Valve is preparing to reveal 3 big surprises regarding future games over the next 12 months. The overall fan feeling is ‘about time,’ considering the current bloodthirst for Half Life 2: Episode 3. However, this announcement has never come, and considering the time between Episode 2 was released, it’s highly possible that Half Life 3 is on its way.

Tired of the same old white/black/red/blue/green coloured controllers? Is your controller just not as aesthetically pleasing as it once was?  Well, prepare to be amazed, Microsoft is launching a matte silver controller with grey face buttons! Wait, what?

In a recent interview with PCGamer, Game Newell spoke of the attempts by Hollywood to make a Half-Life movie. However, he stated that most of the stories sent to him were “the worst.” He also said that if anybody were to successfully direct this Half-Life Movie, it would be Valve.

Spoiler: They’re not that exciting. If you have any recollection of the Fallout 3 achievements you will see the similarity to these. I’ve never understood why people are excited about unveiled achievements, but I guess it helps people understand what they’re going to encounter. For instance, you’ll be looking for snow globes or something. It also looks like there’ll be a ‘hardcore mode.’ This probably means that there’ll be no HUD and you won’t have a grenade indicator, amirite?! HURR HURR…

Hot off the release of the highly anticipated Kane & Lynch 2, IO Interactive has just given us some details concerning three new multiplayer packs coming at the end of the month. The Multiplayer Mask Pack, Alliance Weapon Pack and Doggie Bag Pack will introduce more “tools of the trade” and some brand new heist locations. “Given the history of Kane & Lynch, we expected overwhelming interest, and the initial acclaim solidifies the ever-growing phenomenon and attraction gamers have to the characters and story,” said Niels Jørgensen, general manager of IO Interactive. “And we are proud to be able to extend the experience in the coming weeks with more maps, weapons and toys to heighten the tension and pressure of pulling-off a high profile heist.”

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OH MAN. Did you guys know that BioShock Infinite was announced? We did. Because we talked about it for forty minutes. If that game interests you, than our talk about it should interest you even more. If not, we still have some discussion on new releases such as Monday Night Combat and the end of the Medal of Honor beta. I also think this was a shortest show in a long time, here’s hoping we can keep the runtime down, for future episodes. Show notes:

Originally planned as a summer release, Crysis 2 has been pushed back to early 2011. According to an EA financial report, the crazily popular FPS sequel has joined many others being released in Q1 2011, the most notable being Bulletstorm and Dead Space 2. No detailed information revealing exactly why this happened has surfaced yet, but be sure to watch this space.

In an attempt to push Fallout: New Vegas, Bethesda have released an advertisement solely devoted to making fun of JRPG’s. As you can see, the image features many angry Japanese protestors bearing signs that roughly say: “Why play a game twice when there’s no change to the story,” “I thought you played games not watched them!” and “Wouldn’t it be nice if the main character had a mission aside from wiping out evil.”

It was announced today that none other than rock-god Alice Cooper recently went into the studio to exclusively re-record the track “No More Mr. Nice Guy” for the upcoming Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock. Not only that, but The Runaways also went in to re-record their hit “Cherry Bomb” for the game as well. These tracks will accompany the 20 other previously announced songs to make up a 90+ track set list, the largest on-disc set list for a Guitar Hero game to date.

Today we get to take a look behind the scenes with the developers of Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days, who explain the reasoning behind their revamped visual-style and gameplay in this newly released video. After playing the demo which was released just yesterday, I can definitely say that they’ve achieved what they were going for in the looks department. Also, there is an option to turn-off the shaky-cam aspect in the menu, which is good considering most people might not be able to handle it in the drastic form that it is. It certainly made me a bit dizzy with all the running.

The recently announced Transformers: War for Cybertron Map & Character Pack has just been released to the public for your downloading pleasure. This new DLC contains five new playable characters in addition to four all-new maps for multiplayer modes. “The fans have spoken and the response to Transformers: War for Cybertron has been colossal,” said David Pokress, Head of Marketing for Licensed Properties, Activision Publishing, Inc. “Our number one goal since the launch of the game has been to support the rapidly-growing online community, and we recognize the need for these characters and maps to continue the blistering multiplayer gameplay they have come to know and love”.

If you haven’t already added it to your queue, now’s your chance to experience some intense and gritty action with the new Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days demo. With a totally revamped visual-style, Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days is looking to add a whole new sense of tension to the action-shooter genre. “Kane and Lynch face the consequences when a simple job gone wrong sets off a desperate and frantic struggle to escape the entire Shanghai underworld. Ground- breaking art direction, relentless action gameplay and innovative multiplayer redefine the action shooter experience and positions Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days as the standout shooter of 2010.”

38 Studios recently announced an all-new single player RPG experience entitled Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, and have just released a reveal trailer and screenshots for the game. This new open-world role-playing game is set in the world of Amalur, a mysterious new fantasy world brought to life by the New York Times best-selling author R.A. Salvatore. This new world will feature a visual style created by none other than Todd McFarlane, creator of Spawn, and will be developed under the guidance of Ken Rolston who was the lead designer for The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind and The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.

A video interview series featuring “Dusty”, a real-life Tier 1 Operator, has been released to shed a bit more light on this mysterious group within the U.S. military. In “Part Three: Hammer and Scalpel”, Dusty goes over the type of person a Tier 1 Operator needs to be in order to succeed within the most dangerous and difficult missions. A small group of these elite soldiers, including Dusty who also appeared on the box-art of the game, were used as consultants in the production of Medal of Honor to make the game into a very accurate and relevant portrayal of their combat experiences.

Looks like Britain is gripped with Disney-mania, as Toy Story 3 has climbed the ranks in the UK video gaming charts, ending July 24. The game beat Red Dead Redemption and Dragon Quest IX, which is impressive for a movie tie – in game.