Blizzard Entertainment announced the new collectors edition for the upcoming anticipated release of Starcraft II. The game will be available on a DVD-ROM for Windows® XP/Windows Vista®/Windows® 7 and Macintosh®. The standad edition will retail for the MSRP of $59.99 and will also be available shortly after release for digital download through the Blizzard Store. The special collectors edition package will retail for the MSRP of $99.99 and will only be available through retailers. It will include the following bonus items along with the game disc.

• * The Art of StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, a 176-page book featuring artwork from the game
• * An exclusive 2GB USB flash drive replica of Jim Raynor's dog tag, which comes preloaded with the original StarCraft and the StarCraft: Brood War expansion set
• * A behind-the-scenes DVD containing over an hour of developer interviews, cinematics with director's commentary, and more
• * The official StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty soundtrack CD, containing 14 epic tracks from the game along with exclusive bonus tracks
• * StarCraft comic book issue #0, a prequel to the comic series
• * A World of Warcraft mini Thor in-game pet that can be applied to all World of Warcraft characters on a single Battle.net account
• * Exclusive Battle.net downloadable content, including special portraits for your Battle.net profile, decals to customize your units in-game, and a visually unique version of the terran Thor unit

Also as a reminder, Starcraft II will require an active internet connection to play.

2k Games also announced recently that Civilization Revolution App for iPad in which the iPad releases on April 3rd for $499 USD.

"Sid Meier’s Civilization Revolution is already a huge success for 2K Games," said Christoph Hartmann, president of 2K. "Now, the iPad’s large Multi-Touch screen and impressive capabilities allow for high resolution graphics; a larger viewing and playing area; and expanded gameplay functionality that extend the addictive ‘just one more turn’ gameplay that has been synonymous with the Civilization series for decades.” 

"We’re excited to deliver our signature strategy game at the launch of the revolutionary iPad," said Sid Meier, director of creative development at Firaxis Games. “The popularity of Civilization Revolution on the iPhone and the Nintendo DS™ is a clear indicator that people want to play Civ wherever and whenever they want. We’re happy to be able to give them that opportunity with iPad.” 

The Sid Meier’s Civilization Revolution App for iPad is available for $12.99 from the App Store on iPad or at www.itunes.com/appstore/.

Civilization Revolution is already available on store shelves for consoles and PC.

Coming exclusively for PC this time around, 2k Games revealed some new info regarding a new Extreme Diplomacy mode for the title.

An Uber Edition of Sid Meier's Civilization V will include an optional eight-button joystick to bring the classic fighting arcade game feel to these Extreme Diplomacy battles. Additionally, each world leader will have unique special attacks and finishing moves, including: 

• George Washington's Uncle Slam Attack
• Oda Nobunaga's Tsunami Train Attack
• Otto von Bismarck's Hurricane Helmet Spike Attack
• Ramesses II's Phalanx of the Leopard Army
• Montezuma's Revenge of the Aztec Army
• Napoleon's Complex Military Strike

The screenshot above should give you a pretty good idea of what its going to be like so you shouldn't be too confused.

Black Box, a studio of Electronic Arts, announced today the closed beta for Need for Speed World, a massively multiplayer onlineaction  racing game. Over the next few months thousands of players will have their chance to get one of the limited slots in the PC beta.

All this week, the Game Developers Conference will be taking place in San Francisco and we got some news for you PC gamers out there. The OnLive team has announced tha the OnLive service will be available starting June 17th and will require a 15 dollar per month service fee. However, if you are one of the first 25,000 people to sign up, they will waive the frist three months free of charge for you. Any game purchase or rental will carry a seperate charge, however, on top of the service fee.

If you want to get a leg up on the registering, you can pre-register to qualify for the first 25,000 by going here.

Source: Joystiq

Turbine announced today the release of the newest Volume in the MMO Lord of the Rings Online with Volume III: Allies of the King. Subscribers are now able to experience Book 1: Oath of the Rangers, which introduces new features to the popular Skirmish system.

More information after the jump.

Valve Software has today announced that users of their online game distribution system, Steam, will be able to opt-in to the beta test of their new user interface. The opt-in is available immediately to all steam users and can be enabled by going to File, Settings and clicking on "UI Update" under Beta Participation.

"We made hundreds of changes to the Steam client as a result of customer feedback on the interface, performance, and functionality," said John Cook, Director of Steam Development at Valve. "For example, we swapped out the Internet Explorer rendering engine with WebKit, which gives us a bunch of size, stability and performance benefits. This release of Steam leaves us well prepared for another year of strong growth."

More information after the jump or at www.steamgames.com.

What has porbably taken up more time in your life then any MMORPG could ever do, Sid Meier has announced it's latest iteration in his Civilization series with Civ 5. The new game will features a ton of new updates including a new engine being built from the ground up.

Civilization V takes this definitive strategy game series in new directions with the introduction of hexagon tiles allowing for deeper strategy, more realistic gameplay and stunning organic landscapes for players to explore as they expand their empire. The brand new engine orchestrates a spectacular visual experience that brings players closer to the Civ experience than ever, featuring fully animated leaders interacting with players from a screen-filling diplomatic scene and speaking in their native language for the first time. Wars between empires feel massive as armies dominate the landscape, and combat is more exciting and intense than ever before. The addition of ranged bombardment allows players to fire weapons from behind the front lines, challenging players to develop clever new strategies to guarantee victory on the battlefield. In addition to the new gameplay features debuting in Civilization V, an extensive suite of community, modding and multiplayer elements will also make an appearance.

Check out the other screenshots below. The game will be hitting store shelves this Fall.

Blizzard has sent along word to us that the closed beta for the upcoming release of Starcraft 2 is now starting. This is the first phase of Beta testing and gamers should have received their invitations already to begin downloading.

"Gathering concentrated feedback from our players is an important step for us as we head into the final stretch of development for StarCraft II and the new Battle.net service," said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. "We look forward to having our players' help in polishing the overall experience and preparing for launch."

The game is slated to ship in the first quarter of 2010 for PC. The beta download rings in at 1.64 GB and you can download it by signing into your Battle.net account.

The game that allowed you to create a live a virutal life has officially turned 10 years old today. The original Sims made its debut on Febuary 4th, 2000 and since then has grown with numerous sequels and expansions. It's one of the best selling PC games and has generated around $2.5 Billion in revenue in the same class as movies like Avatar, Titanic and even The Matrix Trilogy.

The success of The Sims is something gamers and the gaming business as a whole can be proud of. With its charming and quirky style, lovely emergent game mechanics and user created creativity that delights every day, The Sims is a game that can be enjoyed by everybody and reflects what you put into it," explained Rod Humble, Head of the EA Play label. "The future of The Sims is going to be a lot of fun; it is rare for an entertainment franchise to be gaining momentum a decade after release, so this is a particularly pleasant moment for everyone who has worked on the games."

Congratualtions Sims players and EA Games alike....the franchise is starting to become one of the longest running. Here's a toast as I'm sure we'll find out soon enough what the next expansion or sequel will be shortly.