The Def Jam series is famous for featuring actual rappers, as well as having kick-ass hip-hop soundtracks. That is being continued in Def Jam: ICON, the upcoming next-gen installment in the brawler fighting franchise. The game will feature a playlist of 29 tracks from prominent artistes such as The Game, Lil’ Jon and Young Jeezy, just to name a few.

In ICON, the music affects how players fight in each environment - avoiding hazards become a key strategy to staying alive. The game also features an exclusive My Soundtrack mode, allowing players to load any MP3 in the game; the imported music will also drive the environment the same way as the game’s soundtrack.

Below is the full track list:

• Big Boi (i.e. Purple Ribbon All-Stars feat. Big Boi) - Kryptonite
  
• E-40 - Tell Me When To Go
  
• E-40 - Go Hard or Go Home
  
• Fat Joe - Make It Rain
  
• Ghostface - The Champ (Remix)
  
• Jim Jones - Crunk Muzik
  
• Jim Jones - We Fly High
  
• Konkrete feat. Big Boi - What’s that Smell
  
• Lil Jon - Get Crunk
  
• Lil Jon (and the Eastside Boys) - Get Low
  
• Ludacris - Get Back
  
• M.O.P. - Ante Up
  
• Method Man & Redman - Da Rockwilder
  
• Mike Jones - Back Then
  
• Mike Jones - Got it Sewed Up - Remix
  
• Nas - Hate Me Now
  
• Paul Wall - Sittin’ Sidewayz
  
• Paul Wall - Trill
  
• Redman - Rush Da Security
  
• Redman - Let’s Go
  
• Sean Paul - Head in the Zone
  
• Sean Paul - All Out
  
• T.I. - What You Know
  
• T.I. - Top Back
  
• The Game - One Blood
  
• The Game - Scream on ‘Em
  
• Young Jeezy - I Do This
  
• Young Jeezy - Soul Survivor
  
• Young Joc - It’s Going Down

Sega has announced the development of Universe at War: Earth Assault, a real-time strategy game being worked on by Petroglyph. Set for release this Autumn, the game enlists players in a struggle to prevent total alien domination of planet Earth.

Set in the near future, Universe at War: Earth Assault sees multiple enemy factions from across the galaxy come to Earth to wage war on an intergalactic scale. Universe at War: Earth Assault will create an exceptional strategy experience within both single-player and multiplayer battles through offering a host of new features and unprecedented customisation options never before seen in the RTS genre.

Key amongst Universe at War: Earth Assault innovations is “Tactical Dynamics”, a system that allows players to retrain and customise their units on the real time battle field. During the immense battles, Tactical Dynamics will allow your faction to overwhelm enemy forces and exploit tactical situations. Weaponry and defences can be modified in true real-time to take advantage of the constantly shifting battlefield while fully customisable tech trees will allow players to constantly amend the development of technologies that they deem key to victory.

Battles in Universe at War: Earth Assault will also feature deformable terrain that will bear the scars of the huge clashes taking place. Deadly sci-fi weapons and alien powers will allow players to destroy whole cities and territories on a global scale, while the persistent world of Universe at War: Earth Assault will mean players can revisit previous battlegrounds to find them still smouldering in ruins.

Universe at War: Earth Assault further innovates through offering new multiplayer modes inspired by popular MMOs and other online games. Players will earn achievements, rewards, and medals in a finely balanced environment that leads into a persistent online campaign for ultimate faction supremacy across a virtual representation of the Earth.

Further information can be found on the game’s official website.

It has been announced that Two Worlds will let players play with each other online in a MMORPG setting. Here’s the deal:

For all you hard-bitten RPG fans out there, the multiplayer game is the real thing! Want to establish your own individual character? “Two Worlds” has it all! The main jump-off point for role-playing gamers are the towns - they serve as both meeting places and platforms for starting various quests. In typical MMORPG style, this is where players meet for the first time, hold get-togethers in their favorite bars or simply look around for new challenges. You can also join Clans or found new ones. When a clan has got together, an adventure then begins that is tailored to the strengths of the group, which can be up to eight players in number. The game character develops in a completely free manner (no level limits) and can collect equipment and experience points too. You have traditional, classic adventures available - and also novel challenges, like horse racing! You can of course save your game character and equipment on the server - and you can continue his development whenever you’re ready… or you can earn yourself some money, by selling off special artifacts and weapons in the towns.

Character creation is based on various races and classes which will be introduced soon. These figures all have their own basic characteristics - and of course you can fully develop these during the course of the game! You can mold all the optical characteristics of your character as well, creating your own private heroes via a special interface! Color of eyes, breadth of chest, length of arms and legs…almost anything you can think of!

It seems abbreviations are the ‘in’ thing these days, what with F.E.A.R. and G.R.A.W. Well, Nibris adds another to the shortlist: ROTR, previously known as Raid over the River. They also revealed that the DS game will feature six campaigns, each with several missions; six different vehicles in 6 different time dimensions; 3D graphics on both screens; hidden missions; and extensive multiplayer, among other things. ROTR is expected sometime later this year.

They also released a special photo-cum-screenshot of the game.

Playlogic and Eidos Interactive has announced yet another delay for Infernal, Metropolis Software’s upcoming third-person shooter. The game, previously expected in Q1 2007, is now set for release this Spring on PC.

Infernal has players take on the role of a fallen angel recruited by the Devil to restore balance between good and evil. The game makes use of Ageia’s PhysX engine, allowing for advanced real-life physics; it also boasts intelligent artificial intelligence and more.

Saint’s Row will be ganging up on the PS3, according to a recent announcement by THQ. The publisher announced that the Volition-developed open-ended game will debut on the PS3 this Spring, featuring “stunning” graphics, extensive customization options and “unparalleled” player choice. They also mentioned that the game will be playable online through Sony’s PlayStation Network.

Since the launch of Windows Vista on January 30, many gamers have reported that certain games don’t work under the new operating system. The Gamerscore blog offers a statement from Games for Windows director Rich Wickham on the compatibility issues:

Some of you may have heard about some incompatibilities with games running on Windows Vista. I’d like to clear up some misconceptions.

With any launch of a platform of this magnitude there will be growing pains. A large part of our development time was spent ensuring game compatibility on Windows Vista, and we’ve tested over 1000 games so far. The vast majority of games work great on Windows Vista. Obviously we haven’t been able to test every single game that exists, but we will continue to work on ensuring all your favorite games will work with Windows Vista.

We’re not the only ones who are excited about gaming improvements in Windows Vista. Developers and publishers, like Electronic Arts, PopCap Games, Vivendi Universal, THQ, Slam Games, WildTangent and others have taken the SDKs and information we’ve shared with them over the years and are delivering great games experiences on Windows Vista. Clearly folks see the value and opportunity in supporting Windows Vista, and we’re thrilled to see their games take advantage of great features like the games explorer, Direct X10 and parental controls.

Let’s talk about parental controls for a second. For the first time, people now have easy to use tools to monitor and control what happens on their computers. Using these controls are optional, so you can choose to block specific content (including unrated or specific game titles), or not. The choice is yours, and that’s the way it should be!

Parental controls are just one part of the improved security in Windows Vista. You will be notified when a program attempts an installation on your system, so you will have the choice to block it, or accept it. By being given a choice, you will have a larger say in the overall health and performance of your system.

So, here’s the party line: “Windows Vista offers gamers, from core enthusiasts to casual game players, the safest, easiest, and most fun experiences of any platform.” But here’s the thing: it’s the truth.

Empire Interactive has announced FlatOut Ultimate Carnage, the next-gen debut of the series, for Xbox 360. In development at Bugbear Entertainment, the game is set for release this June and has been rebuilt from the ground up to take advantage of the Xbox 360.

Some of the many brand new design and gameplay components featured in FlatOut Ultimate Carnage include 12 cars racing on screen up from eight in FlatOut 2, five all-new single player and two all-new multiplayer game modes over the Xbox Live® online game service, over 8,000 dynamic objects per track up from 5,000 in FlatOut 2, widescreen High Definition resolution (720p), dynamic lighting and shadowing all with proper real-time environment mapping on all vehicles, downloadable content via Xbox Live, and 20,000 polygons per car up from 7,500 in the previous generation.

Below are the first two screenshots from the title:

During EA’s post-earnings call, company CFO Warren Jenson confirmed that The White Council has not been canceled, unlike previously reported, but put in the backburner. The “game is on hold” he said to an analyst, commenting no further on the status of the game. However, he did say that the game is not in the publisher’s release schedule for its next financial year, which ends on March 31, 2008.

A planned list of updates to Lost Planet was sent out recently. The development team is currently working on an update that will add additional multiplayer features, as well as fix a few minor bugs/exploits. Below is the full list of planned changes:

Updates

• In the pre-game lobby, a country flag icon will be shown next tthe Gamertag of each player. This will be especially helpful for determining location of the match host.
  
• In the pre-game lobby, an icon will be added next teach player’s Gamertag, indicating connection strength, speed and rating.
  
• In Team Elimination, Post Grab and Fugitive modes, an indicator will be added next tthe Gamertag of the person whis speaking.
  
• At the post-match Results screen, an indicator will be added next tthe Gamertag of the person whis speaking.
  
• At the post-match Results screen, Gamertags of the players whhave left the session will be darkened.

• Sometimes in Fugitive mode there would be multiple Fugitives instead of just one - Fixed
  
• Occasionally, if an error occurred on the lobby screen, another lobby screen would be displayed on top of it - Fixed
  
• Sometimes when there was a long delay/lag, the game would hang at the transition screen going from the lobby tthe game and then reboot - Fixed
  
• Sometimes when there was a long delay/lag, depending on the console, certain players in the match would become invisible for the duration of the match - Fixed
  
• Sometimes post-match Results screens would show players whdid not participate in the match - Fixed
  
• Starting a taunt animation during a reload shortened the reload time as an exploit - Fixed

EA and Pandemic Studios have jointly announced that they have signed a worldwide co-publishing deal for Mercenaries 2: World in Flames, the sequel to the 2005 open-ended action game.

“We’re thrilled to partner with Pandemic Studios and to be working together to make Mercenaries 2: World in Flames a global blockbuster,” said EA Partners vice president and general manager, David DeMartini. “EA Partners is committed to providing the world’s best development studios with access to EA’s unrivaled global publishing resources, helping gamemakers reach the widest possible audience.”

“Pandemic Studios is excited to join forces with EA Partners to give Mercenaries 2: World in Flames a spectacular global launch,” said Pandemic Studios CEO Andrew Goldman. “Mercenaries 2: World in Flames will set the bar for explosive, open world action games in the next generation, and everyone at Pandemic is excited that fans will be able to get their hands on it later this year.”

Mercenaries 2: World in Flames is scheduled for release this year on the PS3. There are rumors of it also coming to Xbox 360, though nothing has been confirmed yet.

Missed the .hack series? Namco Bandai has come to your rescue then: it has announced .hack//G.U Vol. 2: Reminisce, the second instalment in its offline-MMOG game. The game is set for release this Summer exclusively for the PS2.

After the massive battle with Tri-Edge at the conclusion of “.hack//G.U. Vol. 1: Rebirth,” Haseo and friends learn they are incapable of logging out of “The World”. As the life of one of their own hangs in the balance, Haseo’s party begins a race against time to purge game servers of corrupted data. Players will enjoy a fully upgraded battle system including new fighting styles and in-depth party and steam bike customization. Unique to “.hack//G.U.Vol. 2: Reminisce,” a new mini card game called Crimson VS will provide players with the opportunity to collect cards, compile the ultimate deck and compete against others in Crimson VS tournaments throughout “The World”. Breathtaking cinematics reveal dramatic interweaving plot lines and gorgeous new environments that will keep players enthralled for hours. With an exciting storyline and lots of action set within a MMO setting, “.hack//G.U.Vol. 2: Reminisce” will have players reminiscing over the “.hack//G.U.” series for ages.

Thanks to Atari, Godzilla & friends will be unleashed on our poor, battered cities again. The publisher has announced Godzilla: Unleashed, a “giant fighting monsters” game for those who like “giant fighting monsters” or “big, awesome monsters” while we’re at it.

As expected, the game will feature the legendary titular character itself and some of the most renowned monsters of all time, unleashing them in urban areas featuring interactive 3D skyscapes, big destructible buildings and towering alien formations. Players are charged with the quest to fighting their way to the top of the food chain to claim the title of “King of the Monsters”.

We’ll all be squashed and forgotten by Godzilla & friends this Autumn on PSP, DS and Wii.

JoWood has announced the first official expansion for The Guild 2, its medieval RPG. Dubbed Pirates of the European Seas, the add-on will add a totally new area - the seas of Northern Europe where players will take part in sea-trade and sea-battle. It will also feature three new maps, a new campaign boasting more than 10 hours of gameplay, as well as ships, new buildings and professions.

The Guild 2 - Pirates of the European Seas is set for release during Q2 2007.

Introversion Software has announced that it has released a Vista version of Darwinia, its pixelated strategy game. The game is now fully supported under the new operating system from Microsoft and now runs under Direct3D (instead of OpenGL) that allows for enhanced visual effects, including better explosion and reflective water effects; it also supports the Xbox 360 controller and contains three new levels: Jailbreak, Stronghold and Doomsday.

“We are absolutely delighted to be working with Microsoft. Not only is Darwinia a perfect addition to the Vista game package but it’s also a major stepping stone for us to be working with one of the major players in the industry.”, Mark Morris, Managing Director at Introversion said, “We hope that this project will enable us to work with Microsoft again in the future”.

Below are some screenshots from the Vista version of the game: