With Far Cry 2, Ubisoft managed to take the highly unattractive concept of running around in the jungle while nursing a case of malaria and make it awesome. But the game was far from perfect. Rough edges reared their ugly little heads far too often, as did every firearm-owning citizen of Africa – all of whom hated you, specifically, for no real reason. Fortunately, our utopian vision of Ubisoft’s corrupt, suicidally dangerous African state may very well see the light of day, as Far Cry 3 is officially in development.

“No I'm not," Ubisoft writer Kevin Shortt said when asked if he was working on Far Cry 3. "But I know the team are and what I've seen looks pretty exciting."

Unfortunately, Shortt patched up the leaky portion of his blabbing faucet right after that tiny tidbit – probably because a Ubisoft PR rep glared him into submission. As a result, we know nothing about the game’s setting or features, nor do we have any idea when we’ll find out more.

Which makes this whole thing kind of like ripping open our Christmas presents early. We’ve seen what’s under Ubisoft’s wrapping paper, and now we just want to play it this very second. Boy, sometimes we almost regret running down our time machine’s battery during that adventure that ultimately led to Hitler’s downfall. It’d really come in handy right now.

Do you play MMOs? Have you ever purchased in-game currency with real money, or whipped up an auto-pilot “botting” script for a character? Don’t worry – you can tell us. We’ll keep your dirty little secret. Just keep your voice down, because NCSoft might be listening.

“Over the last week we've been working on a list, we've been checking it twice, and today we found out who was naughty or nice. Ban Hammer Claus just came to town. When the servers come back online, nearly 16,000 accounts will have been removed from the game,” an NCSoft rep wrote on Aion’s message boards.

But, but… when we were kids, our parents told us that Ban Hammer Claus didn’t exist! He’s just a myth – like the Tooth Fairy and competently functioning Mac products!

But 16,000 bans don’t lie. From now on, we’ll be on our best behavior, with the help of a handy FAQ NCSoft put together. You should read it too, lest you wish to face NCSoft’s seasonally themed wrath.

Aside from one obscure little game whose name escapes our memory at the moment, WarCraft has been out of action since WarCraft 3: The Frozen Throne’s release back in 2003. Don’t take this world without WarCraft to mean that Blizzard’s completely iced the idea of a fourth entry in the popular fantasy RTS series, though. Just be prepared to wait a tick before scratching your orc-commanding, night elf-outsmarting itch.

"Warcraft 4 is certainly something that gets talked about on a pretty regular basis," Blizzard’s J. Allen Brack said in an interview with AusGamers. "While I think we're all excited about a Warcraft 4, in concept, [the WarCraft 3 team is] going to finish up StarCraft 2, and then they're going to work on the two StarCraft expansions that we've announced, so they're booked for the next few years."

And though he stopped just short of nailing the team to the project, Brack did say that "it does sort of make sense."

Another Blizzard game, another tremendous wait. But at least we can while away the, well, years until Diablo III’s launch with Torchlight. As for WarCraft 4, though... hey Runic, ever think about making an RTS?

In our experience, DLC usually serves as the thin mint after a fulfilling game experience. Problem: At our current rate of progress, we’re on track to finish Dragon Age by next holiday season. But, for those of you who haven’t been diagnosed with chronic slowpoke syndrome, BioWare’s putting a fresh helping of content on your already stacked holiday gaming plate.

The new mini-arc “summons players to a new quest in which they will return to the fateful battleground in Ostagar where the Grey Wardens were nearly wiped out. Players will discover King Cailan’s top-secret political agenda and go behind enemy lines to revisit a place that many feared had been lost to history.”
 
It’s going for 400 BioWare Points, or $5.00. For now, BioWare’s keeping mum on release specifics, only saying to expect the DLC “this holiday season.”

Now if you’ll excuse us, we’re actually off to go fight the Blight at Ostagar right now. Oh man, that King Cailan is so dreamy. We sure hope nothing bad happens to him!

Single-player RTS campaigns are great and all, but matching wits with the CPU’s cold robo-logic is only enjoyable for so long. After the story’s curtains close, we dive straight into multiplayer and never look back. But – if Demigod’s numbers are any indication – we may be in the minority. See, according to Stardock, a pithy 23% of players even tried to march their troops across the information super highway in Demigod. In other words, many never even succeeded in playing a single online match.

“Demigod continues to sell thousands of copies weekly – enough to remain at retail during the Christmas season despite it coming out last Spring – but the number of people available to play online is typically less than 2,000 at a given time. This is in stark contrast to MMORPGs and FPS’s which tend to have very large online communities,” read Stardock’s report.
 
This, of course, is made all the more startling by the fact that Demigod doesn’t even have a single-player storyline. Future Stardock RTSes, however, won’t make the same mistake.
 
“Our conclusion is that strategy games that we make and publish in the future will support multiplayer but will not sacrifice the single player experience to do so,” Stardock noted.

Granted, Demigod was notorious for hobbling out the gate with crippling online issues, so that may have sent a few players back into the CPU’s cold embrace. Still though, the game’s been out since spring, so we doubt those early missteps are completely to blame.

Maybe we’re just so awesome at Demigod that we scared everyone else away. But, uh, we can’t play a match right now. We, er… have turkey in the oven! Yup.

(Phew. Only time of year that excuse actually works!)

Of all the crimes Activision could be accused of, extreme restraint isn’t one of them. If a property in its stable of games fattens its way into bonafide cash cow territory, you can bet that Activision will milk it bone-dry. But if you’ve ever tried chugging an entire gallon of milk, you know that people’s tolerance for the stuff is a bit lacking. Tony Hawk and Guitar Hero are already facing diminishing returns from consumer fatigue, and at this rate, it won’t be long before Call of Duty wears out its welcome – especially if yet another developer hops aboard Activision’s favorite money train.

The LA Times, however, is reporting just that. “Although Infinity Ward and Treyarch have produced sequels in alternating years since 2005, the publisher now has a third development studio working on future versions,” read the publication’s article on Modern Warfare 2’s launch.

As for this third mystery developer’s purpose, little is known. Speculation says that the series newcomer could be digging the development trenches on a Call of Duty MMO – something Activision boss Bobby Kotick has expressed interest in on multiple occasions. Or maybe Call of Duty: World at War’s ever-popular Nazi Zombies are finally getting their own game. We really have no idea.

Or – and this is crazy, but work with us here – maybe, after nearly a decade of working on the same series, Infinity Ward is ready to move on to greener pastures, and Activision’s called in a new team to pick up where the Call of Duty creator left off.

Naaaaah.

As part of a restructuring plan that involves – among other, less heartbreaking things -- laying-off 1,500 employees, EA recently placed nearly all of Mercenaries developer Pandemic on the chopping block.

Studio founders Josh Resnick, Andrew Goldman, and Greg Borrud are leading the mass exodus, with roughly 200 former staffers in tow. Pandemic’s still-twitching remains will be moved to EA’s Los Angeles studio, where games under the Pandemic brand name will continue to be developed.

If it’s any consolation, though, the development community is doing a great job of making sure Pandemic’s fine folks land on their feet. Among others, Gearbox is inviting former Pandemic employees off the cold streets and into the perpetually warm state of Texas.

As always, we wish the best of luck to everyone affected by this unfortunate turn of events. 

Surprising absolutely no one on the entire planet -- since damn near all of humanity was counting down the milliseconds until the game was clasped between their grubby mitts – Modern Warfare 2 now officially holds the record for biggest launch in entertainment history. We’re not just talking games, either. Books, movies, and music – none of them stood a chance against Activision’s not-so-secret weapon.  

Last year, Grand Theft Auto IV stole the show, moving 3.6 million units and raking in $310 million – all after a mere 24 hours. Modern Warfare 2 also lured $310 million from the safety of gamers’ wallets, but sold 4.7 million units. On top of that, Modern Warfare 2’s day-one sales came only from the US, Canada, and UK. GTA IV’s numbers, meanwhile, stem from a worldwide launch. Thus, all things considered, it’s a photo finish, with Modern Warfare 2 sporting slightly longer legs.

So, on a completely unrelated topic, what’s everyone playing this weekend?

The elevator up from hell sure is taking its time. We imagine that Mass Effect’s Shepard -- even with his eternal patience for cramped spaces, boring music, and upward mobility -- would be cursing up a storm by now if he were aboard that infernal machine. So just imagine how poor old Diablo must feel – especially now the not-so-loveable lug may have a “few years” left before he finally surfaces.

A recent Blizzard presentation listed Diablo III as arriving in the “next few years,” along with StarCraft II’s expansions and Blizzard’s next massively multiplayer cash cow. In store for “next year,” meanwhile, are StarCraft II and WoW: Cataclysm. The bottom line? No loot-grabbing and Satan-stabbing until – at the earliest – 2011. Unless, of course, Diablo III goes into full-on beta mode next year, but we’re not getting our hopes up.

Honestly Diablo, at this point, we’re thinking you should’ve taken the stairs.

Ever made a joke about how you’re going to trademark some ludicrous idea and sue the pants off anyone who comes within two inches of it? Well, for Tim Langdell, it’s no joke. He currently holds trademark dominion over the use of the word “Edge” in relation to any videogame product. There’s just one problem, though: Langdell hasn’t created a game since the early nineties. Now, nearly twenty years later, he sits atop his trademark throne, sicking his lawyers on such household names as (but certainly not limited to) “Mirror’s Edge,” “Edge Magazine,” and – most recently – indie game “Killer Edge Racing.”

Slightly less recently, EA attempted to strip Langdell of his precious trademark once and for all. And now, other developers are following suit, with indie developers currently leading the charge. The result? A hilarious protest campaign, wherein countless indie games have, in some way, changed their titles to “Edge.”

For instance, Fez is now Fedge, Critter Crunch is now Critter Credge, and Canabalt is now Canabedge. Also, a (huge) number of new games have been announced by a multitude of indie devs, like Edgeform: On The Edge of Insanity, EeeeeEEeeeEEEeeEEEEeEEEEEdge! A Feckless Disregard For Poopieheads, and – our personal favorite -- Edgeward McEdgington.

Now if only all protests were this well thought-out…

Facebook games like Farmville and Mafia Wars carry a rep for being diabolically addictive, but who knew they were just downright diabolical? Apparently, the productivity-whacking timewasters were birthed in a hive of scam and villainy. Straight from the horse’s mouth:

“I knew that I wanted to control my destiny, so I knew I needed revenues, right, f***ing, now. Like I needed revenues now. I funded the company myself but I did every horrible thing in the book to, just to get revenues right away," said Zynga CEO Mark Pincus. "I mean we gave our users poker chips if they downloaded this zwinky toolbar which was like, I don’t know, I downloaded it once and couldn't get rid of it.”

Fortunately, Pincus recently vowed to turn his games into sleaze-free zones, which will involve removing offers that ask for players’ addresses, phone numbers, and things of the like. 

“We have worked hard to police and remove bad offers. Nevertheless, we need to be more aggressive and have revised our service level agreements with these providers requiring them to filter and police offers prior to posting on their networks. We have also removed all mobile ads until we see any that offer clear user value,” Pincus said.

As a result, other Facebook/MySpace gaming companies -- like Offerpal -- have begun cleaning up their acts as well. This is especially surprising for Offerpal, who – before a recent CEO switcheroo – was vehemently denying its involvement in any backdoor dealings.

Honestly though, people, if you willingly gave your address and phone number away to a game called “Mafia Wars,” you only got what was coming to you. Just sayin'.

Initially said to be making a nuclear strike on our free time in 2009, StarCraft II’s beta test has officially shoved off into the murky, fog-of-war shrouded depths of 2010.

StarCraft II producer Chris Sigaty made the announcement during a presentation at Russian games expo IgroMir, much to the chagrin of the year 2009, which – after providing chronological sanctuary for a global economic crisis and the tragic deaths of multiple beloved celebrities – needed some sort of positive highlight to keep it from going down in history as the worst year ever. When reached for comment, 2010 had only this to say: “Neener-neener-neener.”

For the time being, StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty is still set to launch in the Spring of 2010. Could another delay be just around the corner, though? We sure hope not – but even if Blizzard decides to take its sweet time putting the finishing touches on its space-faring sequel, it’s not like early 2010 is hurting for major game releases.

Bad news, Guild Wars fans. You’ve been waiting patiently for Guild Wars II, and now, you’re being rewarded with – wait for it -- more waiting. In an NCSoft financial call, CEO Jaeho Lee laid out Guild Wars II’s path to completion, and unfortunately, the finish line’s still a long ways off.
 
“I believe there will be certain public events in the year 2010, at least a closed Beta test for those titles,” Lee told investors. “Commercialization will be expected, at this point, probably sometime in the year 2011.”

So, NCSoft finally breaks radio silence on Guild Wars II only to bring us this sobering tidbit. Huh. Whoever said “no news is good news” clearly wasn’t an MMO player.

Borderlands' first DLC expansion, “The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned,” is a couple weeks away from pulling your level 50 Borderlands veterans out of retirement… on consoles. For now, unfortunately, mum’s the word on the first-person shoot ‘n’ loot’s PC DLC.

“We will have information on the PC version at a later time,” a 2K Games spokesperson told Blue's News.

Shame, that. Our guess? The DLC’s hit a snag in the certification process. After all, that’s what caused the main game to trail the console versions’ dates by a week. We’ve gone ahead and asked Gearbox for clarification, though, so hopefully we’ll hear more soon.

Well, we now have absolute proof that at least one member of the PC gaming community wasn’t living in the hornets’ nest Infinity Ward stepped on when it announced that Modern Warfare 2 won’t support dedicated servers. Unfortunately, that one person is none other than id Software’s John Carmack.

“It’s not cast in stone yet, but at this point no, we don’t think [RAGE] will have dedicated servers,” Carmack told Variety’s Cut Scene blog. “The great thing is we won’t have to be a pioneer on that. We’ll see how it works out for everyone else.”

If it’s any consolation, RAGE is primarily a single-player game. But then, knowing id, we imagine that the game’s multiplayer component will still be better than most.

Guess we’ll just have to wait and see, won’t we?

Warhammer Online’s making an offer you can’t refuse. And that’s not because you’ll be sleeping with either a) the fishes or b) a horse head if you turn it down. (At least, we don’t think so…) No, the offer’s allure stems from the fact that it’s completely free! And unending! How can you say “no” to that?

Ok, so there is a bit of a catch. While Warhammer Online’s free trial may have done away with that “10 days” nonsense, your character still goes back on the shelf once he/she reaches level ten.  Also – presumably to prevent spam accounts – sending mail and selling items on the auction house is prohibited.

On the bright side, though, most of the game is streamed after you’ve bitten off an initial 1 GB chunk of data, so getting up and running is quick and simple. Almost as quick and simple as upgrading to a paid account!

Yeah, Mythic, was that good? Did we sell it well enough? Sure, we take check—Hey! Is that microphone still on?!

You’ve probably seen the headlines. They’re pretty hard to miss. After all, when two of mainstream media’s favorite buzzwords – “violent videogames” and “terrorism” – cross streams, things get messy. If you’ve somehow managed to position yourself smack in the eye of the media storm, however, here’s the story: Last week, someone leaked a scene from Modern Warfare 2 in which you, the player, take up arms and gun down some people. As a terrorist. And those people? Innocent civilians who just happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

And I’m perfectly ok with that. Why? We’ll get to that in a bit.

What I do take issue with, though, is Infinity Ward’s treatment of the whole fiasco. Moments after every videogame blog on the planet’s normal programming was interrupted to bring you this special report, Infinity Ward issued a statement. “Players have the option of skipping over the scene,” it read. “At the beginning of the game, there are two ‘checkpoints’ where the player is advised that some people may find an upcoming segment disturbing. These checkpoints can’t be disabled.”

Which is PR-speak for: “We’re afraid that the mainstream media’s going to tear us to shreds for this one, but we’ve handily built in this failsafe. You’ll never take us alive! Mwahahahaha! *Rockets into the sky using a concealed jetpack*.”

See, while stirring terrorists, innocent slaughter, and videogames into the same stew may initially leave a bad taste in people’s mouths, I think Infinity Ward’s taking a big step in the right direction. It’s a shame, then, that they’re so quickly scrambling to cover their tracks.

The rest is after the break!

Wow. Just wow. We already fork over $15 per month to play World of Warcraft, and Blizzard seriously expects us to drop more of our hard-earned cash on a couple of… Good Lord. They’re adorable. Here’s all our money, as well as a winning lottery ticket and our collection of first edition Charizards.

Lucky for our credit histories, though, only two pets are on sale at the moment. First up, there’s the Pandaren Monk, which – in addition to warming the cockles of our hearts – brightens the days of sick children. From now until December 31, half the proceeds from each $10 Pandaren purchase will go to the Make-a-Wish-Foundation.

Lil’ K.T., the Littlest Lich, on the other hand, isn’t so charitable. Perhaps that’s because he’s the spitting image of his pop, the evil Kel’Thuzad. Apparently, he’s even been known to “randomly wreak icy havoc on critters who dare to cross his path.” But look at that face. Omnipotence and iron-fisted dominion over all existence notwithstanding, all Lil’ K.T. really wants is love.

So, readers, Pandaren Monk or Lil’ K.T. – which is it gonna be?