Today EA announced that it will make a second attempt to capture the free-to-play audience with it’s upcoming first-person shooter Battlefield Play4Free (The first attempt being the failed Battlefield Heroes). Slated to arrive on the PC in spring 2011, Battlefield Play4Free mixes two of the series’ most critically acclaimed titles: Battlefield 2 and Battlefield: Bad Company 2.

According to the press release, Battlefield Play4Free combines “the most popular maps from Battlefield 2 with the familiar classes and powerful weapons of Battlefield: Bad Company.” Development of the game is being handled by EA’s Easy studio who also worked on Battlefield Heroes. Read more… »

It seems that now-a-days your game isn’t a triple-A title unless it has some sort of social media tie in. It should come as no surprise to gamers that EA’s next iteration of the Dragon Age series will be preceded by a Facebook minigame.

Dubbed Dragon Age Legends, this promotional strategy RPG is said to give gamers their “first taste” of the Free Marches, the setting of Dragon Age 2. According to EA 2D general manager Mark Spenner, “Dragon Age Legends will deliver a deep, sophisticated experience, and we will continue to delight gamers by adding new features and content far into the future.” Read more… »

Gaijin Games’ awesome Wii-Ware title, Bit.Trip Beat, recently made its way to the iPhone. The pong-inspired retro-rhythm title also made moves this morning. As of 9AM PST this morning, Bit.Trip Beat has also been available for PC and Mac via Steam.

Hit the jump for more information including Beat’s sale and the Steam version’s added features.

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Halloween is just a few days away and, of course,  Valve has release a game update to Team Fortress 2 celebrating this spooky season. Dubbed the “Second Annu-Hell Scream Fortress Hauntedead Halloween Special,” the update brings a whole slew of new content including a new map, masks, hats, special items, achievements, and an AI controlled Horseless Headless Horseman Boss.

All this new content revolves around the new map: CP_Mann Manor. This new attack/defend map features exploding pumpkins, spooky decorations, a randomly spawning Haunted Halloween Gift and the aforementioned Horseless Headless Horseman. Apparently, the Horseman will randomly spawn on control points to chase which ever player is closest. If the Horseman is tailing you, just melee an enemy player to pass off the curse. If you successfully defeat the Horseman, you will receive special “Unusual Haunted Metal Scrap” that allows you to craft the Halloween themed items. Read more… »

Last week I posted a little preview on The Ball, an indie first-person puzzle game that started out as an Unreal 3 mod but has since grown into a full on retail release published by the good folks over at Tripwire Interactive. Developed by Teotl Studios, The Ball has garnered so much critical acclaim and won so many awards (including second place in Epic Games’ Make Something Unreal contest) due to its unique setting, creative gameplay mechanics, and sheer quantity of head scratching puzzles.

Now that I’ve had a bit more time to clear through the single-player campaign and put in some work on  the survival mode, I’m fully prepared to give my opinion on The Ball. Will this game roll over the competition, or simply bounce down the hall of forgotten games? Read on to find out. Read more… »

Like most of you, I have an unhealthy fascination with Minecraft, the indie block based adventure/construction game. Today Minecraft creator Markus “Notch” Persson shed some light on the new features we can expect when the Halloween update goes live.

According to Notch, “There are six new block types (five of them have unique abilities), one new monster, a new dimension, and a couple of bug fixes. Once I get the portals working, I’ll have something very interesting going and I’ll spend the rest of the time leading up to the release adding new smaller features and polishing stuff.” 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… »

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… »

F1 games of the past have largely been hit and miss. In the late ‘90s, annual F1 games were sultry staples of the racing genre, but ever since Sony acquired the license there has been a steady decline in the quality and level of interest towards the genre. Then there’s the sport itself which, to be honest, has done little to captivate me over the years. More often than not, I will watch the opening laps of a race only to nod off or vacate the TV as the initial bustle dissolves into an uneventful ritual. I’m, therefore, not what you would call a hardcore enthusiast.

2010 has seen a major turning point for F1 however with revised rules and racer rivalries, and as popularity for the sport has been reignited, Codemasters picked their timing well for the release of F1 2010, the direct sequel to the Wii-exclusive F1 2009 and the first F1 game on the PS3 since the mediocre F1 Championship Edition.

It’s been four long years since Championship Edition, but since the license was handed over from Sony to Codemasters in 2008, anticipation for their first foray into the glamorous world of F1 has been mounting for its deprived fans. Renowned for their consistently critically acclaimed racing titles such as Race Driver and the more recent DiRT series, can Codemasters’ take on the sport deliver the same racing thrills of the past for both seasoned F1 followers and rookie racers alike?

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Last night, at the first ever Games Developers Choice Online Awards, Riot Games and their DotA clone, League of Legends, cleaned house by winning five out of nine awards. The awards ran the gamut from ‘Best Online Game Design’ to ‘Best Online Technology.’

Other noteworthy winners include EVE Online for ‘Best Live Game,’ World of Warcraft for ‘Best Community Relations’ and NCSoft’s Aion for ‘Best Audio for an Online Game’. Read more… »

When I first heard about Dead Rising way back in 2006, my imagination cooked up thousands of ways to have fun in the game. I mean, zombies in a mall where almost anything could be a weapon… What more could any horror/gaming fan ask for? Unfortunately, the reality of the situation was that, despite being an enjoyable game, the first Dead Rising was not my ideal Dawn of the Dead simulator.

Well, four years have passed since the first Dead Rising hit and I have to say it’s good to know that Capcom is willing learn from their mistakes. Dead Rising 2 still isn’t at a place where I’m ready to call it perfect, but it’s definitely a step in the right direction. Read more… »

Who gets tired of shooting zombies?  No one, am I right?  Well to be honest zombie games are starting to become the new World War II setting of this generation in my opinion. Though  if you are still in need of extra zombie action then the best place still has to be the Left 4 Dead series of titles from the people’s developer, Valve.

Valve made us all aware recently that the new “The Sacrifice” DLC would be coming really soon.  Well they’ve gone and elaborated on “real soon”, turning it in to a firm date.  That being the 5th October.

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