It all begins with naming yourself, and being assigned a random cat color while materializing at the doorstep of a house that has no entrance, but does provide a doormat where you can place the trophy mice found throughout the single map.

I’d only just started exploring the different areas when another cat ran up and asked me to follow, leading me through one of the game’s secret passages that hid a series of piano keys – the other cat began walking over them to produce notes while I purred approvingly, having already learned that typing /purr would produce the imagined action. You can also try /meow, /nap, and /screech.

Today’s cat adventure revolved entirely around the matter of dogs – being bit by one had the curious effect of turning me into one. Biting another cat or leaving a mouse offering on the doorstep returned me to cat form, and wanting to get to the bottom of this dog business led me to a hidden dog statue where players were making mice offerings in order to become dogs – strange religious animal activities are afoot.

The game’s only instruction is “be a cat”, and as you might have guessed, it’s a very strange bit of business being a cat in this space. Naturally, that’s all the excuse I need to recommend you check it out via this handy link.

Remember kids, don’t shoot the messenger.

Pinup Juliet belongs to pre-orders placed with Amazon, while Best Buy has the Goth Girl and Foxy Funk attire. Evil Dead fans will have to hit up GameStop for a chance to carry Ash’s infamous boomstick on their back – GameStop PoweUp Rewards members will also sport fashion from Mindless Self Indulgence’s Jimmy Urine, who also happens to be contributing music along with playing one of the boss characters.

Not sure what to wear? Catch a look inside Juliet’s extended closet below.

The demo offers a quick bit of driver training that walks players through the speed boosts, turbo boosts, reverse driving options and primary and secondary fire abilities that give a fighting chance to survive the mean streets of Twisted Metal – as well as a chance to feel how agile and responsive different rides can handle.

The nature of car combat has always been like jousting knights – you can charge at one another with guns blazing, and should you both survive, there’s an awkward moment of turning and adjustment to take another run at burying each other – or the often easier option of continuing forward to fire on the next available target. Twisted Metal’s option of pressing X and jamming the analog stick to spin around on a dime goes a long way in allowing the joust to evolve into one-on-one grudge encounters worth a sonnet every now and then.

Being able to keep track of special weapons while spinning through the anarchy requires greater skill, which I’m still working on. But in the meantime, dropping mines to trip someone up before flipping around to jam the car into reverse and fire off a missile barrage is delightful, and as you may have guessed by now, I definitely recommend sampling the chaos for yourself before the full game hits on Valentine’s Day.

Hybrid may be hard-pressed to surprise players in the visual department, but this latest glimpse offers something potentially interesting, with the apparent ability to shift your footing along with your perspective, which at the moment is reminding me quite a bit of Capcom’s Dark Void – specifically, the most interesting bit of Dark Void.

That cursed reference aside, catch a peek at Hybrid for yourself below.

The four-player mission gives the opportunity to raid a corporate compound, choosing between an offensive or support role. Going with support started me off with a sniper rifle and a chance to score plenty of headshots, which my character was quite fond of shouting about. I’m not sure there’s anything here that will rock the foundations of the shooter world at present, but weapons “feel” good whilst filling less-than intelligent enemies with bullets, and bailing out comrades by healing their wounds might serve as your good deed of the week.

At no extra charge, each playthrough will treat you to the trailer, with music that supports EA’s agenda of having lots of soundtracks this year that go “WUBWUBWUBWUBWUBWUBWUBWUB”.

As always, check the demo out and let me know what you think.

The redeemable token will allow those that purchase Dragon’s Dogma for Xbox 360 to sample RE6 on July 3rd, which Capcom notes as 60 days earlier than any other platform – PlayStation 3 owners will have to wait until September 4th. Keep in mind that there’s no sense of just how much meat is on that demo bone at present.

This naturally raises many questions, including whether we should be interested in Dragon’s Dogma, which hits shelves in North America on May 22nd.

Additionally, Rising Star Games Digital has been formed to bring global digital content to Xbox LIVE Arcade, the PlayStation Network, Steam, iOS and Android.

The game hits the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 next week on January 31st, giving us all a chance to have our limbs torn off again and again. If you’ve missed our coverage on the game to date, you can also catch our latest session with a preview build right here.

The party begins with Warp on February 15th for 800 MS Points, followed on February 22nd by Alan Wake’s American Nightmare for 1200 MS Points. Nexuiz arrives on February 29th for 800 MS Points, and March 7th brings Ubisoft’s survival title, I Am Alive, for 1200 MS Points.

Should you require a refresher on any of these titles ahead of some review words in the coming weeks, you can catch Microsoft’s terrible House Party trailer below.