2K Games announced today that  The Darkness II, the sequel to the hit 2007 title,  The Darkness, is now available in North America for the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, PlayStation 3 computer entertainment system and Windows PC*. The title will be available internationally on February 10, 2012. Inspired by the comic book series created by Top Cow Productions, Inc., and developed by Digital Extremes,  The Darkness II continues the story of Jackie Estacado, head of a New York crime family and wielder of an ancient and brutal force of chaos and destruction known as the Darkness. Introducing unique Quad-Wielding™ combat and four-person cooperative gameplay distinct from the first-person campaign,  The Darkness II  breaks the mold of traditional first-person shooter titles.

“The Darkness II combines a powerful driving narrative with imaginative violence, creating a unique gameplay experience,” said Christoph Hartmann, president of 2K. “We are able to stay true to the origins of  The Darkness comics while introducing significant new features to the game, which is a great accomplishment for the franchise.”

The Darkness II  introduces a new combat mechanic through Quad-Wielding, allowing players to slash, grab, and throw objects and enemies with two Demon Arms while simultaneously firing two weapons. The game is layered with thematic elements of dark versus light, steeped in deep and twisted storytelling, and maintains the stylistic violence visualized through a hand-painted graphic noir technique, true to its comic book origins.

“Jackie Estacado’s saga returns in epic form with  The Darkness II,” added Marc Silvestri, founder and CEO of Top Cow Productions and co-creator of  The Darkness comics. “There’s a certain level of anxiousness when you see a favorite character move from ink on a page to pixels on a screen. 2K Games and Digital Extremes were able to do it in a way that stayed true to the Jackie from the comic books, while making a brutally awesome game at the same time.”

Also new in  The Darkness II  is the cooperative Vendettas campaign, a fast-paced, story-driven experience that takes place parallel to the single-player campaign. Vendettas lets up to four friends play together as one of four new playable characters – all with their own unique Darkness weapon – and begin their dangerous and bloody journey. Designed as a team-focused, mission-based experience, Vendettas explores the crucial role each character plays in Jackie Estacado’s campaign to defeat the Brotherhood.

A playable demo** of  The Darkness II is broadly available worldwide for Xbox 360, PS3™ and Windows PC.  The Darkness II is rated M for Mature by the ESRB. For more information on  The Darkness II, please visit

*Steam account and Internet connection required to activate game.

**Xbox LIVE®, PlayStation®Network  or Steam account and Internet connection required to access demo.

2K Games is a division of 2K, a publishing label of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO).

Entitled NeverDead Expansion Pack Volume 1, the DLC expands the online element of the game, with a new playable character, three new challenges within the expanded Asylum level and two new online costumes for the game’s immortal hero, Bryce Boltzmann.

The Expansion Pack offers the user the chance to control a fashionable, charismatic pop-idol called Nikki Summerfield within NeverDead’s cooperative online challenges, and take part in three new challenges within the reworked Asylum stage. These include:

·          Egg Hunt: Scour the expanded Asylum level for collectables scoring points by delivering them to designated ‘Score Zones’. Opponents will try to snatch any that you drop along the way, while enemy ambush points and environmental hazards at every turn up the ante.

·          Fragile Alliance: A competitive race through a number of checkpoints spread across the map. Users can interrupt their rivals’ progress by attacking each other. This mode also sees the number of environmental hazards and enemy spawn points upped for additional challenge.

·          Onslaught: Unlock the entire Asylum level section-by-section by defeating all enemies. Demon-seals that block off areas will dissipate as you defeat enemies from the previous area, providing more-controlled player movement and encounters.

Finally, the NeverDead Expansion Pack Volume 1 also boasts two costumes for online users to dress Bryce in.

The Nintendo 3DS also continues to dominate hardware sales in Japan, selling 75,018 units while the Playstation Vita sold 17,141 (beating out the PSP).

Top selling Software and Hardware for 1/30 to 2/5.

• [3DS] 01. Resident Evil Revelations (Capcom, 01.26.2012) 43,575 (190,134)
• [PS3] 02. Soul Calibur V (Capcom, 02.02.2012) 34,328 (NEW)
• [PSP] 03. Photo Girlfriend (Capcom, 02.02.2012) 34,095 (NEW)
• [PSV] 04. Ragnarok Odyssey (Capcom, 02.02.2012) 33,496 (NEW)
• [PS3] 05. Armored Core V (Capcom, 01.26.2012) 30,775 (194,681)
• [3DS] 06. Mario Kart 7 (Capcom, 12.01.2011) 26,791 (1,460,749)
• [3DS] 07. Monster Hunter 3G (Capcom, 12.10.2011) 24,128 (1,211,026)
• [3DS] 08. Super Mario 3D Land (Capcom, 11.03.2011) 22,817 (1,311,312)
• [PS3] 09. Gran Turismo 5 Spec II (Capcom, 02.02.2012) 21,416 (NEW)
• [PS3] 10. Dragon Age II (Capcom, 02.02.2012) 19,928 (NEW)
• [3DS] 11. Rhythm Thief R (Capcom, 12.15.2011) 9,511 (56,037)
• [360] 12. Monster Hunter Frontier Online Forward .3 Premium Package (Capcom, 02.02.2012) 9,047 (NEW)
• [3DS] 13. Inazuma Eleven Go (Capcom, 01.26.2012) 8,960 (379,764)
• [PSV] 14. Tales of Innocence R (Capcom, 01.26.2012) 8,397 (63,250)
• [WII] 15. Just Dance Wii (Capcom, 10.13.2011) 7,851 (527,050)
• [360] 16. Soul Calibur V (Capcom, 02.02.2012) 7,679 (NEW)
• [PSP] 17. Monster Hunter Portable 3rd PSP the Best (Capcom, 09.22.2011) 6,875 (185,853)
• [WII] 18. Wii Sports Resort Wiimote Plus Pack (Capcom, 11.11.2010) 5,635 (862,118)
• [PS3] 19. Final Fantasy XIII-2 (Capcom, 12.15.2011) 5,336 (774,415)
• [WII] 20. Mario Kart Wii (Capcom, 04.10.2008) 5,068 (3,500,168)

Here’s the full hardware chart for the same period with the prior week’s sales in parentheses.

• 1. 3DS: 75,018 (84,789)
• 2. PS3: 23,293 (22,924)
• 3. PSV: 17,141 (18,942)
• 4. PSP: 15,847 (16,008)
• 5. Wii: 8,814 (10,396)
• 6. X360: 1,382 (1,235)
• 7. DSi LL: 1,090 (1,180)
• 8. DSi: 669 (738)
• 9. PS2: 481 (713)

Source: Andriasang.com

Next Chapter in the Franchise Introduces More Than 20 New Figures Including Super-Sized Giants and Characters Featuring Light Technology

Global Marketing Partnership With Toys”R”Us Grows Alongside The Game

Bring Your Toys To Life. This novel premise takes a monster step forward with the worldwide unveiling of Skylanders Giants, the follow-up to the most successful kids’ IP launch of the year.¹ Activision Publishing, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Activision Blizzard, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATVI), will debut the sequel at the North American International Toy Fair in booths 3151 and 3251 at the Javits Center in New York City from February 12-15.

Skylanders Spyro’s Adventure uniquely combined collectible real-world toys with an epic virtual game world, creating a new platform for communal play that was embraced by parents and kids everywhere. Skylanders Spyro’s Adventure was the #1 best-selling kids’ franchise worldwide in 2011, as well as the #1 overall new IP launched in North America, according to The NPD Group, Charttrack and GfK.

¹According to The NPD Group, Charttrack and Gfk

According to The NPD Group, Skylanders Spyro’s Adventure went on to become a Top-10 seller in North America and generated the greatest overall single-year sales, inclusive of software and accessories, of any new children’s IP in North America, since NPD has been tracking the category.

Skylanders Giants builds upon the breakthrough fundamentals of the first game-merging the physical and virtual realms with an innovative line of cross-platform toy figures that have “brains,” which players everywhere can magically bring to life in the world of Skylands. This next installment of the franchise features a variety of new characters, new challenges, a thrilling new story-driven adventure, and advanced integration across console, handheld, mobile and online:

Going Big: Skylanders Giants introduces eight new highly collectible figures that are more than twice the size of the main skylanders cast in both physical and virtual form. Their in-game powers and abilities reflect their colossal scale.

Bright Lights: Helping to further the real world magic of bringing toys to life, Skylanders Giants includes a set of characters that feature spectacular new light technology integrated into the toys, allowing the figure to light up when near or on the Portal of Power™. These characters have additional in-game benefits as well. Batteries are not required.

Brand New Skylanders: Eight new regular sized skylanders, each with their own unique powers, abilities, and personality, join the adventure alongside the Giants.

Forward Compatibility: Every beloved character from Skylanders Spyro’s Adventure is 100% compatible with Skylanders Giants, leveled-up stats and customizations intact.

Wider Worlds: Portal Masters will see all new arenas and more gameplay options in Battle Mode for exciting head-to-head play, as well as enhanced Elemental Zones, new Hero Challenges, and other features that encourage players to collect and level up every character.

Skylanders Giants also features closer integration with Skylanders Spyro’s Universe, the large online world that allows Portal Masters around the world to greatly expand their Skylanders experience.

“Skylanders Spyro’s Adventure’s success in 2011 validated an exciting idea-that with the right technology, and the creative minds to support it with engaging characters and story, we could define a new model for children’s play,” said Eric Hirshberg, CEO of Activision Publishing. “Skylanders Giants marks the evolution of this core concept. We’ve got super-sized figures, remarkably cool new characters that light up, as if by magic, and more ways to play and explore Skylands than ever before. We’re delighted to announce the title at Toy Fair 2012 and can’t wait for fans to go hands-on this fall.”

Toys”R”Us has reaffirmed its commitment to Activision and the Skylanders franchise, and will remain a marquee retail partner for the launch of Skylanders Giants. “While it was still in development, we recognized the potential that Skylanders had to connect with our customers due to its unique merging of physical and digital play,” said Jerry Storch, Chairman and CEO, Toys”R”Us, Inc. “The game was an enormous success last holiday shopping season, and the toys seem to evaporate as soon as they arrive on our store shelves. We’re excited to continue our enthusiastic support for Skylanders with a comprehensive, global marketing program to introduce Giants to our customers.”

Skylanders Giants is developed by Toys For Bob, an Activision studio located in Novato, California. The game is not yet rated by the ESRB. For more information, visit www.skylandersgame.com

BloodRayne: Betrayal is a retro throwback, bringing back the best of old-school platformers and blending it together with extremely satisfying, gorgeously bloody vampire slashing. It’s a beautiful game with style in spades set to a chilling narrative. This is the definition of a must-have game at a fantastic price.

BloodRayne: Betrayal delivers over-the-top stylish action with a healthy dose of bloodshed. You are Rayne, the sexy dhampir with superhuman strength, speed, and agility, recruited by the vampire hunting Brimstone Society for one last mission. The target is a lavish, yet sinister ball in a secluded castle with plenty of dark surprises. With the help of a mysterious friend, and members of Brimstone, Rayne must infiltrate the manor, take out the fiendish horde, and stop an evil master plot once and for all.
For more information about BloodRayne: Betrayal, please visit www.bloodraynebetrayal.com.

Fresh off the runaway success of Dungeon Defenders (which recently surpassed 1 million units sold across all platforms), digital experts Reverb Publishing today announced a partnership with the veteran development team at Coffee Stain Studios to publish the PC, Xbox LIVE and PlayStation Network version of Sanctum 2, the sequel to its incredibly popular PC title, Sanctum. Since launching on Steam in April 2011, the tower-defense/first-person-shooter genre bending Sanctum has sold over 300,000 units.

“We’re always searching for great games from passionate developers, particularly studios that have innovative ideas that get us excited to play them,” said Ted Lange, executive producer, Reverb Publishing. “Sanctum has been a huge success on Steam for Coffee Stain Studios, and bringing the next version to console players as well as the PC market is a great next step to share this unique experience. We all have logged quite a few hours with Sanctum and can definitively say that what Coffee Stain has in store for Sanctum 2 will blow the minds of Sanctum fans and new gamers alike.”

Sanctum is a fresh take on the tower defense genre and places the player right into the frenetic fray with tight first-person shooter gameplay mechanics. Gamers take the role of Skye, an elite soldier sent out to protect her home town, Elysion One, from hordes of mysterious alien creatures. To successfully defend your land, you must construct and upgrade a labyrinth of defensive structures and towers. When the havoc starts and the wave of baddies is unleashed, you jump right into the action with your own fully-upgradeable weapons and play a key role in the defense. Sanctum has taken the best features from FPSs and tower defense games to create something totally unique, and Sanctum 2 will only build on and improve that experience.

“With their combined public relations, marketing, sales and business development experience, Reverb Publishing has more than enough chops for us to be honored that they are publishing Sanctum 2,” said Anton Westbergh, producer and CEO for Coffee Stain Studios. “Reverb’s unique publishing model allowing us as the developer to fully retain our IP and keep the lion’s share of the revenue from the game made it a no-brainer. Their success with Dungeon Defenders proves they know how to take a digital title to market and make it a winner, and we can’t wait to see what they can do with Sanctum 2.”

Reverb Publishing’s unique business model is form fitted for each of its developers, ensuring that the developer receives the majority of the game’s revenue and maintains ownership of their titles’ IP while Reverb handles production support, first party management, marketing, public relations and distribution.

Sanctum 2 joins Reverb’s growing roster of titles, which includes the recently released Dungeon Defenders as well as the upcoming Jeremy McGrath’s Offroad, JAM Live Music Arcade, Black Knight Sword and much more. For more information on Reverb Publishing and its line-up of titles, please visit us at www.reverbpublishing.com, follow us on Twitter or ‘Like’ us on Facebook.

About Reverb Publishing:
Founded in 2010, Reverb Publishing offers digital publishing to independent game developers on PlayStation Network, Xbox LIVE Arcade, Wiiware, PC, iOS and Droid, by combining production and business development support paired with the proven public relations and marketing agency expertise from its parent company, Reverb Communications. Reverb Publishing’s unique business model is form fitted for studios, ensuring that they receive the majority of the game’s revenue and maintain ownership of their titles while Reverb handles all the non-developmental tasks including production support, navigating QA, and preparing for product submission.

The PR veterans at Reverb Communications have worked on recognizable brands like Guitar Hero, Rock Band, The Beatles: Rock Band, Dance Central, Star Trek Online, as well as stellar digital titles like ZEN Pinball, Battle Slots, Army of Darkness, BloodRayne: Betrayal, Kung Fu LIVE and the recently released Dungeon Defenders.

For more information about Reverb Publishing, please visit www.reverbpublishing.com

We’re excited to announce that the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare  3’s Content Season for Call of Duty Elite kicks off for Premium Members on the PlayStation Network on 28th February with release of the first two content drops of the nine month season, Liberation and Piazza.

Call of Duty Elite Drop 1: Liberation, a militarised Central Park in the heart of NYC, features a vast landscape ripe for long-range sniper and LMG kills. Mounted turrets on opposing ends of the map offer overwhelming firepower to anyone brave enough to man them. Elite Drop 2: Piazza, set in an idyllic seaside village, Italian getaway gone rogue, where blind corners and a complex network of branching pathways pose danger at every turn. Visceral close-quarters combat dominates in Piazza, and attacks from above and below are an ever-constant threat.

The Modern Warfare 3 Content Season is co-developed by Infinity Ward, Sledgehammer Games and Raven Software. All content is available first to Premium Members on Xbox 360, but will be available to Premium Members on PS3 before non-premium members on their console.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is PEGI rated 18. For more information on the Call of Duty: MW3 content drops, season of content, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and Call of Duty Elite visit www.callofduty.com/mw3 and www.callofduty.com/elite.

Score Album Available on Milan Records March 13, 2012

(Los Angeles, CA) February 2, 2012- Award winning composer Daniel Licht scores Konami Digital Entertainment, Inc.’s Silent Hill: Downpour. The highly anticipated game will be released on March 13, 2012 for Playstation Network and Xbox 360. Downpour will bring a completely original storyline and an all-new haunting soundtrack to the video game series. The soundtrack is available March 13, 2012 on Milan Records, featuring the game’s theme “Silent Hill” by Jonathan Davis, front-man of nu metal band Korn and score by Daniel Licht. Licht is best known for his scores to every Dexter episode. All commercially released Dexterscore and soundtrack albums are available on Milan Records.

In describing Silent Hill: Downpour, Daniel Licht stated, “I’m inspired by the mood and the story. I came up with a sound world that I feel amplifies and augments the player’s experience. I incorporated numerous instruments including piano, mandolin, and industrial sounds.”

Silent Hill: Downpour starts as Murphy Pendleton, the game’s main character, finds himself lost and alone in the woods after his prison transport bus crashes near the town of Silent Hill. What happens after is up to the player as they traverse an all new Silent Hill environment that is expansive, yet claustrophobic. And though this sleepy town may feel desolate, the player is never truly alone.

Daniel Licht has built a solid reputation for his unique scoring approach combined with sound design. Licht’s eccentric techniques create an anxious and fearful environment for his most notable work, Emmy Award winning Dexter. Licht’s scoring, described as “eerie,” employs diverse techniques including playing instruments upside down, sideways, as well as with human bones.

Daniel Licht got his musical start in independent films with Stephen King’s Thinner. After scoring Splendor for Gregg Araki, he went on to score Cowboy Up for Academy Award winning director Xavier Koller. He has also collaborated with director Alex Cox and was commissioned to work with actor and producer Ben Stiller.

Daniel Licht’s has an ability to create music in many genres. In addition to Dexter and Silent Hill, he scores weekly ABC’s Body of Proof and most recently Dumbstruck, a heart-warming documentary about five ventriloquists and their “dummies”. His talents have been recognized with BMI Film & TV awards and most recently “Composer of the Year” at the Third Annual Russian Horror Awards in Moscow.