Monte Cristo has revealed that its massive sim,Cities XL,will release in North America on October 9. The game will be available as adigital download, including services Steam, Direct2Drive, Trygames, Impulse, and Gametap. So you have options. While it sounds like there will be no version available at retail, you can mail order a boxed copy if you live in the United States or Canada… free shipping! Based on what Monte Cristo has said aboutCities XL, it looks like it’s the sim game to end all sim games, with single player and MMO elements that boggle my mind....

According to Activision’s own projections,Call of Duty: Black Opsis expected to sell 20% fewer copies than last year’sCall of Dutytitle,Modern Warfare 2. That’s what Cowen & Company analyst Doug Creutz says, having looked at the evil publishers Q3 results. According to Creutz, Activision’s results assumed that “the upcomingCall of Duty: Black Opscomps negatively against last year’sCall of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, despite the fact that on several pre-release metrics cited by managementBlack Opsis tracking ahead ofMW2....

I don’t know exactly whyThe Darknessreminds me so much ofMax Payne, but so far it does. Maybe it’s the gloom of the game or maybe the noir-ish atmosphere, I don’t know. What I do know is that the graphics, especially the animations, are looking really good. Enjoy this short gameplay video from the Comic Con 07.

Word from theHollywood Reporteris that director Tarsem Singh is set to helm the upcoming science fiction thriller,The Unforgettable. The film’s plot involves a cop who, over the course of a murder investigation, realizes that he’s not human and becomes entangled in a war between good and evil aliens. The Warner Bros. Pictures film (originally titledSpecies X) is based off of a Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment videogame. Can you guess which one?...

Back at E3 when Microsoft officially announced props for Avatars, they teased press with the chance to win an exclusive prop. Well, the prop has arrived — it’s an E3 2009 trophy! Yeah, that’s it up there. We won one. Since there’s like a billion of us who work here, we decided to stop all of the fighting and give it away on the site to one reader. Lucky you!...

Dungeons & Dragons Online: Eberron Unlimitedhas a release date. Earlier this afternoon Turbine, Inc. announced that the digital upgrade “Eberron Unlimited” would be available for download on August 4th. Don’t think of the upgrade as a typical MMO expansion. “Eberron Unlimited” does come with the traditional enhancements and core game tweaks, however, it’s also packs an unconventional overhaul of the way people pay to play DDO. “Eberron Unlimited” will make the game a free-to-play MMO and give players the ability to buy unique items or get whatever they need through a nifty store....

Deadwoodcreator David Milch is adapting Quantic Dream’sHeavy Raininto a film,according to Variety. He’ll be joining Bob Shaye and Michael Lynne in a collaboration between Unique Features and Warner Bros. “David Milch’s incredible ability to transform intense and complex storylines into gripping, popular drama makes him the perfect partner for us to have onHeavy Rain,” said Shaye. When IreviewedHeavy Rain, I said it would’ve been laughed out of any film festival, noting how lucky it was that its banal story was trapped within a videogame....

Time again for this week’s installment of the only conversation blog I know of:Destructoid Discusses!This week we started off with no topic, but then we were suddenly steered into the wonderful discussion of the latest and upcoming retro remakes by our own Jonathan Holmes. He and Joe Burling end up going back and forth in a display of differing points of view overMega Man 9and everyone chimes in with their 2¢....

If you pay attention, you’ll notice that, for better or worse, the games industry is changing right in front of our eyes. While companies are getting bought up, shut down, and merged, publishers are desperately trying to find new ways to make money: which market should we court? Ads in games? Digital distribution? There seems to be no clear consensus and we’re left with a slew of business models that have met with varying degrees of success....

Recently (well, in the past week or so), theDevil May Cryanime hit the Internet, and was finally fansubbed, with relatively unreadable results. Now that there’s a decent sub of the first episode out, Japanator hasput up a reviewof the show and their predictions for what it’ll be like. What’s the plot like? Well, the show follows Dante, as a parallel to the video games — the story does not take place during any of the games....

Oh, how is this promotional video forThe Devil’s Thirdstrange? Let me count the ways. First, it features Japanese talent Hard Gay. That should have tipped me off from the beginning that there was no way I would understand what was about to transpire. He’s on the hunt to find Itagaki at Valhalla Studios and takes plenty of time to observe/annoy the people working there. He then finds the infamous designer in a lounge filled with strippers and TVs showing footage ofThe Devil’s Third....

A long time ago, when men were men and subtitles still didn’t make sense, Dale brought us news that remakes ofDragon Quests IV,V, andVIwere on their way. Today, Square Enix seems to be making good on its promise ofincreasing overseas sales—Dragon Quest: The Chapters of the Chosenwill land on North American and European shores sometime this September. For those of you not steeped inDQlore, “Zenithia” is the name of the floating castle that figures prominently throughout the three games....

We went back to the old format for this episode, and went through as much news as possible. I’m surprised that I was actually able to speak some words, as I’d been up for over 24 hours with almost no sleep. I blame you, awesomeEpic Mickeyevent. We’re got a sneak peak of my impressions from that game, plus an exclusive, never before seen scoop onThe Fight: Lights Outdirect from Danny Trejohimself....