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Modern Warfare 2 launch trailer

That time is nearing, the time when Modern Warfare 2 hits the stores and millions of gamers snag a copy, stagger home and play the most anticipated game of the year. That’s on November 10, in 5 days. But until then, Activision released the launch trailer which you can indulge yourself in.

Mass Effect 2 Collector’s Edition announced

EA has announced the Mass Effect 2 Collector’s Edition (you knew it was coming, right?). The fancy edition contains everything you expect, an art book, a making-of DVD and issue 1 of the Mass Effect comic book, all neatly packed in a tin box. The Collector’s Edition will retail for $70 on the Xbox 360 and $60 on the PC.

Serious Sam HD gone gold

Serious Sam HD developer Developer Digital announced via Twitter that Croteam’s Serious Sam high def re-incarnation has gone gold — however, as fate would have it, that particular tweet has since been removed. Another tweet reveals that you’ll be able to pre-order the digital copy of the game next week. We’ll see if that one sticks on Twitter or not.

Machinarium review

Developer Amanita Design have previously distinguished themselves with artful point-and-click adventures with Samorost and Samorost 2. This time, the point-and-click adventure continues, in another Flash-based game called Samorost, which is easily the most artistically pleasing game of this holiday lineup.

You play as a little robot who has been evicted from his city, and finds himself on the junkyard, and it’s now your job to find his way home, by guiding him through the puzzle adventure. The game is dominated by its art style, which takes Steampunk to a whole new level. The meticulously hand painted levels and backdrops are just gorgeous, and will instantly draw you in (coupled with an amazing soundtrack). The gameplay on the other hand, consisting of a lot of pointing and clicking, meaning the action is very slow. If you’re into fast paced FPS games, you’ll feel the drag, as you have to carefully check everything, solve the puzzles and move on, where one screen can take hours to complete if you’re not paying attention.

Sometimes this kind of gameplay tends to get tedious, and even with the beauty of a game like Machinarium, it still might not appeal to everyone, as you spend five minutes hovering your mouse over every object, hoping to get a reaction. At times, this will frustrate the hell out of you — and rightfully so — but the end result, the pay off is very rewarding in return. There is one hint per level, but usually it’s vague, although there is a small 2D shooter game you can play in order to get a full walkthrough, but the mini-game is far too long and almost just as frustrating, which will encourage you to stay away from it, and instead try and solve the puzzle yourself.

Machinarium, while not going head to head against blockbusters like Modern Warfare 2, showcases just what kind of game can be created with some love and a great sense of style by the creators. The soundtrack is equally stunning, a mix of ambient and electronic music that suits the game perfectly. It’s a point-and-click gamer’s dream, and is definitely worth the $20, even if $10 would have been more suitable for a game of this length and features. For everyone else, it’s a good idea to check out the demo, which gives you a sample level.

The Good:
Absolutely gorgeous
Very original
Wonderful soundtrack
Oozes of style
Cutest protagonist ever

The Bad:
A bit overpriced
Can be frustrating

Overall score: 9/10

Pre-order L4D 2, get a hat in TF2

File this under the “cheap-pre-order-tactics”; Valve is doing as much as they can to attract as many pre-orders of Left 4 Dead 2 as possible, this time, they’ll throw in a hat for your in Team Fortress 2. Players who already pre-ordered L4D 2 will get the hat unlocked as well, and can show it off, cartoon-style, in TF2.

China bans WoW

The Chinese publisher NetEase, which has been running World of Warcraft in the country, has been ordered by the General Administration of Press and Publications (GAPP) to stop charging players and to block further signups for the game. GAPP, which recently shut down as many as 200 MMOs, cited “illegal behavior” in WoW, while China’s Ministry of Culture has said the GAPP’s ban was “inappropriate”. Seems like politics will be digging deeper into this issue.

GameStop: Modern Warfare 2 most pre-ordered game of all time

It’s no secret that Modern Warfare 2 has had just about as much hype around it as Halo 3 but considering the Activison’s title is multiconsole while Bungie’s is exclusive to the Xbox 360, it’s no surprise that MW2 would cause much more on an impact.

That impact was so big, in fact, that GameStop VP was quoted to have told Game Hunters:

“As of today, the number of pre-order reservations we’ve taken for the game is the highest for any title we’ve ever sold in our 6,200 store network.”

Now imagine how many people are going to be online on November 10th when the game hits store shelves.

Thor and Captain America games slated for 2011

After unveiling the games Thor and Captain America, SEGA has now announced that both games are slated for a 2011 release. The games are based on the anticipated moves which are set to be released in 2011, and the games will be released alongside, with Thor in May 2011 and Captain America in July 2011.

Assassin’s Creed 2 pre-orders up 10-20% over original

Analyst Mike Hickey of Janco Partners predicts that pre-orders for Assassin’s Creed 2 are up by 10 to 20% over the original. Ubisoft projected the original game to sell 3 million, but it sold a whopping 8 million copies to date. The analyst expect the sequel to outsell the original, which might be a tough task, considering Assassin’s Creed 2 is going heads to heads with Modern Warfare 2.

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 beta on November 19th?

DICE has yet to tell us when we will officially be able to get our hands on the Battlefield: Bad Company 2 beta but GameStop has once again stepped in to fill the void.

While it has since been pulled Cinemablend reports that the GameStop listing for the Battlefield: Bad Company 2 limited edition stated that we would be seeing the official demo dropping on November 19th at 11PM PST. Of course, DICE then commented through the official Bad Company 2 Twitter that you need to hold off on pre-ordering for a beta code until they officially announce a release date.

Ubisoft won’t release Assassin’s Creed 2 demo

Just like Activision won’t release a demo of the upcoming Modern Warfare 2, Ubisoft won’t release a demo of Assassin’s Creed 2 — the two games are the most anticipated launches this holiday season.

Sequels and games carrying established brands usually don’t carry demos, as players know what to expect, and in some instances, a pre-launch demo can lead to more harm than good, if it’s a lackluster title with a lackluster demo. Not that we imply Modern Warfare 2 or Assassin’s Creed 2 are lackluster titles.

Dual-gpu ATI 5970 spotted in the wild

ATI’s upcoming dual-gpu based card, the Radeon HD 5970, comprising of two 5870 chips — which themselves are the most powerful graphics chips today — has been spotted in the wild over at PC Perspective. The card, measuring at 13.5″ inches, needs both a 6 pin power connector and an 8 pin connector as well, meaning it’s gonna draw a lot of power when fully throttled. The card is expected to be in stores this December.

BioShock 2 official website launched

2K Games has officially opened the doors to the BioShock 2 website. The flash-heavy website (which takes its time to load), offers the usual treats in form of screenshots, videos, a forum and a way of pre-ordering the game. BioShock 2 will be out in February next year.

Check it out at www.bioshock2game.com/en/

Valve denies L4D 2 demo revealed DLC

Yesterday we reported that the Left 4 Dead 2 demo included references to unannounced DLC, two of them, to be precise, but Valve’s Chet Faliszek has stated that those names are placeholders only, in case they decide to release DLC. Faliszek said,

If you’re reading in the forums and you’re reading about the “Miracle” DLC or whatever, that’s test code. To get tested through Microsoft certification we had to do test scenarios with DLC. We haven’t actually come out internally with what we’re going to do yet.

Seeing that Left 4 Dead has received DLC packs, there’s no indication that the sequel won’t. After all, DLCs are big business, just look at Bethesda and Fallout 3.

PC version of Manhunt 2 to be released Nov 6

Rockstar’s controversial Manhunt 2 game — which has had its fair share of attention and controversy — will be released on the PC via Direct2Drive next week, and will be slapped with an AO rating, meaning “Adult Only”, the toughest rating any game can receive.

The PC version will support 3D monitors, so you can indulge yourself into even more gore, and will retail for only $30 when released next week. Unfortunately, the release is for North America only.