Well, as those of you who may have read the spoiler-laden version of our StarCraft II single-player preview may already know, the Brutalisk doesn’t do much more than intimidate… and die. It’s one of a handful of non-playable unit types that StarCraft II brings to the table, a powerful, well armoured beast that is best avoided while hunting fresh vespene geysers.

This “surprise custom unit”, as Blizzard calls it, shouldn’t be a multiplayer balance concern. But maybe someday we’ll see more of it in one of those StarCraft II expansions coming… way, way in the future.

Mytheon is an online PC game that combines action RPG gameplay with an element of collectable strategy games. Players take on mythical gods using collectable Power Stones, which transform into creatures, buildings, and spells. Think of it as a collectable card strategy game with the cards replaced with stones, and you get the picture.

Browse the gallery below for background information on some of the game’s scenic locales.

The island features a diverse geography from craggy, impassable cliffs to rolling meadows and gardens. While Amphitrite resides in the peaceful Nereid’s Garden where the sparkling ponds and fountains reflect the tranquillity of the sea, Triton presides over his namesake cove amidst the foam and crashing surf. Within the Temple of Poseidon, the vengeful sea god prepares his minions for the coming battle with mankind.

The Dominion of Hades is the epicentre of Hades’ power in the Underworld. From this dark, luxurious palace, Hades and his queen, Persephone, rule the Underworld without mercy.

Remnants of a city lie just beyond the field’s borders, long abandoned by its inhabitants and now overrun with diabolical beasts. What was once a thriving marketplace, surrounded by the homes of the townspeople, now lies uninhabited.

Gloomy corridors and cavernous halls exude an eerie sense of foreboding to those who would risk entry within. Divided into three great regions — the Hall of the Dead, the Garden of the Furies and the Court of Hades — Stonecasters must embark deep into this fiery stronghold and face perilous legions of undead monsters in order to confront Hades himself, his power enhanced within his own domain.

The Shattered Isle is home to Poseidon, the supreme ruler of oceans and earthquakes. The isle is also home to Amphitrite, Poseidon’s beloved wife, and their son, Triton. Together, the family forms a triad symbolic of the ocean’s tranquillity, treachery and unrelenting dominion. These qualities are reflected in the domains over which they preside.

Since their victory over the dragon, the sacred grove has become infiltrated with fierce warriors of Ares, the god of war. The dusty furrows of the Fallow Field are dotted with the skeletal remains of dead trees; now home to carrion creatures that prey upon the unwary.

The Dominion of Hades is a monument to death and destruction. Home to the immortal god of earthly wealth — Hades, lord of the dead, rules his realm with an iron fist.

The skeletal remains of past invaders lie half-buried in the sands surrounding crumbling columns and scarred boulders. Waterfalls cascade down stone ledges, casting a fine spray that coats the rocky surfaces and foliage.

Players will travel to the distant land of Colchis, once home to the famed Golden Fleece, now protecting Argos. Two distinct regions form the land of Colchis — the cast Fallow Field and the Grove of Ares. Jason and his Argonauts braved many dangers there to claim their prize, including an epic battle against the Colchian Dragon who guarded the fleece.

Kevin Durant, guard for the Oklahoma City Thunder, has chucked his controller many a times while playing games such as NBA 2K10.

Star player he may be on the real basketball court, but it seems that he stinks on the virtual one.

He’s put his lack of gaming skills to good use.

He told the paper:

“People might not believe me, but when I go home (after practice) I play video games and I lose all the time,” Durant said. “And I get so mad that I come back and I want to win everything. Something that small puts that winning mentality into my head.”

That quote ran in the paper on Friday. That night, Durant scored 25 points against the Detroit Pistons, leading his team to victory. See? Controller-throwing pays off.

Kevin Durant finds the key to winning [The Oklahoman]

(AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

SOE’s fascination with card games finally comes full circle. After years of creating collectible card games based on their popular MMO properties like EverQuest and Star Wars Galaxies, now the company’s Denver studio is creating a strategy game based on the inspirations for those games – Magic: The Gathering.

Magic: The Gathering – Tactics draws on the Planeswalkers lore of Magic, putting players in control of 3D figures and spells from the popular CCG. The game will include both single player scenarios and online PVP multiplayer. As with any Magic-related product, fans can expect regular content expansions and strong tournament support, along with achievements and rankings.

“By collaborating with Wizards of the Coast, we’re able to combine the strengths of both companies to develop an innovative, online, 3D game based on an extremely popular IP,” said John Smedley, president, Sony Online Entertainment. “We’re going to be taking the Magic: The Gathering Multiverse places players have never seen.”

I still prefer the Xbox Live Arcade Magic game myself, as it’s the straight-up card game and not a strategy derivative, but it’s nice to see the PlayStation 3 getting a little Magic loving either way.

Looks for Magic: The Gathering – Tactics to hit the PC in early 2010, with a PlayStation 3 release coming soon after.

When R.U.S.E. was first announced with a trailer showing to players battling it out on a giant touch table, we were skeptical. Then they showcased it at E3 on Microsoft’s Surface, and we were impressed. Now that multitouch gameplay is closer to coming home, as Ubisoft and Microsoft team up to ensure your fingers can do the walking in Windows 7.

“Making images interactive is at the core of the video game industry, and over the last few years we have been striving to make this interactivity as intuitive and direct as possible. Today, thanks to Windows 7 and its full multitouch support, the barrier between the player and the image has been removed: they become one”, said John Parkes, EMEA marketing director. “As a strategy game relying on a clean and intuitive interface built around the zoom, R.U.S.E. was the perfect candidate for Ubisoft to demonstrate how multitouch improves and streamlines the way games are played”.

Of course you’ll still need a touch-ready monitor, but hey, in a couple of years they’ll just be handing those out to people in the street.

Why “pre-season” you ask? The competitive online strategy game uses a seasons model in order to keep gameplay fresh for everyone involved. October 27th sees the start of its pre-season, a period in which players can form teams, learn the game, and formulate strategies in advance of season one, which kicks off in early 2010. The model also allows Riot to cycle content, meaning the set of Champions you have at your disposal and the maps you play on can change with each season, keeping the game fresh and the competition on their toes.

Riot has just opened up the beta for the game, allowing anyone interested to sign up and participate for free, holding on to their accounts once the game launches. The closed beta has been running for awhile, so you’re late to the game, but every extra day helps. You’ve got five. Go play.

Yes, that’s right, we’re now publishing reader reviews here on Kotaku. This is your chance to deliver sensible game purchasing advice to the rest of the Kotaku community.

And thanks to the very kind chaps at Madman Entertainment, purveyor of all kinds of cool, indie and esoteric film, the best reader review we publish each month will win a prize pack containing ten of the latest Madman DVD releases.

This review was submitted by Tom Brown. If you’ve played Majesty 2, or just want to ask Tom more about it, leave your thoughts in the comments below.

Majesty 2 (PC)

I’d been looking forward to Majesty 2, having enjoyed the original. Described as a Fantasy Kingdom Simulator, Majesty 2 feels more like an MMO simulator. Reward, guard or explore flags motivate heroes, as they level, acquire better gear and hopefully don’t wipe on that dragon flying towards your castle.

Loved

Parties: Absent from the original, Majesty 2 adds the ability to form parties. Safety in numbers ensures heroes work together against tougher challenges.

Hall of Lords: At the end of each mission you promote one hero to Lord, available in subsequent missions at a price dependent on class and level.

Challenging: Early missions serve as a great introduction and later expert missions ensure no single strategy will guarantee you victory.

Narration: Humorous briefings from your advisor start each mission, amusingly voiced in a comical accent. It’s a nice touch that uses the same voice actor from the original.

Hated

Randomness: Majesty 2 can be frustrating when your heroes wander off to be killed by roaming creatures before they’re ready. Even worse is when events are triggered too early, such as an escort that starts and fails before you have time to rally heroes for protection. These are overcome through trial and error, and by learning to use the fear flag to keep your heroes away from certain areas.

Occasional Crashes: Save often!

Gno Gnomes! Present in the original but absent from Majesty 2, I miss the gnomes and still recall their death cries from the first game. “But I’m just a gnome…”

A faithful update of Majesty with a little extra (aside from gnomes). Not for hardcore RTS players looking for reliable unit behaviour and not really an exacting simulation either, Majesty 2 fills a niche of its own. For me, it was worth the wait.

Reviewed by: Tom Brown

You can have your Reader Review published on Kotaku. Send your review to us at the usual address. Make sure it’s written in the same format as above and in under 300 words – yes, we’ve upped the word limit. We’ll publish the best ones we get and the best of the month will win a Madman DVD prize pack.

InspiredMedia d/b/a Left Behind Games Inc., worked out the pilot release of its titles in 100 Walmarts in the Houston and Dallas areas. The sales will test the games’ viability in additional Walmart locations.

In a news release, Inspired Media sees Texas as fertile ground for its products, noting that the Lone Star State is home to more than 23,000 churches and an evangelical Protestant population of 5 million.

Inspired Media produced 2006’s Left Behind: Eternal Forces, a real-time strategy game in which the player attempts to pray opposing forces into submission after all faithful souls leave the Earth during the Rapture, and the world reforms under a secularist order that loves, among other things, rock n’ roll. It was followed by Left Behind: Tribulation Forces for PC in 2006 and 2007. Eternal Forces racked up a Metacritic score of 38.

Christian Games Hit Texas Wal-Marts [Game Politics]

Amazing what happens when you lose track of a series. I last played Settlers… 1. Settlers 7, due on PC next year from Blue Byte, looks nothing like it. Makes you wish you could actually play like that, no?

The plan, if you missed it, saw you writing a marketing tagline for the game. Something clever, something catchy.

The prize, courtesy of Aussie distributor Ubisoft, was a copy of Order Of War on PC, the game’s soundtrack and a limited edition mouse pad.

We picked one winner per day over the five days of the competition. And here they are.

Wednesday’s Winner
Ben Abraham: “Order of War – “Because War Never Is.”

Thursday’s Winner
chuloopa: “Order of War: I’ll have the sour kraut.”

Friday’s Winner
Ronald: “Order of War: I’ll have Lolle Goebel Blitz Bomb.”

Monday’s Winner
phantomdiorama: “order of war: hors d’oeuvre of war”

Tuesday’s Winner
Henry Fatbackson: “Order of War: Fast and Führerious.”

Congratulations to all involved, but especially the five winners, proving once again that Kotaku readers are the wittiest on the internets. I’ll be in touch today to arrange delivery of your prizes.