Sega has announced the opening of its new Stormrise website. Developer Creative Assembly has also released a new developer diary on the classic real time strategy game. check into the new Stormrise website and check into the second Stormrise dev diary courtesy of FileFront.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the German RPG Maker PC game Vampires Dawn, you may just be in for a bit of a bloody treat because according to a recent press release, the game is heading to the Nintendo DS.

Fans of the game have been privy to its wicked black humor and elaborate magic and fighting system for quite some time, and thanks to the Austrian development studio ClockStone (Avencast) the game is now heading to the Nintendo DS. ClockStone will be working with Vampires Dawn creator Dawnatic and while there are currently no screens for the game nor a concrete release date set in stone, those working on the game feel that the character controls and puzzle mechanics from the original game will transfer very well and easily over onto the DS.

While there are some in the U.S. that may be unfamiliar with the title, it has a great reception over in Germany and Austria, and if you compound that with the world’s lust for RPGs on the DS, it sounds like a good combination. Hopefully, we will get some screens in sometime soon so we can actually see what it is looking like.

Brothers in Arms: Hell’s Highway comes out next month, and if you’re planning to get the game on PC, Steam might have the best deal going right now. From now until the game launches in September, anyone who pre-orders the game through Valve’s download service will receive a copy of Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30 for free. That should let you get your tactical World War II shooter fix for the next few weeks. I’m still not sure how I feel about Hell’s Highway. I played some of it at E3 and was fairly unimpressed, but at that moment it was being easily eclipsed by some much more high-profile titles.

Via Steam

The newest trailer for Brothers in Arms: Hell’s Highway shows off a new addition to the franchise with tanks. Yes, this isn’t exactly new to the World War II shooter genre, but it is the first time we’ve seen them in Brothers in Arms. Nevertheless, you’ll be able to blast, gun down, or run over enemy soldiers in a metal behemoth to provide support to your on-foot comrades. You do have to wonder just how many people from that war were stupid enough to get crushed by a tank though.

Ubisoft has unveiled a new trailer for the upcoming Brothers in Arms: Hell’s Highway. This video shows off once of the newest features in this latest installment in the series: destructible cover. Based off this video, the destructible environments already look better than even Battlefield: Bad Company, with certain objects disintegrating piece by piece. We’ll have to see if this one can keep the World War II genre slightly fresh when it comes out.

If there’s one World War II game that I’ll bother giving a second glance, it has to be the next Brothers in Arms title (back off, Call of Duty 5). It’s one of the few video game series that seems to really put an emphasis on telling a well-made story. Given this trailer for Hell’s Highway, it looks like they’re going for the throat this time. The gameplay will most likely be the usual squad-based FPS stuff from the past games, but you can probably bet that the story will be super dramatic.

Finally, after being pushed back into the fiscal year for 2008, the third installment in the Brothers in Arms series will be released in August for the PC,PS3 and Xbox 360 according to Ubisoft.

Hell’s Highway will feature a totally redesigned inline component for the squad-based WWII shooter and drops you into Operation Market Garden, the largest paratrooper operation in World War II.

Game Features:

• Brothers In Arms Hell’s Highway – next generation: The classic authentic, squad-based combat series explodes on next-generation hardware, offering unprecedented graphics and features.
• New Story, New Setting. Follow Matt Baker, Joe Hartsock and the rest of the 101st Airborne Division in “Operation Market-Garden” as they fight to open famous “Hell’s Highway” in a daring bid for a quick end to the war.
• Live the life of an enlisted man: Get orders from HQ, go on patrol, spot the enemy and set up a devastating ambush. For the first time, finding the enemy before they find you is part of the challenge.
• Unprecedented character design: Lifelike characters look, talk, move and think with incredible realism. Game characters interact with the player and each other like true brothers in arms, trading ammunition, helping wounded allies and civilians, working together to man team-operated weapons, and more.
• Rich cinematic experience: As the squad leader, you interact with and get to know your brothers. Each character has his own personality, unique story and background, and grows through the game.
• Powerful new units under your command: Players can use or command combined arms teams – machine gun crews create intense fire, bazooka crews destroy buildings and tanks, and mortar crews pound the enemy from a distance.
• Step into the boots of a soldier: Hit the dirt and get prone, rip grenades from your chest and hurl them at your enemies. See and feel the blast of nearby explosions.
• Completely new multiplayer experience: Fight major multiplayer battles with dozens of players on each side; all the intensity and accessibility of Deathmatch meshed with the squad-based gameplay that helped make Brothers In Arms famous.
• Destroyable cover: Keep your men moving and choose your cover wisely – simulated with real physics, weapons will damage, dent, scorch and destroy the world around you.

Stick around because more information will be made available soon.

Via: Ubisoft

Want to go to college and learn the ins and outs of software programming, but don’t have the funds? Well, thanks to Gearbox, some lucky students will get to learn this valuable skill thanks to a new scholarship program. Gearbox Software (Brothers in Arms) is pledging $50,000 in scholarships and support to the Fellows Scholars program at The Guildhall at Southern Methodist University. Not only will Gearbox be offering much needed financial support for art creation, level design and software programming graduate students, they will also be providing ans audio and lab professional mentors for students during their study.

“The only thing growing faster than our industry is the critical need for new and creative talent,” said Randy Pitchford, CEO and president of Gearbox. “I think it is clear that the videogame industry has the vast financial support and consumer demand it needs to continue its global growth. But what I and many industry leaders are very worried about is hiring and retaining world class talent. That’s why programs like The Guildhall at SMU need our support.”

Since SMU began The Guildhall program in 2004, 15 of their graduates have become employed by Gearbox, and several of these graduates have a major role in the development of Borderlands which is scheduled to hit the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 sometime around Christmas 2008. The Guildhall has a 95% placement rate and more than 180 graduates are currently working at 70 different videogame studios around the globe. Offering both a Master’s degree and a graduate Professional Certificate of Interactive Technology in Digital Game Development, with specializations in art creation, level design and software development – this definitely sounds like an integral step for anyone who is interested in these fields to take.

For more information, please visit: GamesIndustry.biz, for the full article and SMU for more information on this exciting program.

Ubisoft has announced that three anticipated titles will be delayed in 2008.

Far Cry 2, Tom Clancy’s EndWar and Brothers In Arms: Hell’s Highway will be pushed back into fiscal 2008 – which begins in April.

The sacrifice has been made to boost financial gains as Ubisoft cashes in on Assassin’s Creed sales and its developers churn out casual titles to fill shelves. The controversial Assassin’s Creed title tops several best selling charts around the globe.

via Eurogamer

French developer Ubisoft is raising its financial guidance for fiscal 2007-08 based upon record sales of Assassin’s Creed.

Sales figures for Assassin’s Creed has far exceeded expectations weighing in as one of the top two or three best selling games for the PS3 or Xbox 360 in most geographical regions. According to Ubisoft, the game has sold more than 2.5 million units worldwide in less than four weeks.

“With the exceptional performance of Assassin’s Creed, the fastest-selling new videogame intellectual property in the US ever, Ubisoft’s teams have once again demonstrated their expertise in creating and promoting major brands,” said Yves Guillemot, CEO of Ubisoft.

“These regular-sequel franchises are a source of very high profitability both in the short and long term. Drawing on its strong internal development capacities, Ubisoft is currently in an ideal position to continue to develop numerous new creations – an essential condition for winning market share and ensuring strong growth going forward.”

Ubisoft has changed it’s target for current operating income before stock options from 9% to 12%. It’s also raised its sales forecast for 2007-2008 from 825 million Euro to 840 million. Q3 is forecasted for 410 million Euro in sales, up from 330 million.

Ubisoft officially announced that it has postponed the release of Tom Clancy’s End War, Brothers in Arms: Hell’s Highway and Far Cry 2 for fiscal 2008-09, rather than Q4 2007-08.

Ubisoft is hoping for sales of approximately 975 million Euro in fiscal 2008-09, with operating income representing at least 11% of sales as a result of the move.

via GamesIndustry.biz