The week in HD gaming — a wrap up

This week in HD gaming saw the releases of Left 4 Dead 2 and Assassins Creed II. I haven’t picked up Assassin’s Creed 2 yet as I’ve been too busying assassinating zombies in Left 4 Dead 2. I’m pretty confident that bashing zombies with a variety of melee weapons will keep me entertained for a shocking amount of time.

Other stuff happened this week too:

Peggle finally made it to the PlayStation 3

Peggle and Peggle Nights hit the PS3 this week while Peggle Nights came to the Xbox 360. If anyone was looking for a good way to convince a parental figure to buy an HD console, Peggle’s gameplay is more attractive to old people than two or three of those crossword puzzle books. Full Story

EA closes Pandemic Studio

Electronic Arts has had a bad couple weeks after announcing a significant drop in profits and plans to cut 1,500 jobs. This week’s big cut was Pandemic Studios, makers of the Mercenaries games and upcoming game The Saboteur. EA ensured fans that the studio’s properties would see future development, but that’s little consolation for the 200 employees who just lost their jobs. Kotaku Full Story

Kane and Lynch 2: Dog Days is set for 2010

The rumored sequel to Kane and Lynch: Dead Men was finally confirmed for a 2010 release. This next chapter in the sordid tale of Kane and Lynch is reputed to give a “fresh perspective” on “realism” and “intensity.” I think that was also the tag-line for the last season of Laguna Beach, so I’m a little worried. Full Story

Sony is considering a new subscription service for PSN

We had a good run with our free online gaming, PlayStation 3 owners. Sure, there are a lot less people on PSN than there are on Xbox Live, but PSN is still free. If I find a free soft pretzel in the trash at the zoo, it doesn’t matter that it came out of the trash because I just ate a free soft pretzel. Maybe that was a bad example.

In a presentation at their media and investor conference, Sony said that they wanted to get some more money from the PlayStation Network. This doesn’t necessarily mean that our free online gaming days are numbered. It just means that Sony will probably announce a new paid subscription service sometime in the future. This new subscription could be some kind of premium subscription that wouldn’t affect the basic free PSN account. Joystiq Full Story

Need for Speed SHIFT is getting a free Team Racing Mode

New cars and a new mode are coming to Need for Speed SHIFT. The best part of this downloadable content pack is that it is totally free. I know, it seems like a fairy tale. I don’t tell fairy tales about cars; I’m not Pixar. The new Team Racing Mode pits two teams of six against each other in a battle rife with rubber-tearing fury. Did I mention it was free? Full Story

Which version of Assassin’s Creed 2 looks better?

If you own both an Xbox 360 and a PlayStation 3, the verdict is that the Xbox 360 version is the one to bring home. However, both versions of Assassins Creed II play great and look great, so PlayStation 3 users will have just as much fun stabbing polygons in high definition. Digital Foundry Full Story

Serious Sam HD is almost out

I can’t wait to run through Serious Sam in crisp HD. The November 24th release date for Serious Sam HD is really close, so if you like fun you should run over to Steam and grab a pre-order at the discount price. I’ll play Co-Op with anyone, anytime. Actually, if that “anytime” happens to be when my girlfriend is making me watch that show where brides pay thousands of dollars for wedding dresses, I’ll have to reschedule. Full Story