Irrational Games has announced that the development of BioShock Infinite on the PS3 won’t be adding any platform-specific gimmicks. Creative director Ken Levine stated that Infinite won’t feature PlayStation Move integration, expressing that he’d, “never want to throw in Move support just because it’s going to make some first party happy.” Levine hinted that Irrational just didn’t see enough novel use to justify adding motion control. “You can have Move support on your box, but people are going to know you’re cheating them,” he said, noting that “you have to be able to say you’re doing something special with it.” On the question of a 3D display option he was more flexible. “It’s something I’d be more open to,” he admitted. “I’m not saying whether we’re doing that or not, but it’s sort of a passive integration.” The game is planned for 2012.

On July 5 New Detroit is going to be overrun with creepy crawlies, and you’re going to need more than a rolled up newspaper and a jug of boiling water to stop this infestation. Some of these bugs are several stories high! Defense Force: Insect Armageddon lands you in a fight for a fictitious city against a giant alien run insect invasion. Giant ants, spiders, wasps, and prey mantis infest the urban streets.

Insect Armageddon is the sequel to Earth Defense Force 2017, and improves upon the old theme. Where the original was split screen co-op only, the new version will be four player co-op via Xbox Live or couch co-op with a friend. There’s also a new Survival mode that’s six player co-op against unending waves of bugs or worse. Also new to this game are the various classes available. Four different load outs with drastically different gameplay let players decide how to engage the crawlies. So far it looks amazing, and is slated to be available for the Xbox 360 and PS3.

Blizzard co-founder and executive vice president, Frank Pearce, is hoping that the success of EA and BioWare’s Star Wars: The Old Republic will galvanize the MMO market. “This is a game that has an opportunity to grow the MMO market if done right and therefore is very important to the industry as a whole, not just EA,” said Morhaime. “It’s certainly a strong franchise and BioWare’s a great developer. We’ve talked about this internally and from our perspective we hope they make an enjoyable game because they’re going to bring in a lot of new players to the MMO genre and those players’ idea of whether or not they like this type of game is going to be determined by that experience.” Of course the contrary view is that if the game is rubbish it will shrink the MMO market. Do you think one game has the ability to have such an effect on a complete genre? Star Wars: The Old Republic is expected later this year.

Information leaked out in the Official Xbox Magazine seems to verify the four multiplayer modes set to appear in Duke Nukem Forever. Multiplayer mode will allow eight-player, four-on-four matches, with two teams of Dukes wearing either red or blue shirts. The four types of multiplayer modes are to be called Dukematch, Team Dukematch, Capture the Babe and Hail to the King (King of the Hill mode). There will also be a plethora of maps to die over including Dukeburger, a Vegas casino inspired theme, and old west town Morning Wood. Rest easy that the usual weaponry is to be made available with old favorites such as the pistol, shotgun, ripper chaingun, pipebomb, rpg, shrinker, railgun, freezer, devastator and tripbomb all on hand. There will also be jetpacks scattered around some of the maps and holo-duke will also be included. The game is due for release May 3.

Avalanche Studios, the team behind the Just Cause series, is to announce a “a pretty cool little game” next week for both XBLA and the PSN network. “We’ll probably show the game at E3,” Avalanche founder Christofer Sundberg stated. “It’s original IP and a pretty cool little game. It’s our first multiplayer title. There’s so much work going into the tech and game design of our bigger, more risky projects, we thought that we could use that on XBLA and PSN; that we could use the same tech and experience to create something that costs about as much as one milestone payment for the bigger projects.”

If the game is anything like Just Cause, we could be in for a surprise treat. The Swedish-based studio is also reportedly working on a Mad Max adaptation by the name of Fury Road, but there are no details available.

While Xbox 360 users have been able to download the HD remake of Beyond Good & Evil since March 2, PS3 owners have had to sit and wait. Ubisoft has just confirmed, however, that the game will be hitting the PlayStation Network in May. The game is set way into the future where protagonists Jade and Pey’j attempt to expose and bring down an intergalactic crime ring. It’s a third-person action-adventure that includes puzzles and strategic mini-games. This new HD version includes an updated soundtrack, achievements and online leaderboards. As a reward for PS3 players’ patience, Ubisoft is giving away a free Avatar to anyone who downloads the game during the first two weeks it goes on sale.

Meridian4 and Steel Monkeys have just announced the PC release of their new action racing title, Post Apocalyptic Mayhem. In it, up to six players can race/battle online over a ravaged, broken landscape. Vehicular combat is the name of the day here as players race and battle through numerous ruined race tracks. The game comes with a garage full of menacing vehicles, each with its own special abilities, attributes and weaponry. Post Apocalyptic Mayhem is currently available for digital download via Steam for $9.99, with a 20% discount for the first week and the offer of a 3-Pack to get your multiplayer matches off to a great start for just $24.99.

Gameloft, hot on the heels of the release of StarFront for the iPhone, is putting the final tweaks on its iPhone/iPad MMO Order & Chaos Online. The trailer, shows an RPG game that looks remarkably similar to WoW. Not that gamers should be complaining mind you, as the iPad has been crying out for a massive game like this. Exact details are still scarce, and one of the areas that lacks clarity is how the game payment system works. Apple has recently added the ability for in-app subscriptions, so Gameloft might planning a typical MMO subscription service. It looks pretty and could make millions of train commuters miss their stop!

Activision’s announced it’s working on a Kinect game based on the US and UK TV show Wipeout. Wipeout in the Zone will have players, “running, ducking, dodging and wiping out” using Kinect, says the publisher. Gamers will also be able to test their skills and bounce factor against the famed giant red balls! David Oxford, from Activision Publishing stated, “the ABC hit show Wipeout continues to thrill a growing fan base of viewers with hilarious new obstacles. Everyone who watches the show wishes they could try the obstacle course – and now this is their chance!” The show is all about absurd movement and well-timed balance, so it’s a perfect fit for a Kinect game. It should be released for this summer, so have someone ready with a bucket of cold water to throw at you for that extra little touch of realism.

Child of Eden, the psychedelic item being developed by Q Games and published by Ubisoft, has been given a firm summer release date. It’s due to arrive in the US for the PS3 and Xbox 360 on June 14. The game is to be compatible with Kinect and Playstation Move, but will still have conventional controls for those who prefer minimal exercise when gaming. It promises to be a colourful, trippy gaming experience (check out the trailer, left).

Members of the ArenaNet development team for Guild Wars 2 held a Q&A forum at PAX East last weekend, and detailed some of the new gameplay features that we can expect. Lead content designer Colin Johanson promised GW2 would be one giant world, which would contain jumping. But the biggest audience applause came after the announcement that there would be no monthly fees. Johanson also stated that the team at ArenaNet is trying to encourage players to engage more with their characters by creating numerous branching paths in the story. It was also revealed that the traditional setup of collecting a quest, completing it, and retrieving a reward has been completely redesigned. Instead, GW2 will feature numerous dynamic quests. Also, the focus on combat has been tweaked with emphasis on team action. No release date has been confirmed yet, but the announcements have caused a whir of excitement in the Guild Wars community.

Hasbro and UK game developer/publisher Jagex Ltd. have announced a development agreement to produce an MMO based on the Transformers franchise. Jagex is best known for its hugely popular free-to-play browser-based MMO RuneScape. Under the new partnership with Hasbro, Jagex will release the Transformers MMO in Latin America, North America, Australia, New Zealand and Europe sometime in 2012. We don’t have any game-specific details, although Jagex CEO Mark Gerhard did promise that the game would be action-packed.

A sequel to the Xbox Live Arcade tower defense/action game Toy Soldiers has been revealed. Toy Soldiers: Cold War will be among Microsoft’s XBLA games soon. The sequel promises A Rambo-type character to control, a night vision armed helicopter, various armored vehicles, an aircraft carrier, some nifty jets and lots of explosions and noise! The game looks to be the same tower-defense style as the first game, where you build defensive emplacements and can then take direct control of one of your individual units. Co-op and competitive multiplayer modes (including split-screen) will be included when the game is released at the Xbox Live Arcade.

Further details have been revealed about The Secret World, Funcom’s forthcoming MMORPG. Though many games (indeed, many MMOs) have tackled the supernatural and fantastic, The Secret World attempts to combine fantasy with the supernatural in a modern day setting. Think Heroes in a blended world of HP Lovecraft meets The X Files. Ghosts, zombies, demons, conspiracies, myths, urban legends all exist together in this game.

“Everything, really means, well, everything,” lead designer Ragnar Tornquist stated about what material could be included.

Trying to survive through all this supernatural, magical mayhem are three factions. The militaristic Templars, based in London, seek to eradicate dark magic, no matter the cost or the collateral damage. The Illuminati, based in New York, promote the survival of the fittest. The Dragons, based in Seoul, sit on the fence. Player characters are allied to a particular faction, with each faction having its own gear and abilities. The Secret World is a class-free MMO and uses instead a gigantic Ability Wheel that permits over 500 different skills and abilities. The idea is that you can only equip 14 skills at any one time, seven have to be active skills, like fireball, and seven have to be passive, like an added +10% to all healing. The game will be available for the Xbox and PC, and while no release date has been set, you can see from the trailer that it looks exciting!

Hothead Games has released an all-new video for Swarm. The game gives players control of 50 stupidly fearless Swarmites, as you drive them through an intense and often suicidal battle for survival. Players move all the Swarmites at once, steering the flock of blue creatures around dangerous obstacles and through different hostile environments. The game is coming to both the PlayStation Network and Xbox LIVE Arcade, but no firm release date has been given. It seems clear, however, that the developers have kept the comic theme of DeathSpank alive for their new game.