There's a giant rumor going around (with some truth to it, apparently) that 2K Games and Gearbox will be unveiling the rebirth of Duke Nukem Forever this morning/afternoon, depending on what time zone you're in.

Even if it's not DNF, it must be something big, because 2K will be streaming it live over the internets. Keep your eyes on the video feed below starting at 10AM Pacific (1PM Eastern)!

At a press event in LA last night, Treyarch revealed lots of information about Black Ops' multiplayer. Plenty of the features are brand new to the series, here's a brief overview:

• Combat Training mode allows solo or co-op play against AI opponents
• Improved Create-a-Class that changes how your character looks depending on what abilities you choose
• Some weapons can only be found in care packages, such as the explosive R/C car, a minigun, grenade launcher, and SAM launcher
• Introduction of COD Points, an in-game currency earned while playing that is used to purchase unlocks and other stuff (might be a replacement for XP?)
• Mercenary Contracts are timed challenges that you purchase and complete (mid-match? for points?)
• New custom game mode called Wager Match, with four different play types: One in the Chamber, Sticks and Stones, Gun Game, and Sharp Shooter (see trailer below)
• Extensive weapon customization, not only with upgrades, but visual flair like camo and decals

Spotted on CVG.

As you recover from your spit-take, read what Capcom's global head of R&D told Eurogamer:

The goal for Dead Rising 2 is to replace the Resident Evil franchise and become number one IP within Capcom.

As a creator, the sales and marketing part aside, unless you have a big goal to strive for you can't create a good game.

Speaking of the future of that franchise:

Until Dead Rising 2 sells we probably can't start talking about spin-offs.

If it's received pretty well, yes we would consider a sequel. But at the moment we just don't know.

It seems somewhat contradictory to say they want Dead Rising to be bigger than Resident Evil, and then describe a "wait-and-see" approach as far as sequels, but hey, what do I know?

Spotted on VG247.

Apparently this is the second part of "The MOH Experience," a series of videos that show uncut gameplay. The first part was released last week and I missed it, so I included that below.

Fan website ArkhamCity.co.uk reports that some sort of multiplayer component is in the works for Rocksteady's upcoming sequel, as revealed in PlayStation 3 Magazine. There are no details yet, but they speculate that it might be some sort of co-op mode where Cat-Woman joins the Caped Crusader in the ass-kicking.

Oh, right, if you haven't seen the new screenshots, apparently Cat-Woman will be in the game -- check those out here.

Spotted on VG247.

Blizzard announced today that the first part of the StarCraft II trilogy is continuing to smash sales records:

IRVINE, Calif. -- September 1, 2010 -- Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. today announced that StarCraft® II: Wings of Liberty™ has sold over 3 million copies worldwide in the first month of its release, building on the game's momentum as the bestselling PC game of 2010 and the fastest-selling real-time strategy game of all time.*

StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty was released simultaneously in North America, Europe, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Russia, Brazil, Chile, Argentina, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, and the regions of Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau on July 27. With day-one sales topping 1 million copies, StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty became the bestselling PC game of 2010 within its first 24 hours of availability. The game went on to sell more than 1.5 million copies in its first 48 hours, setting the record for fastest-selling strategy game of all time, and has won numerous critical accolades, including multiple editor's choice awards from major gaming publications.

"We appreciate all the enthusiasm that players around the world have shown for StarCraft II," said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. "It was important to us to deliver an overall gameplay experience that was accessible, balanced, and fun, and it's been gratifying to see how strongly the global community has already embraced the game."

StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty is the sequel to Blizzard Entertainment's 1998 hit StarCraft, which has been hailed by players and critics worldwide as one of the top real-time strategy games of all time. Sporting a vibrant 3D-graphics engine, StarCraft II once again centers on the clash between the protoss, terrans, and zerg, with each side deploying legions of veteran, upgraded, and new unit types. Unparalleled online play for StarCraft II is available through a new version of Battle.net®, Blizzard Entertainment's world-renowned gaming service. Battle.net has been redesigned from the ground up to be the premier online gaming destination for Blizzard gamers, with several enhancements and new features, such as voice communication, cloud file storage, leagues and ladders, achievements, stat-tracking, and more.

The solo campaign for StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty continues the epic saga where it left off in StarCraft: Brood War®. The story line chronicles the exploits of marshal-turned-rebel-leader Jim Raynor and features both familiar faces and new heroes. Players are able to tailor the experience, choosing their own mission path and selecting technology and research upgrades to suit their playing style throughout the 29-mission campaign. Several challenge-mode mini-games are also included, with focused goals designed to ease players into the basics of multiplayer strategies.

For more information on StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, visit the official website at www.blizzard.com/games/sc2/.

CVG points us to an interview with Gabe Newell featured in the latest issue of PC Gamer, in which he says that we can expect at least three big surprises within the next year:

I can guarantee you people are going to be surprised at stuff we do. That isn't going to stop any time soon. I'm just laughing because... people will be shocked again. We have three pretty big surprises in the next 12 months at least.

The apprehensive anticipation is palpable. What do you think they could be?

Just when you thought they had run out of special edition copies of EA/DICE's latest shooter, they come out with a new version that proves they're really not very special after all...

The PS3 and 360 versions of Battlefield: Bad Company 2 have just been re-released as Ultimate Editions, which include all the benefits of the previously available Limited Edition, as well as the Onslaught DLC and Battlefield 1943.

There is no word as to whether the Ultimate Edition will make its way onto the PC (or Onslaught and BF1943 individually, for that matter).

Spotted on Shacknews.

If you're a fan of the standard Xbox 360 controller, but hate that clumsy and imprecise directional pad, you're not alone. Nearly 5 years after the launch of Microsoft's newest console, they have heeded community complaints and finally gotten around to redesigning the D-pad, specifically targeting fans of fighting games that need to be able to pull off those special moves.

Set for release on November 9th (bundled with a new Play & Charge kit for $64.99), these babies are matted in silver and feature buttons in shades of grey rather than gaudy primary colors. The most important feature, though, is the "transforming" D-pad, which changes from the regular disc-like thing to the superior raised cross with a 90-degree twist. Watch the demonstration below:

Spotted on VG247.

The Big 'N' today revealed that on September 12th, the MSRP of the DSi and DSi XL will each be reduced by $20, bringing them down to $149.99 and $169.99, respectively. The DS Lite will remain at its current price of $129.99.

The Nintendo DS family of video game systems is the best-selling in the history of the U.S. and worldwide. The new prices offer consumers tremendous value for their money while providing access to the best portable video game experiences possible.

Hopefully, this means that the release of the 3DS is not too far away. At the very least, we ought to be getting some more information on that in the next couple months. It could also be in response to the steady decline in DS sales we've seen throughout the summer.

Spotted on CVG.

Effective November 1st of this year, Xbox LIVE users in the US, UK, Canada, and Mexico will see about a 20-25% hike in their subscription fees. This was announced on Larry Hryb's (AKA "Major Nelson") Xbox LIVE blog. He also encourages players to renew their subscriptions ASAP to avoid the increase.

Xbox LIVE Gold Subscription Fees
Plans not listed will not be affected
	Current Price	Effective 11/01/10
US: 1 Month	$7.99	$9.99
US: 3 Months	$19.99	$24.99
US: 12 Months	$49.99	$59.99
UK: 1 Month	£4.99	£5.99
Canada: 1 Month	$8.99 CAD	$9.99 CAD
Mexico: 1 Month	499 Pesos	599 Pesos

The Electronic Entertainment Design and Research firm points to inflation as the likely reason for the increase:

When taking into account for [sic] inflation and the additional services available to Gold subscribers in 2010... a $10 price increase still represents an incredible value to consumers.

Spotted on Shacknews.

Anonymous sources have told X-bit Labs that the new logo AMD has designed for future Radeon graphics products will be devoid of the iconic ATI name:

The new logotype that will mark discrete graphics processors developed by AMD will only carry the "Radeon" sign on it, but the "ATI" mark, which has been around for 25 years now, will be missing, people who saw the new image, but declined to be identified, said. The new logotype is projected to appeal to both gamers, the group that acquires expensive graphics cards, and general consumers, potential buyers of performance solutions that are set to tangibly speed up their applications.

The loss of ATI letters from the logotype of Radeon graphics processors marks AMD's intention to unify the brands of products that are developed within it and emphasize the importance of the Sunnyvale, California-based company. However, end-users are likely to miss the ATI logotype since in general people associate the brand with high quality, performance, experience and so on. Besides, 25-years old trademarks like ATI are generally recognizable.

Despite predictions that it may be the worst marketing decision ever made, it would seem AMD is finally getting around to combining their name with the ATI graphics products they've owned since 2006. With the CPU+GPU hybrid chip Fusion on the way, it makes at least some sense for them to take that direction with the branding.

Obviously perturbed by the working PS3 mod-chip on a USB stick that has recently begun selling online, Sony sought and was granted a temporary injunction by an Australian federal court. This means that the device cannot be imported or sold there, and apparently Sony is able to take physical possession of the merchandise in order to enforce that edict.

Until the injunction ends on August 31st, Sony will be trying to get a ruling on the legality of the mod chip. If that happens, all PS3 mod chips and related unauthorized accessories will presumably be made flat-out illegal, and thus banned in that country. However, if it doesn't, Sony must relinquish the chips back to the e-tailers on September 1st, and they will continue to be sold.

Spotted on Gamasutra.

A major update has been released for Mount & Blade: Warband, TaleWorlds Entertainment's medieval action RPG. They're calling it free DLC, but this isn't the first time new features and content have been added in a patch. It focuses mainly on the multiplayer side, with 3 new maps and a duel mode, though there are general balance changes and bug fixes, along with some new horse armor. (Notice they don't charge $2 just for the latter...)

On top of that, they've added more than 70 Steam achievements, most of which apply to the single-player campaign. To celebrate, both Warband and the original Mount & Blade are on sale this weekend for 66% and 75% off, bringing their prices down to $10.20 and $7.50, respectively. Keep in mind that there's really no reason to buy the first one, since Warband has the same single-player game (improved, at that), as well as online multiplayer skirmishes and, now, the achievements.

Valve has posted the July 2010 results of their hardware (and now software) survey on a snazzy web page. Among a plethora of other interesting data bits, it is revealed that about 5% of all Steam users are on MacOS. That may not sound like much, but considering there are at least 25 million active users, that's well over a million Mac gamers that have come on board.

It's worth noting that the percentage was higher (8%) in June, the first month Steam for Mac was released. Some attribute that spike to the Portal give-away, but whatever the reason, the lower, stabilized figure seems reasonable enough. As long as Valve remains committed to churning out the Source ports and adding even more titles to the Mac Steam library, we're likely to see that user base grow to an even larger proportion.

Spotted on VG247.

Titled "Witch Hunt," the last DLC to be released for BioWare's epic RPG will answer all of your burning questions about the Origins storyline. At least, that's what we're hoping...

Available September 7th on the official website or respective console download stores, the add-on content will cost 560 Microsoft/BioWare points or $7.

The dreaded Archdemon has been slain and the advance of the darkspawn halted by a lone, heroic Grey Warden. The kingdom rejoices, but at least one question remains: what happened to Morrigan? The sorceress joined the Wardens cause, but it is said her true purpose was not revealed until the eve of the last battle. She vanished into the shadows, and while rumors claimed she crossed over the mountains into Orlais no trace of her path could be found. She was never heard from again... until now.

Nearly a year has passed since the Archdemon's death, and word has reached the Wardens that Morrigan has returned to Ferelden. She has been sighted in the southern wilderness where she was first encountered. Is it truly her? If it is, then why has is she here and what secret does she carry with her? The Warden heads into the forest to find out and tie up this last loose end once and for all.

Key Features:

• Confront Morrigan in this dramatic conclusion to the Origins storyline
• Earn powerful rewards that transfer into your Awakening and Origins campaign
• Import your character from Origins or Awakening or create a new, high-level hero!

Available for download on AMD's web site, the Catalyst 10.8 drivers include support for a handful of new features (including anti-aliasing in StarCraft II), as well as some performance improvements:

New Features

• OpenGL ES 2.0 support
  • ATI Catalyst™ 10.8 delivers full support for OpenGL ES 2.0 specification
  • Enables 3D accelerated graphics within a web browser that supports OpenGL ES 2.0
  • Supported on Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows 7
• Video Quality default options
  • The Default video options for ATI Catalyst™ have been greatly enhanced to deliver the best quality video viewing experience. Users can also choose to apply these settings to Internet Video via a new checkbox control within the ATI Catalyst™ Control Center
• Performance enhancement for Eyefinity Quad ATI CrossFireX™ configurations
  • Performance has been greatly improved for users running with ATI Eyefinity on a Quad ATI CrossFireX™ configuration
• Anti-Aliasing support for StarCraft II
  • ATI Catalyst™ Control Center enabled Anti-Aliasing is now available for StarCraft II

Catalyst™ Application Profiles

The following application profiles are available with this release of Catalyst™ 10.8:

• Singularity – CrossFire™ profile update
• Mafia 2 – CrossFire™ profile update
• Final Fantasy XIV Benchmark – new CrossFire™ profile
• Lord of the Rings Online – new CrossFire™ profile
• Aliens Vs. Predator – CrossFire™ profile update

Performance Improvements

The following performance gains are noticed with this release of Catalyst™ 10.8:

• Far Cry 2
  • Performance increases 2-6% on ATI Radeon™ HD 5800 Series single and CrossFire™ configurations
  • Performance increases 2-4% on ATI Radeon™ HD 5700 Series single and CrossFire™ configurations
  • Performance increases 3-8% on ATI Radeon™ HD 4800 Series single and CrossFire™ configurations
• Left 4 Dead 2
  • Performance increases 3-5% on CrossFire™ ATI Radeon™ HD 5800 series and CrossFire™ ATI Radeon™ HD 5700 series configurations
• Stormrise
  • Performance increases 5-10% on ATI Radeon™ HD 5600 series and ATI Radeon™ HD 5500 series configurations

Today, PC Gamer posted a news item warning those that may want to play the new fantasy 4X strategy game Elemental: War of Magic to "stay well away." Tom Francis, who says he's the one tasked with reviewing the title for PCG, said this:

At PC Gamer, we think it’s part of our job to warn gamers away from games that don’t justify their asking price yet. We’ve held off from finishing our review because of the launch problems, but felt this warranted an early warning. The game you actually get in the box, or in the initial download if you bought it digitally before today, is riddled with bugs. You should not buy it.

He goes on to say that he has faith in Stardock on the whole, but admonishes them for punishing early adopters:

I’m certain Stardock will fix Elemental. They may even keep working on it until it’s as good as their last game, Galactic Civilizations 2. But putting junk like this in a box and charging money for it is not okay, however rapidly you try and patch it afterwards. It punishes you for being a fan, it punishes you for buying on day one, it punishes you for pre-ordering, and it punishes you for having faith that a great company like Stardock wouldn’t ask you to pay for a game until it’s fit to be played.

They’re not even apologetic: CEO Brad Wardell says on the game’s site that they’re “definitely glad” people played the pre-patch version because of all the useful crash reports they got. Wanting customers to encounter crashes so that they can be fixed is pretty much the definition of a paid beta test. The game did launch a day earlier than expected due to retailers breaking the street date, but that doesn’t affect the quality of the code in the box. And it shouldn’t have been a surprise: exactly the same thing happened with the last game Stardock published, Demigod.

In response to someone saying Elemental “plays like an early beta” on the Quarter to Three forums, Brad requests that anyone who thinks so “please stay away from our games in the future. I consider it ready for release and if others disagree, don’t buy our games.”

Respectfully, Brad: no. I’m a huge Stardock fan, and Galactic Civilizations 2 is probably my favourite turn-based strategy game of all time. I was happy to test a very flaky version of Elemental at the beta stage, because it’s potentially a great game. But it’s been truly disappointing to encounter most of the same problems with the retail version. If they think this is ready for release, their internal testing isn’t nearly good enough.

Spotted on Blue's News.

Many of you may recall the contempt that some people held for Resident Evil 5 back when the first gameplay footage was shown in 2007. With a white American protagonist (Chris Redfield) blasting away at infected dark-skinned Africans, allusions of racism were rampant and caught Capcom completely off-guard. Now, as Gamasutra reports, the Japanese developer/publisher has pledged to never let something like that happen again.

Apparently, the USA branch of the company is going to take a more proactive role in the development of new games to ensure they are sensitive to western culture. Senior PR manager Melody Pfeiffer explains:

Since the RE5 controversy, we have become much more aware of how important it is that we are part of the asset creation process early on so that we are able to have a say in the end product.

We are also designing a lot of our own assets from this side of the pond, so that we are able to make strategic pieces of content that make sense for our market.

We are working really closely with our producers in Japan to construct these materials for the West and they are open more then ever to hearing our thoughts and ideas for assets.

This comes from a new feature over on Gamasutra that explores some of the high-profile controversies surrounding games like RE5 and Modern Warfare 2.

Watch some of the staff at Splash Damage go on about how Brink will blur the lines between offline and online play:

A new online, co-op RPG set in the Neverwinter D&D universe is in the works and set for PC release in Q4 2011. Here's the presser:

Lyon, France (August 23, 2010) – Atari Europe, one of the world's most recognized videogame publishers and Cryptic Studios, the acclaimed developers behind City of heroes, City of Villains, Champions Online and Star Trek Online, announced today the development of Neverwinter for PC. Neverwinter is a new online roleplaying game based on Wizards of the Coast’s global property Dungeons & Dragons and the beloved city of Neverwinter.

Once a bustling location, Neverwinter has faced a great many disasters in the past hundred years. Rule of the city remains unclear following the unfortunate demise of the last Lord of Neverwinter and factions still battle for dominance after the all-consuming Spellplague took a high toll on the population. Even Neverwinter’s dead are beginning to rise from their graves and march upon the city they once called home.

“We're beyond thrilled to develop a brand new version of Neverwinter. It's been years since the original became a gaming icon and we’re honored to work with such a great franchise," said Jack Emmert, COO of Cryptic Studios. "We've been working closely with Wizards of the Coast and R.A. Salvatore to create an authentic D&D adventure filled with compelling fiction and exciting gameplay."

In Neverwinter, players choose to become one of five classic D&D classes and team up with friends or computer-controlled allies to form five-person co-op groups. Players also create their own storylines and quests utilizing an extremely user-friendly content generation system, tentatively codenamed Forge.

“Wizards of the Coast is excited to invite millions of fans back to Neverwinter with the launch of R.A. Salvatore’s Gauntlgrym,” said Liz Schuh, Brand Director for Dungeons & Dragons at Wizards of the Coast. “And we’re excited about the prospects for great digital gaming experiences based on this epic world.”

Neverwinter for PC is scheduled to release in Q4 2011 and is part of a multi-platform event, including a book trilogy from New York Times best-selling author R. A. Salvatore and a tabletop roleplaying game from Wizards of the Coast. Book one in Salvatore’s Neverwinter trilogy, titled Gauntlgrym, releases on October 5 of this year and lays the groundwork for the Neverwinter storyline. The novel previews the settings, characters and monsters from the PC game and details the events that lead up to this highly anticipated PC gaming experience.

To learn more about the game, please visit: www.PlayNeverwinter.com

It was revealed late Friday night that Valve is releasing a new add-on campaign for their popular co-op zombie shooter, only this time it will be available for both Left 4 Dead and Left 4 Dead 2.

"The Sacrifice" fills in the gap between the two games, revealing how Bill, Zoey, Francis, and Louis made their journey south, losing one of their number along the way. Though everybody who has played "The Passing" knows which character officially bit the dust, you will apparently be able to choose for yourself who won't be making it to Louisiana every time you play.

Since the campaign was designed to make use of the new features in L4D2, those that play it on L4D will be able to try out the melee weapons and new guns on the new special infected. As well, Valve decided to officially port "No Mercy" to L4D2, adding all the new features to that popular campaign from the first game.

Set to be released in tandem with the Mac versions of Left 4 Dead and Left 4 Dead 2 on October 5th, "The Sacrifice" and "No Mercy" for L4D2 will be free updates on Steam. As always, Xbox 360 players will need to pay a small fee to Microsoft to get their DLC from Xbox Live.

Spotted on Big Download.

Digitimes reports that AMD has taken a proactive stance in its battle for CPU market share against rival Intel.

The largest discounts to be had are on the Phenom II X4 955 and 965 Black Editions (-$26), Athlon II X4 640 (-$23), and Phenom II X2 555 Black Edition (-$12), while the rest saw reductions of $10 or less. See the chart below:

AMD Athlon II and Phenom II CPU pricing, August 2010
(US dollars)
Processor	Price
Athlon II X2 245	$66
Athlon II X2 250	$66
Athlon II X2 255	$66
Athlon II X2 260	$69
Athlon II X3 435	$76
Athlon II X3 440	$76
Athlon II X3 445	$76
Athlon II X4 630	$100
Athlon II X4 635	$100
Athlon II X4 640	$100
Phenom II X2 550	$93
Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition	$93
Phenom II X2 555 Black Edition	$93
Phenom II X4 925	$145
Phenom II X4 945	$145
Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition	$145
Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition	$165
Phenom II X6 1055T	$199
Phenom II X6 1090T Black Edition	$295

An Australian seller of console mod chips has explained to Kotaku that a new piece of hardware encased in a USB stick that allows back-up or homebrew software to run on retail PS3s is "the real deal." Videos have been posted on YouTube demonstrating a back-up copy of a game stored on the hard drive to run while the retail disc of a different game is in the drive.

The anonymous source from OzModChips.com says that the chip supports any retail PS3 console with firmware 3.41 (the current version) and that over 150 titles have been tested to be playable. According to him, the USB stick "tricks the system into thinking it's a dev unit."

Unlike the other current-gen game consoles (360, Wii, DS, and PSP), the PS3 has had a reputation of being virtually impossible to crack since its release in 2006. Assuming that the device even works at all, the "victory" may be short-lived, as Sony would likely be able to patch whatever vulnerability it exploits and render it unusable with a simple firmware update.

Much to the surprise of many a PC gamer, the newest installment in Activision's military shooter franchise keeps looking better and better. Treyarch previously promised the PC version of CoD: Black Ops would have dedicated servers, but now they're saying it'll even have support for user-created mods and offer access to the development console in-game. Confirmation comes from the game's official forums:

We plan to open the game up for modding sometime post-launch. We do not know yet to what extent you will be able to mod the game. There are some purely technical issues related to engine and internal tool enhancements that do not easily fit the modtools paradigm. We have looked at it close enough to see that it is non-trivial and we will have to pick it up again post-launch. Right now we are completely focused on finishing the game.

And, dev console: confirmed.

Spotted on Blue's News.

Now through Monday, August 23rd at 10AM PDT, you can purchase STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl and STALKER: Call of Pripyat on Steam in a special bundle for $9.99. If you've never played STALKER before, now is a good time to start, and save yourself forty bucks in the process (SHoC sells for $19.99 and CoP for $29.99, or $19.99 if you already own either SHoC or Clear Sky).

This deal comes hot on the heels of the STALKER 2 announcement last week. The sequel is scheduled for release in 2012, which leaves plenty of time for you to enjoy these two games before then.