The official toolset for the recently released Dragon Age: Origins is finally available for download.

Fans of the game who want to tinker and build new scenarios, items, weapons and characters can now head over to the Dragon Age Social Network website and grab the program that will allow you to fashion your own dark fantasy adventures.

Along with the ability to create your own content, the toolset also offers interested designers the ability to "look under the hood" of the game to figure out how the game pulled off some of its more interesting scripted moments. The tools also include everyone's favorite machinima in the making feature - a cutscene editor!

A fair warning, these tools are not your typical click and play scripting tools, so the learning curve may be a bit high.

Digital distribution is widely hailed as the future of gaming and while it's been relatively smooth sailing for a while the system hit a few major snags on the PC this week.  We've seen bumps in the past with Steam's early days (the Half Life 2 launch wasn't exactly painless for a lot of people) and Games For Windows has been one cluster after another but this is the first time we've seen problems that aren't specific to one service.

The first was all of the hurdles users had to jump through to get Dragon Age:Origins working correctly.  Of course a lot of these issues were created because each entity along the way had their own pass mechanism which needed to be navigated to get the game working correctly.  This is one of those nasty things that will eventually go away as companies figure out how to get their services working together better.

The second big bump was Impulse, Direct2Drive, and Gamersgate refusing to sell Call of Duty:Modern Warfare 2 on their services because it includes a mandatory install of Steam for things like DRM and saved game management. This grants Steam a de facto monopoly on selling Modern Warfare 2 digitally on the PC.  This will be a bit trickier to navigate as Valve has so tightly woven their Steamworks tools set with their online service and there's no way anyone is going to help their competitor sell more of their product.  I don't see this really hurting sales of the game that much but it has to be a bit scary for those who don't want Steam to have a monopoly on the digital distribution market and will further the calls for Valve to start decoupling their various components.

It's not unexpected to see these kind of problems as a technology matures but it is a somewhat painful reminder that we are still in the early days of this new distribution mechanism.  These won't be the last bumps we have but they do represent a small inflection point in the system.

What do you think?  Are these big issues for you or should we just got ahead and welcome our new Steam overlords?  Let us know in the comments.

• No dedicated servers for Rage either
• Experience Nintendo Tour: The Legend of Zelda Spirit Tracks
• Valcon Games gives the DS a keyboard [musical that is-ed.]
• Deal or No Deal invades your SMS plan
• Another win for the US with previously Japan exclusive Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey
• Play Spore on Facebook
• Get fancy with Mass Effect 2 Collectors’ Edition and check out the new footage
• Try cleverness next week with Encleverment Experiment
• PS3 instant streaming disk for Netflix on the way
• Gran Turismo 5 cost $60 million to make?
• Explore Fragile Dreams coming exclusively to Wii next year
• Psychonauts, Bloodrayne series, and Advent Rising now available on GOG
• PS3 owners will be able to try the multiplayer of Battlefield: Bad Company 2 on November 19
• Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 gets a launch trailer, shows space level?
• Do some unreal development with UDK3
• Five new characters and other goodies coming to Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2
• Low level dungeon available for purchase in Dungeons and Dragons Online Store

A couple weeks ago, John posted that Netflix would be available on the Playstation 3 sometime in November. The only drawback was that PS3 owners would have to place a request to get a free disc that would launch and operate the Netflix streaming, most likely due to the Microsoft agreement with Netflix being on their Xbox 360 dashboard.

Well, I had requested my free disc that same day (10/26), and today I received an e-mail from Netflix that my Instant Streaming Disc will be here tomorrow. So I will get a chance to play with it and compare this service to that of the Xbox 360 for the same streamed movie. Meanwhile, check out the e-mail that I received:

After seeing Battlefield: Bad Company 2 at E3, I'm pretty excited about the game. The PC version's going to be using dedicated servers so a win for it! Anyways, PS3 folks will be able to blow up buildings, vehicles, and each other on November 19th as that's when the public beta for the multiplayer portion of the game's going to hit.

The beta will feature Arica Harbor map with up to 24 folks fighting it out in Rush. You'll be able to experience infantry and vehicular combat with the Americans assaulting the Russians.

PC people can look forward to December 2009 as that's when the open beta for that platform will hit. 360 folks will have to wait til next year as the demo for all systems will be released then.  The game will be due out on March 2, 2010 in the US and March 5, 2010 for Europe.

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Available now until December 31, 2009 Magneto, Black Panther, Carnage, Psylocke, and Cable can be bought to play along side the others in Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2 for 800 MS points or $9.99. Not only that but you get four new missions and other goodies that come with the DLC. Interesting that it would only be available until December 31 but I'll try to get some confirmation as to if this just a timed DLC that will be gone after the end of the year.

-Update: Yes, I confirmed that this DLC will only be available until the end of the year so if you are thinking about picking it up, don't dilly dally. [READ MORE]

Aren't you glad you hopped on to GamingNexus at this exact moment?  Your day is about to get even better with these new Frogger Returns screen shots.  The game is being developed for release on WiiWare and the PSN.  Konami released the screens below showing what it will look like on each. 

Who doesn't love some hot frog-on-pavement action?  I know I do.  Features of the game include enhanced graphics, all-new levels, multiple gameplay mode, and local multiplayer options.  Look for the game to be released this month. 
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Here's 77 seconds of new footage from Bayonetta which claimed my "WTF is going on award" at E3 this year.  While I'm not sure exactly what's going on in the game I can tell you that the game does look fantastic and that the game is certainly pushing the T&A a bit more than other games on the market.  The game is already getting good reviews in Japan and I think will probably do well once it's released here in the US.

• Dragon Age: Origins hits shelves and 30 Seconds to Mars hits Dragon Age
• Last week's top games on Gamefly
• CBS shows are soon to visit your consoles and other gaming devices
• Your Direct2Drive bestselling titles are...
• ijji.com to fly top Alliance of Valiant Arms players to Korea for tournament
• Did Activision mention Band Hero is out today?
• Vandal Hearts: Flames of Judgment wants to help your RPG life to be less tedious
• Shopping for the Zelda fan in your life?
• Prince of Persia movie trailer released, teases that movie could not suck
• ECS loves....goOoooooOOoOoOoold
• That hat in Team Fortress 2 looks familiar
• Behind the Band Hero commercial featuring Taylor Swift and members of Weezer

As the fourth news item we've posted in the past week for Band Hero, this one is just a friendly reminder from Activision that the game is now available.  You'll be able to find it on the Wii, 360, PS3, and DS.  It seems to be the "Top 40" version of Guitar Hero 5.  Given that and the fact that the Wii will sport exclusive game modes, I would not at all be surprised if it sells the most units on that system.

Head to your favorite game retailer to pick up Band Hero as it's out today.  Also, you can click here to enter for a chance to meet Taylor Swift and see her in concert.  There are other prizes, but only Kanye West would care about those.
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These may be just sound bite video clips but they're gosh darn entertaining. I mean I love Taylor Swift but my home boy Jay-Z should have been in this game and not her.
All kidding aside, enjoy these videos that show a glimpse behind the scenes of the latest Band Hero game.

Dead to Rights: Retribution just released some new screens and, more importantly, a new video on gameplay. Particularly, the video showcases various ways of attacking your enemies. From melee, to shooting, to your loyal companion who goes by the name of Shadow, it doesn’t seem that you will get bored of planning out your next tactical strike.

The video also shows how you can use your environment and items to your advantage in combat. You’ll also notice the occasional zoom and slow-mo mid-combat, which should be useful for scoping out your enemies for a clear shot. Check the video for the details.


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