Borderlands is set to receive a game add on pack, bringing two new areas and stories to the critically acclaimed RPS experience: The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned and Mad Moxxi’s Underdome Riot offer new enemy types, new missions, new game modes, new achievements and new… surprises.

Visit The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned, where the Jakobs Corporation would like to invite you to experience the splendour of a corporate owned small town known as Jakobs Cove. Any rumours you may have heard about the “undead” walking our streets are completely preposterous and we officially deny them all. If those rumours turn out to be true simply purchase a firearm from the conveniently located Jakobs Brand Vending Machines and aim for the head. Also, would you mind saving our employees (non-union only please)?

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Behold disciples of Nod, for the end is soon upon us. Electronic Arts' award-winning and best-selling Tiberium saga is coming to a powerful conclusion with Command & Conquer 4 Tiberian Twilight, which will introduce a multitude of innovations to the classic fast and fluid Command & Conquer gameplay, while retaining the core compulsions that fans have come to love over the series' history.

It is the year 2062 and humanity is at the brink of extinction. Tiberium, the mysterious, alien crystalline structure that has infested Earth for decades and served as the primary reason for years of relentless conflict between the Global Defense Initiative (GDI) and the Brotherhood of Nod, is close to rendering the planet uninhabitable. Mankind is on the verge of extinction when Kane, Nod's prophetic leader, emerges from seclusion to deliver GDI the message that he has developed a system that could control Tiberium and harness its power. But he cannot build this "Tiberium Control Network" without GDI's cooperation. Thus, the two opposing factions – GDI and Nod – inevitably find themselves in desperation for the same cause: to stop Tiberium from extinguishing mankind.

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Unless you’ve had your head stuck in a box of the plastic bricks for the last five years, you will be well aware of the presence of the series of videogames which has been reducing the heroes of our favourite movies down to tiny plastic figures who possess a considerably higher level of charm and wit than the actors who portray them in the films. I am referring, of course, to the Lego videogame series developed by Traveller’s Tales, which so far has released two (soon to be three) Star Wars titles, two Indiana Jones entries, as well as a Batman game. While the critical responses to some of the more recent of these games have begun to wane in their original enthusiasm, which seemed to peak at the first Indy game, all of the games inhabit an irresistible likeability, particularly when it comes to accessibility for all types of gamers and friendly multiplayer, which has you and a buddy cooperating happily, working in unison to solve charming puzzles instead of trying to blast each other’s heads off with a sniper rifle, which has been the general objective for the most recent cooperative games.

Now Traveller’s Tales next Lego game is on the horizon and it looks to be the best yet. While the main flaw with the series’ latest games has been their persistent inability to improve on the weaker elements of their predecessors, never seeming to even try and fix problems which were present in the first Lego Star Wars which was released five years ago, a lot of effort seems to have gone into this next game. And what could bode better than it being based on one of the most successful franchises in history; Harry Potter?

Focussing on years 1-4 of Harry’s time at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (which makes sense seeing as once Warner Brothers are finished with the series, there will be a total of eight films, allowing TT to make two games, each containing the content of four films), Lego Harry Potter boasts the biggest location ever included in the Lego series, Hogwarts, which apparently will constantly expand as your progress though the game. The latest two non-Lego videogames based on the Harry Potter movies have adopted a sandbox gaming format, where the character is free to roam around the massive virtual campus of the enchanted school. Presuming this game is going to follow the trend set by all the other Lego games, however, it can be assumed that this will have levelled structure. That’s probably for the best, really, as the two games in question were painfully tedious as you walked wearily from one end of the school to another doing boring tasks.

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Bioshock multiplayer probably wasn’t too high up on the list of things we wanted to see included in Bioshock 2 given that it was everything apart from the guns that really made the game (and its sequel) really stand out. Turns out that maybe we should have wanted it all along as it’s turned out very well indeed.

If you’ve heard that the multiplayer takes place before the events of the first game, then you heard correct. However, don’t expect to gain any more particular insight into the fall of Rapture as all it really means is you’ll revisit some familiar locations that have less rubble and destruction than you’ve previously seen. This time though you’re one of the psychotic Splicers.

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It’s All Coming Apart Nicely

If any first person shooter has what it takes to demolish the throne on which Modern Warfare 2 has sat so smugly these last three months, it’s DICE’s forthcoming Battlefield: Bad Company 2 with its so called ‘Destruction 2.0’. As fans of the original will already know, the BC franchise is predominantly defined by its emphasis on destructible environments in which players - no doubt with the wide-eyed grin of a blissful but demented pyromaniac –  can obliterate the picturesque scenery with an arsenal of heavy weapons and armoured vehicles. Indeed, in terms of gaming catharsis, it really doesn’t get much better. Especially when you find yourself using a grenade launcher to hollow out some urban, three bedroom town house in which your opponent pathetically cowers until all that’s left is a thin, two story façade you could probably knock down with one tap of your finger.

But, according to so many Bad Company reviewers, therein lies the rub. Because whilst it’s all very well to tear great gashes through windows and walls and drown your enemies in clouds of smoke and debris, BC was a game which never quite let you go far enough. Buildings fell apart yes, but never fully imploded no matter how hard you huffed and puffed with every powerful ordinance at your disposal. Instead, pre-determined pieces of debris would fall from structures like jigsaw pieces whilst, in complete defiance of real-world physics, large sections would remain insolently upright and indestructible.

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First off all we’ll just say you can read this review without worrying about plot spoilers for this game and its predecessor because we’re not cruel / stupid and can’t encourage you enough to go and play through the first classic game to fully enjoy this one. So there’s no need to read with one eye open from behind the sofa.

All you really need to know is that in the first game the player found themselves at the hidden underwater city of Rapture after a plane crash. Unfortunately everything had gone completely mental as all the citizens had been busy messing around with Plasmids that altered them genetically, giving them superhuman abilities. After taking it overboard, the Utopia fell before coming into fruition leaving its citizens wrecked of body and mind as they became known as the Splicers. Horrifically the city’s little girls, later dubbed the Little Sisters, were put into a trance and forced to collect Adam (Plasmid currency) from corpses. Players could choose to liberate them from this haunting nightmare or murder them to get extra Adam supplies. Well, after you disposed of their guardian first, the ominous Big Daddies.

The story now resumes ten years later but the Little Sisters and their lumbering protectors are still found wandering Rapture’s art deco halls, constantly wary of the threat of the Splicers. This time around you find yourself in a different part of Rapture and in some very different shoes. The huge boots of the first Big Daddy no less, who has been awakened to try and help… well, I said no spoilers.

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Puzzle games have a hard time of it, all things considered. They’re ignored by people who consider themselves ‘serious’ gamers, and ultimately overshadowed by the giant in their genre, known as Tetris. In fact, the puzzle genre is a good example of how having one truly popular video game can wreak havoc on the rest of the genre. It’s a sad trait of the last 25 years that many puzzle games can simply be described as ‘Like Tetris but...’, and a new game in the genre would have to be something truly different to avoid Tetris coming up at least once in a review. With that said, Magnetis is essentially 'like Tetris but' with magnets.

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Has it really been almost 17 years since I played Rocket Knight Adventure on the Mega Drive, a game that is one of the consoles greatest games, thanks to bold visuals, catchy music and fun-yet-challenging gameplay that still holds up to this day. Indeed it feels like it was just yesterday that I was completing it again and again, each time on a higher difficulty level. That was followed by the sequels, released on the Super Nintendo as well as the MD with the SNES offering more superior due to better graphics and better gameplay, though the MD version is still decent.

Point is, Rocket Knight Adventure and Sparkster were fantastic games and the series deserved to be continued. But for whatever reason, Konami decided to stop there and focus on other games and it looked like the rocket knight would never get a game as the years go by. Then all of a sudden, Konami announces that Xbox LIVE Arcade, PlayStation Network and Steam will be getting a sequel (being developed by Climax Studios), titled Rocket Knight. It’s as if my years of praying for such a thing were finally heard.

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The much anticipated release of Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City for the PC and for PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system is coming this spring – on March 30, 2010. For the first time, PlayStation 3 and PC players will have the opportunity to experience the last two thrilling chapters of the Grand Theft Auto IV saga together on one disc.
The two action packed episodes, The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony, will also be available for download via PlayStation®Network and Games for Windows®-LIVE on March 30, 2010.

In The Ballad of Gay Tony, players explore Liberty City’s high-end nightlife as Luis Lopez, struggling to balance the temptations of money and vice against loyalties to family and friends. The Lost and Damned is a dark trip through Liberty City’s seedy underbelly as outlaw biker, Johnny Klebitz, fights to keep his gang together as a rift in the gang’s leadership threatens to tear the brotherhood apart. Both episodes feature a slew of new vehicles and weapons, and each episode adds new activities including cage fighting, gang wars and BASE jumping.

Well I guess the saying patience is a virtue is true in this instance, but I wonder whether PS3 and PC owners even care. It’s like someone giving you there old toy once they’ve had their fun with it, but then again who can resist more Grand Theft Auto. Who knows when the sequel to GTA IV will be released, if you ask me Episodes from Liberty City was a long time coming to PS3 and PC owners. Not one developer or publisher out there can afford to make their games platform exclusive in this day and age, simply because no one is recession proof.

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Unlike other film franchises that release disastrous video game tie-ins just in time for a films release, Saw has taken it’s leisurely time to be developed into a video game. The question is has it made a difference to deliver the gut wrenching, gore gushing, terrifying and squeamish experience it’s motion picture counterpart conveys? 

Players take on the captivated detective David Tapp, who has been healed of a gunshot wound courtesy of Jigsaw at a price and placed in a murky asylum. In the first stage of the game Jigsaw rather kindly puts you in a locked toilet with a reverse bear trap on your head.

From here on in it’s very clear that the games have begun, if you manage to survive the bear trap you are presented with your first puzzle. In the toilet is a mirror with a set of numbers which unlock the padlock for a door.

Jigsaw now plans to teach you a lesson due to Tapp’s obsession, with perusing Jigsaw who is known for making people play his sick twisted games, which forces players to ultimately take one another’s life with no blood on Jigsaw’s hands.  

Tapp plays the biggest role in the game as you learn that Jigsaw has placed a key in your lower abdomen. The key plays a major role in the game of other people imprisoned just like you in the asylum, making you a moving target with a bounty on your head.

Saw follows the familiar pattern of it’s motion picture counterpart; Jigsaw has handpicked a handful of people who don’t appreciate life and plans to show them otherwise.

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As we only begin to catch our breaths after engaging in some mind blowing modern warfare, Treyarch are already hard at work preparing for the next Call of Duty release to follow the immense experience that was Modern Warfare 2. Although many will be disappointed by the absence of Infinity Ward in favour of CoD 3 and CoD: WaW developer, Treyarch, it is impossible not to get excited by the prospect of another Call of Duty game on the way, especially seeing as rumours suggest that we are saying goodbye to both World War II and the near future, and are saying hello to a new setting and war entirely.

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I’d been cautiously looking forward to the upcoming Star Trek MMO for a while, being a fan of Cryptic Studio’s previous efforts in the genre City of Heroes/Villains and Champions Online, despite never really being a fan of the overarching genre. Their games gave the player unparalleled freedom to create their own character in the world, and in a game with thousands of other people running around I believe that it’s a pretty important thing to focus on. As a result, I decided to take part in the Open Beta for Star Trek Online, due out 5^thFebruary in Europe and the 2^nd in America, hoping to see what the company had improved.

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All your votes are in and counted. So who were the winners of the Game Hub Games of the Year Awards 2009? There are a few surprises amongst the obvious ones.  Fortunately for all the nominees, nobody got zero votes (somebody got one though). So here are the Top 3 for each of the 13 categories:

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I’ve been a fan of light-hearted racing games since the days of Mario Kart on the Nintendo 64, so the upcoming racer Zero Gear had been on my radar for a while. Indeed, on the face of it, you’d be forgiven for thinking Zero Gear is nothing but an updated version of Mario Kart or Donkey Kong. The lovable characters are there, the brightly coloured race tracks, the random pick-ups, all featured first in Mario Kart. So is Zero Gear at all different?

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Everyone's favourite life simulation game The Sims 3 has a new expansion pack out on February 5th, this time giving you the chance to bling up your sim and their house with the latest in modern design, art, high tech gizmos and even a next-gen gaming system! So now you can play games, in a game!

Transform your Sims’ homes into sleek, edgy apartments with the latest expansion pack The Sims 3 Design & High-Tech Stuff. With a host of new items for the most lived-in rooms in your Sims’ homes, including slick gadgets for your high-tech home office, a next-gen gaming system for the killer game room, modern furniture for the most contemporary living room, and more, your Sims can now give their homes an ultra-modern makeover! After you modernise their homes, turn your attention to their wardrobes and give them an overhaul with sophisticated, cutting-edge fashions, if you like that kind of thing. Whether it’s your Sims themselves or their homes that needs a new look, The Sims 3 Design & High-Tech Stuff lets you catapult your Sims into a more modern, stylish lifestyle!

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