Strategy Informer  

Ubisoft announced today that registration is now open for the beta test of the upcoming PC sequel The Settlers 7: Paths to a Kingdom. The beta will start January 19th and will offer the tutorial missions of the single-player campaign as well as skirmish maps for multiplayer modes or games against the AI.

Click here to register an account for the beta. A ubi.com account is needed for registration. For more information on The Settlers 7: Paths to a Kingdom visit the official website: www.thesettlers.com.

Ubisoft has confirmed that it's working on a new game in the Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon series, along with a new Driver game.

Details are extremely slim, but it has also mentioned a new episode for Assassin's Creed, which will contain an online multiplayer mode. We don't know if this will be released as a new game or if it'll be DLC.

Activision Blizzard announced today that Infinity Ward's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 continues its reign of record breaking having hit the $1 billion mark in retails sales worldwide.

"Call of Duty:Modern Warfare 2 has exceeded our expectations and shattered theatrical box office and video game records," said Robert Kotick, CEO of Activision Blizzard. "There are only a handful of entertainment properties that have ever reached the $1 billion mark, which illustrates the power of the Call of Duty franchise and mass appeal of this game."

EA's John Riccitiello mentioned that their "major MMO" will be due in spring 2011, which is the BioWare made Star Wars The Old Republic.

LucasArts has affirmed this to be true, that while they haven't "announced a specific date," sometime in spring 2011 is what they're "targeting".

Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter, the all knowing one, has scribed that Microsoft and Sony will lower prices "around summer".

Though Microsoft could be as early as "March or April," though they might favour a more "feature-packed" Xbox 360 SKU instead.

Mike De Luca is, or was, producer for the Hollywood Metal Gear Solid flick. All that has stalled though because they couldn't match agendas.

It's such a big franchise that "a movie can only hurt" if screwed up, though even if great it probably won't "sell more games." Shame ,eh?

Frank N. Magid Associates put together a survey and grilled 800 gamers about all that DLC, revealing only 15 percent had bought any.

41 percent were aware it was out there but haven't bothered with it, while 43 percent had no idea at all, likely own the Nintendo Wii or PS2.

Sources from within Rockstar San Diego have shed some light on Midnight Clubs future, or lack thereof. Some "major people quit" in '09.

It has thrown the franchise into a tailspin. New York management gives 'unrealistic' release demands, with their staff "feared" by San Diego.

Since the conclusion of Battlefield: Bad Company 2's PS3 beta, developer DICE has put together a large list of changes they've committed.

Want to know what they are? Good, because team DICE have slapped them up on the Internet to be gorped at. Now less "stats padding".

Horrible news for UK retailers as Chart-Track data shows new boxed products sold less by 18 percent than in 2008, with overall down 12 percent.

PS3 and Xbox 360 game sales were up though, by 14 and 9 percent respectively. None of the data collated includes digital game sales.