“Titan is… the media is not meant to know anything about that,” Pearce said. “It’s our next gen MMO and we’ve only started talking about it in a limited fashion because we want to leverage the fact that we’re working on something like that for the purpose of recruiting – getting some of the best talent in the industry on that project.”

As of yet, it is unclear if “Titan” is a working or final title.

The leaked schedule also provided other news. Diablo III was given an expected release window of late 2011, and new Starcraft II expansions were mentioned.

Source: IGN

Ubisoft said during the announcement: “The Pienza Map provides the perfect free-running playground where predators and targets can blend and disappear. In the new Chest Capture Multiplayer Mode two teams comprised of three players each partner with fellow Templars to either defend or capture Chests. Also included is the new Templar Score feature to reward diligent work by Abstergo recruits.”

“This [Transformers: War for Cybertron] is the most highly-rated, critical success of any game that’s had the Hasbro brand yet and we’re looking forward to a sequel in 2012″.

Blecher also annoucned that Transformers: Dark of the Moon will be released alongside the launch of the new movie in 2011.

The package will contain:

- A copy of the game
- Replica of Isaac’s Plasma Cutter with working LED lights. (PC & 360 Only)
- Downloadable Unitology Suit and Force Gun
- Dead Space 2 Soundtrack
- Collectible Artwork lithograph

- HD Remake of Dead Space: Extraction (PS3 Only)

The Sacrifice DLC will be available on October 5th for both Left 4 Dead and Left 4 Dead 2 players.

“The Sacrifice” is the prequel to “The Passing,” and takes place from the L4D Survivors’ perspective as they make their way South. In addition to advancing the story, “The Sacrifice” introduces a new style finale featuring “Sacrificial Gameplay” where players get to decide who will give their life so the others may live.

The Sacrifice DLC will be available on October 5th for both Left 4 Dead and Left 4 Dead 2 players. But bare in mind that the DLC for both games are separate.

First off, if you were looking for a mostly narrative-based game, then it’s possible that you might be a little… unhappy, with how this particular add-on turns out. There’s definitely a story there, and you do, in fact, have snippets of the dialogue trees that Mass Effect has become renowned for, but there isn’t much wiggle room left for you to dictate the story yourself. The story is there, but it’s placement is lukewarm at best, mostly serving as justification for the, I must say, very well constructed action sequences.

As is always the case with Mass Effect, Mark Meer (male Shepard) is completely overshadowed by Jennifer Hale (female Shepard). Besides my objections that it is morally incorrect for anybody to play Shepard as a male, anyone who chooses to do so will find a blazingly wooden performance at best. Comparing his forced-to-say-this-at-gunpoint voice to the wonderfully natural tones of Hale’s performance is akin to comparing, in terms of destruction ability only, a plastic knife to a bazooka made from the devil’s foreskin. Several times I felt like reaching through the screen, grabbing that prehistoric cave dweller with my hands, and slapping him around until he remembered to act like a human being and not like a fucking answering machine. It would be a real saving grace if Bioware were to just cut male Shepard out of the game completely at this point. Hale, however, reliably brings believability, compassion and a sense of wanting to see Shepard succeed in helping out Liara. Oh, and, you know, not die for a second time.

And that brings me to the crux of this add-on – Liara T’Soni. Acting as central piece, it is great to have Liara back in your squad on a purely temporary basis. Combat wasn’t noticeably different with the addition of Liara, although that could be blamed on me playing exclusively as soldier. Without going too much into detail, Liara’s story is rather thinly spread out. It doesn’t have the presence that I would have preferred, and it seems to take a back seat to Bioware’s experimentations with new designs and methods of pumping up the adrenaline for rather intense action sequences. Liara’s dialogue and voice acting comes over a big ham-fisted, too, which doesn’t exactly go hand-in-hand with immersion. The various snippets of banter between her and Shepard later on in the add-on is playful enough as to not annoy the player with its random placement and non-human writing, but those of you who are nitpickers will probably end up feeling somewhat disheartened by its unrealistic imagining.

Think of Lair of the Shadow Broker as your typical great action movie. Does it stand out as piece of narrative mastery? No, not really. Does it make you feel like an invincible warlord? 100% yes. The only real problem is that, this isn’t a movie; it’s a video game. I’m sick of being taken out of the game to be told things crucial to the progression of the story, and I thought Bioware dealt with that exceptionally in Mass Effect 2 (the original). It’s just a shame that, with all of the forward progress Bioware made with storytelling ability in Mass Effect 2, they made a relatively large backwards jump in Lair of the Shadow Broker. However, having said all of that, if you’re willing to put all of this aside and look at this game solely as piece of very well made action, it’s very likely you will have an entirely enjoyable time blowing the crap out of the Shadow Broker’s army.

Good ideas where present and an inventive multiplayer also featured however due to overwhelming technical issues and clunky gameplay the game was doomed to the mediocre rating it received. Fast-forward to 2010 and Kane & Lynch are back in Dog Days.

Dog Days is set in the seedy underworld of Shanghai, where since the events of the last game, Lynch has built himself a new life and even found love. With both Kane & Lynch still having their fingers in the criminal pie Kane comes over to meet Lynch to complete a big money arms deal, and of course things go very wrong indeed, que guns gore murder, betrayal and chaos on the streets of Shanghai.

This time around the game focus more on Lynch and tries to develop him as a reformed character compared to the one present in Kane & Lynch: Dead Men and for the most part they do mange to make Lynch seem like a passable character however in doing so this creates the feeling that Kane is little more than a back seat character tagging along for the ride. Much like their first outing Kane & Lynch do interactive with each other in a believable manner both during cut scenes and during gameplay as they spit off one liners and witty replies, this is testament to the strong voice acting on the show in Dog Days.

Voice acting aside the single player story starts of well and manages to convey it’s self at a decent pace as it pushes players through various different locations and with a sense of grit about them. The main issue with the story is there’s too much going on in too little time and at points feels very underdeveloped and a bit tacked on which takes away from the overall experience. The gritty and gory tale of Dog Days won’t be anything that will shock veterans of crime based movies but less experienced people may find shock value in the scene involving some handy knife skills and a middle aged mans ass. Overall the story is good but the finale feels like an afterthought tacked on to ensure the game met its release date deadline which can cause a little bit of frustration and confusion. However the main issue that involves Kane & Lynch single player story is the length. Branching to around five hours with next to no replay value is a huge disappointment and may leave some feeling somewhat bitter or underwhelmed after spending their hard earned cash on such a short game.

The campaign side of Dog Days can be further enjoyed via online and local co-op play placing you and a buddy in the shoes of Kane & Lynch. Co-op adds extra depth and enjoyment but never does Dog Days feel like it was built with co-op in mind, there’s no co-op game mechanics such as multiple path choices or any requirement of a joint effort to complete a task. This makes the co-op feel a bit underdeveloped and a bit underwhelming but never the less it’s nice to have the option. At the time of writing this review there was a small issue with connections being lost between co-op partners but this was not regular enough to list as a major issue.

Story issues aside Dog Days gameplay is a mixed bag of good and bad. A problem which was present in the first game makes a return in Dog Days with a number of guns being absolutely useless as their damage is near minim and their accuracy is woeful, this can result in some situations where a player may be pinned down in a area and can be sitting there for 5-7 minutes trying to kill a enemy without success and this of course leads to frustration and cries of pure confusion to why they the weapons feel so pointless. That being said towards the end of the game new weapons will become available and for most part do mange to cause damage and be accurate however this also highlights another issue carried over from Kane & Lynch: Dead Men and that issue is that enemies simply do not die when they should be deader than the Sega CD. Enemies will take shots to the chest and in some cases the face only to stand back up and start firing back like nothing has happened, this becomes a major issue when dealing with a number of enemies in a small space and adds a bit of a negative niggle to the gameplay experience overall.

The inclusion of the ability to take hostages as meat shields may sound like a decent feature but it quickly becomes apparent that the mechanic doesn’t work very well due the issues with the weapons mentioned previously. Taking a meat shield prompts Lynch (or Kane if playing in Co-op) to draw their pistol, the main issue is the pistol is very ineffective against enemies and very inaccurate add to this that the meat shield doesn’t really soak up much damage and this all results in a quite pointless game mechanic, when it comes to the Meat shield it’s more of a thanks but no thanks situation.

A weakness of Dog Days comes in the form of the AI, enemies and team mates tend to be very static and predictable and at times almost zombie like. The AI flaws become apparent quite early on with enemies almost presenting themselves to be filled with lead which at first provides comedy value but after a while becomes a bit silly and comes off as lazy on the developer’s part. AI also has the tendency to run into walls and turn around almost in a turret like manner only to run back and forward. When playing alone through single player Kane will be controlled by the AI and this results in the harder difficulties being unplayable due to the sheer stupidity of the AI as it wonders around like a lost dog, at times the AI will decide that Kane enjoys licking walls and sticks him in a corner starring at a surrounding wall while players try and take on the enemies. At its very worst the AI tends to lead Kane into a number of glitches such as being stuck inside of wall or just simply not following the player halting game progress, all of which leave the player in a state of pure confusion and hysterical laughter. With hysterical laughter in mind it’s at this point where the mention of the frankly surreal physics engine bugs must be mentioned, at times enemy’s character models will flop to the floor once killed but will continue to move limbs such as their arms and legs. It’s hardly a game breaking bug but never the less it’s a bug that should never of made it to the final product.

Improvements have been made to the cover system which is a little more defined compared to Kane & Lynch’s first outing however there is still a few issues such as getting stuck onto walls and sometimes certain obstacles almost repositioning a player when taking cover behind it which can lead to some cheap deaths. In some cases obstacles that look like they can be used as cover e.g. a large bin are in fact not compatible with the cover mechanic which at times boggles the mind….as well as earning the player a bullet in the head. The main issue however is in some places the cover system manages to become a bit of a mess in confided spaces which results in a play flying from cover to cover while trying to simple detach them self from a box or a wall, the cover system on the whole feels a bit ineffective and primitive in a games market filled with the likes of Gears of War.

If there is anything to entice people into picking up Dog Days it has to be the visual style. Dog Days is presented in a amateur footage style similar to films such as Blair Witch Project, REC and Cloverfield however Dog Days goes one step further and adds extra layers of amateur such as increased motion blur, static and sound distortion on loud noises. The visual style is a thing to behold as it genuinely is interesting and well done and also adds to the games gritty underground feeling. Entering a brightly light room will cause the camera to blur; explosions cause pixilation which all adds to the feeling of seeing things through a lens. The visual style also adds an extra layer of intensity when it comes to fire fights as it engages the player and makes them feel like there on the front line of the action. The visual style also adds a seedy look to the backstreets of Shanghai which looks wonderfully bleak yet nicely detailed throughout the game.

A highlight of Dog Days is the fantastic audio present within the game, weapons all sound meaty and realistic and the sounds of bullets hitting surrounding cover all sounds top notch and results in each fire fight feeling intense throughout. The ambient sounds of Shanghai provide the sound track to Dog Days, ranging from music played on radios to sounds of TV’s from surrounding homes to the rain drops hitting the floor it all sounds very satisfying and realistic adding to the overall feel of Dog Days.

With a short campaign to play through Dog Days offers multiplayer in the form of the returning and celebrated Fragile Alliance as well as Undercover cop and Cops & Robbers. All three game modes set the scenario of criminals embarking on a heist to steal money and at this point is where the three game modes differ.

Fragile Alliance returns with same basic set up of players taken up the role of a criminal on a heist, teamed with other players it is up to you whether you wish work as a team and split the cash at the end of the heist or you can attempt to betray your team mates and take off with as much cash as you can pick up. Turning traitor marks you out for your team mates, killing traitors offers players a extra bundle of cash however if a player is killed by a traitor they return to the game playing as a police officer and join the AI controlled police as they try to stop the criminals. Fragile Alliance is still an interesting concept and offers an intense multiplayer experience as well as a major trust exercise as you keep your eye on any potential traitors. Unfortunately much like Fragile Alliances first appearance the AI controlled police always spawn in the same positions and always go to the same spots making the experience a little repetitive.

Undercover cop follows the same rules as Fragile Alliance with the only key difference being one player is given the role as the undercover cop which means victory can only be achieved by the cop being killed or by the cop killing the criminals. Although the set up may sound a bit stream line it is in fact the best of the multiplayer modes as the sense of paranoia and the intensity of the heists all increase in leaps and bounds. Playing as the Undercover Cop is interesting and challenging as shooting anyone of the AI controlled police in a level will result in an automatic failure, the key to winning as the Undercover cop is to blend in with the criminals and replicate their movements’ while planning their downfall all of which creates a entertaining experience.

Cops and Robbers offer the weakest experience of the three. Combining a mixture of Fragile Alliance and Team Death Match the whole thing feels rather clunky and messy. Players take up roles of either police officers or criminals with the latter being tasked with yet another heist while the police try to prevent the criminals from reaching their escape vehicle. Killing criminals a large stash of cash is encouraged as score is determined by cash collected through kill enemies’ and collecting their carried stash. Overall Cops and Robbers is more of a chore to play than the other game modes due to overlay long match making and uninspired gameplay.

Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days multiplayer overall adds much needed extra game hours as well as some interesting takes on the multiplayer landscape however all the issues of the single player section transpire to the multiplayer making things not as enjoyable as they should be. The concepts are all original and interesting however the execution is done to a below average standard.

Further game time hours are added to Dog Days via the Arcade mode which acts almost like a training tool for the multiplayer. Arcade Mode is at its base a offline version of Fragile Alliance in which a player is scored on how they perform during a heist through a number of rounds with scores being determined by how much cash a player scoops and how many kills they earn as well as this points are taken away from any civilian kills or friendly fire incidents. Arcade Mode gets repetitive fast as enemy AI go to the same locations each time making it very easy to eliminate them and friendly AI never tries to betray anyone or indeed does anything different from round to round. Running and gunning your way through a number of rounds on the same map beings to make you question to why you’re not just playing the online option which is far superior to arcade Mode. Arcade Mode as an option feels more like a cheap way to add replay value and the whole thing feels rather pointless, some may find it a useful aide to prepare themselves for the online multiplayer but for most part it’s an option worth skipping.

Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days as an overall game improves on some of the issues of its predecessor but not all the issues. The clunky gameplay and primitive cover mechanics all take away from the experience that Dog Days have to offer. The short single player campaign does mange to engross the player at first but the final act comes off as slap dash and underdeveloped which is a running theme throughout Dog Days on the whole. The unique visual style and fantastic audio are the highlights in what is an average game that feels unfinished and unpolished. Multiplayer offers a fresh spin on things but with the issues previously mentioned affecting the game this too also comes off as underdeveloped.

At its best Dog Days manages to be a dark and gritty title filled with both visual and audio treats but beyond that it’s nothing more than an average game with gameplay issues that stifle the overall quality of the game. That being said there is still a fun time to be had with Dog Days as long as you can overlook the issues and niggles at the core of the game. Dog Days will satisfy those looking for a straight forward no nonsense gritty action game but never the less that doesn’t mean Dog Days is anything above mediocre at best.

Thanks to Square Enix for supplying us with a review copy.

Click here to view the embedded video.

But it stands to reason, is it a little too late? With all the focus recently being on the announcements of Gears of War 3, or  are Epic merely counting on people to play Gears of War 2 to fill the void until the the colossal Gears of War 3 release?

Improvements
Title Update 6 makes these new improvements:

• Adds a new public multiplayer match option called Social Xbox LIVE (aka player matches), open to anyone who owns all downloadable maps (that is, All Fronts Collection). We’ll be having a promotion that will dramatically reduce the cost of the All Fronts Collection.
• You can join Social Matches in progress and can quit any time without penalty, although players who quit a match early don’t receive earned experience (XP) from that match.
• Social matchmaking lets your party join a match in progress. If a match is not found, your party hosts a new match, filling any empty player slots with bots.
• Social Matches automatically cycle to the next map without further matchmaking.
• Teams are rebalanced between matches based on XP level without splitting parties.
• If you quit, your spot is taken by a bot until a new player joins the match. That new player can join while the match is in progress.
• If you join a match in progress, you are assigned a team based on XP level and party size.
• If you join a match in progress, you replace a bot at the earliest opportunity: at the first bot’s death for respawning game types (for example, Annex) and at round completion for Warzone, Execution, and Wingman.
• Social leaderboards become part of the War Journal.
• Renames Public Matches to Ranked Xbox LIVE Matches to differentiate these from Social Xbox LIVE Matches, and adds some improvements to these matches.
• Improved host selection using bandwidth testing and previous hosting data has been added.
• Before the match begins, teams are balanced based on XP without splitting parties.
• Renames Private Matches to Custom Xbox LIVE Matches and makes these matches invite-only.
• Adds the ability to join Horde sessions that are in progress.
• In Social Horde, you can join a session in progress through matchmaking and you are able to continue your session from the last wave you failed without starting over.
• In Ranked Horde, you can join a session in progress only through invites.
• If you join a session in progress, at the end of the session you receive the score you achieved during the time you spent in the session.
• Improves the precision of weapon selection using the D-pad.
• Improves client-side hit detection for ballistic weapons.

Exploit Fixes
Title Update 6 fixes these possible exploits, where under certain circumstances:

• Execution rules could be ignored when using certain weapon types.
• On the Subway map, you could get outside of the playable environment by sliding into cover and rolling between a train car and the side of tracks.
• On the Blood Drive map, you could get outside of the playable environment in various locations.
• Players could grief other players on Submission, Annex, King of the Hill, and Guardian games by preventing the objective from being completed while racking up experience. Title Update 6 adds match time limits to each of these game types to prevent this practice.

General Fixes
Title Update 6 fixes these other issues as well:

• An issue that could cause your profile to be overwritten, erasing XP level, and achievement progress
• An issue that could cause a campaign save slot to be overwritten if you previously chose to continue without saving and then signed in.

Balancing
Title Update 6 makes these balancing changes:

• Changes the Gnasher Shotgun pellet pattern to increase hit consistency.
• Changes the Guardian game type to select the leader based upon XP level (highest to lowest).

What we know about Gears of War 3 thus far:
It’s announcement
4 Player co-op
Online improvements
Set to receive dedicated servers
First gameplay screenshots

The most obvious change you may see to your left 4 dead 2 menu is the addition of ‘mutation’. This features a weekly rota of different a different game mode; starting off with versus realism. Players will soon even be given to opportunity to vote for their favourite game mode; for it to be played again the subsequent week.

The two new featured weapons are pretty much at both ends of the scale; with a golf club at one end, and a big startlingly awesome M60 at the other. The M60 is an exceptionally fun weapon to use, as it mows down zombies with ease, effortlessly tearing apart their limbs, leaving you with a huge smile on your face, and an outstandingly blood splattered screen. Unfortunately, the golf club isn’t quite as fun. It’s pretty much an exact replica of every other average melee weapon, such as the baseball bat or police baton, with a new skin.

The maps themselves are intricately detailed; with a variety of alternate paths to get to the end, which like the other maps, can change through every play through, keeping the experience new, vibrant and exciting. This map also features 2 new infected – a brand new uncommon common – the fallen survivors. The fallen survivors were well equipped survivors, who clearly got over run by zombies, and infected. Fallen survivors take a few more bullets to take down than regular infected, but its well worth it as they often drop first aid kits, Molotov’s, pipe bombs and other zombie killing goodies. The other ‘new’ infected is the bride witch. This is basically the exact same witch, but with a new skin, of a bride. Well, you know what they say – hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. And by the looks of it; that witch has been scorned more times than Megan Fox has masturbated too.

Unfortunately, valve took it upon themselves to kill off one of the original left 4 dead characters, which feature in ‘the passing’, and even help this generation of survivors stay alive, by helping to shoot off several of the onslaught of zombies. Though I don’t like the choice of killing off a character, (one of my favourites might I add – but you’ll have to play to find out who! – or just use Google.) And though I personally don’t like this choice; it does give Left 4 Dead 2 somewhat of a storyline, which is what many players believe it lacked.

Overall; this DLC is most certainly worth the small fee of 560 Microsoft Points; even though it’s only 3 maps, they have a fair bit of replayability, especially with the all new added Mutation mode, which will keep keep things exciting and new for players, this – along with 10 new achievements are bound to keep players busy. Overall, I give this DLC 4/5 stars, as after all, there is only so much playtime you can get from 3 maps, and though it does feature new infected, they aren’t anything overly new or exciting. But the cameo from the left 4 dead 1 characters, and the brilliant maps, which feature an awesome finally definitely makes it all worth while.