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

Mark your calendars you Star Wars gaming fans and Xbox Jedi wannabes as we now have the date that we will finally be able to get our hands on the much touted Kinect Star Wars.

April 3, 2012.

That’s it, that’s the date, and Microsoft had already announced that they would be shipping it also as part of a Star Wars Xbox 360 and Kinect theme bundle, and it is available for pre-order for $449. The bundle comes with a white Kinect sensor (regular one is black) along with with a C3-PO themed wireless controller and an R2-D2 finished Xbox 360 console.

This game has been a very long time coming having been touted as a premier example of what the game play using the Kinect could be like when it came down to the ‘serious’ games for the hardcore console gamers. Now finally after more than a few delays the new game will be available for around $50, depending on where you buy it I imagine.

Microsoft’s gaming spokesperson Major Nelson also let us know that there will be a s “Jedi Destiny Mode” that will let gamers duel with Count Dooku and Darth Vader.

via SlashGear

April 3 is the drop date for Microsoft’s Xbox 360 Kinect Star Wars bundle 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

If having YouTube and the other recently-released video content apps isn’t quite enough to satisfy all of your video streaming desires, Microsoft has added two more apps, Crackle and CinemaNow, to Xbox Live.

Crackle, for the unitiated, is a video streaming service with movies and television shows that is absolutely free of charge. Crackle’s selection is admittedly not the best, but the service does have a few goodies available for your viewing pleasure and, again, it’s free.

Provided that you’re willing to cough up some money, Best Buy’s “CinemaNow” app offers a wider selection of content, including a respectable amount of new releases. It isn’t known at the moment just how much it will cost you to do your streaming through CinemaNow, nor is Microsoft saying when the two apps will be made available.

Crackle and CinemaNow are the latest in a wave of video content apps that Microsoft began launching back in December. Microsoft says that even more video content providers are on the way, so stay tuned for more information on that.

Source: MTV Multiplayer

Xbox Live getting Crackle, CinemaNow apps is a post from: The Inquisitr

This news should be causing more than a few smiles in Redmond as the news that the Xbox 360 beat out Nintendo’s Wii and Sony’s Playstation 3 when it comes to worldwide sales for the first time ever.

It’s old news for for the Microsoft gaming console to beat out its competition nationally but it has never bested either one of them, let alone both, in the global gaming console marketplace.

The news of this champagne popping news came after Sony released its earning report yesterday which showed that the company had only sold 6.5 million units worldwide over the holiday quarter and when it combined with Nintendo’s sales of only 5.6 million for the Wii in the same quarter it showed both companies coming in behind Xbox 360′s sales of 8.2 million.

Now according to the team over at GeekWire this is the first time since 2006 that Xbox has lead worldwide holiday sales which is the same time that both the PS3 and Wii were just being launched.

Here’s the bigger news: The Xbox 360′s strong holiday quarter also put the Microsoft console ahead in worldwide sales globally for the full year of 2011, with 14.9 million units sold, compared with 14.1 million for the PS3 and 10.33 million for the Wii.

According to our data, compiled from historical earnings reports, it’s first time the Xbox 360 has topped the worldwide console market for a full year of head-to-head competition with the PS3 and Wii.

via GeekWire

Congrats to Microsoft and the Xbox team.

For the first time ever Xbox sales top Wii and PS3 worldwide 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

Final Fantasy XIII-2 just came out in North America, and Europe is expected to get the game on February 3. Despite the fact that most of will have just gotten started, Square Enix announced that the first round of DLC for the game will be released next week.

The first Final Fantasy XIII-2 DLC will add in a new Coliseum battle, dubbed “Lightning & Amodar”. As you may have guessed from the mission’s title, the Coliseum battle will have you face off against Final Fantasy XIII protagonist Lightning, and Lt. Amodar.

The fight itself isn’t the real point of the DLC, however. Should you win the battle, you’ll be able to recruit Lightning as a member of your party. Considering that it will only set you back $2.99 on both platforms, that doesn’t sound like too bad of a deal to me.

In related Final Fantasy XIII-2 DLC news, Siliconera reports that even more DLC is on the way over the next few months. A new bikini costume will be made available for Serah at some point in February, and other costumes will be released on down the line, such as a costume for Hope based on Assassin’s Creed‘s Ezio Auditore.

Square Enix says that it plans to release an “extensive” amount of Final Fantasy XIII-2 DLC over the next several months, and you can look forward to more information on that soon.

First round of Final Fantasy XIII-2 DLC coming next week 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

Capcom’s Dragon’s Dogma was originally expected to release at some point in March, but the publisher/developer announced today that the title has been pushed back until May.

Fortunately, there’s a bit of good news to come out of the delay, at least if you also happen to be a Resident Evil fan. Capcom says that when the game releases on May 22, it will include a voucher to download a Resident Evil 6 demo.

The demo won’t be made available right away, however–actually, you’ll have to do quite a bit of waiting. Xbox Live members will be able to download the demo starting on July 3, but PlayStation Network members have to wait even longer, until September 4 rolls around.

If a Resident Evil 6 demo isn’t enough to make up for the delay, Capcom also released a new story-focused trailer for Dragon’s Dogma for you to check out. It may not show you much in the way of gameplay, but you’ll at least have some idea at the end of the video as to what in the world is going on in this Capcom-developed open world RPG.

You can check out said trailer below.

Dragon’s Dogma now coming in May, includes Resident Evil 6 demo is a post from: The Inquisitr

Considering that Electronic Arts is apparently in love with online passes, requiring them for just about every game released over the past year, it should come as no surprise that SSX will also have an online pass.

What is surprising is how relatively light the online pass actually is. Shortly after the news made the rounds, EA sent out a statement to Game Informer, detailing just how it will work and, rather than going the usual route of locking out used game purchasers from online mutliplayer, SSX will instead take a different approach.

In SSX, players without an Online Pass are able to compete and play in both of SSX’s online game modes, Explore and Global Events with no restrictions. In Global Events, the top finishers from each event are awarded with in-game credits. These in-game credits earned during play will not be awarded to the player if they do not have an Online Pass; these credits will be stored so that at any time, if a player redeems an Online Pass code, all the credits that they had previously earned in Global Events will be immediately awarded to them.

It’s good that EA is going with something far less restrictive for SSX, but it also comes off as a bit odd to me considering that this news follows word that Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, another EA-published title, will have an online pass, despite having no online mode whatsoever. What’s worse, used game purchasers will be locked out of an entire quest line’s worth of content, which the developer attempted to justify by saying that said quest line was originally planned to be DLC.

You’re confusing, EA. You’re confusing.

Source: Game Informer

SSX’s online pass is surprisingly unrestrictive is a post from: The Inquisitr

The Xbox 720 is expected to be out next year in 2013 and new details emerge as to what we can see from the next generation console from Microsoft.

A new rumor has emerged that says the software giant will be announcing the next generation console at E3 in June and it will be out next year, most likely in time for the holiday shopping season. The company faces increased competition from the likes of Sony and Nintendo. While the 360 continues to be a great seller, it’s over 6 years old and something new is definitely due.

Microsoft made it clear that the new console won’t be out this year. Nintendo on the other hand plans on the Wii U launch to be a great success. Their gaming console will be out this holiday season. What makes the Wii U different from the Wii is, for one, it’s more powerful and is even said to be twice as powerful as the Xbox 360.

When the Wii came out, it wasn’t that powerful and didn’t have nearly as good graphics compared to its counterparts. And that was fine as the gaming system didn’t appeal nor was targeted towards hardcore gamers. It still managed to sell incredibly well and carved a nice niche for itself in the market, even pushing its competitors to develop their own motion based technology.

A great example of that is the Microsoft Kinect which has been a great success. So what are the two versions of Microsoft’s next generation console?

Via Eurogamer:

“The first is described as a “pared down machine” to be released as cheaply as possible. It is likened to a set-top box, and will act as a Kinect-themed gaming portal. The second is a “more fully-featured machine” with optical drive, hard disk and backwards compatibility. This would be aimed at hardcore gamers and released at a higher price-point. Kinect, Digital Foundry has heard, will be bundled with both SKUs.”

Will you buying the Xbox 720 when it comes out next year?

Xbox 720 Will Be Released In Two Versions In 2013 [Rumor] 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

The Witcher 2 has been available on PC for a bit less than a year now, but the Xbox 360 version is still nowhere to be found. It will be soon, though.

Developer CD Projekt RED announced today that after a long wait, Xbox 360 gamers will finally be able to get their hands on The Witcher 2 on April 17, 2012. It will include all of the DLC that CD Projekt RED released for free since the game launched back in May, but that’s not all.

When The Witcher 2 launches on Xbox 360 this April, it’ll come with a pretty significant amount of new content. The developer says that, all in all, there’s about three or four hours worth of new content, including new cutscenes, videos, missions and gameplay elements–and they don’t plan to stop there, either.

“We’re not going to stop our support of the game after launch,” The Witcher 2 level artist Marek Ziemak told Joystiq. “We’re launching the Xbox 360 version, but we’ll continue to work on both titles parallel, creating some extra stuff and trying to give some extra stuff to players. We never fire and forget; it’s against our philosophy.”

If you’ve always wanted to play The Witcher 2 but your PC perhaps wasn’t beefy enough to do so, the Xbox 360 port sounds like a good chance to see what all of the fuss is about. It may not look quite as good as the PC version, but it still looks mighty nice, as you can see for yourself in the Xbox 360 screenshot above.

The Witcher 2 coming to Xbox 360 this April 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

A number of Call of Duty Elite subscribers have noticed that the recently-released maps, which are exclusive to Elite subscribers, are locked to only one profile on one console, and people aren’t happy about it.

As you may know if you’ve downloaded anything off of Xbox Live in the past, content is supposed to work for all users on the original Xbox 360 that the digital content was downloaded on. Apparently, that isn’t the case with Modern Warfare 3 DLC, according to reports from various users on the Call of Duty forums.

“I’m in the same boat – I’ve got Elite Subs and have downloaded the maps, only my son who shares the console cannot access them,” wrote forum user Lucas777. “In all previous COD releases, the map packs have been accessible to all profiles on that console. It’s not like both users can play the game at the same time.”

Strangely, when you go to download the two Modern Warfare 3 maps the terms state that the content can be shared, as previously mentioned, across all profiles on the Xbox 360 you downloaded it from. Whether or not this is accidental or working as intended is unclear.

We’ll let you know when Activision clarifies the situation.

via Joystiq

Modern Warfare 3 Elite maps locked to one profile 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