Rage Novel Coming

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Bethesda Softworks and Del Rey have announced an agreement for a novel based upon the Rage video game. The novel will also be titled Rage, and be written by writer Matt Costello, who also composed the story for the game.

The story revolves around Lt. Nick Raine who emerges from the underground Ark designed to save humanity, only to find the remnants on the surface have survived and formed a new society. Now he must survive in a harsh new climate where mutants roam and might is right.

The Rage novel will release on August 30, 2011.

Marvel Vs. Capcom 3: Two Million Hit Combo

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Capcom has announced that Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds has shipped over 2 million copies worldwide. Read more about how the franchise was successfully marketed in this exclusive [a]list feature.

With an 11 year gap between the last entry in the Marvel vs. Capcom series, demand for a sequel was at an all-time high, and expectations were soaring. Capitalizing on the resurgence of the fighting game boom that began last year, Marvel vs. Capcom 3 was able to exceed its predecessor and ship 2 million units worldwide, read a statement by Capcom. Additionally, downloadable content in the form of new costumes and characters will be available over the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Marketplace, which will further extend the game’ s appeal and drive sales further.

Grand Theft Auto V: Biggest Hint Yet

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A casting call by Take-Two has provided a hint that Grand Theft Auto V is indeed in development. The recent casting call by the publisher mentioned a character James Pedeaston, “a man-boy love activist” who appeared on radio channel WCTR in Grand Theft Auto IV.

Recent rumors citing another casting list for a variety of colorful characters placed the new game in Los Angeles (or the Grand Theft Auto equivalent Los Santos, located in the state of San Andreas). Also, several URLs like CashForDeadDreams.com, StopPayingYourMortgage.net and LifeInvader.com were registered by Take-Two recently, which fits with the GTA series references to parody websites that can be loaded up on the Internet outside of the game.

Source: Ripten

Prepare To Arrive

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The hunt is on and Shepard must travel to the end the galaxy to discover the truth behind the Arrival. The latest DLC content for Mass Effect 2 has arrived for PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox360 and new items are available in the Xbox Live Marketplace. Character pictures and avatar items like the Cerberus Armor, Death Mask and N7 cap can be purchased to personalize your gamercard or outfit your avatar. A premium theme is also available for 240 MS points that will allow you to traverse the dangerous asteroid station Omega, including club Afterlife complete with Asari dancers.

Facebook Fantasy Warfare

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In anticipation of the launch of WWE All Stars for Xbox 360 and PS3, fans on the official WWE All Stars Facebook page can brawl their way through an ongoing Fantasy Warfare campaign and win exclusive virtual and in-game rewards.  Produced by THQ and the Ayzenberg Group, Fantasy Warfare pits today s greatest wrestlers like John Cena against legends like Hulk Hogan to win prizes and earn exclusive loot .  With each match up, participants view a bragging video of each character talking about their awesomeness.  When the video finishes, users jump into the ring and have to make a series of interactive choose your own adventure -type choices to determine how their wrestler will fight and deliver signature moves during the match.

For a detailed look at how this campaign came together, check out the case study recently posted on the Social & Mobile section of Ayzenberg.com.

Animation for each fight was taken directly from in-game capture resulting in a different fight every time that can be replayed multiple ways for varied effect.  After each fight has ended, special loot like wallpaper, ringtones and discounts on WWE merchandise is unlocked and made shareable to the user.  As new match ups were unlocked by the community the cumulative progressive sharing was monitored resulting in in-game DLC community content rewards!  Look out, the Honky Tonk Man is coming in April as the official WWE all-stars DLC character!

Altoids Tribute To Stars On Facebook

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Altoids recently launched a campaign wherein users can give “Curiously Strong Awards” to others for their incessant use of Facebook. They’ve released a complimentary song and music video to it, and it’s actually quite catchy.

 

God Of War Team Hiring Senior Online Programmer

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A year after the successful release of God of War III, Sony Computer Entertainment America’s Santa Monica studio appears to be gearing up for their next title. A job posting suggests that the new game will feature online elements of some sort.

The new job posting is for a Senior Online Programmer, who will designing network systems for “in-game communication, client-server, match-making [and] leaderboards. While some will take this as a sign that the God of War franchise is going online, God of War III ended the story arch of Kratos and the development team offered no guarantees that they would be working on another game in the franchise. Then again, the job listing does start out with Join the God of War team!

Source: Gamasutra