According to a rumour suggestion on VG247 today, Nintendo has being informing UK publishers that Nintendo’s 3DS console will be hitting UK shelves in March.

Nintendo UK official response was, “That’s rumour and speculation as we’ve not announced any date for 3DS,”

Whatever the case, we definitely won’t be seeing the 3D-enabled handheld until 2011.

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Eoji Aonuma has told ONM today that they are currently looking for a solid “early 2011″ release date for Zelda: Skyward Sword.

“The basis we have now is very, very solid,” said Aonuma, the game’s producer. “Early 2011 – that is what we’re aiming for.”

Nintendo has always had a “It’ll be done when its done” approach to their games, and this always leads to high quality, industry defining games being released at the end of the day. Take as long as you need, Aonuma!

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BioWare boss Ray Muzyka has confirmed today that Dragon Age 2 will be flying down to nest on the PS3, Xbox 360 and PC in March next year.

Dragon Age 2’s story will different from the previous game, and even past BioWare games, in that its story will span ten years. Also, instead of a pre-made character, this time around you will be in control of a gender-neutral character called Hawke, “a penniless refugee who rises to power to become the single most important character in the world of Dragon Age.”

BioWare have promised that the game will have more cinematic design and a lot more graphical flare, and console versions will have a tighter and better designed control scheme.

Few other details have been made available, but expect this to be one that we keep a close eye one over the coming months.

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Sony has just announced that a new God of War title, God of War: Ghost of Sparta, will be coming to the PSP later in the year.

The game is being developed by Ready at Dawn, who were also responsible for the previous God of War PSP title, Chains of Olympus, so expect more of the same bite-sized armageddon in the palm of your hand.

The game will apparently contain “25 percent more gameplay”, an improved weapon system, and new abilities not seen in the franchise before. Its story will be a prequel, chronicling Kratos’ journey to become the God of War.

We’ll have some screenshots up soon.

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Blizzard have just dated their highly anticipated RTS, aiming for a summer release. Starcraft II: The Wings of Liberty will be released to the masses at July 27th. Blizzard is notorious for pushing releases back again and again until it’s completely polished, but they don’t often shy away once they have nailed a date down like this.

This is significantly ahead of the of the usual wave of releases that occurrs later in the year, and with good reason. StarCraft II is a release that’s banking almost 100% on the “hardcore” crowd, and much less on Best Buy customers needing a Christmas gift for their teenage son.

The “Wings of Liberty” subtitle means that this release has the Terran campaign, with campaigns for the other two races to come at an unknown later date, but I would estimate we wont see the next one for at least 2011. Don’t worry though, there is still a complete multiplayer component with all three races.

I have posted up my first impression of the multiplayer beta, and will continue to do so until the game comes out, and maybe even after.

Catch the press release after the cut.

Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. announced today that its highly anticipated real-time strategy game, StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, will arrive in stores throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Russia, Mexico, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, and the regions of Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau starting on July 27, 2010. Players will also be able to purchase StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty directly from Blizzard Entertainment shortly after the retail launch.

“We’ve been looking forward to revisiting the StarCraft universe for many years, and we’re excited that the time for that is almost here,” said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. “Thanks to our beta testers, we’re making great progress on the final stages of development, and we’ll be ready to welcome players all over the world to StarCraft II and the new Battle.net in just a few months.”

StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty is the sequel to Blizzard Entertainment’s 1998 hit StarCraft, which has been hailed by players and critics worldwide as one of the top real-time strategy games of all time. Sporting a vibrant 3D-graphics engine, StarCraft II will once again center on the clash between the protoss, terrans, and zerg, with each side deploying legions of veteran, upgraded, and new unit types. Unparalleled online play for StarCraft II will be available through a new version of Battle.net, Blizzard Entertainment’s world-renowned gaming service. Battle.net has been redesigned from the ground up to be the premier online gaming destination for Blizzard gamers, with several enhancements and new features, such as voice communication, cloud file storage, leagues and ladders, achievements, stat-tracking, and more.

The solo campaign for StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty will continue the epic saga where it left off in StarCraft: Brood War. The story line chronicles the exploits of marshal-turned-rebel-leader Jim Raynor and features both familiar faces and new heroes. Players will be able to tailor the experience, choosing their own mission path and selecting technology and research upgrades to suit their playing style throughout the 29-mission campaign. Several challenge-mode mini-games will also be included, with focused goals designed to ease players into the basics of multiplayer strategies.

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Rising Star Games has just confirmed that No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle will be hitting the UK on May 28th for Wii, having originally been due for a unspecified April release.

“We’re really excited to announce the official European release date No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle,” said managing director of Rising Star Games Martin Defries in the recent PR release, “The original became a cult hit on the Wii when it released four years ago and the sequel is set to attract an army of new followers.”

Although it doesn’t have a confirmed western release date, the  PS3 / 360 version  the original No More Heroes is out in Japan on April 15th.

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Bad news, MGS fans – Konami has told CVG that Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker won’t be hitting the UK as soon as we thought it would – the release date for the game in the UK has slipped from May 28th to  June 18th.

No reason was provided for the game’s delay, and us US release appears to be unaffected. They probably forgot to replace all those words that have an extra “u” in them in the Queen’s English, or something.

We’ll keep you updated.

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Shinji Mikami’s upcoming third person shooter Vanquish has just been confirmed for release this winter by SEGA’s release schedule.

Vanquish is being developed by Platinum Games, the same developer who gave us Madworld for the Wii and the face meltingly awesome Bayonetta this January.

The game tells a story about a war between Russia and the US. Energy resources are scare, so the US built a space station to harness energy from the sun. Russia promply hijacks said space station and uses it to destroy San Fransisco. Special forces (that is, the player character Sam and his fellow soldiers) gets sent in.

Those looking to kill some Ruskies can mark their calendars for winter. The game will most likely hit sometime around Christmas, seeing as no Call of Duty has been announced just yet.

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Finally! Crackdown 2 has just received an official release date in the UK. The title will be hitting shelves in the country on July 9.

Ruffian’s also released the first ViDoc for the game.

A summer release was originally mentioned a few months ago by Ruffian Games, but this is the first confirmation of an exact release date.

Full press release after the cut.

Justice Returns to Pacific City with the Launch of “Crackdown 2” in July

Video documentary series provides an inside look at this summer’s most explosive blockbuster

LONDON – Monday 15 March – Pacific City needs your help, agents. A new enemy has overrun the city and it’s time to restore law and order by any means necessary when “Crackdown 2” releases this July around the world. Microsoft and Ruffian Games today announced that the exhilarating, open-world action game will hit the streets on 9 July.

Developed by Ruffian Games exclusively for Xbox 360, “Crackdown 2” is the sequel to the award-winning 2007 title, “Crackdown.” Offering cutting edge gameplay, “Crackdown 2” will take multiplayer gaming to unprecedented heights, providing you and your friends with complete freedom to explore, destroy, and play your way as you restore justice to Pacific City.

To celebrate the road to launch, Ruffian Games invites fans to step into the world of “Crackdown 2” in the first video documentary, titled “Fun with Friends,” from a three-part series exploring different facets of the game.

“Fun with Friends” features interviews with Ruffian Games Creative Director Billy Thomson, Lead Producer James Cope, Senior Engineer David Hynd and Senior Mission Designer Dean Smith as they discuss what it takes to design a living, breathing sandbox world with the most gripping multiplayer experiences yet, including 16-player PVP and 4-player co-op. The video documentary also shines a light on some of the extraordinary antics and mayhem that players can look forward to, including Renegade Orbs and the PVP mode called Rocket Tag, when they bring their personal brand of justice to Pacific City.

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Another one of the big games being talked about during Nintendo’s Media Summit was Metroid: Other M.

Nintendo could confirm the report from IGN Australia and dated Metroid: Other M for a release date of June 27 in the US. Unfortunately nothing was said of a European release date.

“When you finish playing this, you’re going to feel like you know Samus in a way you’ve never known her before,” said Nintendo’s Cammie Dunaway.

That certainly sounds awesome. So mark your calendars for June 27.

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When we received word earlier today that Super Mario Galaxy 2 would be released before Christmas this year, we didn’t think they meant quite this early… Nintendo has just confirmed at its San Francisco media summit that Super Mario Galaxy 2 will be hitting stores in the US on May 23.

The release date was revealed by Nintendo of America executive Cammie Dunaway at the summit mere minutes before this story was posted.

So much for a “summer”  release date. Looks like some of us will have a reason to get our Wiis out of the back of the dust closet a little earlier than expected.

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Chatting at its media summit in San Francisco today, Nintendo has announced that the DSi XL will being launch in the US on March 28, with a price tag of $189.

The colours available for the DSi XL will be red, black and wine. Yes, strangely, there is no white version.

The DSi XL is a larger version of the DSi, which was a refitted version of the DS Lite, while was a a smaller version of the original DS… which kind of makes the whole act of making the DSi larger a little redundant, don’t you think?

I officially dub today “Nintendo Newsday”.

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[UPDATE] Super Mario Galaxy has a confirmed release date of May 23

Well this certainly is surprising. According to a report from IGN Australia, Super Mario Galaxy 2 and Metroid Other M are not going to be Christmas releases.

Nintendo Australia’s Greg Arhurton confirmed that both titles were not holiday season releases, but are due for release between June and August of this year.

Keep in mind that this has not yet been confirmed, but more details should surface soon as Nintendo’s holding a press event in the US today.

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Valve has joined in on the festivities that is Microsoft’s X10 event and is detailing the first DLC pack for Left 4 Dead 2; “The Passing”. The new campaign is set for a March release.

In “The Passing”, the characters of L4D2 meet up with the original L4D survivors, Francis, Bill, Zoey and Louis. According to Valve’s Chet Fliszek, the original survivors will aid the new characters in finishing the third map in the campaign.

There will also be a new type of infected called the “Fallen Survivor” who will drop health kits and ammo when killed.

Eventually there will also be an add-on to Left 4 Dead 1, which bridges the gap between the original game and “The Passing”. We’ve also got some video footage of the Fallen Survivor after the cut

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