Family Guy Online announced!

Fox has announced that Family Guy Online, a Family Guy MMO, is in the works. The free-to-play browser game will feature fully 3D graphics, a quest-based gameplay style and tons of crazy humor that has made Family Guy one of the most popular cartoons in the history of television. The open beta launches later this year, but you can build your character right here, on the Family Guy Online official site.

"We're going to deliver the essence of the show," said Gary Rosenfeld of Fox, "The development team includes two writers from the show, because we know that Family Guy has to be funny... I think we'll definitely attract core gamers, and we'll also attract a more casual gamer who's a fan of the show." 

The game features class-based gameplay, with different classes patterned after well-known characters from the TV-show. You won't be able to play as Peter Griffin, but you will be able to play as an oblivious slob who's like Peter Griffin. According to the game's creators, the Peter-type class will function like a tank in a traditional MMO, and the rest of the family's characteristics will be represented as well. "Stewie, for instance, is small and really good with gadgets, so he probably takes a lot of damage and likes to dish it out from afar with his smart weapons," said Ian Verchere of developer Roadhouse.

The game is built on the Unity engine, and aims to hit the sweetspot between a core game like Halo and casual games like Farmville. "It's a difficult balance," Verchere said. "We're really happy with how the Unity Engine makes the game accessible to basically anyone with an online connection but also delivers a good quality graphical experience."

As for the most important question about a Family Guy MMO, "Will players fight a giant chicken?", the people behind the game are tight-lipped, but said, "Players will have to check in to find out."

Payday: The Heist announced for PS3 & PC

It seems that the folks at Overkill Software are fans of The Dark Knight, because their newly-announced Payday: The Heist greatly resembles The Joker's bank robbery from the film. We're not sure if clown masks are a necessity, but this squad-based team shooter will have you picking classes, robbing banks, and taking hostages.

Here are some features, as outlined by Sony:

• Six High-Intensity Heists: Whether you're blowing the roof off a building to extract a safe via helicopter or emptying the vault at the First World Bank, these action-packed heists will have players on edge and always checking their six.
• Interactive Co-op Gameplay: Whether AI or live, your crew of four must operate as one to bring get the "big score." Sharing extra ammo and med kits, helping regen wounded partners, guarding key positions, taking civilian hostages or cracking through various security measures - it's all for one and one for all.
• Endless Replayability: Dynamic environments, adaptive enemy behavior,shifting entry points, FBI agents repelling down on ropes through the skylights, SWAT teams crashing through the windows and special units crawling through the ventilation shafts makes each play-through of every heist a unique fight.
• Massive Character Progression Tree: Players choose a specialty - assault, sharpshooter or support - to gain weapons and equipment that fit their preferred form of violence. Unlock trip mines, silenced pistols, machine guns and much, much more.
• Shout Out Button: Players need to be vocal and shout commands and directions to the co-op crew, as well as hostages and the police if they want to survive to spend their cut of the take.
• Hostage Trading: Hostages can be a lifeline. If anyone in the crew is taken into custody, trade hostages to get crew members back and increase the odds of completing your objectives.
• PlayStation® or PC: For keyboard and mouse marksman, as well as handheld controller snipers, PAYDAY is the uber-FPS for a high intensity shooter fix.
• More DLC: Additional heists, weapons and equipment means PAYDAY - a digitally distributed AAA quality title for less than half the price of a retail game - is total OVERKILL.

Hopefully we'll get our hands on the game at E3 next week. In the meantime, check out the trailer below.

Konami Reveals HD Collections

In what's sure to be good news for Konami fans, the company announced in its pre-E3 press video that it will be releasing revamped HD collections of some of its most storied franchises: Metal Gear Solid, Zone of the Enders, and Silent Hill.

The Metal Gear collection features Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, and Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker.

The Zone of the Enders package will feature Zone of the Enders and Zone of the Enders 2.

The Silent Hill collection will include Silent Hill 2 and 3.

All the games included in these packs will receive full HD upgrades, including new art, textures, and sound. Also, achievements and trophies are being added. For Peace Walker, you'll be able to transfer your saves between the console and handheld version. These collections will be available for both PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

The Metal Gear Solid HD collection will be out this November, with Zone of the Enders to follow in 2012. No specific date was given for the Silent Hill HD collection.

Call of Duty: MW3 debut trailer!

You have been waiting for it to land for weeks, and after an entirety of anticipation it seems, we can finally bring you the very first gameplay trailer for Modern Warfare 3, Infinity Ward and Activision’s latest Call of Duty title which will land later on this year.

The trailer is pretty awesome too, just as expected. It picks up where the teaser trailers left off, only this time we see some actual gameplay and of course, the first look at the quality of graphics that will be featured in the new game.

And we’re pleasantly surprised – the game looks really good. We’re not quite sure if the graphics top Battlefield 3 just yet, but it’s clear that the guys at Infinity Ward have come up with a game that looks graphically superior to Modern Warfare 2.

The trailer itself shows off gameplay from the four countries mentioned in the teaser trailers, these are America, England, France and Germany. We have to say that we’re pretty blown away by the underground scene in London, that looks like a lot of fun and the graphics look amazing.

Watch the trailer below and see if you are impressed by what you have seen or not. Is Modern Warfare 3 now a day one purchase for you or not? The trailer also confirms that the game will release on November 8th, 2011.

Hitman: Absolution officially announced!

Agent 47 is preparing another hit, in a game that developer IO Interactive says will mark a new chapter in the series. Publisher SquareEnix has just released a teaser trailer, emphasis on the "teaser," which shows little but what we can assume is Agent 47 affixing a silencer to a pistol and a snake curling around a gun. The title of the game, Hitman: Absolution, been floating around the Internet for a while, after reports of a trademark filing from SquareEnix surfaced and a teaser image (which appears in the trailer below) was used in a viral marketing campaign.

However, the accompanying press release seems to suggest that this will be a fundamentally different experience than previous games in the series.

Game director Tore Blystad is quoted as saying, “For the first time we are taking Agent 47 on a personal journey which allows us to explore other parts of the Hitman fantasy. This is both a familiar and yet significantly different experience from other Hitman games; something our silent assassins will relish, as will all those new to the Hitman world.”

This is echoed later in the release, which states "Hitman: Absolution combines much-loved classic gameplay with completely new features never seen before in the Hitman franchise."

The game is running on IO's proprietary Glacier 2 engine, and will be shown to the public at this year's E3 convention. Hitman: Absolution will be released for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC.

Linkin Park's 4th single is "Iridescent"

Linkin Park has officially announced their next single from A Thousand Suns after many speculations and rumors. The fourth single will be "Iridescent" and it's one of my favorite songs from A Thousand Suns.

Another rumor started when a splash page, at linkinpark.com, showed a moon and when you clicked it "Iridescent" started to play, and a picture came up showing something that looked like a Transformers logo. Given that Linkin Park has had songs on the last two Transformers movies, this suggests that they would be on the upcoming movie as well.

And the day after the official news came that "Iridescent" will be a single for upcoming Transformers: Dark of the Moon movie. Mike posted on his blog that they're shooting a music video directed by Joe Hahn. However, they will use a shortened version of the song that will fit the movie better. I've listened to the remix but I like the original version better.

Read what Mike had to say about this below.

"A few months ago, I got on the phone with Michael Bay, who wanted to discuss the possibility of our band continuing our run with songs paired with the Transformers films. We (he, his team, and our band) all have enjoyed working together on the past two, and he wanted to discuss the ideas we might have for Transformers 3: Dark Of The Moon. In particular, one song came up immediately. Ever since we started playing Iridescent live, the song has been a fan favorite at the show.

For the film, there’s a new, slightly shorter version of the song, which is floating around the internet now. We’ll be shooting a video for the song tomorrow, directed by Joe Hahn."

Mortal Kombat: Legacy Premieres April 12, 2011

Warner Bros. Digital Distribution and Machinima.com today announced they have signed an agreement to premiere and distribute the highly anticipated “Mortal Kombat: Legacy” live action digital series produced by Warner Premiere. Directed by Kevin Tancharoen (“Fame”), and starring Jeri Ryan (“Star Trek: Voyager”) as “Sonya Blade,” Michael Jai White (“The Dark Knight”) as “Major Jackson ‘Jax’ Briggs” and Darren Shahlavi (“300”) as “Kano,” this series will take gamers deep into the history of the warriors they know and love. 

The first action-packed episode of “Mortal Kombat: Legacy” will debut April 12 exclusively on Machinima, the dominant entertainment network for videogamers on YouTube (www.youtube.com/machinima). Fans from around the world will be able to watch and engage with the entire “Mortal Kombat: Legacy” series through Machinima’s YouTube channel. 

"With over 500 million monthly video views and 50 million monthly viewers, Machinima has the world’s most highly-engaged gaming audience, which makes this agreement with Warner Bros. such a great fit," said Allen DeBevoise, Chairman and CEO of Machinima, Inc. "Mortal Kombat is an epic franchise with a rich story and characters, we’re truly excited to bring 'Mortal Kombat: Legacy' to our community. With our global scale and reach, we can now drive greater engagement and viewership than anyone for entertainment properties that fit our young, male-centric demo. Kevin’s new incarnation of the Mortal Kombat franchise is precisely the type of world-class, high-octane action content that our audience will love.” 

Kevin Tancharoen who directed and produced the popular, unofficial “Mortal Kombat: Rebirth” fan short, is bringing the same immersive directing style to this live-action digital series. “Machinima is the perfect entertainment destination to premiere the series,” said Kevin Tancharoen, Director, Producer and co-writer of “Mortal Kombat: Legacy.” “They have a massive audience of gamers from around the world. We worked very closely with NetherRealm Studios and Ed Boon, and we’re now putting the finishing touches on the episodes. I’m confident we’ve stayed true to the Mortal Kombat lore and am hoping the fans will be blown away by what they see.” 

Also on April 12, in a lead up to the series premiere, Machinima will host Kevin Tancharoen and cast from the series in a special live event. Details will be announced on Machinima.com soon. 

Written by Kevin Tancharoen , Aaron Helbing and Todd Helbing, “Mortal Kombat: Legacy” is an anthology of nine live action shorts, and brings to life the motivation behind each character’s participation in the Mortal Kombat tournament. Each episode will provide never-before-revealed insights into characters featured in the upcoming videogame as well as the game’s universe. 

The latest iteration of the award-winning videogame, “Mortal Kombat," marks a triumphant return to the series’ mature presentation and a reinvention of its classic 2D fighting mechanic. Driven by an all new graphics engine, the fan favorite Fatality is back and presented in more gory detail than ever before. In addition, “Mortal Kombat” introduces a number of new game-play features including tag team and a deep story mode. “Mortal Kombat” is being developed by NetherRealm Studios, led by “Mortal Kombat” creator and creative director Ed Boon.