The latest trailer for EA’s upcoming DLC expansion Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Vietnam not only contains high-octane gameplay footage of the game in action, but also reveals the pricing details.

According to the trailer, Vietnam will retail for $14.99 /1200 MS Points, which doesn’t sound too dissimilar to last year’s Battlefield: 1943. In a similar vein, the DLC will include four new maps along with four new vehicles and 15 weapons that compliment the new era.

A precise release date has yet to be disclosed however, as the trailer still points to a winter 2010 date for deployment.

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A very popular trend within post retro-era games is to include some sort of “retro minigame” within the package. But more often than not, that’s usually what the inclusion ends up being: nothing more than a miniature part of the overall experience. Some titles even try to model old school graphical styles completely, such as VVVVVV, and greatly succeed in pleasing old school fans, but at the cost of alienating new age gamers. However, it’s very rare to see a combination of both in one package: enter Super Meat Boy.

Super Meat Boy is the retro homage of our generation: yet, most of it feels completely new. With numerous references sequences involving 8-bit graphics, and even monochrome Gameboy colors, developer Team Meat is able to bring that classic oldschool gameplay feel back from the dead, while keeping the overall feel fresh, and worthy of the current generation. Read more… »

The Front Mission series, which is normally Japan-exclusive, has tested the international market with mixed results.  Front Missions 3 and 4 received lukewarm reviews and failed to make an impression outside of Japan.  Double Helix Games, best known for Silent Hill: Homecoming, has changed the gameplay altogether and released Front Mission Evolved for the entire world to play.  The ambition behind Front Mission Evolved is evident and the combat is a lot of fun, but it always trips over its own embarrassing story and voice acting.

The Front Mission series takes place on an Earth divided into military superpowers that make war with the use of giant mechanical robots known as wanzers.  If this is already sounding generic, you haven’t seen anything yet.  The narrative of Front Mission Evolved is easily the weakest part of the game.  The writing stumbles awkwardly from one cliché to another: phoned in messages about how politicians make war, the tough-as-nails but secretly vulnerable female love interest, the token black commanding officer guaranteed to get killed off within three hours and the grizzled old general destined to make a heroic sacrifice. Read more… »

Today PC gaming super hero Valve released some details regarding the number of people who use its Steam service. Over the past 12 months, Steam has seen a 178% increase in users. This pushes the grand total of Steam gamers to over 30 million. Out of these 30 million, six million users log onto team each day.

Valve CEO Gabe Newell remarked about this years growth, saying: “Steam is on track to record the biggest year in its six year history. The year has marked major development advances to the platform with the introduction of support for Mac titles, the Steam Wallet and in-game item buying support, and more. We believe the growth in accounts, sales, and player numbers is completely tied to this work and we plan to continue to develop the platform to offer more marketing, sales, and design tools for developers and publishers of games and digital entertainment.” Read more… »

For the past few years, EA has dominated the market of football games. EA Canada has been able to overcome the once-great superpower of Konami’s Pro Evo series, and has continued to unleash the finest in football simulation games.

FIFA 11 was not expected to deliver a knockout punch like FIFA 09 and FIFA 10 were able to – due in large part to the release of 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa earlier this year. However, fans of the series would have been remiss not to have at least hoped for a more immersive and entertaining experience with FIFA 11.

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What do you get when you mix up one part Portal, two parts Indiana Jones, and top it off with a little hint of Pinball? You get The Ball, a first-person puzzler developed by the good folks over at Teotl Studios and published by Tripwire Interactive, makers of Killing Floor and Red Orchestra. On top of all that The Ball also achieved second place in the Grand Finals of the Make Something Unreal contest, as well as winning Best Single-player Mod Of 2008 in ModDB’s MOTY awards. With all this acclaim, it kind of strange that The Ball hasn’t been getting a lot of press.

This past weekend, Tripwire was good enough to send me a preview copy of their upcoming game, which is currently slated to arrive October 26. After spending a good deal of time playing The Ball, I have to say it’s a truly unique experience that you have to play to really get the idea of how it works. Read more… »

MotorStorm has remained one of my favourite racing series for the current console generation with its winning formula of brutal off-road racing, so it was with great excitement that I got to sample Evolution Studios’ latest instalment in the franchise MotorStorm Apocalypse at this year’s Eurogamer Expo.

As well as managing to get my own hands-on with the game on the crowded show floor, I also attended a Developer Session presentation hosted by Matt Southern and Paul Rustchynsky, lead designers of the MotorStorm franchise, to gather additional snippets of information about the game.

Read on to find out if MotorStorm Apocalypse is looking like it has the horsepower to obliterate the opposition.

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Sony has announced today a new partnership with popular film subscription service LoveFilm (essentially the European version of Netflix), which will bring the service to the PS3 in the UK and other European territories this November.

As the above video demonstrates, the new service will be integrated into the XMB, allowing you to stream content from thousands of titles from major and independent studios with the option to narrow searches by film title, genre and actor. Additional categories including ‘Pick of the Week’, ‘Most Watched’ and ‘Highest Rated’ will also be available.

As an added incentive, LoveFilm also stated that free trials will be offered to PS3 users who are not currently members of the subscription service.

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A mammoth update this week, thanks largely to the arrival of a spikey blue hedgehog. Yes that’s right, Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1 is now available to download and has already been touted as a belated return to form.

Elsewhere, there’s an enticing playable demo of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II and a trial and unlock for Dead Space Ignition to complete the sci-fi theme, along with new DLC for WRC, Split/Second and Moto GP for racing fanatics.

The rest of this week’s update can be found after the break.

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Dear oh dear, it’s the news Gran Turismo fans didn’t want to hear, but according to the US PlayStation Blog Gran Turismo 5 has been delayed once again and will be released “this holiday season,” missing its target November 2nd release for North America.

The following statement was posted: “We sincerely apologize to GT fans for the delay, however, creator Kazunori Yamauchi and the team at Polyphony Digital want to make certain they are creating the perfect racing experience, and we are confident that this ambitious game will exceed expectations when it launches.”

Update: the Euroepan PlayStation Blog has also confirmed that the delay will apply to European territories as well, but affirmed that the game would be available “before Christmas.” At this rate it will be a miracle if the game ever arrives this century.

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I like my expos like I like my Tom Hanks movies. Big. And this year’s Eurogamer Expo is Tom Hanksier and better than ever, moving to Earl’s Court for a larger venue, cramming even more salivating gamers into the place than ever.

Tickets sold out, and exhibitors are lining up to peddle their wares. Last year Heavy Rain, Left 4 Dead 2 and Lost Planet 2 stole the show for me. But what will this year offer? Well, let’s hit the show floor and find out.

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This is a big week for Nintendo’s downloadable services. Not only is the first episode of Sonic the Hedgehog 4 now available on Wii-Ware, but Ivy the Kiwi? is also making its way to DSi-Ware.  So turn on that Wii and DSi and get downloading!

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