BioShock 2:Launch Trailer

Return to the city of Rapture in Bioshock 2, the highly anticipated sequel to 2K Games 2007 hit video game, Bioshock.

Aliens vs Predator Weyland-Yutani Trailer

The corporation of Weyland-Yutani has a few skeletons in their closet in this story trailer for Aliens vs. Predator.

Soon, You’ll Be Able To Have More Than 100 Xbox Live Friends

Microsoft is tired of answering this question: when can I have more than 100 friends on Xbox Live?

The answer is soon. Microsoft made the most significant move in this direction yet, announcing the dismantling of the original Xbox Live servers. On one hand, unless Microsoft develops an interesting alternative (say, a downloadable version), Halo 2 will no longer be playable over Xbox Live. On the other hand, it removes the tech obstacle preventing Microsoft from lifting the annoying friends cap.

Microsoft hasn’t made this announcement officially yet, but I reported on the Halo 2 problem last year and I’m told old Xbox Live remains the issue preventing this from moving forward.

The company mentioned the impact of Halo 2 in a statement this morning.

“There’s no greater example of the power of the Xbox LIVE community than the Halo franchise,” said Xbox Live general manager Marc Whitten on the Gamerscore blog. “Halo 2 has had an amazing run on LIVE, with a dedicated community more than five years after launch and well into the next generation of consoles. It has fundamentally changed the way we play video games.”

I last pressed Microsoft on this point at CES earlier this year.

“Phew,” sighed Xbox group product manager Aaron Greenberg. “God, I’ve been answering this question for so long. It’s something that the team’s looking at. It’s more complicated than you would think. I know you have actually covered yourself in some detail and I think it is something that we’re hoping to address. Exactly when that happens I can’t say because there’s some technical requirements tied to it. But I can tell you that, just like consumers, I share the same frustration and I, too, want more than 100 friends, and so know that we all want that and that we are working on getting that fixed.”

Whitten promised to share “more details soon.” One of those details will be the ability to — finally — stop unfairly removing friends from your Xbox Live friends list in order to make room for more.

Finally.

Heavy Rain Demo Available Now…For Skilled Detectives

Like all participants in the browser-based mystery tie-in game based on Quantic Dream’s upcoming thriller Heavy Rain, I just received a rather pleasant surprise: access to the game’s demo…a week early.

The game started last week with a word scramble puzzle that lead to a Twitter account for a particularly crazed user that offered clues for later puzzles. The next challenge was YouTube based, and required you to keep a woman who had called 911 on the line until police arrived at a crime scene. For the final puzzle, you have to pick four pieces of evidence found at a crime scene to determine the best way for your investigation to proceed. Picking the correct four pieces brings up a “Congratulations!” screen and, best of all, a download voucher code.

Epic Games Promises “Megaton Face Melting News” Coming Soon

Marcus and Dom in Capcom’s Lost Planet 2 isn’t the only Epic Games-realted news on the horizon, with Gears of War designer Cliff Bleszinski telling his Twitter followers to watch out.

“Keep your eyes open for ‘megaton face melting news,’” said Bleszinski.

Microsoft will be holding X10 in San Francisco next month, where the company is expected to showcase much of its first-half 2010 lineup and make announcements for the rest of the year.

Could Halo: Reach and Gears of War 3 be a back-to-back combo later this year?

Metro 2033 Release Date Announced

THQ announced today that its post-apocalyptic, Moscow subway system-based shooter Metro 2033 now has an official release date: March 16.

The game, which is based on Russian author Dmitry Glukhovsky’s novel of the same name, sounds quite Fallout 3-ish (nuclear wastelands, humanity driven underground, deadly mutants, etc.), but I’m looking forward to getting lost in its world all the same.

iPad Accessories Announced

Apple has dropped word on a few accessories for the iPad. they are:

• A dock
• A keyboard
• A keyboard dock
• Carrying case/stand

Personally, a keyboard is a must-buy for me. No matter how good the touch devices get, there’s nothing that compares to the soothing clicking of a real keypad… I’d also need a case. And a dock… damn, I’ll be buying all these things!

More details on all these devices when they become available.

Apple’s iPad: All The Facts

Describing it as a “a magical and revolutionary product,” Apple CEO Steve Job unveiled his company’s iPad device, a touchscreen tablet computer that combines elements from the Apple iPhone and laptop computers. We’ve been spilling a ton of details on you this morning, as they’re announced, but here, in a nutshell, is what we know about the Apple iPad, in handy, bullet-pointed form:

Technical details:

• 9.7-inch screen
• LED-backlit, IPS display
• “Multi-touch” touch-screen interface
• Weighs 1.5 pounds
• Half inch thick
• Up to 10 hours of battery life, with one month standby
• Some models support 3G Network
• 16, 32 or 64GB flash storage
• Built-in speakers
• Accelerometer
• Compass

Price and Availability:

• Available in 60 Days
• Wi-Fi Only:  $499 for the 16GB, $599 for the 32GB and $699 for the 64GB.
• Wi-Fi with 3G: $629 for the 16GB, $729 for the 32GB and $829 for the 64GB.
• Data plans for 3G-capable versions of the iPad are from AT&T and will cost $29.99 a month for unlimited usage, with a 250MB plan available for $14.99 a month.
• Previously purchased iPhone and iPod Touch games and applications will all work on the company’s new iPad device.

Notice anything missing? Off the top of my head: A camera. HDMI port. GPS, Flash.

So, what do you think?

Next Left 4 Dead 2 Update: Special Infected Bots In, Auto-Spawning Out

Avid Left 4 Dead 2 players will be pleased to hear that Valve are planning to roll out another update for their premier zombie-killing title in a couple weeks, and to make sure the wait is an informative one, Valve has released some details about what players can expect from the next tweaking.

First off, Valve will be adding bots to the special infected in Versus mode. Our own Jeff “Left 4 Dead-head” Kanjanapangka informs me that this will be a welcomed changed as it will finally allow Versus matches to be even, and ensure that teams won’t suffer because people decide to drop out unexpectedly.

The other forthcoming change resulted from players’ complaints regarding auto-spawning during finale moments. Again, Jeff tells me that this will relieve quite a bit frustration as it will keep the special infected players from spawning in the middle of fires or some other dangerous scenario into which one would not typically want to drop. That’s something I think we can all agree with.

Valve also mentioned that work on the next round of downloadable content for the game, “The Passing,” is underway, with voices to be recorded shortly. The DLC is expected to be released sometime in the first half of this year.

What do you think about these upcoming changes? Any issues you think still need to be addressed?

Heavy Rain Online Mystery Game Begins

Quantic Dream’s experiment in cinema-gaming, Heavy Rain, comes out next month, and to help you get into the moody mood, Sony has started an online mystery game called “Four Days”: The Heavy Rain Online Experience that will play out over the next three weeks. Each week, there will a certain number of daily puzzles, tasks, etc. that you’ll have to complete to progress to the next series of events.

All of this investigating will lead you along the path towards uncovering the identity of a serial killer. How this particular killer relates to Heavy Rain’s Origami Killer isn’t clear, but I’m sure there will be plenty to glean from the experience to make it worthwhile for anyone planning to pick up the game.

I just signed up for the game, and am currently on the first challenge. I like it when developers take the time to extend an experience beyond the confines of a game, and I’m definitely looking forward to following this thing along and seeing where it leads. Am I alone?

Source: PlayStation Blog