Hours before engineer Isaac Clarke begins his adventure on “The Sprawl” in Dead Space 2 a Necromorph outbreak occurs – but how did the events unfold?

Players will witness the horror first-hand when Visceral Games, an EA studio, releases Dead Space Ignition, an all-new downloadable game that takes place on the Sprawl and challenges players to survive the initial Necromorph outbreak. Dead Space Ignition will be available in Autumn 2010 on Xbox LIVE Marketplace and the PlayStation Network.

“Dead Space Ignition is the first of many exciting game extensions we have planned for the launch of Dead Space 2,” said Steve Papoutsis, Executive Producer on the Dead Space franchise. “The interactive comic-style game will give Dead Space fans a unique perspective on the events leading up to Dead Space 2, and will also introduce the storyline to a brand-new audience of gamers.”

Dead Space Ignition combines an interactive comic-style story with three unique hacking mini games; Hardware Crack, Trace Route and System Override. Each game offers a fun and satisfying arcade experience that will challenge players with puzzles and twitch gameplay. Dead Space Ignition features a unique “Choose Your Own Adventure” type narrative, allowing players to survive the horrific Necromorph outbreak in multiple ways. The game offers four unique endings and upon completion of each one, players will be rewarded with unlocks including an exclusive suit, all of which can be used by Isaac Clarke in Dead Space 2 when the game releases on Jan 25, 2011.

Dead Space Ignition is written by Antony Johnston, the award-winning, New York Times bestselling author of comics, graphic novels, video games and books including Wasteland, and Daredevil. Antony makes his return to the Dead Space universe after creating the six-book Dead Space comic series in 2008. In Dead Space Ignition, Antony uses his horror story-telling expertise to introduce new characters and craft new plot twists for this intriguing prequel.

Dead Space 2 recently won various prestigious awards at the Electronic Entertainment Expo, including ‘Best Action/Adventure Game’ from top media outlets including Game Informer, GameSpot, GameSpy and Machinima.com. Dead Space 2 also won GameSpot’s highly-coveted ‘Best Xbox 360 Game’ award.

In Dead Space 2, engineer Isaac Clarke makes his return in a blood-curdling new adventure on an all-new space installation known as “The Sprawl.” The lone survivor of a horrific alien infestation, Isaac finds himself confronting a catastrophic new nightmare. Battling dementia, Isaac will do whatever it takes to save himself and dominate the relentless enemy onslaughts. Equipped with a new arsenal of tools to dismember the necromorphs, Isaac faces the challenge head-on. Players will see Isaac fight bigger, scarier and more epic battles that will keep them on the edge of their seats.

Dead Space 2 will be available on Jan. 25, 2011 for the PS3, Xbox 360 and PC.  Dead Space Ignition will be available in Autumn 2010 on Xbox LIVE Marketplace and the PlayStation Network and is being co-developed by Sumo Digital.

505 Games today announces a global agreement with Russian developer Biart Studio LLC, to publish Deep Black on PS3 and Xbox 360.  

Adding to the publisher’s growing line-up of Xbox 360 and PS3 titles, Deep Black lets players experience for the first time the thrills of a third person action shooter in an underwater setting.

With the release set for Q1 2011, the unique setting of Deep Black combines action-packed battles with an immersive story line, of complex science-fiction mystery, espionage and bio-terror. Offering realistic physics in an underwater environment brings new “depths” to in-game challenges in Deep Black.

Players will take to the murky depths armed with a wrath of underwater equipment from specialized underwater jet packs with integrated harpoons, mini submersibles and other high tech equipment in pursuit of enemies. With the majority of the game play taking place below the water’s surface, action-adventure fans will need to master new skills to fight hostile enemies and infiltrate enemy bases.

Here we go yo, here we go yo, so what’s so what’s so what’s the scenario?

Today, 4mm Games, Terminal Reality and Def Jam Interactive are excited to announce additional tracks available in Def Jam Rapstar, the first true interactive Hip Hop music game experience coming out on the 5^th November to the Xbox 360, PS3 and Wii.

The ultimate emcee experience for video game consoles, Def Jam Rapstar is the only music game that focuses exclusively on Hip Hop, you and your social networks. With more than 40 of the greatest Hip Hop songs available at release, from A Tribe Called Quest’s ultimate posse track “Scenario” to Ludacris’ hit single “Stand Up” and Chipmunk’s “Chip Diddy Chip”, Def Jam Rapstar allows you to be the star by rhyming, using your console camera, and uploading your video to the fully integrated Def Jam Rapstar community at www.defjamrapstar.com.

Def Jam Rapstar is also pleased to announce that Cool & Dre and DJ Khalil join the likes of DJ Premier and Just Blaze as producers providing exclusive instrumental beats for Def Jam Rapstar’s Freestyle Mode, which allows the aspiring emcee a chance to deliver their own original rhymes over never before heard tracks by some of today’s hottest producers.

Microsoft Game Studios and developer Vector Unit today announced that Hydro Thunder Hurricane will be released on July 28 as part of Xbox LIVE’s Summer of Arcade promotion.

Hydro Thunder Hurricane is the first official sequel to the classic Midway hit Hydro Thunder, which splashed into arcades and consoles over 10 years ago.  Rather than simply recreate the original game with updated graphics, Vector Unit has delivered an all-new game engine for the sequel, with gorgeous HD visuals and amazing dynamic water physics.

Ralf Knoesel, Vector Unit’s Technical Director and the programming visionary behind Hydro Thunder Hurricane’s cutting-edge interactive water, said the team is thrilled to be included as part of the Summer of Arcade.  “We know there were a lot of quality titles vying to be a part of Summer of Arcade, and it’s really a testament to the team’s hard work and creative energy that HTH made the cut.”

The indie developer’s motto is “Big games in small packages,” and their first game as a studio delivers on that promise.  The downloadable game features 8 all new interactive race tracks, new Single Player game modes, Xbox LIVE Leaderboard challenges, as well as robust multiplayer support for 8 players online, local split screen races with up to 4 players — and a combination of split screen and online play.

“Our goal with Hurricane was to deliver tons of new content with the kind of polish and depth you expect to find in a full retail game,” said Knoesel.  “It takes hours to unlock everything in the single player mode, and once you’ve done that you still have multiplayer, which I think is where the game really shines.”

At the heart of all this new content, though, the game stays true to the spirit that made the original title an enduring fan favorite, attests Matt Small, Creative Director.  “The feedback from Hydro Thunder fans has been overwhelmingly positive.  When you put a controller into the hands of a hard core fan, and he nods and grins the first time he goes off some 800 foot jump or nails a shortcut and says something like ‘Oh yeah, this is how I remember it’ – that tells me we pulled it off.”

Fans will recognize favorite speedboats from the original Hydro Thunder: Razorback, Damn the Torpedoes, Tidal Blade, Rad Hazard and others return with beautifully redesigned models, multiple unlockable skins, and articulated boost animations with massive rockets folding out from hidden compartments.   Race tracks are all original, but packed with the kinds of shortcuts and spectacular surprises the series is known for.

“On top of everything else, Hydro Thunder Hurricane is perfect for Summer of Arcade.   What’s the first thing people think about when it’s summertime?  Sun, fun, splashing around in the water, driving a speedboat at 200 mph, jumping off gigantic cliffs, and dodging dinosaurs.  Right?”

Hydro Thunder Hurricane will be released on July 28, 2010, exclusively on Xbox LIVE Arcade.  The game will sell for 1200 Microsoft Points.

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 virtual recreation of motorsport’s most advanced racing cars and challenging circuits comes under the spotlight in the latest F1 2010 developer diary, released today by Codemasters and available to view below.
The new video takes viewers behind the scenes at F1 2010 developers, Codemasters Birmingham, and shows how all of the cars and circuits from the exhilarating 2010 FIA FORMULA ONE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP have been painstakingly recreated in the game.

To deliver fans the most authentic FORMULA ONE experience, CAD (Computer Aided Design) data and extensive reference photography has been used to accurately simulate the 19 circuits that will host the 2010 FIA FORMULA ONE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP. Once tracks are created, former FORMULA ONE driver Anthony Davidson, who is working as Technical Consultant on F1 2010, gives his feedback from a driver’s perspective about the look and feel of each circuit in-game.

“Driving the real world circuits enables me to give that impression to the guys creating the game,” said Davidson. “There’s all these details that only a driver would know about. For instance, turn eight in Spa; I know straight away any car I have ever driven there always understeers and it’s knowing that kind of detail as a driver that you can get over into the game. The circuits feel really spot on.”

The developer diary goes on to explain how the appearance and performance of each individual FORMULA ONE car is authentically recreated, so even slight differences in design between the teams, such as a variation in wheel-base, are reflected in the handling of the car on the track. This will ensure that no two teams in the game will deliver the same driving experience.

The video also details how Codemasters has captured the engine sounds of actual FORMULA ONE cars during test sessions to deliver the unmistakable, intoxicating roar of the world’s most exciting sports cars.

By now, you will be aware of the new shoot em up, Bulletstorm, developed by Epic games as part of EA partners.  A new trailer was released late last week giving you a guided walkthrough with Cliffy B.  Enjoy.

2K Games announced today Protector Trials, an all-new single-player focused downloadable game add-on for BioShock 2.

The DLC  puts players back into the boots of the Big Daddy as he defends his Little Sister against swarms of corrupt Splicers who are hell-bent on stealing the precious ADAM that she gathers from corpses. Available starting August 3, 2010, this exciting and action-packed addition will challenge players to use the full arsenal of the BioShock 2 tool set as they dispatch their foes and unleash their wrath on enemies across six different areas from the single-player experience.

“The team at 2K Marin has been working hard ever since the launch of BioShock 2 to develop ways for gamers to extend their time in the single-player world of Rapture,” said Christoph Hartmann, president of 2K. “I’m proud to announce the first of these experiences, the Protector Trials, which takes players back to some of their favorite places from the original game and features some of the biggest challenges that fans of this series have ever experienced. This is just the beginning. More single-player content is on the way that will deliver more of the intense action and story-driven gameplay that fans have been craving.”

Protector Trials is being developed by the core team behind BioShock 2′s single-player experience. It contains a series of challenges focused on frantic combat and fast-paced action that are designed to push players’ mastery of weapons and Plasmids. The goal is simple, but tough to achieve: players must keep their Little Sister safe from the intense onslaught of Splicers as she gathers ADAM from corpses.

The pack includes:

• Six new maps: three unique difficulty levels, each based on favorite locales from BioShock 2;
• New unlockables, including never-before-seen concept art and videos;
• Seven new Achievements/Trophies.

Protector Trials will be available starting August 3, 2010 from the Xbox LIVE Marketplace for the Xbox 360 and Games for Windows-LIVE for 400 Microsoft Points, and from the PlayStation Network for the PS3 for $4.99.

In the coming months, 2K Games will publish more downloadable content that extends the single-player experience, providing new insight into the world of Rapture. The next package will expand the narrative, and introduce new tools and new challenges that extend the lore and fiction of the failed utopia under the sea.

BioShock 2′s first two downloadable packages, Sinclair Solutions Tester Pack* and Rapture Metro Pack*, are currently available for download from both the Xbox LIVE Marketplace for Xbox 360 and Games for Windows-LIVE, and from the PlayStation Network for the PS3.

The 14th July marks the release of DeathSpank, a digital download game from the creator of the Monkey Island series, Ron Gilbert.

As you are aware, with a couple of weeks to go before any release some assets normally come out and here are two trailers detailing the co-op mode and also the general detailing for DeathSpank.

UTV Ignition Entertainment Ltd., a global publisher and developer of videogames, recently announced that it has reached an agreement with Hothead Games to co-publish Swarm worldwide on all platforms via digital channels.

Swarm was  unveiled via a short teaser trailer at recent E3 .

Swarm lets the player take control of 50 utterly fearless Swarmites and drive them through an intense, entertaining and often suicidal battle for a greater good. Run, bash, huddle, boost, stack, jump, push and throw your way through gauntlets of death and destruction in an attempt to collect valuable DNA and ensure that at least one Swarmite survives. With a unique combination of mass character control and fast action, the resulting brutal aftermath will make players want to play Swarm over and over again.

“UTV Ignition is delighted to be able to partner with Hothead Games to bring this title to market” commented Nigel Fox, President European Publishing for UTV Ignition Entertainment. “Swarm is a high quality and incredibly creative title, and it is that level of quality and creativity that is the basis of our digital download strategy.”

“Swarm is very special to Hothead – it’s an idea we’ve nurtured for a while,” added Joel DeYoung, Director of Game Technology for Hothead Games. “We are excited to work with Ignition to make sure everyone hears about and ultimately gets a chance to play Swarm, Hothead’s next great game.”

Swarm is being developed by Hothead Games and will be available early 2011 across multiple platforms.