If you love well done fantasy movies, you must also love the work of Guillermo del Toro. The Mexican director behind such great movies like Mimic, The Devil's Backbone, Pan's Labarinth, and most recently Hellboy 2 had been slated to take on the two-movie adaptation of The Hobbit. del Toro recently left that project but has written the upcoming horror film Don't Be Afraid of the Dark which is due out in January 2011.

However del Toro is also a big gamer and in a brief chat with MTV News he revealed that very soon there will be an announcement "with a big company" about the games he is helping to make. del Toro states, "It's not a development deal. We're going to do it. We're doing them." Sounds like there could be a reveal by Gamescom time. Besides saying that the games he is helping to make will be "technically and narratively very interesting" del Toro didn't say anything else on his future game plans.

At the very beginning of 2010, NCsoft shut down their free-to-play fantasy MMO Dungeon Runners. This week the publisher has decided to shut down another of its free-to-play games, the mech-themed multiplayer online game Exteel. In a note on the game's official web site it was announced that all global servers for Exteel will shut down on September 1.

The game launched on December 2007 but like Dungeon Runners it never seemed to catch on with a large enough audience. Indeed the announcement of Exteel's shut down was due to the game becoming "no longer financially viable" according to NCsoft. In late August all of the game's items will go on sale for one credit which will allow players access to any mech or weapon they want. Loyal players who have spent money on micro transactions in the game will be able to participate in a "loyalty rewards" program but details have yet to be announced.

[Via Blue's News]

Our review of StarCraft II is still coming along. We don't want to be first; we just want to give you the best opinion of the game.

• Kind of a spoiler but there's a familiar looking character that pops up when you check out one of StarCraft II's campaign maps.
• Left 4 Dead 2's latest bug update via Steam includes some changes for the Charger in Versus mode
• A new update for Stargate Resistance via Steam includes the addition of a new King of the Hill gameplay mode.
• Check out this chat in PC Gamer with Dave Johnson the creator of Counter-Strike's de_dust map (he works for Splash Damage now, by the way)
• Team Fortress 2's team discovers the joys of Minecraft.

Earlier this summer developer Realtime Worlds finally released the years-in-the-making shooter MMO All Points Bulletin. However the developer has hinted about another MMO game that was in the worlds. Today the cover was taken off that game as Realtime Worlds launched the official web site for Project: MyWorld, a game that from the looks of things is as different from APB as you can get.

What's the game like? The web site answers that with a question: "What would it look like if Nintendo built Google Earth?". The site proclaims that Project MyWorld is going to be "the next-generation of social gaming" adding that it will be a "virtual recreation of the real world combined with 3D gaming and social media." While the site itself is pretty vague the first video of the game, which you can check out after the jump, seems to show a cartoony-like city sim game with online and social networking elements.

Realtime Worlds is currently looking for a publisher for Project: MyWorld with the game itself set for release sometime in 2011.

[Via VG247.com]

Earlier today we reported that Ubisoft's RTS title R.U.S.E is confirmed for a release on September 7. Today Big Download has confirmed via an Ubisoft PR rep that yet another game from that publisher will be heading to PC hard drives on that same date. It's Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X. 2, the sequel to the near-future flying action game Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X.. The sequel will be released just 18 months after the first game shipped to stores in March 2009.

We have had some issues finding a PC version of the game available to pre-order at retail web sites like Amazon.com, Gamestop.com and Walmart.com. However Ubisoft's PR rep has told us the PC version will still be released to retail stores. It will also be made available as a digital download game.

Today some of you might have gone to the main Big Download site and not have been able to reach the site or download any files from us. We are very much aware of this issue and we apologize for those of you who have not been able to resolve the main site or download files today.

We are currently working to fix the issues and will have things returned to normal at Big Download shortly. We also will be adding more data capacity to the main site as well. We thank you in advance for your patience as we work to resolve the situation.

A European-based developer and publisher is dealing with some financial hardships this week. Gamasutra reports that Playlogic has filed for the equivalent of Chapter 11 bankruptcy in its native county of the Netherlands.The report states that Playlogic has admitted to being "behind on payments to some of our vendors." It also claims that it is owed money from its distributor Koch Media to the tune of 1.7 million euros and has started legal proceedings to obtain that money.

Playlogic's last game was the platform action title Fairytale Fights. While the game was released for the Xbox 360 and PS3 last fall, the promised PC version has yet to be released.

The latest in a long line of mini-expansions for Dragon Age Origins now has a title and a price. Fans of BioWare's fantasy RPG will be able to download and purchase the DLC, Golems of Amgarrak, on August 10 for just $5.

And what do you get for five hard earned bucks? You get a new mini-adventure for your character (you can import your existing Dragon Age character or make up a new high level one for this DLC) as he or she tries to "save a missing dwarven expedition in search of ancient secrets for creating monstrous constructs." If we were betting people we would guess golems like the two pictured above are involved. The rewards earned during Golems of Amgarrak will transfer over to the game's main campaign.

Fans of Battlefield Bad Company 2 are now able to grab the latest VIP map pack for Digital Illusions' recent first person shooter. The fifth such map pack adds Rush Mode to the White Pass level while the Nelson Bay map can now support the Conquest gameplay mode. It should be an automatic free download for players of the PC version.

In addition to the map pack the development team at DICE are currently in the middle of an event where players can play on servers with several Battlefield Bad Company 2 team members. You can check out more info about the event at the blog site.

Gallery: Battlefield Bad Company 2 Screenshots

We are about two weeks away from the start of the 2010 edition of QuakeCon, the free LAN event/consumer game show sponsored by id Software and their new owners ZeniMax Media. The August 12-15 event in Dallas has just announced the main tournaments that will be held for the show which will include a chance for anyone attending QuakeCon to get in on the action.

For the pro gamers, QuakeCon will feature the Quake Live Masters Tournament with 64 players competing in 1 vs 1 matches in id Software's free-to-play shooter game. The grand prize winner gets $14,000. There will also be a Quake Live Capture The Flag Championship where 32 teams of four players will compete with the winning team getting $14,000. Finally there will be the Quake Live Open Championship for 128 QuakeCon attendees. Registration for that event happens on the first day of QuakeCon on a first come-first serve basis. The winning gamer in that tournament gets $1,500.

Earlier this year we reported a sighting of an upcoming Tron graphic novel on Amazon.com. Now it looks like Marvel Comics will in fact be publishing the graphic novel as part of a two part mini-series that begins in October. Tron: The Betrayal is still going to be a prequel to the upcoming Disney movie Tron Legacy that's due in theaters in December.

Of course Tron Legacy, the sequel to a 1980's movie about a man sucked into a computer and forced to play games, is getting its own game tie-in, Tron Evolution. That game, which also serves as a prequel to Tron Legacy, is still due for release for the PC and other platforms later this fall.

Even as developer Netdevil gets ready to finish up work on the family-themed MMO Lego Universe, The Lego Group is working with another developer to release a digital trading card game based on the MMO. Today The Lego Group announced that the trading card game will be released in 2011, after the Lego Universe MMO will be released on October 26.

The trading card game will be created by Dire Wolf Digital, the recently launched developer based in Denver and made up of veterans of Sony Online's various digital trading card games. No other details on the Lego Universe trading card title were announced.

As people continue to play StarCraft II, one feature that has gone missing from the sci-fi RTS sequel is chat room feature. That kind of feature was present in the original StarCraft game. However there will be such a feature added to the sequel from developer Blizzard in an upcoming patch.

According to a forum post by a Blizzard community manager on StarCraft II's community web site, the chat room patch "will be based around groups, where you will be able to join public channels that are based around your interests." There are also plans to support private chat channels where friends can communicate with each other. There's no word on exactly when these features will be added to the game.

If you are not aware that StarCraft II has been released this week, well, you are just not paying attention to this web site. Blizzard's RTS sequel is finally out in stores and this week Big Download has been celebrating with some giveaways. You still have until 11:59 pm Eastern time tonight to enter to win one of three copies of the game itself provided by GameStop. Also you have until the same time on Thursday to enter to win one of three StarCraft II Zboards and a StarCraft II mouse pad provided by SteelSeries.

Today we are taking a small break from introducing new giveaways but stay tuned as we will have another StarCraft II related contest on Thursday and yet another one for Friday.

While our reviewer is currently playing the heck out of StarCraft II for our official review we thought it would be interesting to alert people to a somewhat hidden mini-game in Blizzard's just released sci-fi RTS sequel. In fact it's so interesting that, unlike other web sites, we don't want to spoil this small but cute surprise for those of you who want to play the game cold.

So consider this a spoiler warning. If you don't want to learn any more about this mini-game in StarCraft II stop reading this post right now. For the rest of you who enjoy learning about secrets, follow us after the jump: