BIG Valve news today! For your sake, the whole thing has been bulletized:

• Half-Life 2: Episode Two, due for release this Holiday season, will be released simultaneously for the PC, Xbox 360 and PS3.

• The next-gen console versions will see enhanced versions plus all Half-Life 2 back content, including Half-Life 2, Episode One and Team Fortress 2.

• This brings us to the revelation of Team Fortress 2, which everyone thought became dead eons ago. Apparently, the game is alive and kicking, and will feature a somewhat-cell-shaded-cartoonish approach, looking a lot like No One Lives Forever and ’60s spy flicks (see image). Players will be able to choose form a range of unique character classes such as medic, spy, sniper, or engineer and must work together to complete a variety of tactical objectives.

• Valve also revealed Portal, a new type of single player game that has a “portal gun” for a weapon. This will change the way players approach, manipulate and solve puzzles in a given environment with the new gun that will let them shoot portals onto walls, objects, and, well, everything!

Concluding their announcement, Valve stated that new videos from Episode Two, Portal and Team Fortress 2 will be released sometime next week.

Ubisoft and Atari have announced that they have reached an agreement that will see Ubi acquiring the Driver license, as well as most of the assets and all the personnel of Reflections Interactive, the studio behind the now-faded franchise. The acquisition cost the former $24 million (19 million Euros).

In a separate statement by Atari, the company stated that the sale of the Driver franchise is part of its initiative to refocus its portfolio of franchise as well as streamlining the company’s cost structure. Also, Atari will maintain sell-off rights for a three month period for all Driver products except Driver 4, which the company will retail till the end of 2006. Specific financial details of the agreement were not revealed.

Maybe it’s a leak, or maybe it’s our lucky day, but, according to Xbox.com’s page for Gears of War, Emergence Day will be October 2. However, Microsoft has denied the release date, stating that they are yet to announce an official release date for the game, though the Xbox.com page says otherwise.

On Game Informer is an article on their August 2006 cover feature: it’s a new game from Io Interactive, the studio behind the venerable Hitman franchise, dubbed Kane & Lynch: Dead Men for PC and Xbox 360.

The site describes it as a third-person action game with “full co-op play option, intuitive squad tactics, and a hearty online multiplayer component.” A “few surprises” are also in store for us, apparently.

As for the rest of the magazine: there’s a feature on ESRB and politicians; a look into the next-gen Turok; previews of games like Shadowrun, Valkyrie Profile 2 and more.

The development of Lord of the Rings: The White Council, a new RPG in the fantasy franchise, has been announced by EA. In development at Gray Company, the game will be released for the PS3, PC and Xbox 360; and will feature an original storyline derived from J.R.R. Tolkien’s novels. The White Council is due out in late 2007.

Unlike previous games in the series, players will have the freedom to explore the open world of Middle-earth in the game, choosing their role as a man, an elf, a dwarf, or a hobbit. Each role’s destiny is to become a hero allied with the White Council, whose members include the famed characters Gandalf, Saruman, Galadriel and Elrond.

The game was shown off at EA’s summer press event; further details to follow soon.

First up, the patches:

• Battlefield 2 beta v1.4 on EA Games
  
• Pro Cycling Manager 2006 v1.0.0.3 on Cyanide Studio
  
• Take Command – 2nd Manassas v2.51 on MadMinute Games
  
• World at War v1.202 on Matrix Games
  
• World of Warcraft v1.11.2 on 3D Downloads, 3D Gamers, FileFront, Gamer’s Hell and Worthplaying

• Panzer Elite Action: Dunes of War on 3D Downloads, 3D Gamers, Boomtown, FileFront, Gamer’s Hell, Internode Games Network and Strategy Informer

These titles shipped:

• Chromehounds (Xbox 360)
  
• Prey (PC, Xbox 360)
  
• The Ship

• Painkiller: Hell Wars (Xbox) – July 25