Ready to add some explosive action to your start of the week? BioWare has released a new gameplay trailer for their highly anticipated MMORPG, Star Wars: The Old Republic. The clip gives you a peek at some in-game footage and the various classes in action. And no, they didn’t include a release date with it.

This week I have had slightly more time than usual to peruse all things game-wise on the iPad. I am currently away from work and so have more flexibility in exploring the world of tablet apps. This is, of course, dangerous to both my wallet and time with friends and family. For the sake of my profession, and so that all you nice people get a heads up about some of the better games out there, I’m willing to sacrifice both my money and my friends. So without further ado here are this week’s recommended iPad gaming apps.

GeoSociety

First up we have GeoSociety, which is quite new to the iPad App store. Don’t be fooled by the name, however, as it hasn’t anything to do with a geography themed hiking society. It has everything to do with monster taming, battling, breeding and hunting. Yep, there is more than a whiff of Pokemon here, but this is a fun RPG in the same vein as Dragon Warrior Monsters and Revelation Demon Slayer. If you ever played Pokemon on any Nintendo handheld, you should feel right at home with GeoSociety. The game looks cute (enough for my fellow commuters to cock quizzed eyebrows at me during play), and a recent upgrade has improved its playing interface. All your favorite monster types are included (fire, water and earth), and there are tons of attacks and mutations with which to progress them. The monsters have their own abilities (attack, defense, speed or intelligence) and through experience points can be trained. Additionally, monster breeding is alleged to be on the way (and I can just see more looks of concern from the folks on the train), and currently sports a themed plot with sub-plots and random encounters with over 350 monsters.

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In Disney Universe, players can select from more than 40 classic and contemporary Disney character costumes, including Alice (Alice in Wonderland), Mike (Monsters, Inc.), TRON (TRON: Legacy) and Stitch (Lilo & Stitch), to explore six different worlds inspired by Disney and Disney Pixar films. Each world will allow players to experience objectives and missions that follow movie storylines, and incorporates both single and multiplayer modes. Additional worlds, costumes, and more will be available for later purchase with future DLC.

Disney Universe is slated for release this fall.

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This week at Comic-Con, Warner Bros. Interactive revealed the newest character that will be available as DLC for Mortal Kombat – Freddy Krueger. Freddy’s DLC will feature two vicious fatalities, an arcade ladder story ending, and a full move set. Looks like he will appear in his traditional red and green striped sweater and have is iconic bladed gloves. The pack releases August 9 at the Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network for just under five bucks.

Homefront is getting some new maps. The Rock map pack will hit the Xbox 360 first, and the PC soon after. The pack includes four new maps: Alcatraz, Bridge, Waterway and Overpass. In Alcatraz, America’s most infamous prison becomes the site of fierce close-quarters fighting. Bridge requires a combined arms effort to secure the North Tower of the Golden Gate Bridge and surrounding area, and boasts itself to be large-scale warfare at its best. In Waterway, wage war atop storefronts and in the streets of the Spillway, where every inch feels like a mile. And finally, Overpass brings the battle in a fan-favorite Ground Control space for the first time in Team Deathmatch.

The pack runs Xbox 360 players 400 MS points, which is the equivalent of about $6. Pretty reasonable in my opinion if you compare this to the DLC map prices for other shooters.

Microsoft’s yearly release event is back for another spin.

Kicking off the Summer of Arcade 2011 is Bastion from Supergiant Games, which is available now at the XBLA for 1200 MS points. The release schedule for the next few weeks is: From Dust (7/27), Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet (8/3), Fruit Ninja Kinect (8/10), and Toy Soldiers: Cold War (8/17).

Microsoft is also giving away a free game, Crimson Alliance (an isometric action RPG in the vein of Diablo) for players who invest in all the Summer of Arcade releases.

A little while back THQ’s Darksiders 2 had a only a title and a rough plot outline. Now, not only has an extended trailer been released, but the game has been confirmed for the Wii U as well as the usual platforms.

Darksiders 2 follows Death, the second Horseman of the Apocalypse, who takes the over the story from his colleague War. The title is launching in 2012 for the PC, Xbox 360, PS3, and Wii U.

After going through a minor legal setback with Blizzard’s lawyers concerning the original name, World of Starcraft, the infamous Starcraft mod will soon see the light of day. Under its new name, StarCraft Universe, we have today its first Alpha gameplay trailer. Rumor has it that the lead mod developer, Ryan Winzen, so impressed Blizzard that they sent him a job invitation!

Bungarra Software has just announced The Surfer for PC this fall and the PS3 next spring. The game, according to the promotional info, is supposed to deliver the feel of real surfing through innovative controls, authentic cameras and great levels. You can, of course, go to the next level of realism by having someone nearby ready with a bucket of cold water for when you crash and burn!

38 Studios has released some eye candy in the form of new screenshots from their highly anticipated Action-RPG, Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning. The game will feature 5 distinct regions, 4 playable races, and 3 class trees with 22 abilities per tree. The game is slated to be available for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC in 2012.

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There are not many game developers who are quick to react to fan feedback, but Gaslamp Games seems to be a member of that minority. They have already released two bug fix patches to tweak the most major issues with their dungeon crawler, Dungeons of Dredmore. This week they will also release an update that not only fixes a few issues but adds new features, too. And all of these fixes and additions are the result of player feedback!

Dungeons of Dredmor is a hand-drawn game,that possesses a sharp sense of humor, reminiscent of old the point-and-click adventures.

Having admitted to being loaned the use of an Apple iPad, I have unwittingly thrust myself into the new job of summarising games for the device. Still, any excuse for more gaming is worth my self-sacrifice! So my first foray into the iPad gaming world starts here.

Hunters HD

My first game hurled me back two decades to memories of completing my PhD. EA in 1993 published the king of all tactical floor-tile games, Space Hulk, which was based on the board game of the same name from Games Workshop. Flash forward two decades and we have Hunters HD. The look and feel of this game offers more than a sniff of homage to Space Hulk and Legions of Steel. You lead an intergalactic team of mercenaries to complete various tasks, from hostage rescue to artifact reclamation (stealing in the 21st century). You can choose the members of your squad and equip them from a wide-ranging arsenal of armor and weapons. Each soldier has action points according to his armor to spend for movement, combat or overwatch.

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Respawn Entertainment, the studio founded by former Infinity Ward/Modern Warfare guys Jason West and Vince Zampella, launched their new website late yesterday and teased the first image of its unannounced game. As you can see, its heavily blurred and in all honesty reveals nothing, so I did ponder the point of it. To me it looks like a blurred image of the Loch Ness Monster. The new site gives away nothing further on the game. “Yes, we are working on a game. No, we haven’t revealed it yet. Yes, at some point we will.” In another statement, “Respawn is developing a multi-platform product based on new video game IP and funded through its publishing deal with Electronic Arts, one of the top publishers in the industry.” What we do know, however, is that one of the artists worked on Monkey Island and the Star Wars prequels, and there are general rumors leaking out that it’s a sci-fi shooter that aims to compete with the likes of Halo and Gears of War.

Before yesterday, you only had fourteen days to form your first impressions of the wonderful World of Warcraft. Starting today however, Blizzard has decided to take a new approach by making the game free-to-play up to level 20.

Putting this into a bit more perspective, World of Warcraft allows players to reach level 85, so the amount of content Blizzard Entertainment is making available for free is actually only a small fraction. Blizzard’s calling this free experience the World of Warcraft Starter Edition, which even includes some of the content from the game’s first expansion, The Burning Crusade. Free players can create Draenei and Blood Elf characters, two races added in the expansion. Should you decide to upgrade, you can get the core game and Burning Crusade for only $19.99 as part of the digital World of Warcraft Battle Chest. The company has attempted a number of “free trial” programs in the past, including a 48-hour trial, a one-week trial and the more recent two-week trial. By removing the time limit, Blizzard Entertainment is hoping to fare better with the casual players that need to play on their own schedules rather than a schedule defined by the game.

Life not full enough? Time to kill? Then the “hundreds of hours of content” will keep you immersed in Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. The game’s PR team has revealed some juicy details about the length of the upcoming blockbuster. Gamers who are looking to stay on the main quest line and rush to completion will spend roughly 20-30 hours doing so, but those of you who are more into delving off the beaten track will be rewarded with hundreds of hours in the vast world.

Skyrim will be available for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC on November 11. As with its top-rated predecessor, it presents open-world action role-playing set in the world of Tamriel. Skyrim itself is the name of the northern territory in which the game is set and sees players assuming control of a dragon born.