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The folks atEurogamerhave spotted anAustralian Ratings Board listingfor an Activision game called Bloodhunt, an “MA 15+” affair that will feature “strong violence.” Beyond some speculation, that’s about all we have to go on at this point. Eurogamer points to a trademark for something called “Sledgehammer Games,” which certainly sounds like a studio that would make a “strong violence” game calledBloodhunt. We also think the game may feature both blood and hunting....

If you are among those who have been anticipating a patch forAliens vs. Predatoron your Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3, you can probably stop waiting now. SEGA has no plans to give you what you want. In a post on the official SEGA forums, Assistant Community Manager Julian Mehlfeld has revealed the unpleasant news: I’ve just received a mail this AM regarding patches for the console versions of AVP and I regret to inform everyone that these have sadly been scrapped....

Here’s some marginally concerning news for anybody looking forward toAliens: Colonial Marines. Despite being announced long beforeAliens vs. Predator, Sega has now stated that the release of Gearbox’s co-op Xenomorph shooter will hinge directly on the success of Rebellion’s crossover effort. “I think the detail of that [release date] is probably still too early,” explains Mike Hayes, Sega president and COO. “What I would say is it’s unlikely that we’d launch anything within six months [ofAliens vs....

To say Topware has been suffering from bad PR lately is to put it lightly. A number of anonymous sources have accused the publisher of attempting to influence review scores by threatening to blacklist any outlet that givesTwo Worlds IIless than a 7/10. If true, this paints a very grim picture of the company in an industry that already comes under fire for questionable PR practices. Topware has responded to, and denied, many of the accusations thrown its way, but there has been an increasing amount of these accusations from all corners of the business....

A number of analysts have discussed Activision’srecent killing of theGuitar Herofranchise, where they declared the whole series to be a “fad” and added thatCall of Dutywon’t go the same way, in spite of Activision’s potential to milk it dry. “I don’t think they are comparable at all,” said Michael “saucy biscuits” Pachter. “GHis a franchise that people buy once, because the peripherals are great. As it saturated the installed base, the only buyers were people who are new console purchasers, and the ‘fad’ appeared to wear off at the same time....

I defy anybody who reads gaming blogs to not know thatTransformers: War for Cybertronin the near future. Activision hasn’t been shy of promoting it and I certainly haven’t been shy of posting that promotion because I am a massive nerd who likes robots. Robots that turn into jets. And sometimes tanks. This trailer hypes up the multiplayer aspect which seems to be the main selling point. I tend to lean towards single player experiences, but the customization options sound really promising and I’m quite looking forward to getting online with this one....

The talented folks at Irvine, California-based Ready at Dawn have been quiet as of late. After dropping a solid original PlayStation PortableGod of Wartale and portingOkamito the Wii for Capcom, they quietly slipped away into their development caves. While we have no clue what they’re working on,Siliconera may have found a clue— a trademark for “SuperNormal” for use in a videogame. Ready at Dawn have yet to offer any clues as to what their next project will be, buta job listingover at their official site has them looking for a “next-gen” designer....

Videogames get the blame for almost everything — from gun and knife crime, to drugs, to simply doing badly at school. Now, conservative author Bill Croke has stained gamers’ hands with the blood of deers, elk and grizzly bears. Yes — videogame fans arenow animal murderers, who finish a night’s play session by going out and shooting woodland creatures for a laugh. “It’s a sickeningly familiar story. Two moose shot and left to rot … Two yearling grizzly bears killed … An increasing wasted antelope body count … Senselessly murdered mule deer left on the ground … All this has nothing to do with the legal autumn hunting seasons … it’s “thrill killing,” as wildlife managers call it … It’s actually a national problem....

Unsurprisingly,Batman: Arkham Cityis getting one of those fancy collector’s editions this October when the game is released. RetailersGameStopandBest Buyhave both listed the $99.99 set which will include an art book, animatedGotham Knightcontent, “early access” to downloadable add-on content, and a statue. The “premium statue” is designed byKotobukiya, and will “bring the excitement of the game into the real world,” whatever that means. Neither listing shows an image of the in-box goodies, but that sounds more like a diorama than a simple statue of the Dark Knight, if you ask me....

Media Molecule’sLittleBigPlanetwas once known as “Craft World.” The studio responsible forLBPrecently made public — viaits official blog— a flyer used to pitch the peer-to-peer design game to Sony. Obviously early in the design process, the flyer doesn’t have the same sort ofLBPlook and feel, but it does carry the majority of the promises, including the promise of players being able to create and customize their own levels “in glorious photorealistic PS3-powered 3D....

Hot off the heels of a rather interesting (and somewhat polarizing)single-player trailer, 2K Games has returned with yet another video, this time unveiling a brand new multiplayer mode, “Capture the Sister.” As you might imagine, this is a “Capture the Flag” style mode with a Rapture-flavored twist. Players will have to find Little Sisters, grab them, and then deposit them safely into a vent. Of course, other players will be trying to do the same....

Jack Ryan, the silent protagonist of the originalBioShock, could be seen as some sort of messianic figure ten years after his adventure in Rapture, according to creative director Jordan Thomas. The player’s actions inBioShockcertainly made Jack a powerful figure that changed Rapture’s history forever, and it seems his deeds won’t be forgotten. “His story, for the purposes ofBioShock 2, is over, in terms of his world driving narrative,” Thomas tellsMTV. “That said, the things that he did are being fiercely debated by the splicers, because we wanted to support any of the choices the player could have made in the first game....

IGN has a hands-on writeup on the multiplayer aspectBlackSite: Area 51, and the overall tone is pretty positive, aside from a couple of new developments. It’s good news that Xbox 360 owners will be able to play ranked and unranked matches, with full voice support, but PS3 owners won’t be as lucky. None of those features will make it into the PS3 version of the game. It looks like co-op gameplay for both versions was chopped: It’s also unfortunate that we must report that the online co-op that was promised for the game early on won’t make it into the final release....