The Secret World: EA launches pre-orders with early-access rewards

EA's just launched its preorder campaign for The Secret World, Funcom's conspiracy-themed action-MMO. Launching June, the game's leadup will be marked by a series of Beta Weekends which'll tease the game's world and content for players – and of course, there's a secret entrance to these weekends, if you'll only hand over a token of your worldly esteem and join the conspiracy. Or, in plain old English, preorder the game and you can play it before it's released.

In addition to guaranteed full beta access, preorder customers will get to play the finished game up to four days before release and a headstart on choosing a character name. There'll also be in-game perks for preordering, including an experience-boosting item and faction-specific pet. Pre-order customers will also get an exclusive in-game t-shirt, adorned with “a unique monster design” so everyone can recognize the true secret-society OGs. The game's set for launch on June 19; check our most recent The Secret World video preview now.

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Penny Arcade Adventures Episode 3: First details released ahead of PAX reveal

Penny Arcade's just announced the first details of Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness 3, third in a series many had given up on after the long silence that followed Episode 2. Which is to say that when the game's revealed to the public this weekend at PAX East, Penny Arcade Adventures will kind of succeed where both Half-Life Episodes and Shenmue have so far failed.

Bound for PC, Mac, Android, iOS and the Xbox Live Indie Games channel in the coming months, Precipice 3 continues the saga begun in 2008's initial installments. With previous developer Hothead Games having moved onto its own IPs, last year saw the series revived after a deal was hatched on the comic's own forums for Cthulhu Saves the World dev Zeboyd Gams to continue Penny Arcade's extra-canonical adventures.

PAX East attendees will be able to get a look at Zeboyd's 16-bit-inspired take on the series at the show this weekend, with a panel discussion between the game and comic's staff on Friday evening. Non-attendees can keep up with the game's progress at its newly-launched website.

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PlanetSide 2: Detailed new clip devotes 3 minutes to one sniper scope

Sony's going all-out to impress upon you just how much work's going into upcoming free-play MMOFPS PlanetSide 2. A previous PlanetSide 2 timelapse clip shows the birth of one of the game's new large-scale weapons – but as you can see from this developer walkthrough (via Joystiq), the same attention to detail's being paid to smaller elements like the game's sniper scopes. Well, that is what many players will spend much of their time looking at, after all.

When you consider how many bits and pieces have to be modeled with this level of attention to detail, it's no wonder PlanetSide 2 is still a ways off from release. While we leave the good people of SOE to get back to their obsessive virtual ordinance-crafting, have a look at some more GDC-fresh PlanetSide 2: 12 minutes of pure gameplay to give you look at what all that detail's going toward. (Destruction and face-shooting, mainly.)

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Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning's “Teeth of Naros” DLC release date set for April

38 Studios and Big Huge Games are conjuring up a new expansion for Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning. Dubbed the Teeth of Naros, the DLC will beckon adventurers to the similarly named home of the Kollossae giants, where they will contend with new dangers and a mystery surrounding a long dead troll god.

The add-on will introduce five new dungeons, over 20 side quests, and multiple new locations including the city of Idylla, which is described as floating above the Teeth of Naros plains. It will also outfit players with nine new armor sets, six new shields, 18 unique weapons, and three new Twists of Fate which will likely come in hand for giant slaying.

This is the second DLC to wash up on Kingdoms of Amalur's shores. The first, Legend of Dead Kel (check out: Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning's “The Legend of Dead Kel” DLC release date pegged for March 20) took players on a swashbuckling journey to the island of Gallows End. Will giants and floating cities compare to skeletons and pirates? We'll see when Teeth of Naros lumbers in to PlayStation Network, Xbox Live Arcade, Origin, and Steam on April 17.

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The Witcher 2 trailer brings Xbox 360 players up to speed on story

A lot of things went down in 2007's PC hit, The Witcher. True, you don't need to know any of it to enjoy The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings for Xbox 360, yet CD Projekt has graciously taken it upon itself to educate the console crowd on Geralt's past deeds in this story synopsis video:

http://www.gamesradar.com/witcher-2-trailer-brings-xbox-360-players-speed-story/

The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings Enhanced Edition is an Xbox 360 version of CD Projekt's PC sequel. The studio has been careful not to call its console edition a port, claiming the game will ship with enough extras and improvements to make it a somewhat new experience on the Xbox 360. Features of the so-called Enhanced Edition include all the current PC updates, DLC, extra characters, quests, and locations.

“We took special effort to beef up the game for the Xbox release,” says Jan Bartkowicz, DC Projekt's storywriter, in last month's article, The Witcher 2 devs detail Xbox 360's Enhanced Edition. “We are in this great situation where we already had the game out there and people experienced it. We had a lot of community feedback, and we want to put all this in this game and make it better.”

The PC version worked its magic on GR's staff, earning a perfect score in our The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings super review. We're interested to see if The Witcher 2 can pull a repeat performance on Xbox 360 when it arrives worldwide on April 17.

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Skyrim meets Minecraft in superb mashup video

Everyone loves Minecraft. And everyone loves Skyrim (except PS3 owners, of course). Imagine if the two came together to create Minerim. Or Skycraft. Well, awkwardly blend your game titles no more - you can see just such a mashup in this fan-made feast of epicness from EpicArtHD. We don't know how much is smoke, how much is mirrors and how much is just plain old hard work, but we know one thing: We approve.

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The Political Machine 2012 prepares to take you to the White House

Are you fed up with Maher and O'Reilly alike? Will your friends just not stop asking about your prescriptions for campaign finance reform? Did you lose an afternoon debating our list of The Top 7... Worst videogame presidents? Do you know who Lee Atwater is? It sounds as if you could do with some distraction. Fortunately for you (provided you actually don't want to take your mind of politics at all), Stardock's just announced The Political Machine 2012.

Above: Janet Reno? Tommy Carcetti? It's Romney if you say it's Romney

First launched in the 2004 mid-Bush period, the latest edition's been updated with hot-button (or “shouty”) issues such as the Afghan war, economic instability, gay rights and healthcare plans, and a playable roster of Obama, Romney, Santorum, Ron Paul and Newt Gingrich. There's also a user-created pol option, on the offchance that you care about politics but worry that an actual run for office might infringe on your Draw Something! commitments. New to this edition, Stardock pledges to update the game's topic database based on real-world polling data.

The game's scheduled for a summer release; Stardock's taking preorders now, with early adopters scoring a 33% discount off the game's release price of $9.99. If only resolving [your most contentious political issue here] were so easy!

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