LucasArts and TT Games announced that LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars is under development. The next chapter in the LEGO Star Wars franchise, LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars will combine elements of all previous LEGO games while adding brand new gameplay. Developed by the same team at Traveller’s Tales that created LEGO Star Wars and LEGO Indiana Jones series, the game will ship on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PC,  Wii, Nintendo DS and PSP in the Autumn of 2010.

Darrell Rodriguez, president of LucasArts:

“LucasArts continues to set the bar for next-generation family entertainment. The LEGO Star Wars franchise is a massive hit with fans, bringing in sales of over 20 million units worldwide. We’re thrilled to extend this experience to LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars, delivering the humour and fun players expect from this award winning franchise.”

Tom Stone, director at TT Games:

“LucasArts is an amazing partner, and working with them on the next iteration of the LEGO® Star Wars series continues to be a great experience. The team at TT is working hard at making this simply the best LEGO game ever with all new gameplay and features never before seen in a LEGO game.”

LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars will feature all the characters from both seasons of the animated television series, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, as well as some fan-favorite characters from the Star Wars Saga. The game will feature brand new battle modes, giving players unique, head-to-head combat and an upgraded level builder, allowing the creation of customized bases and in-game battlefields.

According to recent rumors, Killzone 2 is one of several other PlayStation 3 first party titles to get an Arc support patch.

An SCEE rep denied these rumors, saying “Nope, there’s no truth to that whatsoever”.

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Casey Hudson, Mass Effect project director, has revealed that certain Mass Effect 2 saves will not work in Mass Effect 3.

Casey Hudson:

“Dead is dead. Mass Effect 3, as with the rest of the trilogy, is Shepard’s story. If you have a dead Shepard at the end of Mass Effect 2, that saved game won’t import into Mass Effect 3.

You can play Mass Effect 3 if you died in Mass Effect 2 of course, but you’ll have to create a new Shepard. Harsh? Yes. But we wouldn’t be serious about the concept of a suicide mission if you couldn’t die and your death didn’t have serious consequences.”

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SquigglyFrog Studios, an independent developer based in Boise Idaho, has released its newest game for the Xbox Live Indie Games. Kollectiv 360, a puzzle based action game that combines elements from other popular puzzle and strategy games, is now available for purchase for 80 Microsoft Points (roughly $1) or as a free demo through any Xbox Live Indie Games.

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 has been given Mature rating by ESRB for featuring Blood, Strong Language, Violence. The single player campaign will feature “missions on an unnamed Japanese island during World War II and then move into the modern day through jungles, deserts, and snowy terrain”.

Here’s the full description:

“This is a first-person shooter featuring two modes of gameplay: single player, in which players control soldiers on a mission to stop terrorists; and multiplayer, in which players engage in team-based combat (“Conquest,” “Rush,” “Squad Rush,” and “Squad Death Match”). Both modes involve using machine guns, rifles, grenade launchers, and rockets to kill enemy soldiers on the battlefield. In single-player mode, players conduct missions on an unnamed Japanese island during World War II and then move into the modern day through jungles, deserts, and snowy terrain. The firefights contain realistic gunfire, loud explosions, cries of pain; large sprays of blood come out of injured characters during the fast-paced combat. There are also close-up depictions of knife-stabbing (flesh-impact sounds) and melee attacks with a power drill. Multiplayer mode tends to involve more goal-oriented tasks, such as “capturing-the-flag,” destroying and defending crates, point-based fighting. Characters use profanity (e.g., “f**k,” “sh*t,” and “a*shole”) during cutscenes and in the heat of battle.”

Forecasting and Analyzing Digital Entertainment, or FADE in short, has released its annual report for 2009 for the Xbox Live Arcade market. FADE estimates that XBLA just broke the $100 million USD mark for the year ending 2009, at $103.4 million – a 34% increase from the year prior.

The Xbox Live Arcade market also became more frontloaded, due to the sales numbers among ‘Summer of Arcade’ titles such as ‘Trials HD’, ‘Shadow Complex’, and ‘Marvel vs. Capcom’. ‘Castle Crashers’, a 2008 ‘Summer of Arcade’ favorite, saw continued sales throughout 2009 – selling an estimated 485,000 copies during the year, bringing its sales to just under 1,000,000 units sold in total.

Estimated Top Titles by Revenue, 2009 (average price):

• Battlefield 1943 (EA Dice) – $12.5 million ($15.00)
• Castle Crashers (The Behemoth) – $7.3 million ($15.00)
• Trials HD (RedLynx, LTD) – $7.1 million ($15.00)
• Shadow Complex (Chair Entertainment / Epic Games) – $6.1 million ($14.38)
• Family Game Night (Hasbro) – $4.2 million ($9.53)
• Marvel vs. Capcom 2 (Capcom) – $4.2 million ($15.00)
• Magic: The Gathering (Stainless Games) – $2.8 million ($10.00)
• Worms 2 (Team 17) – $1.8 million ($10.00)
• Peggle (PopCap Games) – $1.8 million ($8.86)
• Turtles in Time: Reshelled (Ubisoft Singapore) – $1.7 million ($10.00)

Supreme Commander 2 screenshots

Microsoft announced the expansion of its Xbox 360 Classics collection in the UK and Europe to include Fable II and Halo Wars, with each game available at the price of just £19.99.

Harmonix and MTV Games announced that the entirety of the metal album Rust In Peace from Megadeth, will be added next week to the Rock Band Music Store of downloadable content.

Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine:

“This record is one of my favorites from my catalogue, and you will see the twists and turns that make Rust In Peace the quintessential Thrashterpiece that it is!”

Available on Xbox 360 and Wii (February. 9) and PlayStation 3 system (February. 11):

• Holy Wars… The Punishment Due
• Hangar 18
• Take No Prisoners
• Five Magics
• Poison Was the Cure
• Lucretia
• Tornado of Souls
• Dawn Patrol
• Rust in Peace… Polaris

These tracks will be available for purchase as Rust In Peace (Album), as well as individual tracks on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 system, and as individual tracks only on Wii.

Price: £.99 UK (160 Microsoft Points for Xbox 360) per track, £7.49 UK (1200 Microsoft Points for Xbox 360) for Rust In Peace (Album), (200 Wii Points) per track

Capcom announced hat a new Dark Void DLC pack will be available for download on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 starting next week.

The Survivor Missions DLC pack will allow players to replay key events from the game and battle waves of increasingly difficult enemy troops, rack up massive points with score multipliers for headshots, and hijack enemy aircrafts. The goal is to survive to Round 10 and increase your previous high score. Xbox users will be able to download this content beginning on February 10th, 2010 for 400 points ($5.00) and PlayStation 3 users on February 11th for $4.99.

Also available next week is the Dark Void Soundtrack. The original Soundtrack features 80 minutes of score by Battlestar Galactica composer Bear McCreary. It also includes a special bonus track, “Theme from Dark Void (Mega Version),” an 8-bit rendering of the main theme written and produced by McCreary for Capcom’s just shipped downloadable DSiWare title, Dark Void Zero. Sumthing Else Music Works will be releasing the soundtracks for Dark Void, available (on CD and digitally) and Dark Void Zero available (digitally) on February 9th.