THQ has announced that the playable demo of its upcoming Red Faction: Armageddon will be available for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 platforms on May 3rd. The demo puts players into the boots of protagonist Darius Mason as he helps fight off wave after wave of alien invaders on Mars. The game takes place about 50 years after the events of Red Faction: Resistance. The full game is due out on the Xbox 360, Windows PC, and PlayStation 3 platforms on May 31st, 2011.
EPIC Games has announced that LucasArts has signed into a multi-year agreement to license EPIC’s Unreal Engine 3 for multiple upcoming titles. The exact titles they are using this engine for are not known just yet but, with their August acquisition of former Ubisoft Creative Director Clint Hocking, it is a safe assumption that his unannounced project will be one of them.
“Unreal Engine 3 is a forward-looking solution that shortens the path between inspiration and execution on a wide variety of gaming platforms,” said Zak Phelps, director of technology at LucasArts. “We are thrilled to add another exceptional tool to our technology mix.”
“LucasArts is now primed to capitalize on Unreal Engine 3’s ability to scale across platforms, from mobile, through PC and console all the way up to the next generation of games,” said Mark Rein, vice president of Epic Games. “We can’t wait to see what happens when LucasArts combines their talented workforce and amazing intellectual properties with Unreal Engine 3.”
EA Sports has announced that fans of their upcoming SSX title will be able to vote on characters to be featured in the upcoming game. The voting will last for three weeks and will take place exclusively on the EA Sports Facebook page. The new SSX is said to be a “stunning re-invention of the series” and is currently in-development by EA Canada for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 platforms.
Voting Schedule:
Week of April 25 – Kaori, JP, Moby, Viggo
Week of May 2 – Zoe, Mac, Nate, Allegra
Week of May 9 – Psymon, Eddie, Griff, Tyson
Electronic Arts and BioWare have released two new screenshots from their upcoming sci-fi epic, Mass Effect 3, which is due out during the upcoming Holiday season. The game is being developed for the Xbox 360, Windows PC, and PlayStation 3 platforms and will effectively wrap up the first trilogy of the IP.
1C Company has released a huge patch for its wargame, Men of War: Assault Squad. Weighing in at 388 megabytes, the patch includes a multitude of fixes for the game, which puts players in command of a squad of troops in a tactical environment set during World War II. Men of War: Assault Squad is available exclusively on the Windows PC platform and retails for about $34.95.
LINK: Official Patch Download (Right-Click and Save As)
THQ has announced that they have extended their exclusive license of Games Workshop’s Warhammer 40k IP, which includes all video game and social platforms. THQ recently released the expansion to Warhammer 40k: Dawn of War II, called Retribution.
“The complex, futuristic war-torn universe created by Games Workshop equipped THQ’s award-winning development teams with the material to create one of the most loved PC franchises – Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War,” said Brian Farrell, THQ President and CEO. “Our envisioning of the Warhammer 40,000 universe will continue to grow with top quality games across all platforms, including the upcoming launches of Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine and Warhammer 40,000: Dark Millennium Online.”
“The impressive translation of the Warhammer 40,000 universe from the tabletop to the video game space by THQ certainly highlights the potential of our most successful intellectual property in the right hands,” said Mark Wells, Games Workshop CEO. “We know that the depth of the storylines, characters and imagery of the Warhammer 40,000 universe positions the IP to excel across many media platforms – and extending our agreement with THQ will help ensure that Warhammer 40,000 maintains a strong and growing presence in the video game space.”
THQ will be bringing at least two new Warhammer 40k games this year – Warhammer 40k: Space Marine and Warhammer 40k: Dark Millenium Online.
Gears of War 3 Trenches Map
EPIC Games has released the official beta test schedule for their upcoming Gears of War 3 beta program. The program begins on April 18th with team deathmatch and wraps up on May 15th. Gears of War 3 is due out on the Xbox 360 platform on September 20th, 2011.
As we near the full Gears 3 beta release on April 25th, many fans are curious what maps and game types will be unlocked and when. See our full schedule below and let us know what you’re most looking forward to in the comments!
April 18th – April 24th: TDM on Thrashball and Checkout.
April 25th – May 1st: TDM and KOTH on Thrashball, Checkout, Trenches and Old Town.
May 2nd – May 8th: TDM, KOTH, and CTL on Thrashball, Checkout, Trenches, and Old Town.
May 9th – May 15th: TDM, KOTH, and CTL on Thrashball, Checkout, Trenches, and Old Town.
LINK: Official Beta Schedule
Sony has been steadily updating its official PlayStation Blog with news on the rebuilding of its PlayStation Network online services after a brutal attack last week that some say even resulted in large amounts of customer information being compromised. What is definitely known is that this outage has left many games, such as SOE’s DC Universe Online, unplayable as well as even halted the distribution of Infamous 2 beta codes.
Latest PlayStation Blog Update
PSN Update
+ Posted by Patrick Seybold // Sr. Director, Corporate Communications & Social MediaI know you are waiting for additional information on when PlayStation Network and Qriocity services will be online. Unfortunately, I don’t have an update or timeframe to share at this point in time.
As we previously noted, this is a time intensive process and we’re working to get them back online quickly. We’ll keep you updated with information as it becomes available. We once again thank you for your patience
You can checkout more as Sony releases it over at the official PlayStation Blog.
CNN reports on a new book titled “The Zombie Autopsies” which takes a look at how the much-talked about zombie apocalypse could actually happen. Written by child psychiatrist Dr. Steven Schlozman, who holds a position at the Harvard Medical School as well as the Massachusetts General Hospital/McLean Program in Child Psychiatry, the book takes a look at what would be needed for a virus to turn normal human beings into devourers of flesh.
What a zombie virus would do to the brain
So maybe you’ve seen “Night of the Living Dead,” read “World War Z,” or can’t wait for the return of the AMC show “The Walking Dead,” but you probably don’t know what differentiates the brains of humans and zombies.
First things first: How does the zombie disease infect its victims? Many stories in the genre talk about biting, but Schlozman’s novel imagines a deliberately engineered virus whose particles can travel in the air and remain potent enough to jump from one person to another in a single sneeze.
Dr. Schlozman will be on a CNN Twitter chat session from 12:00 p.m. ET on Tuesday, April 26. Tweet your questions to @cnnhealth and follow along at #cnnzombies.
Vanguard Entertainment and Electronic Arts have released the debut trailer for their upcoming isometric, mech-actioner, Gatling Gears. Gatling Gears is due out on May 11th for the Xbox LIVE Arcade, PlayStation Network, and Windows PC platforms.
