Assassin’s Creed II has finally gone on sale in the Indian market.

This game comes from the stables of Ubisoft.

This game is being distributed by e-xpress Interactive here in India.

The game is available on several platforms:

Microsoft Xbox 360: Rs. 2599
Sony Playstation 3: Rs. 2599
Nintendo DS: Rs. 1599
Sony Playstation Portable: Rs. 1599

Mass Effect 2 is going to be released next year on January 26.

This gaming title would be available for PCs and Microsoft Xbox 360.

BioWare has revealed some details on the system requirements and other information.

BioWare community director Chris Priestly said: “The boxed/retail PC version of Mass Effect 2 will use only a basic disk check and it will not require online authentication. This is the same method as Dragon Age: Origins. Digital versions will use the retailer’s protection system.”

Minimum requirements for the PC
- 15 GB hard drive
- Windows Vista SP1 / Windows XP SP3 / Windows 7
- 1.8GHz Intel Core 2 Duo processor or equivalent AMD CPU
- 1GB RAM for Windows XP/ 2GB RAM for Windows Vista and Windows 7
- 1x Speed DVD ROM
- DirectX 9.0c compatible sound card
- DirectX 9.0c August 2008 included
- 256 MB Video card (should support Pixel Shader 3.0)
- Chipsets supported: ATI Radeon X1600 Pro or greater; NVIDIA GeForce 6800 or greater

Intel and S3 video cards are apparently not supported officially.
NVIDIA GeForce 7300, 8100, 8200, 8300, 8400, and 9300 and ATI Radeon HD3200 or HD4350 owners might be required to upgrade to something more powerful to play this game.

Square Enix boss Yoichi Wada has stated that they believe videogame consoles with disc based gaming are going to become part of history.

He said that digital distribution and server based games would become more popular in the future changing how we play games.

He said: “In ten years’ time a lot of what we call ‘console games’ won’t exist.”

Wada added that Square Enix is already preparing for this eventuality. He further said that game distributors and sales firms would have to move on to new technologies if they want to survive in the future.

Microsoft has updated their Games for Windows – LIVE Client.

This new edition looks like a cosmetic update as no major new feature has been added.

It is available through Windows Update system connected to the operating system.

Changelog:

An update to the in-game client to support DirectX 11 for future titles, such as Dirt 2 from Codemasters.
An update to the downloadable Games for Windows – LIVE client software to make finding content for games easier.
Bug fixes.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 launch has set new records for the videogame industry.

Activision Blizzard has reported that they sold 4.7 million copies of this recently launched game on the first day of availability.

This comes to around USD 310 million in terms of sales revenues.

Industry experts believe that the game would sell between 11-13 million units by the end of the current year.

This is the latest game in the Call of Duty franchise which is hugely popular around the world.

Playfish has confirmed their deal with Electronic Arts.

EA is now acquiring Playfish for around USD 400 million.

Playfish is known for their social network games like Restaurant City and Pet Society.

EA said that this acquisition deal would enable them to expand their presence over social networks which are becoming the new hub of social gaming.

Barry Cottle, senior vice president of Electronic Arts Interactive said: “Social gaming, with its emphasis on friends and community, is seeing tremendous growth. This is the right time to invest to strengthen our participation in this space.”

Modern Warfare 2 is the most awaited videogame titles of recent times.

It would launch globally this coming week.

Activision Blizzard believes that the launch of this game could be bigger than the movie launches.

They have already set new records with the pre-orders for this game which retails for USD 60.

Market analyst Scott Steinberg said: “We’re already seeing it bully other name-brand competitors into pushing their release dates back rather than risk going head-to-head in the same launch window. Put simply, if you only buy a single game this Hanukkah or Christmas, this is the title to beat.”

This game has been developed by Infinity Ward and it would be available on all the three consoles: Sony PlayStation 3, Microsoft Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii.

John Carmack has admitted that they are unlikely to provide support for dedicated servers in their upcoming videogame title Rage.

Modern Warfare 2 is already a high profile game which has a similar limitation.

Carmack said: “It’s not cast in stone yet, but at this point no, we don’t think we will have dedicated servers.”

id Software has however still not revealed what kind of a system they would use for online gaming with Rage.

Carmack added: “The great thing is we won’t have to be a pioneer on that. We’ll see how it works out for everyone else.”

One thing is pretty clear however… This is not a good news for hardcore gamers who like to run their own dedicated servers for online gaming.

Mickey Mouse is set to become a videogame hero as Disney has announced a game for the Nintendo Wii gaming console.

Mickey Mouse would feature in the Disney Epic Mickey game that would be launched sometime next year.

Videogame creator Warren Spector spoke about this game: “We’ve pulled Mickey out of the world of cartoons which is where he belongs and feels comfortable and safe and we pull him into a world we call the Cartoon Wasteland.”

Disney Interactive Studios general manager Graham Hopper had this to say on this new game: “This started from a belief that I had when I came into this business a few years back, that we were not treating Mickey properly in the videogames space and that he had a lot more potential than we had unlocked.”

Quake created by ID Software Ported to Flash by Michael Rennie