With your party of three Pawns, the demo allows you to experience the different styles of two of the game’s character classes in two challenging encounters.

A melee specialist skilled in both attacks and counterattacks, as the Fighter you will make your way through underground tunnels and chambers before taking on the deadly Chimera in a Prologue quest, set before the events of the main game.

Swift and nimble, the Strider’s weapons of choice are bow and daggers, use them well if you are to defeat the mighty Griffin in the open plains surrounding the capital of Gransys.

Let your imagination run wild and design both your playable character and main Pawn using the game’s incredibly in-depth character creation tools before you take on the Griffin; purchasers of Dragon’s Dogma will then be able to export both these characters into the full game on its release.

Dragon’s Dogma is scheduled for release on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in North America on May 22 and across Europe on May 25.

Related posts:

1. Dragon’s Dogma demo confirmed for PSN and Xbox Live
2. Dragon’s Dogma confirmed for EU, Resident Evil 6 demo included
3. New Dragon’s Dogma trailer released

Dragon’s Dogma is an exciting new franchise which redefines the action genre from the team that produced some of Capcom’s greatest action games.

Set in a huge open world, Dragon’s Dogma offers an exhilarating and fulfilling action combat game with the freedom to explore and interact in a rich, living and breathing world.

Retail versions of Dragon’s Dogma will contain a redeemable token that will allow owners to download the Resident Evil 6 demo. Purchasers of the Xbox 360 version of Dragon’s Dogma will be able to redeem this token and download the Resident Evil 6 demo globally on the Xbox LIVE Marketplace for Xbox 360 60 days earlier than any other platform beginning July 3.

Related posts:

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2. Dragon’s Dogma demo confirmed for PSN and Xbox Live
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With your party of three Pawns, experience the different styles of two of the game’s character classes in two challenging encounters. A melee specialist skilled in both attacks and counter attacks, as the Fighter you will make your way through underground tunnels and chambers before taking on the deadly Chimera in a Prologue quest, set before the events of the main game.  Swift and nimble, the Strider’s weapons of choice are bow and daggers, use them well if you are to defeat the mighty Griffin in the open plains surrounding the capital of Gransys.

Let your imagination run wild and design both your playable character and main Pawn using the game’s incredibly in-depth character creation tools before you take on the Griffin. Purchasers of Dragon’s Dogma will then be able to export both these characters into the full game on its release.

Dragon’s Dogma is scheduled for release on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in North America on May 22 and across Europe on May 25.

Related posts:

1. Dragon’s Dogma confirmed for EU, Resident Evil 6 demo included
2. Coming to Xbox Live soon
3. Driver: San Francisco multiplayer demo goes live tomorrow

Players across North America and Europe can pre-purchase Menace of the Underdark to receive exclusive benefits starting today at http://www.ddo.com/underdark.

“The journey to the Forgotten Realms begins today,” said Fernando Paiz, Executive Producer of Dungeons & Dragons Online, Turbine.  “Today we introduced the Web of Chaos content update that serves as the prologue to our first foray into the Underdark which makes it a perfect time to introduce our pre-purchase program which offers very cool items that players will be able to use immediately as they prepare for the launch of Menace of the Underdark on June 25th.”

DUNGEONS & DRAGONS ONLINE: MENACE OF THE UNDERDARK FEATURES:

Ø  Three New Forgotten Realms Adventure Packs – Featuring a multitude of epic adventures, unprecedented new wilderness areas with challenging objectives, a host of dungeons, and more!

o   The King’s Forest:  Explore deep into the King’s Forest and defend the village of Eveningstar from Lolth’s Drow legions.
o   The Underdark:  Venture down into the Underdark and confront Lolth’s elite followers in the Drow city of Sschindlyryn.
o   The Demonweb:  Journey to Lolth’s home plane, battle demon hordes and confront the spider goddess herself as you attempt to stop her scheme.

Ø  Attain Epic levels to 25!   – Deadly battles and high-speed action continue as your advance your character to the Epic level 25!

Ø  Introducing Epic Destinies – Attain epic enhancements as you progress through levels 20-25!

Bonus Features-Free to VIPs or with purchase of Collector’s or Standard Pre-Purchase Editions

Ø  The Druid Class:  Wield nature’s magic or transform into a powerful animal form as you play the all new shape-shifting Druid class!

Ø  Eveningstar Challenge Pack:  New challenge quests for levels 15-25!

Starting today, players can take can take advantage of three special pre-purchase offers to celebrate the release of the first major expansion to DDO:

Ø  Menace of the Underdark Base Edition – $29.99/£22.99/24,99€
Includes access to Adventure Packs and Epic Destinies, plus:
-        Lesser Tome of Learning (1 free tome per DDO game world )- Permanently increases experience earned by a character up to level 20.  Provides +25% bonus to experience for first-time quest completions and +10% boost to other earned experience points. Stacks with other experience boosts and persists through all forms of reincarnation.
-        Pre-Purchase Bonus Item:  
·         Demonweb Spiderling Creature Companion - A tame little spider from Lolth’s domain. Includes 3 tricks and a collar. Exclusively available with pre-purchase of Menace of the Underdark!

Ø  Menace of the Underdark Standard Edition – $49.99/£39.99/44,99€
Includes access to Adventures Packs, Epic Destinies, the Druid class and Eveningstar Challenge Pack plus:
-        Greater Tome of Learning (1 free tome per DDO game world):   Permanently increases experience earned by a character up to level 20.  Provides +50% bonus to experience for first-time quest completions and +20% boost to other earned experience points. Stacks with other experience boosts and persists through all forms of reincarnation.
-        1,000 Turbine Points
-        Veteran Status (lvl 4)
-        DDO Classics Adventure Pack bundle ( Phiarlan Carnival, Attack on Stormreach, The Path of Inspiration, The Dreaming Dark)

-        Pre-Purchase Bonus Items!
o   Demonweb Spiderling Creature Companion
o   Druid’s Wolf Pup Creature Companion - A grey wolf pup as commonly seen accompanying young Druids. Includes 4 tricks and a collar. Exclusively available with pre-purchase of Menace of the Underdark.
o   Spider Cult mask cosmetic helmet-Change your helmet appearance to a mask like the one worn by Lolth’s followers in Eberron and receive a stat bonus to character skills and poison resistance!

Ø  Menace of the Underdark Collector’s Edition – $79.99/£59.99/69,99€
This limited time offer includes access to Adventures Packs, Epic Destinies, the Druid class and Eveningstar Challenge Pack plus the following items that players can begin using immediately:
–        Greater Tome of Learning  (1 free tome per DDO game world)
–        Lesser Tome of Learning for all characters (1 free tome per character – forever)
–        2,000 Turbine Points
–        Veteran Status (lvl 7)- Start a new character at level  7!
–        Veteran Status (lvl 4)-Start a new character at level 4!
–        DDO Classics Adventure Pack bundle
–        DDO Epic Classics Adventure Pack bundle ( Vault of Night, The Red Fens, Sentinels Stormreach, Devil Assault)

–        Pre-Purchase Bonus Items!
o   Demonweb Spiderling Creature Companion
o   Druid’s Wolf Pup Creature Companion
o   Elite Spider Cult mask cosmetic helmet
o   Onyx Panther Cub Creature Companion -A rare dark panther cub from Faerun. Includes 4 tricks and a collar. Exclusively available with pre-purchase of Menace of the Underdark.
o   Figurine of Wondrous Power: Onyx Panther - Summon this Level 20 Black Panther Hireling to assist you in Dungeon and Wilderness Adventures!  (min level 18 to use)

Players will have access to all of the bonus items including the new companions, veteran status, cosmetic helmet and Figurine of Wondrous Power and Tomes of Learning immediately after purchase. Menace of the Underdark expansion itself will be available to play on June 25, 2012. These special offers will only be available for a limited time.  For more information, please visit www.ddo.com/underdark.

Dungeons & Dragons Online(DDO) is a free-to-play MMORPG featuring the industry’s best combat system, a massive world with state-of-the-art graphics and gameplay, and a rich set of features that until now could only be found in premium subscription-based MMOs. DDO offers an innovative pricing model that allows players to download and play for free, purchasing adventure packs, items, and account services a la carte from the new DDO Store, or to subscribe to get unlimited access to all of the game’s content. Players can download and play DDO Unlimited for free by visiting http://www.ddo.com.

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Capcom is also pleased to announce that purchasers of Dragon’s Dogma will have the opportunity to be the first to experience a playable demo of Resident Evil 6, ahead of its release on November 20.

Retail versions of Dragon’s Dogma will contain a redeemable token that will allow owners to download the Resident Evil 6 demo. Purchasers of the Xbox 360 version of Dragon’s Dogma will be able to redeem this token and download the Resident Evil 6 demo globally on the Xbox LIVE Marketplace for Xbox 360 60 days earlier than any other platform beginning July 3. The demo for owners of the PlayStation 3 version of Dragon’s Dogma will go live on the PlayStation Store on September 4 in North America and Japan and September 5 in Europe.

An exciting new franchise which redefines the action genre, Dragon’s Dogma is from the team that produced some of Capcom’s greatest action games. Set in a huge open world, Dragon’s Dogma offers an exhilarating and fulfilling action combat game with the freedom to explore and interact in a rich, living and breathing world.

Dragon’s Dogma introduces an innovative team system to the genre. Known as Pawns, these three AI partners fight independently, demonstrating prowess and ability they have developed based on traits learned over time from the player and their actions. By utilising the Xbox LIVE online entertainment network or PlayStation Network players will journey to the Rift where they can share their own Pawns with friends and be rewarded with treasure, knowledge of the world and strategies for taking down enemies. Conversely, players can borrow friends’ Pawns with the specific skills or experience required to tackle a particular quest. In addition, Dragon’s Dogma will ship with thousands of ready-made Pawns for players to pick their allies offline.

For those wishing to reserve their day one copy of Dragon’s Dogma the following pre-order initiatives will be available:

The ‘Pawn Upgrade Pack’ will give players additional Rift Crystals allowing them to rent higher level experience Pawns from the outset. The ‘Armour Upgrade Pack’ and ‘Weapon Upgrade Pack’ deliver higher level armour and weapons respectively giving players a real advantage when tackling the toughest of enemies. Please check local retailers for details.

Furthermore, Capcom will be supporting Dragon’s Dogma post launch with a comprehensive suite of downloadable content including additional quests as well as weapon and armour upgrades.

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2. Resident Evil Operation Raccoon City Triple Impact trailer
3. New Resident Evil title announced

These titles were first revealed, along with details of the company’s 2011/2012 game lineup, at its annual media showcase event, Captivate, which took place in Miami last week.

From the creators behind some of Capcom’s best action games, including the critically acclaimed Resident Evil 4 and Devil May Cry 4, comes their next opus, Dragon’s Dogma. Set in a huge open world, Dragon’s Dogma is a unique action experience that blends exciting and fulfilling combat with the freedom to explore and interact in a rich, living and breathing world. With your party of three you set out on an epic adventure to track down and destroy a mysterious dragon. Along the way you’ll encounter some of the biggest and baddest beasts ever to roam the land, and only skilful play and tactical teamwork can save the day.

Utilizing an enhanced version of Capcom’s proprietary MT Framework engine that delivered the groundbreaking graphical styles and lighting effects used in Resident Evil 5 and Lost Planet 2, Dragon’s Dogma expands the environment to create a vast, richly detailed world, ripe for exploration. Dragon’s Dogma will deliver a whole new world of action to PS3 and Xbox 360 in 2012.

Dead Rising 2: Off The Record, sees Wilamette survivor and hero of Dead Rising, photojournalist Frank West, take centre stage as players experience a very different interpretation of events in this, a reimagining of the Fortune City outbreak. Forget what took place in Dead Rising 2, this is Frank’s story told as only he can.

This alternate storyline means an all new Dead Rising 2 experience; with Frank facing new missions, new enemies, new combo-weapons with which to defeat them plus a brand new Fortune City attraction to explore.  Complimenting the new narrative and action of Dead Rising 2: Off The Record are enhancements to elements such as the save system and the co-op experience to deliver more satisfying gameplay. Dead Rising 2: Off The Record is scheduled for release on PS3, Xbox 360 and Windows PCs this autumn.

Adding new characters, an all new balancing update as well as an enhanced Replay Channel, Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition will deliver the definitive version of Street Fighter when it releases on Xbox 360, PS3 and Windows PCs this summer. More specifically, the add-on version of Arcade Edition will be available as a downloadable upgrade for existing Super Street Fighter IV owners on June 7 for 1200 MS Points or €14.99, with a full console retail product following on June 24 in Europe and June 28 in North America, respectively, and a PC version in July.

Captivate attendees were able to experience some of Capcom’s future hits for the first time, with playable versions of recently announced squad-based shooter Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City, the fighting genre’s dream match-up Street Fighter X Tekken and hard-hitting action title Asura’s Wrath all debuting at the event alongside Dragon’s Dogma, Dead Rising 2: Off the Record, Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition. Media were also able to join forces in the war on horror with the first showing of Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D’s co-op mode.

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Throwing gamers back into epic battles with new stories revolving around key supporting characters in each franchise, the Dragon Age: Origins DLC pack, “Witch Hunt” (560 Microsoft points on the Xbox 360, 560 BioWare Points on PC) features a story that reconnects players with one of the series’ original larger-than-life heroes, Morrigan. The Mass Effect 2 DLC pack, “Lair of the Shadow Broker” (800 Microsoft Points on Xbox 360, 800 BioWare Points on PC), centers around Liara, a popular character and squadmate from the original Mass Effect.

“Both ‘Witch Hunt’ and ‘Lair of the Shadow Broker’ represent our commitment to keeping the game worlds alive with high quality content, even post-launch,” said BioWare Edmonton General Manager Aaryn Flynn. “Fans are asking for more characters, more adventures and that is what we’re delivering. Morrigan and Liara are two of the most beloved characters in their respective franchises and completing these new journeys will add to the story and action of both games.”

Dragon: Age Origins “Witch Hunt” picks up Morrigan’s story after the defeat of the Archdemon and her disappearance into the shadows. Nearly a year has passed since the Archdemon’s death, and word has reached the Wardens that Morrigan has returned to Ferelden. Seeking to confirm her presence and confront her about her mysterious disappearance, players will head into the forest to tie up this last loose end once and for all. Players can either import their characters from Dragon: Age Origins and Dragon Age: Origins — Awakening or create a new, high-level hero. Dragon Age: Origins was the “RPG of the Year” for 2009 as named by Game Informer, the SpikeTV Video Game Awards and IGN.com among others.

For more information on “Witch Hunt”, please visit http://dragonage.bioware.com/dao/witch_hunt/.

In Mass Effect 2 “Lair of the Shadow Broker”, Liara T’Soni is tracking down the mysterious Shadow Broker with the hopes of recovering a kidnap victim. Liara enlists the help of Commander Shepard and his crew, chasing clues from the luxurious heights of Illium to the depths of the Shadow Broker’s own secret lair. The new DLC pack adds the Shadow Broker intel center, new research, as well as the chance to continue a relationship with Liara from the original Mass Effect. With more than 70 perfect review scores, Mass Effect 2 is the highest rated game of 2010 on Xbox 360 and PC* and was recently named the number one game of all time for Xbox 360 by IGN.com. For more information on “Lair of the Shadow Broker,” please visit http://masseffect.bioware.com/info/dlc/.

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This could mean a completely new title or it could be a massive dlc pack as things appeared quite vague but it is there in black and white.

Dragons Age: Origins has, at present, sold over 3 million copies to date and is heralded as one of the best examples of an RPG for a long time.  To read our take on the game you can read our review here.

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Dragon Age: Origins takes you back to the old school type of RPG.  Classic character building, deep and engrossing storylines and a one touch mouse selection system that makes for ease of use, even if you are not a classic PC gamer.  Touted as a follow on to the incredible Baldour’s Gate, Dragon Age: Origins delivers something that a lot of current RPG’s for some reason cannot.  The ability to stick you to your seat for well over 100 hours of gameplay with a depth of gameplay that is simply second to none.

From the moment you hit ‘New Game’, the commitment to storytelling is clear. First, a lengthy cinematic introduces you to the world of Ferelden, in which an army of orcs and undead dubbed The Blight runs rampant across the lands, and an elite band of warriors known as Grey Wardens rally its disparate races to unite in battle.

Next up is character creation, which depending on your selections of race, class and background will lead to one of six Origin Stories. I went with Human, Rogue, and Noble, beginning my game as Kelden Cousland, younger son of the leader of Ferelden province Higheaver. There are also Dwarf and Elf races, plus Mage and Warrior classes, usually with a choice of privileged or underprivileged backgrounds. These affect your starting location, the skills you have available, and the way characters address you throughout the game, so potential replay value is through the proverbial roof.

How many times you want to play through Dragon Age will depend on two key things; how much you enjoy in-game dialogue, and how well you click with the battle system.

Be under no illusions; Dragon Age is a very wordy game. Whether you’re reading about the history of Ferelden, its characters, or item descriptions in the menu, taking on incidental quests to quell an NPCs woes, getting to know your party or conversing with key story characters, you’ll spend a lot of your time reading and listening to speech.

Dragon Age is very accomplished in its party interaction. Taking the mantle laid down by Mass Effect, Origins not only lets you converse with your followers to discover their backstories, but also rates their approval or disapproval to your responses and actions – including giving them gifts to curry favour. Get close enough to someone and you may even be in line for some sex, such as it is; stilted, censored, and good for but a childish giggle. Piss someone off enough though and they might leave your party for good. And since they won’t all see eye to eye, keeping everyone happy (and horny) is pretty much impossible in just one run through.

If you are to play Dragon Age through more than once, it’ll be because you enjoy the combat. On PC, that won’t be hard; Dragon Age is clearly designed with keyboard and mouse in mind. The top-down perspective allows for ample tactical movement, pausing with the space bar, activating ranged attacks and spells, and directing your melee fighters into flanking positions. It’s very much the spiritual follow-up to Baldur’s Gate that RPG nuts wanted; incredibly challenging, but brilliant with it.

What Dragon Age does have going for it is its Tolkien-style world, its strong storytelling slant and a list of playable archetypes that influence narrative and gameplay with equal diversity. Admittedly, its looks are functional and its art style unspectacular, but BioWare’s brilliant use of audio in both screenplay and ambience truly bring Ferelden to life. More importantly, there’s always that sense that this is your story, shaped by your actions, with a series of minor, malleable events building to the major, satisfying forks in the plot’s long road.

Don’t go into Dragon Age expecting a medieval Mass Effect. Buy it instead expecting Lord of the Rings crossed with KoTOR and you’ll likely love every minute of its spellbinding 70+ hours.

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