A new trailer for the upcoming brawler has emerged, showing off the addition of Gouken, an old April Fools joke, as a playable character. He is shown kicking the asses of Ryu, Ken and Chun-Li, the three major characters of the series.

The game is due out early next year on PC, PS3 and Xbox 360.

Funcom has launched a free update for Age of Conan, terming it the largest gameplay content addition since launch. The update adds the new outdoor area of Ymir’s Pass where players will now be able to partake in more quests, meet new characters, slay new monsters and experience a new storyline. It also adds a new dungeon – the Amphitheater – that reportedly holds “one of the most epic and memorable monster encounters ever created for the game.”

"This is an important update that opens up a lot of new gameplay content for players who have already passed the level fifty mark," says game director Craig Morrison. "In the months ahead we will introduce even more new content, and coming up soon are two exciting new high-level dungeons intended for players who have reached the maximum level. At this stage adding more content and keeping people entertained is very important to us!"

Below are a couple of screenshots from the update.

Football Manager 2009, the latest installment in the long-running football simulation series, has launched today along with a day-one patch that updates the game to v9.1.0 (build 26064).

Patch notes can be found in this forum topic. The patch itself can be downloaded from our very own Rapidshare link using a download manager.

Stating the obvious, a trio of Swedish research institutions have found that those who games show more physiological responses resembling those of high levels of activity and stress.

The study saw researchers carrying out experiments in 12-15 year old boys who were asked to play video games. Their heart rates were measured, among other things, and it was found out that their heart rate variability was affected to a higher degree than non-video game playing boys.

Heart rate variability is a medical term for the regularity of a heartbeat. A lower variability shows that the heart is working smoothly, with high variability being a precursor to irregular heartbeats, which can lead to various medical problems.

Microsoft has announced that Fallout 3 will be the first title to offer downloadable content through the newly announced Games for Windows Live Marketplace.

Said Pete Hines, VP of public relations and marketing for Bethesda: "Games for Windows LIVE helps us expand the Fallout 3 universe and bring the full experience directly to gamers. Through the Marketplace we now have a no-nonsense way to deliver updates and great downloadable content. It’s really a complete package, and a great fit for Fallout 3."

It was previously announced that the PC and Xbox 360 versions of the game would receive exclusive downloadable content. No release date for said DLC was given.

In a world full of pirates it can hardly be surprising that most of your customers are pirates themselves. In fact, World of Goo co-creator Ron Carmel admits that, stating that “about 90%” of their game’s users are pirates.

This comes from Carmel himself in the form of a comment on a RockPaperShotgun story about the game’s European release. In another post, Carmel’s colleague Kyle Gabler explained that the figure was given after looking at the number of unique IPs connecting to the game’s leaderboard server.

Even in the face of such rampant piracy, Carmel notes that they’re getting good sales through digital distribution platforms WiiWare and Steam, as well as their website, adding that they are “not going bankrupt just yet!”

Quite a few new screenshots for Bionic Commando, the upcoming reimagining of the classic action game, have been released. These shots show off the Polycraft enemies you’ll encounter in the game.

Bionic Commando is due out early next year on PC, PS3 and Xbox 360.

Not surprising anyone, Take Two CEO Strauss Zelnick revealed during a company presentation that both Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars and the exclusive downloadable content for Grand Theft Auto 4 are being delayed.

Speaking to MTV Multiplayer, Zelnick noted that the GTA 4 DLC is “close to being complete. That said, it may move into the second quarter.” The company’s Q2 starts on February 1, 2009, which would place the DLC far beyond its Fall 2008 target.

Meanwhile, the DS game is also being shifted to the company’s second quarter to “fill out a better launch and marketing window,” according to Zelnick. The quarter runs till May 31, 2009.

Now that everyone’s favorite lawyer Jack Thompson has been barred from the courtroom, what is he up to? He’s now penning a column for conservative website Human Events.

GamePolitics, his usual messenger, carries a teaser from the anti-gaming lawyer. Here’s a bit:

This new ESRB band aid just gets more of the camel’s nose into the video game industry’s tent. Look for a federal law prohibiting sale of mature games to minors in Obama’s first term.  It will be wildly popular with parents in both  parties, as a recent video game industry poll proves.

The new statutory approach is constitutionally bullet proof…

PS:  Hey, I have a new job that began today, and I’m not saying what it is, but you kids won’t be pleased!

We’ll all now look forward to the debauchery that will be his writing.

MTV today announced that they will air Rock Band Battle this Saturday at 1pm ET/PT. Hosted by comedian Dan Levy with actress Carrie Keagan, the one hour special will feature five groups going head-to-head as they attempt to live out their dreams of rock n’ roll and compete for a pimped out electronics package.

The four member groups will take on their favorite song from Rock Band 2’s catalog of over 100 tracks. They will be judged on how well they play the game as well as how well they manage to impress the audience with their stage presence and rock and roll acumen.

The winning band will walk away with a big-screen LG television, Cambridge SoundWorks New theater system, Xbox 360 and a special edition bundle of Rock Band 2.

Fifteen new high-resolution screenshots from Resident Evil 5. The highly anticipated action sequel is due out sometime next year on PC, PS3 and Xbox 360. A demo announcement is expected soon.

Following word yesterday that Monumental had acquired a stake in 50 Cent game developer Swordfish Studios, Codemasters today announced that it has reached an agreement with Activision Blizzard to take over the aforementioned Birmingham-based games development house.

Under the terms of the agreement, the studio’s development team will be integrated and managed as part of Codemasters’ network of studios. Their job will be to create original content using Codemasters’ proprietary EGO engine, which currently powers Race Driver: GRID and Colin McRae: DIRT, among others.

“We are committed to growing our studio operations across multiple facilities and increasing the internal capability of Codemasters’ creative resource,” said Gavin Cheshire, VP, Codemasters Studios. “There is a strong heritage and a compatible skill set, which has enabled us to fast track growth plans and allows for ease of management. Codemasters has ramped up as a UK games development powerhouse with a scalable support infrastructure that allows for rapid deployment of the highly versatile EGO Engine.”

Making the game even more international than usual, EA Sports today announced that all 14 international commentary packs in FIFA 09 will be available for download free on both PlayStation Network and Xbox LIve.

Fans worldwide can download the packs and experience commentary from different commentators all over the world. These packs were previously region-specific. It is not known why EA decided to release them for free.

Language - Commentator’s Names
English Andy Gray Martin Tyler
French Herve Mathoux Franck Sauzée
Italian Giuseppe Bergomi Fabio Caressa
German Tom Bayer Sebastian Hellman
Spanish Paco González Manolo Lama
Mexico Perro Bermúdez Ricardo Pelaez
Dutch Youri Mulder Evert Ten Napel
European Portuguese David Carvalho Hélder Conduto
Hungarian Richard Faragó István B. Hajú
Russian Yuri Rozanov Vasily Solojov
Swedish Glenn Hysén Henrik Strömblad
Czech Bosák Jaromír Petr Svěcený
Polish Włodzimierz Szaranowicz Dariusz Szpakowski
Brazilian Portugese Paulo Vinícius Coelho Nivaldo Prieto

An additional English commentary pack featuring Andy Townsend and Clive Tyldesley is also available for download for $4.99.

Hoping to cash in on the holiday season, Harmonix and EA have jointly announced a new Special Edition bundle for Rock Band that will be available for the PS2 and Wii starting at $99.99. It will also be available for PS3 and Xbox 360 at a starting price of $139.99.

The Special Edition bundle will feature the microphone, the guitar controller and drum controller. Gamers will be able to rock out to the game’s hundred-plus songs, most of which are available through Xbox Live and PlayStation Network. You will also be able to export 55 of Rock Band’s 58 songs in the game’s sequel for yet more action.

The bundle is now available.

Hopping on the fitness bandwagon, EA today invited gamers to “break a sweat” through a new line of fitness products aimed towards the Wii.

Dubbed EA Sports Active, the game will ship with two “specially-designed leg straps” that hold the Wii Nunchuk and track lower body movement. A resistance band for upper-body exercises will also be included. The game will be compatible with the Wii Balance Board, though it is not required.

In development at EA Vancouver, the game is said to feature “a new level of motivation with on-screen, real-time feedback on your workout” and is specifically being targeted towards women.

The game is due out next spring and will retail for $69.99.