The Weinstein Company (TWC) announced today a new initiative in the video game space by launching TWC Games. The TWC Games label will utilize The Weinstein Company and Dimension Films’ strong and recognizable properties, and work with external partners to develop and publish video games for mobile, social, and console platforms. Properties in The Weinstein Company and Dimension Films catalogue include Scream, Hellraiser, Halloween, Scary Movie, and Children of the Corn.

TWC Games has formed a strategic consultancy with Beefy Media, a video game production company, to foster relationships with publishers and create high quality games. Beefy Media President, Adam Boyes, will work closely with Matthew Signer, TWC Vice President, Production and Creative Affairs, to foster partnerships and oversee all production aspects of the games.

Square Enix and Obsidian Entertainment have revealed the third playable character for their upcoming Action RPG Dungeon Siege III. Katarina is a gun-toting, projectile-blasting, spell-weaving, hound-taming ball of fire, and is featured in this latest gameplay trailer for the game.

Dungeon Siege III arrives May 31.

In September of 2010, San Paro, in an effort to eliminate the chaos between the criminal and enforcer factions, did the unthinkable and ejected the criminal cancer and all but the most basic of emergency service personnel. Since that time, San Paro has been a press dead-zone, with no information escaping its borders until today. In this never-before seen footage, you’ll get a glimpse of what’s going on there.

THQ has announced that the single-player campaign for its upcoming 3rd person action/shooter, Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine, will not only feature the tribal Orks, but also the powerful forces of Chaos. Set in the Warhammer 40,000 universe created by Games Workshop, Space Marine puts players into the shoes of the Ultramarines, humanity’s elite soldiers, as they battle to protect an Imperial Forge World from an Ork invasion. The leader of the marines, Captain Titus soon realizes that the forces of Chaos are also waiting in the shadows ready to strike. The game is scheduled to be released worldwide for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Windows PC in August.

Today, Warner Brothers released a new trailer to showcase the God of War himself, Kratos. The video features the PS3 build, which has the exclusive license for Kratos and areas from the God of War games. The trailer shows Kratos being his pain inflicting self, and he comes packing his usual favorite weapons, including the Blades of Athena, his bow, and Medusa Head. Mortal Kombat arrives April 19.

Applause Code has just released Drop for the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch. In it, you are trying to set the record for the longest fall by a skydiver. To succeed, you must steer clear of obstacles to avoid damaging your parachute, and collect power-ups that enable you to fall as far as possible. The farther you fall, the bigger your score. There are four progressively more difficult worlds to conquer, and each has its own obstacles.

Drop requires iOS 3.0 or later to play, and is available for $0.99.

Game Planet reports that the Australian Classification Board has decided to blacklist the upcoming Mortal Kombat game. This comes after the board refused to give the game a classification. It is also illegal to import the game and anyone caught doing so will be charged a hefty sum of $110,000. Words really cannot explain just how shocking this news is. I was wondering whether the board forgot that there is a rating called “18” which prohibits people under that age from purchasing the title. Again, video games are treated differently from films.

Maybe it is too good to be true and the legendary game will never see the next-gen light of day. Everything looked set for the game to come out May 3, but now that isn’t happening. Yes, the game has been delayed again. The new date set by 2K and Gearbox is June 14 in North America with a June 10 international release. If I were you, I wouldn’t bank on the game not having another delay. On the bright side, however, at least they are not rushing the game, and are working hard to ensure the classic title can compare to today’s standards.

The Witcher: Versus is a dark, turn-based battler for the iPhone and iPod touch, that will have you challenging warriors across the land as a character class of your choosing. Discover magical items, skills and abilities while taking on powerful foes in an all-out melee. Fans of The Witcher should enjoy taking on thousands of players worldwide in this “authentic” companion to the PC games.

The Witcher: Versus requires iOS 3.0 or later to play and is available for $0.99.

Launching today at the Xbox Live Marketplace is the Divinity II: The Dragon Knight Saga demo, which offers fans a taste of the game’s 100-plus hours of action RPG combat and exploration. Also releasing today is the game’s full trailer, offering a better sense of the dark cloud of conflict that looms over the realm of Rivellon, not to mention capturing the experience of taking to the skies as an enormous dragon.

The demo takes players through the game’s introduction, offering a portion of Rivellon’s Broken Valley to explore. While the demo’s handful of hours pale in comparison to the total of the full game, there are plenty of quests to discover and complete, NPCs to interact with, merchants with whom to barter, and of course, monsters to slay. Divinity II: The Dragon Knight Saga for Xbox 360 system brings its high-flying dragon battles to North America on April 12.

DualPenSports will be available throughout North America this spring for the Nintendo 3DS. Taking advantage of the upcoming device’s new technology, the game brings a unique twist to traditional handheld sports games with its dual stylus gameplay and 3D visuals. Offering 7 sports mini-games, including Soccer, Boxing, and Archery, players can take on a number of dual-handed exercises. It also features a character customization mode that enables the player to personalize their in-game characters’ clothing, expressions, and overall appearance.

This week’s guest for Episode #125 of the Avault Podcast is Brian Provinciano, founder of VBlank Entertainment. Brian dropped by to chat up his new game, Retro City Rampage, and was joined by their “audio guy”, Leonard Paul.

The show extends to helping Japan through playing Super Street Fighter 4 on your iOS device, and of course, Sunday’s arrival of the Nintendo 3DS. Are there any good games coming out for the device at launch? There’s also games on deck this week, including Homefront (is there really more to say?), Crysis 2 (it’s finally here!), and a recap of the first quarter of 2011.

The MASSIVE Mass Luminosity Giveaway is Live! Enter now before it’s too late!

( listen now… )

The Greater Fort Bend Economic Development Council just announced a partnership between the University of Houston System and TimeGate Studios to establish a motion capture studio in Fort Bend County. The agreement includes equipment, facility hosting, training and mentoring for student interns.

“Students enrolled in UHS will have the opportunity to learn the latest technologies while being mentored by industry leaders,” says Dick Phillips, associate vice-chancellor for the University of Houston System at Sugar Land. “The end result will be a better trained workforce for the industry and more recognition and opportunity for our graduates. We are very fortunate to have programs already in place at the UHSSL campus, provided by System partner University of Houston-Victoria, that can be adapted to meet the needs of companies like TimeGate,” says Phillips. “UHS will continue to work with our off-campus partner HCC Southwest for transfer students from their established program and our on-campus partner Wharton County Junior College as they develop their gaming program.”

Operation Flashpoint: Red River is the soon to be released sequel to Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising. This latest installment of the first person shooter concerns a fictional conflict in Tajikistan in 2013, where the Marines are called in to quell a civil war. The trailer shows these marines fighting a huge enemy force. In the game, players will be able to choose between four classes, rifleman, grenadier, scout and automatic rifleman, and each has their own weapons and abilities. The sequel will be available for PC April 21.

Warner Brothers Interactive Entertainment has announced that F.E.A.R. 3 will be released on May 27. The much-delayed sequel will allow players to assume control of Point Man and Paxton Fettel, the sons of Alma, the spooky girl from the previous games. Point Man is a genetically enhanced super-soldier, while his brother Paxton Fettel uses telekinetic powers to suspend, possess, stun or crush enemies. Both characters can be utilized in co-op mode. This paranormal FPS will be available for the PS3, Xbox 360, and PC.