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Despite being one of the most recent worst-kept gaming secrets, Dragon Age II has launched a site and relinquished details in a trickle steady enough to shame an emo Blood Mage. Dragon Age: Origins no more, the sequel to BioWare’s graphic RPG forces a new hero upon players who initially could create a customized avatar. The press release announces that “Dragon Age 2 thrusts players into the role of Hawke, a penniless refugee who rises to power to become the single most important character in the world of Dragon Age. Known to be a survivor of the Blight and the Champion of Kirkwall, the legend around Hawke’s rise to power is shrouded in myth and rumor. Featuring an all-new story spanning 10 years, players will help tell that tale by making tough moral choices, gathering the deadliest of allies, amassing fame and fortune, and sealing their place in history. The way you play will write the story of how the world is changed forever.”

So there you have it. You’ll get to decide your Hawke’s gender, class, and appearance, but you’re bound to the boring ol’ human race. According to Game Informer, the new protagonist will be fully voiced, possibly in an attempt to wipe those awkward camera pans to your mute Origins character during all those pivotal cutscenes. Or, you know, during the steamier hookup clips that we have assuredly never seen but only caught word of from the internet. Er hem. Hawke is a refugee of the wrecked village of Lothering, and he eventually becomes the Champion of Kirkwall.

The release date has become a little sketchy on the exact details, but it’s still set for 2011. That said, you have plenty of time to think of a first name for your new protagonist; might I suggest “Tony” or “Hudson”? Jokes aside, you can expect to find trailers and more information regarding Mr./Ms./Mrs.(?) Hawke and the brand new story possibly as soon as July 12th.

Already available in the final frontier, Mass Effect 2’s Aegis Pack DLC trades a new firearm and suit for 160 of your stockpiled MS Points. The five-piece Kestrel armor and the M-29 Incisor sniper rifle come bundled together, boosting your offense and defense for a $2 investment. The gun itself brings the pain with burst fire, while the armor pieces add melee/weapon damage, shields/shield strength, heavy weapon ammo capacity, and headshot damage, depending on which pieces you have equipped.

Crackdown 2’s DLC has been… cracked by xbox360achievements.org. Toy Box’s purchase will unlock a helmet Award for your Avatar, and the DLC’s “Fly Swat” Achievement will add a green Agent suit to your Avatar’s wardrobe. The Deluge pack will give you a PvP helmet, and the DLC’s Achievement “15 Minutes of Maim” will give you the matching suit.

Leliana’s Song is the latest Dragon Age DLC, and it is sung at a tune of 560 MS Points. The expansion for BioWare’s RPG remembers the bard’s past, revisiting a dangerous mission that the adventurer set upon back in her time with Marjolaine. Two associates by the name of Tug and Sketch will also be introduced in the DLC, accompanied by new music, voice acting, and rewards.

LIVEapalooza is running from today until July 12th, luring gamers away from their families during the holiday with discounted rhythm-based game content. Albums, packs, and songs are price-slashed, some entries dropping down by 50%! If you’ve got Rock Band 1 or 2, Guitar Hero 5 or World Tour, or Lips, you should give LIVEapalooza a look…er, listen?

Tired of the same old maps (that were already installed on the disc)? DICE has set a date for the upcoming Onslaught mode for Battlefield: Bad Company 2. Save up your points, because on June 22nd you should be ready to drop 800 of them for a pick-me-update. It’s going to be the same ol’ Valparaiso, Atacama Desert, Isla Inocentes, and Nelson Bay maps, but Onslaught will bring new co-op, objective-based mission play for up to four players. Kit Shortcuts will also become available on June 16th, granting players the option to unlock a kit’s weapons, gadgets, and specializations for about $7 per kit (or $20 for all four). Or, you know, you could just do the work, lazy.

June 15th brings a Massload of space RPG content. On this day, Mass Effect 2 will not only unleash its demo upon the Marketplace, but it will also publish the Overlord DLC. Those new to the title will become (re)acquainted with the cast of Mass Effect 2, while the savvy may explore the expansion’s five new areas as they check out an ominously silent Cerberus research base.

In an unexpected turn of events, Fallout: New Vegas will come with four different bonus packs, each one exclusive to its own specific retail chain. GameStop will bestow upon its customers the Classic Pack, which includes an Armored Vault 13 Suit, a Vault 13 Canteen, a Weathered 10mm Pistol, and four Stimpaks. Amazon is packed with the Tribal version, which includes Tribal Raiding Armor, a Broad Machete, five Bleak Venom doses, and 10 Throwing Spears. For Steam/Walmart loyalists, the Caravan Pack is for you; this bundle is composed of Lightweight Leather Armor, a Sturdy Caravan Shotgun, four Repair Kits, and a pair of Binoculars. Finally, Best Buy gifts consumers with the Mercenary Pack, a collection of Lightweight Metal Armor, the Mercenary’s Grenade Rifle, three Super Stimpaks, and three Doctor’s Bags. While it’s nice to see GameStop’s iron grip on add-on bonuses loosened a little, this bonus pack versatility is sure to rub some collectors the wrong way.

Remember the Dreamcast? Sega has announced that they will begin porting the throwback console’s classic titles to XBLA and PSN later in the year. Sonic Adventure and Crazy Taxi are slated to lead the rereleases, which will be outfitted with better sound, quality, and the Achievement/Trophy system. Maybe E3 will fill in a few more details?

Kmart‘s in-store deals (June 13-19)

• Mass Effect 2 — $19.99 (Save $20)
• Battlefield Bad Company 2 — $39.99 (Save $20)
• Skate 3 — $44.99 (Save $15)
• FIFA World Cup 2010 South Africa — $44.99 (Save $15)
• Backbreaker — $34.99 (Save $15)
• BioShock 2 — $34.99 (Save $15)
• BioShock — $14.99 (Save $5)

Stepping into the tainted shoes of a hurlock vanguard, players will be able to see the world of Dragon Age through Darkspawn eyes on May 18th. For 400 MS Points you’ll lead Darkspawn forces of genlocks, hurlocks, shrieks, and ogres against the city of Denerim. This alternate history adventure proposes that your Dragon Age hero had instead died during the Joining ceremony, forcing Alistair to lead the epic march that was detailed in the campaign of Dragon Age: Origins. If you finish this module for the forces of evil, you’ll unlock an epic Darkspawn item in both Origins and Awakening.

Introduction

Dragon Age has been called the ‘spiritual successor’ to Baldur’s Gate 2, the old Forgotten Realms PC RPG from the 90′s. BG2 was one of the games that launched BioWare to success. Can Dragon Age live up to this fantastic claim or will it fail at establishing a new franchise?

Read more

In a Shacknews interview posted yesterday, Gearbox’s Mikey Neumann addressed issues such as the current looting system, DLC, and firemen.

When asked to address the free-for-all loot system (or as I like to call it, that-which-bitchslaps-WoWheads), Mikey touted the honor system that has not seemed to fail him in his own experiences with the game. He admitted, however, that if there is a large enough demand for it then even this can be addressed. “There’s some technical hurdles there that we’re going to have to look at, but obviously whatever people are clamoring [for], we’re gonna try to make it all better.”

In more gamemaster-friendly news, Bioware gave us a little insight into the Dragon Age: Origins Toolset, and it seems pretty deep. While this may be familiar to those who have played games like Morrowind that came with such an extra disc, Bioware’s teaser video seems to portend the capability to tweak even storyline and voice acting elements. If the company’s boast is true, you really can build your own adventures with the Dragon Age Toolset.

BioWare has just released the Dragon Age: Origins launch trailer.

This trailer takes a look into a quest in search of the Sacred Ashes, where danger
awaits the band of warriors in the glacial, jagged edges of a treacherous
mountainside.  Darkspawn assault the group, and pressed into action, the soldiers
leap into battle.  Using world-class skill, magic, might and outright brute force,
the Darkspawn are being eviscerated; just when the situation appears to be under
control, a massive Dragon – stunning in its size and might – swoops in and crushes
everything in its path, threatening the very survival of the heroes.

These are the obstacles that face a Grey Warden.  Only the brave and strong will
survive. Join us!

“The righteous stand before the darkness – and the Maker shall guide their hand!”

You can download the trailer HERE (R-Click & ‘Save Target As’ – 275MB MOV file).

Game on!

Left 4 Dead 2’s Remaining Campaigns Leaked
Dead Center and Hard Rain will round out L4D2’s five campaigns, according to a Taiwanese site. Dead Center perhaps harkens back to Dawn of the Dead’s shopping mall setting, because that’s where our survivors will be fighting for their lives. In Hard Rain, precipitation will pelt down on a landscape already flooded with water and undead.

Mystery Game Coming to Xbox?
Koei Tecmo has a secret project that they’re going to debut this Wednesday. Check out the site to see if you can figure out what to make of the clues.

Dragon Age Save May Carry Over
According to an interview with Mark Darrah, Dragon Age’s Executive Producer, Dragon Age may feature the ability to carry over your save to an inevitable sequel, much like we should see in Mass Effect 2. I, for one, love little bonuses like this, and this sort of thing is sometimes just enough to convince me to shell out $60 for one game over another.

Gaming Deals
Blast! A little too late for me, but maybe some of you can benefit from this news. Target is going through Amazon.com to offer a preorder of Fallout 3: Game of the Year Edition for $39.99. Wow. Amazon is also selling a 12-month Gold subscription to XBL for $39.99 as well. These are great deals in my book. But wait! There’s more! You can preorder Brutal Legend for $56.99 with free shipping and also grab a $10 video game credit…also courtesy of Amazon.

Assassin’s Arsenal
Ezio’s tools of the trade are revealed in this video, showcasing a small number of the toys you’ll be able to play with when Assassin’s Creed 2 releases in America on November 17th. So many shinies!

So You Think You’re a Hero?
Gamespot thinks so, with their hands-on preview. If you’d rather take a different route, try out the Party Play mode on Guitar Hero 5’s XBLA demo that just hit.

A final update on Facebook and Twitter on XBL. It was recently spied on the UK Xbox site that the aforementioned features will launch on November 17th. Will the US also see the popular social networks on their own Xboxes come mid-November? We can only guess, but I hope so!

Going Gold!

Recent news indicates that both Borderlands and Tekken 6 have finished development and have gone gold, making them just about ready for distribution. I just paid off my copies of Borderlands and Fallout 3 Game of the Year Edition yesterday, so I’m in there like…well, you know. Mikey better eat his Wheaties, because he’s going to be reeeeally busy pretty soon!

Coming Attractions

Microsoft, you shouldn’t have! MS has been busy with Games on Demand, Avatar eye candy, and XBLM price reduction. Here’s a glimpse at what’s coming up:
Games on Demand:
October 13th – Grand Theft Auto IV
October 20th – Midnight Club Los Angeles, Army of Two, Sonic Unleashed
October 27th – DiRT, Dead Space
Avatar Gear
October 15th – Halloween costumes
October 22nd – GamerchiX outfits
Deals!
October 12th – Hasbro Family Game Night XBLA (Battleship, Connect 4, Scrabble, Yahtzee, Boggle, and Sorry! Sliders reduced to 400 MSP)
October 19th – Resident Evil 5’s “Versus Mode” DLC (Lowered to 240 MSP)
October 26th – Fable II Pub Games (Drops to 400 MSP)

Metal News: Brutal Legend DLC for Rock Band, Way of the Samurai Slashes out with Exclusive DVD

October 13th will see three new songs from the Brutal Legend soundtrack coming to Rock Band! The cost of this little supplement to your repertoire will set you back 440 MS Points, or $5.49; of course, if you get Brutal Legend at Best Buy next week, you’ll get access to these songs for free. For the curious, the songs will be Motorhead’s “(We Are) the Road Crew ‘08”, Tenacious D’s “The Metal,” and Testament’s “More Than Meets the Eye.” In more hack-and-slashery news, Way of the Samurai 3 also hits on October 13th, a year after being released in Japan. Game Stop has the exclusive here in the form of a separately boxed DVD entitled “The Art and Strategy of the Warring States.” While I’m sure it’s no Seven Samurai, maybe it’ll serve as an acceptable consolation prize for the West having to wait so long.

Speaking of DLC, Activision has announced that Carnage will be playable on Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2 in an upcoming DLC pack. It tugs at the ol’ heartstrings, dredging up memories of Maximum Carnage way back on the SNES. But I digress…

DJ Hero Remixing Soon

Looking to pack your living room with more wannabe rock star paraphernalia? The intro video to DJ Hero is popping up all around the ‘net. What does this mean? Well, it either means you can skip past the intro when you grab the game, or you can visit your local Game Stop this Sunday to demo the title from 10:00am to 6:00pm. If you took more significance from the latter, you’ll have an opportunity to snag a prize! Check the link for the video and prizes.

Videos!

Here’s another video to hold you over until Dragon Age releases. Keep in mind this is probably NSFW for boobage. And not the flattering kind. Meet the Brood Mother. Linky

While the Japanese Gold XBL members got early access to the demo, you can find videos here of the intro movie, tutorial battle, and various segments of gameplay.

Also, a nice lengthy video on Modern Warfare 2 is featured here.