Autumn Moon Entertainment today announced the sequel to its adventure game A Vampyre Story that was released last year.

Dubbed A Vampyre Story 2: A Bat’s Tale, the game will let players take control of Mona de Laffite’s bat companion Froderick to free Mona from the clutches of Dr. Riga Mortus.

The studio is composed of LucasArts veteran Bill Tiller, who is joined this time by Jesse Clark and Larry Ahren. These guys previously worked on awesome adventure games such as Sam and Max Hit the Road and Full Throttle.

No release date was given, though it is expected sometime later this year.

Microsoft announced today that the Left 4 Dead Survival Pack DLC will be released on Xbox Live on April 21. While this applies to the Xbox 360 version, Valve previously mentioned that the DLC would also be available on PC starting April 21.

The free pack adds the new Survival game mode where players have to fend hordes of increasing zombies in an attempt to survive as long as possible. There will be 12 new maps, with 11 being sections of existing levels and one created especially for Survival mode – Lighthouse.

It also adds Versus mode to the final two co-op campaigns – Dead Air and Death Toll.

In today’s first bit of downloadable content news, details of the Snowblind Map Pack DLC for Gears of War 2 have been revealed. The pack, due March 31, will cost 800 Microsoft points ($10), bringing four new winter-themed maps to the game, including a frosted remake of popular GoW map “Fuel Depot”.

Similarly, Halo 3′s Mythic Map pack has been scheduled for a April 9 release. Also costing 800 points, the pack will contain three maps previously released with the Halo Wars Limited Edition.

EA’s realistic, simulation-based take on the Need for Speed franchise – NFS SHIFT – will be released in Europe on September 17 and North America on September 22.

Developed by Slightly Mad, a studio consisting of veterans who worked on GTR 2, among other titles, the game will feature the largest roster of high-performance cars, including Porsche 911 GT2 and Lotus Elise.

"By focusing on the driver’s experience through the first-person view, we are able to capture the high-speed intensity and gripping emotions of racing," said EA Games Europe senior vice president Patrick Soderlund.

It will be released on PC, PS3, PSP and Xbox 360.

Rockstar Games has finally broken its code of silence and officially announced the development of Max Payne 3.

The third installment in the third-person shooter series is being developed at Rockstar Vancouver (Bully) and will feature a now-retired Payne who cannot get away from the world he starred in the first two titles.

"We’re starting a new chapter of Max’s life with this game," said Sam Houser, founder of Rockstar Games. "This is Max as we’ve never seen him before, a few years older, more world-weary and cynical than ever. We experience the downward spiral of his life after the events of Max Payne 2 and witness his last chance for salvation."

A new city will be introduced in the game, as Payne left behind New York City after the events of Max Payne 2.

The game is set for release on PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 this winter.

The vast majority of film tie-in games are poorly constructed efforts for a quick cash-in on a popular film series. Occasionally we’re treated to a game that does the film justice- Goldeneye comes immediately to mind. When The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay was released, reviewers and gamers alike were stunned. The film was heavy on style and did that quite well, but wasn’t a huge success. The game however was crisply polished, somewhat unusual in its blend of shooting, sneaking and hand-to-hand combat; all in the first person perspective.

Rumors are circulating regarding a second Riddick movie, though at this point it seems like the tables have turned; the film seems likely to be a cash-in on the anticipated success of the game. Atari has announced that The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena has gone gold. The game is a combination sequel and remake with the original Butcher Bay content having been remastered into HD quality and a new adventure for the burly anti-hero. This time he’ll be prowling the corridors of mercenary ship Dark Athena and fighting for his life. Throw in the new multiplayer options and you’re getting a great package for the price.

The game is releasing in North America on April 7th, Australia on April 30th and later this year in Europe.

Okay so one day after I blogged that there is finally supply to satisfy the demand for people looking for Nintendo’s Wii console, news comes out that the price will be raised in England. Why? It is simple economics. To balance the demand, prices will be raised to help control the supply.

On a business aspect, this sounds logical. But for consumers, it may draw varied criticism such as possibly looking for other game consoles that fit their budget. When the Wii ran out, you can bet a lot of people have been saving up until the game console would be available. But now, they raise the price?

Also, add the aspect of economic problems playing a part in this. The price tag needs to be adjusted to justify the cost in producing them hence another excuse for the Wii to become more expensive than before. You can just look at the depreciating economy as an accomplice to these developments.

Nintendo doesn’t expect the people to understand. It’s a business move. With the risk of possibly slowing down on sales from demand certain to occur, you may see people shying away or perhaps waiting for such time when the price is lowered once again. The only question is when.

(Source) JustPressPlay

I have to admit, I’ve played a lot of games on Newgrounds, and some of them are better than others.  But if you’re into action games that’ll make you think like a puzzle game, then you could definitely do a lot worse than Blackboard Squash.

In Blackboard Squash, you play a tiny little chalk outline of a man on a chalkboard.  Meanwhile, chalk hazards are continually drawn into life to fall onto you or attempt to crush or skewer you.  You’ve got just enough fortitude to withstand five injuries, and after that, it’s game over.

You’ll be playing on different sides of the board every so often, and you’ll have to adjust your control perceptions to match.  You’ll have to constantly think and dodge, so you’ll need to be fast and clever to get through this one for any length of time.  It’s fast, casual fun.

If you were anything like me when you first laid hands on a copy of Saints Row, you enjoyed it, but found that it was a little bit lacking somehow.  So that having been said, you’ll definitely be happy to hear that Saints Row 2 has solved that problem.

Saints Row 2 represents a massive leap forward in sequels, which by itself is somewhat amazing.  It’s kept all the fun from the original, all the ease of use and all the fun drives and all the gunplay, and added a whole host of new and interesting things to do in Stilwater.  Like what, you ask?  Well, I’ll fill you in on that particular point in a minute…but first, the plot.

It’s five years after you blew up the yacht in Saints Row, and you’ve woken up in a prison hospital ward.  Stilwater has changed a lot in five years, and you’ll discover just how much when you finally break out of prison.  Yes, of COURSE your first task is to break out of prison.  From there, you’ll spring former cohort Johnny Gat off Death Row, reassemble the currently defunct Third Street Saints and re-take Stilwater from the Brotherhood, the Ronin, and the Sons of Samedi as well as the shadowy Ultor Corporation.

See what I mean?  Bigger.  Much, MUCH, bigger—one whole faction bigger, to start with.  Plus, you’ll get a panoply of new and fun activities to take part in on the side.  You’ll get to pose as one of Stilwater’s finest to help the show Fuzz (clearly a parody of Cops, in case you wondered) get its episode count finished.  You’ll get to take control of a septic truck and spew loads of human sewage on a collection of targets.  You’ll even get to suit up in a flame suit and drive a four-wheeler through a series of challenges.  They call that one “Trail Blazing”.  How awesome is that?

That’s not a rhetorical question, either.  I know EXACTLY how awesome it is, and it’s pretty awesome, especially since the flame suit blows up cars on contact.  You get extra time for doing that.  You’ll get a wide array of vehicles to drive around Stilwater, too—it’s not just cars and trucks any more.  One mission requires you to handle a tow truck.  You’ll get mopeds and motorcycles, and even get to spend some time in a helicopter.

And it’s not just about the new, either.  The respect system is back in play, and you’ll get also get the steadily advancing hatred meters too, telling you just how much each faction currently wants you dead on the hoods of their many, many cars.  Basically, just about everything you may have loved from Saints Row is back in Saints Row 2, plus a whole bunch of other stuff that you never imagined you’d get the chance to love.

Two words: Chainsaw.  Flamethrower.  Oh yeah…that’s plenty to love.

But it’s not all joy around here—I had some oddly buggy moments in Saints Row 2, including objectives that wouldn’t seem to be met despite the fact that I was doing them right, and one moment in which a flood of infinite enemies kept charging at me while I was trying to finish a mission.  I’d been snuck up on several times, and I really don’t like blasting someone with a rocket launcher just to have the FBI drive a van into my lower back.  It spoils the atavistic thrill.

But still, there’s a LOT to like about Saints Row 2, and if you’re any kind of fan of action shooters, you’ll probably like this one just as much as I did.

Ever have one of those days when you’re feeling restless?  Like you’ve just slammed a quart of Red Bull laced with Pixy Stix?  Got a lot of excess energy to burn off?  Then what you need is one of the newest games on Newgrounds, a massive and hyperkinetic version of Pong called, strangely, Pwong.

Pwong, much as the name and my last sentence implies, is basically just a massive, spectacular game of Pong, with MULTIPLE BALLS.  And when I say, “multiple balls”, I don’t mean three or four.  I mean as many as ten or twenty on the field at one time.  Frankly, I couldn’t keeep an accurate count because they were flying so fast.  Scoring is the simplest a complex sports game can offer–each ball you miss is deducted from your score, while each ball your opponent misses is added to your score.

Just to give you an idea, at one point I was at negative seventy-five points.  Things picked up and I soon got to a hundred and one on my first try.  This qualified me for “pre-beginner” rank, and left me feeling vaguely ashamed of myself for the rest of the afternoon.  But it won’t stop me from coming back later–nor should it stop you from giving this one a try.