Dragon Age: Awakening is out today in the US, and Friday in the UK, because the European internet is three days slower or something (PLEASE STOP DOING THIS). And it’s fantastically good. To find out more you can use either or both eyes to read my review of the 25 hour expansion over on Eurogamer. You may be assured it contains passages that look like this:

Let’s remove any confusion from the start. Dragon Age: Origins – Awakening is not another ..read the full article

The Intel Troll (pictured) dropped us a line to announce their new Level Up competition, and it’s looking fairly shiny. There’s a couple of tiers to the competition, with pros/hobbyists and students judged separately. The lowdown is that the grand prize for professional/hobbyist level entries is an all-expense paid trip to the Tokyo Game Show. The prize for the student-level competition is a pass to GDC San Francisco 2011, as well as marketing support for their game from Intel and ..read the full article

Isn’t it nice when gaming brings everyone together? And other stuff too, like books, films and fashion. But especially games. A cross-party initiative has seen the leaders of the big three British political parties (growl, SNP fans) gritting their teeth and pretending to agree about how simply excellent Britain is when it comes to creating stuff. And so we have the British Inspiration Awards, which aim to celebrate just how jolly good we are. And we mention it because, rather ..read the full article

It’s over! 17,000 words later and at last we have a victor for this, the most miserable and guilty of all AARs. Will the galaxy enter the rule of Kieron’s glittering red Empire? Or will it be empurpled by the all-powerful, all-duplicitious Graham? Or perhaps blue underdog Jimothy Rossignol will at last spring his winning gambit. Read the grim and salty conclusion to our game of Neptune’s Pride after the jump (or read it over at the PC Gamer blog ..read the full article

Command & Conquer 4 arrives this week to the tutting of sceptics. The new game is different: no base-building, no economy. It’s also the end of the Tiberium saga. What does it all mean? The man responsible for concluding Kane is Samuel Bass, and last night we spoke to him about the end of the Tiberium saga, experimental RTSs, the value of the PC, King’s Bounty, and the dreaded DRM. Read on for international interview interest. (more…)

Related stories: C&C4 Open Beta ..read the full article

As I believe I whined about last week, I’m suffering a nasty spot of RSI at the moment – nothing to write home about, comes with the territory and all that, but it has meant that once in a while I have to use my mouse with my left-hand while the tendons in the right have a right old moan at me. It was whilst doing this to try and play the mouse-controlled platformer 3114, made in four days for ..read the full article

Fashionably late again… We managed to miss posting about this when the scandal hit last week, in one of those “oh, one of the others will surely cover it. Today I want to write about a happy thing!” confusions that sometimes afflicts the oft-scattered hivemind. It’s a major talking point, however, so you really should talk about it here. Y’know that Bioshock 2 DLC, the one with all the new maps and characters and whatnot in? Apparently it was a ..read the full article

Metro 2033 is out at the end of this week. Who knew March was the month for games? Dragon Age: Awakening, this, Just Cause 2… It’s like it’s November or something. So to celebrate its arrival there is of course a launch trailer, which in this case acts as a sort of best-of compilation of clips, finally reaching some in-game footage toward the end. Shooting! Monsters carrying off cars! A man having a look inside a drawer! I’m really not ..read the full article

It’s been a while since we took a look at the videos for Dragon Age: Awakening, and all of a sudden it comes out tomorrow. Tomorrow already! In the US. Sorry about the confusion. Friday in the UK. (Secretly I’ve finished it, but I can’t tell you that, nor anything else. So shhhhhh.) So after we met Anders, Velanna, and some creatures that certainly weren’t their children, it’s time to meet a lot more of the gang.

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Related stories: Good Morning: ..read the full article

Bethesda Softworks send word that newly-signed studio, inXile Entertainment (headed up by Brian Fargo, formerly of Interplay), will be making a videogame called Hunted: The Demon’s Forge. It’s a game of the “third-person co-op action” genre. What kind of genre is that? Well, I’m glad I asked myself that, because Bethsoft say this: “Taking control of either E’lara, a ranged weapon expert, or Caddoc, a master swordsman, you must use a variety of weapons, powerful spells, and cover tactics to ..read the full article

The battle for galactic domination has been reduced to just a handful of titanic empires. Victory, however, hangs in the balance. Will exhaustion finally exact its toll on the generals of this epic war? If you’re enjoying these reports then EXCITINGLY SLOW SPACE WAR AWAITS YOU in Neptune’s Pride. You can also read a version of this diary over on PC Gamer. (more…)

Related stories: Pride And Falls: Neptune’s Pride Diary Part 5 Pride And Falls: Neptune’s Pride Diary Part 4 Pride And Falls: ..read the full article

I was playing Borderlands yesterday, and an enemy dived behind some cover. Naturally, I pull out a missile launcher and squeeze off a rocket. As the smoke clears, something strange happens. The cover is still there, untouched by the explosive death I spat at it. It stands, defiant and unmarked. This is what Battlefield: Bad Company 2 does to you. It ruins everything else. (more…)

Related stories: Demolition Men: More Bad Company 2 MP Eurogamer Battlefield Heroes Review BFBC2: Single Player, Server Rental, Beta Battlefield: ..read the full article

Empires have risen, and now they are falling. The fifth part of our battle for Neptune’s Pride sees the final contenders struggling for ultimate victory in a long, drawn-out attrition that would tax their very souls… (PCG’s version of this diary is over here.) (more…)

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Sundays are for being at the Image Booth at Seattle’s Emerald City con talking to anyone who has the misfortune to walk past about splendid comics. Do come and say Hi, if you’re around. Which means that Saturday morning is for compiling a list of fine (mostly) games related reading for your delectation while trying to avoid linking to a pop-son, before heading off for the day. And setting it to post.

Who will rule space? No Sponge, that’s for sure. But who else might take the crown? Could it be Graham’s exploding Empire? Or Jim’s embattled corner of space? Or the vast Empire of Quinns? Place your bets for part four… And maybe go sign up to Neptune’s Pride yourself. (PCG are also running a version of this diary, over yonder.) (more…)

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Filmed off a screen at GDC, sadly, but it’s accompanied by game director Dave Jones talking through the various features. He talks about the way the two factions have different abilities and aims, the way characters weapons and cars can be upgraded, how players can become “famous” within the game world, and how the ranking and matchmaking work within the game world. All interesting stuff, although it’s tough to gauge if there will be any long-term appeal in all this. ..read the full article

Yes, honour. We will rebrand the games industry with our Old World spellings! Anyway, EA’s cavernous developmental innards have spawned a trailer for Medal Of Honour. It’s one of those trailers were a dude talks huskily about war and how badass his shooty comrades are, while dudes get shot and stuff explodes on screen. There’s talk about sledgehammers and scalpels, but it seems more like you’re going to be using rifles and air-strikes. (more…)

Related stories: EA Exec Down On Consoles The EA ..read the full article

Last week, I finally got to spend a little quality time with the rarely-seen, much-delayed Mafia 2. While I was there, I made Alex Cox, one of the game’s producers, an offer he couldn’t refuse. He refused it anyway. So I decided to ask him about the game instead. Read on for the chatty chap’s thoughts on the game’s excellent music, open world versus linear and whether ‘dickcheese’ is an authentic 1950s swear word or not. (more…)

Related stories: Indecision Over Mafia-Developer ..read the full article