Action

While Activision may have decided to delay the release of Blur from this fall to sometime in 2010, they haven't forgotten about the upcoming action-racing game from developer Bizarre Creations. Far from it, in fact, as Blur has been designated one of the official sponsors of Maxim's 2009 Hometown Hottie contest.

It looks like the 10 ladies who were picked as the 2009 finalists in the magazine's annual beauty contest are going to be part of the game's promo campaign. Maxim recently posted up a video showing the ladies being filmed in front of a green screen. Each of the finalists was wearing a t-shirt with one of Blur's power up symbols. We are not sure if the ladies will be incorporated in the final game product or if this is just for an upcoming game trailer. Still, there's nothing wrong with the finalists showing their . . .undying support for the game. You can check out the video after the jump:

In the quest to find a truly great movie-based PC game comes the forthcoming release of James Cameron's Avatar: The Game (yep, that is the full official title) from developer-publisher Ubisoft. The game, which tells a parallel story related to the upcoming (and, it has to be said, truly epic looking) sci-fi movie is due to be released on December 1.

PC game download sites like Steam, Impulse and Direct2Drive are offering their customers an in-game pre-order bonus that is apparently not in the retail version of the PC port. They consist of two weapons unlocks; the Dual Wasp for the RDA faction and the Fighting Staff for the Na'vi faction. In addition, both Impulse and Direct2Drive are selling a downloadable special edition of the game for $54.95 that adds six exclusive weapons and two extra character skins to the game. Again this special edition is not being sold in stores.

This week the GameTap online PC game subscription-download service has added the third person action game Damnation to its list of titles people can play for free with their monthly subscription rate. The game, released last spring, began life as an Unreal Tournament 2004 total conversion before it was made into a commercial game by the developer Blue Omega Entertainment.

In related news, the 2007 WWII action-strategy game Battlestations Midway is still free to play on GameTap until this Tuesday, November 24. Also two more games have been given 64-bit support; the casual game Jewel Craft and the historical RTS game Praetorians. Finally, next week's update on GameTap will come on Tuesday due to the Thanksgiving holiday.

In Dark Void, players are trapped in an alternate dimension after flying through the Bermuda Triangle. In this place, an alien race with a sinister plan to take over human civilization. As demonstrated by this trailer, the aliens come in many different varieties of looks and battle armor. Dark Void is scheduled to release in North America on January 19, 2010 and across Europe on January 22nd.

"Dark Void is an adrenaline-fueled blend of aerial and ground-pounding combat which centers on Will, a pilot who crash lands in the Bermuda Triangle following a routine mission. Will wakes up to find himself in 'The Void,' an alternate world resembling a primitive earth where aliens with superior technology are planning to take over civilization. Together with a faction of humans who have disappeared into the Void, Will takes on the alien race using their own advanced technology including a high-powered jet pack to defeat them and keep order in the civilized world."

Download HD Dark Void 'The Watchers' Trailer (197 MB)
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Usually Mac gamers get the shaft when it comes to getting native ports of previously released PC games. If they are released at all they usually are behind by months or even years after the PC versions are out. In the case of Star Trek D-A-C that's not the case at all as the Mac port of the movie-based game is now scheduled for release this December.

Transgaming is handling the Mac port duties for the game which was originally created by Naked Sky Entertainment. If you have a Macand have a hankering for some movie-based top down space shooting action, you can go ahead and pre-order the downloadable Star Trek D-A-C port for $8.99 at the GameTree online web site.

After reaching the top of the sales charts in the UK, Blood Bowl is now coming to North America. This free patch adds on a ninth all-new faction to the game existing game: the dreaded Dark Elves. The trailer shown above shows these devious players in action. Be aware that his patch is for the original version purchased directly from the official website, and not the one that's releasing on Steam next week, which already includes the Dark Elves.

"Blood Bowl, the imaginary forerunner of football, is an ultra violent team sport set in the Warhammer fantasy universe. It lets players compose a team of Orcs, Elves, Humans, Dwarves and many other fantasy creatures before jumping into the bloodiest arenas. The sport game is both strategic and violent. It requires tactics, a certain amount of game-sense and a lot of self-confidence."

Download Blood Bowl Dark Elves Add-On Patch (130 MB)
Download HD Blood Bowl Dark Elves Trailer (96 MB)
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Combine a upcoming game about a jetpack-flying hero with arguably the most well-known movie star on the planet and you might have yourself a good movie. Capcom certainly hopes so as it announces today that Brad Pitt's production company Plan B Entertainment has bought the movie rights to Dark Void, the upcoming third person action game from developer Airtight Games.

The press announcement states that the movie is being prepped for a "potential starring vehicle for Pitt". He's been known to delve into the sci-fi and fantasy genre before in movies like 12 Monkeys, Interview with the Vampire and (ugh) Meet Joe Black. No studio, writer or director have been announced yet for the Dark Void movie. In the meantime the game is due for release for the PC and other platforms on January 19, a few days later than the previously announced January 15 release date.

Games that are coming out soon have a lot of unknowns that the average person might not know. Who is this character inspired by? Is all the talk of volumetric fog or cel-shaded graphics really worthwhile? Do the game mechanics really seem solid, or are they lackluster? In All You Need To Know we provide information to help you fully appreciate what these upcoming games have to offer.

Feed your head after the jump.

Check out our collection of Assasin's Creed 2 related downloads here on Big Download!

Recently one of the biggest Australian-based game developers, Transmission Games, shut its doors completely even after releasing two major game titles in 2009. Now comes word that another dev studio from Down Under is facing layoffs as well. IndustryGamers reports that Krome Studios has admitted to "an undisclosed number of employees" being given their walking papers.

Krome Studios also just had a major game released for publisher LucasArts, Star Wars The Clone Wars: Republic Heroes. However that wasn't enough for the company to avoid a restructuring that caused Krome to lay off some workers. All is not lost, though. Krome's CEO Robert Walsh.states the team is "actively pursuing several business opportunities which, if secured, will enable Krome to reemploy some of the staff given notice."

The newest developer diary for James Cameron's Avatar presents players with the choices they have to make in the course of playing the game, which is mainly comes down to what faction suits the player best. Since there's no "good" or "evil" faction, just humans representing Earth's interest and the Na'vi looking to defend their native world, any sense or morality associated with choosing sides will probably be indirect. However, the play style will be considerably different, since humans will stick using high technology and heavy firepower to get what they want, while the Na'vi rely more on speed and melee.

The Avatar: The Game is scheduled to release on December 1st and the movie hits theaters on December 18th. A playable demo can be downloaded here.

Download HD Avatar Developer Diary Part 3 (154 MB)
Download James Cameron's Avatar: The Game Demo (1.55 GB)
Check out all James Cameron's Avatar downloads

If you haven't gotten the zombie killing fix you need from Left 4 Dead 2 then perhaps running down the undead with a heavily armed vehicle might do the trick. Developer Exor Studios previously announced their plans to release their top-down action game Zombie Driver last month and today it revealed the game now has a December 4 release date.

The $9.95 game will be made available via download sites like Steam and Gamersgate on that date and if you live in Russia it will also be available in retail stores via publisher Akella. Hopefully it will be just the thing we need to keep our training up when the real zombie apocalypse arrives.

Square Enix recently announced the return of the sadistic duo Kane and Lynch in Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days, a sequel to be published under the Eidos brand name. Now, no one expects that kind of announcement to come quietly, right? These two teaser trailers probably aren't representative of anything players will find in the game, but they show off some of the 'documentary style' the game will be adopting. The video above might provide some clues as to why the game is called Dog Days. Continue after the jump to find innovative uses for a bowling ball. The game is expected to release sometime in 2010.

"Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days is a raw and brutal crime shooter designed to take players on an even more intense story experience, following two of gaming's most disturbed criminals, through the gritty Shanghai underworld."

Download HD Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days 'Burgerjoint' Trailer (38 MB)
Download HD Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days 'Bowling for Shanghai' Trailer (38 MB)

In 2007, Eidos released Kane and Lynch: Dead Men from developer Io Interactive. The co-op themed third person shooter got mixed reviews, a movie deal and indirectly lead to a mass exodus of Gamespot team members. Now the newly renamed Square Enix Europe has officially announced that Kane and Lynch 2: Dog Days is coming to your PC hard drive, if you dare, sometime in 2010. Despite the recent name change in the publisher, the game will still be released with the Eidos brand.

Expect to see lots of shaky camera work in the sequel as the official press release claims that the game "is inspired by documentary filmmakers and the user-generated era." You can expect to see lots of bullets fly out as the duo cuts a bloody chunk out of "the gritty Shanghai underworld." Hopefully it won't cut a chuck out of a gaming web site's personnel this time.

Sales continue to show up on PC game download sites. Today we put the spotlight on some new items including some very nice bundle deals on some classic LucasArts games.

• Direct2Drive has two bundle deals filled with LucasArts games. One of the bundles contains five games (Armed and Dangerous, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, LOOM and Lucidity) for $24.95. The other bundle contains six Star Wars-based games (Republic Commando, Starfighter, Knights of the Old Republic, Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy, Jedi Knight II : Jedi Outcast and Dark Forces) also priced at $24.95. Both sales end on Monday, November 23
  
• GamersGate has put two games on sale (Tropico Reloaded for 50 percent off and Evochron Legends for 20 percent off) from now until November 23.
• Steam has a 50 percent off sale on the indie game AaaaaAAaaaAAAaaAAAAaAAAAA!!! until Thursday.

Assassin's Creed 2 released today for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 console system. A PC release is expected in 2010.

"Assassin's Creed 2 is an epic story of family, vengeance and conspiracy set in the pristine, yet brutal, backdrop of a Renaissance Italy. Ezio befriends Leonardo da Vinci, takes on Florence's most powerful families and ventures throughout the canals of Venice where he learns to become a master assassin."

Download HD Assassin's Creed 2 Launch Trailer (71 MB)
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