First Gears of War 3 DLC announced

I'm sure all you Gears fans are not even close to getting sick of Gears of War 3, same here,  so Epic Games wants to keep it that way for months to come with the announcement of the Horde Command Pack.

Too soon? nah.  The DLC will be out on November 1 and will expand the famous Horde mode.  Horde Command Pack will provide three new maps to play in, three new fortifications, new character skins, and weapon skins. Here's the full details.

Three spectacular new maps:

• Blood Drive – The Jacinto Medical Plaza was overwhelmed by evacuated citizens after the government-sanctioned Hammer Strikes, and the ensuing riots quickly turned this safe haven into a dangerous inferno. An abundance of high ground and funneled choke points make this map a returning favorite to Horde.
• Rustlung – Once the pride of the Royal Tyran Navy, the foredecks of this decommissioned battleship are now riddled with bullet holes. Any team with the fortitude to hold the exposed central torpedo bay will find that the ship's Loader has been replaced with a battle-ready Silverback mech suit.
• Azura – This island resort was once the exclusive domain of Sera's educated elite, but the tranquil water gardens and lush foliage have become a hotly contested combat zone. Dual snipers overlook a powerful explosive weapon, while the defensive central platform may be your last resort of retreat.

New fortification upgrades:

• Command Center – A brand new type of fortification that allows you to call in fire support from sniper teams, mortar strikes and even multiple Hammers of Dawn.
• Decoy Upgrade – A new fortification level that turns your decoy into an Onyx Guard bot that will fight in your defense.
• Sentry Upgrade – This upgrade adds a fire bolt sentry that deals much more damage and is very effective against Berserkers.
• Silverback Upgrade – This advancement allows you to upgrade your Silverback exo-suit with devastating rockets and extra levels of repair cost reduction.

New Characters:

• Onyx Guard
• Big Rig Dizzy
• Bernie

New Weapon Skins:

• Team Plasma
• Jungle Camo

You'll have 250 gamer points to earn from this DLC if thats your thing. It's only going to cost you 800 MS points which is not a bad deal at all if you ask me. This definitely sounds like a winner and will most likely be my first online buy from Xbox Live. I just can't get enough of Horde 2.0.

[Source: G4tv]

More footage of Modern Warefare 3's Spec Ops Survival

We've seen Call of Duty: Modern Warefare 3's Spec Ops survival way back in E3, but just in case you want more they just released new footage of the mode.

It's definitely similar to horde 2.0 of Gears of War 3 but instead of 4, it's just you and a friend. You go against wave after wave of enemies. Each kill earn you money that you use to get better guns, ammo, defenses, and even air support. Seems like a fun mode  to play to get away from single player and multiplayer for a while. The usual enemies for this mode looks like the common terrorists, attack dogs, and eventually the tough Juggernauts.

Part 1

Part 2

What do you guys think? a good addition? or should they stick to Black Ops' zombie mode instead of spec ops?

PS Vita launch apps confirmed, final Vita box design revealed

The PS Vita, sequel to Sony's Playstation Portable is only months away from release and revealed the final box design of the portable device plus the starting apps when the game launches on December 17 in Japan. 

Thanks to the EU PS Blog, here's the list of starting apps you will see on the PS Vita when you turn it on for the first time. You can also have a look of the box design in the PS Blog. Here's the list below.

• Welcome Park – We invite you to the Welcome Park to explore and discover all of the brilliant features packed into PS Vita through a series of mini-games.

•  Party – Fancy a chat while you’re gaming? Speak with your friends anytime you like with Party. The voice and text chat application allows you to talk to up to eight party members, no matter what you’re doing. Party also allows you to set up and jump in multiplayer games and chat with Friends while you play different games, bringing cross-game chat to PS Vita.

•  PlayStation Store – A direct link to PlayStation Store where you will be able to download all PS Vita games, trailers, DLC and apps.

•  Group Messaging – Another great way to contact your PlayStation Network friends is with a PSN Message. Send them an update or even a picture you’ve taken with your PS Vita to let them know what’s going on. You can message your friends on PSP and PS3, and you can have conversations with multiple people at once.

•  Photos – PS Vita allows you to capture photos and this is the direct link to the camera and also the photo viewer application.

•  Near – An exclusive location-based gaming network for PS Vita. With near you can stay connected to all of your PlayStation Network friends and make new ones by sharing information about yourself, based on your location. Press the Update button and find new people based on where you are, challenge them to games or play cooperatively and enjoy a completely different gaming experience on PS Vita. You can even send and receive new levels, unlocks and in-game items to enhance the way you play – everywhere you go will hold new surprises. You can view your friends’ game preferences, see how many trophies they’ve earned and compare your stats to see who the better player is.

•  Trophies – PS Vita games will support Trophies and this app will store and track your Trophies earned on both PS Vita and PS3. It also allows you to compare your Trophies with your friends.

•  Music – A music player that will allow you to play your own tunes transferred to PS Vita via a computer or PS3.

•  Friends – Your Friends List will allow you to search and keep in touch with your PSN Friends. Click on a friend’s profile to see what game they are playing on either PS Vita or PlayStation 3. You can join their game, take a look at what you’ve played together recently or compare your trophy collections. You can also see your friend’s recent gaming activity and what they are doing now. In your profile you can share information about yourself. Choose an avatar that represents you best, add your friends and let the world know what you are playing.

•  Internet Browser – With the 5″ OLED Touchscreen, PS Vita will offer a great web browsing experience over Wi-Fi and 3G.

Starting apps seem pretty starndard, but the Near app seems a bit interesting. Find fellow Vita owners in an area to challenge them? and earn or recieve in-game items? wonder if people will actually use this app.

The box art looks great if you ask me! The box art will be applied for both 3G and Wi-Fi versions of the handheld device. The PS Vita will be out first in Japan on December 17, and while there is still no official date yet for the US and the rest of the world(early 2012) I'm sure all of you want the Vita to just come out already. I'm also pretty tempted to get one myself when I saw PS Vita's game lineup on launch. Quite impressive Sony.

Uncharted 3 will require an online pass for multiplayer

With Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception being one of Sony's biggest titles for the PS3 this year, this isn't much of a surprise. Each copy of Uncharted 3 will provide an online pass code that you need to input before trying out the game's multiplayer.

Why the need for Online pass? well they want to earn more, at the same time it's the company's way of fighting second-hand buying. Sure you can still get a second-hand copy, but if you want to give the multiplayer a shot(assuming the online pass for that copy is already used), you'll need to buy your own Online pass in the PSN store for $10 bucks.

Online pass is slowly getting implemented whether we like it or not. Ubisoft is doing the Online Pass idea and it looks like Sony is too. THQ, EA and Warner Bros(Mortal Kombat) is also doing it and it's only a matter of time when ever game developer will be implementing the Online pass with games that have multiplayer.

What do you guys think of the Online Pass? I don't think it's that bad, but then again I don't buy second-hand games that often.

Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception will be in stores on November 1, 2011 exclusively on the Playstation 3.

[Source: Gameinformer]

[Update - fake]Bloody Roar 5 in production

[Update] - argh! apparently the Bloody Roar 5 announcement was a big fake. Damn it trolls! it would have been awesome seeing a new Bloody Roar too.... ok time to move on.

Original - Hudson Soft announced via twitter that the next title for the Bloody Roar series is currently in production. Not much information was given but it's good to know that they haven't forgotten about the series because I'm sure a lot of gamers out there have been dying for a next-gen Bloody Roar.

The last game, Bloody Roar 4, was released back on Playstation 2 in 2003,  The only information about the game so far is that they're aiming for a 2012 release for the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360.

I think it's about time for the Bloody Roar series to be revived. I still remember the first two Bloody Roars and having loads of fun with it, but when 3 and 4 came out, well lets just say Tekken became my type of fighting game during that time.

[Source: Gematsu]