14 DAY TRIAL // Hello and welcome to another edition of A Gamer's Week. These past 7 days have been really hectic in terms of gaming, as a lot of companies have brought forth details about their upcoming games and, as usual, various market research firms, like the NPD Group, have shown the hardware and software charts. Without further ado, here's this week's roundup of the most important news in terms of video games.
Monday saw two big announcements for almost any Xbox 360 owner out there, as the record-breaking Gears of War 2 will receive a new experience-based ranking system, designed to accurately showcase a player's skills. Also, the Snowblind map pack will be hitting the Xbox Live Marketplace so that any true Gears of War fan will have new terrain on which to gather experience. Speaking of DLC, also on this day Fable II received news that more DLC would be coming from Lionhead, as Knothole Island, the first and, for the time being, single expansion to the game, would receive new areas. Quick to speculate anything, a lot of Fable fans were very excited when they learned that BBC presenter Jonathan Ross posted on his Twitter webpage that he would do voice work for the next Fable game.
The next day, Tuesday, saw two smaller announcements about two very big upcoming titles, Need For Speed Shift and The Old Republic. The producer of Electronic Arts' future racer revealed to fans that Shift would recreate a true cockpit experience, one that hadn't been properly recreated in any other racing simulator. Star Wars fans were very happy on this day as the much rumored Bounty Hunter class was confirmed to appear in BioWare's 2010-scheduled The Old Republic MMORPG. Expect future class announcements in the following weeks as the team guarantees a rich and varied experience for players.
Wednesday space-related news came in from BioWare, as representatives from the Texas-based studio confirmed that Mass Effect 2 would be scheduled to appear at the beginning of next year. The sequel to one of the most critically acclaimed RPGs of 2007, the upcoming game promises to improve the original and expand its massive story. Researchers took the stage on that day, showcasing something that not a lot of authorities and politicians seem to understand, namely that a link between video games and violence still doesn't exist.
Thursday meant another UK sales chart, with Capcom's latest entry in its horror survival franchise, Resident Evil 5, claiming first spot, with casual-favorite Wii Fit the runner up and Ubisoft's plane simulator HAWX flying in at number three. One of Blizzard's most expected titles, Diablo III, came under the trained eye of Bill Roper, the man responsible for the first two games in the series, who shared the same opinion with a lot of fans, that the game was a bit too colorful for the Diablo franchise.
Staying with Blizzard, Friday saw the release of the new and improved Battle.Net online service, which aims at giving players an account for all the major games that the company has released or will launch in the following years. While Battle.Net Classic will have the same user database as the old service, the new program will be exclusively for titles starting with World of Warcraft, including the upcoming StarCraft II and Diablo III titles. But today was also the moment when the NPD hardware and software charts were released, showcasing once again that the Wii is a formidable system, managing to sell as much as the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 combined. Software wise, Wii Fit was again top dog, but the moral winner was Street Fighter IV, which tops the fitness title if its sales on both the Xbox 360 and PS3 are combined.
This week also saw the review of Empire: Total War, written by my colleague Andrei Dumitrescu. To see if the game is worth testing your strategy skills on and if it continues the tradition of other titles before it, you will have to read the review.
All in all, it was a very busy seven days, and considering that the Game Developers Conference starts next week, we're in for the same in terms of news and announcements. For all the latest information, alongside demos and free games, check out the dedicated section here at Softpedia.