Your small boat has capsized near a dark, deserted island. Your belongings are scattered and your wife, who was traveling with you, has mysteriously disappeared. Farther up the beach, a larger ship is beached with a gaping hole in its hull, and the people who were once aboard are nowhere to be found. What secrets does this seemingly abandoned island hold, and why is your heart pounding in fear?

Twisted Lands: Shadow Town, a hidden object, point and click adventure from Alawar, releases later this month as a PC download for $19.95.

(click to play the video)It was supposed to be an innocent video developer diary for Supreme Commander 2. The short features members of the Gas Powered Games development team discussing some of their favorite RTS strategies. Pretty standard fare…until the intrepid Chris Taylor pops on at the end and reveals some early details about upcoming DLC, including the reemergence of the ever popular Cybran Experimental Spiderbot – The Monkey Lord!

(click to play the video)Rock Band 3’s arrival is around the corner, and that means your big keyboard debut is fast approaching. Get the skinny on how to tickle the ivories with an in-depth video hosted by Senior Designer, Sylvain Dubrofsky.

The new video vignette shows off Rock Band 3 keyboard gameplay from tracks by Huey Lewis and The News, Ida Maria, Tears for Fears and Them Crooked Vultures. The title releases on October 26 in North America and October 29 internationally, for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii and DS.

Atlus U.S.A. may have delayed the release of Knights in the Nightmare for the PSP, but they’re softening the blow with free content. Each and every launch copy, including PlayStation Network purchases (for a limited time), will include a digital copy of Yggdra Union. All of this strategy, role-playing action is now slated to hit the streets November 9.

Yggdra Union was originally released for the Game Boy Advance, and then remade for the PSP in 2008. In addition to adding Princess Yggdra as a third character, this new release of Knights in the Nightmare features remastered visuals and sounds, and a new opening sequence.

New details were unearthed in an Official PlayStation Magazine UK interview with Sefton Hill of Rocksteady Studios. According to the game’s director, Arkham City will feature a game world over 5 times the size of Arkham Asylum’s map and will arm Batman with an arsenal of new moves and abilities – twice as many as there were in the first game. The action will start off with most of the gadgets that you had in the previous title already unlocked, and since Batman’s cutting-edge technology is a significant part of the game, gamers can expect to see a range of totally new gadgets. Additionally, evolved features will be found built into those tools they already possess.

Bethesda Softworks continues the expansion of its global operations by opening a Benelux office in Eindhoven, The Netherlands. Headquartered in Rockville, Maryland, Bethesda also has international offices located in London, Tokyo, Paris, and Frankfurt.

The Benelux office will directly oversee sales and marketing across The Netherlands, Belgium and Luxemburg, underscoring Bethesda Softworks’ commitment to its global publishing operations. With the opening of a new office comes the appointment of a new territory General Manager. Menno Eijck joins the company as Managing Director, Benelux, having previously held the position of General Manager for Namco Bandai Partners, Benelux.

(click to play the video)Bethesda Softworks just released Brink’s fifth video developer diary, Minds on the Brink. In this final video developer diary, the team at Splash Damage touches on the various ideas that form their vision of the FPS from concept to implementation.

Brink is scheduled to release this winter.

(click to play the video)Harmonix Music Systems and MTV Games just released a new trailer that shows off the Nintendo DS gameplay for Rock Band 3. The trailer features Smash Mouth’s Walkin’ On the Sun. The Nintendo DS version includes head-to-head Competitive Multiplayer and will be available October 26 in North America and October 29 internationally.

Rock Band 3 for Nintendo DS lets fans take the music video game experience on the road. The game features eight distinctive gameplay modes, including Road Challenges that focus on sets of songs and gigs over a series of new venues, and Career Mode that leads players through a goal-based career system. In addition, fans will be able to rock 25 songs from the master set-list and challenge a friend to go head-to-head for the first with Competitive Multiplayer.

(click to play the video)Eversim, creator of the upcoming PC geo-political simulation Rulers of Nations, just released the game’s first trailer. The title will put players in President Obama’s shoes starting at the end of this month when the game arrives in stores.

Players must solve the same complex issues that face the President, including the global financial crisis, the US budget deficit, Afghanistan, Iran, and global warming. In addition to these run of the mill everyday issues, Rulers of Nations also includes new challenges such as creating energy sources from solar to deep-sea oil drilling, managing refugees after a catastrophe, colonizing countries, and buying black market weapons. The game is played on a 3D world map of 8,000 cities in 192 countries, with multiple windows and on-screen video inserts. Each country has current data on 400 key factors (economics, energy, monetary, military, etc.) sourced from 50 international organizations including the United Nations, G20, NATO, NAFTA, and OPEC.

It was just brought to our attention that due to recent hurricanes and tropical storms, the holiday weekend, and the fact that some of you prefer to spend your summer vacation in a cave, that many of you have not yet had a chance to enter our HUGE Halo: Reach Giveaway! For that reason, the powers that be have granted an extension. You now have until 7pm EDT to submit your entry! So drive, pedal, swim or sail home as fast as you can and enter for a shot at a brand new Xbox 360 Slim and a copy of Halo: Reach.

(click to play the video)Wargaming.net just released a new gameplay trailer for its massively multiplayer online game, World of Tanks, which recently entered its second closed beta phase.

The trailer demonstrates the game’s most powerful fighting vehicles, heavy tanks, and showcases their features in gameplay footage staged on WWII battlegrounds. The video also gives insight into heavy tanks’ tactics in action and focuses on the characteristics of the legendary Maus, Tiger I, KV and IS-7.

(click to play the video)In Dragon Age 2 you are one of the few who escaped the destruction of your home. Now, forced to fight for survival in an ever-changing world, you must gather the deadliest of allies, amass fame and fortune, and seal your place in history. This is the story of how the world changed forever. The legend of your Rise to Power begins now. That’s all they’re telling us about the story at this point, but until we learn more, enjoy the trailer!

Dragon Age 2 is scheduled to hit the streets March 8.

Crescent Moon and Dicework Games have announced that their turn-based RPG adventure for the iPhone and iPad, Rimelands: Hammer of Thor, is now available in the App Store for $4.99.

Rimelands: Hammer of Thor is the first episode of a new series that aims to take the player into a world of mystery, intrigue and adventure. The game combines dice-rolling combat mechanics reminiscent of the old school pen-and-paper genre, with dungeon crawling and loot collection quests set in a mystical world.

In the Hammer of Thor, you enter the frostbitten realm where mankind is at odds with the magical creatures of legend called Fair Folk. Humans try to reclaim their territory, and war ensues. You play as a young treasure hunter exploring abandoned vaults to appease her grandmother’s seemingly endless appetite for riches, while struggling to find more about her dead parents and shrouded past.

(click to play the video)This is the very first video for The Next BIG Thing, a new adventure game from Pendulo Studios. Discover in this short teaser Dan and Liz, the heroes of this adventure, as well as some of the many colorful characters and monsters you will meet throughout the story.

The Next BIG Thing is scheduled to release this winter.

Kalypso Media’s economic and trading simulation, Patrician IV: Conquest by Trade, has gone gold and will ship to North American retail outlets on September 14 for Windows PC.

In Patrician IV, the player assumes the role of a young merchant in the area of the Baltic and North Sea during the late Middle Ages, the zenith of the Hanseatic League and its naval trading empire. Starting from meager beginnings as a small stall trader, players must use every skill at their disposal to rise through the merchant ranks and become the most powerful merchant in Europe. The supply and demand-based trading system allows players to grow their business and head out onto the high seas to form trading routes with other Hanseatic cities, and negotiate better prices for the buying and selling of goods.