The altogether average TimeShift released a free pack of multiplayer maps, available via Xbox LIVE as of May 7th.  The five new maps, entitled "Futures-Past Multiplayer Map Pack," sport One-on-One, Deathmatch, and Team Deathmatch modes, naturally, but TimeShift "reveals the future of multiplayer fragging" with its exclusive King of Time and Meltdown Madness modes.  More details back at the official TimShift site.

Here are a double bushel full of screenshots from Lost Planet: Colonies Edition that show off the new Egg Hunt mode, the new environments, and some of the other new goodies that be released in the game.

Elliot Bonnie
Things took a turn for the worst when Elliott suddenly started speaking with an Eastern European accent and decided to re-name his animals Niko and Roman. Oh yeah... I also hope to check out the demo for the Bourne Conspiracy if I am able to leave Liberty City for a couple of minutes.

Charles Husemann
This weekend I'll be playing a little Grand Theft Auto IV but mixing in some Kung Fu Panda, Team Fortress 2, and Echochrome. I think I also might fire up the PS3 version of Grand Theft Auto IV and see if there's any real difference between the two versions.

Randy Kalista
During GTA IV multiplayer, the only time I racked up kills was in the lobby, during Cops and Crooks I put my car in the drink and spent the rest of the round swimming for the opposite shore, the only time I didn't finish in last place during the car races was when everybody stopped racing and started screwing around, during the boat races I dry-docked my boat on the pier when I went for a cautious ramp jump, and the first thing I did when I hopped into a helo was nose it right into the ground. This weekend, I'm heading back to the single-player campaign.

Dan Keener
Well, this is Mother's Day weekend, so the game playing will probably be taken down a notch. However, GTA IV will be in the Xbox 360 tray and I will be playing some multiplayer on Saturday night with XboxAmerica community members. I will also squeeze in some more Ratchet and Clank on the PS3 and Oblivion on the 360 for testing purposes for the Sanyo projector thats in the lab.

Matt Mirkovich
So I beat The World Ends With You, but it's got this massive end-game that looks like it will take another 30-40 hours to complete, and I'm really looking forward to it. This is probably one of the best games I've played all year, yeah I like it more than GTA IV. Since I'll be on the road it's mostly portables with Killzone: Liberation in the PSP.

Nathan Murray
This week I have a Magic the Gathering Tournament on Sunday which is being held as a sort of going away party for my buddy in the Marines who is shipping out soon. I haven't finished a game in a while and most of them are sitting on my shelf mocking me for being so lazy. GTA IV is also calling out my name.

Tyler Sager
I'll be playing through a little Universe at War and possibly, just possibly, convincing myself to pick up GTA IV. We'll just have to see how much willpower I have...
This is what we're playing, what about you gentle reader?  Leave what you're playing in the comments.

John Yan
Do I have to play anything other than GTA IV this weekend? I guess so but I probably won't. I'm starting to get into the meat of the story and the characters are pretty interesting. If there's any other game that I really would play that would be MLB 08 The Show as I continue to dominate the minor leagues and curse at management for keeping me down there.

So here's the first look at Gears of War 2. The video shows off some scenes from the first act, chapter three. I do like some of the new abilities such as using a Locust as a body shield and the chainsaw fighting. Epic does seem to be going for bigger scaled battles as one part has Marcus shooting down at a good number of Locusts. And when I say good number I mean in the high twenties or more. Hard to tell what graphical improvements there maybe in this video but fans who wanted more Gears should be happy at what they see.

The Championship Gaming Series announced the 2008 Latin America Finals location and dates. June 20 Mexico City's Team Furia and Rio 's Team Sinistro will be heading across the border into United America Land and will be playing the final match up in Los Angeles, California. The Finals will be broadcast on SKY Mexico and Sky Brazil and in other Latin American countries on DIRECTV Latin America. I have no idea what games they will be playing at the event but I'm sure the competition will be fierce. Seriously it takes a master gamer to compete in a Strawberry Shortcake game. [READ MORE]

Atari has launched a new website for Alone in the Dark which allows you to explore the world of the game before it hits shelves.  With the company being delisted this from the NASDAQ this week it's hard to underestimate how important this game is to the company.  What I've seen looks really good but it remains to be seen if the final product will be enough to help turn the company around.

Here's a new video showing off some of the ginormous boss battles you'll see in Assault Heroes 2 when it's launched next week.  

Funcom and Eidos released eight new in-game screens for Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures. Every time I see new screens, this MMORPG seems to look better and better. The screens are from the Poitain area. [READ MORE]

Atlus has released profiles on three characters appearing in their upcoming Nintendo DS RPG Etrian Odyssey II: Heroes of Lagaard. The Alchemist, Landsknecht and Gunner are the first three profiles, and show off the diversity of the game. Also, check out some character concept art after the break.

Alchemist
There isn’t a type of damage that these magic-users can’t dish out: in addition to their mastery over Fire, Ice, and Voltage, they have adopted spells that inflict Slashing, Striking, and Piercing damage to the entire enemy party. Their Return skill is also a lifesaver for parties who have forgotten to bring along a Warp Wire.

Force Skill: Eschaton
This forbidden magic unleashes a wave of pure, untyped energy to obliterate the entire group of enemies.

Landsknecht
Though landsknechts still tend to specialize in either swords or axes—swords for multiple hits, axes for single, powerful blows—they’ve learned to use either weapon in their elemental strikes. They can still abandon all defenses to improve their offense, but now if the enemy should take advantage of this to weaken them, they have new abilities to become even stronger when critically injured.

Force Skill: All Out
A powerful berserker charge that slashes every enemy.

Gunner
These marksmen employ a wide variety of bullets and firing techniques that make them one of the most versatile single-target damage-dealers. Their specially treated ammunition can bind any part of an enemy, inflict any type of elemental damage, or even stun an enemy to allow the rest of the party a chance to move in. Naturally, their trusty firearms allow them to do all this from the back line.

Force Skill: Riot Gun
The gunner focuses all of its will into a single, powerful bullet guaranteed to stun an enemy. [READ MORE]

Johnathon Mak's Everyday Shooter is now available on Steam and if you're looking for something fun and different to play this weekend it's well worth your $9.99 (although you can get 10% off this weekend).  Sure it's plays a bit like a Geometry Wars clone but the use of sound and graphics really make the game stand out against all the other Geometry War clones on the market.  I bought the game on the PS3 when it came out and I can't recommend the game enough.

Codemasters announced today that they have secured the license to create Forumula One games that was previously held by Sony.  Sony was reported to have balked at the high price of the license and decided to pass on it leaving it open for Codemasters to pick up.

It's a smart move Codemasters as they will be releasing cross platform F1 titles in upcoming years, something that Sony was obviously unable to do.  It's a bit of a shame as Dave really liked F1 Championship but it's not like Codemasters doesn't have a great reputation with racing games.  [READ MORE]

Looks like the BioShock movie has a better than expected director. Gore Verbinski is set to direct what he hopes to be an R-rated BioShock movie and I think it's a good choice. The guy turned a theme park ride into one great movie and two OK movies. The game's ripe with great imagery and should produce some incredible set pieces so we just need a good translation of the story here.  Just as long as they change the ending. Just kidding. I threw that in there to poke Cyril a little. :) Anyways, Gore seems to be into video games as there's a little tidbit in an interview alluding to interest in a Portal movie.Who would you want to play the roles?

-Update with Press Release- [READ MORE]