Expansions

If you have been wondering when Sacred 2: Ice and Blood would be released in the US, wonder no more. The expansion pack to the 2008 released action-RPG and the last game from its developer Ascaron Entertainment before its shut down earlier this year, will be heading to the US via Steam on November 13. Pricing for the expansion has yet to be revealed.

According to the Steam pre-order page, Sacred 2 Ice and Blood will add over 30 hours of gameplay to the original game with two new regions to explore along with new monsters, items and a new playable character called The Dragon Mage.

This patch for Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising installs the Skirmish pack DLC expansion and addresses a number of gameplay issues. Content includes four multiplayer maps and two Fire Team Engagements. A full list of changes along with information about for the Skirmish pack DLC can be seen after the jump.

Download Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising 'Skirmish DLC' Patch (232 MB)
Download HD Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising DLC Trailer (91 MB)
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While BioWare's just released RPG Dragon Age: Origins is getting great reviews on its own, the same cannot be said of how the game has handled its promised downloadable content. People who bought the game were promised three bits of DLC for the game's release; a new quest, a new character for your party and a new suit of armor. But the process of obtaining said downloads has proven frustrating for at least some owners of the game.

The main issue is that players have to have an account for BioWare's new social networking web site and a separate account for the game's publisher Electronic Arts. Many owners of the game have reported via various message boards that they have encountered issues getting their DLC download codes to work with these accounts with some even having issues signing in with the accounts themselves. A message board post on BioWare's social site has some unofficial workarounds and troubleshooting solutions for these issues. However it's pretty clear that BioWare and EA are making lots of people upset with the number of hoops they need to go through to get the downloadable content they paid for.

Monte Cristo Games' city simulation title Cities XL has fulfilled its promise on delivering new downloadable content and today owners of the game can now automatically grab the first such content pack via the game's launcher. Every owner of the game will gain access to three new buildings; a high school, a small family farm and an official Ford car dealership (shown above) where your city's citizens can buy and drive several Ford vehicles.

If you are a subscriber to Cities XL's Planet Offer service you can get even more extra content including a set of Old England style buildings, three new maps and three new mega structures (including the Alcatraz prison). You can get more info on that content at the game's official web site.

This trailer showcases the new features that will be included in the first Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising DLC expansion, set to release tomorrow. The Skirmish pack will include four new multiplayer maps and additional fire team engagements.

Download HD Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising DLC Trailer (91 MB)
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Codemasters has been saying for a while that they have some major downloadable content plans for Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising. Today the developer/publisher of the recent military shooter announced that the first such release, the Skirmish pack, will be made available to download tomorrow along with the game's first patch.

The Skirmish pack will add four new multiplayer maps to the game along with two Fire Team Engagement missions for single and co-op play. The patch will also address a number of issues that have crept up since the game was released just under a month ago. Unlike the console version the Skirmish DLC wlll be free to download for the PC version.

In Siege of Mirkwood, the upcoming digital expansion for The Lord of Rings Online, players will have a chance to gather forces together and lay an assault on a Nazgul's fortress. The only question is: Are they ready to face such a powerful evil? Heroes will get a chance to find out if they have what it takes when the expansion releases on December 1st.

Download HD LOTRO: Siege of Mirkwood Trailer #2 (102 MB)
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Some of you may remember that BioWare hyped up all the downloadable content plans they had for the release of the original Mass Effect. However all we got after the game shipped was one downloadable mission and another release, over a year later, that added a combat arena. In other word, the hype didn't live up to the reality.

Now the hype has started again as Destructoid reports they have gotten a look at a quiz from Microsoft designed for retailers. According to their story, the quiz says that BioWare's upcoming sequel, Mass Effect 2, has plans for all sort of downloadable content after the sci-fi RPG is released in late January. The downloads are supposed to include small additions like weapons and characters all the way to new downloadable worlds and campaigns. Frankly we have heard this song and dance before. We will welcome anything we can get, of course, but in this case we will believe it when we download it.

This trailer gives an early peek at the upcoming expansion, Dawn of War II: Chaos Rising, which will add the Chaos Space Marines as one of the playable factions. The expansion is expected to release sometime in the spring of 2010.

"In Dawn of War II: Chaos Rising you will take command of the Blood Ravens and defend the sector against the Chaos Space Marines of the Black Legion. Purge the chaos filth and hold the chapter together as traitorous forces work from within to try bring down the Blood Ravens."

Download HD Dawn of War II: Chaos Rising Trailer (21 MB)
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Just in case you don't want to shoot endless amounts of virtual zombies, Electronic Arts offers you another choice of game that will also come out on November 17. Today they announced that The Sims 3 World Adventures has gone gold and will ship the same day that Valve's Left 4 Dead 2 is released. Besides the US it will also ship to 60 other contries in 22 language that same week.

This is the first of what will likely mean many expansion packs for the latest version of the people sim game. As the title implies, World Adventures takes your Sims to fictional cities in France, Egypt and China. People who register their copy get some extra content including 1,000 "SimPoints" that can be used to download new in-game items from The Sims 3 store. In addition to the expansion a new version of The Sims 3 will ship to stores the same day with added "holiday" themed content.

[Via email press release]

Developer Arcen Games recently released an all new 2.0 version of their sci-fi RTS game AI War. The game found a new audience thanks to its release via download services like Steam and Direct2Drive. Now it looks like the developer is using the game's higher profile to its atvantage as it announced AI War's first expansion pack.

Ttitled The Zenith Remnant, the game's official web site is taking pre-orders for the expansion for $12.95 and is letting anyone download their alpha and beta versions of the expansion right now for free. Only pre-orders will get access to the full and final version of the expansion which will have 80 to 100 new ships, four new map types and lots more. The final version will be released in December 2009 or January 2010.

[Via Blue's News]

Just as they did a year or so ago for the original Left 4 Dead, Valve has allowed people who pre-ordered the zombie co-op shooter sequel Left 4 Dead 2 to have early access to the game's free demo. Everyone else can download the demo via Steam on November 3 and the demo is expected to shut down when the full game is released on November 17.

As we did last year for the original game we are offering up some quick impressions of the Left 4 Dead 2 demo release which features two levels in the game's introductory Parish campaign.

The newest Final Fantasy XI add-on "A Shantotto Ascension - The Legend Torn, Her Empire Reborn" is available for for pre-order and will go live on November 9th. The new content re-introduces one of the most beloved characters in Final Fantasy XI lore, Doctor Shantotto, who also has a thing for rhyming.

Download HD Final Fantasy XI 'Shantotto Ascension' Trailer (14 MB)
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The Games Workshop based fantasy-themed sports-strategy game Blood Bowl has apparently become a big hit in retail store in Europe. So much so that the development team at Cyanide Studio has decided to add a new team to the game, the Dark Elves.

According to a note on the game's official web site the new team will be added into the main game as a free download sometime in November. The Dark Elves join the eight other teams in the game and will have their own star player, animation and even their own cheerleaders. In addition the full game will be re-released in Europe via download and in retail stores with the new Dark Elves team includes. Sadly, the US market is still digital download only with no retail release.

Sometimes you can actually get things for free if you wait long enough. That's certainly the case for Order of War, the recent WWII RTS game from developer Wargaming.net and publisher Square Enix. Today the game received an update via Steam that adds all of the pre-order content bonuses to the game for folks who didn't get access to them the first time.

Included in the free update are new units such as heavy bomber squadrons for both Allied and Axis sides, infantry mortar launchers, the ability to call in heavy artillery strikes and an additional survival gameplay mode where players have to fight off waves of enemies.