“Nintendo, Sony or Microsoft [won't] disappear from the gaming market; quite the opposite. They are now, and will be for many years, a driving force in our market; however, the way they operate will probably evolve into a somewhat different role. I strongly believe the big console makers of today will have a big impact on the games industry tomorrow, but it will not take a piece of hardware between the gamer and the screen for them to do so. Maybe we’ll see a Sony, Nintendo, or Microsoft “hub” integrated in TVs or their own OS included in the TV; let’s not forget the Google TVs that have already seen their first generation and the oft-rumored Apple television set (not to be confused with Apple TV). As a content producer, I am really excited to see what happens on the hardware market in the coming years.” – Paradox CEO Fredrik Wester clarifying his remarks about the future of consoles. [pic]

Ian Frazier, lead designer on Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, has said each designer working on the game brought various ideas to the table in terms of development in order to create an IP Big Huge Games hopes will be redefine combat for the RPG genre.

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Champions Online is celebrating its one year anniversary since going free-to-play with a 20% off sale in all items in the C-Store. Players will also receive in-game goodies from now until January 31 such as a double boost in XP with the return of Witchcraft. In addition, the new Mountain Archetype has party favors for sale such as the Halloween and Winter Grab Bags. Players will also be able to perform a daily mission for The Mountain to earn one of the new Mountain Costume set pieces. More information is available on the official website.

A report posted on tech blog The Daily claims Microsoft is looking to license Kinect technology to Window-based laptop makers. According to the post, two laptop prototypes were observed in Asus-based netbooks running a build of the Widows 8 OS. A source close to the site said these prototypes weren’t experiments, but officially MS-approved tech. Microsoft announced previously Kinect would be released for Windows systems as early as February 1, and Windows 8 will be shown to the public for the first time next month. Thanks, Neowin.

Merge Games has announced The Binding of Isaac: The Unholy Edition will be released on March 16, which is a special DRM-free version which includes a free Steam gifting key, poster, soundtrack, and 40 page “Devzine”.

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Mojang has released a new snapshot of changes coming with update 1.2, and it looks as though players will be able to tame ocelots and breed them like the wolves in the game.

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Sony has announced all 600 GAME and gamestation stores will have PS Vita on hand for consumers to sample in the UK.

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SSX creative director Todd Batty has said the release of SSX will see the return of the extreme sports genre, speaking in a blog post on the US PS Blog.

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Blizzard has continued making changes to the Diablo III beta, and the most recent change to the game has been the removal of Scrolls of Companion and Scrolls of Reforging.

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“Initially, the level of success took us by surprise, yes. We didn’t expect it to become the phenomenon it did. However, we did anticipate that Just Dance 3 would be bigger than Just Dance 2, because we saw how the brand was growing and we didn’t see any slowdown. The game continues to attract more and more people, no matter what kind of games they say they typically like to play. That growing audience helped us sell more than 25 million copies of the Just Dance franchise and has helped keep Just Dance 3 in the Top Five in sales since its launch.” – Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot, speaking to MCV on the continued success of the dance genre, as well as worries of it fizzling out.

Contrary to reports made on the internet this afternoon, CD Projekt did not announce The Witcher 3 at a press briefing last night, the company has told VG247.

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EvAv’s posted a new video of F2P FPSMMO Blacklight: Retribution, this time aiming at heavy weapons. Want to up the boom on some punk’s scummy ass? Go heavy, yo. Clip’s posted below the break.

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BioWare has released a new video for Mass Effect 3, showing the game’s multiplayer in action. Posted below, the trailer includes details about the races and classes you’ll be able to play once it releases on March 6 in the US and March 9 in Europe for PC, PS3, and Xbox 360. Enjoy.

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Square Enix has today announced the launch of a new Hitman community portal, known as the Barcode Society. The website will provide the latest news on the franchise, as well as a behind-the-scenes glimpse to those working on the series, insight looks behind the development of AAA games and “cool assets, exclusive competitions and other goodies that you can’t find anywhere else.”

The community launch comes ahead of IO’s Absolution, coming later this year for PS3, 360 and PC. Recent upstart Square Enix Montreal is also working on a Hitman project that’s thought to be for next-gen systems.

Q-Games has announced that PixelJunk Eden, the third game in the PJ series, is coming to Steam.

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Nintendo president Satoru Iwata announced during the firm’s investors briefing that it has a “strong lineup of titles” on slate for the current fiscal year, and that a new 2D Super Mario game is in the works for 3DS.

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Activision’s announced the Hardened Steel bonus for anyone who pre-orders Prototype 2 at Best Buy. Hardened Steel will basically make any military vehicle stroll through a walk in the park through any level of attack. You’ll also get a poster for your pre-ordering troubles. Get a video of the upgrade below the break.

The open-world Radical game launches on April 26 for PS3, 360 and PC.

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Nintendo’s confirmed it’ll launch Warner Wii U and 3DS title Lego City Stories this year. The game’s timeline, being made by Traveller’s Tales, was narrowed down in Nintendo’s Q3 financial results briefing. Also down for a 2012 launch is Luigi’s Mansion 2 and Mario Tennis, while Paper Mario and Animal Crossing are ‘TBA’.

Thanks, NWR.

Paradox has reminded everyone that co-op RPG Magicka has turned one-year old today. The game has reached 1.3 million sales since it released, with expansion Magicka: Vietnam hitting 500,000 as of its launch last April. Various bits of DLC have been download 4 million times, according to Paradox. A new expansion for the game, The Other Side of the Coin, will allow players to play as the enemy.

CVG‘s gone live with a brief 30-second clip of The Darkness II, showing off a few of the goretastic – and they are actually properly gory – executions in the shooter. Get it below. It’s out on February 7 for PS3, 360 and PC.

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