Call of Duty: Black Ops is the most pirated game in 2010. According to torrentfreak.com. Exactely 4,270,000 times since November 2010 for PC only. Incredibile! Including the consoles, there is a total of 5.2 million pirated Black Ops. Bad news for producer, publisher, and the whole game industry.
 
Source: torrentfreak.com

Famitsu.com has reported that New Super Mario Bros. has crossed the six million sales mark. Excactely 6,015,255 units from the December 26 data.

It's the most sold game for DS and has done this within four years and seven months after the release May 25, 2006. The Wii version of the game has just reached four million sales.

The game was recently announced (Uncharted 3 announced) and now a new gameplay video was released for Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception on youtube. It shows the demo level which is shown to the press at the moment on certain events, but with lack of quality.

Release for Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception is November, 2011.

PART 1


PART 2

As said before (link to the news) Tomb Raider 9 was announced. Now the newest sequel may include even a multiplayer.

If a console game is released with singleplayer only, it will end up in used game stores, and can't be successful. Crystal Dynamics is looking for both a senior game designer for multiplayer and a producer for multiplayer, as Gamasutra reached out.

Hopefully, this means that they're releasing it with multiplayer.

Source: gamasutra.com/jobs

'Pier 17', a new multiplayer map for Crysis 2, was announced by Crytek. It will be a mix of indoor and outdoor fights on a destroyed harbour, you can view the overview from gamestar.de.
Release of Crysis 2 is March 25, 2011, for PC, Xbox 360 und PS3.

Source: gamestar.de

Namco Bandai has just released the newest trailer of One Piece: Unlimited Cruise. Release of the game is Spring, 2011.

Ubisoft is planning a remake of their first three Splinter Cell parts. This 'Splinter Cell Trilogy' in high definition will also support stereoscopic 3D.
PSnow heard from Ubisoft that the release date of this trilogy would be March 22, 2011. Ubisoft has not confirmed this yet.

The trilogy will be released on a blu ray disk and will include 'Splinter Cell', 'Pandora Tomorrow' and 'Chaos Theory'.

Capcom has released the launch trailer of 'Case West', the DLC for their Dead Rising 2. Release is the day after tomorrow, December 27, 2010. Cast West will be released exclusively for Xbox 360 and will cost 800 Microsoft Points (~9€, 10$).

April 21st, 2011, for PC, Mac, Xbox 360 and PS3. There it is.

Electronic Arts sent out a press release announcing that they would distribute Valve's Retail Portal 2, the sequel of the impressive original Portal, for Mac and PS3.
The game's all-new co-op mode will feature its own campaign and characters, and will force players to both act and think together. Doug Lombardi, vice president (marketing) of Valve, said that Portal 2 would be the most innovative game in the company's history. We are excited.

Relentless Software just twittered the following:

Buzz! is now available for free on PSN ['Playstation Network', added by Level85nerd]. Don't worry if you haven't got buzzers, you can use a wireless controller. Have a Buzzy good Xmas!

That means if you have a PS3 or just opened your christmas present and just got one, you can download 'Buzz! Quiz Player' for free via Plastation Network.
90 questions are included and you can play alone or against your friends.

Merry Christmas!

'The Manhatten Project', the DLC for Ubisoft's R.U.S.E, is out now. Since it's christmas time, and that means it's time for a gift.
The DLC is for free and can be downloaded via Playstation Network, Xbox Live or Steam.
Three new maps for multiplayer and two new game modes are included.

First we have the 'Nuclear War'. All upgrades are available from the beginning, as well as the prototype factories.
Second mode is the 'Total War', in which you fight the historic wars from WW2.

The first DLC for Call of Duty: Black Ops is expected to hit Xbox Live on February 18, 2011, for 1200 Microsoft Points, which are roughly 13€ or 15$. The release for PC and PS3 is shortly after.
The DLC 'First Strike' include five new maps with their unique gameplay and new opportunities, for example for sniper. Four of them are normal multiplayer maps, and one is a Zombie map 'to be declassified later.', said Treyarch.

DLC Maps:

Multiplayer
o Berlin Wall
o Discovery
o Kowloon
o Stadium

Zombie
o Ascension, no further details revealed.

Source: Activision

Sony confirmed today that Little Big Planet has gone gold, which means the game development is finished and the game is ready for production.
Conclusion is Little Big Planet 2 will be released in time January 18, 2011, in North America. Europe will get the game on January 19, Australia and New Zealand on January 20, and finally UK on January 21, 2011.

Also today Sony has released a demo for the game which you can download via Playstation Network. Here is a new trailer for the game Sony showed the world today:



Source: mediamolecule.com

This video shows Call of Duty: Black Ops converted into Lego.

Keshen8 did this Lego multiplayer Black Ops match, and made it pretty impressive.

Crysis 2 will be released on March 25, 2011, for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC.
And now EA shows us a new trailer of the destroyed New York, and the features of the Nanosuit, mankind's last hope against the aliens.

I played Crysis 2 myself at 'Gamescom', Cologne, Germany in mid August, and it was pretty good. The multiplayer is all new and the key feature.

Bonus: Crysis 2 wil support stereoscopic 3D.



Source: crytek.com

Today the DLC of Battlefield Bad Company 2 called 'Vietnam' has been released via Steam and EA Store for PC. The release date for Xbox 360 and PS3 is December 21, 2010.
The DLC, which includes new weapons (e.g. flamethrower), vehicles, maps and achievements, will cost 1200 MS (Xbox LIVE) or 12,99€ (PC / PS Network).

EA has also released the launch trailer for Vietnam:



Source: battlefield.com

Ideaworks Game Studios has released the action adventure 'Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light' in the Appstore!

There are 2 versions, one for iPhone / iPod Touch (5,49€ / ~ 7$), and another in HD for the iPad (7,99€ / ~ 10.50 $).

Lara and her friend Totec face huge dungeons, ruins and stuff, full of traps. Besides that, you can play in co-op.

Blizzard Entertainment works on a new MMO. Now Frank Pearce, Blizzard senior, confirmed in an Interview at the VGA's: The name of the new MMO will be 'Titan'.

That means the leaked release list is no fake. There were new games and under releases Titan was listed. The game will be released at the end of 2013, as the list says.

If you want to play the DLC for Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2, you shouldn't watch this because it contains spoiler.

World of Warcraft is a fast-selling record holder - again.
2007: The Burning Crusade became the fastest-selling PC game with 2.4 million copies on its first day.
2008: Wrath of the Lich King got the title with its 2.8 million copies in 24 hours sold.
2010: Now Cataclysm now holds the record. 3.3 million copies in 24 hours, impressive.

"We had to bring Azeroth to the brink of destruction in Cataclysm, but the result was our best expansion yet. We want to thank all of our new, existing, and returning players throughout the world for their incredible enthusiasm and support, and we look forward to hearing what they think about all the new content." - Blizzard CEO and co-founder Mike Morhaime.

Source: blizzard.com

Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood has gotten a new and free DLC for multiplayer called Animus Project Update 1.0, including one new game mode and one map.
The mode, 'Advanced Alliance', is an advanced version of 'Alliance' and is a lot rougher and more challenging.
The map Mont Saint-Michel is on an island at the French coast (Normandie) including cliffs and small paths.

You can download it via Xbox Live and PlayStation Network.

The VGA (Videogame Awards) showed us a lot of new games coming (for example Uncharted 3). By the way 'The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim' was announced.

The game iscoming for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 on November 11, 2010. It'll use a new engine for graphics, and a new gameplay engine as well. And this is VGA'S trailer of it:

Valve realesed a new Trailer called 'Aperture Friends' for their Portal 2. It shows two pretty cute-looking robots being made. Portal 2 will be released next year for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360.

Source: vg247.com

The hero Nathan Drake and his friend Victor Sullivan go to the Arabian Desert, looking for the 'Atlantis of Sands'. But soon they'll find a lot of dark secrets about this city and the adventure begins.

That's the story of the announced Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception, release date for PS3 is November 1, 2011. Here's a new trailer they've just showed on the VGA's. Beside singleplayer campaign the game includes multiplayer and coop action, and the best: It supports Stereoscopic 3D.


Source: gamershell.com

Here is a new episode of Call of Duty: Black Ops Mythbusters series. The guys test flamethrowers, and tomahawks against helicopters.
You should definitely watch this, it's even better than the first episode (which was posted here)



Source: defendthehouse

So Notch has announced the beta status for Minecraft for December, 20. The price will be raised to 14,95 Euro (~20 $), so buy it for 9,95 Euro as long as it lasts.

Today EA announced Mass Effect 3, and with it a bit of the story:
Robots attack the Earth, and Commander Shepard has to stop them.

Yesterday the game showed up in the Electronic Arts Store accidentally, but it was removed immediately. So the announcement today was not very surprising.

Release will be end of 2011.

Here is Fight Night Champion's whole list of the 54 licensed personalities appearing in the game. 13 Of them are new:

Boxers New To Fight Night Champion:
"Butterbean" Eric Esch
Chad Dawson
Cristobal Arreola
Danny Jacobs
David Haye
Erislandy Lara
Fernando Vargas
James Leija
Kendall Holt
Kevin Kelley
Peter Manfredo Jr.
Tim Bradley
Zab Judah

The full list of ALL characters: kotaku.com

Spellbound announced today 'ArcaniA – Fall of Setarrif', an addon for Arcania: Gothic 4. You can import your character from Gothic 4 and play the story. Here are the features:

EA announced a DLC for Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit. And now here's the trailer for it.
The DLC contains: Dodge Viper, Bentley Continental and Lamborghini Murcielago for cops and driver.

This news trailer of Test Drive Unlimited 2 shows the world of the game.

For people who don't know Test Drive Unlimited, it's a Massively Open Online Racing. You can join or create driving clubs (like guilds) or compete other drivers alone in a huge environment.
It also contains a single player story mode; core racing modes online are: Championship, racing school, duels, cups and off-road. The first TDU was great, it was a new era of racing games.

"Forscience" aka "Athene" did it again. He's the first player who has reached level 85, and he was the first who had reached level 80 as well.
This video shows himself doing it.

Square Enix has announced Tomb Raider 9.

We don't know anything about release date or platforms, but we know the story.
You play as a young Lara Crost on a ship getting into a storm, finding yourself on an unknown island.
This new game, just titled 'Tomb Raider' will be a rebirth of the original Lara Croft, says Game Informer. They have an exclusive preview in their January issue.

The January issue will start arriving in subscribers' mailboxes this week, and will hit newsstands on December 11.

Source: gameinformer.com

This Video shows the unboxing of the collector's edition of World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, which will be officially released at midnight.

When Donkey Kong Country Returns was released in UK, Nintendo had an idea:
The first 20 people, who carried real bananas with them, could trade them for the game!


Source: GIGA

Treyarch works on the forth patch  for Call of Duty: Black Ops:

• • Resolved several issues with parties getting disbanded unexpectedly.

• • Updated handling for UPnP-enabled routers to improve matchmaking conditions where users had strict or moderate NAT types. Also added in-game communications so that all players are aware of their NAT type in the Player Match party lobby.
• • Addressed issue that prevented the “Load MP by Default” option from saving when other specific option combinations were set.
• • Prevention of exploit that allowed players to keep custom classes and killstreaks after prestige.
• • Addressed an issue where Flak Jacket Pro would not always protect against ground fires left by Napalm Strikes.
• • Prevention of users losing their killstreak reward when switching classes at the start of a new round in round-based game modes.
• • Addressed an issue where the incorrect perks would appear when spectating another player under certain circumstances.
• • Added round start explosive delay to China Lake grenade launcher to give it the same round start limitations as other explosives.
• • Contracts will now reset when the player Prestiges.
• • Prevention of Valkyrie rocket exploding upon release under rare conditions.
• • Prevention of Gunship failing to give player full control under rare conditions.
• • Prevention of an issue where a player will get teleported outside the map boundaries under very specific circumstances.
• • Additional security measures to enhance detection and banning capabilities.Gameplay Tuning:
• • Limit the ability to re-roll supply drops using Hardline Pro to Care Packages only, no other killstreak drops.
• • Added a negative influencer to all spawn points to decrease the chances of spawning near an enemy. This will further improve spawning protection on top of previous updates.
• • Additional sound mix tuning for Ninja Pro users – increased ranges and volume of enemy footsteps, and removed player footstep sounds on concrete material types.
• • Increased headshot multipliers for sniper rifles. Sniper rifles with suppressors equipped will now always be ensured one-shot kill headshots.
• • Subtle increase in sniper rifle accuracy when scoping in.
• • Added a render delay to the red diamond player indicators that appear when controlling the Gunship, Valkyrie Rocket and Chopper Gunner. When a player first spawns, this will not appear for a period of time.
• • Additional minor reductions in knife lunge.

Team Fortress 2 will be changing a lot. Valve has announced a public beta for new additions and other things. To join the beta you must have a copy of TF2. The changes are so far:

Three Natascha variants:

-40% damage
-25% damage, -25% health
Spin-up/down time increased, slowdown-on-hit effect falls off over distance.

Map changes:

cp_granary: new entrance added into the RED and BLU mid ramp room.
cp_5gorge: 5 CP version of cp_gorge.

Misc balance changes:

Players being healed by a medic are immune to movement-impairing effects generated by hit-scan weapons.

Source: official TF2 Blog

As a community unlock for the event 'Your Fortune Awaits' from World of Warcraft, Blizzard shows their newest trailer of Cataclysm, and with it some new impressions of the world.

As you can see christmas time has arrived in Battlefield Heroes. That means, there's an advent calender for each day, featuring christmas outfits and new weapons and gadgets. For example a new scope for soldiers/gunners to zoom in and to shoot more accurate.



Source: GIGA

Today the VIP Map Pack 7 for Battlefield: Bad company 2 was released. It contains the following maps:
• Cold War
• Harvest Day
• Oasis
• Heavy Metal

The DLC it's free for PC and VIP players (console player who bought the game new, not used).