Amnesia: The Dark Descent Sales Pass One Million

Frictional Games revealed today that nearly 1.4 million people have purchased Amnesia: The Dark Descent. According to a blog post from the developer, 710,000 copies of the game were sold directly, as well as sales from inclusions in the Humble Indie Bundle and Steam’s Potato Sack Reunion. Overall, the sales add up to 1,360,000 units in all.

“Despite that huge number of sales, what I think is more interesting is how good the monthly sales still are,” Frictional noted. “Not counting any discounts, the monthly full price sales lie at over 10,000 units. This means that less than every 5th minute someone in the world is buying a copy of Amnesia.”

Frictional also hinted at its next project, which is currently targeted for a 2014 release. “At Frictional Games our main concern is our new super secret project. We do not want to say much about this project yet, but we can disclose that it will be horror and that it will be first person,” the post reads. “One of the things I was most disappointed with in Amnesia was that it never really managed to deliver any deeper themes, but was more like a shallow fright-fest. For the new project we want to change that and really try and bring a certain theme to the front. Our hope is that this will create a very special experience, creating horror in a much more disturbing way.”

Frictional notes that “the game's current status is that we have pretty much all tech working, and have started to playtest the first parts. Still, a lot is up in the air and the current design is bound to change.”

Amnesia will continue with Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs later this year, which is in development by thechineseroom and produced by Frictional. For more on A Machine for Pigs, be sure to watch the debut trailer, and read all about Amnesia: Dark Descent in our list of the top 25 modern PC games.

Andrew Goldfarb is IGN’s associate news editor. Keep up with pictures of the latest food he’s been eating by following him on Twitter or IGN.

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Pokémon News: Catch Genesect!

We're only a few weeks out from the stateside release of Pokémon Black 2 and White 2, the next set of games in the core Pokémon series. To celebrate the October 7 launch of these new games, Nintendo is finally giving players outside Japan the chance to catch the elusive legendary monster Genesect.

I choose you, Genesect!

Anyone who purchases either Pokémon Black 2 or Pokémon White 2 between October 7 and November 12 can receive Genesect simply by connecting to the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. It has a signature move called Techno Blast, and is a Bug- and Steel-type Pokémon with the ability to adjust its power levels based on the foe it's battling.

For all things Pokémon, keep it here on IGN - and don't forget to check out our latest Pokémon Profile - this week it's Bulbasaur!

Audrey Drake is an Associate Editor at IGN and a proud member of the IGN Nintendo team. She is also a lifelong gamer, a frequent banisher of evil and a wielder of various legendary blades. You can follow her wild adventures on her IGN blog and Twitter. Game on!

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FIFA 13 Skill Games Day 1: Passing

FIFA 13 has 24 Skill Games that should perfect your shooting, improve your passing, and make you an all-round better player. If they don't, you might just be beyond help.

They're divided into 8 categories, including shooting, dribbling, and free kicks. In each one you'll be able to earn a bronze, silver, and gold level by fulfilling different challenges.

This week we're going to show you all of them on IGN, starting with that absolute fundamental: passing. The 6 videos below teach you how to play a variety of balls, from tiki-taka passes designed to eviscerate defences to lofted Beckham-esque balls that fall from the heavens.

Ground Pass

In this first drill, you simply need to pass the ball to several targets dotted around the pitch. You'll learn how to vary the amount of pace put on the ball to reach your desired target.

Increase your accuracy by threading passes between narrow gates towards targets.

Same as the last drill, but this time pesky defenders are lurking to intercept your laser passes.

Lob Pass

It's time to get out the bins. Dozens of them, in fact. In this first drill, you'll learn how to vary the length of lofted passes. Get into a big or small bin to net some extra points.

There's more to passing than simply hitting it as hard as you can. This skill game teaches you how to 'drive' a lob pass into a target and how to spread play left and right onto the flanks.

And to claim gold, you must take on the Crossbar Challenge! See how many times you can hit the bar as the clocks ticks down. If you hit it, you'll move further out. Can you hit it from the halfway line? We did.

FIFA 13 is out on all major platforms on September 25 in the UK and September 28 in the US.

Daniel is IGN's UK Staff Writer. That's him in all the Skill Game videos above. Didn't he do well? Follow him on IGN and Twitter.

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Halo 4 SPOILERS: 15 images from Master Chief's return surface online all sneaky and unofficial like

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Some previously unseen Halo 4 images have appeared over at the ever bountiful and leak-friendly All Games Beta. You can find all the pictures in the gallery above. The images focus on the game's Promethean enemies and some of the weapons they'll be using to make Master Chief dead.

There's not anything particularly revolutionary amongst the killamajigs on show - it's a fairly conventional weapon-set. However, the 'Incineration Cannon' does at least have an acceptably bad-ass name and anything that mixes rocket launcher with shotgun with flamethrower is fine by us.

Halo 4 is out November 6 for Xbox 360.

Source : gamesradar[dot]com

Halo 4 Promethean Enemies and Weapons Revealed

Images of eight Promethean enemies and seven of their weapons from 343 Industries' upcoming shooter Halo 4 have surfaced.

Taken from a forthcoming issue of Game Informer and hosted by All Games Beta, the images are accompanied by a little bit of information about who our victims will be come November.

Minor spoilers follow for Halo 4 in terms of enemies and weapons, but there's also minor references to the plot of Halo 4 that leaked last week.

The Promethean enemies will live on Requiem which, as we discovered last week, is where the ancient Forerunner called Didact is hidden. In terms of enemies, there seem to be three basic types, though these then further diversify through attack methods and armour designs.

First up are the Crawlers, which are apparently common, agile and hunt in packs. They come in Alpha, Snipe and normal flavours, with each one sporting different weapons that they can utilise from a distance.

Alongside the Crawlers are the Knights. These are the captains of the Promethean forces, and can appear as Lancers, Battlewagons or Commanders in addition to their normal version. The special versions can deploy turrets and fire through walls, so it sounds like we'll have to utilise all our skills to best them in combat.

And finally there are the Watchers. These will apparently fight shoulder to shoulder with Knights, but will ominously be equipped with resurrection powers and the ability to summon Crawlers. So they're the ones we'll be taking out first, then.

Alongside the already intimidating range of abilities referenced, the Prometheans will be decked out with some pretty full on weaponry, details of which you can see below.

Halo 4 is due out on Xbox 360 on November 6.

Luke Karmali is IGN's UK Editorial Assistant. You too can revel in mediocrity by following him on IGN and on Twitter.

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Indies angry about Steam Greenlight fees, Valve says its a work in progress

Independent developers were none too pleased to learn that Valve is now charging a $100 fee to list games on Steam Greenlight, a new service which allows users to vote on which games will be offered for sale on Steam.

The fee came into being because lots of fake games and porn titles began clogging the service, and making it difficult to find genuine titles. Valve felt that the $100 fee would discourage trolls, and vowed to offer all the extra revenue to Child's Play to show they're not trying to make a quick buck.

However, some have fired back saying that it amounts to putting an economic stranglehold on the service, ensuring that struggling game designers or poorer people wouldn't be able to list their games. 

Valve has now issued a statement that somewhat addresses the outcry.

"We always try to build quick iteration into our process for development of new features, and Greenlight will be no different. We have a huge list of suggestions from customers and the lessons we've learned from shipping, so Greenlight will definitely continue to evolve over the next weeks and months as we tune the system and add valuable features."

While it's certainly not an admission of wrongdoing, this comment reads like they're saying "whoa whoa, don't everybody get angry just yet. This might not be permanent, we're still evaluating things." We'll be following this story and will update this space if Valve offers any further comment.

Source : gamesradar[dot]com

Mark of the Ninja Review

Stealth, befitting of its very definition, sneaks into our games in many forms. Sometimes it slips in under the guise of a role-playing game, such as a no-kill play-through of Deus Ex: Human Revolution. In other instances, it blends with an action title, like the Sam “Panther” Fisher version of Splinter Cell Conviction. And not often enough, it comes in its purest shape, in which you face near-certain death – or at least, extremely long odds – if you’re spotted. The Thief series, quintessentially. Or, in 2012, Mark of the Ninja.

Patience is a virtue, just like your mother said.

Laudably, there isn’t just one trick in Ninja’s bag. Instead, it takes the best ingredients from both new and old examples of the stealth genre and mixes them into a potent knockout brew. The look is gorgeous thanks to the same talented artists and animators responsible for developer Klei Entertainment’s other Xbox Live Arcade series, Shank. Anytime you make an undetected kill, the camera zooms in and darkens the background, highlighting you and your victim as you plunge your blade into him and then toss his body aside or through a grate. You’ll be forgiven if you mistake what you’re watching for an M-rated animated series on Adult Swim.

But gameplay is most important. In a move that’s simultaneously refreshing and familiar, Mark of the Ninja is a 2D stealth adventure that, at first glance, looks a bit Metroidvania-esque. You’ll jump and grapple-hook your way around mostly linear levels (though occasional path choices and backtracking occur), clinging to walls and ceilings, hiding in floor grates, and pressing B to duck behind potted plants or in doorways – all in the name of avoiding detection.

You begin with only these most basic of moves, but as you finish levels and secondary objectives within each mission (such as completing an area without raising an alarm), you’ll earn medals redeemable for new moves that significantly liven up the game and open up your options. For instance, there’s a taunt that lets you string-up your kills in order to terrorize the other guards, a la Batman. Or the not-so-subtle nod to Metal Gear Solid: the cardboard box. Seeing your black-clad hero reach out from underneath the simple disguise, grab a victim, and drag him back under the box while his buddies ignorantly walk by is as sadistically rewarding as it is hilarious.

If you get found out, especially by a dog, you're in trouble.

More seriously laudable is Ninja’s scoring system. While many stealth games claim you can play them how you want (read: lethally or non-lethally), this one actually rewards you with medal-earning XP either way. If you knife every fool, you’ll earn some points. Hide their bodies when you’re done and you’ll net more. Terrorize them and you’ll bag yet more. Or score plenty of points just for sneaking by the bad guys undetected. This is complemented by additional play styles that become available as you go, like “Way of the Ninja.” This removes your sword – thereby making it nearly impossible to kill anyone – but gives you extra distraction tools, such as the aforementioned cardboard box, firecrackers, terror darts, etc. It wholly changes the way the game is played, akin to watching a different director’s cut of your favorite movie.

All of these added perks culminate in the highly recommended New Game Plus mode, in which the enemies get tougher but you’ve got access to your full arsenal of unlocked goodies right from the first stage.

You’ll want to replay the 6-8 hour campaign, though probably not for the story (but oh, those drool-inducing animated cutscenes!). The plot starts simple and never really evolves, though it’s just engaging enough to make you stop and think when you reach its forked ending. Unfortunately, neither choice at the campaign’s climax pays off with a revelation or additional backstory. Or anything, really.

Theatricality and deception are powerful tools...

Ninja’s only other crimes are, first, that its gorgeous animations aren’t showcased enough; there simply isn’t enough variety in the kills. Nearly every fatal scene shows you slicing a bad guy at the neck or through the belly. Even the gameplay side of this could be fresher – you’re always pressing X and a cardinal direction for every fatal blow. We would’ve loved to have seen (literally, with this gorgeous art style) more choice in ways to off your enemies.

And second, Ninja loses its way a bit around two-thirds of way through the game with a mildly frustrating stage packed with platforming puzzles. It doesn’t last too long, but it is the clear weak point of the campaign.

Begone, pesky light bulb!

Still, forget about being among the cream of the Xbox Live Arcade crop – that much is a given. Mark of the Ninja is among the finest stealth games you can currently play. And if you need an extra anecdotal – but almost always dead-on accurate – verification of Ninja’s greatness? Playing it at the IGN office was like shining the Bat signal into the sky. Fellow editors kept walking by my desk, independently inquiring, “What is this?” in a curious tone tinged with pure excitement. The most common quips? “This looks amazing.” “This is from the Shank guys, isn’t it?” “The animation is beautiful.” And, finally: “Wow.”

It’s a head-scratching shame that Microsoft chose to give Ninja an atypical Friday release date, and with seemingly no promotion to boot. So let me do you a favor and shine a guiding light on this shadow-dwelling hero. Play it. You’ll thank me later, I promise.

Ryan McCaffrey is the Executive Editor at IGN Xbox. He used to own a DeLorean, which is weird. Follow him on Twitter, on IGN, catch him on Podcast Unlocked, and drop-ship him Taylor Ham sandwiches from New Jersey whenever possible.

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XCOM: Enemy Unknown Pre-Purchase Bonus Revealed

2K Games has announced that digitally pre-ordering XCOM: Enemies Unknown for PC will net you the Elite Soldier Pack free of charge.

The pack will provide a number of tools that allow more extensive soldier customisation in the upcoming game developed by Firaxis Studios.

These will include the Classic X-COM soldier, which sees the iconic soldier from X-COM: UFO Defense return fully modernized, Soldier Deco packs which offer aesthetic upgrades including the new Hyperion and Reaper soldier armor kits, and complete colour customisation for your squad.

The game will be available during the digital pre-sale for $49.99/£29.99. Additionally, the PC version of the game will utilise Steamworks features, including achievements, auto-updating, multiplayer matchmaking and Steam Cloud support.

XCOM: Enemy Unknown is a re-imagining of the original XCOM game released in 1993, and will be released on October 9 in America and October 12 in the EU. PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of the title will also be available.

Luke Karmali is IGN's UK Editorial Assistant. You too can revel in mediocrity by following him on IGN and on Twitter.

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NPD: Darksiders II Leads U.S. Sales, Big Month for 3DS

The NPD Group has revealed the top ten best-selling games in the United States for the month of August.

The best-selling titles for the period between July 29th and August 25th, in order, are:

1. Darksiders II (360, PS3, PC)**
2. New Super Mario Bros 2 (3DS)
3. Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance (3DS)**
4. NCAA Football 13 (360, PS3)
5. Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes (Wii, 360, NDS, PS3, 3DS, PSV, PC)
6. Sleeping Dogs (360, PS3)
7. Transformers: Fall of Cybertron (360, PS3)
8. Batman: Arkham City (360, PS3, PC)**
9. Call of Duty: Black Ops (360, PS3, NDS, Wii, PC)**
10. The Amazing Spider-Man (360, PS3, NDS, 3DS, Wii)

**(includes CE, GOTY editions, bundles, etc. but not those bundled with hardware)

According to NPD analyst Anita Frazier, no hardware platforms experienced a sales increase compared to last year, but 3DS and PlayStation 3 did sell more units than last month. 3DS XL is said to have represented 44% of total 3DS sales in August despite not launching until the 19th. “The current hardware systems are showing their age, so it goes without saying that it would be great to have new systems breathe life into traditional retail industry sales,” Frazier said. “I am anxious to learn more about the Wii U launch later this month. And with any luck we will hear news about other systems on the horizon.”

Software declined only 1% compared to August 2011, “pointing to a stabilization in that portion of the retail market” for games. “One factor contributing to the softness we have seen in retail content sales so far in 2012 has been the decline in the sheer number of new titles,” Frazier added. “This, however, was not the case in August because there were more new titles when compared to last year; titles with sales that were significantly better than last year’s launches. So, what we’re seeing impact August results is the domino effect of the light release schedule from earlier in the year. That lack of new releases has had a significant impact on subsequent month’s sales.”

Frazier also noted that accessory sales continue to be dominated by points cards and character packs for Skylanders Spyro’s Adventure. Frazier also noted that “You can’t talk about the gaming market without taking into consideration the growth in the number of mobile gamers on smartphones and tablets. Our recently released gamer segmentation research indicates that the mobile gamer segment of the market is now slightly larger than the core gamer segment, although their monetary value to the industry varies significantly. The industry foundation will always be the core gamer who spends 35 percent more on physical games than does the average gamer.”

Microsoft notes that 193,000 Xbox 360 consoles were sold in August, “marking the 20th consecutive month as the top-selling current-generation console in the United States.” Xbox 360 held a 48% share of current-generation console sales in the United States in August, with consumers spending $196 million on hardware, software and accessories.

This story will be updated when IGN receives statements from Nintendo and Sony.

Andrew Goldfarb is IGN’s associate news editor. Keep up with pictures of the latest food he’s been eating by following him on Twitter or IGN.

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Killzone Trilogy HD collection announced

Sony Computer Entertainment announcedtoday that they are planning to release a trilogy pack of all three main games released so far in the Killzone series. 

Killzone Trilogy will include Killzone, Killzone 2, and Killzone 3, but will not include either of the PSP games. As an additional bonus, the original Killzone will be upgraded to "Killzone HD" with high-res textures and a better frame rate. For those who already own KZ2 and KZ3, the uprezzed original game will be available individually via the PSN.

The trilogy pack is expected to hit store shelves on October 23rd of this year at the suggested retail price of $39.99.

Source : gamesradar[dot]com

Valve Will Charge $100 for Steam Greenlight Submissions

Valve has announced that submitting a game to Steam Greenlight will now cost $100. Steam Greenlight was announced in July and allows users to vote on which games they believe should be available for sale on Steam, but in an announcement posted on the Steam Community, Valve says there is “unfortunately a significant amount of noise and clutter being submitted, either as a joke or by fans not fully understanding the purpose of Greenlight.”

In order to cut down on that noise, Valve will be charging a $100 fee for developers to post a game to Greenlight. All proceeds from the fees will be donated to the Child’s Play charity, as Valve says “we have no interest in making money from this, but we do need to cut down the noise in the system.” The announcement notes that anyone who has already submitted a game to Greenlight will not be charged the fee retroactively, but they will need to pay for future submissions.

Valve is also changing discoverability in Greenlight, giving users new ways to find games that relate to their interests. “The next time you visit Steam Greenlight you’ll be shown a smaller, manageable list of games that you haven’t rated,” the announcement says. “This view is a mix of popular games and new games to Greenlight.”

Valve concluded by saying it’s “very interested in maintaining an environment that is fair and beneficial to everyone involved, and one that is fun and rewarding to join” and that it will “keep iterating on this system and updating as we learn more about how the community and developers want to utilize it.”

Andrew Goldfarb is IGN’s associate news editor. Keep up with pictures of the latest food he’s been eating by following him on Twitter or IGN.

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Joe Danger 2: The Movie release date revealed

Hello Games announced today that they are planning to release their upcoming follow-up to 2010's Joe Danger on September 14, 2012 on the Xbox Live Marketplace.

Joe Danger 2: The Movie drastically expands on the formula of the original title as Mr. Danger is given a plethora of new vehicles to ride after he finally gains his justly deserved national fame and begins shooting his own film.

The original title was one of the best downloadable games to be released in 2010, and can best be summed up as 2D Tony Hawk's Pro Skater on a motorcycle. It had its flaws (mainly a lack of variety,) and we're looking forward to seeing if Hello Games can solve these issues in the sequel.

Source : gamesradar[dot]com

Capcom President: New Strategy Ahead

Capcom's annual financial report has been released, and it contains some interesting information concerning how the company will make games going forward.

In the report, Capcom president and COO Haruhiro Tsujimoto said:

"We launch sales of popular series titles held by the Company approximately every 2.5 years. This is because the development of a single major title usually requires 3-4 years; in the event that there are few hits, it will be difficult to create a series title every year and earnings will be adversely impacted.

"For this reason, it is important either to maintain a large number of popular titles or shorten the sales cycle to ensure stable earnings. Among the multitude of major titles held by Capcom - such as Monster Hunter, Street Fighter, Resident Evil, Devil May Cry, Lost Planet, Dead Rising and many others - we will promote shortening of the sales cycle in pursuit of further earnings stabilisation and growth."

Tsujimoto went onto to describe how this increased productivity will be achieved. Firstly, Capcom will limit development teams to 100 members, with "multiple sequel titles [being] developed at the same time". The Japanese publisher will additionally strengthen its in-house development, increasing its staff by 100 graduates each year. It will also attempt to increase the number of titles released in a single year, "using a hybrid development model whereby the core portions of the project aredeveloped in-house by Capcom and the process-work is outsourced to outside development companies".

While he didn't have much to say about the next generation of home consoles, Tsujimoto did say that Capcom will be allocating around "20 per cent of development investment " into creating new products, including a "new popular next generation franchise".

So we'll get more Capcom games each year, and there will be less time between sequels for its more popular titles.

Are these announcements something to be happy about or do they inspire a creeping fear that quality standards could slip? Capcom seems to be making the right noises, reassuring fans that's its strengthening in the areas it needs to in order to execute this new strategy. But let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Daniel is IGN's UK Staff Writer. His development cycle was roughly nine months. Follow him on IGN and Twitter.

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Metal Gear Solid: How to Get the Movie Right

After years of false starts, that most movie-ish of video games is finally coming to the big screen.

An announcement at Konami's Metal Gear 25th Anniversary confirmed that Columbia Pictures are committed – with the help of superhero movie producer de jour Avi Arad - to bringing the adventures of Solid Snake and his cardboard box to life.

But with over 20 games, some truly bonkers plots, and creator Hideo Kojima's notoriously complex vision to choose from, it's going to be a tough job creating a coherent action flick that lives up to the bad-assery of its material.

Which is where we come in. This is how you make a Metal Gear Solid Movie….

Story

Think back to a time before girlyboy emo protagonists, homoerotic vampire sword fights, and the clunkiest dialogue this side of Darth Vader's "I don't like sand" chat-up line (see: Raiden's Metal Gear Solid 4 whineathon about how it rained on the day he was born), and the Metal Gear series was relatively straight-forward.

If you're attempting to introduce a whole new audience to the franchise (while still staying true to the original fans), you're going to have to strip all that back to focus on a solid, coherent and simple story - which is why Hollywood should use the original Metal Gear Solid as its key inspiration.

Even to this day, it stands strong as one of the best action games ever, and that's down to Kojima's then-uncluttered storytelling and artistic vision.

When a genetically enhanced renegade special forces unit, FOXHOUND, takes over a remote Alaskan island - with the nuke-wielding mech robot Metal Gear Rex hiding on it - it's down to cigar-smokin', box-lovin', grizzled secret soldier Solid Snake to save the day.

Not only is every hero and villain immediately iconic, but the character and stunt design lends itself to a series of set-pieces that would be just as ace on the big screen as they were originally - snow-covered sniper shootouts, tank fights, helicopter attacks, super-fast sword-wielding ninjas, and a blockbuster finale featuring giant mech attacks and a stunt-filled jeep chase.

Throw in plot twists galore, a pseudo love interest, and the whole brother vs brother/clone angle, and you've got a plot that straddles the line between Hollywood action blockbuster and loopy, sci-fi riddled ridiculousness with surprising panache.

Director

Much as we love him, even the most diehard of Metal Gear fans would admit that while his vision has made the video game series what it is today, handing creator Hideo Kojima the directorial keys would be a cinematic disaster.

Sure, everyone likes to joke about how each successive MGS is more an ever-lengthening interactive movie than a proper game, but just think about this; while he may be able to brainstorm (crazy) genius plot twists and stylish action sequences, it also takes him around 72 hours' worth of cutscenes to tell a story.

So where does that leave us? Kojima's expressed interest in Christopher Nolan taking the reigns, and considering that Christian Bale was once being lined up to play Solid Snake, that seems like an easy - if entirely improbable - win.

A more realistic, if potentially polarising choice, would be The Wachowskis. Erratic quality aside, they'd nail MGS' array of incredible action set-pieces, and they certainly enjoy tinkering in tales focusing on morally-bleak, sci-fi skewed worlds.

And if you want to go really left-field, then how about Clint Eastwood? This is a man who's more than a little familiar with grizzled, super-macho 'me against the world' heroes, and his increasing descent into grumpy old man OAP age could imbue Snake and his bleak future with a worldly, reflective and very dry sensibility.

Crazy as it sounds, he even makes more sense than your generic portents of directorial doom Paul W. S. Anderson and Michael Bay, as whoever steers the good ship MGS will have to appreciate that it's a genre more inherently focused on stealth than kabloomy SFX.

Cast

Fans of the series are already lobbying for long-term voice actor and screenwriter David Hayter for the role of Snake. Seeing as he's voiced the character for the last 14 years, and has already written an unconnected script for a MGS movie, it makes sense.

But it's one thing voicing and another thing physically embodying an action star. We're going to go ahead and ignore the nightmare of a possibility that Hollywood could opt for a young, muscled lunkhead to fill the title role, and hope instead that they focus on someone a little more battleworn.

Get rid of his Yorkshire accent, and Sean Bean would be a pretty good visual and actorly fit, while Liam Neeson also possesses just the right level of gnarled, weathered batteredness to fit the part.

If they do decide to go a little younger, then a bestubbled Michael Fassbender could pull if off (and would have had prior video game movie success - we hope - with Assassin's Creed). Then there's Josh Holloway - a man who can woo an audience with even the slimmest of screentime (Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol), and who could double as Solid's long, blond-haired cloney nemesis Liquid with ease.

Elsewhere, we'd love to see Sean Connery come out of retirement for a turn as gunslinging Revolver Ocelot, Karen Gillen flying the action ginger flag as Meryl Silverburgh, Scarlett Johansson as Sniper Wolf, and nerd-done-good Fran Kranz as Otacon.

Video Game Nods

While plot, character development and proper actorly types are all well, good and important to a MGS movie's success, there'd be uproar if some distinctly iconic, and fanboy pleasing odes to the video games weren't included.

If the finished product doesn't have Snake sneaking around in a cardboard box, giant mecha robots, some sneaking through airvents, infra-red goggles, the Alert Mode (!) sound, codec conversations galore and - of course - someone melodramatically screaming SNAAAAAAAAAKE whenever they can't get hold of him, then they're going to have a hard job winning the fans - and us - over.

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To the Moon Steam release date announced

Freebird Games has announced that their well-regarded adventure game, To The Moon, will be coming to Steam extremely soon. The official release date being revealed today is coming up in under a week on September 7, 2012.

To The Moon is one of those games that constantly gets brought up in the much-reviled "Games as Art" conversations. It's an adventure game that plays with the conventions of the genre while dealing with themes like death and regret.

It was originally released in November 2011 and was created using the RPG Maker engine. 

Source : gamesradar[dot]com

Magic the Gathering 2013 Expansion Details

If you clicked on that headline I assume you already know how awesome the Magic the Gathering: Duels of the Planeswalkers games are. You've finished the campaign and unlocked all the decks in the 2013 edition, and now you're ready for more. Well, let's get right to the details of the upcoming expansion, then.

What's new in the Magic: the Gathering -- Duels of the Planeswalker 2013 expansion?

• Five new two-color decks
• Ten new campaign challenges
• Five new puzzle challenges

Okay, how much will it cost, Daemon?
$5, dear reader.

When can we play it?
This fall. Look for a simultaneous release on all platforms (360, PS3, PC, and iPad).

These are some screens of the new content:

Ten new campaign challenges.

Five new two-color decks.

Daemon is IGN's Senior Editor and his love of Magic is probably the nerdiest thing about him. You should follow him on Twitter.

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