Welcome readers to our weekly edition of GameTap Thursday. Not only will you be getting another dose of American McGee’s Grimm Volume 2 this week, but subscribers are in for a treat with the addition of S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl and Digby’s Donuts. There is also good news for those who have signed up for the free end of the gaming service, because Tomb Raider Anniversary is free to play for one week only.

Grimm Volume 2, Episode 15: The Pied Piper: The Pied Piper has rid the kingdom of its rat infestation, but when the King gets cheap and refuses to pay for his services–the piper leads the kingdom’s children into the river. How much more nasty can it get? Add that dirty little troll Grimm into the equation and find out for yourself.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl: The landmark first-person shooter with RPG elements from THQ comes to GameTap. Set in the city of Chernobyl after a fictional 2006 nuclear disaster, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is a “sandbox” style game, allowing players to explore the large in-game world as they please in a non-linear fashion. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. has sold over 2 million copies to date.

Digby’s Donuts: Digby has big plans to become the donut king of North America. He’s starting small, though, just one shop at a time. And he’s got a rather…unique mechanism for sorting and organizing his tasty treats. With your help, his chain will soon span the coast, and America will be up to its ears in donuts — that is, unless you drop too many.

Tomb Raider Anniversary: Eidos celebrates ten years of Tomb Raider by reinventing the original Tomb Raider game with an expanded storyline and levels that have been redesigned from the ground up. Lara also has new abilities and tools not present in the original.

Next week on December 18, Grimm sinks his grubby hands into A Christmas Carol which will be free to play until December 31.  As always, for more information on the over 145 free games from GameTap or how to become a subscriber, check out the official website.

I was going to post some of the new screens THQ released for Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War 2 today, but since we do not have them loaded up on FileFront yet I thought I would post the video instead. It is much cooler anyway.

The video reveals the members of the Space Marines, the squad you will play with throughout the single-player campaign. today, but this trailer is much cooler because this video reveals the members of the Space Marines, which is the squad you will play with throughout the single-player campaign.

Dawn of War 2 is expected to be released for the PC February 23, 2009.

It looks like the new 50 Cent game — whose fate was up in the air following the end of Sierra — has found a new home with THQ. In fact, the game is now on track for a January release, and the publisher has released a new trailer to prove that 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand still exists. According to the video, the story somehow involves ol’ Fiddy traveling to the Middle East to recover a stolen jewel-encrusted skull. Why the notoriously wealthy rapper couldn’t just buy another instead of shooting his way through hundreds of people isn’t fully explained, but I guess it makes for a more interesting game. Of course, with how infamously terrible the last 50 Cent game was, it wouldn’t take much for this game to exceed fans’ expectations.

THQ will be releasing Crypto’s latest ’70s inspired and funkified sequel to Big Willy Unleashed on Monday, December 1 for the Xbox 360 when Destroy All Humans! Path of the Furon is unleashed upon retail stores.

Sandblast Games have hired Crypto-137 to ignite the disco inferno of the 1970s where our hero is fighting a new enemy hell-bent on destroying the Furon race. To help Crypto along his way, he enlists the guidance of an alien Kung Fu master which provides him with some new powers to save his alien brethren. With an open world format, Path of the Furon gives the player the ability to destroy and cause mayhem in the entire world around him. Five different areas in the air and on the ground give the player many options for exploration and destruction. Your vehicle, a sweet looking UFO, will give Cyrpto new weapons, increased mobility, and the wonderful option of abducting many humans at once. This time around, Crypto will be able to stop time, attract objects, use an array of new weapons as well as the Zap-O-Matic, and play online with a multitude of like minded aliens who just love to abduct, scan, and probe humans to death.

For more information on the game, check out our FileFront page.

Here are just some gaming related stories floating around on the web from yesterday and today:

• Want to know how to obtain the M1A1 Carbine from Call of Duty: World at War without ranking to level 65? Well fret not, because thanks to a pal of theirs at Treyarch, the folks over at MonsterVine have all the answers (thanks William Saw!).

• According to GamesIndustry.biz, GameStop expects there to be more Wii shortages at Christmas this year. Is that really surprising? Maybe it is time I pulled mine out of the closet and put it up on eBay. With the outrageous prices people are asking for the console, I think if I went $100 less I could make a sale and put it towards finally getting a PS3 (wakes up from her daydream).

• VG247 has posted a link to a video called Immersion that The New York Times has a posted by photographer Robbie Cooper which shows the vacant and sometimes scary looks on kids faces as they play videogames–and most likely ones they should not be playing in the first place from what I could hear. If you watch the video though, you may come away with the impression that a lot of these were staged–especially that one kid who keeps saying “Let me kill you”. Then again, maybe he is just a dork.

• Ubisoft will release downloadable content for Far Cry 2 sometime before the end of the month. “The Fortune’s Pack” will will include multiplayer maps, some new weapons and vehicles. You can expect it to hit the PSN and XBL for around $10.

• In case you haven’t heard, The Killers, Yngwie Malmsteen, Soundgarden, Lamb of God will hit Rock Band on November 25.

• Shacknews has a lovely list of upcoming game releases posted on their site. The list is for releases during the week of November 23-29. Looks like no PS3 titles though, and the only ones worth noting are Sonic Unleashed for the Xbox 360 and Age of Empires: Mythologies for the Nintendo DS. You think I am joking? Then hit the link and see for yourself.

Read the full article

Wow, looks like there might be a lawsuit in the foreseeable future against the Ultimate Fighting Championship, because apparently they have dropped fighter Jon Fitch and several others from the American Kickboxing Academy championship after they refused to sign over their likeness for a videogame. Supposedly, according to Sports Illustrated, their refusal stems from the contract stating that the rights of their likenesses would be owned for life and to be used in games based upon the UFC and currently under production with THQ.

Number one welterweight contender Jon Fitch and some of his teammates–along with a number of the UFC’s biggest names–where axed when they refused to sign a contract which granted the lifelong merchandise and ancillary rights to someone other than themselves. One of the main reasons was that the promoter’s share of the revenue share was substantially larger than anyone else who had a stake in it. Go figure–that is a promoter for you.

During this past summer, a contract discussing toys and other merchandising reached a standstill, so to get things moving on the videogame deal and prevent yet another contract standstill, UFC President Dana White approached one of the head trainers for the AKA, Bob Cook, with the contract, and according to Jon Fitch, it was nothing short of signing over their souls.

“We thought that was kind of crazy,” Fitch said. “Why would you sign anything away for your lifetime?”
Read the full article

Invading a retail store near you on December 1for the PS3, and Xbox 360 is Destroy All Humans! Path of the Furon. In this sequel to Destroy All Humans! Big Willy Unleashed,  you control Crypto in the funky, disco loving ’70s when a mysterious new enemy attacks Earth and threatens the very survival of the Furon race.

In honor of the release, THQ is hosting a 32” HD TV and $50 Gamestop giftcard giveaway via the Crypto  Enhance webiste (for United States residents). While there, you can also check out trailers, game designer interviews, AIM icons, and wallpapers.

There will also be an exclusive Destroy All Humans! bobblehead doll giveaway through participating Gamestop locations. Fans can pick up a bobblehead at their local Gamestop by providing proof-of-purchase for their copy of Destroy All Humans! Path of the Furon.

If any of you happen to win the TV, the giftcard, or happen to pick up the Crypto bobblehead we would love to hear about it.

Good morning gamers, and welcome once again to another edition of GameTap Thursday. Today, the digital distribution site has some more foul and nasty fun in store for you with The Singing Bone which is the newest episode of American McGee’s Grimm Volume 2. It is free to play for the first 24-hours, but after that you must be a gold member to continue playing it.

The Singing Bone tells the sordid tale of one brother killing another to gain the hand of the princess. When the murdered brother’s skull starts singing of the foul deed that waylaid him, the King is angered. Leave it up to our host Grimm to make a story about fratricide even more dastardly than it already is as he sets forth to foul-up the land with his nasty habits.

Also new this week is Red Faction II from THQ and Saints Row 2 developer Volition. This sci-fi action/FPS game puts players in the position of guiding demolitions expert Alias and his five biologically enhanced squad members on a mission to defend the Republic of Commonwealth. The game features different game elements to keep you interested such as puzzle-solving, stealth-based levels, vehicular combat and multiple endings to give you more replay value.

GameTap has 143 other free games such as Fallout and Hitman in their roster should you be on a budget, so head on over and sign up for some cool PC fun. Next week King Midas, a new episode of Grimm Volume 2 ,will go live so check back with us to see what craven tale of mischief lies in store for you.

Welcome once again fellow gamers to our weekly edition of GameTap Thursday. If you have been hem hawing around about signing up, this week may just give you the push you were so desperately needing, because not only have they added Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance to their subscription games, but Codemaster’s wickedly fun Overlord is now free to play – for one week only though. But what a deliciously evil week that will be, eh?

Here are the subscription goodies that have been added:

• Supreme Commander: Forged Alliance: From Total Annihilation creator Chris Taylor and his new team at Gas Powered Games comes Supreme Commander, the next generation of real-time strategy games. Published by THQ, Supreme Commander has been widely praised by critics, earning an 87% average on aggregator GameRankings.com. As a bonus, your GameTap download of Supreme Commander includes the 2007 expansion pack, Forged Alliance, to complete the package.
• Die by the Sword: Limb from Limb: Treyarch’s sword fighting game that allows brutal and realistic swordplay. GameTap’s download of Die by the Sword now includes the expansion pack Limb from Limb, which features a new main quest and new playable characters.
• World Poker Championship 2: Final Table Showdown: Coresoft and publisher Valusoft (a division of THQ) present World Poker Championship 2: Final Table Showdown. This poker tournament simulation offers deep character customization, ten different game modes, and online play. Poker styles include Texas Hold’Em, Super Hold’Em, Omaha, Pineapple, Crazy Pineapple, Tahoe, Billabong, Shanghai, 7 Card Stud and 5 Card Draw.

Once again, Overlord will be free for one week, but GameTap also has 144 other free games to peruse through so head on over there right now and sign up because next Thursday, October 30, American McGee’s Grimm Volume Two launches with the first episode: The Master Thief. Like previous versions, it will be free to play for the first 24-hours, so that should give those of us too old to trick or treat something to look forward to.

As always, for more information, check out the official GameTap website. Tune in next week to see just how much more diabolical Grimm can get!

Jack Sorensen has parted company with THQ as the company reorganizes its management structure. Sorensen served as executive vice president of worldwide studios and has been with the company seven years. THQ President and CEO Brian Farrell expressed gratitude and best wishes for Sorensen.

“Jack Sorensen has played an important role in building out THQ’s studio system and has been a key contributor to THQ’s success over the past seven years. We appreciate his service to the company and wish him well in his future endeavors.”

THQ granted promotions to three newly created positions within its product development management team in hopes of creating a more effective management structure. Roy Tessler has been promoted to senior vice president of production and worldwide studios, Danny Bilson is now senior vice president of creative development and Steve DeCosta has been promoted to senior vice president of product development finance and administration. All three positions will report directly Farrell.