All Topics Gaming older than one year ago

Relic and THQ have announced the second standalone expansion to the Warhammer 40k-themed RTS Dawn of War 2. The expansion will be called Retribution, and will introduce the series' first multi-race single player campaign. The first race announced is the Orks, but players will be able to choose other races to play through the campaign as well, meaning you can finally play as something other than Space Marines in the singleplayer game.

Multiplayer also gets extras in the form of new units, some new maps and a whole new playable race to fight with. There's no word out of Gamescom yet as to exactly which race that is, but given that we've played as Orks, Space Marines and Eldar in the series before, playing as the Tyranids is a pretty good guess. We'll find out for sure when the expansion is released -- it's scheduled for Q1 2011.

#gamescom2010 I like playing games with asynchronous multiplayer, but outside of Facebook, there aren't many ways to compete against gaming friends in a non-simultaneous way. Thankfully, Criterion includes that sort of thing in their racing games. More »

A music game that's just about singing? That's so 2003. Or if you're the SingStar franchise, it's so, um, today. Sony's PlayStation karaoke series has proudly focused on grading vocals for years now, but that's about the change with this fall's release of both SingStar Dance and SingStar Guitar. I got a chance to try both of these games at Sony's pre-GamesCom press event, and have written up some quick initial impressions after the break.

This week's topics include the Nintendo holiday lineup, a new Wii peripheral and a very special birthday.

Finally, with the release of the opening cinematic for Disney Epic Mickey, we're getting a bigger look at the story going on behind Warren Spector's ode to Disney animation. As expected, it involves some shenanigans with Mickey and a sorcerer (Yen Sid from Fantasia), a magic paintbrush, some paint and paint thinner. But even more intriguing are the many nods to old-school Disney cartoons, from all of the hats and objects placed on the walls to the dates and movie stills flying past in the quick montage near the end.

Of course, it would probably take a Disney aficionado like Spector to catch all of those references zipping by, but even if you don't get everything, you can at least see that Mickey has unintentionally created the Phantom Blot, and has caused a little bit of chaos in Yen Sid's alternate reality, turning it into the Wasteland that the big-eared hero gets tossed into. Hopefully the game will be just as fun without knowing why that calendar above says "March 25."

#roster EA Sports MMA is revealing its roster of fighters week by week, beginning with the heavyweights last week. This week, a 17-fighter light heavyweight roster was unveiled. More »

Thanks to AusGamer and PugWishBone for the heads up!

We've got to hand it to the recently revealed Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock setlist -- there are more than a few tasty tracks in the series' next installment. Still, as excited as we are to faux-pluck our way through Styx's "Renegade," we can't help but question a few of the songs therein. Not that they're bad songs, per se, but ... well, we can't really envision R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe as a "Warrior of Rock," you know? We imagine him wearing spiked pauldrons, and it just doesn't do anything for us.

Check out the full 93-song setlist just past the jump.

We ditch the controversial topic to talk about all the new announcements from Gamescon

#ds Nintendo revealed the releases dates this morning for its big Wii and DS games that will be out in North America this fall. Missing among them was one for Golden Sun: Dark Dawn. Is the game slipping? We're not sure. More »

Not sure if this one is going to move any hardware...

The latest Brink dev diary introduces us to the game's "Smooth Movement Across Random Terrain" system -- or "S.M.A.R.T." for short -- and how it allows players to deftly traverse environments while firing bullets at enemies. In so many words, this is the system that allows players to practice their totally sweet parkour moves while murdering fools.

Perhaps those smooth moves will inspire you to get some freestyle walking in as well -- in real life? Good thing, then, that Brink is sponsoring "champion freerunner" Daniel Ilabaca on a European parkour tour. The tour kicked off today in London and will hit a handful of major EU cities before ending in Paris on September 2. We might also suggest you buy lots of padding and, depending on your level of fitness, a membership to the local gym before trying that "freerunning" yourself.

Microsoft's Channel 9 has posted a quick preview - more of a commercial really - of the Halo Waypoint app on Windows Phone 7. Based on Silverlight, the app offers a streamlined version of the console experience, tying into Xbox Live and allowing users to check out articles, video and more. See it in action after the break.

We put the new addition to "Be A Pro" through its paces.

#northamerica Budding Mavericks, Geese and Icemen will want to re-fund the wallet this week, as Top Gun leads the list of new PlayStation Store games for North American PS3 owners. Three new PS3 demos also provide high speed thrills. More »

Brand new trailer straight from Gamescom 2010.

Do you like arcade-style flights games? This is the week to find out. Try a couple flybys in the HAWX 2 demo, and then take it right into Top Gun's proverbial Danger Zone. Speaking of danger, definitely check out the Joe Danger demo (if you haven't already picked up the game). It just might ... take your breath aawaaaaay, dun DUN, dun DUN, duh DUN, dun dun dun dun DUUUUNNNN.

Choose your platform to view the corresponding release list:
(Note: Continue past the break to view both release lists.)

World's most popular super heroic MMORPG begins a new era of online gaming today with gripping moral choices, immersive new content and devastating new powers.

#nothingpersonnel After cutting 60 jobs last week, U.K.-based studio Realtime Worlds, the maker of the cops-and-robbers MMO APB, entered administration today, a process somewhat analagous to Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization in the United States. More »

When they're not busy slow-mo combo killing each other, the characters in Bulletstorm enjoy fighting Cloverfield's cousin and bringing down entire skyscrapers. Or so these latest screens from the Epic Games-produced arcade FPS would have us believe. See 'em after the break.

APB developer enters into administration.

Jeremiah Slaczka, creative director and CEO of Super Scribblenauts developer 5TH Cell, dropped a tantalizing hint about the company's next project in a statement to Joystiq. "We're not ready to reveal our next original game just yet, but I can say we're using the Source Engine for it," Slaczka told us.

Slaczka wouldn't confirm or deny whether this is the XBLA project mentioned last year. But if it's using Valve's FPS-friendly Source engine, it's unlikely to be a DS game -- and it's unlikely to be Scribblenauts. As for when we can expect to learn more about this mystery project: "Hopefully we'll have something to show people in a few months."

APB developer enters into administration.

Create and share the inner workings of your mind.

The Yuusha no Kuse ni Namaikida series has undergone a number of name changes in localization. NIS America originally released the PSP's evil overlord hideout design game under the hilariously unwieldy title "Holy Invasion of Privacy, Badman! What Did I Do to Deserve This!?" Shortly before the release of the sequel, a trademark complaint forced NIS to change the series title to "What Did I Do to Deserve This, My Lord!?"

Now, a trailer released during Gamescom has revealed Sony Europe's plans to localize the third game, called Yuusha no Kuse ni Namaikida 3D in Japan, under yet another completely different title, the much pithier "No Heroes Allowed." This third game adds the ability to flood your dungeon with water in order to destroy any invading heroes, and also allows for competitive or cooperative multiplayer. Check out the trailer after the break, My Lord!