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Today is GameTap Thursday, like most Thursdays here at Gaming Today, and just look what the folks over there have in store for you:

• Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory: Yes, Sam Fisher is once again out to save the world in this third installment in the stealth-action series. Against the background of rising tensions in the East, protagonist Sam Fisher (Michael Ironside) is once again called into action, utilizing brand new stealth mechanics and close-quarter combat techniques to diffuse the situation before it’s too late. And with major graphical and lighting improvements, Splinter Cell looks better than ever.

• Ocean Express: This puzzle game from Strategy First has you working on the docks so to speak. There’s ships to load and money to be made! But filling those big barges is more complicated than it sounds, and only the most efficient shippers can possibly hope to earn a profit. You’ll start with just one barge and grow your shipping empire, one crate at a time.

Added to the ever growing roster of free games this week is none other than the illustrious Lara Croft in Tomb Raider: Anniversary which will be free-to-play for an entire week. Should you not be interested in this game or if you already own it, take heart because they have 143 other free games to play which is enough to keep even the most hardcore gamer busy for more days than one would care to mention.

The full list of free games can be seen after the jump or you can head on over to GameTap yourself and see what hoops you have to jump through to become a gold member. Personally I recommend doing a few summersaults and maybe a back-flip with a full twist. Okay, I am kidding, all you have to do is register and you will be guided through the process from there. If you are strapped for cash and just want the freebies, you still have to register.

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Ubisoft has has sent out the word that Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X will feature photo realistic satellite images thanks to GeoEye. GeoEye’s IKONOS satellite system will provide the high-resolution imagery to create incredibly realistic flights through 16 international territories including Rio de Janeiro, Cape Canaveral and the Middle East.

“High-resolution satellite imaging is moving from the black world of intelligence to the white world of commerce and Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X will bring that reality to gamers,” said Mark Brender, vice president, corporate communications and marketing at GeoEye. “With video game graphics becoming more realistic, the use of high-quality photographic ground textures in H.A.W.X adds true photo-realism to the air combat experience.”

It seems that the 3D imagery of Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X will assuredly be spectacular. Lets hope that control and camera issues can keep up with the graphics.

All the votes are tallied for the Game Critics Awards: Best of E3 2008. Fallout 3 took two wins out of the three nominations it received including Best of Show. LittleBigPlanet was the only other game to win two categories and took Best Console Game. Here’s the official Game Critics Awards Winner’s Circle for 2008:

Best of Show
Fallout 3
(Bethesda Softworks for PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360)

Best Original Game
Mirror’s Edge
(DICE/Electronic Arts for PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 36)

Best Console Game
LittleBigPlanet
(Media Molecule/Sony Computer Entertainment for PlayStation 3)

Best PC Game
Spore
(Maxis/EA)

Best Handheld Game
Resistance: Retribution
(Bend Studio/Sony Computer Entertainment for PSP)

Best Hardware/Peripheral
Rock Band 2 Ion “Drum Rocker” Set
(ION Audio/MTV Games for Xbox 360)

Best Action Game
Gears of War 2
(Epic Games/Microsoft Game Studios for Xbox 360)

Best Action/Adventure Game
Dead Space
(EA Redwood Shores/EA for PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360)

Best Role Playing Game
Fallout 3
(Bethesda Softworks for PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360)

Best Racing Game
Pure
(Black Rock/Disney Interactive Studios for PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360)

Best Sports Game
Madden NFL 09
(Tiburon/EA for All Systems)

Best Fighting Game
Street Fighter IV
(Capcom for Arcade)

Best Strategy Game
Tom Clancy’s EndWar
(Ubisoft Shanghai/Ubisoft for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360)

Best Social/Casual/Puzzle
LittleBigPlanet
(Media Molecule/Sony Computer Entertainment for PlayStation 3)

Best Online Multiplayer
Left 4 Dead
(Valve/EAP for PC, Xbox 360)

Interestingly enough only one of the winning games, Madden NFL 09 will make it to the Nintendo Wii or the DS. Far be it from me to suggest that it could have anything to do with Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata’s declaration that E3 is no longer the appropriate venue for core games.

If you were waiting to get your hands on Tom Clancy’s first foray into the flight combat world, you may have to wait a little longer. Ubisoft has now confirmed that the game has been delayed until early next year. Originally, the game was set to release in September, but apparently Ubisoft wants to keep that title inside a little longer. Unfortunately, they didn’t specify why they chose to delay the game. Guess you’ll just have to keep playing Ace Combat 6 for a few more months.

Via CVG

It’s Thursday, so PS3-owning Rainbow Six fans needn’t wait any longer: the Vegas 2 Gift Pack DLC has finally arrived. PC and Xbox 360 owners have had it for almost a week, but when you’re talking about playing the same exact maps you’re already used to — only at night — there’s really no wait that’s too long. That might not be entirely true, but as I said before, at least it’s free.

Rock Band’s weekly track release includes four songs from Rush and Red Hot Chili Peppers, which is also the number of new demos that have been released: Siren: Blood Curse, Monster Madness: Grave Danger, WALL-E and The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian are all available in demo form on the PlayStation Store.

And there’s all sorts of trailers for you to check out, including one for the Super Stardust HD add-on which I’ve been raving about ever since it was released. Now you can see what I’ve been talking about.

Hit the break to check out the full list of content.

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Ubisoft has unveiled a new developer diary for Tom Clancy’s HAWX, the upcoming flight game bearing the author’s expensive name. In this new video, the developers talk about about how the gameplay is focused on realism, while giving the player some assistance if needed. You’re given some help from the computer with maneuvering and targeting and such, but you can turn all that off for a more realistic experience if you want. From the looks of things, HAWX may be giving the Ace Combat series a run for its money when it’s released.

The Ubidays event in Paris is officially over, and instead of bombarding you with post after post of screens, we decided to release them in parts so that you would not have to visit a game site that is nothing but screenshots. While it is indeed true that events like Ubidays and the forthcoming E3 tend to produce tons of media, it gets a little tiring to just look at pretty pictures all day long, thus these bulky posts.Therefore, here is the third and final installment in our Ubidays Screenshot Extravaganza. We hope you enjoyed it.

Prince of Persia: Prodigy

Tom Clancy’s EndWar

Far Cry 2

The private beta for Tom Clancy’s EndWar is beginning soon, and if you would like to get in on it you can go on over to the official website and apply - that is, if you are currently an Xbox Live “Gold” member. If not, you are out of luck.

The Private Beta will take place for 3 weeks in June and July, and will be available in English only. The Beta will feature 3 maps and be playable exclusively online in 1v1 and 2v2 matches. The Beta will be available for Xbox 360, and you will need to be an Xbox Live Gold Member, with a broadband internet connection, and 3 GB of free space on your Xbox 360 Hard Drive.

The version will be in a Test state and you will likely encounter some bugs and crashes. Your contribution will be very important and will help us to produce a better and more polished final product. Your participation in this Beta will be strictly confidential, and you will not be allowed to share your experiences playing EndWar anywhere outside of this website.

Those with a PS3 may not be able to get in on this particular beta, but the consolation prize is pretty neat. Apparently, the PS3 version of EndWar will support hand gesture commands when using the PlayStation Eye camera peripheral and also be able to move the map around as well. This is not the case with the Xbox 360 and its Vision Cam, the reason is because it lacks a stand unlike the PlayStation Eye. However, it must also be noted that this feature is not guaranteed for the final game, since the developers are working on “feature parity” for each version. They are still hopeful that it will make the cut, but that will be announced at a later date.

EndWar definitely sounds like a game that will either change the industry and the way games are made or just be a complete flash in the pan. My hopes are for the former because it does sound extremely immersive and just plain cool. Hopefully soon, one of us will be able to get our hands on it and let you know one way or the other.

To apply for the beta click here.

Tom Clancy’s EndWar will have a demo released for the game according to a recent post over on CVG.

Ubisoft confirmed this during Ubidays and said that the EndWar demo will hit Xbox Live and PSN in plenty of time before the release later this year. The demo will precede the two closed betas which will help Ubisoft confirm proper balance for the game.

According to content director Julian Geright:

“The balance of these games is the win or lose of the games. We’ve balanced it fairly well, but we’re doing two different beta tests - one limited and one much much bigger, and then a demo where we’re going to be able to balance on the results. We’re doing a playtest with professional gamers to make sure there are as few exploits as possible before launch.”

One would think that tweaking the game would already be finished come launch, but this is apparently not the case. Considering the fact that EndWar is not only voice-commanded strategy game but also a game with a persistent world, the developers plan to continue said balancing after launch a la World of Warcraft.

Geright continued:

“We’re going to balancing even post-launch. It’s an important thing for a strategy game to remain fun. They have those small imperfections that people latch on to, and then you change them.”

Check back with us often as a release date for the demo is announced.

Via: CVG

The Ubidays event yesterday gave us some absolute winners in the way of announcements (Beyond Good & Evil 2) and then some down right stinkers (a stop smoking game for the DS… WTF??!!). Like the previous post, there is no need for you to go looking all over the internet for pictures of games you are interested in and ones you want to stab with a lit cigarette because you can get them all right here.

Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X.

Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party

Allen Carr’s Easyway to Stop Smoking

Looks like one of the gaming world’s favorite places to get the inside scoop on gossip, rumors and other nonsensical gaming related fallacies is retiring. I am talking about Surfer Girl of course, and even though in her last post, she stated that she did not not want coverage on her departure, I just could not help myself.

Here are her final words pulled directly from her site:

• Please don’t devote coverage to this–focus on any of the plethora of more important things such as QoL issues.
• Industryites, bad QoL situations will not get better by telling no one about them.
• What was the point of this blog? Force folks to pay attention to important things going on in the real world and encourage them to become activists for social and political progress. I probably failed miserably, but at least I tried.
• You cannot honestly be surprised that Doom 4 was announced, can you? I’m guessing you are the kind that will be shocked when things like Call of Duty 6, Diablo III, Hitman 5, Onimusha 5, Max Payne 3, the non-wagglefest starring those Rabbids, Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 3, Sniper Studios’ Capcom title, Dynasty Warriors 8, NBA Street 5 and Turok 2 are announced.
• Yeah, Boom Blox is one of the best games to hit a Nintendo platform in years and some folks at NoE/NoA lotcheck think so too.

Whether you liked her or not, it is always sad to see another gamer becoming disenchanted with the industry. What ever her reasons for leaving it, we wish her all the best.

Thanks for the heads up: Videogaming247

Xbox Live’s Major Nelson has sent down the word that two new original titles are now available on the Marketplace. Splinter Cell Chaos Theory and Metal Arms: Glitch in the System went up with today’s system maintenance.

These titles aren’t available in all regions; namely Japan and Korea. The Major also notes that at this time some subscribers are having issues with sign in or matchmaking, but that shouldn’t take forever to straighten out… hopefully.

Content: Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Chaos Theory
Price: 1200 Microsoft Points
Availability: Not available in Japan and Korea
Dash Text: [ESRB: M (MATURE) BLOOD, VIOLENCE, STRONG LANGUAGE] Players 1-2, System Link: 2-4, Xbox LIVE Multiplayer 2-4, 5.1 Surround Sound. GAME-PLAY ALERT: This game has been fully tested to successfully play on your Xbox 360 console. However, in some cases, you may see some minor irregularities with audio/video for brief periods. For more details, see www.xbox.com/xboxoriginals. The next installment of the critically acclaimed stealth-action franchise, Tom Clancy’s Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell® Chaos Theory™ sends Sam Fisher on a perilous mission to stop a cyberterrorist plot that threatens worldwide war. There are no refunds for this item. For more information, see www.xbox.com/live/accounts.
Size: 5.39 GB

Content: Metal Arms: Glitch in the System
Price: 1200 Microsoft Points
Availability: Not available in Japan
Dash Text: [PEGI: 12+] Single Player, 5.1 Surround Sound. GAME-PLAY ALERT: This game has been fully tested to successfully play on your Xbox 360 console. However, in some cases, you may see some minor irregularities with audio/video for brief periods. For more details, see www.xbox.com/xboxoriginals. Blast your way to victory as Glitch, the gun-slinging, half-ton menacing bot of Droid City. Found as scrap metal, but transformed into destructive machinery, Glitch is determined to free his people from the evil clutches of General Corrosive and his maniacal army of Mil bots. Unleash a world of pain as you annihilate the General’s sinister plan to dominate the world and salvage the robot race in Metal Arms! There are no refunds for this item. For more information, see www.xbox.com/live/accounts.
Size: 1.61 GB

via Major Nelson

Wow. We only received five demos this week and that is pretty weak considering we normally get at least six. Ok, I am kidding - but seriously we usually get more than this. The most interesting, and surprising demo was the one for the upcoming CG movie “Kung Fu Panda” which stars Jack Black. Angelina Jolie also lends her voice to the movie and her character is “Master Tigress”. I don’t know if you will actually get to hear Angelina Jolie’s voice in the game demo or not, but if you are fantasizing about her as a pixelatd tiger - you have got some major issues dude - so put the bottle of lotion down and back away from it very slowly.

Here are the demos that hit FileFront this week:

• Caribbean Pirate Quest : Spell of Play Studios announced the release of Caribbean Pirate Quest, an adventure puzzle game where you will have to use clues to navigate your ship on several different maps and find the treasures.

• Lights of Dreams Demo V2.10: This is the demo version V2.10 of Lights of Dreams : The Angelical Blade. Play as Xylvan to find a way to save the future Earth of 3800. Walk, Run, Jump Fly in 50 (3 available in the demo) flowers and grass vasts inspirational worlds to find 10 Spheres, 11 Parchments and 10 unique Elements and more than 20 unique items to accomplish your mission. This version provides more lifelike effects including potion, magic, regeneration and mass attack.

• RedLynx Trials 2 - Second Edition v1.06 : Version 1.06 of the game has been released. The new version contains lots of technical enhancements to improve compatibility, and five new tracks for the owners of the full version. Trials2 provides Trials-game fans even further developed physics model and core gameplay-features. Trials 2 two also takes advantage of RedLynx’s further developed RedLynx Theathre - game engine: Trials2 has ultra-high quality graphics mode, that uses deferred rendering to deliver impressive effects, including depth of field, ambient occlusion and per pixel realtime lighting and shadows. In addition to addictive single-player mode, Trials 2 allows players to compete with each other with global highscore lists, and allows replaying and viewing trials rides - in order to learn from the more experienced players.

• Kung Fu Panda: A demo from Kung Fu Panda, based on Dreamworks’ upcoming CG-animated comedy about a lazy, irreverent slacker panda, Po (voiced by Jack Black), who must somehow become a Kung Fu Master in order to save the Valley of Peace from a villainous snow leopard, Tai.

• Night of a Million Billion Zombies! v1.11: PowerUp Studios has released an updated demo for NOMBZ: Night of a Million Billion Zombies! This is a 3D action shooter that challenges the player to lead a posse of survivors through a zombie-infested city.

For the a list of the more popular patches that hit this week, click through the jump.

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Another week is upon us, and while we are all sitting around marking the days off our calenders for GTA IV, some other games are being released next week and they deserve to be mentioned just as much as any car-jacking, hooker humping, free for all video game on the market.

I have broken the lists down by Console, Handheld and PC. If any of these release dates change it is not my fault - blame the publisher not the messenger. This list also does not take into account any new DLC for the week,  just retail releases.

Nintendo DS: Cory in the House, High School Musical 2: Work It Out, MLB 2K8 Fantasy All Stars, Rhondo of Swords, Teenage Zombies

Nintendo Wii: Dream Pinball 3D, Emergency Mayhem, Okami, Summer Sports: Paradise Island

PC: Dancing with the Stars, Europa Universalis: Rome, Final Fantasy XI: Vana’Diel Collection 2008, Jack Keane and The Dokktor’s Island, Sherlock Holmes: Nemesis, The Sims 2: Double Deluxe, The Sims 2: Kitchen & Bath Design Stuff,
Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Vegas 2, Turok

PS2: Nothing

PS3: Gran Turismo 5: Prologue

PSP: Nada

Xbox 360: Zilch

Looks like Ubisoft is putting their newly acquired “Tom Clancy” rights to good use. They’ve now released a new trailer for their next military-inspired excursion, titled “Tom Clancy’s HAWX.” As you can probably guess from the trailer, the game is set to be a combat flight simulator, only set in the Tom Clancy universe (i.e. lots of terrorists and guys with little computerized eye pieces). It seems like Ubisoft is hoping to tap into some of that sweet, sweet Ace Combat profit. We’ll have to wait and see exactly what they can bring to the table that we haven’t seen before.

Valve and Ubisoft are teaming up to bring more than 40 Ubisoft games, including Assassin’s Creed, to customers in Canada and the United States via Steam.

Assassin’s Creed will be available via Steam on April 9th, but it is now available for pre-purchase. Games from the Tom Clancy series, the Heroes of Might & Magic series, the IL-2 Sturmovik collection, Far Cry, and digital packs of many of these franchises will also be made available in the coming weeks.

For more information about Ubisoft games coming to Steam, please visit the official website. If you would like to check out the press release, just click through the jump.

Via: Press Release

Read the full article

Following solid sales from a number of their games, Ubisoft has updated its fiscal 07-08 guidance with full year sales up from EUR 875 million to EUR 920 million. The previous target was set in late January, but the strong start for Rainbow Six Vegas 2 (read Jonathan’s impressions here) and Assassin’s Creed continued sales have the company optimistic.

“As expected, 2008 is off to be a record year for the videogame market and our games have performed remarkably well in this context,” said Yves Guillemot, president and CEO.

“Assassin’s Creed and our Games For Everyone brands continued their strong performance and Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Vegas 2 had a better than expected start.”

As a result of the increase, the company opened the day at $58.44 and rose as high as $59.94 after closing yesterday at $54.47, according to GamesIndustry.biz. Prices have been steadily rising since Ubisoft purchased the rights to the Tom Clancy name. It doesn’t look like there’s any real reason to believe the increase will be stopping anytime soon given Ubisoft’s strong foundation of franchises.

Ubisoft is predicting an even better than expected 2008, according to their recent financial report. They’re now aiming for a sales target of €920 million, instead of the previous target of €875 million. Part of this is due to the fact that Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Vegas 2 has moved an unexpected two million units to date. Not bad for a week. As such, I suppose Ubisoft has plenty of reason to gloat:

“As expected, 2008 is off to be a record year for the videogame market and our games have performed remarkably well in this context. Assassin’s Creed and our Games For Everyone brands continued their strong performance and Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Vegas 2 had a better than expected start. One year after the great success of the first title, the second iteration, which provides another unique multi-player experience in the much enjoyed Tom Clancy environment, is ranked among the top games on Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 in almost every country.”

I’ve got no problems with Ubisoft, so, hey, good for them. Besides, Rainbow Six Vegas 2 is pretty great, though flawed, game (which consuming most of my gaming time these days).

Via VideoGaming247

Rainbow Six Vegas 2
Developer: Ubisoft Montreal
Publisher: Ubisoft
Price: $59.99
Platform: Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC (in April)
Category: Action
ESRB Rating: M for Mature (Blood, Strong Language, Intense Violence)
Release Date: March 21, 2008

Someone once said “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas” (and an advertising firm soon trademarked it). I doubt whoever said that was talking about terrorist cells and international conspiracies, but man those seem to flock to Sin City in the new Rainbow Six Vegas 2. This being the sequel to the smash hit Tom Clancy title, expectations are understandably high for this follow-up. Even more so since the team behind this game has said this is their final excursion, because they’re tired of working with Vegas. Well frankly their apathy shows through at times, particularly since this feels like the same old Rainbow Six Vegas, just with a few changes. But still, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. My full impressions after the break. Read the full article

When news of Ubisoft’s recent acquisition of the Tom Clancy name along with news of extending the franchises bearing his name and adding an MMO to Ubisoft’s roster, stock for the company jumped 10% .

When the trading bells rang the close of the business day Friday the price was EUR 49.07 ($77.18) giving Ubisoft a company value of EUR 2.24 billion($3,525,088,691.71). But as of this post, the stock prices have now rises to EUR 54.98 ($86.42) which adds over EUR 250 million ($393,437,474.98) to the company value.

When Wedbush Morgan stated that the deal would save Ubisoft over 5 million EUR ($7,787,872.01) per year in royalty fees, this deal also became a gold mine for shareholder who had seen a price drop since February and can now get some slight satisfaction with this rise in stock prices, at least until it peaks or drops again. If I was them I would sell sell sell - or do whatever my broker told me to do anyway. I am not a stock analyst or a broker nor do I own any shares of Ubisoft, I am just greedy like everyone else and need the money.

Thanks: GamesIndustry.biz