Yup! Britain's biggest games convention will return this year for the third time at Earls Court, London on October 1st-3rd. That means there'll now be room for more than 20,000 people over the 3 days and even more room for those lovely games.

Check out the full press release below:


UK's Biggest Videogame Exhibition Heads to Earls Court 1st - 3rd October 2010
Brighton, England, 3rd March 2010. 


Eurogamer Network, Europe's leading independent games media specialist, is thrilled to announce that Eurogamer Expo 2010 will open to the public on 1st to 3rd October in the Brompton Hall of Earls Court, London.

Building upon the winning format of the enormously successful 2009 event, this year's Expo will be the only consumer event offering British gamers the chance to go hands-on with the biggest games of this year and the next.

With over 20,000 consumers attending, the event is perfectly positioned at the very start of the key Q4 release window, representing a huge sampling opportunity for consumers to trial the best of the Christmas releases.

"Earls Court is another step up for the Eurogamer Expo," commented Rupert Loman, Managing Director of Eurogamer Network. "Our 2009 event was a sell-out in advance of the show and while our philosophy continues to revolve around sustainable and organic growth, moving to a bigger venue with all the facilities it has to offer allows us to put on a fantastic event for even more gamers.”

David Lilley, Eurogamer Expo Event Director, added: "In addition to masses of playable games, this year's Eurogamer Expo will deliver an even wider range of other attractions. It's our intention to provide a full day's entertainment to this key group of opinion formers and gaming advocates."

All of the most popular aspects of the 2009 event will return including the jam-packed developer sessions, the curiosity shop that is the Indie Arcade and the popular GamesIndustry.biz Career Fair, in addition to a series of new areas and events which will be announced over the coming months.

For more information about the Eurogamer Expo contact:
David Lilley
E: david@eurogamer.net
T: +44 (0)7779 224138

About the Eurogamer Expo
Launched in 2008, the Eurogamer Expo has grown from it’s original capacity of 4,000 people to 20,000 people in just two years.

About Eurogamer Network
Founded in 1999 by brothers Rupert and Nick Loman, Brighton-based Eurogamer Network is the publisher of Europe's most popular independent videogames website, Eurogamer.net. The company also publishes a video site, Eurogamer TV, and a social network for gamers, Eurogamers. Eurogamer is available in 10 languages across Europe. The company also operates live events such as the Eurogamer Expo and the GamesIndustry.biz Career Fair, and publishes the world's market-leading industry resource, GamesIndustry.biz.

Take control of Dante in his crusade to save Beatrice by entering and kicking seven shades of 'you know what' out of hell in an attempt to break free and save the trapped souls under control of the evil and sinister Lucifer keeping them there.

Story

Dante's Inferno is heavily based on one man's passage through the circles of hell in order to free Beatrice - his sweetheart who was cruely taken as bait into hell - and to defeat the entities representing the rulers of the 9 deadly sins, to ultimately take over the Throne of God.

Throughout the game, you will see your passage take the path echoing the 14th Century Poem - Divine Comedy - on which the story is based on. The allegory is the telling of Dante's adventure through a medieval interpretation of what hell is and what it represents and sees him travel through the 9 circles of hell in order:

Limbo, Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Sullenness, Heresy, Violence, Fraud and ultimately, Betrayal.

Later in the game, Dante must face up to and ultimately fight his own sins in a tale of treachery, war crimes, family tragedies and more as his descent into the center of hell deepens and the pursuit to rescue his beloved reaches a stunning climax.

Graphics

Normally, the path in which my reviews go lead on to the gameplay side of things next, but the presentation and quality of the story telling in Dante's Inferno is so impressive it needs to be addressed now.

All of the main story developments are presented using a 3 tier mix of in game cutscenes (all of which have production values so high, they could be mistaken for real life), a cartoon-come-story board presentation similar to an historical timeline and a fully fleged animation.

It's this stunning attention to detail and depth to the story telling that is ultimately the main feature selling point to Dante's Inferno. WIthout a doubt, you'll have your breath taken away in the opening scenes and hooked to the end because of it.

In game graphics continue the high quality theme as the journey through the 9 circles deepens and your crusade picks up pace, the action and environments react accordingly and with each increment in difficulty along your path, the tasks and challenges, enemies and puzzles reflect in a deeper, darker and more sinister presentation of your surroundings.

Boiling blood, fire effects are all impressive, but are dwarfed in comparison to the sense of scale both of the levels and in the size of the main 'entities' (think of these as 'end of level' bosses) and their respective attitude's.

All in all, it's bloody beautiful. Animation is slick, environments seedy, shiny and highly detailed and polished to a squeaky clean sheen and it genuinely pushes the limit of the 360 in terms of the stunning FMV interludes.

Gameplay

Think of this as the ultimate mix of hack 'n' slash, adventure, mini RPG and story telling and you're pretty much there.

The standard mix of spam 'x' button and press 'a' to jump to kill and fly and jump from swinging vine to swinging vine idea is all present, mixed in with opportunities to scale and ride the larger enemies to either 'absolve' or 'punish' them by shoving your fabled cross in their face or by slashing them in half respectively by doing on screen commands (such as push the analogue sticks in opposite directions at the right time, or by mashing 'b').

Throughout the game, you'll have the opportunity to develop the way in which you play with the introduction of magic and expanding your arsenal and killer moves by collecting souls and exchanging them as a sort of in game currency in order to progress further.

You also have the ability to rank up a good and an evil side by either rescuing souls at the appropriate times or by punishing them. Doing so much of one or the another allows your XP to rise in order to ultimately rank up and unlock the more advanced abilities depending on your play style.

Puzzles are a regular occurence and are often based and feature the same principles as the previous ones, such as: drag this block to hold this object up, or shove the block up to make an easier platform to jump up etc.  There's no serious head scratching moments, it's just simply a break up of the never ending slaughtering of the ever increasing amount and size of enemies throughout the game.

All objective or point of interests throughout the levels are highlighted by a spinning circle allowing you to grab, jump to, swing from, slide down or pull (ie. switches) and any interesting fixed objects that are able to be destroyed glow and flash in order for you to swing your scythe at in order to reveal new pathways.

It's a simple game, but very enjoyable and for a hack and slash newbie like me, the storyline drove the game forward at a perfect pace and was complimentary to the simple gameplay design.

Sound

From the menacing screams of tortured souls or the desperate plees for help while climbing the walls within hell, the representation of hell is one of a pain and suffering.

Excellent voice acting throughout the game, whether via in game action or cutscenes adds to the sense of high production values. Dramatic tense undertones in the background whilst playing, through to the mechanical movements of stairways, chain lifts and creaking statues all add to the sense of depth and scale of hell.

To summarise the audio quality and cinematics, they're complimentary to the proceeding comments on graphics, without being outstanding. Great voice acting talent is a genuinely pleasant addition.

Summary

Dante's Inferno is an epic depiction of one man's travel through hell using stunning graphics and simple to pick up and play game controls so everybody can enjoy and feel pro whilst gorging on it.

If a little short and some what lacking in replay-ability, the game is a must play for fans of such series as Devil May Cry and God of War, and whilst some fans of the forementioned series' may feel that this is a blatant 'rip' of their favourite franchises, they can relax fully in the knowledge that this can sit comfortably next to them due to the quality and attention to detail Visceral Games have added to it.

Yesterday, Bungie said they would be dropping a "Multiplayer Bomb" on the world in about a day, and this looks like it.

The Halo Reach multiplayer will include all new modes including Spartans vs Elites, Assassinations and lots of explosions!

This comes as a Taiwanese gaming site may of leaked the information early, naughty naughty.
It does all look pretty legit though, check out the video below.

Yes, no more rumours or waiting, the game all racing RPG fans have been waiting for has been unveiled. Scheduled to land at the end of the year, the original game's makers have been the guiding hands in creating this version.

For the first time as well, the game will feature crash damage and looks to expand on its massively multiplayer aspect that made the game famous. Press conference and the first game screens to hit below.

“After the highly successful Test Drive Unlimited which redefined the genre with massively open online racing, Test Drive Unlimited 2 will be an innovative evolution in racing games, expanding its unparalleled multiplayer experience and immersing players in a world full of new online content and lifestyle customization.” said Jeff Lapin, CEO of Atari, SA. 

“The game fits squarely into our strategy of moving online and generating new revenue streams while maintaining our current retail business.”

G4 has reported that Activision might still want Infinity Ward making the Call of Duty Series

Even though Infinity Ward studio heads Jason West and Vince Zampella are now confirmed to have left the company, Activision says Infinity Ward is "central to Call of Duty's future."

"Jason West and Vince Zampella are no longer with Infinity Ward," explained Griffith, reiterating what we now publicly know. "Infinity Ward remains central to Call of Duty's future and we rely on the combined talent, expertise and leadership of the team there for its success."

So, even though 2 of the studio heads of IW are gone, Activision may still want Infinity Ward to make Call of Duty. Modern Warfare 3? Call of Duty 7?

Do you know what makes a good game trailer? Slow motion rag-doll physics and classical music. Do you know what the launch trailer for EA's Battlefield Bad Company 2 has? Slow motion rag-doll physics and classical music. Oh, and explosions - they're there too. Enjoy!

Microsoft has announced an Xbox 360 Splinter Cell: Conviction Special Edition Bundle.

The bundle, due to be released in early April, will contain a standard edition copy of Splinter Cell: Conviction, a 250GB console and 2 Wireless Controllers.

The Call of Duty developers seem to be in trouble with publisher Activision

G4 have reported that some bouncer type's showed up and refused to explain why they were there. People at the studio were "confused" and "worried". Infinity Ward studio heads Vince Zampella and Jason West reportedly met with Activision this morning and have not been seen by Infinity Ward staff members since. (This does not mean they have been kidnapped)

These screens below show that Jason West has possibly been let go from Infinity Ward, more info to come.

Remedy Entertainment has release some nice new screens of Alan Wake, the upcoming 360 horror game, on their Facebook page, but now conveniently here at Game Attic for you to feast your eyes upon!

The game's out May 18 for the US and May 21 for the UK.

Enjoy.

Lost in Nightmares is the first of four DLC releasing this year for Resident Evil 5. The next bit of extra content containing extra chapters is called Desperate Escape which is coming out early March and the 2 other packs I mentioned are costumes packs. All can be found here. I have decided to purchase all the DLC because I have had Resi 5 since launch but coming out on March 9th is Resident Evil 5 Gold Edition which contains all the DLC on the disc. Each DLC costs 400 and the Costume Packs are priced at 160.


Lost in Nightmares is a new chapter that shows one of Chris and Jill’s old missions, it is not very long. On Amateur it took me 20-25 minutes but on Veteran it took me well over an hour. The mission takes place in Ozwell E. Spencer’s (Founder of Umbrella) mansion and it looks exactly like the one off the first Resident Evil. As soon as I started I was taken back to when I first played Resident Evil and it felt brilliant. The first half of this DLC takes place in the main part of mansion and you don’t have much combat, more running around finding pieces of paper and a crank.

There are a few boss fights later on but they seem to have re used a boss of the Resident Evil 5 storyline, of course the boss has had a few mild changes. When it got to final confrontation I was actually surprised it was ending, it was just starting to get better. After you have finished Lost in Nightmares you have the chance to give Mercenaries Reunion a go. This is basically Mercenaries but with different characters such as the famous Barry Burton and the evil Excella Gionne, unfortunately not in her Urboros state.


I have put a few hours into the new Mercenaries mode and I am still enjoying it. I need to finish Lost in Nightmares on Professional mode still and this time I will run through as Jill because as soon as you complete it once on any difficulty you get the option to choose Chris or Jill which is nice as some people do prefer Jill. This is also like the first game where you also there had the option between Jill and Chris.

I love the Resident Evil series and Resident Evil 5 did deliver. This DLC is a great addition, it’s just a bit disappointing how short it is and that it could have been much longer. I would not recommend buying this DLC unless you play Resident Evil 5 on a regular basis. I hope Desperate Escape is just that little bit longer when it comes out next month.

8/10

Bizarre Creations has released its latest Blur trailer in which the team discusses social gameplay aspects and how the game 'brings people together.'

NeoGAF is reporting that a beta for the game will be available from the 1st of March. It comes after Fileplanet revealed a 'top secret Xbox 360 beta' will come out on that date.

Enjoy!

Here's the first gameplay trailer for the new Transformers game. Luckily it's not a tie-in game with any of the films, so it could be half decent, however, this trailer didn't really do anything for me, but hopefully some of you guys will like it.

Enjoy.

Oh dear. Just as we thought the worst of the recession was behind us, and that the game industry was one of the survivors over the last 2 years, comes this.

GAME has confirmed it will close 43 stores, laying off 247 staff across its UK operations.
The news comes after the company had seen its sales over the Christmas period, fall by 18%.
They will close 12 GAME stores, all 25 stores based in branches of Debenhams, and 6 Gamestation stores. Tough market conditions coming in 2010 are to blame for the closures.

In a statement to Gamesindustry.biz, the company said: "The majority of the identified sites are located close to another one of our stores, and we will help each customer affected by a closure to transfer to their nearest store as well as our online offerings,"

"We will provide extensive support to the teams in each store. However, with deep regret, we have had to offer redundancy to 247 employees. We will do our utmost to redeploy roles if possible, and have started consulting with all affected employees in the 43 sites."

Rockstar has released five more screenshots of Read Dead Redemption, a day after we saw a new video featuring the ladies of the game.

Feast your eyes on them below, this game looks to be a stunner.