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  • Fallout news teased

    Bethesda may soon have news to share for Fallout fans. Voice actor Erik Todd Dellums, who performed the role of Three Dog in Fallout 3, teased on Twitter recently (via Eurogamer) that his character may return in an upcoming entry in the role-playing game series.

    “To all my #Fallout3 and #ThreeDog fans: There may be more of the Dog coming! Fingers crossed!,” Dellums wrote, noting he was given permission to make the announcement.

    Bethesda has not announced any new Fallout games, and a company representative was not immediately available to comment.

    A rumor from August 2012 suggested Fallout 4 would be set in Boston, Massachusetts. Bethesda developers reportedly have been “scoping out and researching” the city.

    The most recent Fallout title was 2010’s Fallout: New Vegas, which was developed by Obsidian Entertainment and set in a postapocalyptic Las Vegas. Its predecessor, Fallout 3, was developed by Bethesda Game Studios and took place in Washington DC and the surrounding area.

  • Assassin’s Creed III ‘Battle Hardened’ DLC out now

    January 8, 2013 8:50AM PST

    Second expansion for Ubisoft’s action game now available on PlayStation Network and Xbox Live for $10, or free with season pass.

    Assassin’s Creed III has added new downloadable content. The multiplayer-focused Battle Hardened Pack is now available on Xbox Live and PlayStation Network and is free for those with a $30 DLC season pass. Otherwise, the content is available for $10.

    The Battle Hardened Pack for Assassin’s Creed III includes three new multiplayer maps (Charlestown, Fort St-Mathieu, and Saint Pierre) as well as a trio of characters, including the Governor, the Highlander, and the Coyote Man.

    No mention was made concerning a release for the PC and Wii U versions of Assassin’s Creed III.

    The Battle Hardened Pack follows December’s “Hidden Secrets” DLC, which brought three new missions and unlockable weapons to Assassin’s Creed III. Add-on content still in the pipeline is the three-part Tyranny of King George expansion.

    Assassin’s Creed III launched worldwide on October 30, selling 3.5 million units during its launch week and 7 million copies as of last month. For more, check out GameSpot’s review.

  • LPGA, night golf coming to Tiger Woods PGA Tour 14

    Electronic Arts announced release plans for Tiger Woods PGA Tour 14 today, revealing the game will arrive March 26 with a range of franchise-firsts. The golf sim will include support for the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) as well as night golf.

    Female golfers have been featured in past Tiger Woods titles, though this year’s game marks the first time players can create female characters and compete in a virtual tournament to win the Kraft Nabisco Championship. Five playable LPGA golfers will be included in PGA Tour 14, including Stacy Lewis and Lexi Thompson.

    Another franchise-first for PGA Tour 14 is night golf. Gamers can tee it up after the sun goes down with an illuminated ball and watch their shots trace the night sky. Further information on this option was not made available.

    What’s more, PGA Tour 14 will include a Legends of the Majors game mode. In this gametype, players can travel back in virtual time and match up against some of golf’s biggest icons during their eraas, including Seve Ballesteros, Ben Hogan, Bobby Jones, Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, Sam Snead, Lee Trevino, and even Tiger Woods.

    Tiger Woods PGA Tour 14 is in development at EA Tiburon in Orlando, Florida. The game will ship for Xbox 360 and PS3 with Kinect and PlayStation Move support, respectively.

  • Black Ops II DLC lets gamers play as zombies

    January 8, 2013 3:53PM PST

    Revolution expansion pack for Activision’s latest Call of Duty adds five new maps, one gun, and “Turned” gametype for Zombies mode.

    The rumor was right. Activision today announced the Revolution expansion for Call of Duty: Black Ops II. Due out January 29 for Xbox 360, the content contains five new maps and is free for those with a $50 DLC Pass. It will be available separately for $15.

    Revolution for Black Ops II adds four new maps (Downhill, Hydro, Mirage, Grind) for the game’s multiplayer component, as well as a new Zombies map called Die Rise. In addition, the content ushers in a new game mode called Turned, in which players can compete against one another as a zombie.

    Lastly, the Revolution expansion for Black Ops II brings a bonus multiplayer weapon called the Peacekeeper, which features its own set of weapon challenges. The DLC will be made available for other platforms at a later date.

    To see the Revolution content in action, check out the video below.

  • Dead Rising 3 spotted on resume

    Additional evidence for the existence of Dead Rising 3 has come to light. The LinkedIn resume of a rigging supervisor at animation firm Blur Studio (via All Games Beta) includes mention of an unannounced third entry in Capcom’s zombie-themed series.

    No further information on Dead Rising 3 was included in the LinkedIn profile, and a Capcom representative told GameSpot, “Capcom has made no announcements regarding any new Dead Rising titles.”

    Venice, California-based Blur Studio has created cinematics for numerous film, television, and game franchises. Most recently, the company has done work for the games Guardians of Middle-earth and BioShock: Infinite, as well as the title sequence for David Fincher’s The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo.

    This is not the first time Dead Rising 3 has been spoken of outside official channels. During December 2011, a report suggested the game would leave series star Frank West behind, instead focusing on an auto mechanic named Rick. If the report proves accurate, the game will be set in a fictional town known as Los Perdidos, California, where a zombie outbreak has closed off the town’s borders.

    Rick’s plan, according to the report, is to restore a plane and escape the town before it is destroyed. Finding parts for the plane and getting it to fly will be one of the main features of the game, which will also reportedly include an “undercurrent of themes about illegal immigration.”

    The most recent entry in the Dead Rising series was Dead Rising 2: Off the Record, which was developed by Blue Castle Games and shipped in September 2010. For more on that title, check out GameSpot’s review.

  • EA interested in THQ assets – Report

    Mass Effect and FIFA publisher Electronic Arts has joined media giant Warner Bros. as a potential bidder for bankrupt publisher THQ’s assets. Writing from inside a bankruptcy court hearing today, Distressed Debt Investing reported that not only is EA interested in THQ’s franchises and studios, but the publisher “has completed site visits” as well.

    An EA representative was not immediately available to comment.

    It was also revealed today in the court proceedings that stalking-horse bidder Clearlake Capital Group has agreed to allow bids for individual THQ titles. Previously, the firm was only planning to accept all-or-nothing bids, something creditors and US Trustee Roberta DeAngelis took issue with.

    Last week, THQ banker Sam Greene revealed there were five active potential bidders for THQ’s franchises and studios. EA and Warner Bros. are the only two named thus far, though Ubisoft had previously expressed interest in the company’s games, with CEO Yves Guillemot saying in November, “They have good things.”

    What’s more, Clearlake also moved today to extend its deadline for competing bids for its $60 million offer until January 15, an extension of five days over the previous January 10 end date. However, US Bankruptcy Court Judge Mary Walrath did not approve this timeline, saying it remained too short.

    Parties later in the day agreed on a January 22 auction date, during which THQ assets can be purchased individually.

  • Dead Space 3 demo arriving January 22

    EA and Visceral Games have announced a downloadable demo for the upcoming action shooter, set for release on February 5.

    The demo will be available for download on the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Marketplace on January 22. However, EA is offering Xbox 360 owners the chance to access the demo a week early, on January 15. Interested players are invited to register here.

    According to EA, the demo will feature a “customised portion of Tau Volantis,” the ice planet from Dead Space 3, as well as new necromorphs and a separate weapon-crafting arena that will give players the chance to experiment with weapon combinations.

    The demo will offer both single-player and online-only cooperative play. EA has also confirmed that the recently announced Kinect voice controls for Dead Space will be available in the demo.

    “Dead Space 3 is the first game to feature co-op-specific voice commands for the Kinect,” EA said. “Using your voice, you can find your partner, revive him, trade ammo and health packs in co-op, while in single-player, you’ll have access to commands such as the ability to reload weapons, heal yourself, locate objectives, and open menus.”

    EA said that it is currently planning to offer the Dead Space 3 demo for the Xbox 360 and PS3 only.

    Dead Space 3 is due out on February 5, 2013, in North America for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC, with a release following in Europe on February 8. The game is the first entry in the action horror series to feature cooperative play. Players will venture to a new planet called Tau Volantis as series hero Isaac Clarke, but will also be joined by newcomer John Carver.

    For more on Dead Space 3, check out GameSpot’s previous coverage.

  • Activision’s James Bond games disappear from Steam and Xbox 360

    Activision’s suite of James Bond games have all disappeared from Steam, Xbox 360 and Activision’s own digital store. Spotted by Neogamr.net, 007 Legends and James Bond 007: Blood Stone, from now-defunct studios Eurocom and Bizarre Creations, and the Treyarch-helmed Quantum of Solace are no longer available to purchase from Steam.

    There are no results in Activision’s own store, either. On the consoles, the Xbox 360 Games on Demand version of GoldenEye 007: Reloaded has also been pulled. The game is still available to buy on the PlayStation 3, but it is not clear if the game will remain listed on the PlayStation Store when the marketplace is refreshed this week.

    One reason for games being pulled from digital sale can be down to licensing agreements expiring, as happened with GTA: Vice City on Steam recently. Activision obtained the gaming rights to the then-lucrative Bond license from EA in 2006, in a deal with MGM and EON that was scheduled to last until 2014. It is possible that Activision has pulled the plug on this arrangement.

    The last Bond game, Eurocom’s 007 Legends, was derided by critics and failed to make an impact on the sales charts, despite being timed to coincide with the release of uber-blockbuster Skyfall. The studio’s previous game, the lukewarm 2010 remake of the classic GoldenEye 007, also failed to capture hearts and wallets and the Derby-based studio was closed at the end of 2012.

  • BioShock: Ultimate Rapture Edition hits January 14

    Before taking to the skies in BioShock Infinite, 2K Games is hoping to allure some gamers back into the depths of the ocean. The company today announced the BioShock: Ultimate Rapture Edition, due January 14 for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in North America. The bundle will be available in “some” international territories at a later date.

    The $30 Ultimate Rapture Edition includes the 2007 original BioShock, its 2010 sequel BioShock 2, and add-on content for both games. In addition, the bundle features the “Museum of Orphaned Concepts,” which provides a look at concept art and character models that never made it into the BioShock universe.

    Downloadable content included with the Ultimate Rapture Edition is listed below by title.

    BioShock: Plasmids Pack, Challenge Rooms Pack (previously a PlayStation 3 exclusive).

    BioShock 2: Sinclair Solutions Tester, Rapture Metro, The Protector Trials, Minerva’s Den.

    Also included in the Ultimate Rapture Edition is a sticker pack for BioShock Infinite.

  • Walking Dead shooter trailer a fake

    The gameplay trailer for The Walking Dead: Survival Instincts published yesterday was in fact made by a fan and is not a genuine asset from Activision or developer Terminal Reality, though it does use actual in-game footage.

    Activision community manager Dan Amrich explained on his blog that the video was created by a fan using footage from an IGN video preview of the game.

    Amrich apologized for posting the video in the first place and for “being part of the misinformation and the constant problem of unreliable information found on the Internet.”

    The video, originally posted to a YouTube account that has since been deleted, caused a stir upon its release yesterday, with many gamers bemoaning its quality.

    Survival Instincts was announced in July 2012 and is based on AMC’s The Walking Dead TV series. It will be set in rural Georgia and focus on brothers Daryl and Merle Dixon. Players will be able to choose whether to confront the undead head-on or attempt to avoid detection.

    Survival Instincts is currently in development at Terminal Reality. That studio’s previous credits include Atari’s Ghostbusters: The Video Game, as well as Majesco’s BloodRayne and BloodRayne 2. The company’s most recent release was Kinect Star Wars.

    Survival Instincts is scheduled to arrive sometime in 2013 for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC.