The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned is the first DLC made available for the role playing shooter, Borderlands. It includes all new missions/quests, items, equipment and enemies. The content in this DLC takes place in Jakobs Cove, where a Dr. Ned has been transforming workings into zombie like creatures. The DLC retails for $9.99 and the story adds about 4-6 hours of game play to Borderlands.

 • The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned Page
 • Borderlands Game Page

The Dragon Age: Origins v1.02 patch is the third patch released for the best selling fantasy computer role playing game from Bioware. Many of the fixes and enhancements in this patch are geared towards balance, game play, storyline/plot as well as some PC specific fixes. The PC specific fixes include controlling of summoned creature, fixed icons, and other UI enhancements. A full list of fixes and enhancements along with download links can be found on the Dragon Age Origins patch page.

 • Dragon Age: Origins Patch v1.02
 • Dragon Age: Origins Game Page

Electronic Arts has officially announced Dead Space 2, sequel to their popular sci-fi survival horror video game. Players will once again take on the role of Isaac Clarke as he battles the Necromorphs in zero gravity environments and an all new array of weapons in addition to his favorite plasma cutter. There's no mention of a release date for the game but it is in development for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360.  • Dead Space 2 Game Page

At just 26 seconds in length the Medal of Honor teaser trailer reveals that the new Medal of Honor game will make it's World Premiere at the 2009 Video Game Awards. Set in modern day, war-torn Afghanistan players will take on the role of a soldier in the Tier 1 Operator which is group of highly trained military soldiers under the direct command of National Command Authority.

 • Medal of Honor Game Page
 • Medal of Honor Teaser Trailer

Electronic Arts announced today that their best selling Medal of Honor franchise will be going through a reboot and a new title to the franchise will be released in the Fall of 2010. The new game, which for now known just as "Medal of Honor" will contain a new soldier for gamers to play and new setting. It will also be the first non-World War II game in the franchise. The Battlefield series developer EA Dice and EA Los Angeles will be developing "Medal of Honor". There aren't a lot of details but it according to the press release and official site the game will be set Afghanistan as players take on the role of a highly trained soldier in a secret military unit know as the Tier 1 Operator. The game will include both single player and multiplayer game modes. The release is expected sometime in the fall of 2010.

[Source: EA/Medal of Honor.com]

I may be posting this a little late but I'm still catching up on some news from over the holiday weekend. Last week, Battlefield producer Gordon Van Dyke confirmed that the PC Beta has not been cancelled as was speculated by some circulating rumors on Twitter and other social networks. However, he did confirm that the PC Beta has been delayed by a few weeks in order to increase capacity to allow more people to participate. He also confirmed the following features for the game. For a full list of features and other information be sure to visit the Battlefield Bad Company 2 game page.

 • DirectX 11 Support (in addition to DirectX 9 & 10)
 • Up to 32 Players on PC
 • Largest multiplayer maps in Battlefield history
 • Joystick support for flying; nVidia 3D Vision; Logitech LCD Keyboards

The build up to the Avatar the film continues this week with the release of Avatar The Game, a third person action adventure that takes players into the world of Pandora. Full details on the game's storyline have yet to be revealed but it was planned as a sort of prequel to the events of the movie with some of the main characters in the film expected to make appearances in the game. Both a demo and screenshots are available to give you an idea of what's in store.

 • Avatar The Game Info
 • Avatar The Game Demo

Operation Barbarossa - The Struggle for Russua is a World War II turned based strategy that lets you relive and strategize Germany's attack on the Soviet Union in 1941 playing either as Germans or Soviets. There are three single player campaigns in the game two for German and one for the Soviet Union. The demo, allows you to play through a portion of the game, more information and download links can be found on the Operation Barbarossa demo page.

 • Operation Barbarossa - The Struggle for Russua Demo

Black Friday is once again upon us and over the next few days many retailers and online digital distributors will be offering all sorts of discounts on the hottest video games and accessories, making it the best time of year to pick up a gift for someone or that game, console or accessory that you've had your eye on.

Steam is offering some deep discounts of up to 50% on big name titles such as Far Cry 2, Chapmions Online, Batman Arkham Asylum and Dragon Age Origins. Steam's sale is good for another day so be sure to check out the deals quickly. Direct 2 Drive is also offering discounts on Dragon Age: Origins, The Sims 3, and Crysis Maximum Edition through November 30th. Rounding out the online digital distributors Impulse is offering 35%-75% discount on a number of games including, Warlords Battlecry III, Sins of a Solar Empire and Resident Evil 5.

Retail stores are also have their fair share of doorbuster sales on video games and accessories. GameStop is offering both PS3 and Xbox 360 bundles for $299.99 and has dozens of discounted games. Best Buy and Walmart have the same PS3/Xbox 360 bundle at the same price. Best Buy is offering Madden 2010 for $25 dollars off the suggested retail.

Finally if you're looking for gift ideas, game reviews, top picks, harware/accessories be sure to check out my 2009 Gift Ideas and Gift Guide.

Early this morning Bioware published the minimum and recommended system requirements for their upcoming action role playing sequel Mass Effect 2. Bioware also announced that the retail boxed PC version of Mass Effect 2 will not require online authentication and will only perform a basic disk check similar to Dragon Age: Origins. In Mass Effect 2, Commander Shepard is once again tasked with putting together an elite group of the best and the brightest to stop what could be the largest threat to mankind's existence in the universe.

MINIMUM SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS:
 • OS = Windows XP SP3 / Windows Vista SP1 / Windows 7
 • Processor = 1.8GHz Intel Core 2 Duo or equivalent AMD CPU
 • Memory = 1 GB RAM for Windows XP / 2 GB RAM for Windows Vista and Windows 7
 • Hard Drive = 15 GB
 • DVD ROM = 1x Speed
 • Sound Card = DirectX 9.0c compatible
 • Direct X = DirectX 9.0c August 2008 (included)
 • Input = Keyboard / Mouse
 • Video Card = 256 MB (with Pixel Shader 3.0 support). Supported Chipsets: NVIDIA GeForce 6800 or greater; ATI Radeon X1600 Pro or greater. Please note that NVIDIA GeForce 7300, 8100, 8200, 8300, 8400, and 9300; ATI Radeon HD3200, and HD4350 are below minimum system requirements. Updates to your video and sound card drivers may be required. Intel and S3 video cards are not officially supported in Mass Effect 2.

 • Recommended System Requirements
 • Mass Effect 2 Info