April 24, 2007 - A few weeks ago we learned of a viral marketing site at www.rev64.com that seemed to hint at a new Tom Clancy game coming from Ubisoft. Today the publisher officially announced the title, Tom Clancy's End War, and revealed it is a strategy game in development at Ubisoft Shanghai for release during the company's 2007/2008 fiscal year.

End War is a new brand in the Tom Clancy pantheon of games. Directed by strategy veteran and Ubisoft's creative director Michael de Plater, who has worked extensively on the Total War series, the game is set on the battlefield of World War III. De Plater's team is made up of an experienced Tom Clancy crew that has worked on Ghost Recon, Rainbow Six, and Splinter Cell games.

Set for release on next-gen consoles (when will they become current-gen?), Ubisoft says End War features artificial intelligence, graphics, physics, and animations that were not possible on previous systems.

"Our development teams are invigorated to be creating the first 100 percent next-generation Tom Clancy brand," said Serge Hascoët, chief creative officer at Ubisoft. "Our success with Tom Clancy franchises is unparalleled in the next-generation and Tom Clancy's EndWar will be a marvelous addition to the already critically acclaimed library of games. A strategy game like no other, EndWar will allow gamers to lead their own armies against hundreds of others online in real global locations on the massive battlefields of World War III."

So is it an RTS game or something? Not sure I follow what type of game it is going to be... An MMO?

Mass Effect (see editor's note below), Bioshock, Eternal Sonata, and Blue Dragon have all had their release dates pushed back to late summer/early fall.

This leaves the 360 with a thin release schedule for the next 4 months with only a handful of games worth noting:

Forza 2 - A huge game for simulation racer fans, but for those who have played simulation racers and can't manage to complete a single lap without crashing into the walls, it is a less exciting release.

Shadowrun - Multiplayer FPS built on the rules of an amazing scif-fi/fantasty RPG. Great for FPS fans with access to Xbox Live.

Tenchu Z - A continuation of the popular stealth series, playing as ninja assassins will added some additional breadth to the Xbox 360's growing game library. The Tenchu series is infamously hit-and-miss though, so this game is only a maybe on whether or not it will be able to bring the fun this summer.

The Call of Juarez - Another shooter with an interesting setting, the demo showed off an odd take on bullet-time in which the player appears to control the aim of each of his six-shooters (and their reloads) separately. This could be really awesome, or it could be the same old thing with a gimmicky control mechanic.

The Darkness - You play as an assassin gunslinger with demonic powers in this game based on the graphic novel of the same name. I've seen a live demo and it looked fantastic, but as with all shooters, the controls must be satisfyingly smooth and the guns satisfyingly powerful or players can end up being frustrated or simply bored (as with Lost Planet's weak sauce guns).

Two Worlds - BIG MAYBE. Two Worlds looks like a low-budget Oblivion, but with multiplayer. It is interesting enough to be on my radar, but I expect it will pull a Molyneux (over-reach and under-perform).

Overlord - In Overlord, you play as a bad guy, with monstrous minions that you direct them to help you murder fluffy happy beings like halfings (fantastics) well as to solve puzzles - ostensibly to get past obstacles so that you can continue murdering peaceful dancing beings. The concept is hilarious and convention defying, but the demo I saw showed your little minions behaving somewhat stupidly when not directed. Games with pets are generally only good when the pets are entertaining and not frustrating, so this is also on the "maybe" list.

How pissed off are you that these titles are being crunched in with all the other fall releases? What titles that remain on the release schedule for this spring/summer are you interested in?

Editor's Note - According to BioWare, Mass Effect didn't ever have a set release date so talk of a "delay" is a wee bit presumptuous. - fitbabits

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This was supposed to be the Summer that would end the drought of gaming. Now it looks like the gameless warm months will continue on. I was REALLY looking forward to playing Mass Effect as my Summer Game, but now I guess I will get shafted. Maybe I'll instead have to spend my gaming dollars on a PS3 and play a back log of games to fulfill that void left my the 360 release schedule.

I loved the House of the Dead games, so an RE style one on the Wii is a good selling point for me. I can't tell you how much fun I had with my light gun games. Wii FTW in this case. I hope like the later HOTD games the path through the level changes based on certain things that happen throughout the level. It really threw me off when it seemed like my path was random each time I played.

Who else how there loves Light Gun games? I can never get enough of them, too bad there was only like one on the Xbox.

Even has a dance number after the credits.

I've packing up my apartment, preparing for a few months of couch surfing. I hate trying to figure out what to keep, what to throw away, and what to try and hawk for a few extra bucks! Last time I moved it was from an over sized apartment that was over full with items from my parents when they sold their house and decided to live out of an RV. I moved into a smaller place to afford the rent better, and now I'm down to only what I can fit in my car, until I get settled in MA.

But have no fear, the updates may be a little sparcer, but they will be coming.

Microsoft sent over word that episodes of Comedy Central's "fake news show" The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, along with the companion show The Colbert Report, are now available for download via Xbox Live for owners of the Xbox 360 console. New episodes of both TV shows will be made available for download within 24 hours after they are broadcast on Comedy Central.

How much are they going to charge for these though? I mean there are 5 new ones a week, 160 points ($2)? They are available on iTunes for $1, so I hope they don't charge more then 80 points for them. Needless to say I won't be downloading them at all.

Source Rumor

This is a great rumor that would REALLY get me excited. I remember playing the first 2 Prince of Persia games on my old PS/2 with this crappy square joystick that had only a red and black button. The animation at that time was unbelievably smooth and sold me on the future of gaming. The Xbox games didn't disappoint either with how amazing those animations were either. A classic on the Xbox Live Arcade I hadn't played yet, that is worth my hard earned $$$$.