Rockstar is known for releasing their new titles during the April/May/June time frame, as it has happened over the past few years, with GTA 4, Red Dead Redemption, and this year, with LA Noire, which was released in early May. According to MarketWatch, the game sold just under 900,000 copies during its first month, which is a bit lower than expected. By comparison, last year Red Dead Redemption sold 1.5 million units during its first month. While LA Noire didn’t top Read Dead Redemption, LA Noire’s sales are still impressive and it looks as if it shouldn’t be a problem for the game to recoup its massive, $60 million budget.

Amazon has been known to be very kind for gamers on a budget like us as from time to time they offer some of the hottest titles for much cheaper than retailers like GameStop. Today, Amazon is holding quite the sale as they have dropped the price tags of some of the hottest games putting them at a more palatable price tag than before.

Included in this deal are games like L.A. Noire (dropped to $39.99), Halo: Reach (dropped to $24.96), Mortal Kombat, Just Cause 2 and many more. For a full list of games included in this promotion head here.

Rockstar has announced the release date for its upcoming noir adventure game, LA Noire. The game will be released on May 17 in North America, and May 20 in Europe. To mark the occasion, Rockstar has released a brand new trailer, which you can see above.

Rockstar has released the debut trailer of LA Noire, and while we don’t get to see any gameplay, the game and story certainly look inviting. We love the LA Confidential look and feel of it. The game is scheduled for release next year.

Last week we reported that Rockstar had revealed that LA Noire was still scheduled for release this year. But no one really believed that, and it now appears that Evan Wilson, an analyst from Pacific Crest Securities, who had inquired with retailers about the matter. It turns out that LA Noire won’t be out until at least late-2011 — a realistic estimate is early 2012. And that’s and early estimate. In fact, Take Two hasn’t even shows the game to retailers, which usually happens before its shown to the general public. Australian developer Team Bondi has been working on the game since 2005, on a reported budget of $50 million.

Rockstar’s noir thriller LA Noire is still going to be released according to plan, which means this year. But if we know anything about Rockstar and general game development, the game is far from ready for a 2010 release — if it was, we’d see all kinds of trailers and promo material these days. But there isn’t anything. Both GameStop and Amazon list the game for release on February 1, 2011, at the earliest. We expect it to hit the stores next summer. But that’s just us here at DigitalBattle.

GameInformer’s upcoming issue has a ton of new details on LA Noire, and they’ve just released a few screenshots of the game, which show exactly what we can expect: Noir! 1950s! Retro!

According to G4TV’s Geoff Keighley, he managed to get a sneak peak at the upcoming LA Noire in the upcoming issue of Game Informer, and he notes via Twitter that the game is set for a September 2010 release on the PS and Xbox 360. We’ll know for sure as soon as Game Informer is out.

According to the upcoming issue of Game Informer, which has a special on LA Noire, the game will no longer be a PS3 exclusive. According to developer Rockstar, the games was indeed a PS3 exclusive in the beginning, but will now be released on the Xbox 360 as well. Game Informer has a lot more details in the upcoming issue, which will be in news stands in two weeks.

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Hollywood usually takes most of the slack when it comes to criticism for lack of originality, but in fact, the video game industry is even worse at creating original content, it’s a world dominated by franchises of every kind, from sports to action games, publishers and developers are usually taking the easy and safe way: sequels. And spin offs. And remakes. Etc.

We’ve compiled a list of top 10 original games that are scheduled for release for 2010 — and it was quite a challenge: out of the 130 games confirmed for 2010 by major publishers and developers, we found 19 that were original. Just 19.

10: Brink (Spring 2010)

Brink, an FPS developed by Splash Damage and published by Bethesda, centers around a two sides: Resistance and Security, and is a team based multiplayer shooter much like Quake Wars, which was also developed by Splash Damage. It looks promising as a multiplayer game, as it’s story based, much like Quake Wars, where one battle takes place over several maps, with a story connecting everything together.

9: Alpha Protocol (Spring 2010)

Alpha Protocol, developed by Obsidian Entertainment — developers of Star Wars: KOTOR 2 and Neverwinter Nights 2 — is a third person action RPG where the player assumes the role of Michael Thorton, a CIA agent who’s been betrayed and must not only fight his way through enemies, but also uncover the conspiracy that set him up.

8: Singularity (Q2 2010)

While time travel is a known concept in games, albeit underused, it’s still something that is difficult to fit in wiht the overall storyline, and the time feature never seems to be used properly. In Singularity, the player will have control over a TMD (Time Manipulation Device), a “weapon” which will be used to solve puzzles, for instance, if a door is locked, instead of looking for the key, you use the TMD and speed up time for the lock only, which will rust, and voila, door opened! Or use it on an enemy and watch him turn into a skeleton. The concept certainly seems intriguing, and offers some truly original puzzles.

7: Dante’s Inferno (February 9, 2010)

Dante’s Inferno has already caused a lot of controversy, from the fake E3 2009 protest, to gameplay elements where players can slay children. The gritty, hell based game is loosely based on the actual Inferno by Dante in The Divine Comedy, and the player assumes the role of Dante, who has to fight his way though monsters and demons in the 9 circles of hell, and decide whether he’ll be good and spare some (like children) or go reckless. It definitely looks as one of the darkest games of 2010.

6: MAG (January 26, 2010)

MAG (Massive Action Game) is a PS3 online FPS multiplayer who’s main feature is a massive 256 player online matches, with 128 players per team, divided into 8-player squads, 4 squads into a platoon, and 4 platoons into a company. With 256 players on the map, MAG is set to deliver some of the most intense and frantic combat yet, and will offer detailed stats and rankings, where higher ranked players will be able to command the battle and give orders to individual squads and platoons.

5: LA Noire (Q3 2010)

LA Noire, an open ended adventure game set in a recreated 1940s Los Angeles, which players can freely roam around, and chose to solve a number of murders around the city. The game has a great feeling of classic noir films based in LA, like LA Confidential, The Maltese Falcon and Chinatown, and draws inspiration from such works as well.

4: Rage (Q4 2010)

It’s been a while since Id Software has made an original game — actually, the last original game Id Software made was Quake, back in 1996. Id finally shows something new with Rage, a fusion between a first person shooter and a racing game set in a post-apocalyptic Mad Max styled world. It’s built with the all new Id Tech 5 engine, and shows very promising visuals, to say the least.

3: Heavy Rain (Q2 2010)

Heavy Rain has been on the radar since it was originally showcased at E3 2006, and will be released almost four years later, in Q2 2010. The gorgeous looking game centers around a serial killer known as “The Origami Killer”, and players assume roles of different characters who try and solve the murders. It’s one of the most stylish and atmospheric games to come out in 2010.

2: Alan Wake (Q2 2010)

What Heavy Rain is for the PS3, Alan Wake is for the Xbox 360. Developed by Remedy, Alan Wake is a psychological thriller inspired by the likes of Twin Peaks and Stephen King novels, where players assume the role of Alan Wake, a writer who seeks refuge at a quiet place where he can write his next novel (much like Stephen Kings “Misery“). However, when his wife vanishes, it’s up to him to get her back.

1: APB (March 2010)

APB is not only the most original MMO game to his the stores in 2010, it’s also the most original game overall. It’s the classic cops vs. robbers gameplay, but on a massive scale, with endless customizations and options, tons of missions and weapons. Created by David Jones, the original creator for GTA, APB is hailed as everything he wanted to do wince he made GTA, and while originally trying to pitch and sell APB to Rockstar as GTA Online, it’s good that APB is on its own now, we need a great, original game. And an MMO that’s not fantasy based.