Assassin's Creed Anthology has been announced by Ubisoft.
The Amazon-exclusive Anthology will contain the original Assassin's Creed, Assassin's Creed 2, Brotherhood, Revelations and Assassin's Creed 3.
Each game comes with post-release single-player and multiplayer DLC, including
'Sequence 12' and 'Sequence 13', 'The Da Vinci Disappearance' and 'The Lost
Archive'.
It also ships with the Assassin's Creed 3 season pass,
which unlocks all future add-ons, the first of which is due in
December.
The box set includes five Assassin's Creed
lithographs, an exclusive steel-book and a collector's box.
Assassin's Creed Anthology will be available from November 30
for the PS3 and Xbox 360, costing £119.99.
Black Ops 2 has received a live-action trailer.
Directed by Guy Ritchie, the 'Surprise' video features cameo appearances from Robert Downey Jr and YouTube sensation FPS Russia.
The video follows the official launch trailer, which is also set to AC/DC's 'Back in Black'.
Announced earlier this year, Black Ops 2 is set during a 21st century Cold War and will release on November 13 on Xbox 360, PS3 and PC. A Wii U version will follow.
The game's campaign will feature usable drones and horses, as well as a robot enemy force fighting in a devastated Los Angeles.
TranZit will be the primary zombie mode for Black Ops 2, adding context to the fight against the undead.
The mode will feature an expansive open world, which up to four players can explore either on foot or using a bus. The bus allows faster travel between locations, but can become difficult to escape from if overrun by zombies.
This month, Activision confirmed that Call of Duty Elite will drop its annual subscription, and will
instead opt for a Season Pass for Black Ops 2. Black Ops 2 will be available on Xbox 360, PS3 and PC from November 13 worldwide, and Wii U from November 30 in Europe.
Rockstar Games has revealed the first official piece of Grand Theft Auto 5 artwork today.
The concept art shows two figures wearing jumpsuits and gas masks getting out of the back of a van, and - as it is Grand Theft Auto - both figures are of course also carrying assault rifles.
Rockstar did not provide any context for the artwork, which may be depicting a mission from the upcoming game.
The studio also teased that there will be "lots of info coming next month" about Grand Theft Auto 5.
Announced last year, Grand Theft Auto 5 is thought to follow the exploits of lead character Albert De Silva, played by Ned Luke.
It was originally rumoured to have a release scheduled for this year, though more recent retailer listings have suggested it could arrive in March 2013.
Up until now Rockstar Games has remained tight-lipped, not confirming a release date or platforms for Grand Theft Auto 5. Presumably that will change next month when the studio reveals new details. Watch the Grand Theft Auto 5 debut trailer below:
Black Ops 2 has received its launch trailer from Activision.
The video, fittingly set to the tune of AC/DC's 'Back in Black', shows footage from throughout the campaign including equipment from the near-future setting like wingsuits in action.
Announced earlier this year, Black Ops 2 is set during a 21st century Cold War and will release on November 13 on Xbox 360, PS3 and PC. A Wii U version will follow.
The game's campaign will feature usable drones and horses, as well as a robot enemy force fighting in a devastated Los Angeles.
TranZit will be the primary zombie mode for Black Ops 2, adding context to the fight against the undead.
The mode will feature an expansive open world, which up to four players can explore either on foot or using a bus. The bus allows faster travel between locations, but can become difficult to escape from if overrun by zombies.
Earlier this week, Activision confirmed that Call of Duty Elite will drop its annual subscription, and will instead opt for a Season Pass for Black Ops 2.
PlayStation Store will receive a redesign later today (October 17).
The storefront, which will be given a new look and additional features, will go live in North America on October 23.
Announced last week, the store will become more visually oriented and carousel-based to make it quicker and easier to browse.
Moving away from the original Blue colour scheme, it will make better use of the entire screen to show a broader range of content, and will effectively scale down for standard definition TV sets.
The search function has been overhauled, offering a "tumbler" style text input and a reductive list of options based on the number of letters typed.
Meanwhile, Vita and PSP content will be displayed separately to those being sold specifically for PS3.
Finally, grouped content will be available, displaying demos, full game downloads, themes and DLC around a single franchise, such as Call of Duty for when searching in relation to Black Ops.
PSN went offline on Monday in preparation for the store update.
Several new features for the PlayStation Store are being introduced in 2012, including the launch of PlayStation Mobile and PS Plus coming to Vita next month. Watch our video review of the PS3 super slim below:
Bioware has hinted that the next Dragon Age game could take cues from Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim.
In an interview with Wired, Bioware co-founder Ray Muzyka explained how future games will address some of the issues fans had with Dragon Age II.
"[The next Dragon Age] is gonna have the best of features from the prior Dragon Age games, but it's also gonna have a lot of things I think players are gonna find compelling from some of the games that are out now that are doing really well with more of an open world feel," Muzyka said.
"We're checking [Skyrim] out aggressively. We like it. We're big admirers of [Bethesda] and the product," he added. "We think we can do some wonderful things."
Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim has enjoyed great success since its release, becoming the fastest selling game in Steam's history and topping all-format sales charts.
Dragon Age II was released earlier this year, receiving praise for its quick action-based combat system. However, it also received criticism for very little variety in its locations and a fractured plot, which perhaps could be remedied with a more open world.
Though Dragon Age III has not been officially announced yet by Bioware or Electronic Arts, it was recently rumoured that the next game will feature multiplayer arena battles and playable dragons.
Max Payne 3 fans are being offered the chance to appear in the game by entering a competition.
Rockstar Games announced that its Twitter followers who tweet using the #MaxPayne3 hashtag between now and January 13 could see their likeness featured in the title's multiplayer.
"If you're one of those chosen, we'll contact you either via tweet or direct message to request a picture of you for consideration. We'll then pick two finalists from each group each week (eight people in total) who will have their likeness appear as a multiplayer gang character in our upcoming action shooter Max Payne 3," said Rockstar.
Max Payne 3, announced back in 2009, sees the titular character begin a new life as a private security contractor in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
The game's online multiplayer features maps and modes that dynamically change within a match, as well as reward, ranking and clan systems.
Max Payne 3 will be released for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC in March 2012.
Watch Max Payne 3's 'Design & Technology Series: Creating a Cutting Edge Shooter' video below:
The Darkness II launches next year, continuing the story of mobster Jackie Estacado and his demonic powers, The Darkness. Alongside the single-player game, the sequel also features a Left 4 Dead-style four player co-op campaign called Vendettas, featuring new player-characters in an alternative story involving Estacado's fight with the mysterious Brotherhood. Digital Spy went hands on with the co-op to see how it shapes up.
The Darkness II's co-op mode is split into two main sections - the Vendettas campaign and the Hit List. Vendettas runs parallel to the main story, meaning it dovetails with certain events and also features various characters, including Estacado. The Hit List is essentially an arcade mode that allows you to jump back in and replay certain Vendetta missions and unique challenges that are unlocked as you progress. Most of the missions are available to play in single-player offline, but others require at least two players to complete - and really, this is much more fun when played with others.
The Darkness versus the Brotherhood - the battle begins
Digital Extremes, the Dark Sector studio developing The Darkness II, has clearly taken some inspiration from Valve's immensely popular Left 4 Dead first-person shooter with Vendettas, but also the multiplayer in BioShock 2 and the latter Assassin's Creed games.
Just as Ubisoft's series introduced more elements of the story of the Templars and the fight against the assassins, and the second BioShock pitched players into the fall of Rapture, Vendettas brings a separate narrative involving the battle between Estacado's Darkness and the Brotherhood. The Brotherhood is an ancient secret society that formed thousands of years ago to protect the world from the Darkness, but its members became corrupted and tried to take the power for themselves.
Unable to take on the Brotherhood on his own, Estacado has recruited four unique characters each with their reason to take on the ancient order, and given them supercharged Darkness weapons to beat the hell out of the horde of enemies. Digital Extremes is very open in saying that the characters in Vendettas are over-the-top creations, geared as a humorous alternative to the dark main campaign.
The Darkness - a perfect place for stereotypes
But these four people push the stereotypical envelope into somewhat uneasy territory. The chief culprit is Jimmy Wilson, a cardboard cut out Glaswegian tough guy, who drinks heavily and "hates the English". It just feels a bit embarrassing to see these ancient stereotypes being trotted out, and also out of kilter with the serious feel of the game. The other characters are a little better, including Israeli ex-Mossad agent Shoshanna and Japanese assassin Inugami, although Voodoo-practising New Orleans doctor J. P. DuMond is a bit much. Each of these characters can carry the usual mix of shotguns, machine guns and pistols, but also have a Darkness-powered weapon with different traits.
Wilson has a hand axe fused with Dark essence, Shoshanna has a gun called the Arm of the Night, DuMond bears the Midnight Stick and Inugami wields the Kusanagi samurai sword. They also have a range of special abilities that can help out in a tight spot - Wilson can control special "alcohol-induced" Darklings known as Little Jimmys; Shoshanna gets "gun channelling" giving unlimited ammo for a short period of time; Inugami has the "swarm" power sending out an attack of miniature 'Yokai' demons; and DuMond wields the power of Black Hole, a "box of tricks" spewing out a vortex that attacks nearby enemies.
The Darkness II co-op thankfully features the same comic book art style as the main game. Digital Extremes has used cel shading with the graphics, making the black outlines thicker and more pronounced, while adding a brushed and hyper-real texture to the colours in a presentation that feels distinct and impressive.
Vendettas is all about killing people... and time
We played two missions from the Vendetta campaign and another from the Hit List. The campaign starts by you selecting which character you want to go with depending on how you want to play. DuMond and Shoshanna have range attacks with their Darkness powers, but Inugami and Jimmy Wilson are more melee focused. All characters have their own particular, gruesome finishing moves for close up executions.
After selecting your character, you enter the story-driven levels, which work pretty much in the same way as the main campaign, albeit with more regular survival sections in which you must hunker down and weather the onslaught of loads of enemies. This is mostly because the co-op levels are smaller and so adding Horde-style moments increases the amount of action. Each level requires you to fight through an area to retrieve an artifact, as well as fulfil a variety of other tasks. One mission unfurled in a scrapyard and another in a housing estate, with both proving enjoyable and engaging, particularly with multiple players.
As with the single-player game, the co-op game focuses on use of the Darkness. Special powers will only work in the shadows and so lights must first be extinguished, which adds a new dimension to the gameplay. Some lights can be shot out, but others are run by power generators, requiring you to follow the power wires, and then knock out the source. When out of the dark, your view becomes black and white, while looking directly at lights becomes dazzling bright, hindering your vision. Health also does not regenerate in the light, meaning it is essential to secure the veil of shadow as quickly as possible.
A tough challenge
Alongside the two campaign missions, we also tried out a Hit List level starting off in an underground car park before moving up through an office block and onto a roof top for an epic battle with hordes of enemies. It should be noted that The Darkness II co-op is a tough challenge, really testing your skills on higher difficulties.
The usual cannon-fodder enemies are pretty easy to dispatch, particularly with the mix of guns and Darkness powers, but the game soon introduces mutated soldier enemies with a variety of abilities, along with soldiers with riot shields and heavy weapons.
The signs appear pretty promising for The Darkness II co-op. It's pleasing to see that Digital Extremes has incorporated more story elements into the modes, although the character stereotypes are a tad grating. The mix of first-person combat involving guns and Darkness powers is strong, while there seems to be enough challenge to make this an engaging experience for multiple players. A lingering fear remains that the full Vendettas campaign will be over rather too quickly, but at least it will be fun while it lasts.
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater HD will be released on digital platforms in 2012.
Tony Hawk revealed at the Spike Video Game Awards that the new title will take levels from the first two Tony Hawk's Pro Skater games and render them in high definition.
The game will feature a range of professional skaters, including Eric Koston, Andrew Reynolds, Rodney Mullen, Lyn-z Adams Hawkins (Pastrana), Nyjah Huston, Chris Cole and Riley Hawk, as well as Tony himself.
Robomodo will develop the game with standard controller support in mind. Recent entries in the series have used motion peripherals, which received a lukewarm reception from critics.
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater HD is expected to be released on Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Networks for around $15 (£10) next year.
