Firaxis and 2K Games this morning announced the release dates for its upcoming real-time strategy game XCOM: Enemy Unknown. The game will be will be hitting US shores on October 9 and internationally on October 12.

While previously announced as an FPS title two years ago, 2K games decided to keep with the franchise’s traditional real-time strategy mechanics and give fans what they’ve been craving for years. We also ranked it one of our Top 10 Games of PAX East 2012.

“As we reimagine XCOM, one of our goals is to evolve the experience while recognising what made X-COM one of the greatest PC games to date,” said Sarah Anderson, senior vice president of marketing for 2K. “It’s important to create an experience that is appealing to both existing fans and newcomers to the world of XCOM, which is what we’re doing with XCOM: Enemy Unknown.”

XCOM fans who pre-order the game will receive an Elite Soldier pack containing several in-game extras like an original XCOM soldier recruit, a deco pack including a Hyperion and Reaper soldier armor kit, and color customizations for their squad. Participating retailers will also be selling a special edition of the game that comes with an art book, poster, XCOM insignia patch, and a collection of digital bonuses such as desktop wallpaper, soundtrack and more.

XCOM: Enemy Unknown is headed to Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC this fall.

Not wanting to be overshadowed by two other special edition pre-orders announced this week, 2K Games has announced not one but two deluxe editions for Borderlands 2.

As of today, players can pre-order the Deluxe Vault Hunter’s Collector’s Edition, which includes an authentic Marcus Kincaid bobble head, hardbound art book, map of Pandora, a comic book download, and a four sticker set. This set costs $99.

If you want to get an even better package, why not spend $50 more for the Ultimate Loot Chest Limited Edition, which comes in a replica loot chest and includes everything from the Deluxe version plus a SteelBook case, a creatures of Pandora identification chart, lithograph postcards, field notes from Sir Hammerlock, a cloth map of Pandora, and a numbered certificate of authenticity.

Even if you decide to forego the above sets and simply want the game, pre-ordering it from participating retailers will grant you access to the Borderlands 2 Premier Club, allowing them to download the Gearbox Gun Pack, a Golden Key to unlock an in-game race, the Vault Hunter’s Relic to boost your fortune, and an all-new fifth character class: the Mechromancer.

Borderlands 2 hits the Playstation 3, Xbox 360 and PC on September 18, 2012.

If you have yet to register for Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) East or are having second thoughts about going to the biggest gaming expo on the east coast, you better make up your mind fast as Friday and Sunday passes for this weekend’s event are quickly disappearing.

“Only a few hundred Friday passes left. Probably sell out in a 2-3 days at this rate,” announced the official Twitter account for PAX, the three-day event that had sold out its three day passes a couple of months ago.

PAX East and its west coast cousin PAX Prime are one of the only occasions fans can play some big-name games before they are released. Here’s a quick list of some of the games, demos, and previews the big developers and publishers will be showcasing this weekend.

Square Enix (Booth 850)

Sleeping Dogs, Theatrhythm Final Fantasy, Quantum Conundrum, Heroes of Ruin, Wafku, Risen 2: Dark Waters

Microsoft (Booth 524)

Crimson Dragon, Deadlight, Dust: An Elysian Tail, Trials Evolution, Minecraft: Xbox 360 Edition, Fable: Heroes, Kinect Sports: Season  Two, Kinect Star Wars, Steel Battalion: Heavy Armor

Nintendo (Booth 412)

Mario Power Tennis Open, Spirit Camera: The Cursed Memoir, Kid Icarus: Uprising, Mario Kart 7, Resident Evil Revelations, Ketzal’s Corridors, Sakura Samurai: Art of the Sword, Pushmo, Dillon’s Rolling Western

2K Games (Booths 924, 936, 1036)

Borderlands 2, Spec Ops: The Line, XCOM: Enemy Unknown, Civilization V: Gods & Kings

Rockstar (Booth 912)

Max Payne 3

Sega (Booths 448, 548)

Hell Yeah, Sonic 4 Episode 2, Jet Set Radio, Virtua Fighter 5: Showdown, Virtua Tennis Challenge, Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing, House of the Dead 4, Aliens Colonial Marines

Ubisoft (Booth 824, 836)

Assassin’s Creed III (footage,) Far Cry 3, Mad Riders, Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Future Soldier, Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Online, I Am Alive, Babel Rising, Monster Burner, MotoHeroz, Prince of Persia Classic HD

Reverb Publishing (Booth 808)

Girl Fight, Wheels of Destruction, Black Knight Sword, Bang Bang Racing, JAM Live Music Arcade, Primal Carnage (booth 1167,) Deadliest Warrior: Ancient Combat, Shoot Many Robots (booth 612,) Dungeon Defenders, Jeremy McGrath’s Offroad, Country Dance All Stars,

Paradox Interactive (Booth 368)

War of the Roses, The Showdown Effect

Perfect World (Booth 736)

Neverwinter, Blacklight: Retribution, RaiderZ

Don’t forget too that aside from these studios, other, lesser known, developers will be there as well, so be sure to check them out. You never know what indie game will be the next Journey!

2K Games has announced that Bioshock Infinite, the shooter that wowed us at last year’s E3 will hit North American shelves on October 16, with an international release three days later.

And the countdown begins…

I’ve always had this theory. In the beginning of every year, there’s that strange lull until we get new quality games, and perhaps it’s a bit unfair, but those games set the tone for what the rest of the year will be like. Terrible games are relaesed first? Get ready for a dissapointing year, but if we get good quality games within the first major release week, then that’s a different story.

If The Darkness 2, the new shooter from 2K games is any indication — we’re about to have a great year. Now, don’t get me wrong — it’s not perfect, but it’s fun, over the top and gory fun layered on top of quality writing and fine tuned mechanics. The Darkness 2 sets 2012 off to the right path.

The Darkness 2 is of course a direct sequel to the 2007 shooter based off of the Top Cow comic book series of the same name created by Marc Silvestri, Garth Ennis, and David Wohl. If you haven’t experienced either here’s a bit of a primer; the titular Darkness is an ancient mystical force that allows the one who posseses it access to a mysterious dimension and control over the darkling creatures that reside there.

The Darkness has currently chosen low life gangster and hitman Jackie Estacado as its host, and he’s parlayed that into a full takeover of his mob family — but of course things aren’t that easy. The Darkness 2 starts off with an attack on Jackie and the mob family, and a mysterious man trying to control the Darkness.

So what does that mean for you? Mainly lots of killing, maiming and shooting — luckily it’s all done so well. You’ll start out just as you do with any other shooter, but when The Darkness starts to beg Jackie to let it out again, that’s when the game starts to retain an identity all its own. The Darkness portrays itself mostly as two giant snake like creatures that portrude from your back, and proceed to make your enemies lives a living hell. 2K and Digital Extremes has done a great job making the actual Darkness abilities make you feel like an unstoppable force, which goes a long way in making the game feel so incredibly rewarding.

Take one of the game’s earlier levels, which finds you traveling through a subway system battling a litteral army of thugs. Not only can you use your average guns to take them out, but The Darkness adds a slew of cool abilities to your repertoire. Slash at them violently, grab them, literally rip them apart, take objects as cover — you can even summon darkling creatures to attack your enemies, and apparently they speak with an English accent.

The Darkness 2 also features an RPG style leveling system which allows you to use dark essence from your downed enemies to make your Darkness abilities even more powerful. One of the first abilities you’ll unlock is key — the ability to eat the hearts of your downed enemies to regain health, but I found that if I wasn’t led to a powerup that I absolutley needed, I never really really found myself going out of my way to level up these abilities. The Darkness 2 often felt like it could be finsished without even touching some of these abilities.

Perhaps that’s the Darkness 2′s biggest downfall — there’s just not a ton of content here. The single player game can be finished in a matter of hours, and there’s not really any reason to jump back in after you’ve finished it. Strangely, the multiplayer suite from the first game has been scrapped, but there is a respectable co-op mode, still though, it could turn a lot of online gaming focused players off from an otherwise entertaining shooter.

The visuals of The Darkness 2 though are remarkably well done. Rather than go for a phot realistic look, the folks at 2K and Digital Extremes have gone a route that makes The Darkness 2 look like the living embodiment of a comic book. The environments are all created as you’d expect, and then given a cell shading-esque top layer, which works very well for a game of this style.

Blast Factor:The Darkness 2 might not be a perfect shooter, but it’s an absolute blast and a great start to 2012. It’s violent, fun and performs well in some of the most hectic situations — we just wish there was more of it. If you like shooter, pulp and gratious violence, do yourself a favor and unleash The Darkness.

Although the heyday of blaming the Grand Theft Auto series of videogames for the commission of real-world crimes has mostly passed,  this little nugget has emerged from an incident Saturday night in Raynham. Two youths, a 12 and a 16 yr old, were arrested for allegedly trying to set fire to a garage and an apartment building with makeshift Molotov cocktails. The younger of the pair claims they got the idea from playing GTA 4 prior to their early morning graffiti spree that commenced with a laughable attempt to blow up a couple of buildings.

Quick thinking, kid.

"They appear to have crossed the line from virtual reality to reality," said Police Chief Lou Pacheco, wasting no time in assuming GTA 4 as an absentee co-defendant. Not surprisingly, the Chief had little to say about the fact that these children were given the opportunity by their parents not only to play this very violent and mature game they have no business playing, but also to be driving around at 4am with a head full of bad ideas.

Fortunately, these two are not the most capable of criminals as the boys appear to have made the wicks out of flame-retardant material from a chair cover. They also neglected to realize that a Molotov cocktail only explodes and causes real damage when you break it.

Following the arrest, the boys were arraigned in juvenile court on charges of possession of an explosive device and attempted arson. They were then released to their families, who will probably now sue 2K Games instead of re-evaluating their lives and taking responsibility for what horrible parents they are.

A piece of graffiti from the incident featuring what is presumably one of the kid's real names...

Source: G4/ Enterprise News

In an effort to familiarize you, the reader, with both Kathleen (one of our newest writers) and some of her favorite game publishers and developers, we are bringing you a short series that covers this very thing, starting today with 2K Games.

Where does a game come from? Some people just toss a disk in a tray and go from there, loving the time they spend with it, but unaware of the work that goes into making that experience happen. Unfortunately, many gamers don’t know who develops and publishes the games that frequent their gaming systems. But as video games continue to gain popularity in every day society, it is important to know the who, what, and when of your games to continue to make educated choices on other games you might enjoy, or if only to enjoy the rich history of a publisher or developer.

One of my favorite publishers, 2K, has in the last six months released some of the biggest hits of 2009 and 2010, including Borderlands and the long-awaited Bioshock 2. 2K continues to publish quality games in a wide variety of genres, including first-person shooters, role-playing, and sports. 2K is divided into three divisions, 2K Games, 2K Sports, and 2K Play. Taking a look back at their roots and where they began, it is impressive to see how far the company has come in the gaming community, and hopefully will continue to improve and grow as that community expands and changes. It’s also cool to see how connected publishers and developers are to each other and what other games 2K has produced that you may not have even thought of.

2K is a subsidiary company of Take-Two Interactive, owner of Rockstar Games and the Grand Theft Auto series. The company was founded in 2005 and has quickly become one of the largest publishing companies in the gaming world. 2K has released games for almost every platform imaginable, and since day one has strived to publish quality games. Based out of Novato, California, most people know 2K from one of their divisions, 2K Sports, which develops the critically acclaimed 2K Sports series including MLB, NHL, NBA, and The Bigs. In just two years, 2K released the 2007 game of the year, Bioshock, continued developing and publishing the award-winning Sid Meier’s Civilization series, and rose to number one with NBA 2K9. Bioshock alone won the company over fifty awards and sold nearly 3 million units, giving 2K a great start and a hard act to follow.

As if that weren’t enough, early on in their career, 2K published Bethesda’s Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion in 2006, a ground-breaking RPG which completely changed how many players looked at open-world roaming and side-quests. Oblivion spawned two expansions, The Knights of the Nine and Shivering Isles, and continues to be one of the most popular games in its genre. With an impressive arsenal of quality games under their belt, 2K moved almost seamlessly into the next-gen console era, currently hosting a wide variety of studios including Cat Daddy Games, Firaxis Games, Irrational Games and Visual Concepts.

More recently, 2K released two amazingly complex and exciting titles, 2009′s Borderlands and 2010′s Bioshock 2. Released for the PC,PS3 and Xbox 360, "The first-person shooter and RPG made a baby.", hypes Borderlands promotional trailer, which is surprisingly accurate. Armed with qualities that make both of these genres great, Borderlands supplied gamers with a looting, shooting, questing, leveling, exploding extravaganza, fun both by yourself or with three other friends alongside you. Having already sold 1.11 millions units according to the NPD, the game had some of the largest multi-player sales of 2009. With two expansions released and a third in the works, Borderlands quickly became a fan-favorite, selling out throughout the holidays.

Earlier this month, Bioshock 2 made a grand entrance to shelves, releasing on the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360. In the first game, we were introduced to Rapture, a man-made underwater city filled with new things to explore, and horribly mutated splicers and over-powered, drill-wielding ‘Big Daddies’ to fight. Set ten years after the first game, 2K brings us back to that city in the sequel, letting the player take control of one of those powerful Big Daddies, in a fight to decide the more powerful; the self-worth of man or the unity that binds man together. Bioshock 2 also provides the player with a all-new multi-player mode in which players can go head to head in a variety of games, including "Capture the Little Sister" and the classic brawl style fight-to-the-death.

2K has announced two more games set for release in 2010, Mafia 2, a mob-inspired sequel, and Spec Ops: The Line, a third-person military shooter. Rumored of course are whispers of Bioshock 3 and a Borderlands sequel, but 2K has yet to confirm or deny the development of either of these. Fortunately, 2K has developed a standard to which their games are held, and attempts to deviate as little from that standard as possible. There is much promise in the games that 2K has published, and hopefully the quality that gamers have come to expect from the company will only continue to grow in the future.

Hey Rapture fans, the wait is nearly over.

Bioshock 2, the underwater, antiquated, first-person-shooter releases Feb. 9 but a high-profile release like this one can’t get to the public without a launch trailer.

Something to remember. The trailer below, in its 3-minute entirety, is beautiful, yes, but features no gameplay whatsoever, it’s all cinematics.

Everyone, let’s all stand and warmly welcome our new friend Iron Helmet Games to the ever-expanding video game industry.

This studio, formed by Jay Kyburz, a man with a 12 year history in game production and former Irrational Games Lead Producer on titles like Freedom Force, Tribes, Swat and  Bioshock busted on to the scene recently and offers a fresh approach on a much-neglected genre.

The studio was founded to produce “old school hardcore strategy games” and through the incorporation of diplomacy and social interaction, the studio hopes to build games that encourage cooperative efforts.

Iron Helmet Games is made up for ex-2k Australia employees (which represents the other half of 2k Boston), and hope to make its games in “the Irrational Games tradition.”

The studio’s first title, Neptune’s Pride is in beta right now, and you’re already qualified to join in the fun, as all that’s needed to get started is your (probably already) existing Google account.

Neptune’s Pride

Iron Helmet Games

We’ll continue to follow Iron Helmet as the world turns!

Brand names are a big deal. These names associate either negative or positive feelings about a product and can be as outlandish as Piranha Bytes or as normal-sounding as Platinum Games.

Today, 2k Boston, makers of the original Bioshock, changed its named to Irrational Games, the title the studio went by before 2k Games, the publisher, acquired the development studio.

Kind of a dull logo if you ask me.

Irrational Games launched a Web site today, but all it has on it is a countdown clock, ending sometime on Tuesday.

What’s it mean? Hard to tell, but the February Game Informer issue will have, within its pages, a feature on the studio. Read up, gamers!

Source: Game Informer

When BioShock 2 got bumped to 2010, fans everywhere cried out, but 2k Games hope to sway that dismay today with a new trailer for the underwater title.

What’s in the new trailer? Lots of weapons, dark and ominous settings, bone-chilling music and narration, and lots of frenzied death.

Take a look at the trailer embedded below and look for the game on PS3, Xbox 360 and PC February 9.

2k Games released BioShock 2′s first multiplayer trailer in the wee hours of this Friday September 4, and in case you missed it, because you were sleeping like a normal person, never fear, for we at Blast Gaming do not sleep, and have the video for you below.

The first BioShock had no multiplayer component, only a glorious single-player campaign, and no one knocked title for that decision. However, Bioshock 2 does multiplayer, and from the looks of this video…..you finish that sentence.

Bioshock 2 is due out on Xbox 360 and PS3 sometime in 2010.

Bethesda Softworks and 2k Games today announced a partnership to bring two of the Xbox 360′s finest games, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and Bioshock to retail next month on Xbox 360 and PC.

Beginning July 7 the two games will hit retail as one mega-awesome-must-have bundle priced at $39.99 for Xbox 360, and $29.99 for PC gamers.

Together, over 80 game of the year awards have gone out to both titles, and in case you haven’t played either, in July you can’t go wrong with this new M rated bundle.

Oblivion and Bioshock currently retail for $29.99 and $19.99 respectively on Xbox 360, so you won’t be saving a ton, but every little bit counts if you’re like me.

While we’re on the subject of great bundled gaming, you might want to consider The Orange Box from Valve. Games included are Half Life 2, Half Life 2: Episode 1 and 2, Team Fortress 2, and Portal. That’s five games for $19.99 brand new. Wow.

2k Games today *gasp* have announced *clenches fist* the first solid details surround BioShock 2′s multiplayer *sigh*.

According to Christoph Hartmann, president of 2K, “The fans asked for a multiplayer experience and we answered.”‚  Oh really? Who answered? It wasn’t me, was it you?*shakes fist in indignation*

All silly written emotes aside, 2k has partnered with Digital Extremes to work on the multiplayer component to the ocean based, corridor shooter.

Multiplayer in Bio2 is said to be a prequel experience bolstering gamers’ knowledge of the lore surrounding the fallen city of Rapture.‚  You’ll play as a plasmid test subject for Sinclair Solutions (the dudes who brought you plasmids and tonics in the original) and in order to survive must take advantage of the varied “toolset” that only Rapture can supply.

Unlike many multiplayer experiences, Bio2′s will bring storytelling (we don’t yet know how) to the formula and allow gamers to see Rapture before it fell, you know, while blowing the heads of foes.

I don’t see anything revolutionary or redefining in this press release from 2k Games, and would have loved a straight-up single player experience, but hey, this could work?

Unlike the original, Bioshock 2 will indeed have multiplayer but that certainly doesn’t mean the single player experience, the core of the title, will be compromised whatsoever.

While absolutely zero details regarding Bioshock 2′s mysterious multiplayer component have been revealed by 2K games yet, lead level designer Hogarth de la Plante assures the faithful that the rich campaign experience won’t make any concessions due to the inclusion of multiplayer.

Speaking with GamePlayer de la Plante stated: “We recognize that people might be cynical about a multiplayer mode, a lot of us are big single player fans also so in no way does it compromise the single-player experience.”

If 2k are to be believed this is good news, as the addition of multiplayer just because “everyone else is doing it” is silly.‚  It is reassuring to know emphasis is still centered on single player, which begs the question….why multiplayer at all?

Dear Blast reader, are you looking forward to Bioshock 2 multiplayer (whatever it may be)??

via Gamercenteronline

Electronic Arts said Monday it had withdrawn its $2 billion offer to purchase rival Take-Two Interactive, drawing to a close the five-month  bid for the game maker

Take-Two is known as the producer of the Grand Theft Auto franchise and its 2K Sports line.

More in the New York Times

At E3 this year, 2K Games and 2K Sports will be previewing a number of brand new titles behind the closed doors of the conference.

On the list include: Borderlands (PC/360/PS3), BioShock (PS3), NBA 2K9 (360/PS3/PS2), NHL 2K9 (360/Wii/PS3/PS2), and Civilization IV: Colonization (PC).

We’ve booked an hour and a half with these guys, so expect something hot and juicy.

Did you really think it wouldn’t happen?

This month’s edition of UK Magazine PSM3 drops what they are calling official confirmation that BioShock, last year’s critically and commercially acclaimed Xbox 360 blockbuster, will be heading to the PlayStation 3 by year’s end.

While neither Sony or 2K games has released any kind of information on the title going multi-platform, CVG — who publishes the magazine is standing by their cover story, promising multiple pages of exclusive previews and screenshots. Curiously, the cover-blurb hints at more content for the re-release, reading “Why Xbox’s best shooter is better on PS3.”

The new issue of PSM3 is scheduled to hit newsstands in the UK (along with select shops stateside) on June 4. Expect some kind of official word soon after.

A Sony Computer Entertainment America spokesman had no comment, calling the news rumor and speculation.

John Guilfoil of the Blast Magazine staff contributed to this report