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The first Assassin’s Creed III expansion goes live today. Ubisoft has announced that The Hidden Secrets downloadable content is now available for Xbox 360 and PC Season Pass holders, with a release slated for tomorrow on PlayStation 3. Xbox 360 and PC gamers without a Season Pass can grab the content December 11, with PS3 owners able to jump in December 13.

It was not announced how much gamers without a $30 Assassin’s Creed III Season Pass can expect to pay for the Hidden Secrets DLC.

Wii U owners will need to wait the longest, as Ubisoft did not specify a release date at all for Nintendo’s new console, saying only that the content will arrive “at a later date.”

The Hidden Secrets for Assassin’s Creed III introduces three new missions (Lost Mayan Ruins, Ghost of War, and Dangerous Secret) that total one hour of gameplay, Ubisoft said. Successful completion of each mission will reward players will new in-game weapons.

In addition, the Hidden Secrets content adds two single-player costumes (Captain of the Aquila uniform and traditional Colonial Assassin outfit), as well as a pair of new multiplayer characters: Redcoat and Sharpshooter.

Additional DLC to follow The Hidden Secrets includes the three-part Tyranny of King Washington expansion, as well as the Battle Hardened multiplayer pack, which adds new maps and character’s to the game’s head-to-head online mode.

For more on Assassin’s Creed III, check out GameSpot’s review.

Epic Games president Mike Capps is retiring. The executive announced today in a blog post that after ten years with the company, he is handing over his presidential duties and transitioning into an advisory role at the Cary, North Carolina-based Gears of War studio. Capps will continue to serve on Epic Games’ board of directors.

Capps said his retirement was due in part to the impending arrival of a baby boy he is having with his wife. He plans to be a stay-at-home-dad “for a while” and added that he does not have much planned.

“I might do some teaching, spend more time on creative writing, and maybe get more active with a few charities,” Capps said.

Capps is not the first high-profile Epic Games staffer to leave the company recently. He follows former design director Cliff Bleszinski, who left the company in October after 20 years to “chart the next stage” of his career.

Additionally, over the summer, producer Rod Fergusson left to join the BioShock Infinite development team at Irrational Games; and shortly thereafter, People Can Fly creative director and co-owner Adrian Chmielarz jumped ship after Epic Games completed its acquisition of the Polish studio.

Though Epic Games has lost numerous veteran developers and executives of late, the company recently hired former LucasArts president Paul Meegan as its vice president of development. Capps said fans should not worry about his retirement having any adverse effect on Epic Games, as he believes Meegan (an Epic Games alum himself) and vice president of operations John Farnsworth “can manager development better than I ever did.”

It does not appear that Capps’ departure from Epic Games will have an impact on the company’s endeavors, as a representative from the firm said, “all of our project plans are moving full steam ahead as planned.”

Epic Games is currently collaborating with People Can Fly on Gears of War: Judgement and is also working on PC-exclusive game Fortnite. In addition, the company is developing its next-generation Unreal Engine 4 technology.

Sony and Nintendo’s digital marketplaces are no match for Microsoft’s Xbox Live Arcade in terms of volume of product and benefit to developers. That’s according to Castle Crashers developer The Behemoth’s John Baez, who sung the platform’s praises in a new Official Xbox Magazine interview.

“I think without a doubt the indie console community would not exist as it does today if Xbox Live Arcade had been dropped after the original Xbox iteration,” Baez said. “No other console hardware manufacturer has had the success of downloadable games that XBLA has had. And many smaller developers have shared in that success.”

The Behemoth most definitely is counted in the latter, as Castle Crashers has sold over 2 million copies on Xbox Live alone, the report states.

Co-organizer of the annual Xbox Live Indie Games Uprising Dave Voyles also had kind words to share concerning Microsoft’s digital platform.

“I don’t believe Microsoft was prepared for the success that it would see, both in terms of the number of devs who were on board, and the volume of people who would browse the marketplace,” Voyles said. “Before XBLIG, and even after, there has yet to be an easy avenue for independent devs to get work released without going through a closed platform or dealing with a publisher.”

Electronic Arts today announced new preorder bonuses for Dead Space 3 that will be split between two major retailers. Those who reserve EA’s new shooter at speciality retailer GameStop will receive the EG-900 SMG weapon, while those who reserve at Amazon will be granted the Tesla Enervator gun.

The EG-900 SMG was built for urban warfare, EA said in a statement. “It’s compact, but deadly, sporting an internal hyper-accelerator for maximum damage.” As for the other gun, the Tesla Enervator weapon will deliver a precision blast that causes “instantaneous electrocution and molecular destabilization.”

In addition to the retailer-specific preorder bonuses for Dead Space 3, all reservations will be automatically upgraded to the “Limited Edition” of the game, which includes two new suits and two new weapons.

Dead Space 3 is due out February 5, 2013 in North America for 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.

This week is a good time to be a Lord of the Rings fan. With two separate titles being released from the universe, will you be the one to rule them all? If you’re not a Lord of the Rings enthusiast, Nintendo’s role playing game Paper Mario: Sticker Star offers a light-hearted alternative.

Lego The Lord of the Rings is based on Peter Jackson’s Oscar-winning Lord of the Rings motion picture trilogy and will follow the storylines of each film, using dialogue from the movies. Unlike the Lego Harry Potter franchise, which was split over two games, the entire Lord of the Rings saga will be told in one entry.

The game follows Frodo Baggins and the unlikely fellowship that sets out from Rivendell on a dangerous journey to destroy the One Ring and bring peace to Middle-Earth. Throughout Lego The Lord of the Rings, players will enter the Mines of Moria, climb the Misty Mountains, and battle orcs, Uruk-hai, and the nasty Balrog.

Developer Traveller’s Tales is keeping closely to the fantasy series, with the game including characters that have never appeared in Peter Jackson’s film adaptations. Lego The Lord of the Rings will reportedly feature 85 playable characters. Lego The Lord of the Rings will be out December 5.

On the other end of the spectrum, Guardians of Middle-Earth is a multiplayer battle arena game (MOBA) that features tie-ins to the film The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. The console-exclusive game contains elements often associated with PC-exclusive MOBA titles, placing a strong emphasis on team work.

Players can assume well known characters from the Lord of the Rings universe, such as Gandalf, Legolas and Gollum. Guardians of Middle-Earth will be coming to the 360 on December 6.

If J.R.R. Tolkien’s fantastical world does not quite entice you, Paper Mario: Sticker Star and the Dragonborn DLC for Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim will also be out this week. Check out the full list of new releases below.

December 4, 2012
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim – Dragonborn (360)

December 5, 2012
Lego The Lord of the Rings (360, 3DS, PS3, PC, DS, Vita)

December 6, 2012
Guardians of Middle-Earth (360)
Mass Effect Trilogy (PS3)
Zone of the Enders HD Collection (360, PS3)

December 7, 2012
Nickelodeon Dance 2 (360, Wii)

December 8, 2012
Paper Mario: Sticker Star (3DS)

Square Enix revealed today that Dead Space series composer Jason Graves is in charge of the score for next year’s Tomb Raider franchise reboot.

The company made the announcement in a YouTube video today (below), which takes viewers inside Graves’ Raleigh, North Carolina home and shows off some of the instruments used for the soundtrack.

In addition to creating the music for all three Dead Space titles and numerous other video games, Graves’ work is also featured in television and film. Some of his TV credits include The Amazing Race and America’s Most Wanted, while his work can be found in movie trailers for G.I. Jane and Mercury Rising.

The Tomb Raider reboot–which spans 12-15 hours–is due March 5, 2013 for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC. It was originally planned to launch during fall 2012.

Tomb Raider is the first installment in the series since 2010’s downloadable multiplayer-focused Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light, and the first standalone game since 2008’s Tomb Raider: Underworld.

Just this week, Bungie released the first piece of concept art for its new game, believed to be called Destiny. However, it appears the studio embedded a Destiny teaser more than three years ago in Halo 3: ODST and none caught on until yesterday.

A Twitter user sent former Bungie developer Vic DeLeon (who now continues to work on Halo at 343 Industries) an image from Halo 3: ODST (at right) that bears a resemblance to the leaked artwork from Bungie (below) and contains the line “Destiny Awaits.” DeLeon responded with, “It’s finally been found!”

Notably, the same Earth-like planet is shown in both images, with a smaller white globe not far away.

Along with a range of images, the leaked Destiny document describes Bungie’s new game as “fun and accessible” with a “deep, tangible and relatable” universe that is compared to the Star Wars franchise. The game is also described as “social at its core.”

According to the document, Destiny’s plot revolves around an alien ship bent on destroying Earth and the “knights” tasked with defending what’s left of humanity.