(click to play the video) We have an exciting new giveaway going on with Play N Trade to give three lucky people an Xbox 360 Slim *and* a copy of the soon to be released Halo: Reach. Just visit avault.com/halo/ to enter and read all of the juicy details. The Giveaway is open to residents of North America only. The winners will be announced on the Avault Podcast on Thursday, September 9, 2010. The podcast guest on that show will be the Multiplayer Lead for Halo: Reach, Chris Carney.

So go Enter The Giveaway, mark your calendar, and listen to the show to gain all of the Halo: Reach knowledge you can get in advance of the game’s release and hopefully hear your name called among the winners.

Kalypso Media and Haemimont Games are accepting applications for the closed beta test of their upcoming action-adventure game The First Templar. The title features cooperative combat set in Medieval Europe, where players will find themselves cast in the roles of both an honorable Templar and a brave noblewoman as they fight to restore order. The game features both single player and co-op modes. When playing solo, the player can switch between the two characters, leaving the control of the second hero to the game’s AI. At any moment a second player can join in and take control of the AI controlled hero.

Ubisoft just announced that Bloody Good Time, a new intellectual property being developed by Outerlight, will be released via the Xbox Live Arcade and Steam this fall.

Bloody Good Time takes an irreverent approach to multiplayer shooters and will run on Valve’s Source engine. The game places players on a Hollywood set, where they get to choose their thrill kill. From a spring-break beach house, to a horrifying Vegas hotel, players will discover the merciless world of movie studios where anyone can star in a scary Hollywood blockbuster. The title will also include an option to link up to eight players online.

Paradox Interactive has revealed that Dreamlords Resurrection, a Free-to-Play fantasy based MMORTS for the PC, is to be the first title released under their newly formed Paradox Connect brand.

Developed by Lockpick Entertainment, Dreamlords Resurrection mixes real-time strategy into an MMO where the player assumes the role of a Dreamlord. Through a combination of both long term strategic planning and real-time battles, the Dreamlord must inspire and unite a small group of followers into a battle-ready army ready to conquer land, defend the populace against the Nightmares that roam the world, and band together with other newly awakened Dreamlords.

Christmas came early for one of our readers this week, and our Grand Prize winner, Austin Bullard, joins the team this week for episode #96 of the Avault Podcast. Austin regales us with the story of his receipt of the shocking news, and not only his, but his mom’s reaction to our founder’s early morning phone call. “Cabin pressure was lost!” In Austin’s own words, his new ORIGIN GENESIS PC will help him realize his “lifelong gaming dreams.”

James Thrush, President of Super X Studios, also dropped by the show to bring news of their upcoming title Greg Hastings Paintball 2. Additionally, there’s a lot more gaming ground to cover and the guys chat about Vanquish vs. Lost Planet 2, Shank, Red Dead Redemption, Mafia II, Starcraft II, and Apple’s new iPod. If you haven’t yet entered our Play N Trade Halo: Reach Giveaway, you only have until Tuesday, so make with the clickage – now!

( listen now… )

(click to play the video)Experience a world where dreams come true and magic is everywhere with Lamp of Aladdin. Exclusively available for the iPad, the title attempts to immerse players into the fairytale adventures of Aladdin and his faithful genie as they challenge players to test their wits in this puzzle adventure. Prepare to embark on a journey with the magic lamp and see how it provides our hero with everything except the affection and heart of his beloved Princess Boudour.

Lamp of Aladdin is available at the App Store for $4.99.

Yes, Starcraft II is going to be the game for the next PC game night! Join our host, Patrick Watts, on Friday September 3 at 9pm Eastern time. Game types will be determined once all are gathered. If we get enough people to say they are coming in advance, we might be able to set up some type of tournament to discover who really is the top Starcraft II player in the Avault community, so please RSVP below. Patrick’s battle.net account is patrickmwatts@yahoo.com, so just send him a message or friend request to get in.

(click to play the video)Dingo Games is taking pre-orders for their soon-to-be-released game, Tasty Planet: Back for Seconds. They have also released a new trailer for the title, showcasing its two player cooperative mode.

The premise of Tasty Planet is simple. Players control a ball of goo with the ability to eat anything smaller than itself. As the goo eats objects it grows bigger, thereby giving it the ability to eat even larger objects. The goo can grow from the size of an ant to the size of a mountain in a single level. Players eat their way through six different time periods: modern, Late Cretaceous, Ancient Egypt, Ancient Rome, Feudal Japan, and the distant future. Each time period features a unique set of objects for the player to eat. Mice, cats, Tyrannosaurus Rex, mummies, gladiators, and flying saucers are just a few of the objects available for consumption.

Development is wrapping up and Dingo Games will be releasing Tasty Planet: Back for Seconds in the next few weeks for both Windows and Mac.

(click to play the video)The year is 1936, and Fenton Paddock, a former British soldier and hapless smuggler, is asked to find a lost expedition in Tibet. On his journey, he encounters Nazi henchmen who are following a trail through the Himalayas as they search for occult weapons to help with plans for further conquests, hoping to track down one of mankind’s greatest secrets – the legendary Shambala.

Lost Horizon hits the streets September 16.

Join Jack Malone in his quest for treasure as he explores underground caverns, mad scientist laboratories, spooky graveyards, and old abandoned castles. Outwit new enemies and solve puzzles as you explore almost 900 rooms in the built-in mansions. And when you’re done, try out the two bonus mansions. A level builder is also included so that you can create your own mansions, or play those others have made.

Midnight Mansion 2 is a classic 2D platformer based on Midnight Mansion. The game is free to try and $25 to purchase.

(click to play the video)Nitro Games, developer of the real-time strategy game, Commander: Conquest of the Americas has just released the first in a new series of gameplay tutorials to help users master the game. Players can use these tutorials to their advantage as they attempt to earn the thirty newly released Steam achievements.

Over the next four weeks, the series will demonstrate how to set up a colony, determine the best and basic trade routes, build ships and maximize the value of the game’s advisors. This first video features a basic guide to getting started with the colonization process, how to identify an empty colony location and how to found a colony.

A library of 225,000 iPhone/iPad apps and 5 billion downloads are impressive numbers for such a young platform and confirm the fast growing interest in apps-based computing. Not only can apps run on smartphones, tablets and laptops but Retrevo’s Andrew Eisner predicts that the next platform for apps will be connected TVs. He sees a living room where TV viewers click on a weather app or sports app instead of watching the local news.

According to Eisner, unlike the battle for the desktop OS it doesn’t look like Microsoft has much of a chance of winning the battle for the TV OS. Competition over who will provide a TV OS is heating up with Google TV getting set to take on all comers for control of the living room. Meanwhile Apple may soon lob a salvo with an updated version of their Apple TV that will plant Apple iPhone/iPad apps firmly within the living room TV.

A preview of Fallout: New Vegas – All Roads is now available for download via the Apple iTunes store.

Get a sneak peek at 12 full pages of All Roads, the graphic novel available exclusively in the Fallout: New Vegas collector’s edition from Bethesda Softworks. All Roads introduces the world of New Vegas, a town of dreamers and desperados being torn apart by warring factions vying for complete control of this desert oasis, and a tells a tale of loyalty and violence that leads right up to the beginning of the game.

A new mission-based, alternate reality or big game, called Pheon, will debut September 18 at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. A variation of Capture the Flag, Pheon is a competition to obtain the game’s virtual talisman, the pheon, which will occur online and at live events during the course of a year. Like other mission-based games, it revolves around the completion of tasks, the making of objects, discovery and documentation. Pheon follows the successful run of the museum’s first alternate reality game, Ghosts of a Chance.

Pheon is innovative in that the narrative of the game will be written as it is played. The adventure takes place in Terra Tectus, a virtual world in which two warring factions, Staves and Knaves, struggle to restore balance after the intrusion of Seers, people from the real world. Players will interact with scripted characters, and each player’s performance will help shape the storyline. To begin, individual players and teams must first determine whether they are Staves or Knaves, then complete various missions focused on the museum’s art collections, exhibitions and programs to earn points and propel the game. Missions exist on three levels (Neophyte, Acolyte and Lamplight Council) through which players must advance, reaching the final stage in which elite players write missions for those at lower levels. The ultimate goal is to attain the pheon, which promises to restore balance to Terra Tectus.

It’s been an exciting summer here at Avault, and we couldn’t have had more fun with our Play N Trade Christmas in July Giveaway, but now comes the best part. We get to hear the screams ring throughout North America as we reveal the winners!

And the winners are…

Our Grand Prize winner, Austin Bullard of Macomb, MI, will receive an ORIGIN GENESIS gaming PC valued at $4,400. I spoke with Austin this morning, and though still in shock “dumbfounded, honestly,” he can’t wait to get his new system up and running. Apparently he has quite a backlog of games that his old system just couldn’t play. First up on his list of priorities are Crysis and Supreme Commander.

( read more… )

2K Games and Gearbox Software have announced that Borderlands will have a Game of the Year edition this fall. Borderlands: Game of the Year will be available for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 for $59.99 and Windows PC for $49.99 starting October 12.

This new addition to the Borderlands experience will provide fans with tokens to download the recently announced add-on pack, Claptrap’s New Robot Revolution, as well as the three previous downloadable adventures: the living dead-filled The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned, Mad Moxxi’s Underdome Riot, and The Secret Armory of General Knoxx. Also included, will be a comprehensive map of the Borderlands territories.