Bioware ‘Reveals’ Dragonage Sequel Release Date?

There’s a nice little surprise watching in the package for the retail version of upcoming Dragonage: Origins expansion, Awakening. It contains a leaflet with a date of 02.01.2011 printed on it, which seems to hint at the release date for Dragonage 2. Well when we say ’seems’ we really mean ‘what the hell else can it be?’.

EA has already announced that they’re going to be releasing a new Dragonage next year, so when you put the two things together it’s pretty obvious. Given the early next year release date it’s also looking likely that we’ll find out more about the sequel at E3.

Awakening is available as a download and retail release for PC and 360. The PS3 release is download only, so no little leaflet for owners of that version. You can get it from March 16.

(picture from 1UP)

Mass Effect 2 Gets Free Arc Projector DLC

Bioware released some more free DLC for Mass Effect 2 today, this time in the form of a new weapon for the game.

The Arc Projector ionizes targets with a non-visible laser to ready them for a high-voltage electrical attack. As the lightning-like bolt hits its first target, a sophisticated auto-targeting system paints succeeding targets with the ionization laser, allowing the electricity to take the path of least resistance and arc between them. An entire enemy strike team can be shocked to death with a few pulls of the trigger. Careful aiming will also allow the user to arc shots to nearby explosives as well.

You can get the new DLC through the Cerberus Network, which is located on the games main menu.

If one weapon isn’t enough for you then you’ll be able to download the ‘Firewalker Pack’ later this month, which includes five new missions and a tank.

R.U.S.E Public Beta Now Available For Pre-Load

If you’re looking for some hardcore RTS fun on that PC of your’s then you might be interested to know that Steam has now made available the R.U.S.E public beta for pre-load.

All you have to do to join in on the fun (well, in 19 hours anyway) is go to this link and download the public beta. You will then be ready to play the beta straight away from tomorrow, meaning you don’t have to sit and wait for the download to complete.

R.U.S.E is a World War II based RTS coming to the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 sometime next year.

New Fallout: New Vegas Screenshots Released

Some new Fallout: New Vegas screenshots were released by Bethesda today, and we’ve got the full gallery below.

The game uses the same engine as Fallout 3, hence the similar look, although apparently the game will have more varied plant life.

Portal 2 Officially Announced

After updating Portal on the PC a few times this month, with little things such as this alternative ending sequence to tease a potential sequel, Valve have officially announced Portal 2.

The only info so far is that the game is set for a Holiday 2010 release – which means November/December time in American-speak. The game was rumoured a while ago to be a prequel, but these rumours were circulating about two years ago, so who knows?

I am definitely looking forward to doing some new crazy tests with the ‘help’ of good ‘friend’ GLaDOS…

Now you can be gay on Xbox Live

Marc Witten just posted a new letter regarding an update to the Xbox Live Code of Conduct. Previously, they had restricted certain words from being a part of your online identity despite even video games having those words in the title (Ballad of Gay Tony). Now though, if you feel like it, they’ve allowed a handful of new words allowing you to declare your sexual orientation.

You may use the following terms to express your relationship orientation in your profile or Gamertag:

• Lesbian
• Gay
• Bi
• Transgender
• Straight

Other terms regarding relationship orientation are not allowed. In addition you may not use these terms or any other terms regarding relationship orientation to insult, harass, or any other pejorative use against other users. 

Sony Acquires Little Big Planet Developer Media Molecule

In an announcement that will be little surprise to anyone Sony has said that they have officially purchased Little Big Planet creator Media Molecule.

The announcement came via the official Playstation Blog, with Michael Denny, Senior Vice President of Worldwide Studios Europe, releasing a statement on the acquisition.

“The decision was an easy one after meeting five young, talented people with a massive ambition to redefine video games as we know them and create and grow a fantastically talented team at Media Molecule. This was followed by a fantastic exclusive relationship that culminated in the launch of one of the most innovative PlayStation games of recent years. Of course, LittleBigPlanet needs no introduction here, as it was thanks to you that it became a best selling PS3 title when it released in late 2008.

The acquisition will enhance the talent pool within SCE, protect past and current investment and ensure a solid base for future investment. Media Molecule have exciting projects in the pipeline and we’re looking forward to sharing these with you in the not too distant future.

The most important thing is that nothing will change from your perspective; Media Molecule will simply continue to make great games. Welcoming Media Molecule into the PlayStation family will allow us to better support their future titles and ambitions.”

Obviously this means that all future Media Molecule titles will be exclusive to PS3 and PSP, so sorry to those people hoping to see Little Big Planet on other platforms.

Sony Trademarks ‘Playstation Arc’ In Japan

The wand like motion control device that Sony revealed at E3 last June is yet to be given a proper name (other than “Sony Motion Controller” anyway), but a trademark filing and previous reports have put us one step closer to finding out just what Sony intends to call its new controller.

Siliconera noticed that Sony has previously filed a trademark for the name “Playstation Arc” in Japan. While companies seem to file trademarks for random names all the time this one is particularly intriguing because VG247 said earlier this year that an anonymous source had told them “Arc” would indeed be the final name.  The domain PlaystationArc.com has also been registered by Sony, whilst THQ’s CEO has referred to the device as “Arc” a number of times.

If we put everything together then it may seem fairly obvious that the device will be called “Arc” when it is released later this year. Of course, we could all be wrong and Sony may just be registering the name for another idea they have in the pipeline. In the end I guess the only thing we can say is to place your bets now and hope that all the evidence is correct.

GDC is coming up next week, so hopefully we’ll find out more details then.

Trouble at Infinity Ward?

Infinity Ward president Jason West and studio head Vince Zampella appear to have been sacked by the studio’s owner Activision amid dramatic scenes and claims of breach of contract and insubordination.

G4 reported late yesterday that “bouncer-type” security had showed up at the offices of the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare developer following a meeting between the two studio heads and Activision, and that West and Zampella hadn’t been seen by staff since.

G4 then turned up a Securities and Exchange Commission filing by Activision earlier in the day indicating that the publisher was investigating senior staff at Infinity Ward, and expecting to sack and sue them.

“The Company is concluding an internal human resources inquiry into breaches of contract and insubordination by two senior employees at Infinity Ward,” the filing read. “This matter is expected to involve the departure of key personnel and litigation.”

Meanwhile, Kotaku turned up a Facebook status update from West that read, “Jason West is drinking. Also, no longer employed.” His profile on the professional networking site LinkedIn also appeared to have been updated, showing his role as “President/Game Director/CCO/CTO at Infinity Ward” as a “Past” employment.

Zampella’s status at the moment is unclear. Neither Activision or Infinity Ward has offered an official comment as yet. Infinity Ward’s vocal spokesman Robert Bowling simply said “I have no info” on his Twitter.

Zampella and West were among the founding members of Infinity Ward who had previously worked on Medal of Honor: Allied Assault for EA. At their new studio, they created the immensely successful Call of Duty series of first-person shooters for Activision and continued to develop key entries in the series, culminating in the recent smash hits Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and Modern Warfare 2.

West is credited as the director of Modern Warfare 2, which was 2009’s best-selling game worldwide and which racked up a billion dollars of sales in two months.

Game creator Tim Schafer, whose Brutal Legend was dropped by Activision before being picked up by EA, commented on his Twitter: “Getting mad at Activision for this kind of thing is like getting mad at an ape for throwing feces. It’s just how the beast communicates.”

“Don’t Connect PS3 to PSN”, Says Sony

Earlier today we posted about a bug that is currently affecting millions of PS3 owners around the world. In an attempt to alleviate any further damage to consumers Sony has issued a warning.

“We would also recommend not connecting any consumer units to the PSN to the network for the remainder of today.”

Sony have also sent out an official statement on the matter, saying that speculation the consoles internal clock caused the bug is indeed correct. Sony hope to have the problem fixed within the next 24 hours, so you’ll just have to hold your horses until then. Also bear in mind that PS3 Silm’s are unaffected.

The full statement is below:

As you may be aware, some customers have been unable to connect to the PlayStation Network today. This problem affects the models other than the new slim PS3.

We believe we have identified that this problem is being caused by a bug in the clock functionality incorporated in the system.

Errors include:
* The date of the PS3 system may be re-set to Jan 1, 2000.
* When the user tries to sign-in to the PlayStation Network, the following message appears on the screen; “An error has occurred. You have been signed out of PlayStation Network (8001050F)”.
* When the user tries to launch a game, the following error message appears on the screen and the trophy data may disappear; “Failed to install trophies. Please exit your game.”
* When the user tries to set the time and date of the system via the Internet, the following message appears on the screen; “The current date and time could not be obtained. (8001050F)”
* Users are not able to playback certain rental video downloaded from the PlayStation Store before the expiration date.

We hope to resolve this problem within the next 24 hours. In the meantime, if you have a model other than the new slim PS3, we advise that you do not use your PS3 system, as doing so may result in errors in some functionality, such as recording obtained trophies, and not being able to restore certain data.

As mentioned above, Please be advised that the new slim PS3 is not affected with this error. We are doing our best to resolve the issue and do apologise for any inconvenience caused.

For the latest status on this situation please check either the PlayStation blog (for SCEE: www.blog.eu.playstation.com/for SCEA: www.blog.us.playstation.com) or PlayStation.com.

UPDATE: Sony has said that the problem is now fixed and you can connect to PSN again.

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