Ubisoft has revealed today that the new DLC for Assassin’s Creed Revelations, titled as “Mediterranean Traveler Map Pack”, will be released on January 24. And as an actual Mediterranean traveler (it’s all lies, I sit near the computer all day…), boy! Am I excited!
The DLC stands for its name of course and will grant players the chance to visit the beautiful ancient city of Jerusalem, Constantinople (Istanbul), and the district of Dyers. The DLC also includes a revisit to beautiful Italy in the renaissance area which was specifically requested by the hardcore fans, which we cannot blame them for. A huge part of the AC franchise charm has to do with the amazing scenery in the game. Ubisoft complied with the fans request allowing them to go back to Florence, the mountain of San Donato and Siena when the carnival and talented performers light up the night. The DLC will of course enhance your multiplayer experience by adding six new multiplayer maps, more buildings to climb, more hideout places and treasures to loot, oh and of course, people to assassin…

The Mediterranean Traveler Map Pack will be available for download on January 24 for 800 Microsoft Points on Xbox LIVE® and $9.99 on PlayStation®Network and Windows PC.

Personally, I cannot wait and see how Jerusalem looks like in the world of Assassin’s Creed.

If you were going to Call of Duty XP in LA just to see the revealing of the new multiplayer modes, you might as well cancel your ticket now. According to SFX, someone broke into the upcoming event, recorded a video of themselves navigating the menu, and posted their findings on YouTube.

The video displays a list of 13 multiplayer maps: Carbon, Coast, Dome, Exchange, Hardhat, Interchange, Lambeth, Meteora, Mogadishu, Pars, Plaza, Radar, and Seatown. A few more maps could be included in the retail release however, as 13 maps would be the least amount of maps in a Call of Duty game in recent memory.

Also included in the game will be a mode known as “Bomb.” What it is is a mystery, so you will have to wait for Call of Duty XP to hit to learn more. In addition, some game modes will allow up to 32 players to participate simultaneously.

Don’t bother trying to find the video, as it was removed due to a complaint by Activision (and the guy that recorded it is probably being waterboarded as we speak). But come on, you get to play a map called “Hardhat;” how….erotic.

Are you going to be playing Modern Warfare 3 for way too long (and cannot afford Battlefield 3)? Then prepare for obsession by purchasing Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 gaming eyewear. IGN announces that Gunnar Optiks will be releasing their officially licensed Gaming Eyewear made specifically for reducing eyestrain during those long play sessions.

Using the company’s i-AMP technology along with custom spring hinges, a magnesium alloy frame, and wide coverage lenses, the eyewear will protect your eyes so you hopefully do not need actual glasses. The eyewear will set you back $99 and will be available for pre-order via Best Buy at the end of August. Or you could always just wear these.

Apparently he is. On the PlayStation Blog, Dax Ginn, Marketing Game Manager at Rocksteady Studios received a few questions concerning the upcoming Gotham City romp fest. What he spilled was a detail regarding some additions to Robin’s arsenal.

“Because Robin only appears in the challenge maps, our focus is on taking him in a direction not seen before,” said Ginn, “to fit in our world then he needs to be hard-hitting and have abilities that are approaching the potency of Batman’s, so he has a bow staff and shield, and he is an explosions specialist, with vision augmentation that allows him to identify explosives in the environment. Robin is a complex character and very different to Batman – it’s not a case that we’ve just reskinned him.”

For those who cringed when they heard Robin would be present in the game, it appears as if you do not have anything to fear anymore. While he is simply in the challenge maps, the boy wonder sounds functional, fun to use, and best of all, isn’t anything like that whiny Jason Todd (seriously, screw that prick).

With the biggest Comic-Con looming ahead of us, Dark Horse has started their celebration a little ahead of the game. Joystiq reports that all their digital Mass Effect comics will be available for free download for today only, along with a preview for their upcoming series. Win win!

Your 24 hours to claim your free digital swag started at 3 p.m. EST, so while you still have time, you won’t if you keep putting it off. Have it available for all your touch screen mobile devices as well as your own computer where you may most likely be reading this from. Catch up while you wait for the Mass Effect 3 finale!

Final Fantasy is very poorly named, don’t you think? Well, the “Final” part anyway. Destructoid has reported that when Final Fantasy IV Complete Collection comes out for the PSP in Japan on March 24th, the Final Fantasy Interlude will be available for play. I’m sure you’ve all wondered what happened after the story of Final Fantasy IV and now you’ll get to find out! Cecil is the man you’ll take command of, and he starts off at level 30. So you won’t have to train up for hours beforehand. Also, the battle system should be the same as the FFIV Super Famicom version. Neat, huh? Interlude is apparently 15 hours long. It shouldn’t be surprising though, considering just how long Final Fantasy titles are.

Here’s the starter for you, “Cid and Cecil race in their airships from Baron to the restored Damcyan Castle. Instead of corpses, the party is greeted with living guards. Palom, Porom, and Yang are already waiting in the throne room where Edward makes a speech.”

There are those that find the hype and fan-love for Boba Fett to be overblown. He was onscreen in Empire for just a few minutes, and got sent into a living sand pit by a blind guy in Jedi. So how is he the embodiment of all that is bad-ass in Star Wars? Extended universe aside, it appears he comes from a rich heritage of armored assailants, and now we have a solid look at the class for Star Wars: The Old Republic.

The class’s specializations pretty much align themselves into tank or dps roles. The Powertech skills set the hunter up as an immovable wall that focuses on armor, shields, and the built-in flamethrower to hold mobs at bay.  If you want to go for the big boom, then spec Mercenary to get the most out of explosives and blasters. They will also have access to the iconic jet-pack for aerial assaults. The video still shows the popular complaint (at least for me): that the combat looks very stiff, even with all the lasers and missiles. The info released also sheds light on one of the bounty hunters companions, a slicer named Mako, and a look at the spaceship that will be ferrying you to your targets during the game.

This will definitely be a popular class, possibly even over the Jedi ones for the Sith faction. For me there is an instinctual desire to not be wielding a lightsaber just to escape some stereotype, though you should just play what you want, I guess. Whatever your play style, the bounty hunter should give you another reason to pick this up whenever it is released. For now check out the Bounty Hunter video below:

*Video courtesy of BioWare

Looks like Valve is stepping it up when it comes to making sure your Steam account is nice and secure. Valve has announced a new feature called ‘Steam Security’ which will connect your Steam account to a single PC, and issuing you notifications whenever the account is being logged in elsewhere. Your personal information and all things that go along with your Steam account will be more secure with this handy dandy new feature.

“Steam Guard will take advantage of upcoming Intel® Identity Protection Technology (Intel® IPT), an encrypted, hardware-based feature available with the new 2nd Generation Intel® CoreT and Intel® CoreT vProT processors. IPT generates a new numerical password every 30 seconds, integrating into the processor functionality that previously required a separate card or key fob,” Valve said about the new feature.

Well with that amount of tech talk, I’m going to guess that it’s a good thing Steam users are getting this feature. Leave it up to Valve to be the silent protector of our precious Steam accounts.

Activision might as well be beating a dead horse with the announcement of upcoming Guitar Hero and DJ Hero downloadable content. I suppose we have to give them credit for at least trying to revive the “Hero” games to a somewhat respectable level. The game series’ Twitter accounts both have stated that thanks to “continued support”, they’ve got some new stuff in store for people who are still loyal to the games.

Both the Guitar Hero and DJ Hero series seem to be decreasing in popularity relatively quickly, but maybe we’ll see them shine once more before finally being put to sleep. Maybe Activision wants them to go out with some sort of “bang” instead of crushing, humiliating defeat.

It’s that time of the year again to start thinking of what type of Call of Duty game will be released this November. On FindMakarov.com a strange countdown timer appeared in the usual Call of Duty color scheme with the timer already reading below five days, which also corresponds to the upcoming GDC next week. That means an announcement of some sort will be coming out of the GDC on March 2^nd around 10am (ET), if my math serves me right. The biggest clue that is given to us is the name Makarov.

If you played Modern Warfare 2 that name should ring a bell. Vladimir Makarov was the guy at the end of the No Russian mission who left you, which inevitably put the blame of the Russian civilians massacre on the U.S. which caused the breakout of the war. While you weren’t able to kill him then, you might hopefully get the chance in the next game as the website name suggests, ‘Find Makarov.’ Either way, this surely (we hope) means the next Call of Duty game will be as you guessed it, Modern Warfare 3. Activision gets another pile of cash and we are stuck buying another new game in order to keep playing the same multiplayer over and over. You, me and everybody we know will still buy a copy, so I’ll just succumb now…

Update: Looks like this site is a hoax, according to Kotaku. Nothing to see here people. Move along now.