NHL 2K11 will have one of the stars of the United States’ silver medal-winning Olympic hockey team starring on its cover. Vancouver Canuck Ryan Kesler, who nailed an empty-net goal to secure the win over Canada, has agreed to appear as this year’s cover man. Kesler has been a player consultant on the NHL 2K series for the past four years, and last year provided some motion capture acting for the game.

“I was pretty disheartened after we lost in the gold medal game, and to get the call the next day and to be asked if I wanted to be on the cover, it was a nice pick-me-up,” Kesler said. “It’s always been a dream.”

Joystiq reports that SCEA is certifying a patch that should allow PlayStation 3 owners of Bad Company 2 to gain access to their VIP content. The patch will “hopefully” go live today in North America, with Europe following “shortly after.” Once patched, PS3 players will gain access to Nelson Bay (Rush) and Laguna Alta (Conquest), and gain the ability to access all future content. In addition, since the PC version is having significant connectivity issues beyond normal server problems, DICE has posted some “temporary solutions for PC gamers” while they work on a “permanent solution.” Answers to several of those issues can be found on the EA forums.

(click to play the video)Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands is the next chapter in the Sands of Time universe. Visiting his brother’s kingdom following his adventure in Azad, the Prince finds the royal palace under siege from a mighty army bent on its destruction. When the decision is made to use the ancient power of the Sand in a desperate gamble to save the kingdom from total annihilation, the Prince will embark on an epic adventure in which he will learn to bear the mantle of true leadership, and discover that great power often comes with a great cost.

2K Games has signed a license agreement with Playboy to use more than 50 of their vintage covers and Centerfolds in Mafia II. Set in the 1940s and 1950s American urban cityscape of Empire Bay, the game will enable players to collect virtual copies of the iconic magazine.

“While most mob-inspired games’ emphasis is solely on action, Mafia II features a deep and compelling narrative that is embellished with a sophisticated, era-evoking atmosphere,” said Christoph Hartmann, president of 2K. “In partnering with Playboy, we are able to add a unique element of authenticity to the game by using vintage images from the magazine that illustrate the power of Playboy’s influence on the attitudes and culture of that generation.”

Ubisoft’s DRM authentication has been the subject of much debate lately, and now one of its potential issues has reared its ugly head in a big way. Early Saturday morning, Assassin’s Creed 2 players found themselves unable to connect, and as of yesterday afternoon, the issue had yet to be fixed. The DRM requires PC gamers to be connected to the Ubisoft servers at all times while playing.

When complaints began to surface on the game’s official forums, a rather confused rep had only this to say. “I don’t have any clear information on what the issue is … but clearly the extended downtime and lengthy login issues are unacceptable, particularly as I’ve been told these servers are constantly monitored. I’ll do what I can to get more information on what the issue is here first thing tomorrow and push for a resolution and assurance this won’t happen in the future.”

Source: Gossip Gamers

It won’t be long, now. The demo has been played, the hype is reaching its crescendo and very soon, the world will get their hands on God of War 3. The game will surely ruffle Microsoft’s feathers. “If you think the first thirty minutes of the game is good, the rest of the game should knock your socks off,” says John Hight, the Director of Product Development for the title. He did not elaborate on what is to come, but his excitement surely shows the signs of this being a quite remarkable game. I had the chance to play a demo of this latest installment at the Euro Expo a few months back, and the graphics and gameplay were impressive. Here’s hoping that the game does live up to the hype.

- Benjy Ikimi

Portal 2, the sequel to Valve’s award winning title, will grace both the PC and Xbox 360 for Christmas, but there’s been no mention of a PS3 port and it is believed that Valve may simply not produce the game for the Sony console. The developer fears bringing it to the PS3 might result in a poor product. Electronic Arts was responsible for the less than stellar port of the previous game which Valve has promised will not occur again. It looks like PS3 owners may need to butter up their 360-owning friends if they want to play Portal 2.

- Benjy Ikimi

Far to the south of Thedas, nestled between high, foreboding mountains, is a place where they say dragons go to die. There, in that harsh and wild land, a dragon at the end of her days would lie down and allow the bitter cold to take her. The Tevinter Imperium believed the tales, and imagined that the bones of these great and ancient beasts must be suffused with power. Power they could take for themselves, and thus they sought out the place that their legends spoke of. When they found it, and saw the bones piled upon ancient bones, they named it Drake’s Fall.

Dragon Age: Origins – Awakening releases March 16 for the Xbox 360, PC and PS3.

At last we Europeans have something that we can taunt our American friends with. A PAL version of Batman Arkham Asylum GOTY will be released on March 26 in 3D. Don’t have a 3D TV yet? Don’t panic, as the game will work on standard PAL televisions. The title employs a technology called TriOviz 3D, which allows for 3D images to be generated on PAL televisions which can then be viewed using 3D glasses that will be supplied on purchase of the game. Sadly, there’s no mention of an NTSC version at this time, so my heart goes out to the red, white and blue.

– Benjy Ikimi

Source: Game Spy

Nexon America has launched “The Nexon iNitiative,” a new program that will provide up to $1 million to support the next generation of game developers. The most original, unique and promising independent gaming projects will be sponsored, co-developed and later published through Nexon’s global distribution network.

The Nexon iNitiative is now accepting game ideas, and the game developers selected will earn a share of the $1 million to support the game’s development, as well as a chance at a Nexon publishing contract. In addition to the web site, Nexon staffers will be available at GDC (room 220) daily from 1-2pm. Finalists will be selected in June.

Advance sales for the Final Fantasy bundle have seen an increase of 139 percent, which puts the game at #39 on the Amazon video games charts. The Xbox 360 Elite Final Fantasy XIII bundle will include an Xbox 360 Elite with a 250GB hard drive, two wireless controllers, AV cable, a headset, network cable and a copy of Final Fantasy XIII for $399.99.

This has added more fuel to the console war between Sony and Microsoft, as Final Fantasy was one of Sony’s most beloved babies. In addition to the strong demand for the bundle, the Xbox version of the title has already sold 39 million units.

- Benjy Ikimi

Source: Punch Jump

Alganon has converted to a subscription free MMO, and in April will launch a new Tribute Market System. QOL engaged Alganon as a “Soft Launch” in December for the purposes of refining the product and getting in-tune with the industry and player needs. QOL held back all marketing during the new year, because of the many AAA titles taking the spotlight and determined the best course of action for the game’s success in 2010 was to become subscription free and build the Tribute Market System for the players. QOL is moving out of the soft launch phase and into their full official release on April 8 with the launch of the new system. This Tribute Market System will serve as the foundation of Alganon’s new real-dollar transactional framework, and will support three categories of purchases: Items, Boons, and Services.

According to a report published yesterday by Eurogamer, submarine sim Silent Hunter 5: Battle of the Atlantic, and the day one patch that fixed many fundamental bugs, were immediately hacked, with the game appearing on torrent sites and Usenet. The anti-piracy system was apparently circumvented by replacing an executable file with a patched replacement. The piracy group responsible said that a user turning off their internet connection or not using Ubisoft’s game loader was enough to get the game running DRM-free.

Ubisoft denies that its new anti-piracy measures were cracked for Silent Hunter 5, and remarked that the versions currently being hosted on torrent sites are incomplete. “Please know that this rumor is false and while a pirated version may seem to be complete at start up, any gamer who downloads and plays a cracked version will find that their version is not complete.”

Users seem to disagree with Ubi, however, with some saying that they are playing a pirated version of the game without an internet connection and by saving offline.

Source: Games Industry Biz

The demo for Just Cause 2 is now making the rounds on Live for the 360 and Steam for the PC. It is also starting to appear on the PSN for the PS3 but its release on the PSN will be based on your region. The demo consists of a 35 square mile block located in the desert, and includes light aircraft and both civilian and military vehicles. There is a 30-minute time limit, but this is extendable and an option to restart is included.

Apple’s iPad will be available in the US on April 3 for Wi-Fi models, and in late April for Wi-Fi + 3G models. In addition, all models of iPad will be available in Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Switzerland and the UK in late April. Beginning March 12, US customers can pre-order both models from Apple’s online store or reserve a Wi-Fi model for pick up on release day at an Apple retail store. The Wi-Fi model retails for $499 for 16GB, $599 for 32GB, and $699 for 64GB. The Wi-Fi + 3G models will be tagged at $629 for 16GB, $729 for 32GB, and $829 for 64GB.

“iPad is something completely new,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “We’re excited for customers to get their hands on this magical and revolutionary product and connect with their apps and content in a more intimate, intuitive and fun way than ever before.”

Source: Apple