Today 2K Games and Gearbox announced that Duke Nukem Forever will finally hit stores in 2011 for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360.

For those who are too young to remember or just aren’t into gaming that heavy please believe this is a very big deal. The follow up to the original Duke Nukem game has had more false starts and delays than Detox and Chinese Democracy combined. Unlike Dre’s on again off again opus you can actually get your hands on Duke Nukem forever now. The game will be playable right now for all attendees 17 and older of this year’s Penny Arcade Expo at the 2K Booth (booth #3417).

More info on the DNF

Not much info has been given yet but here is what we know:

Players can pound the opposition from the Vegas Strip to the Hoover Dam all while serenading your ears with your favorite Duke-isms.

Experience a fully interactive and immersive look into Duke’s world. Shoot hoops, lift weights, read adult magazines, draw crude messages on white boards or ogle one of the many beautiful women that populate life; that is if you can pull yourself away long enough from kicking ass and taking names.Buckeye’s

The most famous shooter will come equipped with shotguns, RPGs, pipe bombs and other trademark Duke Nukem tools of destruction.

PES2011 hits stores on every console and PC this fall.

Here is the final box art for Sid Meier’s Civilization V.The game will be available in North America starting September 21, 2010 for Windows PC.

Just in time for the World Cup, Konami has released the first assets from the upcoming Pro Evolution Soccer game.

PES2011 hits stores this fall.

This is the latest video of gameplay and development team interviews for the upcoming EA MMO title, APB. The game will be released on June 29th. Stay tuned to kuhvet.com for more details.

Yesterday 2K announced that the highly anticipated title Mafia II will be available in North America on August 24, 2010 and internationally on August 27, 2010 for the PlayStation3, the Xbox 360 and Windows PC.

Additionally, Mafia II will be playable by the public for the first time at the Penny Arcade Expo East in Boston, Massachusetts this weekend at the 2K Games booth (booth #103).

I don’t play PC only games nor do I understand why anyone does for that matter. With all the gaming console options I don’t see the need. But, I can’t front on Need For Speed World, the latest in a long line a stellar car racing games from EA. It’s incredible if only for the multi-players options. Of course other games/platforms have this option but rarely as encompassing as it is here. Amazing graphics bring you in but the online communities will make you stay.

The designers talked about purposely making a game that won’t just appeal to 25 year-old guys and because of that focus; the game-play (the car customization, the Instant Messenger way the online community functions, voice-chatting, etc) is highly enjoyable.

To join in on the MMO fun sign up for the closed beta program starting tomorrow at http://world.needforspeed.com.

System requirements for beta:

* Operating System: Windows XP Service Pack 3 / Windows Vista Service Pack 2 / Windows 7

* DirectX: DirectX 9.0c

* CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo 2.0 GHz or AMD X2 4000+ at 2.1GHz or greater

* RAM: 2 GB

* Video Card: 512 MB DirectX 9.0 compatible. At least Shader Model 2.0 support

* Sound Card: DirectX 8.1 compatible

* Hard Drive: 4 GB of space is required to install the game

* Internet: 128kbit/s Cable/DSL connection

Need for Speed World will be available summer 2010 on PC. –K. Salaam

2K Games announced today that it has signed a license agreement with Playboy magazine to use more than 50 of their vintage covers and centerfolds in Mafia II.

Mafia II hits stores in September on Xbox 360, PS3 and PC platforms.

Today 2K Games announced the Sinclair Solutions Tester Pack. It will be the first in a series of single and multiplayer downloadable content for BioShock2. The DLC will be available on March 11, 2010 from both the Xbox LIVE Marketplace and Games for Windows-LIVE for 400 Microsoft Points, and from the PlayStation Network for $4.99.

The pack includes

* Rank increase to level 50 with Rank Rewards

* New playable characters – Louie McGraff and Oscar Calraca

* 20 new trials

* A third weapon upgrade for each weapon

* Five additional masks*

BioShock was a surprise hit for the Xbox 360 back when it debuted in ’06, garnering unanimous critical acclaim and giving gamers a first-person shooter that wasn’t just about running around and blowing ish up. 2K gave gamers a deep storyline that blew just about everyone away and the RPG/FPS hybrid gameplay was fun enough to warrant multiple plays. So it should go with out saying a sequel would be no surprise.

For the most part, BioShock 2 plays essentially the same as the original title. You explore the ruined city of Rapture and loot the hell out of everything that has a lid or has something that so much as resembles a lid. The biggest change in BioShock 2 is that you are no longer a measly dude walking around beating drug addicts to death with a monkey wrench. Now you’re a dude in a huge scuba diving suit beating people to death with a drill. Yeah, you’re playing as a Big Daddy this time around. Fans of the original will remember the Big Daddies as those behemoths that stomped around the deep sea city of Rapture babysitting little girls with huge, pointy syringes. Your mission this time is to find your Little Sister Eleanor — those annoying little girls that were running around in the BS1 that meant a Big Daddy, and a fight wasn’t too far behind.

Along with that sick drill, you also pick up some Big Daddy-exclusive weaponry along the way, and while not all of your arsenal is original, the weapons are effective enough to get the job done. Instead of being forced to switch between Plasmids and your weapons, 2K now let’s you use one hand for Plasmids and the other for your weapons, giving you better combat experience. What’s disappointing about the Plasmids is that they are basically lifted from the original. They’re still dope to use, but c’mon son, give us some new mutant powers to play with. At least, the controls have been upgraded from the original title now they’ve laced us with the ability to wield Plasmids and guns simultaneously. Unlike the first game, you don’t just ice Big Daddies and decide what to do with Little Sisters later. Now you can steal one of these demonic little girls to help lead you to a corpse filled with delicious ADAM (the game’s currency for magic stuff).

Since you are a Big Daddy in this game, the developers created an even more intimidating baddie. Randomly throughout the game, Big Sisters, who are basically thinner and much more powerful versions of Big Daddies, come along to kick the crap out of you.

The multiplayer is new to this game as well. It takes place during the war in Rapture that saw the Splicers start appearing and had a lot of people getting ganked. While there are a bevy of modes and admittedly good ideas implemented in the multiplayer it just doesn’t click and offers only a brief mild distraction. Unfortunately, BioShock 2’s multiplayer simply won’t pull gamers away from established multiplayer shooters, but you’ve got to give the developers credit for trying.

The multiplayer probably would have fared much better if it wasn’t restricted to online play. If BioShock wants to compete with hardcore multiplayer shooters out there, then it needs to be as expansive and have the same gameplay options as competing titles.

BioShock 2 is a lot of things. It’s a fun first-person shooter/RPG adventure that lets gamers revisit Rapture. If you liked the first game, you should definitely be satisfied with this sequel, but be warned! It’s not the amazing leap forward in gameplay and storyline everyone was expecting. But it is still a great game that is worthy of your time. –A. Kennedy