Godfather II: More Visceral, Strategic, Open in Feb.

As we mentioned earlier this week, the wraps have been taken off of Godfather II, in fact we'll be playing a bit of it next week.

Today, though, Electronic Arts officially unveiled the game which will go beyond the second film's story and have gamers take on the world of organized crime in 1960's Florida, Cuba and New York. After taking over New York in the first game, players will work to expand their organization to other cities through extortion, crime rings and wars with other crime families.

As Luke mentioned, the game will include an strategy-heavy Don's View:

To help players manage their empire, The Godfather II introduces “The Don’s View” – an innovative strategy meta-game that allows players to oversee the entire world as they grow the family business. Using the Don’s View, players will be able to build, defend and expand their crime rings, while keeping an eye on the movements and plans of the rival families. Players will also learn to master the business of organized crime by building a family of Made Men, hiring crew, handing out orders, and promoting their best men up the ranks.

The lengthy and detailed release is on the jump.

Divine Divinity Sequel Coming To PC And 360

To be honest, I never played the 2002 isometric action-RPG Divine Divinity or its first sequel, Beyond Divinity, mainly because of the game's name. I couldn't say it without bursting out laughing, which made going to a store and asking for it near impossible. Perhaps I'll do better with Larian Studios' upcoming sequel Divinity 2: Ergo Draconis. Taking place once again in the magical world of Rivellon, an uneasy peace is broken by the return of the demon. Rather than choosing a class, players will begin as a Dragon Slayer, slowly evolving into a legendary Dragon Lord.

As you can see from these first screens, the game isn't actually looking half bad. Of course looks are only about a quarter of what makes an action RPG, but they're definitely on the right track. Look for Divinity 2: Ergo Draconis for the PC and 360 in Q2 of 2009.

Far Cry 2 PC Specs Revealed

Ubisoft just unleashed the Far Cry 2 requirements for the PC version of the open-world shooter and the minimum requirements actually aren't that bad. The recommended requirements? Don't ask, I'm still trying to get over the realization that my one-year old computer is now officially out-dated.

Minimum requirements
CPU: Pentium 4 3.2 Ghz, Pentium D 2.66 Ghz, AMD Athlon 64 3500+ or better
RAM: 1 GB
Video card: NVidia 6800 or ATI X1650 or better, Shader Model 3 required, 256 Mb of graphic memory
Media reader: DVD-ROM
Hard drive space: ~12 Gig or HD space. (tbd)

WoW Celebrates The Olympics - New Tabard, Pet

So I am playing World of Warcraft last night and my more PVP-oriented guildies start linking these Competitor's Tabards that are showing up in their mailboxes after they finish playing in the battlegrounds. No one has any idea what is going on, and then this morning I see a story over at MMO Champion explaining that the tabard is part of WoW's Olympic event, which is the only reason I know the Olympics have started.

From now until August 25th, anyone who participates in a full battleground will receive the nifty ring-themed tabard. The pet, modeled after Olympic dragon mascot Sooty the Air Pollution Dragon, who I just made up, is randomly awarded to players who are on the winning team of a battleground. Being a hordie on the Ysera server, I will never, ever get one.

Olympic Tabard & Pet, WotLK Class Changes [MMO Champion - Thanks Kurt!]

More Details On New Company Of Heroes Online

Bionic Commando Rearmed Dated, Priced For Europe, PCs

Yeah, we knew when Bionic Commando Rearmed was coming on 360 and PS3 for Japan and the US (hint: August 13), but what about Europe? And PC owners? Well. The 360 launch is global, so that's August 13 again, but PS3 owners in Europe will be a combination of disappointed and totally unsurprised to hear that the PSN version has a release date of "TBC". On a brighter note, the PC release is also global and will also be on August 13 (through Steam, Direct 2 Drive, Gamer’s Gate and "more"), though it's also a little pricier, at $15 (console versions are $10).

Bionic Commando Rearmed Release Date: Confirmed for Next Week! [Capcom]

Damnation Trailer Urges You To Stay Calm

Games for Dummies

The Casual Entertainment Label of Electronic Arts has teamed up with Beanbag Studios to launch a new line of video games under the For Dummies label. What's that mean? Apparently a bunch of repackaged casual games with the words For Dummies tacked on after their name.

First up, Poker for Dummies, which teaches gamers to play Texas Hold 'Em, Omaha and Seven-Card Stud. Over the coming months EA Casual plans to release Solitaire for Dummies, Sudoku for Dummies, Brain Training for Dummies and Travel Games for Dummies.

I guess I'm going to have to see how this differentiates itself from the flood of other poker, Sudoku and travel games that have already flooded the market. Hopefully it won't just mean a bunch of bad black and white cartoons.

Blizzard, Show Us How Those Retroactive Achievements Are Done!

Sony adding Trophies to the PS3 is great for achievement whores. Sucks that you must go back and re-play your old PS3 titles to get those newly added Trophies. Blizzard is likewise adding achievements to the upcoming World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King expansion. But! Blizzard isn't making you go back and re-do a damn thing. Blizzard's new Achievements will be retroactive. So if you played World of Warcraft or The Burning Crusade before, you should be good to go! Explains WoW designer Jeffrey Kaplan:

ASUS 'Eee Stick' Like Nothing Wii've Ever Seen Before

The engineers at ASUS have done it again, unveiling "another world's first" with the Eee Stick, a new controller that "translates users' physical hand motions into corresponding movements onscreen." It's so fresh, so revolutionary, so ahead of its time, that we can't even begin to wrap our heads around it.

According to the press release, it comes in three parts, an Activation stick, a Navigation stick and a 2.4GHz RF dongle. We love anything with dongles. It also has three operation modes, perfect for sports, action, racing, flight and beat 'em ups, as well as first person shooters and light gun games. That's pretty much everything!

Well done, ASUS. Well done.

ASUS Puts New Twist on PC Gaming with First-of-its-kind Wireless Controller [Asus via NeoGAF]

KingIsle entertainment has announced the launch of the open beta for their family-friendly MMO Wizard101, which combines magical adventures with card-based spellcasting battles to create something that seems to have attracted a larger following than they originally expected. Never underestimate the power of rabid card-game fans.

"We more than doubled our anticipated beta audience for Wizard101," said KingsIsle CEO Elie Akilian. "It turns out that the solid game mechanics and whimsical fantasy environment appeal even beyond the tween audience. We've had a great response from testers that included everyone from grandmas who play with a grandchild sitting in their lap to twenty-something traditional gamers."

Not to mention thirty-something traditional gamers! Anyone and everyone can head over to www.wizard101.com right now, download the client, and start getting completely thrashed by children half your age. It'll be awesome.

From the moment I first laid eyes on Eternity's Child I was expecting something special. An ambitious little title from artist Luc Bernard, the story concept captivated me just as much as the artwork. Flooded planet and mechanized animals aside, Eternity's Child was the simple story of a boy seeking acceptance in a world that had no place for him. Of course many things have changed since that initial story. Main character Angel found a winged girlfriend, the game was announced as a PC and WiiWare title, and a dual-character control system was revealed, but it was still the same concept I initially fell for, wasn't it? Will Angel find the acceptance he so desperately seeks, or should gamers turn a blind eye to his plight? Hit the jump and weigh his fate.

An MMORPG I've been keeping track of for quite some time, The Chronicles of Spellborn will be making a showing at the Games Convention at Leipzig this year, and they want to bring a few fans along for the ride. They've just updated their website with the fourth installment of their extensive game timeline, and to reward gamers who've been able to keep up they've asked a simple question: Which Vhelgar have been revealed in the Timeline so far? Find the answer to the question among the game's lore and email it to gewinnspiel@frogster-ip.de along with your contact information and you could be among 15 lucky winners of a one-day GC pass. Of course you'll still have to make your way to Germany to attend, but the thought is nice. isn't it? Here's some screens from the latest lore update to help assuage the disappoint of those of us without the ability to make last-minute trips to Germany.

5211: World Braces for Crecente Clone Army

Last month NCSoft announced that they would be seeking out bits of DNA from gamers in order to shoot them off into space with Richard Garriott.

The idea is that Garriott is going to store digital versions of the DNA on a harddrive, codenamed the Immortality Drive, and store it in some dusty back corner of the International Space Station. This is all being done in case humanity gets wiped out and we need a human race reboot. Neat, Sci-Fi stuff.

Yesterday it became a little more real when I received a package in the mail. Inside? A DNA collection kit and papers to sign away my genetics to NCsoft, who I can't help but notice don't make any promises about not raising a Crecente Clone army or not populating mars with thousands of Crecetient beings.

Of course I want to send off my DNA, if only so I can tell people that not only have I been to outer space and visited the International Space Station, but that I'm still there.

Freaky DNA kit pics on the jump.

A violent storm leaves you shipwrecked on a mysterious volcanic island, filled with ancient temple ruins and swarming with bizarre creatures. What do you do? This is the question asked by developer Piranha Bytes in their upcoming RPG project, Risen. Formerly known only as Project RPB, the team has just announced the new name along with the back story I've already given you and the requisite quote from publishing partner Koch Media.

″Piranha Bytes have already proven their enormous talent for creating both enthralling and profound role-playing worlds. With Risen, the team presents a new exciting scenario providing a great variety of adventures, which will keep players glued in front of their monitors.″ says Dr. Klemens Kundratitz, Managing Director of Koch Media.

Right now the official site for the game features everyone's favorite suspense generator the countdown clock, ticking off the seconds until the game's really revealing reveal at the Games Convention in Leipzig. We'll let you know how that turns out.

Rockstar: GTA IV For PC in Nov

The rumors have been circulating for months, but today Rockstar officially confirmed that Grand Theft Auto IV will be hitting the PC on Nov. 18 in North America and Nov. 21 in Europe.

"We are very excited to be releasing the PC version of Grand Theft Auto IV," said Sam Houser, Founder of Rockstar Games. "The whole team is dedicated to bringing an amazing gaming experience to the PC. The game looks and plays beautifully on PC and we can't wait for people to play it."

It looks like the PC version will be ported by Rockstar North, though I've pinged Rockstar to be sure. I've also asked them about pricing, DLC and system requirements for the PC version.

Three years in development later, and EA has finally announced that Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning will launch worldwide on September 18th. Says Mythic Entertainment founder Mark Jackobs:

The countdown has officially begun. Mark your calendars! September 18th is the Day of Reckoning. For the last three years, the entire team at Mythic has poured their hearts into making Warhammer Online the next great MMORPG. We are so excited to open up this world and share it with the fans that will live in it, quest in it, go to war in it and make it come alive.

The game will launch its North American, European and Oceanic servers simultaneously, a MMORPG first. Subscription options include: US$14.99 for a month subscription, $41.97 for a three-month subscription and $77.94 for a six-month subscription.

One of our readers - who would prefer to remain nameless - installs PC rigs for a living. He helped install this one, in a government office, then proceeded to do what anyone confronted by twenty-seven 67" HD monitors would do - he played a ton of BioShock and WoW on it. For reference, 27 panels equates to a display that's 40 feet wide and 15 feet high, with a desktop resolution of, oh, 12600 x 3150.

UPDATE - Bigger version after the jump for all those asking.