Ah, Bioware. You just couldn’t leave well enough alone, could you? It wasn’t enough to drop Dragon Age: Origins on me, was it? Less than three months after hijacking a majority of my life, Bioware’s done it again with Mass Effect 2.

Mass Effect 2 builds on the successes of the first game to deliver a superior experience in just about every facet of gameplay. The continuing adventures of Commander Shepard will pit the hero of the Citadel against the threat of the Reapers once again. Of course, you’ll be filling the well-armored boots of the captain of the Normandy.

The first thing that leapt out at me in playing Mass Effect 2 was the changes that have been made to the environments. Unlike the first Mass Effect, there are very few maze-like environments to navigate. Instead, the levels give you a solid feeling of progressing forward, instead of wandering aimlessly. Combat in these environments can be resolved in multiple ways, including weapons, biotic abilities, and environmental hazards. Controls are easy to learn and master, and using powers is a straightforward affair through a selection wheel that also allows you to bind your favorites to buttons.

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One of the hottest games of the fall was the shooter / RPG title from Gearbox, Borderlands. Recently, we were fortunate enough to get to sit down with Matthew Armstrong, the Director of Borderlands, to talk about the recently released Zombie Island of Dr. Ned DLC, as well as the upcoming Mad Moxxi’s Underdome Riot.

Gaming Today: Could you tell our readers a little bit more about yourself, your role in the development of Borderlands, and what you do at Gearbox?

Matthew Armstrong: Matthew Armstrong, I was director of Borderlands. Right now I’m just one of a group of extremely talented people working on DLC.

Q: You’ve recently announced the Mad Moxxi’s Underdome Riot DLC. Coming so close on the heels of The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned, it begs the question: How much DLC can fans of Borderlands expect to see beyond Mad Moxxi?

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Enjoying Left 4 Dead 2, but missing the cast of the first L4D? Valve’s got the answer for you.

The venerable developer announced today the first add-on for their recently released zombie shooter, Left 4 Dead 2, called ‘The Passing.’ The new campaign is set just after the Dead Center campaign, and puts the players in the role of the new L4D2 survivors.

Not only will you get the new cooperative campaign in this update, there are new Survival Maps, new Versus and Scavenge maps, and a new coop challenge mode, new melee weapon, and new gun.

So, if you’re ready to head down to Georgia to meet up with the cast of L4D, gear up in early spring of 2010 to grab the new update and get your zombie on.

Over at VG247.com, our very own GT alumnus Stephany Nunneley has posted a little snippet of an article from The Guardian UK. In this article, the Guardian purports to list the pros and cons of each gaming console in an honest effort to provide consumers with buying information.

Unfortunately, it’s all too obvious that whoever wrote this piece either hasn’t actually touched any of the consoles, has been away from the gaming scene for months (if not years), or has inserted their head firmly in a certain orifice of Microsoft’s.

Let’s examine exactly what they say, and then counter it with some actual, useful information.

We’ll start with the Wii. The Guardian says, in part, “the graphics aren’t as pretty as its two more technologically advanced rivals, and really ground-breaking Wii games come along very infrequently.” OK, that’s true as far as it goes, but it doesn’t change the fact that they’ve sold a blue million of the damn things.

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bitComposer Games and Ukranian developer GSC announced today that they have set an official release date for S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat, the upcoming sequel to Shadow of Chernobyl.

As before, GSC will be using their proprietary X-Ray graphics engine, and Call of Pripyat will be one of the first games to market that incorporates DirectX 11 technology. Call of Pripyat returns player to the wastelands surrounding Chernobyl, developed from aerial surveys and photos of the actual areas in question.

Against this backdrop, players will assume the role of Agent Alexander Degtyarev, and will be tasked to investigating the mysterious disappearance of five military helicopters. As in the first S.T.A.L.K.E.R. game, Call of Pripyat will pit the player against a number of factions, locales, and tasks that players can choose in an open world.

If you’re a S.T.A.L.K.E.R. fan, you can expect to see Call of Pripyat for Windows in February 2010. The game is scheduled to be available in English, French, Italian and Spanish language versions.

Guild Wars 2 draws from the original game’s mechanics and adds a fully persistent world. This trailer shows off the races in the upcoming game, and stars Felicia Day!

You may recall a few weeks back when Epic Game released the Unreal Development Kit (mirrored here on FileFront) to let gamers create with the Unreal Engine 3 free of charge. Now, Epic has released a bevy of new tutorial videos to help you manage those tools and create your best games.

The list contains a number of .zip files, each containing a number of tutorials on various topics. You can grab them all on FileFront at the UDK Tutorial page.

The full list of links and videos can be found after the break.

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This trailer shows off the recently added Catacombs adventure pack for Dungeons and Dragons Online: Eberron Unlimited.

Karos Online Open Beta Client

http://www.filefront.com/15043297/Karos-Online-Open-Beta-Client/

This is the latest client for Karos Online, a free-to-play fantasy MMORPG.

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MX vs. ATV Reflex Tiger 30 Trailer

MX vs. ATV Reflex is now available in stores and THQ just released a batch of new assets to coincide with the nationwide release.

Bounty Bay Online Patch v0.11

http://www.filefront.com/15043349/Bounty-Bay-Online-Patch-v0.11/

Bounty Bay Online Client v0.11

http://www.filefront.com/15043353/Bounty-Bay-Online-Client-v0.11/

Bounty Bay Online puts gamers in the time of early discoveries in the 15th century where every gamer can build his or her own online destiny.