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.

Civilization V has received a gigantic patch designed to improve enemy AI and rebalance the game to make higher difficulty levels more challenging. The new patch also adds a multiplayer hotseat mode that’s compatible with all maps. The update allows players to save between turns (the inability to do so before infuriating many players) to make it easier to swap saves by email manually.

Calling all Browncoats! DarkCryo’s next project is the Firefly MMO, previously started in 2006 by Fox Entertainment and Multiverse. Firefly Universe Online will be an MMO that includes all of the ingredients that an online MMO should possess. There will be appearances from the cast of the series, canonical planetary environments, and multiple playable factions such as the Browncoats, Alliance, Reavers and Megacorp. The game has reputedly been in development for “some time now” and they are currently “seeking official endorsement by 20th Century Fox and Mutant Enemy.”

Splash Damage has released some new teaser screens and an updated release date for Brink‘s upcoming DLC pack. Called Agents of Change, the content was originally scheduled to arrive this month, but has now been confirmed for early July for PSN, XBLA and Steam. The pack will be free-to-play for its first two weeks.

The DLC contains two multiplayer maps (Founders’ Tower and Labs), two outfits (the Sad Punk and the Limey), two weapon attachments, and five new player abilities. Splash Damage has also announced it will respond to game improvement suggestions from the community by addressing issues with online modes, AI upgrades, and weapon modifications.

SideQuest has revealed more info on the upcoming PS3 exclusive RPG, Rainbow Moon. It promises a core quest of 25 hours and more than 100 hours if the player opts to do all the missions. The first screens have just been released (some of which are below), and as you can see it’s looking pretty nice. The title is billed as both hardcore turn-based game, so it’s not going to appeal to everyone.

Baldren, cursed by his long-time enemy, finds himself warped to Rainbow Moon. Baldren soon discovers that being stranded in an unknown place is the least of his problems, however, as a dimensional gate has been opened where hordes of monsters pour through. Baldren must seal the gate and warp himself back to his home planet, but it’s not quite that simple. The gate can only be sealed by a dimensional gate staff and no such object is available anywhere on Rainbow Moon. Baldren can create one if he finds the right materials, but he needs seven magical artifacts that are hidden deep inside Rainbow Moon’s dungeons.

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The third piece of Fallout: New Vegas DLC is called Old World Blues, and it will be released on July 19 for the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC. In Old World Blues you will discover how some of the Mojave’s mutated monsters came to be when you unwittingly become a lab rat in a science experiment gone awry. You’ll need to scour the Pre-War research centers of the Big Empty for technology that will enable you to turn the tables on your kidnappers or join forces with them against an even greater threat. There will also be an update issued prior to its release to bring “improvements to performance and stability in major areas.”

The MMO, LEGO Universe, will be free-to-play starting in August. The official statement from The LEGO Group says that the free-to-play version of the game will offer “a limited selection of game content, including two adventure zones and one player property area for building their own virtual LEGO models.” Paying members will have access to all areas in the full game, along with membership benefits such as competitions and community events. If players want more than the free version offers, they’ll need to start paying the $10 monthly subscription fee.