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This is the fourth and final post in our Gears of War 2 Screenshot Extravaganza. Where as part three showed campaign artwork, these are actual screenshots and this time we have more than just pretty pictures, we have some actual multiplayer map descriptions too.

Here are the maps we know about so far:

• GRIDLOCK: A tranquil highway next to a river rapidly filled with evacuating vehicles immediately after the Locust emergence. Few of the panicked owners made it out alive as ruthlessly efficient Locust squads swept through the area, taking out civilians one by one.

• RIVER: Old grain mills located on the outskirts of the city of Landown make the perfect setting for a cross-bridge clash.

• SECURITY: Older Coalition technology was built to last, as witnessed by the laser fences and security turrets located in this Pendulum Wars–era work camp. Soldiers must first deactivate the lethal defenses before making a dash for the weaponry in either wing of the arena.

Screens for each map are posted after the jump along with more screens from the game featuring Grenadiers, Hammerheads, Dizzy, Cole and more.

Be sure and check out the other GoW2 screens posts:

• Pt. 1
• Pt. 2
• Pt. 3

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Part Three of the Gears of War 2 Screenshot Extravaganza is here and full of Campaign Artwork featuring not only some really nice looking locales, but artwork depicting some of the characters and bad guys you will encounter in the game.

If you though the concept art in Part Two was neat, these are even better.

Hit the jump for more.

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TenTonHammer is extending its Warrior Epic Beta Giveaway promotion for another week. Premium members can score a free closed beta account on a first come first served basis. If you aren’t a premium member, you still have a chance to grab a place in the closed beta. All registered users will be entered into a daily drawing for accounts while supplies last.

Warrior Epic is a new MMORPG from Possibility Space set in a high fantasy world. You can check out the official website for more information. To sign up for a shot at one of these rare closed beta accounts, visit TenTonHammer.

XBLA Hors D’oeurvres are a weekly feature where I play the latest Xbox Live Arcade game – in trial form – for no more than 10 minutes, and then summarize my impressions of the game based only upon that.

This seems to happen every week lately — one of this week’s new Xbox Live Arcade games, Happy Tree Friends was released without any prior knowledge on my part that it was an existing property. The whole cutesy animals crossed with blood-splattering violence thing isn’t an entirely new concept (see Conker’s Bad Fur Day for more of that), but it certainly feels fresh in a sea of futuristic space marines.  (Is that redundant?)

Happy Tree Friends plays like a platformer crossed with a strategy game where you don’t have any direct control over the characters. Instead, you remotely interact with the environment to allow safe passage through dangerous, obstacle-laden levels. It’s a pretty neat idea, but from what I could tell from the tutorial and first level, there’s not going to be enough diversity to keep it from becoming stale.

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A weird bit of news cropped up the other day that revealed how a lawsuit had been filed against Nintendo and then quickly withdrawn. The suit came from Morgan Creek Productions, who claimed Nintendo had used copyrighted music from their 1993 film True Romance a few years back in a commercial for Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door. So why was the whole lawsuit dropped in a matter of days? Simply put, Nintendo really did have permission to use the music, according a statement from them:

A lawsuit filed by Morgan Creek Productions, Inc. against Nintendo of America was recently dismissed. The lawsuit alleged copyright infringement by Nintendo for its use of the song “You’re So Cool” in a Nintendo GameCube television commercial produced by advertising agency Leo Burnett USA, Inc. In response to the lawsuit, Leo Burnett provided Morgan Creek Productions with a copy of a music license entered into between Leo Burnett USA, on behalf of Nintendo of America and Morgan Creek, for licensing of the song. The lawsuit was dismissed by Morgan Creek Productions the following day.

Yep, looks like the paperwork for that deal just got lost on Morgan Creek’s side of things. So, no harm, no foul.

Via Kotaku

After seven years, Linux Game Publishing is resorting to adding copy protection into its Linux-ported games. Starting with the latest port, Sacred: Gold, gamers will have to enter a valid key and password via the Internet to launch LGP games.

There’s a detailed article on just how the new copy protection will work up on phoronix. The author speculates as do I that this too shall be quickly cracked by pirates and will ultimately end up being a nuisance only to gamers that pay for the games to begin with.

Thanks to a link provided by VG247, we now have a list of developers confirmed for E3 2008 along with what titles they will be showing off at the event. While the list is still updated regularly, as of this post, this is what you can expect should you be attending.

Akella
Postal III (PC, X360)

Bethesda Softworks
Fallout 3 (PC, PS3, X360)

Capcom
Bionic Commando (PC, PS3, X360)
Bionic Commando Rearmed (PC, PS3, X360)
Capcom Project #1 [untitled] (other)
Capcom Project #2 [untitled] (other)
Dark Void (PC, PS3, X360)
MotoGP 08 (other)
Neopets Puzzle Adventure (PC, Wii)
Plunder (PC, PS3, X360)
Resident Evil 5 (PS3, X360)
Spyborgs (Wii)
Street Fighter IV (PC, PS3, X360)
Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix (PS3, X360)

For the full list, hit the jump.

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Maxis and Electronic Arts today announced that Spore fans and the creatively curious have designed and shared more than 250,000 new alien life forms since the launch of the Spore Creature Creator – currently more than two creatures are being shared every second.  Anyone can download their own copy of the Spore Creature Creator or check out thousands of amazing creations from around the world in the Sporepedia.

Now, keep in mind that this figure was released from EA this morning via a press release, but as of this post, more than 350K have been created according to Kotaku.

I wonder how many of these are strangely pornographic? Some of those are pretty damn weird looking, immature yes, but still weird nonetheless.

Via: Press Release

Back in May, we were given a few little tidbits regarding Treyarch’s new Bond game Quantum of Solace, but with no real screens from the game nor actual information other than that it would run on the CoD4 engine and  “yes, it is coming, yes it is a movie tie-in”.

Today, Games Radar posted the first screen of the game, and informed readers that OXM and PTOM would both have the scoop on Quantum so if you subscribe to one of the other or each one, you should be getting the good in the mail very soon.

As soon as we find out more, we will be sure and let you know at it. Everyone who loved GoldenEye is keeping their fingers crossed that this next-gen version of Bond will live up to the greatness that was the N64 masterpiece.

Via: Games Radar

I once dated a girl named Pandora. Never got to see her box though.

Okay, okay I know - but I just love the look on Rhys Ifans face when he says that line in Notting Hill.

Anyway, Legendary: The Box tells the story of Charles Deckard, an art thief who is duped into stealing Pandora’s Box. When he opens the box, he releases hordes of beasts thought to be fictional such as werewolves and gryphons into an unprepared modern world. A full scale war between man and myth begins, and it is quickly complicated by the actions of powerful secret societies. As the person responsible for releasing this terror, Deckard’s unwittingly become the only person capable of containing it once more and saving civilization from being destroyed by the terrifying creatures of the box.

Enjoy the screens and to find out more on the game click here.

Chris Avellone is one of the founders of Obsidian and a game designer whose credits include Fallout 2, KOTOR II and Planescape: Torment. From this accomplished game designer comes part two of a look at “Morality in Games.”

Avellone starts out by defining what he personally expects of good characters and evil characters. After establishing these standards he delves into whether an antagonist in the game should necessarily be evil. He also answers hard questions on morality imposed on the main character in games.

Would you say that it is ok in a game to have human characters that the player can kill without any form of penalty?

Yes. I think there should be consequences for it, but not always a penalty. If that’s how the player wishes to play the game, they should be allowed to do so. Arbitrary invulnerability for townspeople or non-player characters isn’t something that caters to evil characters.

Including evil and violence in video games is typical. allowing the main character to commit acts of evil and violence is a charged issue. Explore Chris Avellone’s take on the place of “Morality in Games” on the Obsidian Forum.

IAHGames and MMOROG are giving away beta keys to the upcoming Dragonica MMO. Dragonica is a 2D Asian style MMORPG. Characters are cute super deformed avatars with big eyes and small mouths that are given the monumental task of settling the conflict between men and dragons.

There are 2000 keys to hand out, and the only qualifier is having an account on MMORPG. Those interested in grabbing a key should visit the MMORPG Dragonica page. The beta begins June 15, 2008.

via MMORPG

AIGameDev talks about the heroic task of creating AI side kicks. Whether it’s the the Arbiter in Halo 3 or Fable 2’s dog, a good side kick is in high demand these days, yet still elusive.

Non Player Characters with the life expectancy of the Star Trek “Red Shirt” aren’t very difficult to program for. They don’t stick around long enough to become annoying. However when you have an NPC who sticks with the character for most of the game, it becomes more difficult to make them useful without being a nuisance. This is especially true in RPGs that can play for 40 plus hours. It’s the ultimate design challenge and can make a great deal of difference in the player’s enjoyment of the game.

You have some annoying, mildly useful person circling you like a small moon, kinda holding his own in a fight – maybe enough to allow you to step back and toss down a sports drink, but whose true calling seems to be making repetitive and vaguely helpful comments that, at times, cause you to pause for a moment and ask “what the heck did he say that for?”

Wow have I been there and done that. Read about “The Art of AI Sidekicks: Making Sure Robin Doesn’t Suck” on AIGameDev.com.

I’ve gotta think that PR and marketing folks are as envious as can be of those who work at Nintendo. At the very least, when it comes to responding to the month’s NPD numbers, it’s the easy job there can be — there’s no need to spin the numbers to make things look good. The numbers speak for themselves and with the release of Wii Fit, Nintendo dominated both the hardware and software sides of the NPDs in May.

Mario Kart Wii and Wii Fit ended up number two and three on the best selling software for month of May in North America, which Nintendo’s Cammie Dunaway attributes to the Wii Wheel and Balance Board accessories’ attractiveness to both new and veteran gamers alike.

“The Wii Wheel and Wii Balance Board accessories make game play fun for new gamers while presenting new challenges for those who have been playing a long time,” said Dunaway. “The diversity of the seven Nintendo games represented in NPD’s top 10 for May demonstrates how Nintendo has something for everyone.”

More than 5.8 million copies of Wii Play have been sold to date, according to Nintendo. I wonder what percentage of those purchased weren’t entirely for the purpose of securing a second Wiimote — could it be anything less than 99%?

One fact I found particularly interesting was that, of the top 30 best-selling games in May, 19 of them were for Nintendo platforms. That means only 11 of the remaining titles were for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2, and PSP. (Without even having the numbers in my hands, I think it’s safe to assume none of the games were for the original Xbox.) Most of them can’t even begin to compare with GTA, but for there to be that many Wii and DS games selling well has got be playing a major role in future plans for developers and publishers.

Rock Band has been releasing the albums rather constantly as of late, and next week will prove to be no exception when The Pixies’ 1989 album, Doolittle is added to the line-up.

The album (1520 MS Points) will feature the following master tracks in all their “alternative” glory. You can also buy the songs individually (160 MS Points) just in case “I Bleed” and “There Goes My Gun” are not your cup of tea.

1. “Crackity Jones”
2. “Dead”
3. “Debaser”
4. “Gouge Away”
5. “Here Comes Your Man”
6. “Hey”
7. “I Bleed”
8. “La La Love You”
9. “Monkey Gone To Heaven”
10. “Mr Grieves”
11. “No 13 Baby”
12. “Silver”
13. “Tame”
14. “There Goes My Gun”

Doolittle will be available next Tuesday on XBL and Thursday on PSN. Enjoy.

Ok, obscure Young Frankenstein (that’s Frankensteen) aside for most of you too young to know what I am talking about, we received some new screens from Legendary to whet your appetite no matter what your age.

Formally known as Legendary: The Box, we have had absolutely no information on the game pop up since, thankfully, “the box” part of the name was dropped a few months back. So to refresh your memory, here is a little tidbit of information about this upcoming FPS from Spark Unlimited and Gamecock:

Legendary tells the story of Charles Deckard, an art thief who is duped into stealing Pandora’s Box. When he opens the box, he releases hordes of beasts thought to be fictional — werewolves and gryphons and all means of beast and demon — into an unprepared modern world. A full scale war between man and myth begins, and it is quickly complicated by the actions of powerful secret societies. As the person responsible for releasing this terror, Deckard’s unwittingly become the only person capable of containing it once more and saving civilization from being destroyed by the terrifying creatures of the box.

If you are interested in playing this, you will have three options to choose from when it is released on September 9th: PC, PS3 and the Xbox 360. European gamers can expect Legendary to arrive at retail on September 26th.

For more information, screens and trailer, look no further than our previous posts. You can also check out more of the new screens here.

Not sure why we missed this yesterday. Might possibly have had something to do with all of the MGS4 hoopla and various other misfires of the brain, but today we have the latest GameTap updates for you and while it may indeed be a day late, its no matter. Why you ask? Because Earthworm Jim is back my pretties along with Sacred Gold and for those wanting to go the chintzy route, its BurgerTime for you my friends!

• Earthworm Jim: From the minds of game developer Dave Perry and madcap cartoonist Doug TenNapel comes Earthworm Jim. Incredible animation and a wildly imaginative cast of characters makes this side-scrolling action title stand out from the rest of the pack. It doesn’t just look great, either — Earthworm Jim’s lengthy levels and sharp control ensure that you’ll be hooked the moment you pick up the controller!

• Earthworm Jim 2: The zany cartoon antics just keep on comin’ in Earthworm Jim 2, the sequel to the award-winning game by Shiny Entertainment. When Jim’s girlfriend is kidnapped by the nasty space criminal Psycrow, it’s up to the worm-turned-galactic-hero to find her. Where could she be? You’ll take a long, strange trip through the galaxy before the answer is revealed!

• Earthworm Jim 3D: Earthworm Jim. Once-humble worm made mighty thanks to the power of an atomic super suit, a really bad attitude, and a desire to fight evil. Jim has destroyed some strange enemies — but nothing’s stranger than his own mind. When a cow falls from the sky onto Jim, all his marbles get scattered. Now you must lead this slimy hero through the corridors of his mind to collect the marbles again!

• Sacred Gold: In a fantasy world crawling with monsters, unlikely heroes emerge. Whether they quest for treasure, fame or power, these individuals brave many terrors and face down thousands of foes both above the ground and below…and unlock the secrets of a deadly conspiracy to overrun the land of Ancaria with evil. For those with the strength, untold riches await, but the fight will be long and dangerous.

GameTap has released the following free games this week for those who are not golden with the site. Why is that anyway? Think of all the cool games you are missing out on like Baldur’s Gate I & II?

• BurgerTime: Evil hot dogs, pickles and eggs are loose in Peter Pepper’s kitchen, and he’s a chef with orders to fill. Stomp across buns, lettuce and patties on a quest to build the perfect burger. Keep your eyes open for yummy ice cream, coffee and French fry bonuses. Use your peppershaker to stop your enemies dead in their tracks, or smash them flat with a well-placed patty. Who knew fast food could be so dangerous?

• Flip Words 2: You’ll flip over this word puzzle! Not only are you trying to build words out of a grid, you’re also assembling a secret phrase, letter by letter, in a fashion such as to make Vanna White green with envy. Guess the phrase and you’ll score some massive points!

• Pop-A-Tronic: You’ve swirled until you collapsed… but are you ready to pop? There’s a cascade of colored machines, and it’s your job to clear them out! Match the colors before your parts bin overflows, and keep an eye out for bombs and other helpful tools in this frantic puzzler!

Those three games bring the total of freebies up to 128, so what are you waiting for? Head on over to GameTap to see what else they have in store for you.

While I’m always interested in seeing each month’s NPD results, what I perhaps like even more is getting to see each hardware manufacturer’s spin on the numbers. Although, really, Nintendo doesn’t need any spin with numbers like these.

Microsoft’s spin on the May numbers hones in on the number of copies GTA IV sold on Xbox 360 versus “the other platform’s version” (Why can’t they just say PlayStation 3? It’s said a number of times throughout the rest of the release) and how much money the system is generating for third party publishers.

Higher Metacritic scores and the Nielsen report that 10-26 year olds play more on 360 than either the Wii or PS3 are also featured the Microsoft press release, so there’s actually quite a bit more variety than they had last month.

Oh, and they might mention that record-breaking attach rate. Again.

Hit the break for the full spin.

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Velvet Assassin is the new stealth-action game currently in development by Replay Studios and Gamecock set during World War II. It is inspired by the fascinating story and unbreakable spirit of British secret agent Violette Szabo, more about her in a moment though.

Players take control of “Violette Summer”, a beautiful spy deep behind enemy lines with no support or official backing from the British Government. Coming later in the year to the Xbox 360, the story behind the fictional Violette Summer is very interesting to say the least.

Born in Devon, England, she grew up in a happy family and had a great and active childhood. Initially, she started her working life in a beauty salon before the outbreak of war inspired her to move to London and join the weapon industry. It didn’t take too long for her to be noticed by the Secret Services; she was after all strikingly beautiful, athletic and had great attention to detail. It was only a formality that she was recruited into MI6 during Britain’s darkest hours.

As if inspiration was needed during those very bleak days, Violette had lost a close aunt during one of the first Luftwaffe bombing attacks and to further compound her terrible heartache she later lost her cherished RAF husband in battle. However, Violette was extremely strong willed and where many would have lost themselves to misery and mourning, she used these painful experiences to inspire her to succeed as a spy for the MI6.

Come late 2008 players will be able to help Violette Summer in her daring quests behind enemy lines.

Since this is supposedly inspired by Violette Szabo, I thought I would enlighten our readers a little bit by explaining what actually happened to the daring woman whose real-life story was the inspiration behind the game.

Violette was only 23 years old and working for the SOE when she was captured by the Gestapo in 1944. She was sent to Limoges prison where she was tortured, raped and brutally assaulted.

She endured being moved to eight different prisons before being sent back to Limoges prison in August 1944. While here, a rescue mission was planned to bust her out - but two hours before the rescue attempt, she was moved to Ravensbrück concentration camp, where as history tells us, 92,000 women died. While there, she was forced into hard labor and suffered from malnutrition and exhaustion like the rest of the women. She also endured three months at Konigsburg on the Russian Front.

Violette Szabo was executed on or about February 5, 1945 and her body disposed of in the crematorium. She was just 23 years old and would have turned 24 come June.

I sincerely hope that the game pays tribute to her in such a way that it lets the player know that the fantasy of the game compared to the reality of it is much more sad and heartbreaking than fun and exciting.

Via: Press Release

One of the major gaming-related stories hitting the web yesterday was the news that Adam Beach (from Windtalkers and Flags of our Fathers) was currently in talks to star in a movie based on the Turok franchise. Naturally, this caused quite of bit of excitement among gamers who were somehow aching to see some dino-action on the big screen. Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on how you looks at it) Variety’s Ben Fritz has stepped in to dissipate some of the hysteria. For starters, it looks like DIsney is not making the movie at all, leaving the project in the hands of Classic Media, which controls the rights to many old cartoons and properties and released an animated Turok film awhile back. Without a major studio involved, it’s far less likely that a full-fledged feature will make its way to theaters. That doesn’t rule out the possibility of a straight-to-DVD film, but the point is: don’t get your hopes up. Really though, I can live without a Turok movie. Now a Dino-Riders movie, when is someone going to get on that?

Via Variety