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Nintendo has confirmed that they will be aiming to release Wii U titles as downloads and at retail at the same time.

President of the company, Satoru Iwata, has confirmed their ambitions for Wii U releases in his latest communication with investors.

Iwata-san explained, "We will start the digital download sales of packaged software so our consumers can choose either the packaged version or the digital download version of the same software from day one of the Wii U's launch."

He also revealed that they will not be revealing prices or release dates when they unveil the finished Wii U at this year's E3.

Thanks MCV.

Square Enix has revealed some of the Hollywood vocal talent that they have lined up for Hitman: Absolution.

ICA handler, Benjamin Travis will be voiced by veteran actor Powers Boothe known for his roles in 24 and Sin City.

Shannyn Sossamon has also been named as one of the Hollywood stars lending her voice for one of the characters in Hitman: Absolution.

An interview with both actors is up on the Hitman: Absolution official Youtube channel.

Square Enix has revealed details of new Legacy and Welcome Back campaigns to encourage Final Fantasy XIV players to come back.

Anyone who has played Final Fantasy XIV for at least 90 days between January 6th and beginning of 2.0 beta testing will be allowed Legacy status which will grant them an exclusive Chocobo mount and a 9.99 USD 30 day subscription tariff allowing up to eight playable characters per world and a maximum of 40 playable charcters.

There is also an entry level 30 day subscription at 12.99 USD allowing one character per world up to a maximum of eight characters and a standard level 30 day subscription allowing eight characters per world up to a maximum of 40 characters.

The Welcome Back programme will operate between May 9th and May 20th and will allow 10 days free play for those with lapsed accounts.

Shinji Mikami has been discussing some of the more broader aspects of the new game that he has in development at Tango Gameworks.

Mikami-san has taken a very hands-on approach to the development of Zwei which is his first title since Platinum Games' 2010 shooter Vanquish was released.

He said, "A true survival horror game is one in which the player confronts and overcomes fear. I've found my focus, and once again I'm striving for pure survival horror.I am very hands-on in the development of this game to ensure the quality is there. Rest assured."

Zwei is expected to be released some time in 2013 although Tango Gameworks has not revealed much more details on the title.

Thanks Edge Online.

A brand new reveal video from Ubisoft has shown off some interesting features that may be included in the brand new Rayman title, Rayman Legends.

The teaser video shows players placing figurines of well known Ubisoft characters like Ezio and the Rabbids on the Wii U controller that would then go on to directly affect the gameplay.

Rayman Legends is in development at Ubisoft Montpellier under the watchful eye of Rayman creator Michel Ancel.

Ubisoft released a statement explaining, "This video was intended as a purely internal demonstrative video, and in no way represents the final game, the final console or their features. This video was destined for internal production teams who often create game prototypes with work in progress development kits."

Thanks Gamasutra.

Today Valve has announced puzzle creation tools for Portal 2 in the form of the Perpetual Testing Initiative on PC and Mac.

The Perpetual Testing Initiative DLC will allow Portal 2 gamers on PC and Mac to build and share their own puzzles over Steam and even rate each other's efforts via the Steam Workshop.

The simplified puzzle creation tools are incorporated into the game itself and so Portal 2 addicts can build their levels without actually leaving the confines of the game. Selected levels will even be uploaded as part of Portal 2.

The Perpetual Testing Initiative will be available as a free download for all Portal 2 owners on PC and Mac from May the 8th.

Mamoru Oshii the acclaimed Japanese film director behind Ghost in the Shell and Avalon has directed a short live-action film based on Steel Battalion.

Steel Battallion: Gosha centres on a Polish Vertical Tank pilot who is in command of her own squadron of Vertical Tanks. As she leads them into battle she also has to deal with the internal conflicts within the squad itself.

The game itself follows Sgt Powers as he commands a VT squad of his own in the battle to recover the United States from a Chinese occupation in a low tech war-torn world of 2082. The Vertical Tank is the weapon that could change the course of the war.

The short film is set to be released exclusively on Xbox Live before Steel Battalion is released on June 19th in North America and June 22nd in Europe.

ZeniMax has opened pre-registration for this year's QuakeCon convention in Dallas.

As always, entry to the event is free but they have prepared several packages that will give avid fans extra bonuses and reserved seating for the event.

For 40 USD attendees will secure one of 500 Swag Bags which contains an exclusive QuakeCon BYOC t-shirt, a Dishonored Tallboy t-shirt and a special limited edition poster.

There are also two reserved seating packages. There are 1500 BYOC Select-A-Seat packages that include reserved seating and a QuakeCon BYOC t-shirt for 30 USD. For 50 USD you can secure one of 350 QuakeCon done Quick package which includes reserved seating, Fast Pass express lane access to the BYOC and every speaker, panel and public event and a QuakeCon BYOC t-shirt.

QuakeCon will take place at the Anatole Hilton in Dallas between August the 2nd and August the 8th. You can pre-register at the official QuakeCon website.

The Ukrainian studio behind the STALKER series, GSC Game World has been confirmed closed by their former employees.

All the staff of GSC Game World have opened a new studio Vostok Games and announced the demise of their former employer.

The death of GSC means that the latest title in the STALKER series STALKER 2 has been put on ice, most likely for good, due to Vostok being unable to secure the rights to the series.

Vostok Games' first title is to be a free-to-play MMOFPS called Suvarium.

They said on their official website, "Our company was born in March 2012 in Kiev. Ten years earlier, at GSC Game World, we started developing the renowned STALKER series, and continued work on it until December 2011 when the studio was unexpectedly shut down and the STALKER 2 project frozen. We did not reach agreement with the rights owner regarding the use of the STALKER brand, [so] we made the decision to move forward as an independent studio with a new project."

Thanks Edge Online.

Ubisoft are currently working on a new free-to-play entry in their WWII submarine series Silent Hunter.

Silent Hunter Online is in development at The Settlers developer Blue Byte offering a completely new submarine simulation experience using Flash Player 11 to create an impressive 3D experience in browser.

At the heart of the new game is the continuous Battle For The Atlantic campaign with all players victories having an effect on the overall outcome through asynchronous gameplay. Players will also be able to tackle missions in co-op mode for the first time in the series.

Blue Byte's head of production, Christopher Schmitz said, "This is the most innovative Silent Hunter experience ever created and we can't wait to let our fans dive into the game."

Valve currently has a team that is working on porting Steam and their Source Engine to Linux platforms.

One software engineer, Michael Larabel claims that he been told of Valve's plans to expand onto Linux in a visit to their Bellevue studio.

Gabe Newell is working as part of the team involved in the team with Steam and the Source Engine already working natively on Linux. There is even a version of Left 4 Dead 2 in the works.

It is also believed that Valve are looking for experience OpenGL programmers with a working knowledge of Linux.

Thanks Phoronix.

The moratorium that the EU re-enacted on games industry tax breaks has been lifted again allowing the French to continue to offer the relief that has helped their games developers to prosper.

This also offers hope for the UK games industry as well as it will allow the tax measures mentioned in the most recent budget to come into operation hopefully reversing the current trend of studio closures.

The European Commission has lifted the moratorium for another six years causing a large sigh of relief in the European games industry as a whole.

Chairman of the European Games Developer Federation, Guillaume de Fondaumiere said, "I welcome this important resolution for our industry. It will allow France to pursue a scheme that has proven very successful, in particular to relocate creative forces that had left the country. But more importantly for Europe as a whole, I hope that this extended window will now encourage other countries such as the United Kingdom to quickly put in place similar measures. Through this decision, the Commission has also confirmed the legitimacy of games as a form of cultural expression, putting video games on equal footing with films or books."

Warner and Monolith have launched the latest update for their Batman-themed multiplayer shooter Gotham City Impostors today.

The update features the usual assortment of game fixes, it features a selection of free bonus content designed to keep the game fresh for the players.

It includes the new East End multiplayer map, Bounty Hunter mode a variant of the Team Deathmatch mode where a team claims victory by collecting 50 bounties and voice customisation options for English, Spanish, Italian, German and French.

The free update is now available on the Xbox Live Marketplace, the PlayStation Store and the Games for Windows Live Marketplace.

The Top Gear car pack is set to come screeching on to Forza Motorsport 4 next week bringing another ten cars to Turn 10's sumptuous racer.

This pack features ten cars that demonstrate a cross section of cars from classic American right through 90's tuners to one of the fastest cars in existence.

The selection includes the 2012 Hennessy Venom GT, 1977 AMC Pacer X, 2011 Ford Transite SuperSportsVan, 2012 Jeep Wrangler Rubicon, 1966 Lotus Cortina, 1992 Mitsubishi Galant VR-4, 2012 Smart ForTwo, 1990 Subaru Legacy RS, 2012 Chrysler 300 SRT8 and the 1965 Austin Healy 3000 MK III.

The May Top Gear Pack is out on Xbox Live Marketplace on May the 1st for 560 MS Points.

Crytek are saying that they will be hoping to bring DirectX 11 quality visuals to the PS3 and Xbox 360 with Crysis 3.

DirectX 9 is still the current visual standard for the PS3 and Xbox 360 with DirectX 11 being reserved for high-end gaming PCs but Crytek thinks that they can change that.

Creative development director at Crytek, Rasmus Hjengaard explained, "We want to make sure as much as is humanly possible can translate from a DX11 variant into a DX9 variant, that will work almost as good on an Xbox console to whatever extent we can, because we don't want the experience to be different between the platforms."

"It is very, very difficult, but it is possible. It just requires a lot of effort," he continued. "Some of the stuff these guys are making work on consoles now is absolutely amazing. It's render features that shouldn't theoretically work on consoles, but they've managed to construct code that can emulate a similar thing from a hack and slash sounds wrong, but they don't have the same streamlined pipeline you would have with a DX11 structure, but they can get to a similar result just by experimenting and using tips and tricks."

Crysis 3 is due to be released at the beginning of 2013 for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC.

Thanks Eurogamer.