Both of the veteran actors have been in countless movies. Oldman is most known recently from his roles in The Dark Knight and The Book of Eli. In Black Ops, he'll be reprising his role as Viktor Reznov from World at War. Harris, meanwhile, is recognized for his roles in A History of Violence and Apollo 13. He'll be playing Jason Hudson, a CIA operative. David S. Goyer has written for both of the recent Batman films, Blade, and the upcoming Superman: Man of Steel.

"Oldman, Harris and Goyer are considered some of the finest talents and they perfectly complement Call of Duty: Black Ops' ambitious and immersive single-player experience," said Treyarch head Mark Lamia in the press release. "Their contributions have helped us to push the boundaries of our story telling and character development far beyond anything we have ever attempted before in the franchise."

The news actually leaked out thanks to voice actress Emily Rose, who plays character Elena Fisher in the game. "Landed in LALA land yesterday and already the schedule is a buzz.... filming my first Night show today 4 #HAVEN then work on #UNCHARTED!" tweeted Rose yesterday.

This tweet created a short-lived buzz that Naughty Dog was already working on Uncharted 3, but a Sony representative quickly squashed the rumor by confirming to Kotaku that this "Uncharted work" was, in fact, for new Uncharted 2 DLC.

The announcement is a little light on specific details, instead offering vague promises of "redesigned controls" and "one of the deepest player rosters to date." Specific players aren't mentioned (besides more vague promises of "top athletes and legendary pros"), but one player that is confirmed for the game will only be available as a pre-order bonus. If you reserve Top Spin 4 at GameStop, you'll get a "vintage" version of tennis legend Andre Agassi. And as you can see in the provided screenshot, "vintage" does indeed mean full-on mullet.

"Top Spin 4 is shaping up to be the most realistic and exhilarating tennis game in the Top Spin franchise," said 2K Sports president of product development Greg Thomas. "For this iteration, the development team is focused on delivering a bold new take on the sport of tennis by allowing gamers to experience first-hand an uncanny level of realism in the player and stadium models, authentic audio captured directly from real tennis matches, and all-new innovative controls to dominate the competition."

Develop reports that the property has been purchased by an anonymous American company, with no word on how the purchase will affect the 23 developers currently working on the game. One of the more optimistic scenarios has the American company temporarily hiring the Dundee-based staff in order to finish the project, but they may also opt to purchase the build and the IP and finish it themselves.

APB remains up for purchase, though interest in the sandbox MMO has reportedly been weaker than it was for Project MyWorld. According to numbers released by Begbies Traynor, appoximately 130,000 registered users play the game an average of four hours per day.

When he wasn't busy discussing the return of Duke Nukem, Gearbox co-founder and CEO Randy Pitchford spent some time at PAX revealing that, around the release of the Borderlands Game of the Year edition (scheduled for October 12), Gearbox will update the game to increase the level cap by eight, bringing it to 69. They decided on an increase of 8 because they didn't want it to be too low, or as high as the 11-level increase that the General Knoxx brought.

Joystiq reports that Pitchford explained that Gearbox opted to make the increase a free update instead of including it in the Claptrap DLC because then "you'd have to buy every previous DLC." Also included in the free update will be a rebalancing of the original game to cater to the new level cap. Given that these are the sort of things you might expect to see in a premium DLC release, it's nice to see Gearbox instead release them to fans for free.

Not only has Gearbox Software gained the rights to finish Duke Nukem Forever; the developer has also gained ownership of the franchise name. Gamasutra reports that Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford's decision to transfer ownership and finish the long-delayed title is partly due to his friendship with those at 3DRealms, like Scott Miller and George Broussard.

Pitchford credits Miller with getting him into the games industry, and he even worked on Duke Nukem Forever in the early days. When 3DR closed and the game seemed dead last May, Pitchford saw Broussard at a weekly poker game. "He told me it was the worst day of his life," he said. "I was worried about him. He was committed to the thing. He loved it so much he wanted it to be perfect."

"Recent news out of Japan that Index Holdings, the parent company of Atlus Co., Ltd. (and its wholly-owned private subsidiary Atlus U.S.A, Inc.), would be merging the Atlus brand into itself has created uncertainty as to the future of Atlus and its games," Suzuki's statement begins. "We want to assure our fans and affiliates that Atlus remains in operation and will continue, as always, to support our beloved community with the finest quality game experiences possible."

Suzuki concludes by saying the merger should make Atlus more efficient than if it remained an independent company. "The Atlus-Index merger allows us to achieve greater synergy among the Index group companies and further strengthens the foundation of Atlus, both in Japan and here in the United States," he said.

So far Wii is the only confirmed platform for the game, although Provinciano also said that he's currently "in talks" with Microsoft about a potential release on Xbox Live Arcade, and that a PlayStation Network release is also a possibility. If you want to play it on the PC, though, no dice at least for a while -- Provinciano said a PC version won't happen for "at least a year."

For those unfamiliar, Retro City Rampage is billed as "a parody of the open-world action genre," attempting to create what a modern Grand Theft Auto game would be like if it was made for an 8-bit videogame system. You can check out the reveal trailer below.

This narrows the game's release down from the earlier vague target of February, and makes a pre-order the perfect Valentine's gift for that Helghan-hating special someone in your life. Because nothing says "I love you" like brutal future warfare -- in three dimensions.

"The approach and investment and process at 3d Realms didn't quite make it and it cracked in the end," said Pitchford in the WSJ interview. "With Gearbox Software we brought all of those pieces together. It's the game it was meant to be." The report claims the game is expected to ship in 2010, and Pitchford says it's in the "polishing" stage. But they're still working on a launch plan so he's hesitant to commit to a date.

A press release making the announcement quotes a number of the artists, many of which point out that they had fun but also found it challenging or weird to sing in Simlish. "Singing in Simlish was one of the hardest things I've ever done, but it was a blast!" said Travie McCoy. Flo Rida said of his decision to contribute to the game, "I'm always trying to find new ways to reach different audiences with my music and The Sims 3 was a perfect way."

The console versions of The Sims 3 will be released on October 26, the same day the Late Night expansion will be made available to owners of the PC version of The Sims 3.

In addition to a guitar controller that doubles as a fully-functioning guitar, Power Gig also lets you take your pick between vocals and the game's AirStrike drum controller. It's expected to launch in October of this year -- putting it pretty much head-to-head against Rock Band 3.

Feast your eyes upon the full list of Power Gig tracks below:

"Mafia II's average Metacritic score of 74 is well below expectations, and consumer interest appears to be waning, as the game's position has dropped in many best-seller lists in its first week," Pachter recently said (via Gamasutra). "With six years in development, we believe the game is unlikely to achieve profitability."

Gamasutra reports Take-Two CEO Ben Feder countered such claims during an investors call, saying, "We're very proud of the game." He later said, "Based upon the initial launch, we expect this to be another profitable title for Take-Two." Sales figures have yet to be released, though the release of NPD sales figures for August later this month should give us some indication of how well Mafia II sold. Its release so late in the month (August 24 in North America) could hurt its chances to rank highly, however, especially with Madden topping sales charts, according to EA.

The mode will apparently involve "soldiers" (which we assume means characters that'll play the same as single-player protagonist Isaac), and the series main enemies, Necromorphs. This would tie in with what EA CEO John Riccitello previously said about Dead Space 2's multiplayer being "innovative," in that it sounds like it'll try and replicate the horror atmosphere of the single-player game, while putting actual human beings in control of the horrors. This won't be the only multiplayer mode, either, as EA apparently also said there will be more modes to announce later.

GamerNode also says EA detailed some of the pre-order incentives that'll be offered for Dead Space 2, including an in-game "Rivet Gun" if you pre-order at GameStop, and (even better) the downloadable prequel Dead Space: Ignition for free no matter where you pre-order.

Stranger's Wrath was the last entry in the Oddworld series, and came out on the original Xbox in 2005. It featured a blend of third-person action and first-person shooting, with the stand-out feature being the use of "live ammunition" in the form of literally living critters like skunks and wasps. The remake will add improvements like updated graphics (with modern embellishments like "normal mapping and self-shadowing"), 720p HD support, re-mastered dialogue, and support for the PlayStation Move controller, in addition to other still-unannounced bonus features.

"Since word got out that we've been working with Oddworld Inhabitants there have been many rumors circulating about what we're working on," said Stewart Gilray, managing director of Just Add Water, in a statement. "Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath is the first project in what we believe will be a long and fruitful relationship. Having the chance to update this great title and release it on PS3 is just a brilliant opportunity, not least for us, but for the fans too."

An analyst previously predicted the delay after speaking with retail representatives, so the news comes as a little surprise. L.A Noire was announced way back in 2005, but has had a difficult development, to say the least.

Take-Two confirmed the delay in their latest set of financials, in which they reported net revenue of 354.1 million, a sharp increase from 2009. They attributed their success to the Rockstar-developed Red Dead Redemption, which has sold more than 6.9 million copies worldwide. Rockstar is also set to publish L.A. Noire.

As it turns out, the upcoming game has nothing to do with the sci-fi film of the same name. Instead, it will be a downloadable platformer utilizing a color switching mechanic similar to that which is found in Ikaruga.

As in Treasure's classic shooter, it will be possible to switch between light and dark forms to avoid enemy attacks. In addition, light forms can only hurt dark foes, and vice versa.

The Army and Air Force Exchange Services confirmed that no store located on an Army or Air Force bases will be able to sell the reboot. That ban includes 49 GameStops located across the continental U.S., and to all military bases worldwide.

In an email sent out to employees, GameStop said they will be pulling all marketing material relating to the game from those stores. Customers wishing to reserve a copy of Medal of Honor will be directed to an off base GameStop location.

Before Irrational Games decided to make BioShock Infinite, it was testing prototype ideas that will show up in a few different 2K games. We chatted with Ken Levine in the latest stop on our Cross Country Game Tour (above), who said that the eventual decision to make BioShock Infinite relied on some of the concepts that had come before.

"We finished BioShock, and we really didn't know what was going to be next," he said. "We actually prototyped a bunch of stuff... kinda decided it wasn't [right], and sat in a room and said, what else is interesting us? The idea of doing another BioShock game came up, but we knew if we were going to do that it wasn't going to be a game in Rapture."

Before Irrational Games decided to make BioShock Infinite, it was testing prototype ideas that might show up in a few different 2K games. We chatted with Ken Levine in the latest stop on our Cross Country Game Tour (above), who said that the eventual decision to make BioShock Infinite relied on some of the concepts that had come before.

"We finished BioShock, and we really didn't know what was going to be next," he said. "We actually prototyped a bunch of stuff... kinda decided it wasn't [right], and sat in a room and said, what else is interesting us? The idea of doing another BioShock game came up, but we knew if we were going to do that it wasn't going to be a game in Rapture."

"I'm very excited to be involved with DJ Hero 2," reads a statement attributed to RZA. "As both a DJ and gamer from an early age, the game combines two of my passions. I loved working with the team and am excited for the fans to hear the two brand-new mixes I put together just for this game. Bong bong!"

RZA previously worked with Activision on the fighting game Wu-Tang: Shaolin Style for the original PlayStation. Interestingly enough, Shaolin Style also had a controller designed specifically for it, though its giant "W" shape and lack of analog sticks made it less than practical as a gaming device.

Speaking to PSM3 magazine (via CVG), Mikami -- who, in addition to creating the Resident Evil series, also worked on the Devil May Cry and Viewtiful Joe series -- said he's still not interested in what motion controls currently have to offer. "I don't think motion controls will be in the gaming mainstream in the next ten years," Mikami explained. "When the technology gets to the point where you can just flick your eyeballs around and the computer can pick it up, you won't need a controller anymore. Obviously it's going to take a while to get there."

Well let's hope it does take a while, because by then we'll probably also have retina-scanning sensors all over civilization like in Minority Report. But then depending on your definition of "mainstream," it's arguable whether motion controls are there already, considering just how many Wiis Nintendo has sold since it released in 2006.

"Given the great success which led to us Resident Evil 5, we want Resident Evil 6 to hit the market as soon as possible," Inafune said. "In fact, Capcom will have news about this soon..." If that's in fact the case, it seems likely we may hear something at Tokyo Game Show, which kicks off on September 16. It's a venue big enough to seem appropriate for the first Resident Evil 6 announcement, and there's really no other big gaming event taking place any time soon after that.

We already know at least one thing about Resident Evil 6, which is that Resident Evil 5 producer Jun Takeuchi won't return to spearhead the title. But otherwise, for now we'll look ahead toward TGS and hope we do indeed get some news on the game.

The announcement came during Sony's IFA press event, which was held today. The promised patch will make it possible to watch films like Avatar and Alice in Wonderland in 3D when they arrive in November.

Sony released a similar patch for PS3 games back in April, with the Blu-ray patch originally scheduled to arrive this month.

LucasArts confirmed the cuts in a statement (via Kotaku), "LucasArts is reorganizing its teams to better address the needs of the internal studio. Unfortunately, this means adjusting staffing,"

"LucasArts continues to be committed to creating a first-class internal studio ? and to fostering relationships with trusted external partners ? in order to deliver quality games that amaze and inspire fans."

Over on the MAG blog, Zipper Interactive announced that an additional character slot can be had for $0.99. Up to two additional slots can be purchased.

As it turns out, it's not a one-time fee either. The extra character will last 30 days, after which they will become unavailable unless the subscription is renewed. Additional characters that aren't renewed are stored in MAG's server until the subscription is reactivated.

"I can guarantee you people are going to be surprised at stuff we do. That isn't going to stop any time soon," Newell told PC Gamer (via CVG). "I'm just laughing because... people will be shocked again."

He continued, "We have three pretty big surprises in the next 12 months at least."

At Sony's IFA 2010 press event in Berlin this morning, Sony clarified yesterday's rumor by announcing that its cloud-based digital music and video service Qriocity will be expanding to the PlayStation 3 and PSP later this year.

The video on demand portion of the service is currently available on most of Sony's current Bravia televisions and Blu-ray players, and while there is still no official word of it coming to consoles, today's announcement confirms that at the very least, Qriocity's "Music Unlimited" service will be coming to Sony's videogame consoles soon.

"Madden NFL 11 is the number one selling game in August, and the game has created enormous enthusiasm in the online community," said EA Sports president Peter Moore in the statement. "Each day on consoles, fans are playing as many games online as the equivalent of 750 full NFL seasons."

The press release offers up various facts to brag about the game's success, including the Ultimate Team mode helping to boost digital revenues 200% over Madden NFL 10. More than two million games of Madden are played online each day, and 20% of players have tried out the Online Team Play game mode.

According to PSM3 magazine (via ArkhamCity.co.uk), "Multiplayer is a certainty, but [there are] no details on this yet." Multiplayer doesn't necessarily mean a straightforward deathmatch mode, as some might assume; multiplayer might simply indicate a co-op mode where a second player assumes the role of Catwoman or Robin. If it is co-op that's included in Arkham City, it's also possible that it will be an entirely separate mode from the single-player game, for those worried that the main campaign will be watered down by made-for-co-op content.

There's currently no word on when developer Rocksteady will reveal more about the game's multiplayer. As soon as it does, we'll bring you the latest.

"To launch a new IP you have to invest much, much more marketing to establish it, and if you add up the huge costs of development plus the investment in marketing you cannot be 100 percent sure the target audience you'd expect, which is needed for the comeback on the investment," Corre explained. "Especially in this part of the cycle of the consoles, we are cautious now to introduce new brands. We'll concentrate on the ones we have and make sure we bring them to the next level in terms of quality."

Rather, Corre said they feel the best time to introduce brand-new franchises is when a new generation of hardware comes around. "That's always been the case in the past because it's a fresh approach," he said. "The new technology always brings new ideas for gameplay or innovation and you can use this to introduce a new IP that will be attached to the hardware. And the market is usually less crowded in the first 18 months of a new machine, so then you can try something new. Right now there are so many huge IPs already known that it's very competitive."

As you can see, the image only reveals a silhouetted array of stylized and well-armed warriors, standing behind the silhouette of a tank. So no, there isn't any certainty yet that this website is teasing a new Valkyria Chronicles game, but it's an image that is certainly evoking the series' visual style. And even more convincing, the teaser site's URL is "code1935," and the first Valkyria Chronicles was set in an alternate reality Europe in -- yup -- 1935.

We'll know the truth for sure later this month, as the image promises a reveal on September 16 -- the first day of the Tokyo Game Show. Check back in then.

Tokyo Jungle, tentative title of a PlayStation 3 game Sony unveiled in Famitsu magazine this week, is the latest in the long line of patently ridiculous games SCE likes to release in Japan about once every year. The game's divided into a story mode and a multiplayer survival mode. The story mode -- set in a completely vacant, semi-destroyed Tokyo -- is divided into a set of missions, each starring a different animal trying to handle a different task. In one chapter, you might be a Pomeranian dog who's run out of pet food and now has to fend for itself in the wild; in another, you might be a thoroughbred racehorse running around Tokyo, searching for its old track rivals in hopes of staging one more race. As you go through the missions you'll uncover why the human race suddenly disappeared, along with some even more sinister secrets -- including why there's a dinosaur or two tramping around town. (We're not making any of this up. It's in the preview and everything.)

Survival mode, meanwhile, lets you choose the animal of your choice (over 50 species and 80 different animal types are available, from baby chick to hippopotamus) and survive for as many years as possible. A farmyard chicken taking on a full-grown tiger? Yep, it's in there. To win a lopsided battle like that, you'll have to take advantage of each animal's natural traits, from speed and nimble jumping skills to the power to call for fellow companions and form enormous, street-choking herds. (In herd or pack-based combat, whichever side runs out of pack members first loses. You can even direct part of your pack somewhere else to bait your opponent into chasing them. No, we didn't make that up, either.)

The game, which is due out for the PlayStation 3 sometime this winter in Japan, marks a return to home consoles for the ZZT series, which has been something of an underground success on both sides of the Pacific. The first two games in the saga came out on the PlayStation 2 and were released in the US under the names Disaster Report and Raw Danger! respectively; the third title, a PSP exclusive released in 2008, was not launched outside of Japan.

Like the other ZZTs, the game is set inside a fictional modern metropolis that, during the intro, falls victim to an enormous earthquake in the middle of summer. Your character (which is completely customizable by the player, a first for the series) survived the initial tremor, but now has to survive in a ruined cityscape, helping out victims while dodging falling debris and other unforeseen hazards.

Sony may be set to announce a major iTunes competitor tomorrow that will run on its videogame consoles, according to an online report.

An article by the Financial Times (warning: registration required) citing "sources in the media industry" says that the service, which covers both music and video and is subscription-based, will be unveiled at tomorrow's IFA technology show in Berlin.

Until next week, where Activision is hosting a Call of Duty: Black Ops Multiplayer Premiere event. Both Tina and Thierry Nguyen will be in attendance to see first-hand what's it like to double-stab dudes in multiplayer. We'll start with the Live Blog (embedded below) of the multiplayer presentation, then we'll also be posting impressions, footage, and maybe even a video interview. We're assuming the venue has a decent Wi-Fi signal, but in case it doesn't, you can also follow the 1UP Live Blog Twitter account

According to Activision, the presentation should begin around 6:00pm Pacific on September 1. Stay tuned to this story.

Until next week, where Activision is hosting a Call of Duty: Black Ops Multiplayer Premiere event. Both Tina and Thierry Nguyen will be in attendance to see first-hand what's it like to double-stab dudes in multiplayer. We'll start with the Live Blog (embedded below) of the multiplayer presentation, then we'll also be posting impressions, footage, and maybe even a video interview. We're assuming the venue has a decent Wi-Fi signal, but in case it doesn't, you can also follow the 1UP Live Blog Twitter account

According to Activision, the presentation should begin around 6:00pm Pacific on September 1. Stay tuned to this story.

The pack stars Jimmy, who "the other guys call when they need to finish the job." It includes 30 new missions, featuring mafia standbys like assassinations and car chases. The timed car challenges also include points with multipliers, and online leaderboards to see who has managed the wildest 50s-era car stunts. If you haven't picked up Mafia 2 yet, check out our review.

Disney also unveiled a sizable collector's edition, which will retail for $130. The main attraction is a model light cycle, which comes complete with a special display case for the model and a drawer for the game. The collector's edition will only be available for the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions of the game.

Tron Evolution will detail the events taking place between the original film and the upcoming Tron Legacy, which is due in theaters December 17. The film will reference events that take place in the game, but will be their own standalone experiences.

There are 50 achievements in all worth a total of 1000 Gamerscore, with what looks like around twenty of them coming over the natural course of the game. The rest can be found by picking locks, crafting items and playing Blackjack.

Check out the full list below. The game will be out on Xbox 360, PS3 and PC on October 19.

Responding to a fan's question over Twitter, Yamauchi recommended a 10 gigabyte installation for the best possible experience. No further details, but we know now that the mandatory installation won't be a very large one.

Gran Turismo 5 will be out November 2.

Titled Outland, Ubisoft's new game is currently under-development for PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade. No word on what the game will entail, but it may be related to the upcoming remake of the 1981 science fiction film.

Other games that will appear at the show include Child of Eden and Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood.

The site shows a looping animation of a dapperly dressed man knitting in low lighting, with two other men hidden deeper in the shadows to his side. What's more, the page is titled "amimono," which translate into "knitting" in Japanese. No other clues are given, so it's unclear what team within Sony is even behind this mystery title.

So okay, the moody lighting and dapperly dressed men more than likely suggest the game won't actually be a knitting simulator (although imagine the possibilities of using two Move controllers as knitting needles), but rather they're using knitting as some kind of bizarre metaphor at the moment. A metaphor for what? Your guesses are as good as ours for now. All will be revealed Wednesday night, so check back in then.

In fact, being able to calculate odds may be exactly what you'll need for the game Telltale is teasing, as it's likely to be a sequel to their Texas Hold 'Em game released way back in 2005. But let's back up for a sec -- as you can see for yourself in the teaser clip, it shows four silhouettes looking unmistakably like Penny Arcade's Tycho, Sam from Sam & Max, the Heavy from Team Fortress 2, and Strong Bad from, well, Strong Bad. "Bet you never thought these guys would get together," a title card reads. "Fine out how 9.2.2010."

If you look closely at the silhouettes, though, you can see they're all holding something in their hands...something that kind of looks like a fanned-out hand of cards. So will these characters simply be playable avatars in a new poker game from Telltale? That sure seems to be the most likely explanation, but we'll have to wait until September 2 -- the day before the Penny Arcade Expo kicks off -- to find out for sure.

In the meantime, GamersGate is wrapping up its summer sale while EA is offering a smattering of titles including Dead Space and Mirror's Edge. If you're looking to pick up a Wii, check out Toys 'R Us for a charging station to go with it. And if you're looking to make an even bigger purchase, Wal-Mart is currently offering an Xbox 360 bundle with the purchase of a 1080p television.

Check out the complete list of deals below!

Until next week, where Activision is hosting a Call of Duty: Black Ops Multiplayer Premiere event. Both Tina and Thierry Nguyen will be in attendance to see first-hand what's it like to double-stab dudes in multiplayer. We'll start with the Live Blog (embedded below) of the multiplayer presentation, then we'll also be posting impressions, footage, and maybe even a video interview. We're assuming the venue has a decent Wi-Fi signal, but in case it doesn't, you can also follow the 1UP Live Blog Twitter account

According to Activision, the presentation should begin around 6:00pm Pacific on September 1. Stay tuned to this story.

The results of a recent study in the UK suggest that only two percent of Britons intend on purchasing a 3D-enabled television in the next year.

The report, conducted by YouGov and reported on by the Telegraph, polled 4,199 people in the United Kingdom, and found that only 89 of them were "likely to spend money" on a new 3D set.

In a statement to investors, Pacific Crest Securities' Evan Wilson said that retail sources have told him that the title has been delayed.

"We have confirmed the delay of L.A. Noire from fiscal Q4 (Oct.) well into [fiscal] 2011 [November 1, 2010 to October 31, 2011]," he wrote. "As far as we can tell, Take-Two has not shown the game to retailers."

Journey caught everyone's attention when it debuted at E3, but the game wasn't always an isolated trek across a minimalistic desert. In fact, it wasn't even 3D. As we discovered on our latest stop in the Cross Country Game Tour (above), the sparks of a multiplayer game without player voice communication started with a prototype called "Dragon."

"We were prototyping the game in Flash, actually, with just really basic 2D art," said Thatgamecompany president Kellee Santiago. "It was basically just getting people to come in -- our friends and students in the area -- to play and see what was possible, like how could we make a Thatgamecompany game that would be online. It was called 'Dragon' and there was a lot of fun 2D art."

Speaking to PC Gamer U.K., project manager Erik Johnson explained that the game had spells "based on movement and mouse gestures," and added, "It was so bad." While he clearly viewed the game as bad, Valve boss Gabe Newell explained that it was a "useful failure to us because it was so clearly dumb that it made us say, 'OK, what are we actually good at that we can do instead?'"

Newell continued, "It was so bad you wanted to ask yourself: 'How could we make a game that was this bad? And how should we make a game?' And we said we should focus on what we do really well, so why are we doing this game which was kind of a... it wasn't really an RPG... it was this action fantasy sort of role-playing game that had no story. And then we said 'OK, that's so horribly wrong. What we should focus in on is AI and playing in co-op, and that's the interesting opportunity.' That was where Left 4 Dead came from."

Rather than take what would appear to be the obvious path and remove the ads, EA has stated (via CVG) that it will simply not release the game in the region.

"We are adhering to laws in Denmark that restrict the use of energy drink product placement in-game, and therefore are not shipping EA Sports MMA in that region," the statement read. "Our game authentically recreates the sport of MMA in every facet, including energy drink in-game sponsorships on fighter shorts, gear, and in fight venues."

Next week's paid offerings include Dierks Bently, Sugarland, Reba McEntire, while lesser-known bands like Scratching the Itch, Voodoo Pharmacology, and Single White Infidel fill out the 12-pack of freebies. Pricing's set at the usual $1.99 per song for the country DLC, with the full slate of nine songs going for $14.99.

Look for the "Going Country Track Pack 04" next Tuesday, August 31 on the Xbox Live Marketplace, PlayStation Store, and the Wii's in-game music store. The free tracks should be up for grabs right now on the Xbox 360.

The Liars and Cheats pack will include multiplayer poker, liar's dice, and horse races, along with a new explosive rifle, seven gang hideouts, four hunting grounds, an attack/defend multiplayer mode, posse leaderboards, and 15 new multiplayer characters.

Rockstar has also announced that the "Free Roam Pack," which was previously announced as its own piece of DLC, is now being included as part of the Liars and Cheats pack. The company claims this is due to platform restrictions on how many pieces of content can be released for free. The pack will include more free roam challenges, action areas, and anti-griefing measures. Rockstar is also planning to update the game so the have-nots can still play with the haves.

Portal 2 is expanding on the original game in a lot of ways, including a longer campaign and even cooperative multiplayer. One mode that won't be making an appearance however, despite early tests, is competitive multiplayer. In our visit to Valve as part of the 1UP Cross Country Game Tour, writer Eric Wolpaw detailed the idea behind the spite-your-neighbor game mode, and why it just didn't work out.

"Along with co-op, [we had] the idea of sort of a competitive Portal multiplayer," he said. "We went down that path, actually, for a little while and had something up and running -- the best way to describe it is sort of speedball meets Portal. You know, a sports analog. And it quickly became apparent that while it's fun for about two seconds to drop portals under people and things like that, it quickly just devolves into pure chaos. It lost a lot of the stuff that was really entertaining about Portal, which was puzzle-solving. Cooperative puzzle-solving was just a much more rewarding path."

The new patch has been dubbed "The People's Patch" by the developers, as it addresses much of the user feedback they have received since the game's launch. It includes new level editing props, costumes, additional multiplayer levels and more.

In addition, Hello Games will soon be showcasing the best user-created levels on their official site. The developer is currently hosting a level building contest for the game.

The studio is best-known for the Ghost Recon series, though Ubisoft Paris is leading the development of the upcoming Future Soldier. The North Carolina-based studio is currently working on the game's multiplayer component.

A Ubisoft spokesperson told Kotaku, "The decision was part of a plan to allow the studio to focus on its core expertise: developing innovative multiplayer experiences."

During a "stat packed" session at the Edinburgh Interactive Festival covered by MCV, investment banker Paul Heydon of independent banking firm Avista Parners has claimed that when you add up the value of all publicly traded games companies, the global games market is worth $105 billion.

It's worth noting, however, that these figures don't include independent developers and private publishers. Despite that, though, the numbers are still interesting, with Nintendo claiming $35 billion of the market for the largest share -- the PC and console market without Nintendo only managing $33 billion in total.

It wouldn't be the first time Pitt has played a famous outlaw. He recently took on the role of the notorious titular character in The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. With a big name talent at the center of the film, this one may just escape the game adaptation curse.

"If you simply listened to all the songs we've handpicked to include in the game, you would recognize what an amazing soundtrack they would make," said VP of music affairs Tim Riley in the press release. "But when you hear them after the FreeStyleGames DJs give them the exclusive DJ Hero mix treatment, you understand why we think DJ Hero 2 offers an unprecedented music experience."

Check out the full, extremely long list below:

Like the Forza Motorsport 3: Ultimate Collection that was also leaked by the OFLC just days ago, it seems safe to assume that this rerelease of Dragon Age will include the original game and all currently available DLC. And if we're especially lucky, it might also come bundled with the Awakening expansion.

Nothing's been announced by EA, of course, so don't get too excited just yet.

"Move is a natural extension in the same way as we brought EyeToy to PS2," Maguire said. "Exactly as with EyeToy in the PS2 days, it's a product that needs to be sampled. You need to get your hands on it. You need to understand it. You need to try it. Am I expecting a massive day one? Not particularly. We didn't with EyeToy, either. It went on to be massively successful.

"As people saw the value when they tried it they told their friends," Maguire continued. "Their friends bought it. They told their friends. Word of mouth grew the marketplace. That's what I expect from Move as well."

Target will introduce their used games trade-in program in Northern California stores first, with more stores added across the country until the program is rolled out to 850 locatons by the end of the year. Customers can get store credit for their games, but Target will also be taking in "smart phones, MP3 players, and cell phones" as well.

Unlike the automated used game kiosks that Wal-Mart and Best Buy tried last year, though, Target will actually have trade-ins evaluated at the Target Mobile counters inside their stores. Target's website will also begin accepting electronics and DVD trade-ins as well.

"We do business in parts of the world where network infrastructure isn't as robust as one would hope," Hirai said to MCV. "There's always going to be requirement for a business of our size and scope to have a physical medium. To think everything will be downloaded in two years, three years or even ten years from now is taking it a little bit to the extreme."

It's a bit of a surprising stance, considering Sony is the only platform holder to have already released hardware that was download-only with the PSPgo -- although, perhaps it was their experience with that handheld that led Hirai to this conclusion in the first place? In any case, we can take this to mean the next PlayStation console -- whether it comes in two, three, or ten years -- probably will still be using discs.

Titled "Witch Hunt," the new DLC picks up where the original game left off by featuring the return of Morrigan. It will answer a number of pressing questions from the original game, likely paving the way for Dragon Age II.

Witch Hunt will include "powerful rewards" that can be transferred into Origins and Awakening, as well as the ability to create a new, high-level Warden.

The WIPO notes in its judgment (via Gamer/Law, GamesIndustry.biz) this month that "BioShock" wasn't trademarked until November 16, 2005, nearly a full year after the domain was registered on December 6, 2004. That alone wasn't enough to lose the case for Take-Two. But it didn't help that the term "bioshock" had been used previously, including by Johnson & Johnson, as well as the fact that the domain "is connected to a web site that does not seek to trade on the goodwill of the underlying trademark since it is associated with fields other than computer games and consistent with the scientific fields conjured up by the constituent components of Domain Name."

Take-Two's main argument was the obvious one: "[T]he only reason for [Name Administration's] use of the Domain Name is to trade off the value and goodwill of [Take-Two's] BioShock trademark by diverting users to third-party commercial websites for profit." In addition to that, Take-Two points out that Name Administration is known for domain squatting, which is essentially the practice of registering a domain name involving a trademark owned by someone else with the intent of profiting through advertisements displayed on the website. Take-Two even noted that Name Administration had, hilariously enough, previously registered TakeTwoInteractive.com, though they relinquished control of the domain to Take-Two upon request.

Valve is keen on open platforms, and has thrown its support behind the PlayStation 3 for allowing them to use Steamworks to update games. CVG reports that the company would like to offer the service on Xbox 360 as well, but Microsoft's restrictions stand in the way. "We think customers would like [Steam on Xbox 360]," said Valve's Erik Johnson. "We think, anyway. We'd love to try that."

Unfortunately, it's not Valve's call. Microsoft regulates the Xbox Live service, only allowing patches to go live after approval and certification. That's why Valve chose the PlayStation 3 to receive Steamworks for Portal 2. In doing so, Valve boss Gabe Newell called the PS3 version the "best version on any console." The company sometimes has a tendency to relax its policies to keep up with competition, so we'll see if they do so for Valve.

Previously unannounced standouts include "Imagine" by John Lennon, "Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots Pt. 1" from The Flaming Lips, Primus' "Jerry Was a Racecar Driver," and "Whip It" by Devo. You can read up on the tracklist in its entirety below:

The plan comes in one- or two-year varities costing $44.99 and $59.99, respectively. Plus members will be able to get the two-year plan at a 25% discount, meaning you'll pay $44.99, effectively giving you two years for the price of one. Among the features a protection plan provides are free shipping on repairs and no fee for qualified claims.

You can't apply the plan to any older PS3 systems, so that precious backwards-compatible 60GB unit is almost certainly not eligible. Only systems that are still within their original one-year warranty can have a PlayStation Protection Plan applied to them.

Now producer Yoshinori Kitase has made comments that seem to confirm a long wait for Versus XIII, or at least cast doubt on a concrete timeline. Speaking to GamingUnion, Kitase said, "We have no release date information to update. Unfortunately, we can't say anything about that. We can't commit ourselves to 2011 either."

To be clear, this doesn't mean Versus XIII won't release in 2011, but it does mean that the game isn't yet close enough to finished to call a 2011 release a certainty. Most likely, if we see the game in 2011 at all, it will be near the end of the year.

"Leaving Rapture was very, very personally difficult for me," Levine explained to CVG during GamesCom last week. "It was my whole life. I don't have kids, it's like my child. I feel that connection to Andrew Ryan, Sander Cohen -- a sick group of people to feel a connection to but I do. I just felt that we had said all we needed to say about it... at the time. I mean, never say never. But right now that's how we feel about it."

So if it's "never say never," what would it take for Levine to make a return to Rapture? "Yeah. I mean, life's a long time. But I'd HAVE to have an idea that drove that. I'd have to spring from the idea," he said. But for now, Levine is focused on the cloud city of Columbia in BioShock Infinite, which features its own bizarre cast of characters -- including the Big Daddy-like creature seen in the debut trailer with its heart visible through a glass case. As explained on Irrational's latest podcast (via VG247), this character is called "Handyman," and it went through quite an evolution to its current state.

The Resident Evil 5 controversy began when Capcom showed a trailer for the game at E3 2007. Despite the fact that Capcom would eventually reveal that Resident Evil 5 featured an African partner and white American villains, that early trailer showed nothing but black zombies attacking -- and being shot over and over and over again by -- a white protagonist. It was highly charged imagery that led to allegations of racial insensitivity.

"Since the RE5 controversy, we have become much more aware of how important it is that we are part of the asset creation process early on so that we are able to have a say in the end product," Pfeiffer said to Gamasutra. "We are also designing a lot of our own assets from this side of the pond so that we are able to make strategic pieces of content that make sense for our market. We are working really closely with our producers in Japan to construct these materials for the West and they are open more then ever to hearing our thoughts and ideas for assets."

"We came up with the project plan for Basara around the time game sales began to slow down in Japan," Kobayashi recalled in an interview printed in Famitsu magazine. "We thought a lot about how to to make a game sell here, and during the trial-and-error phase, we went to a bookstore and found a section devoted to the Warring States period. Stuff like that has a very constant sort of popularity; something set in that period is easy to get into, and it's better to have a base to work with anyway, even with an original game."

What was Kobayashi's inspiration for Basara? Mainly, to make a game that sold more than a handful of copies. "Before Basara, I was producer on a couple of games that didn't sell at all [P.N.03 and Under the Skin]," he said. "The people on the development teams decided they wanted to make a game that sells for a change! It was tough for all of them, making good games that don't find an audience, so that's what they wanted to do. That's what connected to Basara. It's certainly rare for me to get inspired because I was frustrated by sales figures -- but I felt like the first Basara had to succeed, no matter what, or else I'd have three games in a row that didn't sell!"

As Goto put it, he first got involved with the PlayStation project in the spring of 1993. "My boss at the time asked if I was interested in some game console work," he recalled. "I liked games and PCs a lot and messed around with them in my spare time, so it was great for me to work on what I liked doing the most. So I started traveling to the Aoyama office and talking with [Ken] Kutaragi about assorted things, and before long I began work on the design of the system."

Goto began his design work at around the same time the development staff put the final touches on Dinosaur, the first PlayStation tech demo. "It was a huge shock to me," he said. "I couldn't tell you how neat it was to move the dinosaur around as much as I wanted. Having the hardware behind that get sold as a home game console was revolutionary to me -- if this actually happened, I thought, there's no way it wouldn't be a hit."

Sakurai began the discussion by asking Ichimura his opinion of Smash Bros. and whether he sees it as a mainstream success. "A lot of people around the world have interacted with Smash Bros., and a lot of Japanese people have interacted with Dragon Quest," Ichimura responded. In that aspect, they're both games that're easy to approach and easy to play with."

The way Sakurai sees it, that's the approach he's taken to game design from the very beginning. "Kirby's Dream Land was the first game I ever made," he said, "but I had no intention of making it a mainstream game. I really narrowed down the audience to beginners only. That's because, at the time, no matter how much fun the Super Mario Bros. games were, they were still too tough for normal people and kids. I could feel people drifting away from games, and it bothered me. In the midst of making Kirby, a lot of the team started wondering if we were maybe making it too simple. But I think it was necessary for us to consider people who hadn't played a game before, and I think doing that earned us fans that wouldn't have been around otherwise. That's the same creative approach I take with Smash Bros. It hasn't changed at all today."

Speaking with 1UP during GamesCom last week, producer Yoshinori Kitase said that Square Enix would like to bring both games to PSN in the near future. However, he also noted that Square Enix does not wholly own the rights to the franchise, and that the publisher still has work to do in that regard.

The rights issues likely stem from the fact that Parasite Eve was a bestselling novel before being adapted as a film and a videogame. There has been some speculation that those same issues resulted in Square Enix dropping the name Parasite Eve from the upcoming PSP game.

In what is perhaps a first, a videogame has become required reading for all students at a higher education facility. Michael Abbott, editor of The Brainy Gamer and a teacher at Wabash College has revealed that Portal is to be a core text of a new course called "Enduring Questions" that all students at the college are required to take.

A freshman course to be held during the spring semester, Enduring Questions is "devoted to engaging students with fundamental questions of humanity from multiple perspectives and fostering a sense of community. Each section of the course includes a small group (approximately 15) of students who consider together classic and contemporary works from multiple disciplines. In so doing, students confront what it means to be human and how we understand ourselves, our relationships, and our world."

Of course, it wouldn't be Vegas without massive losses. The source also claims that Midway had spent about $43 million on the game when it was sold to WB. Then, WB committed another $250,000 per month until it was canceled. In total, the game probably went through $50 million without ever seeing the light of day.

"It's a ridiculous waste of money," said the source. "A silly budget when you think that games like Konami's Saw - which made a profit - were built with around $3m and BlackLight Tango Down was made for $2.5m." If you're curious of what might have been, take a look at our 2008 E3 preview.

In an interview with VG247, Tanaka said the delay was due to PS3 RAM restrictions. "The main reason was the memory," he said through his translator. "On the PC, they have enormous memory. For PS3, there's a restriction. They are adjusting the memory size and customizing it; it took longer than we were expecting. But we're really working hard to bring it out as soon as possible."

The explanation probably doesn't soften the blow for PS3 owners who have to wait an extra several months, but at least we know the cause. Besides, it could be worse -- the 360 version is delayed indefinitely due to Microsoft's Live policy.

"I don't think we really care whether used game buyers are upset because new game buyers get everything," said wrestling games creative director Cory Ledesma in an interview with CVG. "So if used game buyers are upset that they don't get the online feature set I don't really have much sympathy for them.

"That's a little blunt but we hope it doesn't disappoint people. We hope people understand that when the game's bought used we get cheated. I don't think anyone wants that, so in order for us to make strong, high-quality WWE games we need loyal fans that are interested in purchasing the game. We want to award those fans with additional content."

As Andriasang reports, the website "Valkyria3.jp" exists, and yes, it's owned by Sega. And it was evidently registered by Sega on May 31 of this year, so it's still rather fresh -- although currently whatever it has to show (if anything at all) is protected with a user name and password.

So while there is the possibility that Sega is merely securing the website to protect their intellectual property, there's also still the possibility that, yes, Sega may actually be planning a second sequel for the franchise. After all, while Valkyria Chronicles 2 is only just about to be release in North America on August 31, the game has been out in Japan since January.

"On the principle of making online portions of the game available or unlocked from the disc-based release for a fee, we're broadly supportive of that," House said in the interview. "And we're exploring actively the same option for our own content."

The concept was initiated by EA with their "Project $10" initiative, and it's been quickly assimilated by other publishers like Ubisoft and THQ, with the latter already incorporating it in UFC Undisputed 2010.

Time: Tuesday, August 17th, 2010 at 5:00 PM
Location: Watch the embedded video player above.

How great can a game be if it's from a pretty small development team? You'll be pleasantly surprised by Klei. Watch as Sharkey, Tina, and staff fight their way through hoards of enemies in Shank. And during our live stream, we'll read your comments and questions for us. And what do you get in return? We're rewarding a code for Shank to our best contributor!

It has been a long time since we've heard anything concrete about the EA Partners-funded game coming from Killer7 and No More Heroes creator Grasshopper Manufacture, but if an interview published today is to be believed, we may finally get a look at it next month.

Speaking to Eurogamer, EA Partners' David DiMartini, when asked if a Tokyo Game Show reveal for the project "made sense," apparently replied with a simple "Yes."

As announced back in July, Lair of the Shadowbroker teams Shepard with Liara T'Soni as they confront the mysterious information broker. It will include five new achievements, additional research and an intel center.

In addition, if Shepard has a relationship with Liara from the first game, it will be possible to pick up where things left off. Out of all the DLC to this point, it looks like this might be the one that has the greatest impact on the sequel.

Modern Warfare 2 didn't crack the Top 10 this week, but it did manage to surpass Nintendo's brain training title. It took only 10 months for the Infinity Ward shooter to accomplish the feat, while Brain Age took 36 months to surprass Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.

Meanwhile, Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days managed to grab the top spot on the UK charts in its first week on the market. Just Dance remains a top seller, while Mass Effect 2 returned to the Top 10 following EA's announcement that the game will soon be ported to the PS3.

Gran Turismo 5 won in two categories, while the PlayStation Move got the nod in Hardware Accessories. Super Scribblenauts and Guild Wars 2 were also among the games to be recognized.

The jury was largely comprised of judges from European publications and publishers. Check out the full list of winners below.

Thongs of Virtue is said to be 50% longer than the first game, and include new settings like the North Pole. Hothead is promising "more adventure and puzzle questing" in this game, along with more Ron-Gilbert-injected humor revolving around six mystical thongs. Though the game is a sequel to the original DeathSpank, Hothead claims it's not necessary to have played the first game to understand the humor.

Unfortunately, since the two games were developed simultaneously, Hothead hasn't made tweaks based on fan feedback. Online multiplayer isn't being included, and players of the first game won't see a stat bump for their efforts. Fans wishing for a PC version may also be disappointed that Hothead is focusing its efforts on the console titles, though the possibility of a third DeathSpank game appearing on PC is still in the cards.

10 tracks from MotorStorm Pacific Rift (pictured above) have been pulled for use in 3D Rift along with several of the game's vehicles. Each of the 10 tracks has a unique event to complete and the game can be played in either 3D or 2D.

Currently the only MotorStorm game available in 3D has been the Pacific Rift demo. While this will require a bit of an extra investment for Pacific Rift owners, at least they'll finally be able to enjoy more -- albeit not all -- of the game in 3D.

The demo will reportedly be a tweaked and cleaned version of the one presented to Gamescom attendees. It involves Starkiller fighting his way out of the Kamino cloning facility, using Force skills like pushes and the new mind trick. Since the plot revolves around Kamino, this early stage should serve as a good introduction for new players, and get old Jedi back in the swing of things. Check out our preview in the meantime.

"We put a lot of effort into the ending slides -- we know those slides are really popular with people so we want to make sure there's a huge amount of variety and reactivity with that stuff. We weren't really focused on new features so much as to add a really rich sense of reactivity to the players and the choices they make."

We want to make it a definitive ending. Initially, we talked about trying to support post-game play, but because the changes that can happen at the end of the game are pretty major, this is what it basically came down to: either have the changes feel really major in the end slides and then have them not be very major after the end of the game, or make them really minor and not that impactful. And we feel it's better to say, 'you know what, we're just going to end the game, and the changes you made can be minor or really really big, but because we can't script all the changes to the Wasteland to let you keep playing, we're just going to stop it there.' But we do let the player know when that's about to happen-- a sort of, 'the end of the game is coming, so we're saving your game right now, so if you want to keep your game going, you can, otherwise, it's about to be over.'"

The video comes by way of GameTrailers TV (embed below), and sadly, the only actual gameplay footage shown is a quick -- although very tantalizing -- look at one short puzzle being solved between two robots, each armed with a portal gun. Spoiler: It involves a little portal trickery to create what is essentially a matter-bending trampoline.

It's a short tease, but it does give a small hint at the kind of puzzle-solving teamwork that Portal 2's co-op mode will require. Writer Eric Wolpaw also says that Portal 2's co-op campaign will be its own storyline (involving GLaDOS's attempt to remove humans from her tests by using those two robots for the tests instead), and it'll be just as long as the single-player game.

"Everybody wants to ship the perfectly balanced game, but when it has been played for six months and beat on by everybody, players are going to find its weaknesses," Boon said. "We're actually putting stuff in the game that lets us 'turn knobs' after the [game ships]. We have knobs that we can turn to further tweak the game once we know everyone has been bashing on it."

As such, Boon says it won't require a full patch in order for them to tweak small components of the game, although the system will have its limits. "I mean, we can't add a special move, but we can slow a projectile down or speed a projectile up or tweak the damage, just to kind of fine tune it after the fact," Boon explained.

"We're trying, we're talking [to Sony and Microsoft] and we hope to get that done quickly," Schaefer said to Joystiq at GamesCom this week. Schaefer said there's still no release window set, but "hopefully" they'll have a deal done to release the game "by the holidays."

So what if you're not so interested in the original Torchlight anymore, now that Runic announced Torchlight 2 (complete with online co-op)? Don't fret, as Schaefer said they'll "try" to get the sequel released on PSN and XBLA as well, some time after it's released for the PC and Mac next spring.