Electronic Arts Inc. today announced that, after a seven year hiatus, the venerable automaker and elite racing brand Ferrari is returning to Need for Speed. On February 16th, players of Need for Speed SHIFT will be able to download a content pack that delivers 10 extraordinary Ferrari cars including the 430 Scuderia and the ultra-rare FXX and F50 GT. Now, Need for Speed SHIFT players will feel the rush of being in the driver’s seat, realizing the true driver’s experience of being behind the wheel of a Ferrari car.

In addition to 10 new cars, the Ferrari Racing Series will also extend SHIFT’s career mode with 46 new Ferrari specific challenges designed for the Ferrari cars to participate in including hot laps, eliminators, endurance races and a world tour. Completing the perfect Ferrari package are an additional 125 gamerpoints as a reward for undertaking various exciting challenges. All Ferrari cars can also be taken online where players can prove who has the skills to master these high-performance Italian racing machines.

The Ferraris available include:
1. 1996 Ferrari F50 GT
2. 2005 Ferrari F430 Spider
3. 2005 Ferrari FXX
4. 2005 Ferrari Superamerica
5. 2006 Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano
6. 2006 Ferrari F430 Challenge (Online/Quick event only)
7. 2006 Ferrari F430 GTC (Online/Quick event only)
8. 2007 Ferrari 430 Scuderia
9. 2008 Ferrari California
10. 2008 Ferrari 16M Scuderia Spider

Created by the award-winning team behind Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter and Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter® 2, the game will feature cutting-edge technology, prototype high-tech weaponry, and state-of-the-art single-player and multiplayer modes. Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Future Soldier will go beyond the core Ghost Recon franchise and deliver a fresh gameplay experience, with an unparalleled level of quality that will excite long-time fans and newcomers alike.

The single player serves as a sequel to the original game and provides fans with an unsettling storyline, dazzling visual design and the evolution of the genetically enhanced shooter gameplay. Set almost a decade after a grueling civil war consumed the once magnificent city of Rapture, evil reverberates through the halls and a wickedness once thought gone forever returns along the Atlantic seaboard. An unspeakable series of kidnappings from local seaside communities by an unseen monster leads to the repopulation of Little Sisters in Rapture’s failed utopia under the ocean. Players must step into the boots of one of gaming's most iconic characters, the Big Daddy, as they traverse through the fallen city, fending off attacks from an army of genetically modified Splicers, while searching for escape and the key to their survival.

Multiplayer in BioShock 2 provides fans with a rich and engrossing prequel experience that expands upon the fiction of Rapture’s origins. Set during the year before Rapture’s descent into chaos, players assume the role of a Plasmid test subject for Sinclair Solutions, a key provider of Plasmids and Tonics in the underwater city that was first explored in BioShock. Players will enter into areas from the original title as they struggle to gain superiority in franticly paced battles.

Key EA Titles - Fiscal Year 2011
 * Q1 FY2011 - April 1 through June 30, 2010
 o Skate 3 (Console)
 o Need for Speed World (PC)
 o 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa (Console, Handheld)
 o Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 11 (Console, Handheld)

 * Q2 FY2011 - July 1 through September 30, 2010
 o APB/All Points Bulletin (PC)
 o Medal of Honor Title TBA (Console, Handheld, PC)
 o NCAA Football 11 (Console, Handheld, PC)
 o EA SPORTS FIFA Online (PC)
 o Madden NFL 11 (Console, Handheld)
 o FIFA 11 (Console, Handheld, PC)
 o NHL 11 (Console)
 o Monopoly Title TBA (Console, Handheld)
 o MySims Title TBA (Console, Handheld)

 * Q3 FY 2011- October 1 through December 31, 2010
 o Crysis 2 (Console, PC)
 o Criterion's Need For Speed Title TBA (Console, Handheld, PC)
 o DTC Game For Console Online (Console - Downloadable)
 o FIFA Manager 11 (PC)
 o NBA Jam (Console)
 o NBA Live 11 (Console, Handheld)
 o EA SPORTS Active Title TBA (Console)
 o EA SPORTS Active Title TBA (Console)
 o EA SPORTS MMA (Console, Handheld)
 o Hasbro Family Game Night Title TBA (Console)
 o Hasbro Littlest Pet Shop Title TBA (Handheld)
 o Harry Potter Title TBA (Console, Handheld, PC)
 o The Sims 3 on Console Title TBA (Console, Handheld)
 o EA Play Label TBA (Console, Handheld, PC)

 * Q4 FY 2011- January 1 through March 31, 2011
 o Dead Space 2 (Console, Handheld)
 o Dragon Age Title TBA (Console, Handheld, PC)
 o Shooter from Epic TBA (Console, PC)
 o Need For Speed Title TBA (Console, PC)
 o EA Games Action Title TBA (Console - Downloadable)
 o EA SPORTS Fighting Title TBA (Console)
 o EA Play Hasbro Title TBA (Console - Downloadable)
 o New Sims Title TBA (PC)
 o Spore Title TBA (Consoles, PC)
 o "Something far-reaching from Mass Effect" - EA COO John Schappert

Cerberus assault armor is designed for shock troops, who are expected to turn the tide of battle against creatures or forces that would decimate normal soldiers. The troops demanded three things in its design: shields, armor thick enough to last against a superior foe, and a rechargeable pack to extend a heavy weapon power cell. The only drawback of the armor is its weight, which the troops carry as a point of pride. They have a saying: "Out of shape going in, in shape coming out."

* Increases heavy weapon ammo capacity by +10%
* Increases shields by +10%
* Increases health by +10%

"Dead is dead. Mass Effect 3, as with the rest of the trilogy, is Shepard’s story. If you have a dead Shepard at the end of Mass Effect 2, that saved game won’t import into Mass Effect 3. You can play Mass Effect 3 if you died in Mass Effect 2 of course, but you’ll have to create a new Shepard. Harsh? Yes. But we wouldn’t be serious about the concept of a suicide mission if you couldn’t die and your death didn’t have serious consequences."
So there it is! Just in case you weren't 100 percent certain, now you know just how seriously you should take the end-game consequences in Mass Effect 2.

LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars will include all the characters from both seasons of the hugely popular animated television series, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, as well as some fan-favourite characters from the beloved theatrical Star Wars Saga. The game will feature brand new battle modes, giving players unique, head-to-head combat and an upgraded level builder, allowing the creation of customized bases and in-game battlefields. Play either as a Jedi or Separatist with all-new character abilities, such as Squad command, Lightsaber slicing, Lightsaber jumps, long distance Jedi attacks and Grapple Tie-Ups, all within a new, easy-to-navigate hub.

-  There is an optional hardcore mode, the character needs to drink water, ammo has weight, healing isn't instant etc.
-  Normal mode is more similar to Fallout 3 gameplay.
-  The storyline is focused on the New California Republic vs. Caesar's Legion (slavers from the east) vs. New Vegas residents.
-  You are not a vault dweller but are given a Pip-Boy by someone who is one.
-  There is a screenshot of a vault suit as well.
-  There is an assault rifle looking like the M4, as well as a new big gun with a backpack, held like a minigun.
-  There are special moves for melee weapons in VATS - specifically a move for a golf club called "Fore" which seems to be a groin shot.
-  The Hoover Dam is in the game and is supplying electricity to the city.
-  There is a quest to rescue a ghoul from some super mutants. The ghoul can then become your companion
-  The Geckos are back.
-  There are both dumb and intelligent super mutants, including the elite Nightkin. On at least one occasion you can convince them to fight amongst themselves.
-  Some super mutants look similar to the ones in Fallout 3, while others are new. There is e.g. a female super mutant with a 1950s hairstyle who apparently is one of their leaders.
-  Screenshots include a guy with a beard and straw hat, a ghoul and an NCR Ranger.
-  The only picture of New Vegas itself is concept art and not a screenshot.
-  Some location screenshots include a huge model dinosaur advertising a hotel, some satellite dishes, an array of solar panels
-  A character generation shot showing a "vigour machine" instead of the skill book
-  NCR base is the McCarran Airport, Caesar's Legion is based in the Vegas Strip, while super mutants are based in a place called Black Mountain.
-  There is also a town called Fremont and another called Primm. A topless reuve is mentioned as being in the latter. Area 51 also appears.
-  NCR Ranger armor is similar to a brown combat armor with sleeves, there are concept arts of a Ranger.
-  Skils have a bigger effect on conversation choices. E.g. someone with a high Explosives skill may be able to have a coversation about explosives where appropriate.
-  There is a Reputation system in addition to Karma.
-  First-person action RPG with the same engine as Fallout 3.
-  Set in the Mojave wastelands. Vegas didn't get many nukes. More intact buildings, as well as desert vegetation. Vegas itself is mostly intact.
-  Both karma and reputation are tracked. If I'm reading it right there's separate reputations for each of the settlements, as in 1 and 2.
-  All dialogue options are shown to all players, regardless of whether you have the stats to succeed or not, though there's no punishment for failure.
-  Bartering is not just lower prices but negotiating for better rewards.
-  Weapons also now have knock-back upon death, with shotguns sending people flying.
-  Followers can be managed through a context-sensitive menu, with orders like "follow", "stay" or "attack".
-  You're a courier, wounded and left for dead in a shallow grave. A friendly robot, Victor, digs you out, and his doctor owner Mitchell patches you up. You take a "vigour test", which is some sort of electric parlour game. This decides who you are and sets up SPECIAL. You can also take some Rorschach tests, but the mag says this is for fun. The Doc then gives you a Pipboy as he was once a Vault dweller.
-  "Hoover Dam", and "Helios" (a solar plant, confirmed by the mag to have been built by Poseidon) are fought into and then you can direct the power to wherever you choose. In the case of Helios you can also keep the plant for your self, use the energy to call down a powerful laser, or even try to distribute to all equally, however there is a risk of overloading the reactors.
-  There is a "reputation system", in which all three factions (NCR, Ceasar's Legion and the locals) will either see you as good or bad toward them individually.
-  There is a screenshot of three Capital Wasteland mutants running toward the player, who is wielding what *looks* to be a heavy incinerator, but has a TV screen and no flamer fuel tanks. He's also wearing NCR combat armour, which is in gold/mustard colours.
-  There are two separate screens of supermutants that look to be more local, grey skin, and the two are wearing very different clothes. One is Tabitha, who is hearing a blonde wig and love heart glasses. The mag implies she's "not all there".
-  On that quest, you rescue Raul, a ghoul who Tabitha kept alive to fix her favourite robot. He appears to be a follower, as the mag says you can give him items, and also commands, such as "stay, follow or attack", and also tell him to switch to melee, in which case he'll mutter "sure, I'll put away my rather effective gun, and switch to this piece of um, metal tubing here".
-  From what I read, the "all dialog" thing seems to imply there will be failures for skill checks as well as speech checks, though, as the mag states, there is no penalty for failing a skill check. In fact, the mag gives an example: A woman who the player tried a Sneak skill attempt on in conversation failed when convincing her an ambush would help the town be rid of a gang of raiders. She simply says "Good luck with your, uh, ambush"
-  Vault 21 is in the game

I caught wind of the fact Mass Effect 2 was causing PC users with dual-cores some grief, in the form of extremely long load times going between decks of the Normandy. Which is odd, as venturing into an entirely new planet loaded just dandy.

More than a few smart people figured out it had to do with the game’s processor affinity. Simply setting it to one core and then back to two cores fixed the problem. But having to do this every time you play ME2 sounds like a chore we could easily do without.

Hence, I coded up (MassAffinity, a tiny app that takes the hard work out of it. Just place the app on your desktop (or somewhere else convenient), run it, select your ME2 directory, and hit “Run game�. After that, every time you double-click the MassAffinity app, it’ll automatically start ME2 and fix the issue.

No doubt this bug will get patched eventually, but for now, this should do the job.

If you ever need to change the directory, you can run the app with the “/config� switch, or run the “SetupMassAffinity.cmd� file that comes with the program.

Any questions or feedback, just leave a comment. Otherwise, enjoy! Thanks goes out to my brother, Chris, for testing the application.

You'll see a lot of familiar enemies here as splicers surge at you with guns and melee weapons while shrieking and giggling, but you'll also find a few new opponents. Bulky brute splicers take far more damage to bring down and you'll see new types of Big Daddies as your struggle with Lamb progresses towards its climax. Then there are the Big Sisters. These skinny diving suits fight with ferocity unmatched in Rapture, and in addition to charging directly at you, they'll also resort to plasmid use to try to put you out of commission. Overall this means you'll be squaring off against a wide variety of foes with a nice mix of offensive behaviors, something those who played the first game with its more limited range of enemy types are sure to appreciate. Should the combat prove too challenging, death in BioShock 2 works similarly to BioShock, as there are Vita-Chambers that serve as respawn points throughout the game. If those bother you, however, there is the option to turn them off at any time and rely more on reloading your save files. I'd also recommend veteran gamers bump the difficulty up to hard, which can be done at any time during play.
-
It's going to be a familiar experience for anyone that played the original, but BioShock 2's improvements to gameplay and its more focused storyline make for a game that's more playable and easier to digest. Some of the sense of awe and mystery is lost in transition, but the strength of the setting and more interesting implementation of moral choice make for an experience that's more consistent and rewarding. Anyone looking for a first-person shooter that offers more than flat, stereotypical characters and copy-and-paste supersoldier plots, one that attempts to establish a sense of right and wrong and loops you into the decision making process, and one that's set in one of the most vividly realized settings around should pick up BioShock 2. It's a game in which story, setting, and gameplay are expertly blended to create an experience that's as thought-provoking as it is entertaining.

Primal Carnage is a ground breaking, innovative game, based on survival in hostile enviroments. Team based, class driven, all out survival combat, pushes Primal Carnage to the extremes of multiplayer, online games.

Unprecedented demand for Aliens vs. Predator following the release of the cross-platform demo yesterday morning brought to light matchmaking issues on the PC platform resulting in players having to wait to join games, or even not find games at all. We're pleased to say later in the day the issue was corrected and a small patch to the PC executable next time you launch it from Steam will have you finding and playing games using Quick Match as it was intended.

While this issue did not affect the Xbox 360, we are, with SEGA's assistance investigating reports of a similar nature on the PlayStation 3 and working flat out on a solution. The full game features the ability to browse for and create games but for the purposes of simplicity the demo was limited to matchmaking, alongside the ability to set up groups with friends which mitigated yesterday's issues for many. We're really sorry that this issue tainted a day in which we saw many people get hands on with AvP for the first time and we're hugely gratified by the positive feedback to the game.