Valve, creators of best-selling game franchises (such as Half-Life and Counter-Strike) and leading technologies (such as Steam and Source), today announced the free Portal 2 DLC titled “Perpetual Testing Initiative” will be available for the PC and Mac on May 8th.

The “Perpetual Testing Initiative” allows players to easily create, share, and play Portal 2 puzzles. The Initiative comes with a simplified puzzle maker that allows that creation of mind-bending puzzles without ever leaving the game.

The puzzle maker can directly publish maps to the Steam Workshop where users can browse, vote on, and select to play them. Selected puzzles will automatically be downloaded and installed inside Portal 2.

Portal 2 holds a Metacritic score of 95% and has been awarded numerous Game of Year awards. It features expansive single and cooperative multiplayer game modes.

For more information on Portal 2 and its downloadable content, please visit http://www.thinkwithportals.com.

Three-Day Headstart and Guaranteed Access to Beta Weekend Events

BRIGHTON, UK – 10^th April 2012 – NCsoft®, the world’s premier publisher and developer of massively multiplayer online games (MMOs), today launches the Pre-Purchase programme for Guild Wars 2, the most anticipated game launching this year. Players who pre-purchase theGuild Wars 2 Collector’s, Digital Deluxe or Standard/Digital Editions will receive guaranteed entry into beta weekend events and a three-day headstart prior to launch. As a bonus, players who pre-purchase any edition will also receive an exclusive Hero’s Band, providing their Guild Wars 2 characters with a broad range of power boosts.

The three versions of Guild Wars 2 available for pre-purchase are:

The Standard/Digital Edition:

• Guild Wars 2 serial code (to activate the game at launch)
• Guaranteed access to Guild Wars 2 beta events
• Three day ‘headstart’ access to Guild Wars 2 at launch
• Exclusive ‘Hero’s Band’ in-game item

The Digital Deluxe Edition:
Includes the digital features of the Standard Edition (as above) plus five in-game items, including a Mistfire Wolf that will fight alongside players and a miniature Rytlock who will accompany them on their travels through Tyria.

The Collector’s Edition: 
For the complete Guild Wars 2 experience, the Collector’s Edition includes all of the contents found within the Standard Edition and Digital Deluxe editions, plus:

• A 25 centimetre hand-painted Rytlock Brimstone statue wielding a flaming sword
• 112 page Making of Guild Wars 2 hardback book
• Best of Guild Wars 2 Soundtrack CD
• A custom art frame complete with portfolio and five Guild Wars 2 art prints
• Collectible Metal Box

The Guild Wars 2 Collector’s Edition retails at €149.99/£129.99 SRP, the Digital Deluxe at €74.99/£64.99 SRP and the Standard/Digital Edition at €54.99/£49.99 SRP. To take advantage of these special Pre-Purchase promotions and to secure a copy of Guild Wars 2, players may visit buy.guildwars2.com or one of several participating retailers.

Players may also pre-order Guild Wars 2 at select retailers, allowing them to reserve their copy of the game at launch. Players who pre-order Guild Wars 2 will receive a one-day headstart prior to launch. Pre-purchase differs from pre-order as players buy the game outright before release and gain fantastic benefits through the Pre-Purchase programme.

About NCsoft 
NCsoft, headquartered in Seoul, Korea, is the world’s premier publisher and developer of massively multiplayer online games, including the critically acclaimed Aion®, Lineage®, Guild Wars® and City of Heroes® franchises. Announced in August 2011, WildStar™ is the newest MMO being developed by internal team Carbine Studios. NCsoft West is a division of NCsoft that holds operating responsibilities for North America, Europe, South America, and Australia/New Zealand. More information can be found at www.ncsoft.com.

About Guild Wars 2
Guild Wars®2 is a visually stunning MMO that will offer players the epic grandeur of a massive role playing environment combined with innovative combat mechanics, dynamic events, and customised personal storytelling. Building on the success of Guild Wars, NCsoft and game developer ArenaNet ™ are creating an MMO that lets gamers play the way they want, while at the same time retaining the no-subscription-fee business model that made the original Guild Wars so popular. For more information about Guild Wars 2, visit www.guildwars2.com.

The co-op sequel to last year’s critically acclaimed Orcs Must Die!^TM will be playable at PAX East

PLANO, Texas – April 2, 2011 – Robot Entertainment today announced Orcs Must Die! 2, the sequel to last year’s AIAS Strategy Game of the Year. Orcs Must Die! 2 thrusts players and their friends back into battle against a terrifying mob of orcs and other monsters. With a redesigned spellbook, players will have a broader range of options to build a deadly arsenal of defenses. Investing hard-earned skulls in an enormous new upgrade system will allow players to cater to their favorite methods of burning, grinding, tossing, or dismembering orcs.

“In 2011, we implored players to kill the orcs,” said Robot Entertainment CEO Patrick Hudson. “As many as possible.  Yet, only 3.4 billion orcs have been slaughtered to date.  The only way we will get to a respectable orc death toll is by adding another killing machine and cooperative play.  Bring a friend and destroy the orcs!”

Orcs Must Die! 2 begins days after the ending of the original game. With the rifts closed and the magical Order dead, the War Mage finds himself suddenly thrust into a new battle against the mindless orc mob. He has a powerful, if questionable, new companion in the Sorceress, an ex-War Mage responsible for the destruction of the Order.

Orcs Must Die! 2 Features:

*         New Campaign – Orcs Must Die! 2 features a full campaign that you can play in single-player or with a friend in co-op. Choose to play the campaign as the War Mage, a headstrong hero who charges into danger, or play as the more nuanced Sorceress, a new hero who keeps enemies at bay with mind-control and magic.

*         More Enemies – An army of vile new creatures is set to pour through the rifts, and they’ve brought all of your favorite trap-fodder from the original Orcs Must Die! along with them!

*         More Defenses – Orcs Must Die! 2 has an enormous armory of new and classic defenses, including an all new assortment of magical trinkets. Use your new spellbook to buy defenses and upgrades the way you choose to, building up your arsenal based on how you play the game.

*         New Upgrade System – The skull system has been completely redesigned. You will always earn skulls for replaying levels, and the skulls can be spent on multiple persistent upgrades for each of your defenses.
Players wishing to add to the current 3.4 billion dead orc count can download the original Orcs Must Die! on Steam and other PC Platforms. As a special bonus, players who own the original Orcs Must Die! on PC will unlock exclusive content in the sequel.

Orcs Must Die! 2 is an action-strategy game that challenges players and their friends to team up and defend a world constantly under siege. Orcs Must Die! 2 will be available exclusively as a digital download on personal computers this summer. Players who want to get their hands on a playable version of Orcs Must Die! 2 can visit Robot Entertainment at booth 1172 during Pax East, which runs from April 6th to 8th in Boston, Massachusetts.

For more information about Orcs Must Die! 2, please visithttp://www.OrcsMustDie.com.

Infernum, the Berlin based publisher and developer of cross-platform online games announced today that close to 350,000 registered Brick-Force players will be granted advanced access to the game during several upcoming stress tests.

The first two worldwide stress tests will last 24 hours and will take place on this coming Thursday, 22^ndand Tuesday the 27^thof March. European and North American servers will be open to all registered players from 16:00 CET, 8:00 EDT and 8:00 PDT, respectively.

The final and most extensive stress test will begin on the 31^stof March and will last four entire days. More detailed information can be found onwww.brick-force.com, which recently was updated with an official forum.

Brick-Force is currently in closed beta, and the planned stress tests will provide important technical information for a successful launch of open beta this spring. Although the closed beta began only three weeks ago, the rapidly growing community has already achieved some impressive feats:

So far players have participated in over 600,000 shooter sessions in almost 10,000 maps, which have been built with a staggering 196,931,659 bricks. The leading map in terms of popularity is the Brick-Force remake of the Counter-Strike classic, “Dust 2”.

Brick-Force – Build, Share, Play
This sandbox shooter allows players to create worlds and maps that they’ve always dreamed of, brick by brick. They can also share these virtual playgrounds with community and use them as the backdrop for fast paced shooter hunts against fellow players or computerized opponents. This comic style online game is built on the ‘Unity 3D’ engine and will be playable directly in a web browser. The ‘sandbox’ mode, in which players use simple building blocks to construct complex environments, can be played on social networks and mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. Brick-Force is being developed by Korean game developer EXE Games as a co-production with Infernum. The closed beta was launched on the 28^th February, 2012. Open beta and release will follow in Spring 2012. Several language versions are planned. More information can be found at www.brick-force.com.

More Open days announced…

Start: Thursday 22nd March, 16:00 CET/11:00 EDT/8:00 PDT
End: Friday 23rd March, 16:00 CET/11:00 EDT/8:00 PDT

Start: Tuesday 27th March, 16:00 CET/11:00 EDT/8:00 PDT
End: Wednesday 28th March, 16:00 CET/11:00 EDT/8:00 PDT

Start: Saturday 31st March, 16:00 CET/11:00 EDT/8:00 PDT
End: Tuesday 3rd April, 16:00 CET/11:00 EDT/8:00 PDT

World of Warcraft^® Annual Pass Promotion Ends May 1

The end is nigh! Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. today announced that Diablo^® III, the next chapter in its critically acclaimed action role-playing game series, will be unleashed from the Burning Hells on May 15.

Starting that day, gamers with a thirst for fast-paced action and adventure will be able to purchase Diablo III at retailers throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, South Korea, Southeast Asia, Australia, New Zealand, and the regions of Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau. In addition, gamers in the regions above as well as in Mexico, Argentina, Chile, and Brazil will be able to buy Diablo III digitally via Blizzard’s Battle.net^® website.

Players in the listed Latin American countries and in Russia will be able to purchase Diablo III at local retail locations starting June 7. Digital availability for the Russian version of the game will also begin June 7. In addition to the English version, Diablo III will be fully localised into Latin American Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, French, German, European Spanish, Italian, Polish, Russian, Korean, and Traditional Chinese.

Blizzard also kicked off global digital presales for Diablo III today. Would-be wizards, witch doctors, demon hunters, barbarians, and monks throughout the world should head to http://www.blizzard.com/games/d3/ now to reserve their digital copies.

“After many years of hard work by our development team and months of beta testing by hundreds of thousands of dedicated players around the world, we’re now in the homestretch,” said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. “We look forward to putting the final polish on Diablo III over the next two months and delivering the ultimate action-RPG experience to gamers worldwide starting on May 15.”

Diablo III will be available for Windows^® XP/Windows Vista^®/Windows^® 7 and Macintosh^® at a suggested retail price of £44.99 for both the retail DVD-ROM version and the digital version sold directly from Blizzard. A special alabaster-white Collector’s Edition, sold exclusively in retail stores at a suggested retail price of £69.99, will include the full game on DVD-ROM, a behind-the-scenes Blu-ray/DVD two-disc set, the Diablo III soundtrack CD, a 208-page Art of Diablo III book, and a 4 GB USB soulstone (including full versions of Diablo IIand Diablo II: Lord of Destruction^®) and corresponding Diablo skull base, as well as exclusive in-game content for Diablo III, World of Warcraft^®, andStarCraft^®II: Wings of Liberty^®. Diablo III has received a 15 rating from the BBFC.

World of Warcraft players interested in getting Diablo III free are encouraged to join the more than 1 million players who have already signed up for theWorld of Warcraft Annual Pass.^* Through this promotion, with a 1-year commitment to World of Warcraft, players will receive a free digital copy ofDiablo III - which they’ll be able to start playing immediately on May 15 – as well as an exclusive World of Warcraft in-game mount and access to the World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria^™ beta test. This offer will no longer be available as of 09:01 a.m. CEST on May 1. Learn more athttp://www.worldofwarcraft.com/annualpass.

In Diablo III, players take on the role of one of five heroic characters – barbarian, witch doctor, wizard, monk, or demon hunter – and engage in pulse-pounding combat with endless legions of evil. As they undertake an epic quest to rid Sanctuary from the corrupting forces of the Burning Hells, players will explore diverse and perilous settings, grow in experience and ability, acquire artifacts of incredible power, and meet key characters who’ll join them in battle or aid them in other ways.

Diablo III was built from the ground up to leverage the full functionality of the Battle.net platform, which delivers powerful matchmaking and communication tools, allowing adventurers to seamlessly join forces for exciting cooperative play. Battle.net also provides a secure infrastructure for the Diablo III auction house, a feature-rich marketplace that Sanctuary’s heroes can use to trade their hard-earned treasures. Players will be able to buy and sell weapons, armor, and other valuable items in the auction house in exchange for in-game gold. Players will also have the option to receive real-world currency for auction house sales, which they can apply to their Battle.net Balance for the purchase of a variety of digital products through Battle.net, including Diablo IIIauction house items, or cash out through a third-party payment service such as PayPal^™ in most regions. Further details related to the auction house will be announced in the coming weeks.
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For more information on Diablo III, please visit the official website athttp://www.diablo3.com. To set up a Battle.net account and to opt-in to Blizzard Entertainment beta tests, please visit the official Battle.net website at http://eu.battle.net. With multiple games in development, Blizzard Entertainment has numerous positions currently available – visithttp://jobs.blizzard.com for more information and to learn how to apply.

NCsoft, the world’s premier publisher and developer of massively multiplayer online games (MMOs), today reveals the Pre-Purchase programme for Guild Wars 2, the most anticipated online role-playing game scheduled for release in 2012. From 10^th April, players who pre-purchase the Guild Wars 2 Collector’s, Digital Deluxe or Standard Editions will receive guaranteed entry into all beta weekend events and a three-day head start prior to launch, giving them the opportunity to be among the first to secure their character and guild names. As a bonus, players who pre-purchase any edition will also receive an exclusive Hero’s Band, which will provide their characters with a variety of stat enhancements as they venture into the world of Tyria in Guild Wars 2.

The Guild Wars 2 Collector’s Edition offers fans an unparalleled collection of physical content that goes beyond the game. The centrepiece of the Collector’s Edition is a detailed, hand-painted 25 centimetre statue of the bestial warrior Rytlock Brimstone wielding his signature flaming sword. Along with the Rytlock statue, players will receive a custom frame with five stunningGuild Wars 2 art prints from world-renowned artists, a 112-page Making of Guild Wars 2 hardback book, a Best of Guild Wars 2 Soundtrack CD by award-winning composer Jeremy Soule and five in-game items, including a Mistfire Wolf that will fight alongside players and a miniature Rytlock who will accompany them on their travels through Tyria.

The Guild Wars 2 Collector’s Edition retails at €149.99/£129.99 SRP, the Digital Deluxe at €74.99/£64.99 SRP and the Standard Edition at €54.99/£49.99 SRP. Players may also pre-order Guild Wars 2 at select retailers, allowing them to reserve their copy of the game at launch. Players who pre-order Guild Wars 2will receive a one-day head start prior to launch.
For additional information on the Pre-Purchase programme or Guild Wars 2, visit www.GuildWars2.com.

About NCsoft 
NCsoft, headquartered in Seoul, Korea, is the world’s premier publisher and developer of massively multiplayer online games, including the critically acclaimed Aion®, Lineage®, Guild Wars® and City of Heroes® franchises. Announced in August 2011, WildStar™ is the newest MMO being developed by internal team Carbine Studios. NCsoft West is a division of NCsoft that holds operating responsibilities for North America, Europe, South America, and Australia/New Zealand. More information can be found at www.ncsoft.com.

About Guild Wars 2
Guild Wars®2 is a visually stunning MMO that will offer players the epic grandeur of a massive role playing environment combined with innovative combat mechanics, dynamic events, and customised personal storytelling. Building on the success of Guild Wars, NCsoft and game developer ArenaNet ™ are creating an MMO that lets gamers play the way they want, while at the same time retaining the no-subscription-fee business model that made the original Guild Wars so popular. For more information about Guild Wars 2, visit www.GuildWars2.com.

Irrational Games is proud to announce that BioShock Infinite will be released onOctober 16, 2012!

“After BioShock, we had a vision for a follow up that dwarfed the original in scope and ambition,” said Ken Levine. “BioShock Infinite has been our sole focus for the last four years, and we can’t wait for fans to get their hands on it.”

BioShock Infinite will be available on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Windows PC with an international release of October 19, 2012.

Pre-order your copy today!

UPDATE: GAME has issued a statement to Eurogamer in response to the retailer’s decision not to stock Mass Effect 3, blaming it on a “supply issue”.

“We currently have a supply issue with regards to Mass Effect 3, which means that GAME and gamestation will not be able to fulfil orders for Mass Effect 3 at this time. We want to give customers as much notice about this as possible and provide them with a range of options ahead of launch.

“We appreciate that this is disappointing for our customers, and we apologise sincerely for the inconvenience that this will cause. We value the loyalty of our customers very highly and as a gesture of goodwill we are providing the following:

• Customers who have pre-ordered in store, will have the opportunity to add £5 worth of Reward points to their card if they visit us from today through to 16 March 2012.
• Customers who have placed a deposit for the title will receive refund as well as the £5 worth of Reward points between 1 and 16 March 2012.
• Customers who have pre-ordered online, will be provided with an online voucher to the value of £5 to be spent on any purchase on our sites.

Eurogamer was told by GAME staff that customers will receive their refunds in store credit, not cash.

ORIGINAL STORY: GAME Group will not be stocking any EA games past SSX in March, including Mass Effect 3, Eurogamer has discovered. This encompasses all GAME and Gamestation stores.

Various GAME and Gamestation staff alerted Eurogamer to this situation after a company-wide memo was sent out at around 10.30am this morning.

Eurogamer has secured an image of this memo, which also reveals that FIFA Street 3, Tiger Woods 13 and Sims 3 Showtime will also not be stocked by GAME Group.

Eurogamer has corroborated this information with individual GAME Group stores. The last stocked EA game will be SSX, we were told.

If you have a pre-order, GAME will refund you via in-store credit, rather than with cash.

EA responded to Eurogamer’s request for comment by directing us to a Mass Effect 3 Launch Update website. GAME’s absence from the list of retailers speaks volumes.

This worrying text followed: “For customers who have pre-ordered the N7 Collector’s Edition please re-order your copies through these retailers.”

These are Amazon, Play, Zavvi and ShopTo.

“For further information regarding the Mass Effect 3 Standard Edition with the N7 Warfare Gear in-game weapons pack, please check this page later today,” the blurb continued.

“If you have placed a deposit for a pre-order or are uncertain that your existing pre-order will be guaranteed, please contact your local retailer.”

“Your local retailer is doing everything possible to make this process as smooth as possible to ensure you get your copy on launch day.”

HMV told Eurogamer it couldn’t comment on a competitor’s situation, but confirmed it would be stocking Mass Effect 3 and the rest of EA’s titles.

GAME Group hasn’t responded to Eurogamer’s request for comment.

Gameforge AG announced today that AION will switch to free-to-play on the 28^th of February 2012 . The change-over will occur simultaneously for the German, French and English language versions. To join the action in Atreia from the start, you can download the free game client already on www.aionfreetoplay.com.

“The response we received from the beta players on our free-to-play model was fantastic,” said Volker Boenigk, Executive Product Director and Andreas Günter, Product Director for AION. “We can’t wait for the launch so that we can finally offer the game to a broader gaming audience. In the upcoming months our focus will be on working on update 3.0, which we will be launching in Europe in the spring”.

Previous subscribers will receive a premium currency voucher 
Every player with remaining play time on their account, who transfers the account to the Gameforge servers before the 27^th of February 2012 will receive six AION Coins (the game’s premium currency) per game day in their account as compensation. The coins can be spent in the item shop from the 28^th of February onwards.

For more information, go to www.aionfreetoplay.com or check out our press server:
http://press.gameforge.com/

Today, Hi-Rez Studios announced major content updates to the highly anticipated, fast-action multiplayer shooter Tribes: Ascend in advance of starting Open Beta this Friday, February 24.

“The Tribes: Ascend Closed Beta has exceeded our expectations”, says Todd Harris, Hi-Rez Studios Chief Operating Officer.  “Over 300,000 players participated in the closed beta and the game has improved greatly based on community feedback.  We are now excited to launch Open Beta this Friday.  We have expanded capacity in North America, Europe, and Australia and added new local servers to support growing communities in Brazil and Asia.”
All player progress and unlocks will be preserved with no planned character wipes.
In advance of Open Beta, a significant patch this week will include:

• New gametype, Arena Deathmatch, with two initial maps
• New Capture The Flag map, Temple Ruins
• New Team Deathmatch map, Inferno
• Two new unlockable items for the Soldier class:  Proximity Grenade and Utility Pack
• New default suits for Doombringer and Brute
• Ability to view either Blood Eagle or Diamond Sword skins from Class menu
• Service supporting Name Change
• Large number of bug-fixes and balance adjustments.

Please find the details in the patch notes.

As of Friday 5pm GMT, anyone interested in trying Tribes: Ascend can create an account and download the game from http://www.tribesascend.com, without the need for a beta key.

Find Tribes: Ascend on Facebook here.