Ubisoft has announced new single and multiplayer content for Far Cry 2 today, something that should add some extra sizzle to players partaking in multiplayer action and offer some variety to players enjoying the single-player campaign. Named the Fortune’s Pack, the DLC is set to add new weapons (silenced shotgun, sawed-off shotgun, crossbow), vehicles (unimog, quad) and four multiplayer maps (Cheap Labor, Lake Resort, Lake Smear, Fort Fury) to the game for the price of 800 MS Points on Xbox LIVE or $9.99 on PSN. The content will become available near the end of the month. There was no mention of a PC version.

Check our Far Cry 2 gallery for 15 screenshots of the upcoming content.

Developed by Rockstar North and set in Liberty City, The Lost and Damned features a new main character and plot that intersects with the storyline of Grand Theft Auto IV; new missions that offer an entirely fresh way to explore Liberty City with new multiplayer modes, weapons and vehicles; and a diverse soundtrack with additional music - all with the incredible production values that are the trademarks of Grand Theft Auto.

Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned requires players to have the full version of Grand Theft Auto IV for Xbox 360 and Xbox LIVE membership to download. Further details will be announced soon.

Four new images have been released by Rockstar Games:

Grand Theft Auto IV: The Lost and Damned

Right, final Crossing-related piece of this week, and this time it’s the city that’s being scrutinised. Once you’ve hopped off the bus, you’ll find an area which is fairly small, but contains a number of buildings to enter.

On the far left is a door, behind which lies a shady organisation. I say organisation, it’s merely sly fox Crazy Redd, returning from previous Crossings, who requires you to have an ‘invitation’ before you can access his exclusive/expensive/fake wares.

Further up you’ll find a cash machine which allows you to pay off your mortgage or deposit and withdraw money into and out of your own personal bank account. You might think this pointless considering you’re never punished for having cash in your pocket, but then again you can get special items from depositing a certain amount. Then there’s the theatre auditorium where Dr. Shrunk puts on a ‘comedy’ show - you watch for around half a minute and come out 800 bells lighter and with a new emote, selected by pointing at the appropriate icon in the HUD (which only ever pops up when you’ve got the remote aimed at the TV screen). If you’ve got Wii Speak this may feel like a waste of time, but those communicating by text will find it useful. Then there’s the Happy Room Academy - inside you can meet weasel Lyle, formerly an insurance salesman but now fronting said house-grading organisation. For those unfamiliar with the HRA, basically the arrangement of the rooms in your house governs a deep points system, with ratings based on all sorts of factors, like multiple examples of the same furniture set, rare objects - even the placement of specific coloured items is important, with your luck and monetary wealth affected. There’s a special ‘room of the moment’ in the back which picks the house from your own village adjudged to be the best, according to the current category (which is ‘cutest house’ in my game).

Further along you have expensive boutique GracieGrace, with clothes, hats, glasses and an entire room’s worth of furniture available to those with money to burn. Then you have the auction house, which allows you to bid on specific items entered by other users (the first starts tomorrow - expect an update on that soon). There’s Kicks, the shoe-shine skunk who can change the colour of your shoes to match either your favourite colour or current style, while Shampoodle offers haircuts and Mii-mask makeovers should you want a more drastic change of appearance. Fortune-teller Katrina is furthest right, offering a similar service to previous AC titles.

Mysteriously, there’s a bit of pavement to the right which appears to lead somewhere but is cordoned off by two cones. Will they unlock later in the game? Will we see DLC open up a new area of the city? Hopefully I’ll be able to answer these questions as I get further in the game. Stay tuned for more impressions over the coming weeks.

(One final observation: a great line from Harry the hippo earlier when I gave him a fossil he requested - “It’s amazing what you can accomplish when you put other people’s minds to it.” Lovely stuff.)

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Keiichi Yano, Chief creative officer of iNiS, recently sat down to talk about music games and much needed innovations in the genre. Yano is an expert considering iNiS has dealt exclusively with rhythm and music videogames since its inception. The company’s best known series is Elite Beat Agents, and it hopes to have as much success with its latest offering, Lips.

Yano talks about iNSi’s relationship with Microsoft and the creative process that went into Lips that set it apart from other karaoke games. Most titles only detect pitch where Lips incorporates rhythm, phoneme and vibrato detection. All this in a game you can’t fail. He also talks about his music background and how its influenced his plans for music games that can handle improvisation.

You can read the full More Than Just Lips: Keiichi Yano On Music Game Innovation article on Gamasutra. You can peruse a list of the features that set Lips apart from other karaoke games after the jump.

Features:

• Two wireless interactive microphones. Featuring stylish interactive motion sensors and lights, the microphones respond to singers’ actions and can be used as percussion accompaniments. With the freedom and encouragement provided by the high-quality wireless microphones, everyone can live their singing dreams in style.
• The best music. “Lips” will include a diverse selection of songs, including your favorite blasts from the past such as “Bust a Move” by Young MC, as well as new songs from breakout artists such as “Mercy” by Duffy and “Young Folks” by Peter Bjorn and John.
• Sing your music collection. “Lips” allows people to customize their experience with the songs that matter most to them by singing along with friends to the music from their personal collection.
• Play along. Using the standard Xbox 360 controller, up to two people will be able to join the fun and choose from a variety of percussion accompaniment to play along with the music in “Lips.” By placing control of various tambourines, claps and of course the ubiquitous cowbell at the fingertips of anyone with a controller, “Lips” creates a social entertainment experience for friends, co-workers and kids alike.
• Constant flow of new music. From the songs that will come with the game, to your own music collection and the ability to download new tracks from Xbox LIVE Marketplace, “Lips” will continually provide new music to bring people together and keep the party going.

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Related Articles at Gaming Today:

• Rumor: Xbox 360's "Lips" Coming From Ouendan Developer
• RUMOR: Microsoft's Answer to Sony's SingStar is 'Lips'
• E3 2008: Microsoft to Take on SingStar with Lips
• More Leaks: Scene It? Getting a Sequel, and Two Other New Games
• Harmonix Talks Beat Detection Technology

As I expected, the release of Left 4 Dead has taken the office by storm. Our crack team of Team Fortress 2 experts are trading in their roles as Medics, Engineers, and Medics for the thrill of playing as disturbingly awesome zombies — like Boomers, Smokers, Hunters, and Tanks.

Of course not everyone is spending every possible hour playing Left 4 Dead — team members continue to play through Far Cry 2, Fable 2, Gears of War 2, and more.

Here’s our rundown of everything we’re playing. Have a great weekend!

Jesse Tucker: Left 4 Dead, TF2, Dominion (Board game, very nice).

Joel Burgess: L4D, Far Cry 2, Netflix on NXE!

Daryl Brigner: Left 4 Dead (PC) all weekend.

Fred Zeleny, Game Designer and Apocalypse Junkie: Three flavors of apocalypse: Fallout 3 (for the Nuclear Apocalypse), Left 4 Dead (for the Zombie Apocalypse), and Rune Factory 2 (for the all-too-often overlooked Agricultural Apocalypse).

Jonah Lobe: Left 4 Dead, Charades.

Michael Lattanzia, QA: Left 4 Dead, Little Big Planet (level creating time!), Warhammer Online, Animal Crossing DS.

Matt Weil: Left 4 Dead.

Megan Sawyer: Trying to figure out the new 360 interface, and then finishing Fable II.

Chris Rodriguez, Systems Programmer: Mirrors Edge Demo, Left 4 Dead Demo, Rock Band 2

Craig Walton: Fieldrunners and Aurora Feint on my iPhone.

Ryan Lea: Fallout 3, Left 4 Dead.

Brent Krische, QA Tester: Lego Batman, Gears of War 2, and I’m thinking either Fable 2 or Little Big Planet over the weekend.  I also want to check out Kingdom for Keflings and set up my Netflix account with the NXE dashboard.

Ricardo Gonzalez, Code Cracker: WoW = Jet. WoW + Expansion content + Achievements = Ultrajet.

Matt Grandstaff, Community Manager: Celebrating Laugh-at-my-Mom-while-she-plays-the-Wii-week.

Pete Hines: Fallout 3.

According to a post on GamesIndustry.biz, The New York Stock Exchange has informed Midway Games that since their stock prices have fallen below the set standard, the company may be up for delisting.

This warning came after the company failed to achieve the minimum closing price of $1.00 per share for over 30 days in a row. In addition, Midway now has only six months to improve share prices to keep from being delisted.

With losses exceeding over $76 million doubled with the fact that Midway has laid off approximately 30 staff members, things look pretty grim for the gaming company. The cherry on top though was when their company chairperson stepped down–which makes you wonder if they can recoup their back luck and financial loses and start anew in 2009.

On the bright side, if you are a gambling man (or woman), and you are looking to get into trading stock, Midway is about as cheap as they come. Who knows, you may get lucky. Then again, you could loose your ass too depending on how much you purchase.

Put me down for 5 shares–I spend that much at McDonald’s once a month anyway. Skipping one month would be no big deal.

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Related Articles at Gaming Today:

• Nasdaq Threatens to Delist Atari
• Atari Facing NASDAQ Delisting
• Rumor: Midway and SCi/Eidos Talking Merger Again
• Midway to Focus on 2008 and put 2007 Behind Them
• The Single Share Of Nintendo Stock Gift

Even though we'll be receiving some free Avatar apparel in the weeks to come, we've always been keen to Microsoft's plan to monetize Avatars. Now, thanks to a lil' ninja game by the name of Ninja Blade, we finally have our first set of paid Avatar duds.

Ninja Blade theme unlocks Avatar ninja-wear originally appeared on Xbox 360 Fanboy on Fri, 21 Nov 2008 15:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Continue reading Rock Band Weekly: The Killers, Yngwie, Soundgarden & Lamb of God

Rock Band Weekly: The Killers, Yngwie, Soundgarden & Lamb of God originally appeared on Xbox 360 Fanboy on Fri, 21 Nov 2008 14:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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