MicroVolts, soon to be fully unveiled to the gaming community in the Closed Beta, will offer endless hours of fun filled mayhem.

Today’s tutorial trailer shows off what it takes to win in the nursery when the dolls go to town.

With a plethora of weapons, inventive character designs, and a huge list of customization features, Microvolts is destined to invigorate and re-energise the Free2play genre.

We hope to see you in game and don’t forget to have fun! Make sure to sign up and with a little bit of luck be one of the first to receive a beta code and play before anyone else: www.MicroVolts.com

With Ubisoft’s follow up to stellar combat flight game, H.A.W.X., incoming in the Autumn, we have a nice little reveal trailer to show you.

With the follow up to combat game, H.A.W.X. incoming in Autumn we thought we would share with you an interview with the developer which will give you a little more insight into the game and may answer some of your questions.

What are the new gameplay elements in HAWX 2?

The key idea driving the development was the idea of offering the true feel of modern air conflict, with all of its various experiences, like watching a wall of anti-air guns through night vision, using a precision bomb on a target, refueling your plane in mid-air, take off and landing, using carriers and so on. It was important for us not just to include these new features, but to integrate them into a convincing world and to improve the look and feel of it, to render more authentically what aerial warfare in the modern era is like.

So we have built a complete experience that includes the iconic moments present in the collective memory and also the trends in the military development.

Have you done any improvements concerning the graphics?

We are using the top solution available, GeoEye hi-res satellite imagery. Our environments are huge – 130km x 130km – which is what you need when you give players the freedom to sprint around at Mach 2. They offer some spectacular and diverse vistas, including mountains, deserts, mountainous coastal regions and some well known cities, like Cape Town. We also manage to add a great deal of detail where it matters – for instance you will be able to see people going about their jobs in the bases where you take off.

Are there any connections between HAWX 2 and other Tom Clancy titles? Maybe Ghost Recon: Future Warrior?

You can expect to fight along a very familiar team  at some points in the game supporting and protecting them as the accomplish the different missions.

Are you planning to release DLC after release?

We can’t confirm this info at this point. For sure we’d like to offer interesting content after release.

Will HAWX 2 support Playstation Move or Microsoft Kinect?

It will not support these features.

HAWX 2 is coming for PC too. Will this game also use the Ubi Launcher for copy protection?

Is to early too confirm this information but the general policy is to use copy protection at this point.

So HAWX 2 is going to be an action game. Have ever thought about developing a simulation?

However HAWX 2 is not a simulation, since it was important for us that the game can be played by people that aren’t experts at flight games, but it can also be enjoyed by flight enthusiasts. We focused on the feeling of authenticity and plausibility both in the gameplay and in the story, without turning the experience into a juggernaut of detail.

HAWX 2 is driven by the latest military evolutions and forecasts in terms of hardware, tactics and technology. We made sure that we incorporated key moments that the public will recognize from real world conflicts, such as precision bombing using smart ammunition. We took into consideration for example the ascent of the UAV as an effective reconnaissance and attack platform.

The first HAWX took place between the events of Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 and EndWar. Does HAWX 2 have plot connections with other Tom Clancy’s games too?

The storyline in HAWX 2 starts in the Middle East, in the near future. The HAWX squadron is deployed in the Middle East, where insurgent activity is showing a rise both in the level of activity and in the violence of it. With new insurgent leaders rising in several hotspots of the world and a number of nuclear weapons belonging to Russia being mysteriously stolen, a storm is brewing and the HAWX are sent to the center of it. There are connections with other events in the Tom Clancy universe, but revealing them now would spoil our surprises.

What is the involvement of Tom Clancy in the storylines of the HAWX series?

Tom Clancy is not directly involved at this point in the HAWX series. However, we are creating an experience that is very much Clancy, because we have access to all that past experiences and his long-term vision. This means first and foremost a realistic and thought provoking scenario involving elite military teams and operations to solve a near future conflict.

With the first game you guys seemed to stand out from Ace Combat and your own Blazing Angels. Now your franchise is well established, what do you guys want to achieve with this sequel?

Well, like everyone, we want to evolve. It is not our intention to remain comfortable, ‘established’ as you put it, – we will always move forward and will always make sure that each new game that we make is better than the previous one.

The first game was known for giving the players the chance to adjust the kind of controls between difficulty levels. How realistic will the control of the planes be in the sequel?

This wasn’t really the case – HAWX offered some choices related to how certain gameplay elements controlled, but overall it was an unified experience and this is what we have here too. We did increase the level of realism in certain ways, though. We tuned the physics in lots of small ways and you will, for instance, see gravity and airflow have a more natural impact on the plane.

The main addition in HAWX 2 arsenal is the precision weapons. Can you give us some details about it?

The main new addition to the player’s arsenal is the inclusion of precision weapons, which allow him to aim and designate the location of the strike with perfect accuracy. There are several such weapons, including a missile that the player can control while in flight.

Precision bombs are a very important part of a jet pilot’s life in the modern war and this is why we wanted to have them represented in the game. They work like you’d expect – you activate this mode and switch from piloting the plane (which continues to fly on auto-pilot) to aiming the precision bomb or missile. You aim the weapon and mark the spot on the ground that you want to hit. The bomb will hit exactly that spot. The trick is that you are quite vulnerable when you do this and in some mission you have to fire quickly and then get back to pilot in time to dodge attacks.

Landing and taking off seems to be important facts in the gameplay side of HAWX 2. Can you tell us how they work?

Everything is an organic part of the game and fits naturally with the other elements of the system. To take off, you taxi to the take off position, line up, accelerate and pitch up when you reach the right speed. To land you open the landing gear, line up with the runway, slow down and slowly bring the plane down. All of this is done with the same controls as the normal flight and is connected seamlessly with the rest of the game. You can even land during a mission to get more ammo, then get back in the air and continue the fight.

Why do you think the dog fighting genre is so unpopular these days?

‘Unpopular’ is quite a strong term. Games in the genre have sold a few millions of copies in the past few years. Sure, it is not as popular as the first person shooter genre, for instance, but it still is a healthy niche. You can see there is still interest in the world of aerial warfare from the fact that related elements have started to crop up in more and more military shooters these days. I think a problem with flight combat games recently has been exactly the over-emphasis on dogfighting – sure, this is the bread and butter of air combat, but there are also many other interesting things going on in air combat and too few flight combat games have touched upon them. This is why we wanted to incorporate a large number of experiences that we know are attractive and are all related to the modern mythology of aerial warfare, rather than have the player simply navigate from dogfight to dogfight.

Can you guys tell us something about the new projects of Ubisoft Romania?

All we can say at this point is that we want to deliver the best possible experience with HAWX 2. We got some fresh projects for sure, but nothing that we can comment about right now.

Leading video game developer BioWare confirmed today that Dragon Age 2 is in development at BioWare’s Edmonton-based studio.

Dragon Age 2 is the sequel to the triple-platinum-selling Dragon Age: Origins which was named “RPG of the Year” in 2009 by Game Informer, G4, IGN, and SpikeTV. With Dragon Age 2, the world’s preeminent RPG developer is revolutionizing the genre again, infusing the universe with more action, a new, more responsive combat system and a dynamic story that is already among the most multifaceted in gaming. Dragon Age 2 traces the rise to power of Hawke, a survivor of the Blight and a hero who will transform the face of the Dragon Age universe forever. The new game is scheduled for release in March of 2011 on the Xbox 360 videogame and entertainment system, PlayStation 3 computer and entertainment system, and PC.

“Last year’s launch of Dragon Age: Origins was one of the most successful in BioWare’s 15-year history and one of the most successful new IP launches in the 28 year history of EA,” said Dr. Ray Muzyka, Senior Vice President of Electronic Arts and co-founder and Group General Manager of BioWare. “Dragon Age 2 will simultaneously deliver an epic story and set a new bar for intense action in the genre. We’re very excited to deliver this next bold evolution in the Dragon Age franchise to our fans.”

“With Dragon Age 2 we are creating an exciting new entry point into the Dragon Age universe while ensuring that fans of the original game retain a sense of satisfaction and familiarity in the world,” said Dragon Age 2 Executive Producer Mark Darrah. “We are amplifying the things that made Dragon Age: Origins such a huge success while introducing a more dynamic combat system, improving the graphics, and telling the most important story in our world.”

Dragon Age 2 thrusts players into the role of Hawke, a penniless refugee who rises to power to become the single most important character in the world of Dragon Age. Known to be a survivor of the Blight and the Champion of Kirkwall, the legend around Hawke’s rise to power is shrouded in myth and rumor.  Featuring an all-new story spanning 10 years, players will help tell that tale by making tough moral choices, gathering the deadliest of allies, amassing fame and fortune, and sealing their place in history. The way you play will write the story of how the world is changed forever.

Dragon Age 2 is in production for the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC.

With the release of Crackdown 2 imminent, there’s a nice surprise in store for all Perfect Dark XBLA owners out there.

Buried within the Perfect Dark XBLA is a secret playable character known as Agent 4, so if you already own Perfect Dark and pick up a copy of Crackdown 2 when it hits stores across Europe on Friday 9^th July, this feisty black-suited gun nut will soon be under your command.

When Perfect Dark detects a Crackdown 2 save file on your device, it’ll automatically make Agent 4 available for use in the Perfect Dark Combat Simulator (aka the multiplayer modes).  Better still, this is completely free of charge! Suit up and share the run ‘n’ gun love with the Crackdown 2, Perfect Dark crossover combatant.

Crackdown 2 will launch in Europe on the 9^th and is available for pre-order now and has been reviewed by ourselves here.

For those of you who can’t wait to experience the chaos and carnage that Crackdown 2 offers, a demo is available now via Xbox LIVE.

Who will admit that back in 2007 when we bought the Halo 3 beta that had a game called Crackdown bundled with it thought that Microsoft had found an easy way to shift units of a game that didn’t look that good?

I thought so, me included.   But when you played a couple of hours of Crackdown waiting for the delayed Halo 3 beta to surface, who then found out that this was not some cheap stunt at all but Crackdown provided more entertainment than you thought the game would deliver?

Crackdown, developed by Realtime Worlds, made such a statement in the sandbox action genre that not only did it deliver a great experience but also single handedly create its own sub genre.  Fusing classic sandbox over the top action with a vertical as well as horizontal urban playground, Crackdown provided, fun, frolics, exuberant gunplay, crazy explosions plus a new gaming drug called hunt the orb which has had people hooked on searching for them for the past couple of years.

Cue, 2010 and the sequel, Crackdown 2, which has left the Realtime Worlds creators to be developed by Ruffian Games.  The game takes place in Pacific City 10 years later where chaos has broken loose with infected “Freaks” rampaging through the city, tearing up and destroying anything in their paths and the Cell who are a group that want to protect what the Freaks are doing and want to stop the Agency from cleaning them up.

Think of them as a Save The Whale type hippy foundation with a ridiculous arsenal of weaponry and you’ll know where I am going.  Your task as an advanced Agent is to activate absorption beams that will highlight a Freaks lair.  You are then tasked with dropping into the lairs, calling in support to drop in a UV mega weapon, defend the weapon from attacking Freaks until fully charged that will take out the offending lair.

If you remember the original Crackdown then you will also release that the narrative was never its strong point.  It was there merely to service the requirements that drive the game forward before you become addicted to the many side quests that were on offer.  Crackdown 2 will play out exactly the same way and although the story is a basic foundation for the game, you will get sidetracked very quickly with the many side quests in the game.  There is a lot more to do this time so it will suck many more hours from you.  From taking over tactical locations that are Cell strongholds, closing down Freak breaches, rooftop and driving races to the ultimate gaming addiction of finding those orbs that are dotted around the city, you will soon find that there are more things to check off that will make this games pick up and play value far more superior to a lot of other games in it’s genre.

One of Crackdown 2′s main draws is your character’s power up system and how it operates.  Broken down into several skills that include weapons, strength, explosives, driving and, of course, agility you will find yourself constantly trying to build these up to unlock new items.  Driving will unlock new cars, weapons and explosives speak for themselves with strength and agility allowing you to open up more of the city as you climb and jump higher and longer to reach those places that were not possible in the early part of the game.

There is a real addictiveness here which will lead to the searching and collection of 500 agility and 300 hidden as well as some special co-op only orbs that are to be found in the game.  If that wasn’t enough, you can also attempt to grab the rogue agility and driving orbs that are also liberally scattered around.  This becomes the real addiction as you try to figure out how you can reach some of them.

The action itself is fierce and heavy from exciting set pieces triggered off by your Agent trying to capture a tactical location, taking out a Freak breach and trying to set off the absorption beams to just going out at night when the Freaks start to appear in droves and going on an absolute orgy of gunplay and the thrill of the kill in as many ways as you can imagine.  From setting off a chain of explosions to ripping off a lamp post and battering a few enemies with it, there is always something creative for you to do to eliminate Cell and Freaks in the bloodiest way possible.

The control system does a good job here and in the main works smoothly to get the desired action.  One problem for me was that the system did feel a little clunky as I reached the latter lairs in the main story.  I found that the pace of the attacks by the Freaks in the final 2 lairs of the main story left me feeling frustrated as I wanted my Agent to do something but was too slow to react to it.  Now, I know i’m getting old but my reactions are not that bad.  For those mistakes I spent a good part of an hour tearing my hair out trying to hold off the waves of Freaks whilst trying to protect the UV weapon only for the weapon to get too damaged due to a slow weapon swap and having to restart the mission.

Another frustration I found in the game was the way your character got knocked of of his feet.  I appreciate the fact that this has to happen but the time it takes to get up coupled with the rag doll physics that will have you bouncing around can sometimes make you lose a mission that you really should have completed.  These are very small grumbles and ultimately, Ruffian have provided a game where the positives far outweigh the minor negatives that I have explained.

Getting back on a positive track, Ruffian have now given Crackdown fans their biggest request and that is to deliver 4 player co-op to the party.  Sometimes, the game can become a trawl on your own but Crackdown 2 really comes alive when you have a mate or two to jump around with.

Whether it is tracking down the xbox live orbs, helping out in the main story or one of the many side quests or even seeing what is possible in the game for laughs then co-op will have you hooked for days on end and is a perfect accompaniment to losing a few hours after a serious night of gaming.

There is also a multiplayer element to it where up to 16 players can go head to head in Rocket tag and a couple of deathmatch options.  Although a lot of fun, it does feel as though it has been bolted on rather than had some serious attention given to it that will give the modes some longevity.  More of an afterthought rather than being a necessity and you will head back to co-op very quickly, I feel.

Overall, Crackdown 2 delivers a whole lot of fun and is definitely worth a purchase.  Some people may think that Ruffian are very brave to revisit Pacific City but the destruction within the environment gives the city a completely different look and feel.  It just goes to show that with a lot of effort something that could have turned out to be a clone of the original and would lose its edge can be turned into an enthralling playground that has advanced itself in a positive way, added more depth and challenges to deliver a game that will both satisfy and keep you coming back for months on end.

Crackdown 2 will be released in the U.K on Friday 9th July and is exclusive to the Xbox 360.

The second pack of new multiplayer maps from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is now available in the UK for Windows PC with the release of the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Resurgence Pack.

The map pack will be available for download on the PS3 today, 7^th July.

Featuring five maps, the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Resurgence Pack can be downloaded for £10.99 from the PlayStation Store and from Steam for the PC.

A certified number one bestseller, Worms 2: Armageddon is still the title of choice for thousands of gamers across the globe.

With this in mind, Team17 are thrilled to release the feature-packed Worms 2: Armageddon Battle Pack on Xbox LIVE Arcade, a new downloadable content pack containing new weapons and utilities, a new single-player campaign, tons of crazy new customization features, new achievements and an all-new game mode amongst other upgrades to the original smash hit.

The Body Count mode pits a single worm against a never-ending army of enemies, with the aim being to amass the largest number of kills before eventually being laid to rest with your own signature tombstone. Your high scores will be tracked on an all-new Leaderboard, so it’s easy to see whose worm is harder than yours!

With 30 new singleplayer Deathmatches, new “Warzone” theme and a cluster (grenade) of new weapons and utilities including termites, ferrets and worship statues there is plenty to keep the average Wormer occupied; 10 brilliant new Forts and new items to customize your team mean that it’s now even easier to remember who you blasted off the landscape in previous matches, and which players pounded you into the dirt.

Worms 2: Armageddon: Battle Pack is available now for 400 MS Points via Xbox LIVE Arcade.

Here’s the breakdown of what you’ll get.

• New single-player content:
  • Warzone Campaign – 30 all-new single-player Deathmatches (with an additional Achievement for completion)
  • Body Count Single Player Mode (one level per theme and one random level)
  • 7 Body Count Leaderboards
• New weapons and utilities - 6 new weapons/utilities:
  • The Three Ferrets (an animal-based explosive attack)
  • Termites (an animal based “quick” tunnel creation)
  • Marked For Death (utility that doubles the effect of any damage taken)
  • Invisibility
  • Steal
  • Worship (utility that places a statue which simultaneously heals your team while damaging any opponents)
  • Extra Achievement for the use of all new weapons
• Forts additions:
  • 10 all new Forts (includes 2 contest-winning Forts designed by Facebook Worms Fans)
  • Super Forts Game Style including ranked Leaderboard
  • Extra Achievement for winning a game on each new Fort
• New Game Styles:
  • New Warzone Game Style
  • New Super Forts Style
• Customization elements:
  • A range of new customization features; new voices and hats.
  • Additional colour variants of all existing hats
  • Custom HUDs – ‘light-side’, ‘dark-side’ and ‘fire’
  • 40 new player titles
  • Custom particle sets for light side and dark side players
• Bonus Landscape themes – enhanced landscape themes to make a total of 13:
  • Warzone (all new)
  • Arctic
  • London
  • Hawaii
  • Space
  • Hell
  • Jungle

Eager to share their latest creation, IO Interactive are now inviting gamers into the world KANE & LYNCH 2: DOG DAYS, in an exclusive demo now playable for a limited time via Xbox 360.

As 2010’s most visually unique game, IO Interactive want to encourage gamers to experience the gritty realism of KANE & LYNCH 2: DOG DAYS first hand and so are offering an exclusive early demo to showcase the distinct and gripping world of Shanghai as seen through the eyes of gaming’s two most notorious criminals.

The exclusive demo features…

• A brief look at the brutal single-player Story Mode
• Ability to sharpen heist skills in new Arcade Mode
• All-encompassing access to the highly anticipated Multiplayer modes:

o Fragile Alliance – up to eight players – celebrated multiplayer experience based on Greed, Betrayal & Revenge, extended with more risk and more rewards. Work together as a team to escape with as much loot as possible, within a four minute time period. Players will need to move fast, if they decide to turn on the team and make off with the money on their own. Die and respawn as a cop to prevent the heist.

o Undercover Cop – up to eight players – adds an extra level of paranoia to Fragile Alliance as teams are infiltrated by a mole set to stop the alliance.

o Cops & Robbers – up to 12 players – Creates a new team-mode dynamic with Robbers trying to protect their loot and Cops trying to retrieve it.

In KANE & LYNCH 2: DOG DAYS, Kane and Lynch face the consequences when a simple job gone wrong sets off a desperate and frantic struggle to escape the entire Shanghai underworld.

Ground-breaking art direction, relentless action gameplay and innovative multiplayer redefine the action shooter experience and position this product as the standout shooter of 2010.

Available for a limited time, access to the demo is available from:

Official Website: www.KaneandLynch.com

GamesRadar: www.gamesradar.com/kandl2demogiveaway

Youtube : http://www.youtube.com/user/kaneandlynchofficial

A public demo will be released on all platforms prior to game launch.