Michel Ancel, creator of Rayman, Beyond Good & Evil and the Raving Rabbids returns to his roots to bring us Rayman Origins. The new title is billed as a high-definition, 2D side-scrolling, platforming adventure with full 4-player co-op.

When the Glade of Dreams is overrun by “Darktoons, the Fairy Council hastily invokes Rayman to save the day. The hero of light isn’t quite all there, however, so Rayman teams up with his best friend, Globox, and two crafty wizards, the Teensies. Together, this oddball team of heroes will need to restore peace to the Glade or watch as their beloved home vanishes like a bad dream.

Rayman Origins ships November 15 for the PlayStation 3 system, Xbox 360, and Wii.

In case you hadn’t heard, Gotham City Impostors is a Batman-themed FPS coming to the PC, XBLA, and the PSN. It features multiplayer combat, customization, and tons of unlockables. Monolith is getting ready for an open beta of the game, and you can sign up here if interested.

Quantic Dream’s 2010 thriller, Heavy Rain, is getting re-released next week. The Heavy Rain: Director’s Cut will feature the original game, “The Taxidermist” DLC, the 16-track score, built-in Move support, three free dynamic themes, and more. The Director’s Cut will be available for $29.99 on November 8. To thank the players, Quantic Dream is giving away the Heavy Rain Crime Scene Dynamic Theme for free on the PSN next week.

Square Enix is about to drop a bomb on your free time. Today, they announced their “Winter of RPGs” campaign, which features three upcoming releases to the PSN. Coming November 8 is Chrono Cross. A few weeks later, on November 22, Final Fantasy V hits the PSN. Last but not least is Final Fantasy VI, which will be available to download on December 6.

Try out dozens of colorful dance styles from around the globe with Zumba Fitness 2. Majesco Entertainment just revealed all 24 dance styles you’ll experience when you dive into the soon-to-release exercise title. These styles include: Hip-Hop, Merengue, Salsa, Swing, Batucada, Cumbia, Reggaeton, Pasodoble, ChaChaCha, Axe, Samba, Calypso, Flameco, Latin Pop, Bollywood, Mambo, Bachata, Quebradita, Bellydance, Rumba, Tango, Ragga, Electro-Swing, and House.

Zumba Fitness 2 gets folks moving with Zumba creator Beto and celebrity instructors Tanya Beardsley and Gina Grant as they guide players through choreography that spans 32 tracks and all 24 dance styles. Whether playing in Single Song, Full Class or Zumba Party (supports up to four dancers), players will experience a dance title that aims to shape, tone and transform their bodies without feeling like exercise.

Nano Assault tasks players to stop the deadly Nanostray virus from spreading and contaminating all of human civilization. Blast your way through 32 stages and dark worlds with rugged landscapes that adjust in difficulty based on your skill level. Prepare to battle and defeat such nemeses as the Black Nucleus, Hyper Blobs and Spore Plants using beams, energetic bombs and other unlockable assault weapons.

Nano Assault will be available for the 3DS November 22.

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Konami Digital Entertainment, in partnership with MonkeyPaw Games, today released BurgerTime World Tour at the Xbox Live Arcade for 800 MS Points. The title is an evolution of the arcade classic, enhanced with a rotating 3D environment. The game features platforming elements, boss characters, and both local and online multiplayer components. There’s also a free BurgerTime World Tour dashboard theme available from the Marketplace.

Trendy Entertainment, D3Publisher and Reverb Publishing announced today that their recently released action/tower defense/RPG mash-up Dungeon Defenders has sold over 200,000 units sold on PC alone, for a 250,000 sales total across all three platforms. To celebrate, Trendy plans to continue to support the game across all platforms, with free, weekly community events for both PS3 and Xbox 360 players. These events will allow gamers to play special game modes with the devs and offer a chance to win unique loot.

For a list of dates and events, enlarge the image (left).

PlayStation Home, that icon on your XMB that you never use, is getting a massive face-lift this Thursday. The video accompanying this post shows off the new sights and sounds of Home, including new games and locations. Hit up the PlayStation Blog for the full list of new attractions.

Battlefield 3 is one of those games, like Halo and Call of Duty, that has a massive online community. While Battlefield‘s third entry features a single-player campaign, a survey conducted on Raptr.com shows only 17% of players have finished it. Do you have the game? Have you played the campaign, or did you jump straight into multiplayer?

Batman: Arkham City has some new DLC available today that allows you to play as Nightwing. The DLC includes Nightwing, who has his own unique gadgets and abilities, and two new challenge maps. Nightwing will be playable in any of the game’s existing and future challenge maps.

Rovio, the undisputed king of smartphone gaming, has released a video today making a pretty impressive announcement. Angry Birds, a game featuring birds, pigs, and revenge, has been downloaded 500 million times. That’s 500,000,000. Half a billion. The video features some staggering numbers about the franchise, including the total amount of play time, which is hovering at around 200,000 years.

Sony Online Entertainment has made it possible for players to download and play DC Universe Online (DCUO) for free. Starting today, all PC and PlayStation 3 players can create their own legendary superhero (or villain), and join forces with their favorite DC Comics characters, including Superman, Batman and the Joker to either save or destroy the planet.

There are now three access levels in DCUO: Free, Premium and Legendary. All three levels provide access to the game and include all updates and fixes, with each level offering different options and features. DLC content and features will be included for Legendary players, and can be purchased by both Free and Premium players. Free players have access to the base game content, including Gotham City, Metropolis, and all current raids and alerts outside of DLC packs. They also possess the ability to create two characters and join a League.

For the first time ever, the world of NCIS comes to life for consoles and PCs. Fans can now play as their favorite characters from the show and and travel around the world in search of clues to solve complex murder, espionage and terrorist cases. The game features four such cases written and developed by actual series writers.

Investigate crime scenes as agents Ziva David and Tony DiNozzo, conduct forensic analyses as Abby Sciuto, perform autopsies as Ducky Mallard, interrogate and break suspects as special agent Gibbs, and use satellite tracking to apprehend bad guys on the run as special agent McGee.

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James Noir’s Hollywood Crimes for the Nintendo 3DS system makes you the main character in a 3D mind-twisting puzzle adventure. Mastering tailor-made mind games as you solve over 140 puzzles to solve a deadly mystery. The game takes place inside a TV game show, where you are the participant. As you play, you discover a series of murders and a diabolical mastermind that is manipulating and defying you at every turn. Everyone on the set of the show is in danger – especially you!