NEWS: Xbox Live Free this Weekend

There’s an early Christmas present this weekend for those few Xbox owners who have yet to take their console online. Gamers will be able to avail of Xbox Live for free from the 9-12 of December.

We’re happy to announce that this weekend we’re unlocking some of our amazing Xbox LIVE Gold member features including Video Kinect, Facebook, Zune Video and of course online gaming, making them free for all users *.

This week we launched a new Xbox LIVE dashboard offering controller-free online entertainment through Kinect, making the Xbox 360 more intuitive and interactive than ever before, whilst connecting users to an ever-expanding world of games, movies, TV, music, sports and social entertainment.

Throughout the weekend, Zune Video will also be offering movie deals and free content to everyone. Visit Xbox LIVE and get a 10 minute preview of the blockbuster hit The Hangover Part II for FREE and enjoy up to 40% off amazing titles such as The Hangover, Green Lantern, 40 Year Old Virgin and many more.

To try some of these exciting new features along with all the other existing fantastic Xbox LIVE Gold features visit the Xbox Dashboard and log in to Xbox LIVE.

NEWS: Star Wars: The Old Republic

After much anticipation the release of what is one of the years most eagerly anticipated titles is but a year away. Available this day week, Star Wars: The Old Republic is sure to keep most gamers busy over the Christmas period.

After successfully concluding one of the largest-ever Beta tests for an MMO, BioWare™, a Label of Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: ERTS), is now making final preparations for one of the biggest entertainment launches of the year as Star Wars™: The Old Republic™ reaches stores on December 20, 2011 in North America and on December 15th in Europe. BioWare also revealed today that Early Game Access for players who pre-order the game will begin on December 13, 2011 at 6:00 AM CST, giving some players as much as a seven-day head start to their personal Star Wars™ saga. To participate in the Early Game Access program, customers must pre-order any version of Star Wars: The Old Republic and redeem their code** at www.StarWarsTheOldRepublic.com/preorder before the official launch of the game. Pre-orders are still available in limited supplies at most participating retailers and via Origin.com .

Die-hard MMO gamers and passionate Star Wars fans worldwide are gearing up for the launch of Star Wars: The Old Republic. During the weekend of November 25 – November 28, 2011, over 725,000 unique gamers participated in a highly successful Beta test for the game, logging in over 9 million hours of gameplay. With two weeks to go until launch, more than 78,000 guilds have participated in the Pre-Launch Guild Program and over 2.4 million players are registered on the game’s official web site www.StarWarsTheOldRepublic.com . Critics around the world are equally excited, as Game Informer has proclaimed that “The Old Republic is poised to reshape the MMO landscape,” and MSNBC has said that “Star Wars: The Old Republic is looking strong and the attention to story is paying off in a big way.”

“Star Wars: The Old Republic is a go for launch on December 20,” said Dr. Greg Zeschuk, Co-Founder of BioWare and General Manager of the BioWare label’s MMO Business Unit. “We are extremely humbled by the surge of players who have joined us on this journey and participated in the Beta Weekend. Their participation has given us the opportunity to stress test the game and allowed us to tune the experience, ensuring that we deliver the smoothest possible MMO launch later this month.”

Set thousands of years before the classic films, Star Wars: The Old Republic is a story-driven, massively multiplayer online game challenging players with epic quests, featuring dynamic combat across iconic worlds in the Star Wars galaxy such as Tatooine, Alderaan, Hoth and more. Each of the game’s eight primary classes will enjoy their own unique storyline, all of which are fully voiced by a huge cast of actors and features a sweeping musical score.

NEWS: APB Reloaded Free to Play

After a rather disappointing launch the much hyped All Points Bulletin aka APB was quickly passed over by most gamers and considering that the servers were closed in September of 2010 the game was anything but a success. Fast forward a year and a quarter and the game has been relaunched as a Free to Play title available from Steam.

Gamers who download the title before December 19th are given the added bonus of 10 days free access to the Premium Pack which includes an exclusive weapon, extra experience points and a slew of other bonuses.

NEWS: 3DS Ambassador Programme Continuing in New Year

For those gamers unlucky enough to pick up the 3DS before the price drop there was some consolation with the release of the Nintendo Ambassador Programme which allowed gamers to avail of a number of GBA Virtual Titles for free. The first batch were released way back in September and today it’s been confirmed that the second batch will be released before the end of this month.

Five of the ten titles have been announced with news of the others expected in the coming weeks.

The five titles confirmed are:
Mario Kart: Super Circuit
Mario Vs. Donkey Kong
Metroid Fusion
WarioWare, Inc.: Minigame Mania
Yoshi’s Island: Super Mario Advance 3

NEWS: Skyrim Patch Breaks Game Even More

The Skyrim 1.2 patch which was released earlier this week has not been quite the hit we all hoped. Gamers are reporting a slew of new issues as well as old issues we had expected to be fixed.

The new issues include the game no longer recognizing magic resistance and dragons flying backward.

A full lsit of the bugs being reported can be found here and for those who have yet to install the patch it may best perhaps to wait until such a time as another patch is released.