Gamersnewsbits.com

*Dates of course are subject to change!*

- Having already delivered fans over 70 rockin’ downloadable tracks for Activision Publishing, Inc.’s Guitar Hero World Tour since the game’s October 2008 launch, three new Track Packs spanning a variety of musical genres and multiple artists will be available throughout February 2009 to Guitar Hero fans across the globe.

On February 12th, rockers Incubus, The Shins and Ryan Adams turn off the amps and electric guitars in the Acoustic Track Pack. Coming to Guitar Hero World Tour are Incubus’ “Drive,” The Shins’ “New Slang” and Ryan Adams’ Grammy Award nominated version of “Wonderwall.”

Following their debut appearance on disc in Guitar Hero World Tour with “Band on the Run,” Paul McCartney’s Wings return to the Guitar Hero stage with the Wings Track Pack. “Junior’s Farm,” “Hi Hi Hi” and “Jet,” three top-ten hits from the band’s diverse catalog of music, will be available for download on February 19th.

Grammy Award winner, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee and Academy Award nominee Bob Seger will make his Guitar Hero downloadable content debut with the Bob Seger Track Pack. After making an appearance in ads highlighting different celebrities jamming on instruments from Guitar Hero World Tour, Seger’s legendary hit “Old Time Rock and Roll” joins “Her Strut” and a live-recording of “Get Out of Denver” in the Bob Seger Track Pack, available for download on February 26th.

The Acoustic, Wings and Bob Seger Track Packs will be available on Xbox Live Marketplace for the Xbox 360 for 440 Microsoft Points and on the PlayStation Store for the PS3 for $5.49. The songs in each Track Pack will be released as downloadable singles for Xbox 360 for 160 Microsoft Points, PS3 for $1.99 and Wii for 200 Wii Points.

Harmonix and MTV Games announced today the addition of six new tracks to the Rock Band Music Store catalog of downloadable content for Wii home videogame console from Nintendo. The line up includes “Siva” from Smashing Pumpkins, “Tell Me Baby” from Red Hot Chili Peppers and The Cars’ classic hit “Just What I Needed.” The offering also features the hit single “Gimme Three Steps” by Lynyrd Skynyrd, “Live Forever” from Oasis and the 30 Seconds to Mars hit “Attack.”

All six tracks are part of the Rock Band Music Store catalog of downloadable content already released to owners of Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and PS3 computer entertainment system. Wii fans can expect a rollout of the previously released downloadable content every week until the entire back catalogue of more than 500 songs is available.

Release Date: Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Tracks:
Smashing Pumpkins “Siva”
The Cars “Just What I Needed”
Red Hot Chili Peppers “Tell Me Baby”
Lynyrd Skynyrd “Gimme Three Steps”
Oasis “Live Forever”
30 Seconds to Mars “Attack”

(All tracks are original master recordings)
Price: $2.00 (200 Wii Points) per track
Location: In-game Rock Band 2 Music Store (Wii Points must be purchased through the Wii Shop Channel)

** Dates for Rock Band game tracks are tentative and subject to change **

A Book Written by Gamers for Gamers

Ubisoft announced a unique partnership with Charles River Media, one of North America’s leading publishers of video game development books. Both companies are working together to create one of the first game design books written by gamers for gamers.

“Designing Wargames: The Official Far Cry 2 Map Editing Guide” will be published in the spring of 2009. Written and edited by David Hutchison, author of “Playing to Learn: Video Games in the Classroom,” the book will comprise map making techniques and advice contributed by Far Cry 2 map makers around the world.

“This is the next milestone in gamer-generated content,” says David Hutchison, Associate Professor at Brock University. “Far Cry 2 makes it easy for both PC and console gamers to create cool new multiplayer maps that they can then share with other gamers. We want to honour this effort by inviting the Far Cry 2 map-making community to contribute to this first-of-its-kind game design book.”

As underlined by Jessy-Gosselin Gant of the Far Cry2 development team:”Level design is a defining factor in how the player will experience a video game. It constitutes a key role in production by having the responsibility of presenting all the different game components such as art, animation, AI and gameplay mechanics at their best, so the player can enjoy them in a convincing and attractive environment.”

Far Cry 2 map-makers who are interested in contributing to the book can learn more at the book’s website – www.farcrybook.com – where they can submit Far Cry 2 map reviews, map editing quick tips, tactical analyses, and feature articles.

This is a pretty cool piece of PR, so here it is uncut: the announcement for the upcoming SouthPeak Sci-Fi FPS title: Section 8 (Xbox 360 and PC)

Official Field Communiqué

From: Grand Marshall William Mulcahy, Commander – Task Force 33
To: Members of 8th Armored Infantry
Re: New Madrid Offensive

As many of you have already heard, the conflict in the Frontier Colonies has become an ever-growing threat to the empire and its people. This so-called “Arm of Orion” has already seized several imperial worlds, and has thus far gone unchallenged.

This cannot stand.

The Arm’s iron grip on New Madrid has been deemed the breaking point, and our time of action is at hand.  At 0520 hours, your dropships will deploy from the Texas for the first assault on the planet. The 8^th Armored will burn-in deep behind enemy lines and serve as the spearhead of our invasion forces.

You veterans know what is expected of you. There’s a reason why they refer to the 8^th Armored Infantry as “Section 8” – let’s not disappoint.

For you new recruits getting a first taste of combat, remember your training and it will serve you well. Your powered armor suits are second to none, and will take the brunt of any punishment the Arm dish out. Take care of it, because that suit is the only thing between you and everything else on the battlefield.

Loadout customization is key, so remember to outfit your suit with the right weapons and support gear for the mission. You will call on your expertise in using all forms of combat arms, including explosives, firearms, tactical gear and vehicles.

For many of you, this is your first live Burn-In deployment. I have no doubt that this will be the easiest part of your mission, for once you reach the ground you will face some of the most determined fighters you have ever seen.

To aid you in this battle, Section 8 has procured several high-powered vehicles and strategic deployables that will be available to you via on-demand dropship deployment.

Remember the importance of your squad, and be aware of new mission objectives as they become available.

You are the finest this military has to offer. You are the first-in and last-out force that will set the tone of a battle from the second you touch down. The Section is nothing without the men that make up its ranks. Walk tall and walk proud, gentlemen: you are the greatest fighting force that has ever been assembled.

I don’t need to tell you the importance of this first offensive.  I stand here only to address the heroes of tomorrow as they lead our people to victory.

Congratulations, soldiers – and welcome to Section 8.

Sacred 2: Fallen Angel – New Xbox 360 Screens

Cary, NC, January 27, 2009 – cdv Software Entertainment USA today released new screens for the upcoming action-RPG, Sacred 2: Fallen Angel. The new screens, taken from the Xbox 360 version of the game, focus on the Temple Guardian and the Seraphim, two of the six playable characters available in the game, and also show the Temple Guardian and his special “Monowheel” mount for the first time on consoles. Sacred 2: Fallen Angel is set for a March 24, 2009 release on the Xbox 360.

For more information about Sacred 2: Fallen Angel, please visit http://www.sacred2.com or http://www.cdvus.com.

Sacred 2: Fallen Angel is a hack-and-slash action-RPG with a rich story that takes place in a giant, open-ended and seamless world. This world contains massive dungeons, treacherous opponents and hundreds of challenging quests. Intelligent enemies, steadily adapting in number and difficulty based on player progress, challenge players in heroic single- and multiplayer battles for up to 16 gamers on the Games for Windows platform, and four-player cooperative matches on consoles.

Sacred 2: Fallen Angel provides hundreds of unique items that can be gathered in this mystical world. A deep reward system further enables advancements in character, individual attributes and character-specific fighting styles, each designed to keep players returning to the world of Sacred 2: Fallen Angel to discover what is around the next bend. Drop-in styled cooperative multiplayer gameplay ensures players will enjoy the game alone or seamlessly with friends at any time. Five unique multiplayer modes round out the experience and offer a refreshing, first-class gaming experience in Sacred 2: Fallen Angel.

Just received my laptop, and as usual, they replaced more than just the components it was sent in for (actually a big help in this case), so some of my programs don’t work properly. We’ll be back to full speed after the weekend, but there’s a laptop rebuild looming between now and then. In the meantime, today is catch up time, so there is a bit of news leftover from yesterday and this morning I will be posting immediately.

-e

Bloody Good FPS Joins Panzer Elite Special Edition and Other Titles on DRM-Free Classic Games Site

GOG.com (http://www.gog.com)announced an agreement with JoWood Productions to bring a number of acclaimed titles to the GOG.com games catalogue, starting with Painkiller Black Edition (http://www.gog.com/en/gamecard/painkiller) and Panzer Elite Special Edition (http://www.gog.com/en/gamecard/panzer_elite_se). Both games are available today for $9.99 each – as always, DRM-free and guaranteed to work on Vista and XP. Other JoWood games destined for GOG.com include Gothic 2 Gold, Spellforce Platinum, The Guild Gold and Alien Nation.

Painkiller Black Edition is a perfect fit for GOG.com with its old-school action-heavy gameplay and top-notch visuals. The critically acclaimed game pits players against hordes of hellacious beasts, with little more than weapons of incredible destructive power at their disposal. Panzer Elite Special Edition is perfect for armchair generals and generally anyone who’s always wanted to drive a tank but couldn’t stomach the idea of sitting with a couple of other men in the tank’s steamy, tight and uncomfortable confines. The game allows players to command a platoon of US or German tanks as they relive some of the most intense tank battles of World War II.

“Adding JoWood Productions’ games is another exciting step toward becoming the ultimate place for fans of classic PC games,” said Adam Oldakowski, Managing Director of GOG.com. “All of these games have found large fanbases around the world, and we hope that we can show off these great titles to even more people.”

“Promoting our games over the GOG.com network is a great opportunity for JoWooD not just to increase sales, but even more to distribute our classic titles to gamers who love to play those “good old games”. As JoWooD has to offer an extensive product line, we are confident that the gog.com community is a perfect target for our titles”, said Georg Klotzberg, Head of Sales of JoWooD Productions.

Painkiller Black Edition (http://www.gog.com/en/gamecard/painkiller) and Panzer Elite Special Edition (http://www.gog.com/en/gamecard/panzer_elite_se) are now available at GOG.com, with the release of other games from JoWood’s catalogue planned in the near future. Stay tuned for more news concerning new deals, more new releases and new service features in the upcoming weeks.