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LucasArts president Paul Meegan has stepped down from his role at the game publisher, a statement from parent company Lucasfilm provided to Polygon reveals. Meegan joined LucasArts in June 2010, and oversaw the launch of Lego Star Wars III, the reveal of Star Wars 1313 in May, and was responsible for general Stars Wars brand management.

“Development on all current LucasArts projects will proceed,” reads a line from Lucasfilm’s statement. “Paul has been a valuable member of the Lucasfilm leadership team and we wish him the best in his future endeavors. We remain committed to our current projects and will be re-evaluating LucasArts’ leadership needs to ensure that we make the right decisions to keep the studio focused.”

In his own statement, Meegan said LucasArts has “come a long away” and he is “extremely proud” of what the teams at the studio have accomplished. He said there are a number of projects that have yet to be announced, and that he wishes the company “all the best” moving forward.

Before joining LucasArts, Meegan served as CEO at Epic Games China, where his duties included outsourcing Epic’s game development and content production services, as well as licensing the Unreal Engine in greater China and southeast Asia.

In addition to his work at Epic Games China, Meegan has served as executive vice president of production at Ubisoft Shanghai, studio director at Jaleco Entertainment, executive vice president at Ubisoft Montreal, and as president and founder of Sinister Games, Inc, which was obtained by Ubisoft in 2000.

LucasArts has not yet said who will replace Meegan as president.

Meegan’s departure from LucasArts follows news from last month, when creative director Clint Hocking announced he was planning to leave the company after two years. Hocking now works at Half-Life and Portal studio Valve.

Bethesda’s upcoming stealth-action game Dishonored will be the latest to tap Hollywood voice talent to bring its characters to life. The publisher announced the voice cast for Dishonored today, revealing Star Wars hero Carrie Fisher, Thelma & Louise actress Susan Sarandon, and a host of others.

Fisher will be heard in Dishonored over a loudspeaker in the game’s city of Dunwall as the broadcaster of government propaganda. Academy Award winner Sarandon will play former aristocrat Granny Rags, an elderly blind woman who has become deranged after years of living on the streets.

Other Hollywood actors lending their voices to Dishonored include Brad Dourif (Lord of the Rings, One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest), who will take on the role of an inventor named Piero. This character creates a number of devices that main character Corvo can use.

Rounding out the voice talent for Dishonored is John Slattery (Mad Men, The Adjustment Bureau), Michael Madsen (Reservoir Dogs, Free Willy), Chloe Grace Moretz (Kick-Ass, Hugo), and Lena Headey (300, Imagine Me & You).

Bethesda also announced today that the he soundtrack for Dishonored was composed by Daniel Licht, who previously provided music work for Dexter and Body of Proof.

Set for release on October 9 for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC, Dishonored is a first-person action game that puts players in the boots of Corvo, an assassin tasked with protecting the empress of a stylized steampunk city known as Dunwall. When the empress is murdered and Corvo framed for the killing, sinister forces grant the accused assassin supernatural abilities to pursue his revenge.

For more on Dishonored, check out GameSpot’s latest preview.

The end is in sight for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 downloadable content. The inaugural Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 content season will come to a close with the Chaos Pack on August 9, followed by the appropriately named Final Assault bundle on September 6, Activision announced today.

Both packs will release first on Xbox Live for 1,200 Microsoft points ($15), and will arrive for the PlayStation 3 and PC “shortly thereafter,” Activision said. The DLC included in the Chaos Pack and Final Assault add-ons will be made available early for Call of Duty: Elite premium members.

The Chaos Pack adds new Special Ops missions Vertigo, Arctic Recon, Light ‘Em Up, and Special Delivery. Additionally, the content brings new Face Off maps Vortex, U-Turn, and Intersection. According to Activision, the Final Assault DLC has been built for “hardcore multiplayer fans,” and adds new maps Boardwalk, Offshore, Decommission, and Parish.

Modern Warfare 3 downloadable content was developed by Infinity Ward, Sledgehammer Games, and Raven Software. For more on Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, check out GameSpot’s review.

The next entry in the Army of Two franchise will be on store shelves next year. Electronic Arts announced Army of Two: The Devil’s Cartel today, slating the game to arrive for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 during March 2013.

A co-op shooter developed by Visceral Games Montreal and running on DICE’s Frostbite 2 game engine, The Devil’s Cartel is aimed at “resetting” and “refreshing” the franchise. In the game, players will find themselves in Mexico, battling as two operatives working for the Tactical Worlwide Operations (T.W.O).

Players will be dropped into the middle of a drug war, tasked with an assignment “full of corruption and deceit.” Gamers will be able to “unleash the power of ultimate destruction” and must work together to see victory over “ruthless opposition.”

The Devil’s Cartel sports online and split-screen co-op, as well as an upgrade and customization system that is “deeper and more advanced” than in previous games. The Devil’s Cartel is the third entry in the franchise, which debuted in 2008 with the original Army of Two, and was followed up by 2010’s Army of Two: The 40th Day.

For more on the Army of Two series, check out GameSpot’s reviews of the original Army of Two and The 40th Day.

To see Army of Two: The Devil’s Cartel in action, check out the game’s first trailer, courtesy of Game Informer.

It continues to sound as though Capcom will make a sequel to May’s action role-playing game Dragon’s Dogma. Capcom today published highlights from an investor question and answer session during which the company said the sales success of Dragon’s Dogma warrants more games in the series.

“Dragon’s Dogma was a bigger-than-expected hit domestically, while overseas, it was slightly below our initial forecasts. However, in both domestic and international markets, unit sales increased with a steady expansion of repeat sales,” says Capcom. “Under current market conditions, we consider the sale of one million units for brand new titles to be a relative success. Given this, we are in a position to favorably consider subsequent titles.”

As part of a financial report that saw Capcom’s profits rise 290 percent, the company said the one million copies Dragon’s Dogma has shipped thus far have “set the stage” for the game to become a series. This follows news from June, when Capcom said it plans to develop the original fantasy role-playing game into a major franchise. Additionally, game director Hideaki Itsuno said last month that a full sequel would be developed, provided the fan support is there.

For more on Dragon’s Dogma, check out GameSpot’s review.

Half-Life and Portal studio Valve has updated its Steam Subscriber Agreement with changes that block users from partaking in class-action lawsuits against the company, the firm has announced. According to Valve, the company considered the change “very carefully” and ultimately decided it was in users’ best interest.

“It’s clear to us that in some situations, class actions have real benefits to customers. In far too many cases however, class actions don’t provide any real benefit to users and instead impose unnecessary expense and delay, and are often designed to benefit the class action lawyers who craft and litigate these claims,” reads a line from Valve’s statement. “Class actions like these do not benefit us or our communities.”

Valve joins other major game companies like Microsoft and Sony in banning users from collectively suing them.

In addition to altering its Steam Subscriber Agreement to block class-action suits, Valve said it is introducing a new dispute resolution process that it claims carries benefits for gamers and itself alike. The company said its first goal with an unhappy customer is to resolve the matter as quickly as possible through normal customer support processes. Valve acknowledges, however, this is not always possible, and has outlined a new process involving arbitration or small claims court as means of resolving issues.

Valve said it will reimburse users’ costs for claims under a certain amount regardless of whether the arbitration process ends in victory for Valve or users. The only stipulation here is the claim cannot be without merit or the costs “unreasonable.”

Valve also announced today it has opened a new office in Luxembourg as an effort to better serve customers and partners in European regions.

2K Games boss Christoph Hartmann–who heads up development on franchises like Duke Nukem, BioShock, and Borderlands–believes photorealistic visuals are needed to help propel the industry into new genres.

Speaking to Games Industry International, Hartmann said the film industry holds an advantage over games, in that directors are more easily able to show emotions like sadness and love, while game developers struggle to portray these. Because of this, Hartmann says many developers instead focus on action and shooting before all else.

“Recreating a Mission Impossible experience in gaming is easy; recreating emotions in Brokeback Mountain is going to be tough, or at least very sensitive in this country… it will be very hard to create very deep emotions like sadness or love, things that drive the movies,” he said. “Until games are photorealistic, it’ll be very hard to open up to new genres. We can really only focus on action and shooter titles; those are suitable for consoles now.”

Hartmann went on to explain that photorealism in games may represent an “endpoint” and that consoles capable of rendering such visuals could be the last systems ever needed.

“To dramatically change the industry to where we can insert a whole range of emotions, I feel it will only happen when we reach the point that games are photorealistic,” he said. “Then we will have reached an endpoint and that might be the final console.”

Square Enix has announced that it is launching a nationwide competition to celebrate the local release of the Hitman: Sniper Challenge stand-alone minigame for PCs.

Created as an exclusive title for players who pre-order Square Enix’s upcoming Hitman: Absolution, the game’s global online leaderboards have been active since May 15, but PC gamers have not had a chance to participate until now.

The Australian competition will launch today in partnership with video game retailer EB Games. Monthly prizes will be awarded to each of the highest Xbox Live, PlayStation Network, and PC leaderboard scores for those who have pre-ordered Hitman: Absolution at EB Games Australia, and registered their details at the Hitman: Sniper Challenge website.

Prizes in the competition include Sennheiser headphones and Hitman merchandise.

The online leaderboards are supported by various challenges, and include rewards like score multipliers, secret extras, and the ability to unlock equipment upgrades. Some of these upgrades can be unlocked and carried over into Hitman: Absolution.

For more information on the competition, and updates on the Australian leaderboards, visit EB Games for details.

Hitman: Absolution is scheduled for a global release on November 20, 2012 on the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC.