Ex-Team Ninja head Tomonobu Itagaki’s upcoming project Devil’s Third is in a lot trouble. During a financial briefing call to investors, THQ president and CEO Brian Farrell said that Devil’s Third no longer fits the companies “profitability profile.”

“The profitability profile for Devil’s Third no longer met our internal threshold and we are currently in discussions with third parties regarding the future of this title,” Farrell said. ”There were a couple of unforeseen events that happened during the development of Devil’s Third. One was the company that Valhalla was using for the engine went out of business, so we had to assist Itagaki and the team with a new engine – it took a fair amount of time and cost a fair amount of money.”

“We think it’s an excellent franchise; we’ve really enjoyed working with Itagaki-san, and we’re going to explore other opportunities with him and others to make sure this product comes to market,” Ferrell added, reassuring the publishers belief in the franchise.

BioShock Infinite will not ship this October as previously announced. Take-Two Interactive and Irrational Games have announced that they’ve has pushed back the highly anticipated first-person shooter, it will now release on February 26, 2013.

“When we announced the release date of BioShock Infinite in March, we felt pretty good about the timing,” said creative director Ken Levine. “Since then, we’ve uncovered opportunities to make Infinite into something even more extraordinary. Therefore, to give our talented team the time they need to deliver the best Infinite possible, we’ve decided to move the game’s release to February.”

Then, Levine add that the developers will not be showing BioShock Infinite at this summer gaming events, such as the Electronic Entertainment Expo and Gamescom.

“The next time you see our game, it will be essentially the product we intend to put in the box,” Levine added. “Preparing for these events takes time away from development, time we’re going to use instead to get the best version of Infinite into your hands in February.”

Irrational Games have stressed that “[they're] still focusing” on making a BioShock film adaptation, despite the project being pushed back.

“The thing with Gore [Verbinski] didn’t work out,” creative director Ken Levine told Edge Magazine. “But there’s no such thing as “it’s finished” when it comes to making a movie out of something.”

But, for now, BioShock Infinite remains the focus of the studio. “Right now, we’re choosing our battles and focussing on making BioShock: Infinite,” Levine continued.

It’s official: Treyarch’s next addition in the Call of Duty mixing pot, Call of Duty: Black Ops II.

EA Sports have announced that Detroit Lion wide receiver Calvin Johnson Jr. will be gracing the cover of Madden NFL 13.

Johnson beat out 63 other players, including fellow finalist Cam Newton of the Carolina Panthers, in a bracket-style tournament — in which more than 20 million votes were cast — to grace the cover of the game.

“I thought you guys loved me,” Newton said after learning his fate. “Just kidding,” Newton added with a smile.

Legendary monster slayer Geralt of Rivia, one of the few remaining witchers, seeks to clear his name after being blamed for the murder of King Foltest of Temeria. But, somehow, Geralt becomes emerged in a political world filled with corruption and greed. This is the story behind The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings – Enhanced Edition, an adventure which draws players into its dark fantasy world, and forces them to make difficult and laboring choices.

Though not as breathtaking as the PC version, the Enhanced Edition doesn’t mirror the resolution of it computer counterpart, as the shadows are less impressive and there’s a large amount of visible pop-in. However, the overall experience remains unchanged, and the game is still beautiful besides the notable limitations of the consoles.

Each of these elements are a testament to the world of The Witcher, a world alive and buzzing with activity. However, all that glitters is not gold, as the game features an extremely dark and adult overtone, as even elements the mortal condition are presents, including sex and love. This all tangled in a politically dominating plot, which involves so many individual characters that confusion is only natural. However, Geralt is here to ground everything.

Because there’s so much happening story wise, characters and certain events could get lost in translation. But, one thing is clear, Geralt is going to do whatever it takes to clear his name, and bring justice to the murderer of King Foltest. However, that’s not all, Geralt will also meet a number of interesting characters along his journey, including a foul-mouthed dwarf named Zoltan and a misguided poet named Dandelion. These characters round out an interesting supporting class, each with their own unique personality.

Personality just happens to be an interesting platform throughout The Witcher, as the second act tells a completely different tale depending on choices made beforehand. Basically, every playthrough crafts its own individual outcomes, even going as far as changing the characters you’ll interact with, the enemy types you’ll face and the conversations throughout the game. These type of choices also play into combat, as Geralt can only use one of two swords, a silver and a steel sword depending on rather he’s facing monsters or humans.

In combat, switching between weapons and magic spells, called signs, and even drinking potions, determine the challenges of the battle ahead. However, there are times when the controls are unresponsive mid-combat leading to some untimely deaths. But, that is beside the point. It’s these three elements, weapons, spells and potions, which craft a unique and rhythmic combat system.

Closing Statement:

In hindsight, the Enhanced Edition is an excellent port of an already amazing game. However, the game didn’t make it to the consoles unharmed — because of the compromises that had to be made. But, the overall experience remains unchanged; it’s still a breathtaking experience. More importantly, every decision feels rooted into the experience because everything must be taken to with a microscope. Not only that, the game features an extremely rich amount of detail. Overall the game shouldn’t be missed.

Final Score: 8.7

After a ton of speculation, Sony Santa Monica Studio director Todd Papy confirmed the development of God of War: Ascension exclusively for the PlayStation 3.

Judging from the teaser trailer, Ascension will follow Kratos before he became know as the Ghost of Sparta. “There was a time before Kratos became the ghost of Sparta … a time when something other than rage consumed him. A time when Kratos would break his blood oath to an unjust god.”

The highly anticipated sequel has been delayed until August, allowing “additional time for polish and bug fixing.”

THQ announced the delay for Darksiders II this afternoon, following speculation of the delay.

“This is great news for the team at Vigil,” THQ community manager Mathew Everett explained. “It allows additional time for polish and to ensure that all aspects of Darksiders II meet the high quality bar the team is targeting.”

“In game development, more time is always a good thing for quality, and the Vigil team is dedicated to providing the definitive Darksiders experience.”

The Mass Effect 3: Extended Cut will add “a sense of personalization” to the ending. At a PAX East panel, BioWare producer Mike Gamble insisted that, with the expansion, personal decisions will indeed have an impact on the ending.

“We wanted to give the players a sense of personalisation with the endings,” he said. “Many people mentioned that some of the choices they made in the game are not necessarily reflected in the ending scenes. We’re definitely going to focus on things like that.”

Gamble then reaffirmed the summer launch window for the free expansion, adding that the Extended Cut is “more than just a few cinematic scenes.” However, he did reiterate that the new content would not “re-imagine” the current ending.

Bethesda Softworks have announced Kinect integration for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, the latest installment in the flagship franchise. The update will include two hundred commands, including the dragon shouts — and is due out later “this month.”

Internally called “Project Adam,” Bethesda began integrating the motion control device right after the games launch in November. According to CNN, vice president Pete Hines said the developer wanted to add functionality that didn’t exist in the original release.

“When you do things, like when you are on the map, you uncover a lot of map markers and quests to go to a particular place. [With Kinect] you can use voice commands to do things very easily, to jump to different cities on the map,” said Hines. “Even doing things in inventory like sorting by weight, by value — that functionality doesn’t exist in ‘Skyrim’ as it is. With Kinect, it unlocks a lot of new options.”

The Mass Effect 3 drama continues. Now, Better Business Bureau director of marketplace services Marjorie Stephens reports that BioWare had, indeed, conducted a misleading advertising campaign for the recently released sequel.

“The issue at stake here is, did BioWare falsely advertise? Technically, yes, they did,” Stephens wrote. “In the first bullet point, where it states “the decisions you make completely shape your experience”, there is no indecision in that statement. It is an absolute.”

Throughout the marketing of the title, BioWare had promised full control of the outcome of the game, and that all the players decisions mattered. However, besides an delivering an outstanding experience, in the end, none of it actually mattered.

“The lesson to be learned here is companies should give careful consideration to how they word their advertisements. Otherwise, there could be detrimental effects, especially in the era of social media and online forums,” she continued. Basically, Stephens is confirming that BioWare did indeed take part in false advertising. However, it doesn’t mean that BioWare will receive legal action from the BBB.

Talk about the unexpected. Capcom has unveiled, to a team of journalist at its Captivate event in Rome, that its teamed up with Californian-based developer Spark Unlimited to publish Lost Planet 3.

This will be the first Lost Planet title develop outside of Capcom — however the Spark Unlimited is collaborating with the Japanese publisher throughout the projects development.

“I’ve had a lot of ideas about the series that I haven’t been able to realise until now – in particular how I can make the player perform a certain action or make them feel a certain way,” said co-creator Kenji Oguro. “These are the kinds of things I put a lot of thought into realising the third Lost Planet. In that regard, it kind of makes good on a lot the lingering ideas we had for the series in general.”

Lost Planet 3 is expected to launch in 2013 for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC.

BioWare has announced Mass Effect 3: Extended Cut, a free downloadable expansion explaining the events at the end of the game. Through additional cinematic sequences and epilogue scenes, the Extended Cut will “further clarity to the ending.”

“We are all incredibly proud of Mass Effect 3 and the work done by Casey Hudson and team,” said BioWare co-founder Ray Muzyka. “Since launch, we have had time to listen to the feedback from our most passionate fans and we are responding.”

“With the Mass Effect 3: Extended Cut we think we have struck a good balance in delivering the answers players are looking for while maintaining the team’s artistic vision for the end of this story arc in the Mass Effect universe.”

Exactly how powerful is Nintendo’s upcoming console? Apparently, nobody seems to know the answer to the question — or anything about the console’s true potential.

However, Gearbox Software director Brian Martel did say that the Wii U is indeed more powerful than current-gen consoles, besides what was previously reports. Putting an end to fears of another Nintendo sub-standard definition home console.

“Things like the Wii U are becoming very sexy,” Martel said. “The machine itself will be one of the best-looking versions of the game, you know, because they’ve got more RAM than some of the other things. And you know, they’re late in the cycle so they’ve got this really great processor and all that kind of stuff.”

[Wii U has "more RAM" than other current consoles and "really great processor", says Aliens: Colonial Marines director via Nintendo Gamer]

Nike, Inc. revealed its “Nike Elite 51″ football uniforms for the upcoming season, integrating a brand new head-to-toe system of dress.

“The NFL is pleased to work with Nike,” said NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. “This relationship continues our commitment to delivering fans worldwide the best sports and entertainment experience. We are looking forward to the excitement and innovation Nike will bring to our game, players and fans.”

Designed and engineered from the inside out, the new uniform focuses on creating a system where the baselayer, padding, jersey and pant work in complete unison. Nike unveiled the uniforms on Tuesday with a fashion show at a Brooklyn film studio.

You can view all 32 uniforms on the Uni-Watch Twitter feed.

In response to its recent commercial success, Capcom has announced that it will be releasing all on disc content for Street Fighter X Tekken owners free of charge. However, Capcom didn’t reveal what commercial success the genre crossover did indeed achieve.

“Beside our current business strategy, we believe that its in the best interest of gamers to actually receive, and enjoy, every bit of data available on the retail disc,” said Capcom head Kenzo Tsujimoto after cursing to the heavens. ”As industry heavy weights, we have to instill morals back into the industry. We’ve finally realized our mistakes.”

Sony Computer Entertainment has confirmed that it has closed Seattle-based developer Zipper Interactive, the creators of the popular SOCOM series. Sony confirmed the closure in a statement to Game Informer.

In the statement, Sony added that “Zipper has completed all work associated with its most recent project, Unit 13 for PlayStation Vita. Zipper titles MAG, SOCOM 4 and Unit 13 will continue to be supported, including the new Daily Challenges in Unit 13.”

SEGA is going through tough times. The publisher has confirmed plans to cancel a number of titles in deep the development to reduce its annual loss — due to the “rapid change” in the market.

The cancellation of these titles will lead to a reconstructing of its business model, as the companies western interests become “a smaller company positioned for sustained profitability.” However, Sega made clear that forthcoming games from the Sonic the Hedgehog, Football Manager, Total War, and Aliens franchises have not been cancelled.

“The Sega consumer business is expected to post operating loss due to the challenging economic climate and significant changes in the home video game software market environment in the US and Europe,” read a statement.

“It is essential to streamline [our] organisation in the field of home video game software, while shifting to a structure that corresponds to a change in environment, including strengthening development in the field of digital content.”

Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon has always been more about team tactics then gunpowder, which separates the third-person shooter from many other shooters on the market.

With that in mind, Ubisoft Paris plans on keeping that tradition in Ghost Recon: Future Soldier’s multiplayer as IP development director Adrian Lacey showcased the games latest cooperative mode, Guerrilla mode. “When we were looking at [Future Soldier] at the beginning of the development cycle,” said Lacey. “We knew wanted a mode which was more dynamic.”

Lacey discussed the development of the mode for some time, and then the room of journalist surrounding him came to a conclusion that Guerrilla mode was another Horde-based mode. However, Guerrilla mode is different.

The mode surrounds a group of four players as they fend off waves of enemies, but every ten waves, the map’s “green zone” moves, and players need to make their way over to it and secure it — allowing players armor to up and add fortifications along the way. The game ends once the players survive 50 waves, if all the players die or when the enemy forces capture the “green zone” for a set amount of time.

It’s this process that makes Guerrilla mode difficult because, into order to advance, it takes care, cooperation and patience. Also, with the conditions of battle changing frequently, there won’t be any rogues and lone wolves in this mode. It’s all about teamwork.

Ubisoft Toronto are developing the next Splinter Cell game and, according to studio head Jade Raymond, the next title will explore one of the series’ many “root themes.”

“It will have all of the action flick elements for sure, but we’re trying to also explore something a little bit more interesting that is actually one of the themes that’s at the root of the franchise historically, but never has been surfaced so much,” said Raymond about the highly anticipated title. “I can’t really say more on this!”

Overhaul Games today announced that Baldur’s Gate: Enhanced Edition will be heading to the iPad this summer, alongside a PC release.

The iPad and PC remake will include all the improvements and additions in the original version — including the full integration of the Tales of the Sword Coast expansion. The Enhanced Edition will be running on a “re-forged” version of the Infinity Engine, allowing for a better visual experience. In addition, Overhaul has promised brand-new story content including more quests and a new party member.

In response to the vastly publicized complaints, Mass Effect executive producer, Casey Hudson released a statement basically promising to release an extension to the story — through DLC — with an ending that’s more favorable then the one originally released.

“Mass Effect has been a shared experience between the development team and our fans.”

“We also recognize that some of our most passionate fans needed more closure, more answers, and more time to say goodbye to their stories-and these comments are equally valid,” he said. “Player feedback such as this has always been an essential ingredient in the development of the series.”

In addition, Hudson adds that, “over the course of the series, Mass Effect has been a shared experience between the development team and our fans-not just a shared experience in playing the games, but in designing and developing them.”

“Throughout the next year, we will support Mass Effect 3 by working on new content. And we’ll keep listening, because your insights and constructive feedback will help determine what that content should be. This is not the last you’ll hear of Commander Shepard,” Hudson concluded.

You can read the whole statement here.

DICE and Electronic Arts have unveiled the second downloadable addition to Battlefield 3 entitled Battlefield 3: Close Quarters.

Close Quarters will offer a more intimate experience — featuring complete “HD Destruction” — on four new maps. The downloadable add-on will also introduces new weapons, assignments and unique dog tags. Close Quarters is expected in June.

In order to meet its upcoming release deadline, Blizzard Entertainment have announced that it has removed the player versus player playlist (PvP) from Diablo III. However, Blizzard does plan to add the mode on a later date.

Diablo director Jay Wilson made the announcement, explaining that the mode wasn’t living up to Blizzard standards. But, rather than hold the entire title back from being release, PvP has been held back for further development.

“After a lot of consideration and discussion, we ultimately felt that delaying the whole game purely for PVP would just be punishing to everyone who’s waiting to enjoy the campaign and core solo/co-op content, all of which is just about complete,” Wilson said.

Irrational Games have unveiled an interesting the new “Heavy Hitter” enemy class for BioShock Infinite. The Heavy Hitter enemy class is a more unconventional enemy, it was made to augment the abilities of the traditional BioShock enemies.

“These are enemies that are used to not just be more powerful, but to augment the abilities of the more traditional BioShock enemies,” said Irrational co-founder Ken Levine. “You’re going to come across them in certain areas of the game, and they’re going to provide a really unique challenge.”

The first of these enemy is “The Motorized Patriot,” a “clock terminator” George Washington. His features are porcelain-like, a twisted child’s doll. He’s also fearsome and relentless. ”Unlike most of the enemies, he’s completely fearless,” said Levine. “He doesn’t have a sense of self-preservation, so he’ll just keep coming at you and coming at you.”

Guerrilla Games art director Jan-Bart van Beek informed attendees at the Game Developers Conference that the studio’s currently developing three new titles.

Two of the projects in development are Killzone-related; an unknown Killzone game, possibly a sequel, and the other is Killzone Vita. However, the third project is a brand new unannounced IP. They didn’t reveal anything about the new IP, but van Beek did state that the project combined “32″ ideas pitched by team members.

Quantic Dream demoed their latest motion capturing engine at the Game Developers Conference — labeled “Kara.” Kara is meant to be the foundations for the developers next project.

Quantic Dream founder David Cage said that the new engine features a “direct-to-engine” pipeline that allows a development teams to work with the motion capture data with minimal editing, increasing the overall emotional presentation of a scene.

“What we call full-performance capture is shooting the body, the voice and face at the same time,” explains Cage. “Most studios right now in the game industry use what we call split performance, which means you shoot the face and voice on one side and then you use the body, and not in one take.”

“”It works okay – there have been some great games made using this process, and Heavy Rain was done this way. But we felt that if we wanted more emotion, and more performance from the actor we needed to have everything from the same take, and we needed to shoot everything at the same time.”

Good things do indeed come in threes. As Apple — at an event in California — has unveiled third generation iPad tablet. The company have doubled the iPad’s screen resolution to 2048 x 1536 pixels — that’s more than most high-definition televisions.

“Your retina in your eye cannot discern those individual pixels,” said Apple senior vice president Phil Schiller about the powerful new high-definition screen. “The images on it look stunning.”

However forget all the minor and incremental updates, Apple has introduced a new A5X processor with quad core graphics. That’s twice as fast as the Tegra 3 with four times the performance. Also, all stock apps have been updated and optimized.

However, more importantly, the tablet has been updated to include 4G LTE at 73Mbps. But, the device will not included the virtual assistance Siri, as some speculated. The iPad will hit market on March 16 — the 16GB is $499; the 32GB is $599; the 64GB is $699.

It was leaked all over the internet last week, but tonight at the Game Developers Conference, Electronic Arts confirmed that it’s bringing back SimCity. The game — simply being called SimCity — is being developed by Maxis.

“SimCity for PC will equip players with the tools to play the most sophisticated simulation of its kind,” said Lucy Bradshaw of Maxis in a statement. “We are dedicated to making sure the experience — no matter the platform — has the fun, flavor and playability that has been intrinsic to the franchise since its birth.”

Many people questioned 343 Industries ability to develop a Halo game. However, those people need not be worried; because Halo 4 is turning out to be something special.

Last week, 343 held an event where they gave an inside look at highly anticipated game. The developer are planning more “sophisticated and darker” tone with the fourth installment – and the game will feature a new as-of-yet-unrevealed new enemy threat. The team also stated that they’ve taken serious strides to humanize Master Chief.

“There will absolutely be these quiet moments of introspection and character study in the game, but unlike, something like Moon, sometimes you’re going to walk around the corner and see a staggeringly huge, bigger than Hollywood set-piece,” said Halo franchise director Frank O’Connor about the sophisticated and darker tone.

“That dimension of just being a super-soldier that just shoots everything is actually an important dimension for him. It’s not actually about getting rid of that at all. It’s about layering other characteristics and really just trying to give the player glimpses into some other elements of Chief,” he continued.

They also demoed two multiplayer maps at the event. The first map, Wraparound, was a vertical map which appeared to take place around a cloud, and the second map, Warhouse, was a military base with a giant robot being built in the middle of it. Each of these maps had an intimate feel to them; the maps aren’t as open as in previous Halo games, resulting in a high amount of kills.

“It’s super-dangerous to chase somebody else’s tail, but it’s also incredibly dangerous to ignore the changing habits of players, so really rather than looking at the specific games and their functionality, you look at changing and emerging trends for players and what players expect,” said O’Conner about Wraparound and Warhouse.

In addition, you’ll be playing as a new brand type of Spartan in multiplayer, the Spartan IV, a faster, more mobile Spartan. Because of the upgrade, characters are now fully customizable. The customization features that the Halo franchise has been known for “will be built upon” but 343 wouldn’t elaborate on that.

Continuing after the exploits of Ezio Auditore da Firenze in Assassin’s Creed: Revelations, Ubisoft Montreal has revealed the next installment into the Assassin’s Creed series, Assassin’s Creed III. However, this time we’re headed to Colonial America.

ACIII will detail the exploits of assassin Connor/Ratohnhake:ton (Ra-doon-ha-gay-doo), the son of a Native American Mohawk woman and a British soldier, during 1753-1783 in Boston and New York.

“We have this goal to do something completely new, but still remain true to the franchise,” said creative director Alex Hutchinson in an interview with GameInformer. “People want that familiarity, but also something radically new. So we have the familiar pillars of fighting, navigation, and social stealth, but brand-new environments and brand new way to use them and extend them.”

As has been the case of previous Assassin’s Creed titles, Ratohnhake:ton will interact with real historical figures, like Benjamin Franklin, George Washington and ex-British soldier turned Continental Army General Charles Lee.

Ratohnhake:ton fights on the side of the Americans however, according Hutchinson, the Templars are “everywhere,” this will not be a one sided affair. Anyway, in addition to the new characters, the developers have revamped the animation system — as the sequel will not recycle any animations from the past installments.

This is because the main character will be climbing natural elements and dual-wielding weapons, like a daggers and a tomahawks. They’ve also completely changed the combat dynamics, removing auto-targeting and focusing on the momentum of combat.

“Assassin’s Creed III features the franchise’s most expansive setting so far, along with an exciting new hero and exponentially more gameplay,” said Ubisoft chief executive officer Yves Guillemot. “Whether you’re a longtime fan of Assassin’s Creed or if you’re new to the franchise, you’re going to be blown away by the scale and marvel of Assassin’s Creed III.”

The next installment into the Assassin’s Creed series, Assassin’s Creed III, will take place during the American Revolution, according to the official box art images posted on the Assassin’s Creed Facebook page.

According to promotional images submitted by an undisclosed Best Buy employee, the next installment in the Assassin’s Creed series, Assassin’s Creed III will take place during the American Revolution.

The image posted by Kotaku features a mysterious assassin — who appears to be native american — in front of the Continental flag.

Robert Griffin III will grace the cover of NCAA Football 13.

Griffin, a Heisman Trophy winner from Baylor University, will be joined by another Heisman Trophy winner — who is to be determined by a public vote.

The voting is schedule take place on the EA Sports NCAA Football Facebook page beginning on March 12th. NCAA Football 13 will hit stores shelves for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on July 10th.

Gearbox Software have announced Borderlands 2 for a September 18 release date in North America and September 21 in the United Kingdom.

“Borderlands 2 is a passion project, through and through,” said Gearbox Software president Randy Pitchford. “The result is a sequel that has improved every successful aspect of Borderlands while innovating with an all-new experience.”

In addition to the announcement, Gearbox also revealed the games pre-order bonuses — all which are available on the game’s official website.

After teasing us with “Take Back Earth” trailer on Sunday, BioWare has released the full three minute trailer in all it glory.

In the latest issue of PSM3 magazine, Irrational Games creative director Ken Levine discussed BioShock Infinite on the PlayStation Move, and his intentions behind incorporating the device.

“It’s fully functioning and it’s there — the game is playable on it, people are playing with it,” insured Levine.

“My goals for it have been fairly consistent: that it gives an opportunity to people who aren’t familiar or comfortable with the DualShock experience an opportunity to get past that.”

If last week’s Mass Effect 3 teaser trailer was any indication, we are in for a treat.

In an interview with GameTrailers TV, Sony’s Vice President of PlayStation Brand Marketing Guy Longworth revealed that the next Call of Duty title will be hitting the PlayStation Vita this fall.

“In the Autumn, [my kids] are really looking forward to Call of Duty on Vita, and that’s going to be an absolute game changer for the platform,” said Longworth.

Irrational Games’ Ken Levine recently sat down with PC PowerPlay, an Austrian gaming magazine, to discuss the biggest issues currently facing the PC gaming market.

“I actually think that it’s quite a healthy space right now. There’s so much diversity to the PC gaming experience. I think one of the biggest challenges it had, that Valve overcame, was just the complex nature of buying games and installing them and dealing with them, managing them.”

“You have a big list of games, and you buy the game in real-time, which of one of the most amazing things to happen to PC gaming. Hey, I don’t buy PC games from stores. I just download ‘em on Stream, which is great,” Levine said when comparing the console experience to PC gaming.

“That level of straight-forwardness and simplicity — that one click install, that one-click purchase, that has added a huge amount of value to the experience and removed all those barriers to entry that non-DIY people felt threatened by. So it’s really expanded the market.”

Levine then discussed what makes today’s PC gaming market so special, and why people are so extracted to it.

“PC games right now are really embracing what the PC is in terms of the connected nature of the machine; the creative nature that having the mouse and keyboard affords. It’s a very useful thing for modding, and the open nature of the software on the PC allows for things like that. Even games like Minecraft just speak to the DIY culture that is very much part of PC gaming.”

The release date for Far Cry 3 has been revealed. It is September 4, 2012.

What is Assassin’s Creed III? Beyond the name and its distant release date — October 30 — we don’t have a clue.

But, according to Ubisoft head Yves Guillemot, the third major installment into the franchise will be “the biggest launch in Ubisoft history” — revealing that the game has been under development for three years.

Guillemot then went on to say that Ubi has invested more into ACIII than any of past titles in the franchise, and that it expects the game to sell beyond the 7 million racked up by Assassin’s Creed: Revelations.

The first trailer for The Bourne Legacy has made its debut. But, most importantly, its quickly circulating the web.

True Crime: Hong Kong has been revived as Sleeping Dogs.

Square Enix has unveiled its plan to revive the popular open-world action game from United Front Games — who had been working on True Crime: Hong Kong for more than two years before Activision decided to cancel the game in 2011.

However, then in August, Square Enix picked up the rights to the game, but not the franchise; and Square needed to rebrand the game before it could be intentionally released. Thus, Sleeping Dogs was born.

Now being developed in conjunction with Square Enix London Studio, Sleeping Dogs is headed to the PS3, Xbox 360, and PC this August.

David Jaffe, the mind behind God of War and Twisted Metal, is intending to leave Eat Sleep Play, the company he helped create.

Scott Campbell — the other co-founder — confirmed Jaffe’s departure and said that the company and Jaffe are “going down two separate paths.”

“I work at home, the team’s out in Utah and I loved it at first, but man it’s cabin fever after a while,” said Jaffe.

CD Projekt RED confirm today that The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings is launching on April 17 in North America for the Xbox 360. The developer has added a raft of new features and insists it’s the “most polished and definitive version of the game.”

Netflix is not expanding into the video game retail business, marking the end of its potential dangerous Qwikster business experiment.

Netflix chief executive officer Reed Hastings confirmed to investors that his company no longer plans to rent games, a strategy that was first announced in September as apart of the planned Qwikster business spinoff.

Qwikster is a standalone business dedicated to discs but, when customers heaped criticism on the company, Netflix hastily scrapped the plan. “We expect DVD subscribers to decline steadily every quarter, forever,” said Hastings on the DVD based business in general.

Microsoft plans to upgrade its disc technology in its next console to Blu-Ray discs, according to industry sources.

Sony, its competitors, utilizes the disc technology in its PlayStation 3, which contains 25 or 50GB of data compared to only 9GB on DVD discs. However, the disc integration could be far less impactful to the next generation of game consoles.

“I’ve heard from one reliable industry source that Microsoft intends to incorporate some sort of anti-used game system as part of their so-called Xbox 720,” reports Kotaku editor Stephen Totilo. “My source wasn’t sure how Microsoft intended to implement any anti-used game system in the new machine.”

Totilo also reports that Microsoft is interested in making a smaller controller for its new console.

It’s a rematch!

The New England Patriots are set to play the New York “Football” Giants, once again, for “all the marbles” in the NFL — this time in Indianapolis.

The Patriots have won ten straight games, with their last loss coming from — you guessed it — the Giants. And, from the opposite prospective, New York have won five straight games, both stats include their Championship Games.

“We know they’re a great team,” Giants quarterback Eli Manning said about the Patriots. “We played them already this year. They’ve been playing great football recently.”

“This team really overcame a lot, and they fought hard all year,” said New England coach Bill Belichick. “It wasn’t always perfect just like today. We had our moments, but they hung in there and they fought hard. I’m happy for the players. They did a great job today.”

Now one can only wonder what Madden NFL Super Bowl predictions will be made for Super Bowl XLVI.

It’s official! Capcom has confirmed the next installment in its long-running horror franchise, Resident Evil 6, and the highly anticipated title already as has a release date.

Taking place some ten years after the infamous Raccoon City incident, Resident Evil 6 begins with the President of the United States about to reveal the truth behind the Raccoon City incident.

But, unfortunately, he’s instead transformed into a hideous mutated monster and its up to bodyguard Leon S. Kennedy to make sense of it all. Meanwhile, Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance agent Chris Redfield arrives in China, but it itself is under a bioterrorist attack.

It looks like we might be getting a mix of both traditional Resident Evil survival horror elements and action oriented elements. However, no other details where made available. With that said, the globe outbreak is expected on November 20 for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 — with the PC infection expect sometime after that.

Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment have announced Mortal Kombat for the PlayStation Vita, expected later this spring.

In development at NetherRealm Studios, Mortal Kombat has been purposefully designed for the portable gaming experience, and it includes “brand new gameplay features and content developed exclusively” for the handheld.

“The NetherRealm team is committed to making sure that we follow up the success of 2011’s Mortal Kombat with an equally compelling experience on the PlayStation Vita,” said creative director Ed Boon. However, no other details where made available about the project.

The popular role-playing game is headed to consoles after all.

Blizzard Entertainment community manager Micah Whiple confirmed via his twitter feed that Diablo III is indeed headed to consoles. However, no specific platforms were mentioned for the console version, or a release date.

“Yup,” Whipple said. “Josh Mosqueira is lead designer for the Diablo console project.”

LG has announced a partnership with Gaikai to integrate the cloud gaming application into its televisions, filling the gap between console and television.

At the International Consumer Electronics Show, there’s an active demo of the program, and it showcased a solid input rate — although there are some issues because of artifacts.

But, a Gaikai spokesperson did inform us that the programs still in the early stages of development. With that said, LG hasn’t solidify a release date and price for the service. The service will permeate LG Cinema 3D televisions.

Despite its strong release, Media Create data reveals that the PlayStation Vita sales have slown down once again in Japan — as the Vita sold only 42,648 units in its third week at Japanese retail.

Last week — its second week on the market — the handheld moved an already troubling 72,479 units. This compares to the Nintendo 3DS, which also saw a decline in its third week.

Sony said that it doesn’t expect to announce a new console at this years Electronic Entertainment Expo.

Sony division head Kaz Hirai said that they’ve always expected the PlayStation 3 to have a decade long life cycle, and he doesn’t see any reason to rush and replace it with a new system.

During an investors roundtable at the trade show, a reporter questioned the possibility of new console announcement. The head of Sony’s video game division, Andrew House, said that there would be no announcement at the show.

“Andy [House] is absolutely right in that we are not making any announcements at E3,” Hirai added, reports The Wall Street Journal. “I’ve always said a 10-year life cycle for PS3, and there is no reason to go away from that.”

Intel has moved beyond the era of the personal computer — to the era of “personal computing.”

At the International Consumer Electronics Show, Intel Chief Executive Paul Otellini said that, as the devices themselves become “less relevant,” the question becomes who can craft the better experiences.

Otellini emphasized the importance smartphones — an area where the company has been trying to gain traction. He then introduced the Lenovo’s new K800 smartphone, which will be coming first to China.

Liu Jun, senior vice president of Lenovo, then appeared on stage with the device in hand. “This is only the first step — I firmly believe Intel and Lenovo will achieve great success is the mobile market,” Jun said.

After detailing the device, Sanjay Jha, chief executive of Motorola Mobility, came on stage to show its support for Intel’s mobile hardware. “We’re thrilled” to build high-performance mobile products based on the mobile Atom hardware,” Jha said — announcing a multi-year partnership with Intel.

“Intel coming into the mobile business is a good thing,” Jha said. “It brings in a new perspective.”

AT&T has revealed its pricing and availability dates for the PlayStation Vita — through its partnership with Sony Computer Entertainment.

When the PlayStation Vita launches, costumers of the carrier will have their choice of two data plans. There will be a $15 a month plan for 250MB, and a $25 plan for 2GB a month. Both plans will be month-to-month and will not require any long-term contracts.

• Location-based application “near” will allow users to find out what other PS Vita owners in their vicinity are currently playing and what titles are most popular in the area. “near” also enables location-based gaming features such as “gifting,” in which a user can access virtual game-related items that other users are sharing by checking in at geographic locations. For example, in the popular kart racing series ModNation Racers: Road Trip, PS Vita users will be able to collect rare gift items provided through the game when visiting specific points of interest in 45 major cities around the world. They can then share them with other PS Vita owners through the “near” application.
• “LiveArea” is an interactive interface for each PS Vita software title in which users can access the latest information for games through PlayStation Network.
• In addition, a variety of social networking and communications services such as Facebook, Flickr, foursquare, and Twitter will be available on PS Vita.
• PS Vita systems with an active AT&T data plan will also take advantage of software functionality developed specifically for the 3G-enabled model that allow users to game at the speed of their mobile lifestyle, including turn-based, asynchronous multiplayer gameplay, instantly updated rankings and leaderboards, immediate access to the latest downloadable add-on content, and real-time community news.

The complicated relationship between HBO and the video rental service Netflix just got alittle more complicated.

According to The New York Times, HBO is no-longer selling its DVDs at a discount price to Netflix as of the beginning of this year, continuing the battle between the two entertainment giants.

Though this isn’t a huge financial hit for Netflix, a Netflix spokesman said, “Netflix will continue to provide HBO titles on DVD and Blu-ray to our members.” Proving that Netflix will continue to push its DVD service, besides an increased emphasis on online streaming.

It’s that time of  the year, where we grather up the most enjoyable titles of past year to generate at list of the most notable ones. Including, the most coveted award, the Game of the Year award.

With that said, these awards where decide on by a group of three “strong-mined” people, with each category being built of four nominees. However, only two title will be shown, respectively the winners and runner-ups in each questionably decided category.

Most Underrated Game of the Year
Winner – Rayman Origins
Runner-up – Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective

Best Indie Title of the Year
Winner – Bastion
Runner-up – Minecraft

Best Shooter
Winner – Battlefield 3
Runner-up – Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3

Best Action-Adventure Game
Winner – Batman: Arkham City
Runner-up – Assassin’s Creed: Revelations

Best Sport Game
Winner – NBA 2K12
Runner-up – FIFA Soccer 12

Best Original Soundtrack
Winner – The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Runner-up – Dark Souls

Best PC Game of the Year
Winner – The Witcher 2: Assassin’s of Kings
Runner-up – Portal 2

PSP Exclusive of the Year
Winner – Monster Hunter Portable 3rd
Runner-up – Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy

DS/3DS Exclusive of the Year
Winner – Pokémon Black Version and Pokémon White Version
Runner-up – Super Mario 3D Land

Multi-Platform Game of the Year
Winner – The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Runner-up – Batman: Arkham City

XBOX 360 Exclusive of the Year
Winner – Gears of War 3
Runner-up – Forza Motorsport 4

PlayStation 3 Exclusive of the Year
Winner – Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception
Runner-up – LittleBIGPlanet 2

Nintendo Wii Exclusive of the Year
Winner – The Lengend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
Runner-up – Kirby’s Return to Dreamland

Game of the Year
Winner – The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Runner-up – The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

Approaching its release, Sony revealed the launch details about its latest handheld, the PlayStation Vita, including a list of launch titles and platform accessories.

When the handheld launches in North America on February 22, it will feature twenty retail titles and five additional downloadable titles available only through the PlayStation Network. Sony also outlined the software support for the system’s First Edition bundle, which will hit retail on February 15.

According to the list, all five of Sony’s first-party games will be on shelves early, as will a quartet of third-party releases. Beyond the launch lineup, Sony detailed another 10 titles currently set for the system’s “launch window,” though how far that window extends is unclear. In addition, Sony also detailed its plans for the PS Vita accessories.

Feb. 15 Game Releases
BlazBlue Continuum Shift Extend–Aksys
Escape Plan (PSN only)–Sony
Hot Shots Golf: World Invitational–Sony
Hustle Kings (PSN only)–Sony
Little Deviants–Sony
Lumines: Electronic Symphony–Ubisoft
ModNation Racers: Road Trip–Sony
Rayman Origins–Ubisoft
Super Stardust Delta (PSN only)–Sony
Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3–Capcom
Uncharted: Golden Abyss–Sony
WipeOut 2048–Sony

Feb. 22 Game Releases
Army Corps of Hell–Square Enix
Asphalt Injection–Ubisoft
Ben10: Galactic Racing–D3Publisher
Dungeon Hunter Alliance–Ubisoft
Dynasty Warriors Next–Tecmo Koei
F1 2011–Codemasters
FIFA Soccer–Electronic Arts
Michael Jackson The Experience–Ubisoft
Plants vs. Zombies (PSN only)–Sony Online Entertainment
Shinobido 2: Revenge of Zen–Namco Bandai
Tales of Space: Mutant Blobs (PSN only)–Drinkbox Studios
Touch My Katamari–Namco Bandai
Virtua Tennis 4: World Tour Edition–Sega

Launch Window Game Releases
Disgaea 3: Absence of Detention: NIS America
Gravity Rush–Sony
Lego Harry Potter: Years 5-7–Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
MLB 12: The Show–Sony
Ninja Gaiden Sigma Plus–Tecmo Koei
Reality Fighters–Sony
Ridge Racer–Namco Bandai
Silent Hill Book of Memories–Konami
Supremacy MMA: Unrestricted–505 Games
Unit 13–Sony

Sony PS Vita Accessories (available Feb. 15 except where indicated)
4GB Memory Card–$19.99
8GB Memory Card–$29.99
16GB Memory Card–$59.99
32GB Memory Card–$99.99
Starter Kit with Memory Card–$39.99
In-Ear Headset–$19.99
Carrying Case–$19.99
Travel Pouch–$19.99
Protective Film (two-pack)–$9.99
Card Case–$5.99
Cradle–$19.99
AC Adaptor–$14.99
USB Cable–$14.99
Portable Charger (spring 2012)–$49.99
Car Adaptor (spring 2012)–$14.99

While expecting his award for “Best Performance by Human Male,” at the Spike Video Game Awards, a computer animated The Joker held up a script that read “Batman: Arkham World,” hinting at the possibility of another Batman game.

Before continuing with his acceptance speech, he tossed the script mischievously stating “whoops, spoilers.” Of course, this isn’t a formal announcement, and it is far from Rocksteady confirming another sequel.

High Moon Studios’ next transformers game, Fall of Cybertron, has been unveiled at the Spike Video Game Awards.

Naughty Dog is developing the PlayStation exclusive, The Last of Us.

The bombshell was dropped: Naughty Dog is developing the PlayStation exclusive, The Last of Us.

Shown at the Spike Video Game Awards, the trailer features a father and his daughter fighting it out with a thug and then battling some fast-moving zombie-like creatures. “This is our routine, day and night,” she narrates. “All we do is survive.”

It’s been rough and challenging road for the Tony Hawk franchise as of recent, but now they’ve decided to take the franchise in an entry new “digital” direction.

Onstage at the VGA pre-show, Tony Hawk revealed Tony Hawk Pro-Skater HD, an high-definition combination of the first two games. It’s a download only title, and should be able “sometime before the summer.”

Miyamoto has expressed an interest in returning to development, working on “smaller projects with even younger developers.”

The man behind Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda plans to retire from his current position at Nintendo.

Legendary game creator Shigeru Miyamoto plans to stay with the company, but will take on a smaller roll in the development department. “I’m not saying that I’m going to retire from game development altogether. What I mean by retiring is, retiring from my current position,” said Miyamoto.

Miyamoto then expressed an interest in returning to development, working on “smaller projects with even younger developers.” The legendary designer even suggested he might work on projects entirely on his own, which will be the first in years.

Basically, for the last several years, Miyamoto has been able to train many younger teams and developers; one of the reasons he’s comfortable resigning from his current post. ”After all, if I’m there in my position as it is, then there’s always kind of a relationship. And the young guys are always kind of in a situation where they have to listen to my ideas. But I need some people who are growing up much more than today.”

If you’re trying to connect to PlayStation Network  and can’t; it’s hasn’t been hacked. According to the PlayStation.Blog, the online service is scheduled for “routine maintenance” tomorrow.

Sony communication director Patrick Seybold has detailed the maintenance for a “14 hour period” on November 14, 2011. During this time, the PlayStation Store, account management options and account registration options will be unavailable. However, Seybold adds that the online may randomly function for some online-enabled titles.

Its domination continues. As more than 6.5 million people have purchased Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 within its first 24 hours on the market, in both North America and the United Kingdom, with it pulling in more than $400 million in total revenue.

That number makes it one of the largest entertainment launches in history, with the record being held by Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 at $483 million — but that was within two days, not one. Meaning that, Modern Warfare 3 could still obtain the record.

“We believe the launch of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is the biggest entertainment launch of all time in any medium, and we achieved this record with sales from only two territories,” said Bobby Kotick, CEO, Activision Blizzard, Inc.

“Other than Call of Duty, there has never been another entertainment franchise that has set opening day records three years in a row. Life-to-date sales for the Call of Duty franchise exceed worldwide theatrical box office for “Star Wars” and “Lord of the Rings,” two of the most successful entertainment franchises of all time.”

The specification are still being formulated but, according to Develop, Nintendo engineers are working to incorporate duel tablet control for the upcoming, motion controlled console, the Nintendo Wii U.

A trusted development executive has revealed that there are numerous indications, within the Wii U code, pointing to the console being operate with two tablets. However, Nintendo had previously indicated that the Wii U could only operate with one control because of the “technical limitations.” But, it also stated that nothing was finalized at the time.

“I am truly sorry this happened, and I apologize for the inconvenience,”Newell said.

Valve Corporation co-founder and managing director Gabe Newell has sent a public message revealing that credit card numbers and other personal information have been compromised during an attack on its Steam service.

Valve advises that all of its customers monitor their credit card activity, as those numbers were inside a database that the hackers penetrated. The Steam Forums are currently closed, however the service remains online.

“We do not have evidence that encrypted credit card numbers or personally identifying information were taken by the intruders, or that the protection on credit card numbers or passwords was cracked. We are still investigating,” informed Newell. “We don’t have evidence of credit card misuse at this time. Nonetheless you should watch your credit card activity and statements closely.”

The database exposed during the attack “contained information including user names, hashed and salted passwords, game purchases, email addresses, billing addresses and encrypted credit card information.”

Mario Kart producer Hideki Konno has shown an interest in bringing the popular franchise to the Wii U. In a recent interview with Nintendo Power, Konno expressed that he’d love to expand the franchise onto Nintendo’s new platform.

“I can’t get into the specifics, but I do want to create a new and enjoyable Mario Kart that uses the unique functions of the Wii U,” Konno said. “Anything beyond that I have to keep secret. Please bear with me for now!” He also debunked featuring other franchises characters in the game, stating that they’ve “never seriously considered that.”

Ubisoft Montreal have unveiled Rainbow 6 Patriots, the next installment in the highly acclaimed Tom Clancy franchise. Patriots details the tactics of Team Rainbow, a homegrown terrorist uprising and the many civilians caught in the crossfire.

The games terrorist threat, called the True Patriots, hopes to restore its interpretation of American values by beheading corporate America and overthrowing the government. In addition to the announcement, creative director David Sears showcased a technical prototype of Patriots; showcasing the developers vision for the title, which is a bit controversial.

“Terrorism has evolved, and so has Rainbow 6,” added Sears. “In Rainbow 6 Patriots, all the team play, tactics, and realism that fans of the series love have been coupled with an exciting new narrative direction. This adds an unprecedented level of humanity that will make Rainbow 6 Patriots an extremely tense and immersive experience.”

It’s here! The official trailer for Grand Theft Auto V. It’s alittle over a minute and 20 seconds, and shows a game set in Los Santos and perhaps even other parts of the fictional California.

Pirated copies of the highly anticipated title have been circling around the country, ahead of its release. According to VentureBeat, an employee at a shipment warehouse in California stole two copies of the PC retail version of Modern Warfare 3.

To prevent the spread of the pirated copies, Activision is chasing down those found to be playing the game, even turning up at their doors and asking them to delete pirated copies.

Rumors have indicated that the next Grand Theft Auto title will be located in San Andreas, the series’ fictional version of Los Angeles. Now, according to Kotaku, sources close to the development team have confirmed these rumors to be true.

In addition, these sources have also revealed that Grand Theft Auto V will feature multiple playable characters, a first in the series. With that said, the option for multiple characters is something that fits within the series’ natural evolution — because the cities have always been detailed with the stories of multiple characters.

Next week, on November 2nd, Rockstar Games will be debuting trailer for the fifth major installment in the Grand Theft Auto series, according to the developer’s website. But, unfortunately, no details where revealed about the forthcoming project.

Continuing the series’ fine tradition, NAMCO Bandai have revealed that Ezio Auditore da Firenze of the Assassin’s Creed franchise will be featured and playable in SoulCalibur V.

The white-clad assassin, who found fame in Ubisoft’s hit adventure franchise, will be available in both versions of the title. However, considering all the previous guest characters, Ezio, perhaps, makes the most sense because the renaissance-era assassin fits closely to fits the series plot and era.

Blizzard Entertainment have announced a brand new expansion pack for World of Warcraft, Mists of Pandaria. The latest expansion will reintroduce the Pandaria and centerpiece the conflict between the Horde and the Alliance.

Mists of Pandaria highlights the idea of “war,” with vice president Chris Metzen stating that the Alliance and Horde will go to war in ways we haven’t seen since the second WarCraft installment. Introducing a the new Monk class, it features the Pandaren as a playable race of characters. It also brings the level cap up to 90, add new talents, a “Challenge Mode” for dungeons and a “Pet Battle” system.

The Amazing Spider-Man is being made into a video game, and it’s coming from Activision and the Edge of Time developers Beenox . More importantly, it’s going to be it’s own game, besides coinciding with the movie.

At the Marvel development panel, Beenox creative director Gerard Lehiany discussed developing a game that will coincide with the movie. The Amazing Spider-Man, sharing the same name as the movie, will return to the open-world structure as some of its predecessors.

“We brought back the city into Spider-Man games,” said Lehinay. “For us it is important to be able to web-swing in the city. So that’s one of the major things that we’ve been working on.”

During the presentation, a brief discussion broke out about the game development process with Marvel, and how the universe’s characters rich and Beenox ability to transform these characters and still be close to the original character.

The online pass system seems to be everywhere, even in single-player games. According to Eurogamer, Warner Bros. Interactive have confirmed that an online pass will be needed to access the Catwomen content on the Batman: Arkham City disc.

“Further to your story, players who purchase previously owned copies of Batman: Arkham City can access the playable Catwoman content for £7.99/ 800 Microsoft Points,” said a Warner Bros representative. “Playing as Catwoman is not required to complete the game.”

However, without the code, Catwoman still appears in the game as part of the story, but her playable missions remain locked. In addition, it also unlocks Catwoman as a playable character in the challenge missions.

After an ocelot of speculation, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment has confirmed the existence of Nightwing in Batman: Arkham City — the upcoming sequel to Arkham Asylum — in the announcement of the Nightwing Bundle Pack.

The character will release with moves and gadgets unique to him, as well as the “Wayne Manor” and “Main Hall” challenge missions. The Nightwing Bundle Pack will run for 560 Microsoft points/$6.99 on Xbox Live and PlayStation Network on November 1st.

According to multiple reports, Team Bondi, the Australian studio known for L.A. Noire, owes its employees more than one million dollars, which is a fitting epitaphs to its already enormous amount of employment issues.

Following the reports of its shady employment practices, an insider is tipping that Team Bondi’s boss was something of an insufferable martinet. That insider, Brendan McNamara, has largest slate of that one million dollars in unpaid compensation. In addition, Depth Analysis, which created the game’s animation technology, is owed more than $140,000.

However, Team Bondi is currently being liquidated by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, and the proceeds will go to pay outstanding claims held by McNamara, employees and other creditors.

“If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you’ll most certainly be right.”

Apple, Inc. has announced the passing of its visionary co-founder Steve Job, as he lost his battle with cancer at the early age of 56.

Jobs had previously denounced his position in August, but this wasn’t before he changed billions of lives. “Apple has lost a visionary and creative genius, and the world has lost an amazing human being,” the company said in a statement.

“Those of us who have been fortunate enough to know and work with Steve have lost a dear friend and an inspiring mentor. Steve leaves behind a company that only he could have built, and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple.”

There’s going to be another Dead Space title — and reports have indicated that — it’s going to be a radical re-thinking of the horror series. No longer will there be dark corridors, the series is going into an entirely new direction.

According to Siliconera, the next Dead Space title will take place on a planet called Tau Volantis. The planet features “white-out blizzard conditions,” replacing the dark corridors with “pure white,” which will be a new method of hiding the series’ trademark creatures.

In addition, Siliconera’s inside source have revealed that the enemies will be “hive minded” in the sequel. However, though other rumors have pointed another sequel, this is not official information.

During its pre-TGS event, Team Ninja unmasked the competitive multiplayer mode for Ninja Gaiden III. The “World of Ninjas” mode will connect up to eight players in a sort of “ninja tournament,” the ultimate goal is to rank up and surpass master ninja Ryu Hayabusa.

Team Ninja producer Yosuke Hayashi also introduced two new play style systems; in addition to the normal and hard difficulty levels. “Ninja” mode follows a familiar style of gameplay, but “Hero” adds things like auto-block and auto-dodge, to let new players just “enjoy the story.” In conclusion, these system are also being added to the Vita release of Ninja Gaiden Sigma.

In a bombshell announcement — collaborating with the tenth anniversary — Square Enix announced that it will be releasing an HD version of Final Fantasy X.

However, details are still scarce, as the game is still deep in development. But, Square did reveal that it’s coming exclusively to both PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita.

Today we honor the memory of those who lost their lives on September 11. Gone but never forgotten.

Personally, I’m not one for interfering in the marketing side of video games, even though I am a journalist, somewhat. But, something came to my attention — seeing that it’s the anniversary of the attacks on 9/11.

I was watching the Kill Bill marathon on Spike TV and a advertisement for Resistance 3 appeared. It’s not that the advertisement was bad, it’s just that the context of the advertisement was alittle untimely. The advertisement conveyed a last ditch effort message, but couldn’t there of been a better quote to use then “destroy the tower” on the anniversary of the attacks?

*The actually ad was shorten, and just showed the destroy the tower part.

Throughout history there have been a select characters that have represented a set console generation. Many of these iconic characters reside as console poster boys, however they’re much more then that. These characters are the reasons why gamers, and casual gamers, purchase a set console.

In my studies throughout this generation, I’ve personally composed a list of the characters that have shaped this generation of console; so far, of course. This list is a non-bias composition of characters that have single-handedly shaped this generation, all of the iconic characters that we already love, won’t be on this list – no discrimination was important when making this list.

The first character I’ll like to mention is Nathan Drake, the chromatic and adventurous, adventurer. I placed him as one of the more iconic characters of this generation because he has single-handedly transformed the way characters are portrayed in video games. His realistic mannerisms have changed the way developers craft characters — challenging developers and animators to really take on character development in a different form. Personally, I find his impact to the industry hard to describe. But, understand this; his influence has re-imagine the iconic Tomb Raider franchise.

The next character I’ll like to mention is Desmond Miles/Altaïr Ibn-La’Ahad/Ezio Auditore da Firenze, who are all technically the same person. I didn’t pick these characters based off what they’ve done but, instead, because they matter so much to this generation of console. The Assassin’s Creed franchise represents something greater, it could indeed represent this generation as a whole because the titles have improved so much over each installment, in terms of plot and gameplay.

The next character I’ll like to mention is Commander Shepard, who’s an important addition to this list. He’s the main reason I decided to conduct this list of the today’s most iconic characters. Basically, Shepard has fitted to everyone’s portrait of him or her, giving the player an emotional attachment to the story, which is an incredible task within itself. But, more importantly, the addition of the “Decision Wheel,” which has transformed character interaction forever because of it has “simplified” the in-game decision process for consoles.

The next character I picked, the Big Daddy. Picking the Big Daddy was challenge for me because, well, I wanted to pick Jack, the character whom the player controls. But, I couldn’t; the Big Daddy character was prefect in representing BioShock, a game that has transformed story telling in video games forever. The game was so artfullily crafted and unique that, even though the main character couldn’t talk, the story was relayed throw the people around Jack and the location.

In conclusion, I’ll like to mention Marcus Fenix, the main character of Epic’s Gears of War series. As I’ve said, each generation their are characters the define a generation of console, and I believe that Fenix represents this generation of console for Microsoft. Master Chef wholehearted represent the original Xbox and the revolution of the first person shooter, and Gears of War represents the revolution of cover-based third-person shooters, it just makes sense that he would be one of this generations more iconic characters.

I’ll also like to mention these characters: Sackboy, Niko Bellic, John Marston, Issac Clarke and GlaDOS.

*These characters also represent the both assistant characters and main characters.

Halo 4 creative director Ryan Payton has denounced his position at Microsoft’s 343 Industries, stating that development had become a “crazed endeavor.” Payton leaves behind the development of Halo 4 and the entire Halo development team.

Payton, who had worked at Kojima Productions, was tasked with developing the game’s story and overseeing the creative team who where planning “The Reclaimer Trilogy” of Halo games.

“I had a great run at Microsoft,” Payton told Kotaku. “I don’t regret one day of it. But after a few years, there came a point where I wasn’t creatively excited about the project anymore.”

However, his decision isn’t because the game is bad, it simply was because the project had lost line with his original vision. “The Halo I wanted to build was fundamentally different and I don’t think I had built enough credibility to see such a crazy endeavor through.”

“I think time is the most valuable thing we have,” said Payton, “and I’ve decided that I’m not going to waste one more day working on something that doesn’t speak to my values.”

While other companies have pushed themselves into the third-dimensional market, Microsoft has sat on the sidelines. But today at PAX, the company announced that Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary will feature stereoscopic 3D support when it releases.

The publisher and console manufacture has stated that it’s using a “custom made top-and-bottom 3D technology” to allow the game to run in stereoscopic 3D — however, a 3D compatible television will still be needed to take advantage of the technology.

In a shunting turn of events, Silicon Valley legend Steve Jobs resigned his position as chief executive of Apple, Inc. — ending his 14-year reign at the technology giant.

The company had suspended from trade before the announcement, insuring the company’s gain in the market today. The industry icon, who has been on medical leave for an undisclosed condition, will be replaced by Apple, Inc. COO Tim Cook.

“I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple’s CEO, I would be the first to let you know. Unfortunately, that day has come,” he said in a brief letter announcing his resignation.

Update: Apple has announced that COO Tim Cook has been named the company’s new CEO, and that Steve Jobs has been elected Chairman of the Board.

The anticipation towards DMC has been building, especially since no one knows exactly what to expect. But, at gamescom, developer Ninja Theory — in conjunction with Capcom Japan — detailed the new combat system and hinted into the upcoming “rebirth.”

When discussing the upcoming title, developer Tameem Antonisades said that the developer wanted to “preserve the combat dynamics of the [Devil May Cry] franchise.” He added that they wanted to import Ninja Theory’s “world building” and character development; keeping the franchise tradition and expanding on them. But, working “collaboratively” to expand on them with Capcom Japan.

Continuing the discussing, co-producer Alex Jones discussed the demo they showcased. “[The demo] touches on the guts of DMC, which is fluid character control, uber responsiveness; all the things that people want from a DMC game,” said Jones. “It’s where we’ve put most of our production resources in to this point in the game.”

“We’ve spent the bulk of our resources nailing that,” added Capcom Japan co-producer Motohide Eshiro. However, as for Dante, the game takes place in both the real world and limbo, a demonic dimension which runs parallel to real world. Dante will inhabit both sides of the spectrum, because he has some demonic heritage of his own. It’s kind of like the real world and the actual world situation.

But, for the character himself, the developers describe Dante as a disenfranchised youth that “has a lot of rage.” Thus of use of this “rebellious” style — in both character and overall design, pushing Dante to become the antihero that we know and love.

“We did want him to feel more contemporary, more Raging Bull than Rocky 3,” says Tameem. “Dante’s kind of like an outcast in this story, he lives on the periphery of society. We’ve found a good balance of a young Dante who is pissed off, but still retains that wit, that black humour. He’s not emo – he’s never been emo! – he’s just so disaffected and disassociated with society that he just doesn’t give a shit about it. He has no fear, and no respect for authority, particularly not the demonic authority that runs the world.”

Amidst the bombardment of news coming out of the event, the new Guild Wars 2 trailer is something that will shunt anyone with its picturesque beauty and unbelievable brand of chaos.

The original Borderlands was crafted by a simple idea — mix first person-shooter and role-playing elements. However, the original severed as more of a beta test — a successful beta test in fact — to home in a more creative idea.

Indeed, the sequel looks to write the wrongs of the original, something Gearbox vice president Steve Gibson wants to make evident. “We had no weapons in Borderlands 2 for about six months while we gutted the weapon system and replaced the whole thing,” says Gibson. “But we felt like we could do a lot better. We thought the AI system could be a lot better. We felt like the quest system could be a lot better. We felt like the vehicle system could be a lot better.”

However, the most noticeable change is in the use of textures — adding more interesting and unique environments. “This time around we’ve actually put the writer of Borderlands in the same room as the lead designer of Borderlands. We’re connecting the world and the story and your quests all together now. We’re trying to weave a much more intricate tale.”

But, we can’t forget the weapons, the piece de resistance in the Borderlands universe, in the sequel each weapon will carry a specific property, for instance, Tediore weapons will basically be junk weapons — they can still fire, but they aren’t meant to be reused. So, you’ll just pull another one off your belt. But, if you pick up a Bandit weapon, they’ll always have extended clips — but are also disposable.

There are promises of a wholesale overhaul to the way enemies behave in combat. “Enemies are actually going to work together, call plays, and take more advantage of the environment,” added Gibson. “At least, the smart ones will do that. The psychos, everyone’s favorite raving lunatics from the first game, still operate with a mantra that Gibson describes as, “Wow that’s a gun! I want my face in front of it.”

Another interesting change, the change in vehicular physics. Gibson promises a more dynamic, realistic and “geographically correct” experience when traveling around in the sequel — no longer will vehicles over react when you hit areas around the environment and pin-pointing areas will be much easier.

One of the final Wii titles on the horizon, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword was given the release date of November 20 in North America. In addition, Nintendo revealed that it’s also set for a November 18 release in Europe.

Tecmo Koei have revealed that Ninja Gaiden III — the newest installment in it’s long running action franchise — will feature PlayStation Move support, allowing for real-life motion control.

In a statement, Team Ninja head Yosuke Hayashi said that the addition of Move functionality will “bring players closer to the game’s protagonist, Ryu Haybusa,” which falls in line with the studio’s attempts to deliver a more visceral overall action experience.

In an interesting turn of events, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe have announced a new handheld iteration of it’s popular Resistance franchise, entitled Resistance: Burning Skies.

Developer Nihilistic Software is at the helm, under the supervision of Insomniac Games. Burning Skies is set before the events of the second title as the Chimera have started to invade the United States.

During the Electronic Arts press conference, EA Sports executive vice president Andrew Wilson took the stage to announce they’re working on FIFA Street, the “most authentic” street soccer experience.

According to Wilson, a research team traveled across the world to see how people actually played soccer in the streets, even visiting places like Rio, Amsterdam and the United Kingdom.

In addition, Wilson also revealed that FIFA Street would also be apart of EA Sports Football Club — a new online social service that allows users to manage teams, create and download content, track leaderboards and more.