After Tim Schafer had confirmed that Brutal Legend 2 had been canceled in favor of working on four new indie games, the gaming community could only imagine what Schafer’s creative mind would bring us next.   The first indie game Schafer is working on will be Costume Quest, a so-dubbed adventure RPG due for an Xbox Live/PlayStation Network release in autumn.

Hit the jump for more information behind Tim Schafer’s latest. Read more… »

Today word got out, via USA Today, that several well known Hollywood actors will be lending their voices to help bring the world of Fallout: New Vegas alive.

Obviously Ron “War, War-never-changes” Perlman will be making his return to the series, filling in as the narrator. Besides Mr. Perlman, gamers can expect to hear Danny Trejo, Felicia Day, Wayne Newton, Matthew Perry, Michael Dorn and Zachary Levi in their post-apocalyptic journey. Read more… »

Today retail giant GameStop announced that it will acquire the indie game community site Kongregate in a deal that is expected to be signed on August 1. Kongregate, which “hosts 10 million monthly players who spend approximately 23 million hours per month on the site,” will to operate as a wholly-owned subsidiary.

According to the press release, “Acquiring Kongregate strengthens GameStop’s digital platform and its commitment to become the gaming aggregator of choice.” GameStop CEO J. Paul Raine added, “Kongregate advances GameStop’s digital strategy by providing a gaming platform for casual, mobile and browser games that can be promoted and played by our existing gamers.” Read more… »

In true Activision form, Capcom will be pumping out approximately 30% more hit titles every year. How will they accomplish this? By outsourcing to Western studios, Capcom has figured out a way to significantly cut development costs. In fact, they’ve already enlisted the help of Canadian developer Blue Castle for Dead Rising 2: whether the tactic paid off or not is yet to be seen.

Is there too much Activision in your Capcom, or are you happy to see more big name titles from one of the biggest developers of all time? Can Capcom achieve complete global saturation? Sound off below. Read more… »

Today Microsoft confirmed that the Xbox Live Primetime MMO trivia game 1 Vs. 100 will not be returning for a third season.

Dave McCarthy, General Manager, Microsoft Game Studios stated: “When we started on this journey, we knew we were creating an entirely new genre of entertainment that would be a continually evolving concept. We’re very proud of the ‘1 vs 100′ team and their accomplishments, and are excited to apply what we’ve learned to future programming.” Read more… »

If you guys are anything like me, you were raised on the ridiculous balls-out action films of the 1980′s. With movies like Predator, Commando, and Tango & Cash ingrained into my psyche, it should come as no surprise that I am eagerly anticipating The Expendables; a up coming action flick starting Sylvester Stallone, Jet Li, Bruce Willis, Jason Statham, and Mickey Rourke (with a cameo from the Governator Arnold Schwarzenegger himself) that promises to be a throw-back to the glory days of the genre.

In an effort to promote this masterpiece, a retro-style flash game was added to the official Expendables Facebook page. Basically functioning as a Contra clone, The Expendables flash game features three difficulty levels, dependent on which character you choose. It is important to note that in order to play the flash game, you need to “Like” the Facebook Page. It may not be the most robust title, but at least you get to play as Sly again (and not in some lame Judge Dredd game this time). Read more… »

Earlier this week, Blizzard announced they would be changing their forums to display people’s actual names instead of their avatar handle when posting.  After a huge backlash from their fans and the gaming community, it appears the popular PC game company has changed its stance on the issue and will not be making this modification to the forums after all.

I for one never had a problem with the change, as I think using a person’s real name makes them more accountable for the crap that comes out of their mouth.  Unfortunately I’m in the vocal minority, meaning things will go back to the status quo as the majority demands it.  For more information regarding why Blizzard changed their minds, hit the jump. Read more… »

Today brings some bad news for fans of Obsidian’s espionage-based RPG Alpha Protocol. Publisher Sega West has confirmed that, due to poor critical reception, any plans for a sequel have gone out the window.

Sega West president Mike Hayes explained, “Let’s speak very commercially; the game hasn’t sold what we’ve expected, therefore we won’t be doing a sequel.” Read more… »

Electronic Arts’ campaign to fight used game sales, code-named Project Ten Dollar, involves offering free DLC to people who purchase their games new and charging everyone who buys the game used $10 to download that content. There is a version of this campaign called Online Pass, which gives purchasers of new EA Sports titles the ability to play online for free, and charges anyone who buys the game used $10 for the privilege.

Most of the criticism I’ve read about Project Ten Dollar stems from those who may be facing these $10 purchases, and their arguments make little sense to me. Used copies of games usually go for $54.99 at GameStop if the title was released within the past one or two months. If you have an Edge card, you save an extra 5%. Is it worth saving $7.75 at the expense of missing out on a bunch of content? And if someone waits long enough for the used copy of the game to run at $39.99 or less, even if they do spend the $10 for the “free” DLC they have still saved $10 off the retail price of a new copy.

Read more… »

In a recent interview, David Cage, creator of Heavy Rain, mentioned that all upcoming Heavy Rain DLC has been put “on hold” due to his studio shifting focus to developing for the PlayStation Move.

According to Cage: “They are on hold to allow the team to work on Move and on new projects, and I doubt they will ever be produced. I did not want to postpone the work on our next projects spending one more year on Heavy Rain, and given the time and attention we put in developing our games, this is what it would have meant.” Read more… »

Recent figures unearthed by Newzoo – specialists in tracking video game statistics – suggest that almost a third of gamers don’t pay for games. Apparently, 30% of us never pay to play, a figure which applies to all platforms, whether PC, mobile, handheld or, perhaps most surprisingly, console.

According to Newzoo, the freebie-loving gamers amongst us are getting their digital fix by taking advantage of cost-free methods, such as borrowing games from friends, enjoying ‘Lite’ versions of apps, demos and the multitude of free games on sites like Facebook. Read more… »

Today Microsoft announced that it will be adding a Xbox Live Gold subscription plan geared toward families who share a single Xbox 360 Live account. Dubbed the ‘Xbox Live Gold Family Pack,’ the new plan allows up to four Gold memberships controlled by one primary account, who can distribute Microsoft Points and monitor online activity.

The Family Pack, which costs $99 annually, also promises “[e]xclusive family content and discounts.” Microsoft has this new bundle slated to arrive in November, the same month that Kinect is suppose to hit. Read more… »