Bethesda Softworks has announced that there will be a Fallout: New Vegas collector’s edition for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Games for Windows. The limited collector’s edition is available in North America for pre-order now through participating retailers.

In addition to including the game, this premium version of Fallout: New Vegas also includes several exclusive bonus items. These items include “Lucky 7” poker chips, a Fallout: New Vegas deck of cards, a “Lucky 38” platinum chip, a hardcover graphic novel, and a “Making of” DVD.

Fallout: New Vegas is currently under development at Obsidian Entertainment and is slated to release this fall.

Load up your Fuel Refills Farmers! Join Stevie and Dan as they go Farm Crazy – or rather as Stevie tries to rope Dan into being her neighbor and partner in her farming addiction. This week our hosts take the Hot Rod Harvester to Farmville to explore the origins of this blazingly successful game and the company behind it. Learn more about where Farmville came from, the challenges Zynga faced in developing the megahit game, and the who/what/where/whens of how to get a hold of some exclusive in-game items as a part of an upcoming promotion. Best of all, there are prizes involved! Enter the Stevie FTW Farm-tastic Farm-Off for a chance to win all sorts ‘o Farm Cash. Check out (and “Like”) the Stevie FTW Facebook page for all the details on how to enter for a shot at the 600 Farm Cash up for grabs! Tune in to get the goods this week and every week on Stevie FTW!

( listen now… )

Silverlode Interactive has revealed their latest project, Captains of DarkTide, which has been in stealth development for the last year. Unlike other pirate MMORPGs you may be familiar with, this one comes complete with elven longboats, mighty flying fortresses and fantastic mythical beasts.

Beta sign-ups are in progress, and there’s also the Captains of DarkTide Facebook page, where gamers will have first access to news, exclusive screenshots and development notes, and frequent chances to win priority Beta codes. The Facebook page will also give players a chance to influence game design by participating in polls and giving feedback on proposed features.

It appears the next Assassin’s Creed will not be a solo adventure. Ubisoft has revealed the first details for their upcoming Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood, which will arrive in time for this holiday season on PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

The most notable addition is a multiplayer component. Players will be able to choose from a series of assassin classes, each of which has unique weapons and killing moves. Once they select an assassin type, they can enter the online world and participate in multiplayer matches. Ezio will be returning, and in addition to his usual assassin duties, will recruit and train his own band for deployment throughout Rome.

The Rapture Metro Pack, the latest multiplayer expansion into the world of Rapture, is available now on XBL and PSN. The Games for Windows-LIVE version will follow soon. But wait, there’s more. Two additional DLC packs, Kill’Em’Kindly, a free multiplayer mode where players fight to the death with golf clubs, and the Character Pack, a new pack which adds two new characters to the multiplayer experience of the game for 160 Microsoft Points/ $1.99, have also released today.

The Rapture Metro Pack includes six new maps (some of which were built from the single-player portion of the game), three new achievements/trophies and the Rebirth Feature. This feature enables players who reach the rank of 50 to rank down to Level 1 and receive a special mask. The pack can be had for 800 MS Points/$9.99.

Square Enix has revealed details about the upcoming DLC pack for NIER, their recently released action-RPG developed by Cavia. The game is currently available for the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360. The DLC pack, entitled World of Recycled Vessel, was expected to release today, but should be available later this week.

World of Recycled Vessel will introduce 15 new stages, new Shades, and other exclusive content. Players will find a diary belonging to Nier’s wife on a bookshelf in the first floor of Nier’s home. By opening the diary’s pages, Nier will travel to a dreamscape and begin the battle to obtain more powerful weapons and new costumes for both himself and his companions.

At the moment, playing your friend at Mario Kart Wii online doesn’t require you to fork out a monthly fee or even a penny. Since its launch, the Wii has made their online feature a free service but Nerdles reports that guru, Mr. Shigeru Miyamoto, is considering following the 360′s example.

Microsoft has the most sophisticated and well thought out online service there is. Sorry Sony, but we do like to dress up our avatars. This has led Miyamoto to think about revamping and improving the Nintendo online service and charge users for it. With the way the console war is heating up, Nintendo would be well advised to ensure all its bases are covered.

- Benjy Ikimi

In Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations, legal eagle Phoenix Wright will face the toughest prosecutor yet as the mysterious hard-boiled “Godot” is gunning for him with extreme prejudice!

For the first time ever, the handheld series is available on the home console via WiiWare, giving gamers access to three of the classic Ace Attorney adventures from the comfort of their own living rooms. Fans and newcomers alike will have a chance to star as Phoenix Wright, a man driven by principles and his ability to separate fact from dubious fiction. Each game in the series presents twisting storylines with comical anime stylings. Players will collect evidence, weed through inconsistent testimonies and overcome corrupt agendas to ensure that justice prevails! These games can be played either in single-player, or with family and friends.

Namco Bandai Games America released the first trailer for Enslaved: Odyssey to the West for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. The trailer provides a first look at the game in motion, and sets up the story of Monkey and Trip while showcasing gameplay footage.

Developed by Ninja Theory, Enslaved takes players on a journey with two dissimilar characters as they form an uneasy union in order to survive their way through a perilous, post-apocalyptic America. Players assume the role of Monkey, a strong and athletic, yet solitary figure, who has been captured by one of the mysterious slave ships, which harvest the remaining population and take them out west never to return. Trip, a technologically savvy young woman who has also been imprisoned by the same ship, manages to escape. She quickly realizes that Monkey, with his raw strength and power, is her only hope to survive the perilous journey back home. She hacks into a slave headband and fits it on Monkey, linking them together. If she dies – he dies. Her journey has now become his and Monkey must travel west alongside Trip as they traverse a demolished world, under constant threat of capture and mortal peril.

Enslaved: Odyssey to the West is planned for release late this year.

City-Interactive has announced the impending availability of its DS title, Chronicles of Mystery: Curse of the Ancient Temple, for the iPhone and iPod touch at the Apple App Store.

Chronicles of Mystery: Curse of the Ancient Temple combines features of classic point and click adventures, logic games and hidden object games. The game puts you in the shoes of Sylvie, a young archaeologist, who is about to begin the greatest adventure of her life. Having received an invitation to France from her uncle, a renowned historian, she arrives there only to discover he went missing. Sylvie embarks on a journey to find her uncle and to uncover the long forgotten secrets of the famed Knights Hospitaller order.

The bulk of the game play comes in the form of screens where the player is tasked with finding a variety of objects hidden in the scenery. Puzzles are constantly interjected and serve as a break from the usual action. These puzzles range from balancing weights to matching symbols, to navigating mazes and tracing difficult paths.

Ever wondered what an opossum dressed as a knight and allowed self-propelling rocket fueled movement would play like? Imagine no more. Rocket Knight is the sequel from Konami, to the original Sega Genesis game. This sequel sees Sparkster, the original heroic opossum, returning on another kingdom saving adventure. After a 15 year holiday (probably as the result of the flight ban due to volcanic ash) Sparkster returns home to the Kingdom of Zephyrus to discover that wolves have attacked his homeland. Using their wits and a trusty rocket pack, players must overcome the hostile wolf army aiming to attack Sparkster’s beloved kingdom.

Rocket Knight will be available tomorrow at the Xbox LIVE Arcade for 1200 Microsoft Points and for PC download via Steam for $14.99. On May 18 it arrives on the PlayStation Network for $14.99.

Slitherine Ltd. and Matrix Games have signed a comprehensive agreement to merge the companies creating what may be the world’s largest war gaming specialist publisher.

Slitherine is a privately funded company whose mission is to deliver history based products to the widest possible audience. Slitherine’s main focus is publishing and developing video games, however Slitherine is also involved with book publishing, internet gaming, board games and has provided a range of consultancy services to TV and other media companies.

According to David Heath, Director of Operations at Matrix Games, “Matrix has always been at the cutting edge for innovation. We started over 10 years ago and were the first to move into the digital download business. With a very focused emphasis on customer service we have becoming market leaders in our field, where gameplay is all important. By merging with Slitherine, we can pursue our common goals to grow the business and this market sector as a whole.”

Following in the footsteps of such titles as Wii Sports, Wii Play and Wii Fit, Nintendo has now announced Wii Party, which the company hopes will be “a marquee party game.” The mini-game compilation is expected to release early next year.

According to Nintendo president Satoru Iwata, “we are developing it with the intent that every Wii player will be able to find a game that can be enjoyed.”

Sony has announced that following up the fan favorite releases of FFVII and FFVIII, PS3 and PSP owners will soon have a new opportunity to immerse themselves, once again, into the world of Final Fantasy with FFIX. Considered by many to be a must-play title for any RPG fan, the title will be available for North American fans via the PlayStation Network. If you missed the game during the early PlayStation era, or are dreaming of reliving the FFIX adventure, the PlayStation Store will have what you need.

Kotaku has confirmed that the PlayStation 3 do-it-yourself platformer LittleBigPlanet is not only getting a sequel, but according to early details, is more than just a side-scrolling platformer. Media Molecule is creating tools that will enable players to create racing games, puzzle games, role-playing games and even real-time strategy games.

LittleBigPlanet 2 will also let players create and edit short films, record their own sound effects and manipulate the game’s camera to make customized cut scenes using Sackboys. Additionally, the game introduces the Sackbot, a customizable and programmable enemy unit.