There doesn't seem to be stopping Twitter from putting itself in, well, anywhere and everywhere. Even playing an MMO game isn't an escape from those 140 character messages. A new third party program called TweetCraft has allowed people to see "tweets" from their followers while playing Blizzard's hit game.

And that's not all. In a new post on the Champions Online web site, Cryptic Studios' Bill Roper states, "We're really excited to get in-game tweet testing out to our beta players. This feature is in initial testing stages and will most likely have issues." Will we see "tweets" while we play Modern Warfare 2? We wouldn't be surprised.

[Via IndustryGamers]

LucasArts has been embracing its adventure game past with titles like the upcoming new Tales of Monkey Island and the graphical remake of the original Secret of Monkey Island. However are we getting close to the reveal of another revival of a classic LucasArts franchise?

Maybe. The LucasArts Twitter site has been teasing about a major new announcement coming on Monday for the past couple of days. What is it? The only clue given is this one: "It is awesome news for our old school fans." Hmmm...a Day of the Tentacle revival, perhaps? Maybe an X-Wing/TIE Fighter revamp? We have our fingers crossed on that particular possibility.

[Via Blue's News]

Zombies. You can't seem to get enough of them in games these days. Titles like Left 4 Dead and its upcoming sequel along with Resident Evil 5, Killing Floor and more have all tied into the zombie-mania that's gripped pop culture lately. However over two years ago developer Techland announced a zombie action game that had a whole island of the undead to fight off.

The game, titled Dead Island (original, huh?), hasn't been heard from since the announcement but G4TV's blog site has posted up an update from Techland's Blazej Krakowiak who says their silence is all because the unnamed publisher of the game wants it that way. He states, "All we are allowed to say is that the game is in development and doing great and that all future updates regarding the game will come directly from the publisher." The game's official web site, as you can see above, has a note saying it's under reconstruction. Let's hope the work proceeds quickly.

There hasn't been much news on BioShock 2 since it's E3 demo last month but the game's community site has been busy given gamers a glimpse of how the developers at 2K Marin created the looks of some of the game's main characters. The image you can see above is one of the first concept for the player's character, the first "Big Daddy" that became one of the most well known characters in the first game.

The community site also has some concept artworks for the Big Daddy's constant compainions the Little Sisters which will get some changes in their looks for the sequel. Of course the final visuals will be see in BioShock 2 itself when 2K Games ships it out this fall.

Happy Independence Day! To celebrate the US Army has released a new patch for America's Army 3, which fixes a number of issues with the game and improves the overall experience for the recently released free multiplayer first person shooter. The patch can be automatically downloaded and installed through the Deploy Client when the game is launched. A full list of changes is shown after the jump.

Download the America's Army 3 Deploy Client (273 KB)
Check out all America's Army 3 downloads

A number of fans express their displeasure over the fact that Valve had decided to release a sequel to their 2008 shooter Left 4 Dead less than a year after the original. But does Valve have something up their sleeve that could merge the two games in some way?

In a new chat with Valve marketing head Doug Lombardi at our sister site Joystiq, he states, " . . .it's definitely a goal of ours to have cross-operability for those who own both games." He points out that mod makers who are currently making levels for Left 4 Dead will have little trouble making those levels work for the sequel when it comes out. He added, " . . . that's stuff we're still really working out and we're not prepared to disclose just yet. We understand that the best possible scenario is to keep everyone together in the same community and treat it as a platform . . . "

Meanwhile despite the Internet furor over Left 4 Dead 2, Lombardi tells Eurogamer that the sequel is already secured twice as many pre-order copies as the first game did at this time last year.

The retail gaming web site GoGamer.com is at it again with its latest price cut sale. This particular one lasts until 3 am Tuesday and is filled with lots of PC games, both new and old. Perhaps the one that will generate the most interest is Left 4 Dead which can be picked up for $29.90 during the sale.

Other games on sale at GoGamer include the just released Overlord 2 for $34.90, The Sims 3 for $37.90 and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen for $19.90. You can also grab some older games at rock bottom prices including Rainbow Six Vegas 2 for just $5.90 and the original Call of Juarez for a mere $4.90.

IGN's Direct2Drive site is celebrating the upcoming Fourth of July holiday with some big price cuts on selected games. From now until July 5 you can download and purchase Call of Duty 4 for just $27.95, Call of Duty World at War for just $34.95 and a Company of Heroes bundle (containing the original game and the two stand alone expansion packs) for just $34.95.

If you are a procrasinator you can wait until July 12 to get the following deals: Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion for just $14.95, the Game of the Year version (containing the original game, the Knights of the Nine and the Shivering Isles expansions and all of the official DLC content) for just $17.95, and the original ArmA for $14.95. You can also get the original ArmA with its just released sequel ArmA II in a bundle for $60.

The Tribes-like first person shooter Section 8 is due to be released in late August but if you want a taste of the game you can head over to Fileplanet and download the multiplayer beta for the game. The beta is now available to all US and Canadian players with a free Fileplanet account.

Just in case you are unfamiliar with Section 8, it's a sci-fi first person shooter where your character is enclosed in a one-man battlesuit to take on the enemy in various planetary locations. It's being developed by Timegate Studios (who previously created two expansion packs for the original F.E.A.R. Originally to be released by the now defunct Gamecock Media, its now found a home in Southpeak Games.

As id Software prepares to say "good-bye" to their long time publishing partner Activision with their upcoming game Wolfenstein, the publisher is promoting its August 4 release with a series of animation shorts on Gametrailers.com that tells the back story of William "B.J." Blazkowicz before the events of the new game.

The first animated short (we might call it a "motion comic" since the animation is so limited) basically is a retelling of the original Wolfenstein 3D game, complete with a Hitler with multiple chainguns. Supposedly there will be new shorts like this released every week until the Raven Software-developed game is released next month. You can check out the video after the jump.

GoG.com has been busy this week adding four games to their line-up of DRM-free PC game titles. This weekend they have a special old-school game sale going on; no first person shooters or real time strategy or role playing games here. They have the simple fun of pinball games at a special price.

Yep from now until the end of the day on Monday you can download all four of GoG.com's PC pinball titles (Pure Pinball 2.0 Redux, Timeshock, Big Race USA and Fantastic Journey) for a mere $4.79 each. That's a 20 percent discount on their already low, low prices. This is not a bundle deal; you get the 20 percent price cut no matter how many you want to get.

Welcome to Freeware Friday, a weekly column showcasing excellent games that you can play free of charge!

Back in the day, PC gamers had two great shareware shoot-em-ups to choose from: Raptor and Tyrian. While many chose Raptor (whose full name is Raptor: Call of the Shadows), the clear winner in terms of care and quality is Tyrian. Oozing professionalism from every pore, Tyrian sports some excellent pixel art, music, and gameplay elements. It was also the launching pad for Alex Brandon, whose may be better known for his work on Unreal Tournament or Deus Ex. However, the original programmer, in a fit of generosity, decided to release the games as freeware, and the game engine as open source. Thus, new generations can be exposed to the genius shmup gameplay of Tyrian... for free!

Reality Pump Studios knows how to confuse us big time. Their 2007 fantasy RPG Two Worlds was supposed to be followed by an expansion pack called Two Worlds: The Temptation. However those plans changed and in 2008 Two Worlds: The Temptation turned into a full fledged stand alone sequel.

That game was supposed to be released late in 2008 but obviously that didn't happen. Now it appears Reality Pump is going old school by renaming their sequel. It's now simply called Two Worlds II with Reality Pump now promising it will be out sometime this winter. The game itself takes place two years after the original and the developer promises to show us not only new locations in the fantasy world of Eastern Antaloor but graphic engine and AI improvements . . . at least until their next title change.

With all of the networking issues in Demigod now corrected, its publisher Stardock can now put more emphasis on their next major game release, the internally developed fantasy strategy-RPG Elemental: War of Magic. This week, Stardock head Brad Wardell posted up some new screenshots from the game on it's official web site and we have added those shots to our gallery. It's been a while since we have seen new shots with Wardell saying, "We've been hesitant to show too many screenshots until the shadowing is in."

Beta testing for the game should begin "in around 60 days" according to Wardell so expect it to start around the end or August or early September. As usual with Stardock's games, anyone can enter the beta by simply pre-ordering the game now.

One of the big complaints about Left 4 Dead 2 from fans is that the upcoming sequel to the zombie shooter will basically kill support for the original Left 4 Dead. At the time of the sequel's unveiling at E3 last month, developer Valve made it clear that they still planned to support and add content to the original game.

While we still don't know what that content will be like, Computer and Video Games has a quote from Valve's Doug Lombardi who states, "There will be some announcements coming before summer's out about what's coming there . . ". Let's hope so; we don't need another online petition, do we?

Gallery: Left 4 Dead