Duke Nukem Treat For Borderlands Players

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Gearbox now owns the Duke Nukem IP, and they’re going to put it to good use before Duke Nukem Forever releases in 2011. Those who purchase Borderlands: Game of the Year Edition will have a chance to get early access to the Duke Nukem Forever demo.

The game bundle, which will include the DLC The Zombie Island or Dr. Ned, Mad Moxxi’s Underdome Riot, The Secret Armory of General Knoxx and Claptrap’s New Robot Revolution will let players sign up for the Duke Nukem Forever First Access Club, where some members will receive early access to the Duke Nukem Forever demo. No particular time table for the demo’s release was given, only that it will be “prior to the retail launch of the game.”

Rabbids Getting TV Treatment

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Confirming earlier rumors, Ubisoft has announced that it has partnered up with Aardman to create short films based upon the Rabbids brand. The British animation studio is responsible for Wallace & Gromit and Shaun the Sheep.

“The not-so-subtle humour of the Rabbids has made them into icons in and beyond video games,” said Ubisoft’s French studios MD Xavier Poix. “Aardman perfectly understands that humour and we are extremely excited to be working with them to bring the Rabbids to a new medium and a new audience.”

“When the opportunity arose to work with Ubisoft on the Rabbids we leapt at it, we absolutely love the characters and can t wait to help bring them to a television audience,” added Aardman head of broadcast Miles Bullough.

Droid Gets Down To Business

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Motorola has announced the Droid Pro from Verizon Wireless. With push email and high-level security features, this marks the first truly business oriented Android device.

“Consumers like certain phones, but they just want those enterprise features,” said Motorola co-CEO Sanjay Jha and added about the holiday season, “We have experienced a very modest slowdown … this recovery wasn’t that strong anyways, but we haven’t seen a tremendous waning in this recovery as far as our portfolio is concerned.”

Source: Reuters

Captain America Getting Solo Game

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Sega announced today its latest Marvel super-hero game in Captain America: Super Soldier. Based upon the similarly titled movie, this game will pit Captain America against Red Skull, evil scientist Arnim Zola and the forces of Hydra during the peak of World War II in an original story.

“Videogame players the world over can now become Marvel’s iconic Super Hero Captain America,” said Gary Knight, Senior Vice President of Marketing at Sega. “Captain America: Super Soldier puts players in the boots of the ultimate Super-Soldier, wielding Captain America s legendary shield. Working closely with Marvel ensures we re delivering the calibre product that gamers and comic fans deserve and it’s a partnership we re proud of here at Sega.”

Captain America: Super Soldier will release for PS3, PSP, DS, Wii and Xbox 360 in 2011.

The Jungle Welcomes You

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Out of the blue, Panasonic has announced a new portable gaming machine called the Jungle. Designed to be a portable system for online games, here’s the first teaser for it.

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Windows Slate Out By Christmas, Says Ballmer

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Apple has proven that there’s a large market for tablet PCs with the iPad, leaving other companies scrambling to come up with an answer. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer promises, however, that a slate from the company will be available by Christmas.

“You’ll see new slates with Windows on them. You’ll see them this Christmas,” saild Ballmer at the London School of Economics. “Certainly we have done work around the tablet as both a productivity device and a consumption device.”

Another large concern for Ballmer is the smartphone market, where Microsoft hopes that Windows Phone 7 will reverse the losses that have put the company squarely in fourth place behind RIM, Apple and Google. “The job right now is we’ve got to get back seriously into the game of phones,” said Ballmer. “We’ve got to have a comeback against the competition and I think with our new Windows phones we really have a beautiful product.”

Source: Reuters

Zynga Sets Bonfire

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Zynga has announced that it will acquire Bonfire Studios for an undisclosed sum. The studio, which was founded by David Rippy, Bill Jackson and Scott Winsett after Microsoft disbanded Ensemble Studios, will now be called Zynga Dallas.

Rippy will serve as general manager of Zynga Dallas while Jackson will be its creative director, and Winsett will be senior art director. Their resumes all include a variety of Ensemble titles including Age of Empires, Age of Mythology and Halo Wars, and the purchase by Zynga may hint at a similar sort of strategy title for Facebook.

Source: VentureBeat

Rock Band Notes 2,000 Song Milestone

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Harmonix and MTV announced today that the Jimi Hendrix song Are You Experienced will be song number 2,000 on the Rock Band platform when it releases October 26. Over 800 bands have contributed to the Rock Band lineup over the years.

“The success of our song downloads has afforded us the opportunity to approach Rock Band as an interactive music platform and reshape the way gamers think of expansion content,” said Paul DeGooyer, senior vice president of electronic games, music and programming for MTV Networks. “Our commitment to weekly releases, disc export, forward compatibility of downloads and the launch of the Rock Band Network were milestones in the development of Rock Band’s vibrant digital business.  Now, with the release of our 2,000th song, we are reaffirming our commitment to present new music every week and with the new features in Rock Band 3, there will be more ways than ever to experience it.”