Infinity Ward has just revealed that Modern Warfare 2’s first DLC pack, rumoured to be called ‘Stimulus Package‘ ,will arrive on XBox Live on March 30th.The announcement comes via Mapathy, a site set up by Infinity Ward which not only defines what the illness of mapathy is but what the cure is also.

Infinity Ward’s Rob Bowling first tweeted the link to the Mapathy site:

“http://www.mapathy.com – Feeling the effects of Mapathy? It’s okay, the cure is hitting #Xboxlive in just 3 short weeks. #MW2″

The Mapathy site explains that ‘The Cure’ i.e DLC is coming on March 30th to Xbox Live.

“Mapathy (n.) [map-uh-thee] (often expressed as, “How the hell did you know I was there?!”) is a state of indifference to the same old maps one has been playing for the last several months. The Mapathetic individual no longer derives pleasure from blowing up people hiding in the cockpit or on top of the crane. More than 20 million people may be at risk for Mapathy.”

THE CURE IS COMING TO XBOX LIVE MARCH 30th, 2010.

Remember, Xbox Live MW2 gamers get this DLC some 30 days before PS3 gamers. I guess PS3 owners will have to continue suffering from Mapathy for a short while yet.

Eidos Montreal boss Stephanie D’Astous has just tweeted that there will be some kind of Deus Ex 3 “surprise” coming this Thursday as part of GDc 201.

This is what she has tweeted;

“leaving tomorrow for GDC-SFO, i advise everyone to log-onto IGN thursday the 11th march at around 20:30 PST … little surprise from DX3!”

I wonder if theres a debut Deus Ex 3 Trailer on the way? Lets hope so.

If (like me) you picked up a copy of Final Fantasy XIII on Playstation 3 today, you might have noticed that your game comes with a Square-Enix Members card. This card comes with a code which according to MCV, when inputted on the Square-Enix website will grant the user a special in game item for upcoming PS3 MMO Final Fantasy XIV. That and this code might just eventually grant you access to the FFXIV beta later in the year. Not bad. If you own a copy of Final Fantasy XIII on the 360, well im afraid that your game dosen’t come with such a code. Sorry folks.

EA has announced that Tiger Woods 2011 will hit retail on June 8th. 2011’s edition will be closely connected to the Ryder Cup and most interestingly, will support Sony’s Motion Controller. WiiMotion Plus will be supported on the Wii iteration but suprisingly there is no mention of any Natal support. Also, it looks like Tiger will share his box art (the U.S box art at least) with Ireland’s own Rory Mc IIroy. Go Rory! The box art is below.

Here’s the press release from EA. There isn’t one “Tiger Woods is a cheater” joke in sight.

“Electronic Arts Inc., (NASDAQ: ERTS) announced today that one of the most prestigious tournaments in golf, The Ryder Cup, will be featured in Tiger Woods PGA TOUR® 11. In addition, Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 11 will support Sony’s new PlayStation 3 Motion Controller to give gamers an authentic interactive swing experience. The game will be available on June 8 on the WiiTM, Xbox 360®, PlayStation®3 and iPhoneTM platforms.

Gamers will select a team and square off to try and bring home The Ryder Cup for their squad in Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 11 on all console platforms. The Ryder Cup is one of the last great sporting events to be founded in prestige rather than prize money. Choose from the U.S. or European squad and participate in the various competition formats – foursomes where players hit alternate shots, fourballs and singles which traditionally bring the biennial event to a close with players going head to head. When playing The Ryder Cup mode offline, gamers will have the option to swap matches, thus giving you the ultimate control over the outcomes of other matches.

The Ryder Cup, a competition hosted by Ryder Cup Europe LLP and the PGA of America, brings together the best American and European golfers in a team competition format, and the cover of Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 11 is a direct reflection of the tournament – as Tiger Woods denotes the U.S. team and Rory McIlroy represents the Europeans. McIlroy, hailing from Northern Ireland and currently ranked 9th according to the Official World Golf Rankings, has posted several impressive showings early in his professional golfing career. Last year, McIlroy had five top 10 PGA TOUR finishes including a third-place tie in the 2009 PGA Championship and made the cut in all four majors. As an amateur, McIlroy also has a strong history in team play events, which include appearances in the Junior Ryder Cup and Walker Cup.

“This is a huge honor for me to be the on the cover with Tiger Woods as I grew up idolizing Tiger,” said McIlroy. “The Ryder Cup has always been my favorite sporting event and the tournament is being played at The Celtic Manor Resort in Wales in 2010. Also, I’m hopeful to have an opportunity to represent the European team later in the year – it’s all very special.”

Not only will players have the ability to participate in team play but they will now be able to take a team online* via the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. A first for the franchise, this all-new mode will allow up to 24 players to compete head-to-head as members of team. Team members can also talk strategy with their teammates over Xbox LIVE or PlayStation Network.

Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 11 on the Wii brings the links to your living room with two all-new enhanced swing mechanics while using the Wii MotionPlusTM. The Advanced Plus swing difficulty will read rotation and swing angle while the Tour Pro swing mechanic assesses rotation, swing plane and point of contact. The Tour Pro swing features an innovative first-person camera angle from the tee box to the putting green called True View. True View creates the most immersive and authentic golf experience in any video game – you are no longer watching the golfer, you are the golfer!

Since 1986, EA has produced immersive golf experiences that give fans the ability to hit the links via an authentic gameplay experience. Since the launch of Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 99 the franchise has sold more than 25 million units worldwide**. The critically acclaimed Tiger Woods PGA TOUR 10 on the Wii was a finalist for IGN.com’s 2009 Sports Game of the Year.”

Harmonix has tonight announced that Rock Band 3 is in development and that we can expect the game to land sometime in the run up to Christmas. Confirmation comes via the official Harmonix Facebook page:

“Harmonix is developing Rock Band 3 for worldwide release this holiday season! The game, which will be published by MTV Games and distributed by Electronic Arts, will innovate and revolutionize the music genre once again, just as Harmonix did with the original Rock Band, Rock Band 2 and The Beatles: Rock Band. Stay tuned for more details!”

Expect more Rock Band news over the next few days as GDC really starts to take off.

Rock Band is getting a Lady Gaga pack next week but it’s also going to include a very special version of uber hit Poker Face courtesy of Eric Cartman. South Park fans will remember Eric’s legendary rendition of Poker Face on the show recently and it looks like Harmonix are giving fans a chance to perform Eric’s version as well as Ms. Gaga’s original.

The Lady Gaga Pack 01 will consist of “Poker Face,” “Just Dance,” “Monster,” and “Bad Romance” and of course Eric Cartman’s “Poker Face”. The pack will be available for download next week.

If you haven’t seen Eric’s Poker Face before then watch it below. Its from the episode “Whale Wars”. Enjoy. Thanks Kotaku.

Those of you who are waiting patiently to get your hands on your first batch of DLC for Heavy Rain should enjoy these screenshots, each one taken from the first DLC prequel pack entitled ‘The Taxidermist’. This DLC has not been openly made available on the PSN in Europe just yet, but here’s hoping Quantic Dream get it out ASAP. The Taxidermist will feature Madison Paige on the hunt (as ever) for the Origami Killer. Check out the TGL Heavy Rain review here then check out the rest of these screenshots. They look incredible.

If you didn’t purchase the Special Edition of Aliens Vs. Predator, you’ll be able to buy the DLC you missed out on next week on XBLA and PSN. The pack out March 18th will include  four multiplayer maps, two for online and two for survivor mode. The pack will cost you €5.99 in PSN speak and the same equivlent in MS points (560). Here’s the PR from Sega;

First DLC Swarms To Aliens vs Predator™
Swarm Map Pack Available On 18 March
LONDON (8th March 2010) – SEGA Europe Ltd. today announced that the first downloadable content for Aliens vs Predator will be available on Xbox LIVE® Marketplace for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft®, PlayStation® Store for the PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system and STEAM for PC.

Featuring 4 new maps for different multiplayer modes, previously only available in the Special Editions, this downloadable content will challenge all 3 species for the fight of their existence.

Two new Multiplayer maps for six different online modes (Deathmatch, Predator Hunt, Infestation, Species Deathmatch, Mixed Species Deathmatch and Domination) :

• Docks: The caustic alkali waters of BG-386 put an end to Weyland-Yutani’s planned shipping activities. But this dockyard soon became an historic battleground.

• Machine: As well as processing exotic ores, the BG-386 Refinery provided electrical power to the colonists at Freya’s Prospect. The lights may still be on, but nobody’s home. Yet.
Two new Survivor maps in which up to four Marines battle to stay alive against increasing swarms of Aliens:

• Outpost: The site of the original Weyland-Yutani colony on BG-386 was abandoned, and soon reclaimed by the planet’s voracious jungle plant life. It is now the perfect hunting ground for all manner of wildlife.

• Hive: Deep in the heart of the Freya’s Prospect Refinery lays the Xenomorph Hive. Beware all who enter here.

The “Swarm Map Pack” will be available on 18 March for €5.99/ £4.79/ 560 Microsoft Points.

Check out our review for Alien Vs. Predator here.

An IMdb listing for the Batman: Arkham Asylum 2 reveals that trusty sidekick Robin will be appearing alongside the dark knight. Arkham 2 was revealed at the Spike TV awards at the end of last year but ever since, we’ve literally heard nothing of the game or it’s progress. The casting lists Vincent Martella as Robin (you might know him as Greg from Everybody Hates Chris) and returning voice actors Kevin Conroy as Batman, Mark Hamill as Joker and Arleen Sorkin as Harley Quinn. Let’s hope we hear something about Arkham Asylum 2 this week at GDC 2010.

Check out the Official Arkham Asylum Site here.

Revealed yesterday in the pages of the Official Xbox Magazine, Codemasters have been ever so kind and have supplied two screenshots for their forthcoming shooter “Bodycount”, the brainchild of creative developer Stuart Black. According to the official description from Codies, Bodycount;

“rips apart the first person shooter as genre-defining gunplay comes alive in a balletic orgy of bullets and destruction.

Experience the intense thrill of close-quarters combat in a shreddable world as Bodycount blasts outrageous fire-fights and ferocious action from both barrels.  Become a powerful combat asset green-lighted to eliminate enemies known only as ‘Targets’ on behalf of the ‘Network’, ensnared in a clandestine global power struggle that rages away from the headlines and under the cover of conventional war zones. 

This exhilarating shooter drops players into chaotic areas of operations equipped with a mouth-watering selection of contemporary weapons to tear through environments and enemies, chaining kills, earning power ups and building up a bullet meter to unleash devastating air strikes on enemies.               �
                                                                                                                                                                                                  �
Complimented by co-operative online play and multiplayer modes, Bodycount will set new standards for spectacular, visceral gun play and put the fun back into the FPS.”

Codemasters has also confirmed this morning that Bodycount is in development for the Playstation 3 along with the Xbox 360 with the intention to ship to retail in the first quarter of 2011.

After about a week of teasing, Valve have confirmed that their games along with their distribution Steam, will be available for Mac computers from April. So if your a Mac user, all the Left 4 Deads and Half Life’s (among other things) of this world will soon be yours. Here’s the PR from Valve.

VALVE TO DELIVER STEAM & SOURCE ON MAC

Leading Gaming Service Expands to Mac Platform

March 8, 2010 – Valve announced today it will bring Steam, Valve’s gaming service, and Source, Valve’s gaming engine, to the Mac.

Steam and Valve’s library of games including Left 4 Dead 2, Team Fortress 2, Counter-Strike, Portal, and the Half-Life series will be available in April.

“As we transition from entertainment as a product to entertainment as a service, customers and developers need open, high-quality Internet clients,” said Gabe Newell, President of Valve. “The Mac is a great platform for entertainment services.”

“Our Steam partners, who are delivering over a thousand games to 25 million Steam clients, are very excited about adding support for the Mac,” said Jason Holtman, Director of Business Development at Valve. “Steamworks for the Mac supports all of the Steamworks APIs, and we have added a new feature, called Steam Play, which allows customers who purchase the product for the Mac or Windows to play on the other platform free of charge. For example, Steam Play, in combination with the Steam Cloud, allows a gamer playing on their work PC to go home and pick up playing the same game at the same point on their home Mac. We expect most developers and publishers to take advantage of Steam Play.”

“We looked at a variety of methods to get our games onto the Mac and in the end decided to go with native versions rather than emulation,” said John Cook, Director of Steam Development. “The inclusion of WebKit into Steam, and of OpenGL into Source gives us a lot of flexibility in how we move these technologies forward. We are treating the Mac as a tier-1 platform so all of our future games will release simultaneously on Windows, Mac, and the Xbox 360. Updates for the Mac will be available simultaneously with the Windows updates. Furthermore, Mac and Windows players will be part of the same multiplayer universe, sharing servers, lobbies, and so forth. We fully support a heterogeneous mix of servers and clients. The first Mac Steam client will be the new generation currently in beta testing on Windows.”

Portal 2 will be Valve’s first simultaneous release for Mac and Windows. “Checking in code produces a PC build and Mac build at the same time, automatically, so the two platforms are perfectly in lock-step,” said Josh Weier, Portal 2 Project Lead. “We’re always playing a native version on the Mac right alongside the PC. This makes it very easy for us and for anyone using Source to do game development for the Mac.”

Support for the Mac in Source and Steamworks is available to third parties immediately. Interested developers should contact Jason Holtman at jasonh@valvesoftware.com.

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 has unsuprisingly taken over the top spot in the Irish Software charts for week ending March 6th. Bad Company 2 knocks Heavy Rain off it’s No.1 pedestal after spending it’s debut week on top. The top five remains very similar to last week with AVP, Just Dance and New Super Mario Bros Wii maintaining their very strong chart positions. Bioshock 2 has fallen six places to No. 11 as has Sonic & Mario At The Winter Olympics down to No. 12. Assassin’s Creed II has remerged back into the top 20 after a two week absence in at No. 13, as has Mario Kart Wii at No. 20.

Q: What were we playing five years ago?

A: This week five years ago the No. 1 game in the country was Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater on Playstation 2. 

Here’s the full chart courtesy of Chart-Track.