The Gold Box spotlight deal of the day over at Amazon today is Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 for Xbox 360, PS3, or PC for only $36.99 each (that’s 38% off the list price of $59.99).

Note, this deal is only for today, Wednesday, October 13, 2010, until midnight PST while supplies last.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 combines a thrilling single player story with some very fine cooperative segments to make one of the best multiplayer games ever. This sequel takes place five years after the original Modern Warfare (all other Call of Duty games take place in a World War II setting), and sees you filling the shoes of multiple different characters as they fight in battles all over the world.

Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands
PS3, Xbox 360
Developer: Ubisoft
Publisher: Ubisoft
Release Date: May 18, 2010

The latest installment in the highly-popular Prince of Persia franchise comes along with the recently released summer blockbuster movie adaptation, but they are not the same. The best decision that Ubisoft could have been made with this new game is to pass over the opportunity to use the star-power of Jake Gyllenhaal, and stand strong in the world and stories that they’ve created.

Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands isn’t a prequel or a sequel but an interquel, taking place in between Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time and Prince of Persia: Warrior Within. The story follows our nimble prince as he heads to the palace of his brother, Malik. When he arrives, he sees that the palace is under attack by some treasure-seeking enemies. After meeting up with Malik, the prince discovers his brothers intent to unleash the mystical Solomon’s army to help him in defeating his palace’s attackers and save his people. The prince insists this is not a good idea considering the uncertainty of a force such as Solomon’s army, but Malik proceeds with confidence.

All of the big video game corporations have made their presentations at E3 2010, and Sony certainly didn’t hold back.

The main focus of the makers of PlayStation 3 this year was of course, the PlayStation Move. This is the new motion sensor system that Sony has developed to compete with Microsoft’s Kinect (Project Natal) and of course, the Nintendo Wii.

At this time last year, it looked like both Sony and Microsoft had decent motion gaming systems on the way, but the memorable “Milo” demonstration using Natal had me personally thinking that Xbox would be standing the tallest soon. With everyone now having showed off their wares this year, those thoughts may have changed.

Swing your wand this way and that to transport yourself on over to the other side for much more from the Sony press conference.

Final Fantasy XIII Review
Platforms: Playstation 3 | Xbox 360
Publisher: Square Enix
Price: $59.99
Release date: March 9, 2010

I am a pretty big Final Fantasy fan, so of course I was going to pick this game up as quickly as I could get my grubby little hands upon it. As the first Final Fantasy game on the current generation of system, I was excepting to see the next step up in graphics above the last game, which was one of the best looking games on the PS2. More than that though, I just wanted a game that was familiar to me while having enough change so that it didn’t feel exactly like the last game. Like I said, I’m a fan of the series, so I know pretty much what I’m going to get, and this game succeeded in giving me a game I had fun with and that was worth my time. It took a little while to convince me, but once the game had its claws into me, I knew I was in for the next 40 hours of game play.

Story has always been a big element of Final Fantasy games, and this one is no different. The players live in the world of Cocoon, a land that is under siege by fear of creatures from a world below theirs called Pulse. Both worlds are controlled by entities call fal’cie, and these entities give out quests to regular people by turning them into l’cie. The l’cie are charged with a specific goal, and if they reach that goal, they become crystals and gain eternal life of some sort. Those who don’t complete their goals become monsters. Into this world walk six characters who become l’cie, and must then find out what their quest is. (Trust me, if your eyes have glazed over at that last paragraph, I don’t blame you. These are just a few of the concepts that are thrown at the player in the first few hours, and it is not the easiest thing to keep track of.)

Heavy Rain
Developer: Quantic Dream
Platforms: Playstation 3
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment
ESRB: M
Release Date: February 23, 2010

Because the mystery is what makes a large portion of the story enjoyable, I will try and keep spoilers from the main portion of the game to a minimum.

The highly anticipated Heavy Rain has finally arrived. After being touted as a revolutionary step forward in video gaming and spending years in development, the finished product does not disappoint.

The story revolves around four main characters and the investigation into a series of murders in a unspecified neighborhood (though contextual clues imply the setting is near Philadelphia). Over the span of three years, 8 boys disappeared, only to be found several days later, drowned in rain water, with an orchid and an origami figure near their bodies. With no real leads to go on, the police are nowhere near catching the “Origami Killer.”

A majority of the time, especially early on, the player controls Ethan Mars (Pascal Langdale), an average man whose happy married life falls apart after the accidental death of one of his two sons (taking place two years prior to the events of main game). Divorced and having a hard time connecting to his living son, Shaun, Mars suffers from blackouts and depression, made worse when Shaun disappears and is feared to be the next victim of the Origami Killer.