• Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed
• Aliens: Colonial Marines
• Super Monkey Ball: Banana Splitz
• The Cave
• Hell Yeah! Wrath of the Death Rabbit
• Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown
• Jet Set Radio

“Case over. Jury finds for Epic on all counts,” Epic’s Mark Rein tweets.

For a quick refresh: the Too Human developer was suing Epic based on claims that it was tunneling money away from supporting its Unreal Engine and into the development of Gears of War.

The jury didn’t agree.

Silicon Knights will now have to pay $4.45 million in damages. It was found guilty of breaching their licensing agreement, misappropriating Epic’s trade secrets and infringing Epic’s copyrights in the Unreal Engine 3 code.

The game will tie-in to the upcoming film The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, coming out this December.

Guardians of Middle-Earth will use settings from the iconic Lord of the Rings universe to bring players together in 5-vs-5 battle arenas. There will be over 20 playable “iconic guardians” with early characters announced for the game including Gandalf, Sauron, Gollum, and Thráin.

“The MOBA genre is wildly popular with PC players and we are excited to bring it to consoles through the lore of Middle-earth,” said Samantha Ryan, Senior Vice President, Production and Development at WBIE.

Leading up to the release of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, several new characters from the film will become available to players.

“Don’t forget to mention that we have a VERY big announcement off the back of the Tomb Raider trailer reveal,” he tweeted in response to host Geoff Keigley promoting the show.

The game was already delayed to 2013, so a release date announcement can’t be it.. A new gamemode announcement? *gulp* Multiplayer?

Here’s the teaser video again:

It’s to be “a fun-sized” PS3 offering, but big enough to also be put in disc. Insomniac’s marketing lead James Stevenson has confirmed that Europe will be getting a physical region-free release. Those in the US or elsewhere are suggested to import.

“We’ve returned to the series’ classic feel, camera, controls and weapons, while innovating and giving you a whole new way to play,” CEO Ted Price says of the gameplay.

“Even better, the addition of online features means you can experience Full Frontal Assault with your friends, so stay tuned! We’re really excited about this game, and we hope even these small tidbits about it get you excited too.”

There are no gameplay videos or even screenshots to show what he means just yet, just this single piece of art:

Original story: At this rate, once the thing is actually announced all we’ll have to say is “Yep, it’s official.”

Yet more of Battlefield Premium has snuck out. We already knew the release date (June 4th) and pricing ($50), now here’s the fact sheet, detailing every detail of the poorly kept secret.

A lot of what’s on here we’ve typed up before, so just check the full size sheet here and that’ll be that.

All has been quiet on the planned trilogy recently — not counting the ‘it’s cancelled’ scare — but that should change soon.

“Insane is phenomenal. What we’re doing with it is phenomenal,” Bilson says of the game. “Working with Guillermo is a blast, some of the most fun I’ve ever had in my whole career. You’ll start seeing more announcements about that title in the coming months.”

As for the originally planned release date of 2013, nothing appears certain. “It could be later,” he says. “There are a lot of reasons you can probably guess why it might be later that are good reasons. Let me just tell you it’s good reasons.”

When quizzed on whether the reason could lie in the game being a next-gen effort, Bilson closed up in a hurry: “I might know but if I knew, I couldn’t talk about it.”

The announcement trailer below remains the only asset released of the game. No screenshots, gameplay, or anything of the sort has arrived yet.

Expect the full reveal to happen at E3 next week. EA’s already counting down to it.

For those unfamiliar, Cyberpunk is a 1988 pen-and-paper RPG from the mind of Mike Pondsmith. Here it will be translated into a game similar to CDP’s previous work, complete with a mature story, non-linear structure and rich detail. Perhaps imagine something a bit like Deus Ex, and maybe we’re getting there.

Players will be able to choose their own class, unlike The Witcher‘s pre-defined role. It’s being developed by a new team within the studio, made up of Witcher vets and newbies. Finer details like release date and, oh, what we’ll actually play it on weren’t mentioned, though the PC is a safe bet.

Of course, the dev also has another AAA game in the works, though that remains unannounced.

According to the Providence Journal, Governor Lincoln Chafee and the state of Rhode Island had promised to approve Schilling’s company for film tax credits as well as the deferral of a $1.12 million payment that was needed so 38 Studios could afford to pay its employees.

However, Schilling says that Chafee reneged on both the tax credits and the payment deferral, which contributed to 38 Studios having to lay off everybody. Schilling also called Chafee’s comments about the studio’s financial troubles “devastating.”

It’s those remarks about the questionable financial health of 38 Studios that Schilling says scared off potential investors and may have contributed to a publisher pulling out of a $35 million deal to finance the sequel to Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning.

Speaking at the D10 conference, the giant’s CEO Tim Cook said that ”gaming has kind of evolved a bit” and that Apple isn’t interested competing with the likes of Microsoft and Sony.

“More people play on portable devices,” he said. “Where we might go in the future, we’ll see. Customers love games. I’m not interested in being in the console business in what is thought of as traditional gaming. But Apple is a big player today and things in the future will only make that bigger.”

That right there doesn’t rule out the company making efforts towards the gaming space then, but it’s probably best not to get your hopes up for an Apple-branded games console.

The expansion, appropriately named Wrath of the Lamb, costs $2.99 and is available through Steam. Besides the new levels, players will get access to new enemies, items, music, room types and even a new final boss.

The complete list of goodies available in Wrath of the Lamb can be seen here. With so much fresh material, fans will be hard pressed to even wait for a rainy day before diving back down into Isaac’s basement.

THQ announced the latest in the annual franchise this week. It comes with a bit of a twist, focusing on the Attitude Era of the sport, where Steve Austin revolutionized everything with his, uh, attitude. Wikipedia skimming tells us that this era led to a massive shift in WWE programming and aimed it at a younger audience, giving rise to the likes of The Rock.

Hopefully, then, it’ll be like the awesome WWF games on N64 and PS1 fame. It hits 360, PS3 and Wii on October 30.

Today, MCV has escalated that rumor by some way, suggesting that Sony will be outright buying one of these two firms. The tech could then be integrated into all different forms of Sony tech, potentially allowing for non console-owners to play PS3 games on TVs or even the likes of the Vita.

According to a site source, the deal “is close to being signed”.

Signed in time for E3, then? It would be absolutely huge if so.

It now goes by Crysis 2: Maximum Edition and comes complete with additional  multiplayer content: nine maps, new weapons, skins etc. At $39.99/£24.99/€34.99, it’s perhaps a bit on the pricey side though.

According to a statement provided to Gamespot, “changes made by Crytek to Crysis 2: Maximum Edition have brought the game in compliance with Steam’s terms of service.”

Battlefield 3, Dragon Age II and Mass Effect 3 remain absent from the service though. On that end, EA has “nothing to announce at this time.”

The post that relinquished the information has been since swiftly updated, of course, but those interested in the service better get their wallets ready then. It was said to launch on June 4th along with the Close Quarters DLC and cost £39.99/€49.99/AU$79.99.

Premium is expected to get its formal announcement during EA’s E3 press conference early next week, along with a little something else.

Called Doom 3: BFG Edition, the new SKU includes the main game along with the Resurrection of Evil expansion, both of which are said to be “completely re-mastered.” Fancy that.

“Greatly enhanced graphics” are promised, “deeply immersing the player in the demonic world of this terrifying horror masterpiece.”

In addition, “a never-before-seen single-player story” is included, offering up 7 brand new levels. And there’s more: 3D optimization,  5.1 surround sound, Achievements, Trophies, “improved rendering and lighting, and a new check point save system allowing for smoother progression through the game” are all said to have made it in.

Here to give a taste of said upgrades is a debut trailer:

DOOM and DOOM 2 are thrown in as well. Look for it all this fall on PC, Xbox 360 and PS3.

Sounds like a pre-Doom 4 deal to me.

Things to take note of:

Loadouts include your primary weapon, secondary weapon, grenade, Armor Ability, Tactical Package and Support Package. Also, a list of Armor Abilities and Tactical Packages (which seem kind of like perks, for the lack of a better word) can be seen. I’m assuming the Support Packages have to do with the new ordinance drops and stuff of that nature, but who knows?

Armor Abilities displayed are Promethean Vision, Regeneration Field, Hologram, Hardlight Shield, Active Camouflage and Thruster Pack.

Tactical Packages shown are Resupply, Grenadier, Awareness, Shielding and Armor Ability Efficiency.

Customizable loadouts? Tactical Packages? Support Packages? Let’s hope Halo 4 isn’t merely trying to mimic the ever-popular but seemingly much-despised Call of Duty series.

The numbers are all in that funny sort of Unitology writing, but the format fits a countdown clock and the rightmost section changes ever 60 seconds. We’re fairly sure, then, that it’s counting down until EA’s E3 presser next Tuesday, no doubt for the unannounced Dead Space 3.

Stay tuned, then. Dead Space 3 is expected to have two player co-op.

“With 47% share of the current-generation console market, we are hitting our stride largely as a result of the success of Kinect for Xbox 360 (19 million sold) and the flood of new entertainment options through Xbox LIVE (40 million members).

“Sales for Xbox 360 in year five were greater than in year four, sales in year six were greater than in year five, and sales in year seven were greater than in year six.”

We get the idea.

He also gives a few teases towards Microsoft’s E3 media briefing on Monday: “We’ll unveil new games, show new ways to enjoy the entertainment you love and, as always, we’ll have a few surprises to share.”

EA attached the following blurb with the video:

While patrolling the planet Uxor, Earthgov Sergeant John Carver witnesses an attack on the Marker Site he guards which changes his life forever. John must now fight his way through a colony now in complete chaos as he begins to discover how important he is in fighting the Necromorph plague.

This is just the start of John Carver’s saga in the Dead Space Universe.

Dead Space 3 is yet to be confirmed by EA, but reports have claimed the addition of drop-in, drop-out co-op play. If those reports are true, could this be the second playable character?

Watch the video below.

Coming on as president of the company will be Naughty Dog co-founder Jason Rubin, who has been working on a variety of projects, including his involvement in the Aspen Comics work Iron and the Maiden, since his 2004 departure from the Sony-owned developer. Rubin will report directly to company CEO Brian Farrell. According to a THQ press release, Rubin’s position “comes as THQ realigns its focus from a maker of licensed games for broad audiences to a developer of AAA “Core” games for multiple platforms,” which is in keeping with the company’s general M.O. as it recently announced the end of its ValuSoft budget title division.

Along with Bilson’s departure, THQ will also see senior vice president of the Core Games division Dave Davis out the door. While no replacements were announced specifically for the empty positions, it’s easy to imagine Rubin assuming most, if not all, of the duties Davis and Bilson were responsible for given the timing of his hiring.

If any of you have actually finished everything in the main game (there really can’t be that many of you), it’s worth playing close attention to next week’s E3. We’re finally going to be given some cold hard facts on the first piece of DLC, “Dawnguard”. Exciting times.

Apparently, top tier games will somehow be offered for free, though whether it’ll happen by adding more tiers to the service or some other way remains unclear.

“Proper integration” with Vita is said to be in the cards as well.

The company’s presser will be held next Monday at 6PM PT. It can be streamed online.

The studio has released a piece of teasing artwork from the new game, showing a green-haired fella with a futuristic-looking weapon in hand. Not to mention the eyewear. Catch it in full below.

The conference will start today at 10AM Pacific. You can catch it on the company’s Facebook page here.

It’s in this last hour that developer Nihilistic has seemingly exhausted itself, no longer capable of maintaining the Vita FPS as a harmlessly mediocre shooter and instead heading into offensive territory. In the name of challenge, the player is presented with endless room after room of Chimera that steadily increase in number and strength while the level design dwindles away, giving the enemy a hugely unfair territorial advantage.

And just when you think it might all be over, it hits you with the kind of boss encounter that risks the well-being of your handheld.
It’s to Burning Skies’ credit that it manages to stave off this kind of experience for the rest of the game. Never is this spin-off of Sony’s PS3 franchise anything more than average, but at least that in itself is enough to deliver on the simple thrills that carry you through to the end (or near the end, as it were). And on a system with no alternative right now, it’s got every right to beat its chest about being a fully-functioning FPS.

Burning Skies finds itself rather awkwardly placed in the series timeline, set just before Resistance 2, which saw the Chimera invade America. With all the major events of the Resistance universe detailed in Insomniac’s PS3 trilogy, it struggles with producing a relevant story. You fill the boots of fireman Tom Riley, who sets out to find his family after becoming separated in New York and aid the fight against the Chimera. Focusing on a man trying to find his family could have made for a more memorable, personal tale (albeit similar to Resistance 3’s yarn), but it’s instead tossed out for a fairly standard plot. Reily and his partner, Ellie uncover some devious doings on humanity’s part, but the more this story takes centre stage, the more you lose interest.

Coming off the back of the rather wonderful Resistance 3, there was hope that Burning Skies would continue to exercise the potential of this franchise, but it’s sadly lacking any of the ideas of ambition that made its predecessor a surprise hit. Form the word go it’s a case of moving from one room to the next, clearing out waves of enemies. Bosses, mini-bosses and regular arsenal updates are all it can muster in the name of variety.

At their best, Resistance games present a sprawling selection of insane weaponry to pit against intense face-offs with menacing aliens. Here, a few old series favourites are kept while the new ideas are skimping. A shotgun tied to a crossbow proves a fun plaything, but is as ultimately useful as it sounds. Meanwhile the likes of the Bullseye and Auger feel noticeably dumbed down, largely thanks to the game’s appalling sound design.

That said, rarely is it unplayable, and at least the aforementioned length means that it doesn’t outstay its welcome. On a strictly mechanical viewpoint, Burning Skies is spot on, with tight, responsive aiming. Some of the Vita’s touchscreen controls even add to the flow of battle, allowing for pinpoint placement of grenades and secondary attacks.

It manages to look the part from time to time, too. Huge clumps of Burning Skies aren’t all that appealing to look at but when you get the right mix of environment, enemy and weapon it at least provides a glimmer of how future Vita games will end up looking. Uncharted: Golden Abyss blows it out of the water, but it wouldn’t be too much of an exaggeration to say this meets the PS3’s launch standards.

With such a disappointing single-player offering, it’s up to the online portion to provide any real value in Burning Skies. The competitive option is a simple one, only offering three modes for up to eight players. Resistance 3 scaled back on the franchises’ reputation for diverse multiplayer and the same rings true here. That’s not to say that this is bad multiplayer, not at all, it’s just basic, taking absolutely no risks or trying anything unique. Sadly, it doesn’t make much of a case for multiplayer on a handheld.

But where it offends the most is in its asking price. You can see all of what Burning Skies has to offer in less than a day with ease, making the $40/£40 price point something of a joke. As one of Sony’s cheaper PSN-only options this could have at least been a satisfying time-killer. It’s simply not up to snuff when paired with Vita’s other top-tier titles.

Burning Skies need not spell doom for the future of the genre on Vita, though. Sony Bend managed a considerably better effort with Resistance: Retribution on PSP, suggesting that the faults lie with the game’s developer, not its format. It seems to serve no other purpose as to say that, yes, there is now indeed a fully-functioning dual-stick shooter on a handheld. Hopefully the company’s next efforts prove that there can be some much more than that.

But to hell with, I thought! We’ve done it before, and it can’t possibly be worse than the last energy product we tried. Twice! Could it? Kristen was willing to take the risk.

You can read her take on the product below, but own tongue is king, yeah? To that end, we’re also giving away a bunch of these. Just leave a comment below or contact us via Twitter (@ThatVGBlog) and you’re good to go. If you’re among the randomly chosen lucky few, expect to hear from us next week. Though, after reading Kristen’s review below, you may want to go straight to the source and buy yourself some of these bags o’ magic direct from GungHo. In that case follow this link, knowing that it will give you a $5 discount over the regular price.

Now on to Kristen’s review:
Once the exclusive domain of tired truckers and hungover students, energy shots have joined energy drinks in the mainstream, offering the same vitamin, caffeine and chemical-packed boost at a fraction of the calories. But like their sugar-packed predecessors, the energy shot market is rocketing toward critical mass. Enter GungHo, a new energy gel shot targeted toward gamers that boasts “ninja like focus.” Their marketing promises longer-lasting and sharper-focused physical and mental energy than any other energy/focus supplement, but is this the truth or another classic example of sneaky ninja marketing tactics?

GungHo comes in individual .75 ounce packets that you tear open and toss back like a less-viscous squeeze yogurt. The recommended dose is two packets per day with meals, not to exceed four per day. They are also better chilled, according to GungHo, so the first taste test came fresh from the fridge at breakfast time. And unlike pretty much every other energy shot I’ve tried, the taste was good. Surprisingly good. Despite being completely sugar free, GungHo goes down smooth thanks to its citrusy vanilla flavor, with just a slight medicinal sting. Don’t let that last part turn you off. It’s amazing that it doesn’t taste more medicinal, considering it’s 790mg of medicinal ingredients, including cognizin, glucoronolactone, caffeine, ashwaganda, guarana, kola and eleuthero, topped off with 20mg of Niacin.

In the interest of full disclosure, I have to tell you I’m allergic to Niacin. I know this because, in my doctor’s own words, I am “genetically screwed” when it comes to my family history of heart disease. Dad has had seven heart attacks, one of the most memorable occurring at an Olive Garden where he forced us to finish the $10 lobster dip through our tears before he’d let us take him to the ER. So, I’ve been on a variety of cholesterol-lowering medications since high school, including Niacin. The slight flush that most people get is for me a painful full-body rash that feels like I just made sweet, sweet love to a bed of fire ants.

What I’m building up to is that when I saw Niacin was the first ingredient listed, I downed it anyway – for science! And I am happy to report that even those with an extreme sensitivity to Niacin can enjoy GungHo without fear of emergency medical intervention, just don’t exceed the recommended daily dosage – the tingles are still there, but it’s that flush from a good run feeling, not that meth-induced bugs under the skin feeling. On a side note, don’t mix with meth.

GungHo might actually help you kick crank entirely, as it really seemed to work to improve my energy and focus. I tried one at breakfast, one at lunch and one during that dreaded late afternoon slump, when I usually hit the meth pretty hard. Okay, all meth jokes aside, it really did deliver on the promise of increased alertness and concentration. It took longer to feel it “kicking in” than your typical energy drink, but that’s because your typical energy drink is essentially a roided-out pixie stick. Slow and steady is definitely preferable to the twitchy, jittery feeling you get from shotgunning sugar and taurine, and there’s no crash waiting for you at the bottom of the can. Heck, there’s not even a can!

When stacked against other energy shots, even other energy drinks, GungHo does its dojo proud – it’s loaded with vitamins, not calories and chemicals. That being said, if it’s truly the gamer market they’re trying to corner, the main competition isn’t other energy products – it’s soft drinks like Mountain Dew, Coca Cola and Bawls. There’s a reason I only talked about the mental kick in the proverbial ass GungHo gave me, and that’s because my literal ass was sitting on the couch playing videogames. But I felt like I could get shit done, if only the good people of Skyrim weren’t so damned demanding. GungHo is the perfect product for gamers who work as hard as they play. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to mix my fourth and final daily dose into a 20oz bottle of Code Red and watch the universe implode.

Sonic Picnic, who made the music for Awesomenauts, is working to release the soundtrack on Bandcamp. There is no exact release date, but the plan is to get the soundtrack out by this Friday (June 1st).

In the meantime, Ronimo is working on getting a new patch that will make some balancing tweaks. A few things that will change in the balance patch: Leon’s slow upgrades & tongue, Voltar’s drones & healing, Yuri’s timebubble and Froggy G’s whirlwind shield. There is no final ETA on when the patch will go live.

Planned new features included higher graphical fidelity, no loading between zones, improved combat animations, fewer branching quests and a greater effect on the world from the decisions of the player. According to a source who wanted to remain anonymous, “it was going to be all about improving on everything.”

Even though Rhode Island governor Lincoln Chafee even went as far as to say the game failed”, with Amalur needing sell 3 million copies just to break even, the title still shifted an admirable 1.2 million units over the span of 90 days, which is really good for a brand new IP. But obviously, it was not good enough to save the developers in the long run.

Former employees did want to express that the 50 million dollars from Rhode Island tax dollars which led to the collapse of the studio had nothing to do with Amalur, but was money that went directly towards their ambitious MMO project. Also, they claim that 38 Studios provided guidance for Amalur, but do not produce any assets, and that they pretty much “didn’t work on it at all.” Interesting.

This just goes to show you what a cut-throat industry this can truly be.

The new shade is due in July for £89.99. Getting news like this now grants hope that Sony won’t waste 15 minutes of its E3 press conference talking about the dated system along with a seemingly endless sizzle trailer of Buzz! titles and obscure JRPGs.

There is always hope.

“The game was, in a sense, discovered,” he explains. “I’m making air quotes: ‘discovered’ by the folks in Wimbledon. The minute they showed it to us, we really felt like we had found a diamond in the rough. Obviously the game was originally True Crime: Hong Kong from Activision. I can’t speak to why they let that go. I’m not going to speculate on their behalf. All I know is, they’ve gotta be crazy. Because this game is just fantastic.”

He goes on to say that the game “really encompasses all of everything you’d want to do in Hong Kong.”

“The acting, the story, the characters are very deep.”

Sleeping Dogs is shipping in August, and Activision should be jealous, by the sounds of it. Grab information on the exact dates and pre-order goods here.

Reassuring fans over how the layoffs would not be affecting future content, associate lead designer Emmanuel Lusinchi tells PC Gamer (via): “We have a very large development team still, definitely one of the biggest in the industry, and we have a very complete and detailed plan for the rest of the year.

“The players don’t really care about all that, behind closed curtains, but they want what they’re paying for which is a service with new content, new systems, that’s what they’re asking for and we listen to them. That’s what we mean to deliver.”

Lusinchi further expressed confidence over the new content already released, as well as taking player feedback into account.

“I think we did good. I think the game is really fun. We have subscription numbers that many of our competitors will envy, maybe not all the competitors, but we’re doing good.”

He ends with a tease of things to come: “When I look at what is in the plan, in the prototype I get to play every day, some of those things are truly spectacular. Well, I think so. The players will judge.”

You can check out the full list of titles included in the offer here, but particularly enticing deals include Red Dead Redemption (with Undead Nightmare) for $27.99 ($19.59 for PlayStation Plus members), and Mafia II for $20.99 ($14.69 for Plus members). Other offered games include BioShock II, Mortal Kombat, Just Cause 2, L.A. Noire, inFamous 2, MotorStorm Apocalypse, and Call of Duty: Black Ops.

In other words, Sony really, really wants you to become a Plus member.

Original Story: An awesome little rumor, this; CD Projekt Red’s The Witcher may well be headed to both PS3 and 360, retailer listings suggest.

The Danish arms of both Blockbuster and Coolshop have posted the game up for pre-order, complete with some rather convincing box art (that could admittedly be easily mocked up). Tomorrow sees the devs make a ‘huge announcement’ at their pre-E3 conference, so it could well be this.

It wouldn’t be the first time CD Projekt has tried to bring the game to consoles, though the original effort, titled Rise of the White Wolf, was suspended after funding issues. The game’s sequel recently hit the 360 with a PS3 version heavily rumored. The dev is said to have two games out this year, so expect this to have a 2012 date stamped on it. Hopefully.

The trailer will debut around 1PM BST, so do look for that. The image is below (click for larger version):

It’s version 1.03 and will offer a whole heap of itty bitty fixes, a few of them platform specific.

It’ll arrive this week. PC gets it today, while console players have to wait an extra two days until Thursday.

Go through the changelog below:

Common to all Platforms:
-Fixed an issue where sometimes facial movement would not match the voice over if a hitch occurred
-Fixed an issue where taking cover in a certain area of Cure the Genophage mission would cause players to become blocked from progress
-Fixed Action mode so it will now respect difficulty if set in the main menu
-Fixed an issue where the player would always be walking forward instead of towards objective in The Return mission
-Fixed the Ultralight Materials SMG weapon mod in multiplayer so it correctly affects weapon recharge
-Fixed a rare case where the reinforcement pack purchases could fail and take currency without giving cards
- Fixed the issue where users logged off/disconnected during multiplayer gameplay would not log back in properly until their game is rebooted
-Fixed the issue that multiplayer Geth sentry turret flamethrower would endlessly repeat audio SFX
-Fixed various multiplay maps where a player could fall through the map during multiplayer gameplay
-Fixed the issue that using an ops survival pack consumable immediately before death could have no effect. It now works as intended
-Fixed the issue so the Falcon weapon in multiplayer no longer sometimes fire blanks
-Fixed the issue where enemies who were detonated with a biotic power while in stasis would become invulnerable
-Fixed the issue where Banshees who got hit with a rocket launcher would not play the correct death animation
-Fixed the issue where joining a match in progress while a Geth prime turret is active leaves the turret there for the remainder of the game. It now disappears.
-Fixed the issue when joining a match in progress while the host is performing a combat roll would play firing animation on the client for the host character, for the duration of the match
-Fixed an issue so Vanguards who are charging as they die are no longer being routed to the ground
-Fixed Host migration that would sometimes cause players to start on an incorrect wave
-Fixed the issue when a client quitting a match during deep bleedout causes muted/ducked audio to persist into next match
-Fixed the issue that when being revived at the same time as being executed would leave players in an T-Pose state
-Fixed the issue that when a Banshee takes enough damage to stop her charge state, her normal state is not immediately returned
-Fixed the issue where a player could enter a state when completing cover interactions near a ladder which could lead them to becoming invulnerable and unable to deal damage
-Fixed game hitching of 1-2 seconds at start of waves
-Fixed clients occasionally seeing nonstop firing visual effects
-Fixed evaded projectiles having an erratic course
-Fixed an issue where selecting resume after death could occasionally cause henchmen to not spawn properly
-Fixed weapon recoil that could become reversed with a Turian when stability mod and passive power present
-Fixed the cover slot in Meet the Diplomats mission would cause a player to become stuck
-Fixed Geth prime and harvesters taking headshot bonus damage when they shouldn’t
-Fixed shooting the atlas in the cockpit with a penetration weapon doing double damage
-Fixed the Kishock Sniper Rifle that would hit head bone (critical hit) on enemies that should not be possible, such as the Brute, Banshee and Ravager
-Fixed and issue where clients in cover cannot do any damage to targets at wide angles relative to the cover
-Fixed an issue where player can glitch their melee combo to only perform cover lean melee animations
-Fixed an issue where while dying in multiplayer, if the player pressed the prolong life button too quickly they could erroneously die
-Fixed an issue so Drell Adept Reave audio plays at full volume for all players
-Fixed an issue that an interrupt could sometimes fail to prevent a Cerberus engineer from building a turret
-Fixed a crash in conversations after Investigate Sanctuary mission
-Fixed an issue where gear items from the Rebellion DLC would unequip at the end of each match.
-Fixed an issue so ammo consumables, such as cyro ammo, would not replicated from host to clients
-Fixed the Memory Leak going in and out of Multiplayer Menus
-Added feature to remove AFK players after a set amount of inactivity
-Added a cooldown to Ops Survial consumable
-Made ammo consumables insta-reload and damage bonus

PS3 only:
-Fixed wrong DLC Text in the Trophy File
-Added Downloadable Content option to PS3 Main Menu

Xbox only:
-    Fixed an issue where Mass Effect 3 soft locks in character screen if user unplugs Ethernet at “Checking downloadable content…” after accepting an invitation from multiplayer menu

PC only:
-Fixed an issue where the Online Pass Activation screen would appear for users despite PC not having a need for an online pass
-Fixed the Galaxy Map search and rescue asset GUI not appearing when using eyefinity
-Fixed an issue where users could not scan on galaxy map when right-click is rebound
-Fixed an issue where having the PC hud (heads up display) (left shift) up when a player dies in multiplayer and revived would cause player unable to move and the hud to remain active

The Doctor has dabbled in the realm of gaming before; recent browser-based and free-to-play offerings have been harmless fluff, but this is the first real attempt to capture the spirit of the charming sci-fi show on dedicated gaming platforms, gunning for real gamers. Sadly (though not surprisingly), it fails to capture the spirit of its source material, translating the usually-exciting show into little more than faulty platforming, tedious puzzles and lazy writing.

Eternity Clock might like to call itself a mix of Mario, Shadow Complex and Portal, though doing so would be a detriment to each of those stellar franchises. The base of the experience is some uninspired and near-broken 2D platforming that has you clambering over pipes, pushing blocks into place to reach higher ledges and high-tailing it away from fearsome foes. In the name of variety there are some actually-broken stealth segments that caused me to nearly throw my controller out of my window, some might-as-well-be-broken shooting mechanics that are utterly useless, and some simple puzzles that are repeated over and over to the point of eye-gouging tedium.

Let’s pick out just one of these hilariously ill-conceived mechanics; the stealth. Shortly after the game’s opening the player has to help series regular Riversong break out of prison. To do this she must sneak behind enemies so they don’t hear her, hide in shadows along the way so they don’t see her, and time her steps so as to not walk into spotlights and send guards running.

On a 2D plane this plays out a lot like 1997’s Oddworld: Abe’s Odyssey, only that 15-year-old game stands head and shoulders over this. Every once in a while Riversong walks around the corner and the camera shifts. But if you’re discovered, you could simply walk back round the corner and the guards – who clearly still have Riversong in sight – give up and turn around, forgetting the fact that a prisoner is on the loose.

Doctor Who is full of inconsistent glitches like these. It can be remarkably unforgiving at times, too. An early puzzle has you rushing between train tracks to electrocute Cybermen, but it’s back to a checkpoint abruptly if one reaches a line that’s unclear, even if you’ve literally just flipped the switch to kill them.

The game would like to boast that its co-op option is technically demanding, allowing one player as the Doctor to be in a completely different time zone to Riversong. It’s actually no different to two players being in two different rooms; rarely capitalizing on the potential to alter one gamer’s experience by doing something in the past. In fact you often just feel like you’re playing two separate games, and occasionally one of you will have to wait 10 minutes before the other figures out a puzzle on their end and you can progress. When the two are together, there’s literally no benefit to the two-player option other than sharing the pain.

So its last legs, then – the voices. Matt Smith and Alex Kingston reprise their roles as The Doctor and Riversong respectively. A nice treat, you might think, but it goes to waste on the atrocious writing that holds none of the shows wit or humor. Early example: Doctor walks up to a button. He says “Oh! It’s a button! I like buttons!” Expect the same pathetic attempt at capturing the source material’s dialogue throughout the four to six hour runtime.

The villains run the gauntlet of classics (Daleks) to the more recent (those guys who you can’t remember when you look away… ironically I cannot remember the name of them). It’s nice to see a big mish mash of some truly awesome foes finally gathered in one place, but it’s impossible to find a Cyberman threatening when he looks like an action figure rather than the real thing. Suffice to say that graphics follow the trend of this review.

It doesn’t matter that Doctor Who: The Eternity Clock is a well-intentioned project. It’s a dismal effort and honestly one of the worst games to release on consoles in recent years. No one aspect of it has been thought-out clearly. Avoid it. Exterminate it. Do that weird thing that the crying angels do to it. Just, dear god, don’t play this game.

Reads the ad: “Come work with the game industry’s brightest to design and implement high level network code for an exciting unannounced title for next generation console systems.”

If Activision has plans to continue alternating between IW and Treyarch, then the obvious conclusion here is that 2013′s Call of Duty release will also be offered on next-gen machines. A launch title?

A pickup truck is used here, but the tech — called the Beam physics system — can be used with anything, including “cars, trucks, planes, boats, trains, cranes, tanks, helicopters, and even destructible map objects and crash test dummies.”

“It’s all real physics. Anything is possible.”

Cvg has heard from “a trusted senior development source” who’s whispered that studio founder David Cage would be present to announce and show the new project, which is one of two currently in the works at the developer’s Paris studio.

No clues as to what it could be, but we can only assume it’ll be running on the “Kara” tech shown off earlier in the year. Catch it again below: