Codemasters has announced that Dirt 3 will be getting the “Game of the Year re-release” treatment with Dirt 3 Complete Edition, due out on PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 this March.

As you no doubt guessed from the name, Dirt 3 Complete Edition will come packaged with all of the game’s DLC, which includes 12 tracks set in two locations, Shibuya and Monte Carlo, as well as quite a few new cars.

Here’s the full list of the additional content you’ll be getting in Dirt 3 Complete Edition:

• The Monte Carlo Rally Pack – eight breathtaking Rally stages featuring dramatic climbs, descents and hairpins of snowy mountain roads. Race through the Alps and conquer the legendary Col de Turini pass.
• The X Games Asia Track Pack – four new routes set across two new tracks in Shibuya, the neon heart of central Tokyo, where spectacular mud-spattered Rallycross circuits weave beneath towering skyscrapers.
• The Power and Glory Car Pack – stars five cars including the BMW M3 Rally, Lancia Delta S4, Ford Focus ST Rallycross, Scion tC and Chevrolet Camaro SSX Concept, each with a range of liveries.
• The Mud and Guts Car Pack – features five cars available for single-player, split-screen and online multiplayer events. Race the Lancia Stratos, Peugeot 205 T16 Evo 2, Citroën C4 Rallycross, Saturn Sky and Ford Mustang GT, each with a range of liveries.
• The Colin McRae Vision Charity Pack – access the Ford Escort Mk II, a 70s rally classic with five liveries.
• The Ken Block Special Pack – features a customized and upgraded Ford Escort Mk II, an Open Class Rally car sporting a killer Ken Block livery.
• The Mini Gymkhana Special Pack – access the mid-engined Mini Cooper S Gymkhana, customized and tuned to become an outrageously responsive Gymkhana car.

No word just yet on a specific release date for Dirt 3 Complete Edition, other than “some point in March”. The re-release will retail for $39.99.

Dirt 3 getting a “Complete Edition” this March is a post from: The Inquisitr

EA has announced that Starbreeze Studios’ Syndicate reboot will enlist some Hollywood talent to voice the game’s characters, including Rosario Dawson (Sin City, Men in Black II, Brian Cox (The Bourne Identity) and Michael Wincott (The Crow).

Dawson will be taking on the role of Lily Drawl, an agent under the employ of the EuroCorp syndicate–the same one that the protagonist is involved with, as it happens. Dawson’s character isn’t particularly happy with syndicate rule, however, and finds herself conflicted.

“I’m amazed how videogames have become so deep in story, delivering fantastic worlds and memorable characters rivaling big Hollywood films,” said Dawson. “I was excited when EA approached me to play Lily Drawl in Syndicate. She’s an interesting and strong female character. How cool is it to play the mastermind who designed the military chip inside the player’s head!”

Cox will be voicing Jack Denhem, a character that EA describes as being a “ruthless” corporate figure behind the EuroCorp syndicate. Wincott’s character, Jules Merit, is said to be a “highly regarded senior agent” with quite a few successful operations under his belt.

Syndicate is due out on PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on February 21.

Rosario Dawson, Brian Cox, Michael Wincott lending their voices to EA’s Syndicate reboot is a post from: The Inquisitr

Back in November of last year, Valve’s Gabe Newell sent out a notice to Steam users that the Steam database had been breached, and that some user data had possibly been taken. Details on what exactly happened were slim, but now we know a little more.

Newell once again sent out an email today to update Steam users on the situation, and in the email he said that company confirmed that some personal data was compromised in the breach, including usernames, email addresses, and possibly even encrypted billing addresses and encrypted credit card information. However, Newell said that hackers didn’t take information directly from the database, but rather a backup file containing Steam transaction information–this means that your Steam passwords appear to be safe.

Fortunately, Newell went on to say that, as of now, there has been no evidence to suggest that hackers were able to gain access to the encrypted billing addresses and passwords. Still, he suggests that you keep a close eye on your credit card statements just to be on the safe side.

Below is the letter from Gabe Newell in full.

Dear Steam Users and Steam Forum Users

We continue our investigation of last year’s intrusion with the help of outside security experts. In my last note about this, I described how intruders had accessed our Steam database but we found no evidence that the intruders took information from that database. That is still the case.

Recently we learned that it is probable that the intruders obtained a copy of a backup file with information about Steam transactions between 2004 and 2008. This backup file contained user names, email addresses, encrypted billing addresses and encrypted credit card information. It did not include Steam passwords.

We do not have any evidence that the encrypted credit card numbers or billing addresses have been compromised. However as I said in November it’s a good idea to watch your credit card activity and statements. And of course keeping Steam Guard on is a good idea as well.

We are still investigating and working with law enforcement authorities. Some state laws require a more formal notice of this incident so some of you will get that notice, but we wanted to update everyone with this new information now.

Gabe

Gabe Newell updates users on Steam hack situation is a post from: The Inquisitr

Earlier this month, Bashiok, Diablo III community manager, got fans up in arms when he said that public chat channels would not be in Diablo III, despite chat channels being a prominent feature in Diablo II.

As it turns out, however, there’s nothing to get all worked up about. In response to the backlash from the community, Bashiok took to the Diablo III forums to apologize for the slip-up, confirming that chat channels will be in Diablo III.

“Public chat channels will be in Diablo III, barring any catastrophe that requires we remove them, because they’re already implemented,” he wrote. “In fact they’ll be in an upcoming beta patch so you’ll get to see and play around with them yourselves.”

“I’m not sure I can offer any explanation as to the incorrectness of my statements, except that I believed them to be correct when I made them. I apologize, and I’ll strive to not be stupid and wrong in the future.

“More info on the chat feature, and others, to come in the weeks ahead. Thanks for sticking with it, and me.”

On a more positive note, Bashiok recently answered tons of Diablo III-related questions on his Twitter account. You can find a rundown of what all Bashiok had to say at this link.

Crisis averted: Diablo III will have chat channels, contrary to previous statement is a post from: The Inquisitr

After a couple months of waiting, modders can now finally get their hands on Skyrim‘s Creation Kit and get to work on making all sorts of mods.

Bethesda released the modding tools earlier today, as promised, and they also threw in a little surprise to go along with it: a high resolution texture pack. The download for the hi-res texture pack is a pretty large one, but those with capable PCs will definitely want to give it a download, as just about all of the game’s textures are noticeably improved over vanilla Skyrim.

Before you download the hi-res texture pack, you may want to make sure that your PC is up to par or else you may notice a significant performance hit. Bethesda says:

“Make sure your system requirements exceed Skyrim’s recommended specs before attempting to install, including Windows Vista or 7 operating system, a minimum of 4GB of system RAM, and a DirectX 9.0c compatible NVIDIA or AMD ATI video card with at least 1 GB of RAM and the latest drivers.”

If you’d like to download the Skyrim Creation Kit, you can do so by going to your Steam library and selecting “Tools” from the dropdown. From there, simply install the Creation Kit, and you’re good to go. For the Skyrim high resolution texture pack, you can download that by heading over to Skyrim‘s DLC page.

Skyrim Creation Kit, High Resolution Texture Pack available now is a post from: The Inquisitr

Hawken, an Unreal Engine 3-powered, multiplayer-focused mech shooter title from indie developer Adhesive Games, is expected to release on December 12, the developer announced recently.

In an exclusive with GamesBeat, Adhesive Games co-founder Khang Le revealed the date, along with news that Hawken will be made available as a microtransaction-fueled free-to-play title, with the company’s Meteor Games division handling the publishing duties.

“This game has been a labor of love that we’ve worked on for 18 months,” Le said. “There hasn’t been a good robot game in a while and nothing that looks like what we’re trying to do, which is more like Call of Duty multiplayer.”

The inspiration for the decision to go the free-to-play route, Le explains, comes from League of Legends. Riot Games’ free-to-play MOBA title is wildly successful, boasting roughly 15 million total registered accounts, 4 million of which log in every month.

Le didn’t provide specifics on how the microtransaction model will be handled in Hawken, but he did suggest that players will be able to purchase more powerful armor, weapons, and various defensive items. Microtransaction items that provide a significant edge in competitive play are generally frowned upon, so it will be interesting to see exactly how that will work.

Regardless, Hawken is looking to be a lot of fun. To see for yourself, you can check out a gameplay video shown off during PAX 2011 below. Also, be sure to sign up for the beta if you’re interested in trying Hawken out early. You can do so at this link.

Source: GamesBeat

Hawken gets a release date, goes free-to-play is a post from: The Inquisitr

While the Mass Effect series has always tried to have a good mix of RPG and shooter gameplay, the first two games had one extreme of one or the other. The first Mass Effect, for instance, had a big focus on RPG elements, whereas Mass Effect 2 focused on the shooting.

In the case Mass Effect 3, however, BioWare says it’s aiming to not put too much focus over one gameplay element over the other. They hope to accomplish this by bringing back a few of the RPG-like elements that were missing in Mass Effect 2.

“We just want to tell the best story within the context of an amazing shooter,” producer Michael Gamble told CVG. “I think in ME3 we’ve actually brought back a lot of the customization elements that were missing in ME2: Weapons, armor, powers, each power now has nine possible ways of evolution.

“We brought back all that customization. Like any transition between games, we want to polish everything. I wouldn’t say one genre is winning out over another.”

You’ll be able to judge whether or not BioWare was successful at striking a balance between RPG and shooter when Mass Effect 3 launches March 6 on the PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

Source: CVG

BioWare: Mass Effect 3 brings back a lot of what was missing in ME2 is a post from: The Inquisitr

Microsoft Flight, the company’s casual, free-to-play approach to the Microsoft Flight Simulator series, has finally been given a release date.

Microsoft announced today that Microsoft Flight will be made available later this month on February 29. The core game is absolutely free to download and play to your heart’s content, but Microsoft isn’t about to launch Microsoft Flight without any paid content options.

Alongside the launch of the base game, Microsoft will be releasing the “Hawaiian Adventure Pack”, which allows you to fly around all of the Hawaiian Islands, not just one. Additionally, you’ll be able to get a new plane and 20 additional missions. The pack will set you back $20, or 1600 Microsoft Points. Microsoft will also be offering two additional planes to purchase, the Maule M-7-260C and the North American P-51 Mustang.

“There was an overwhelming demand for access to the ‘Microsoft Flight’ beta and the number of requests was far more than what we initially planned for,” said executive producer Joshua Howard. “We received amazing feedback from the beta participants and it’s great to see this level of excitement from fans as we move toward the release of ‘Microsoft Flight.”

You’ll be able to download Microsoft Flight when it releases on February 29 over at MicrosoftFlight.com.

Microsoft Flight gets a release date, launch DLC is a post from: The Inquisitr

If you have yet to get into the Diablo III beta after all of this time, you may want to check your email. Blizzard sent out a massive wave of invites, about 100,000, in North America.

Even if you don’t see an email from Blizzard in your inbox, it wouldn’t hurt to go ahead and log into Battle.net to see of the Diablo III closed beta was added to your account. Also, Blizzard says it plans out to send out even more invites “soon”, so you’ll have even more chances to get in moving forward if you missed out on this wave.

Blizzard warns to be careful not to fall victim of a phishing scam, however. With such a massive wave of invites being sent out, scammers will undoubtedly be out in full force, so avoid entering your password on any site that isn’t Battle.net.

Blizzard still isn’t willing to say just when Diablo III is set to release, but the developer said late last year that the game should release at some point in early 2012. Hopefully that’s still the case.

Blizzard sends out 100,000 Diablo III beta invites is a post from: The Inquisitr

Skyrim patch 1.4 was recently released on Steam, and with it came support for Steam Workshop–but the tool that would make use of the Steam Workshop, the Creation Kit modding utility, wasn’t released along with it.

According to Bethesda’s Pete Hines, that is set to change next week. After several months of waiting, Hines said in a tweet that the Creation Kit is on track to release on Steam next Tuesday, February 7.

Hines also teased a surprise to go along with the Creation Kit. He said: “For our Skyrim PC fans, the Creation Kit is on track for release on Tuesday. And, we also have a special surprise with it. #whatcoulditbe!?”

To give you an idea of what you can expect to be able to do with Skyrim‘s Creation Kit when it launches next week, Bethesda recently released a video that runs you through the program’s basics, and how the Steam Workshop integration will work.

For more information on that, check out the Skyrim Creation Kit developer diary below.

Skyrim Creation Kit coming next week, Bethesda says is a post from: The Inquisitr

Back during all of that talk of THQ canceling its 2014 lineup–which turned out to be not true–THQ said that “no decisions” have been made regarding Warhammer: Dark Millennium Online, which suggested that the MMO may be in trouble.

Fortunately for Warhammer fans, THQ confirmed that Dark Millennium Online is still in development, so fans of the franchise needn’t worry about the game being canceled just yet. There is, however, one small problem: the cost of developing the game is turning out to be too much for the company, and THQ needs help.

“While the game in development promises to be a high-quality consumer offering, because of the large financial commitment and associated risks, we are being realistic about our resources and we are actively seeking a partner for this compelling new MMO,” said CEO Brian Farrell. “We will keep you updated on our progress.”

It may not be the most reassuring news for Warhammer 40k fans anticipating the MMO, but THQ at least seems to be committed to doing their best to not cancel development on the game.

You can check out the latest Warhammer 40k: Dark Millennium Online trailer from E3 2011 below.

THQ’s Warhammer MMO isn’t dead, but needs help is a post from: The Inquisitr

Mass Effect 3 may wrap up the current story arc, but that doesn’t mean that the series is over just yet. BioWare has strongly suggested in the past that there will be more Mass Effect, and now the developer is saying that you may even want to hold on to your Mass Effect 3 saves.

Mike Gamble, associate producer on Mass Effect 3, said as much in a recent interview with GamerZines. “It wouldn’t be a bad idea (to keep your ME3 saves)” he said. “Obviously I can’t say anything, but it wouldn’t be a bad idea…”

In case you’re unfamiliar with the Mass Effect series, both Mass Effect 2 and Mass Effect 3 uses your save data to determine how things play out. A decision that you make in the original Mass Effect, for instance, will determine how certain events play out in Mass Effect 2 and Mass Effect 3.

As for Shepard’s send-off, BioWare isn’t shying away from bad endings in Mass Effect 3–just as they didn’t in Mass Effect 2. Regardless of the character’s outcome, be it good or bad, BioWare wants the ending in Mass Effect 3 to be satisfying no matter how many bad choices you’ve managed to make throughout Shepard’s galaxy-saving career.

“We want the outcomes to be satisfying to the player. That doesn’t necessarily mean they’re all going to be happy or positive,” Gamble told GamerZines.

You may want to hold on to your Mass Effect 3 saves is a post from: The Inquisitr

Ubisoft will soon be switching the hosting of a good many of its servers from a third-party provider to a new facility and, as a result, many Ubisoft games’ online modes will be unavailable during that time. For PC and Mac gamers, this may impact you even more.

When the transfer begins on February 7, most of Ubisoft’s titles will be limited to offline play only on all platforms, but a few PC and Mac titles won’t function at all. This list includes Assassin’s Creed (Mac), H.A.W.X. 2 (PC), Might & Magic: Heroes VI (PC), Splinter Cell: Conviction (Mac), The Settlers 7: Path to a Kingdom (PC), and The Settlers (Mac).

Ubisoft says that this transfer will affect all Ubisoft games one way or another, save for these five recently-released titles: ANNO 2070, Assassin’s Creed Revelations, Driver: San Francisco, Just Dance 3, and The Settlers Online.

“We apologize to our customers for the inconvenience,” Ubisoft said in a statement. “This move ultimately will help us improve the maintenance of our infrastructure and deliver better uptime and greatly improved services for our customers.”

Ubisoft didn’t say just how long the transfer is expected to take. The company recommends you follow its official Twitter account for more updates on when online functionality is expected to return.

Ubisoft migrating servers, several games affected is a post from: The Inquisitr

EA has been a very strong supporter of the Project $10 / online pass system, so you’d be forgiven if you assumed that Starbreeze’s Syndicate reboot would utilize some form of an online pass. But surprisingly, it won’t be.

In a statement to Eurogamer, EA Partners executive producer Jeff Gamon confirmed that when the game launches in February, it won’t have an online pass system, meaning you’re free to play the game in its entirety, regardless of whether you bought it used or not.

“We want as little resistance or barriers to entry as possible,” Gamon told Eurogamer. “The co-op is equal billing in this. We wanted everyone who owns a copy of the game to have access to the entire product.”

EA has adopted a policy of utilizing online passes to get some extra cash out of second-hand sales in all of their games, but this policy doesn’t always apply to EA Partners-published games. For instance, Crysis 2 and Portal 2 both shipped without an online pass.

But in the case of Syndicate, the game should have an online pass, at least going by EA’s policy. Starbreeze is an independent studio and EA Partners is indeed overseeing the game, but the Syndicate IP is owned by EA, and it will be EA itself publishing the game.

Gamon offered up an explanation, saying:

“Under normal circumstances it would have had an online pass, but because it didn’t have competitive multiplayer and because we wanted as many people as possible to be playing co-op, we got away with it. Maybe another reason for not having the Online Pass is we were confident in the scope of the online game.”

Source: Eurogamer

Syndicate to ship without an online pass, EA confirms is a post from: The Inquisitr

If you had plans to pick up Activision and Radical Entertainment’s Prototype 2 on the PC, you’ll unfortunately have to wait a little longer than everyone else.

Over on the game’s Facebook page, Activision recently posted that the game will be seeing a 3-month delay. It was originally scheduled to launch alongside the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions, which release on April 24, but now it’s been pushed back until around July 24.

No reason for the delay was given, but Activision said in the post that more details on the PC version, and hopefully some information on the delay, should be sent out “soon”.

In less disappointing news, Activision also announced the Prototype 2 RADNET Edition, which will be made available in limited quantities to those who pre-order the game. Should you choose to do so, Activision promises to hook you up with 55 pieces of new content spread out over several weeks, such as new events, new mutations, videos, and more.

“Radical Entertainment has always focused on bringing long lasting fun to its fans, and PROTOTYPE 2′s RADNET content is our way of rewarding the game’s most loyal supporters – the early adopters, the one’s who will replay it over and over again,” said Ken Rosman, Studio Head at Radical Entertainment. “We think this is great because we’re giving our fans hours of additional gameplay outside PROTOTYPE 2′s main narrative, and cool rewards – all delivered weekly following the game’s launch!”

You can find out more about Prototype 2‘s “RADNET” in the video below.

Prototype 2 PC delayed until July is a post from: The Inquisitr

Most PC gamers moved away from boxed retail copies of PC games a long time ago, thanks in no small part to the convenience of digital distribution services such as Steam, but Alan Wake PC will be getting a boxed version regardless.

The boxed version of Alan Wake for the PC will be brought to you by Nordic Games. There’s no word on just where you’ll be able to pick up a boxed copy of Alan Wake PC, but it’s a safe bet it’ll show up at your local game shop of choice.

There’s also no word on when it will be released. Remedy recently said that Alan Wake will release on Steam in February, but the developer hasn’t pinned a specific release date on the game yet, nor has Nordic Games.

However, the publisher did say that we can expect news on a release date for Alan Wake in the next few days, so sit tight for more news on that.

In case this is the first you’ve heard of a PC version of Alan Wake, the port will include all DLC that saw a release over on Xbox Live, including “The Signal” and “The Writer”. This applies to both the boxed copy and the digital download.

via Destructoid

Alan Wake PC getting a boxed version is a post from: The Inquisitr

Bummed out that Aliens: Colonial Marines got delayed yet again? If so, Sega released a trailer following the confirmation of the delay that aims to convince you that the game is well worth all of the waiting you’ve been doing.

It doesn’t show any gameplay, which is disappointing considering we’ve seen so little of it over the years, but we’re at least treated to a pretty darn cool cinematic trailer. It’s more of a tease than anything else, but there are a few glimpses of the Xenomorphs doing what they do best: trying to kill humans.

We still don’t have a firm release date for Aliens: Colonial Marines. Sega originally pinned the game for a spring 2012 release date, but the publisher recently confirmed that the title has slipped into a fall release date instead. We do at least know what platforms that Aliens: Colonial Marines will be available on: PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and, eventually, the Wii U.

You can check out the latest Aliens: Colonial Marines cinematic trailer below, courtesy of IGN.

Aliens: Colonial Marines gets a new cinematic trailer [Video] is a post from: The Inquisitr

Over the past year, more and more publishers have signed on to that whole “online pass” deal in an attempt to make some extra cash off of used game sales. This traditionally works by, say, locking out gamers who bought the game used from multiplayer.

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning was recently announced to also require an online pass for used game purchasers, but how they’re approaching it is different. The game doesn’t have an online mode, so EA instead chose to lock out used game purchasers from an entire quest line.

It’s not the first time that an online pass locked used game purchasers out of singleplayer content–RAGE did something similar, albeit far less severe–but this one stands out as being a bit too harsh. In a post on the game’s official website, community manager Muse attempted to justify the decision, saying:

“For what it’s worth, the House of Valor content was not in the finished game/disc at one point, then removed. It isn’t there and we’re locking you out of it. The House of Valor was created as stand-alone content, and was always intended to be the first DLC. Instead of holding onto it and charging for it later, we opted to give it to everyone who purchases the game new, for free, on launch day. We hope that helps clarify that point, at least.”

What do you think? Does Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning‘s online pass go too far?

Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning locks out singleplayer content for used copies is a post from: The Inquisitr

Earlier today, Sega quietly changed the target release date for Aliens: Colonial Marines on the official site from a spring 2012 release to fall 2012. To add to the confusion, Sega then changed the listing back to spring shortly after the story got picked up by several news sites.

After several hours of silence on the matter, Sega sent out a press release confirming that Gearbox’s Aliens: Colonial Marines has, in fact, been delayed until fall of this year. No specific release date was given.

“Aliens: Colonial Marines is a process of creativity and invention and those don’t necessarily follow the structure of an assembly line,” a Sega representative said in a statement.

“While setting clear goals, deadlines and predictions is helpful, they are often subjective. We don’t want to sacrifice the creative process just for the sake of following a blue print. We prefer to have the creative discovery shape that blue print because our goal is to make a great game, and we are prioritizing this goal over the previously targeted date.”

Aliens: Colonial Marines was originally announced back in early 2008, but saw a series of delayed until it was finally given a solid 2012 release date–which is still going to happen, just later than originally expected.

Considering that gamers have already been waiting going on 4 years for Aliens: Colonial Marines, I’m sure they can wait a few more months.

Sega confirms Aliens: Colonial Marines delay is a post from: The Inquisitr

At some point after the release of Street Fighter X Tekken this March, Capcom says it will release a post-launch “tournament support” patch.

Capcom didn’t provide any specifics on what sort of features will come with the tournament support patch, but the developer did say that the patch’s main goal is to alleviate concerns from hardcore fighting game fans over the controversial gem system.

While the gem system may be a welcome addition to the casual fighting game fan, tournament-level players have been slamming it since the day it was announced, with many calling for an option to disable the gem system.

Capcom isn’t saying whether or not the patch will allow players to disable the gem system entirely for tournament play, but Yoshinori Ono told Eurogamer that Capcom was working on a patch to address at least some of the concerns of their dedicated fanbase.

“We know a lot of players are worried that with the gem system tournaments will be harder to run,” Street Fighter producer Yoshinori Ono told Eurogamer.

“We know they take a lot of time. A lot of players were saying, ‘I have to do button checks. Do I have to do a gem check now before a match?’ With regards to that we plan to release a free post-launch tournament support mode. Hopefully it will alleviate a lot of the concerns the community has.”

One of several fears fighting game fans had of Street Fighter X Tekken‘s gem system was that Capcom would eventually release gem DLC down the line, which would have the potential for giving players who purchase the DLC an unfair advantage over those without it. Ono says not to worry, however.

“In terms of DLC gems, we don’t have any set plans on selling gems like this or like that,” Ono said. “We’re waiting to see what the user reaction is first, because we think a lot of users still don’t understand the gem system completely.”

Source: Eurogamer

Street Fighter X Tekken getting post-launch tournament support patch is a post from: The Inquisitr