Amazon sent out word of a Castlevania: Lords of Shadow limited edition a bit early this week by releasing a mockup image of the package. Now the retailer has boldly tweeted (if one can do something called "tweeting" in a bold manner) release info for the limited edition, pricing it at $79.99 on PS3 and Xbox 360. The image is exactly the same as this week's mockup, meaning that we will get that nice hand-painted artwork on the box (that looks a lot like the work of longtime Castlevania artist Ayami Kojima) along with the soundtrack and artbook, that were shown before.

The Amazon listings also show a Halloween release date for both the standard and limited editions, though we're hesitant to confirm any release dates from retailers as "official" without checking in with Konami -- which we're doing now.

Ubisoft sends word that a demo of its latest combat game taking place in the wild blue yonder will soon be available on the mundane colorless expanse of the internet. A single-player sampling of HAWX 2 is scheduled for arrival on the Xbox Marketplace next Monday, August 16, with the PS3 demo touching down on PSN a day later on Tuesday, August 17.

Both versions will contain the same two missions from the game's story-driven campaign. One mission will have players donning the flightsuit of a Russian pilot on the trail of stolen aircraft, while the other is from the perspective of a US flyboy and will let players experience the simulated thrill of launching from an aircraft carrier. HAWX 2 will taxi onto store shelves September 7 for PS3 and 360, followed by PC and Wii releases later in the year.

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Rage represents a rather large milestone for Carmack's id team. Not only is it the first game to use id Tech 4, it's the first id game to be published by new owner Bethesda. It's also the first new IP from the team in over a decade, since 1996's release of Quake. If a recent interview in the Official PlayStation Magazine (via CVG) is to be believed, it's likely that the new new IP from id will be just as far away.

"I doubt we're going to do another IP," Carmack told OPM. "We want to support Wolfenstein, Doom and Quake -- and hopefully we can add Rage onto that. ... Obviously, if Rage is a success then we'll want to do a Rage 2." Considering the lengthy development cycles at id (evidenced by the currently-MIA Doom 4) who knows when the next new IP will bubble out of the company?

Especially with that Commander Keen reboot getting in the way, right?

War. War never changes ... and neither will the narrator for the intro to the next Fallout game, either! Ron Perlman has been tapped to do the voice work on Fallout: New Vegas' introductory cinematic, once again regaling us with the tale of post-apocalyptic America and introducing us to the game's main character: you.

For the sake of potential spoilerz, we're going to go ahead an embed the audio past the break. Oh, and sorry non-Americans -- you likely won't be able to access the player.

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Between the grappling hooks, AI Sackboys and gigantic, "Everlong"-sized hand attachments, we couldn't blame you for wanting to get your hands on LittleBigPlanet 2 before its release. You're in luck -- Media Molecule community guru Spaff recently announced on the game's official forums that, much like its predecessor, the game would undergo a beta process "soon."

Spaff didn't deliver any specifics about when it would begin, but did mention that information how recruitment will go down will also surface "soon." We'd imagine he means "sooner" than the actual beta kicks off -- in that instance, the actual time table for the beta test is "soon, but not the soonest," or, in simpler terms, "soonish."

The Behemoth has posted a quick update on the status of the long-awaited PSN port of Castle Crashers. While there aren't many concrete details, the dev states it is "right in the thick of the submission process" and has cemented the price. Just like its Xbox Live Arcade counterpart, Castle Crashers will arrive on PSN at $15 (packing some new features, don't forget).

The Behemoth also detailed its plans for PAX, set to go down in Seattle early next month. The studio is bringing along the latest build of Battleblock Theater and Behemoth merchandise. The company will also be toting along a custom, 4-player Castle Crashers arcade cabinet ... which we will be stealing.

id Software just announced during a QuakeCon live presentation that Rage will be hitting store shelves on September 13, 2011 in the US and September 15, 2011 in Europe. Kotaku reports on the release date via its liveblog, highlighting one of the reasons the game still has another year of development time -- the Xbox 360 version crashed during the presentation.

If you're really itching to jump into Rage's universe, the iPhone/iPad version of the game will launch sometime this year. That could help tide you over until the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC versions arrive next September.

Do those feet of yours remember how to dance? Or, rather, how to flail about in four directions in accordance with a brightly colored song chart? We hope so, as you'll soon be charged with arrow-stepping once again when DanceDanceRevolution arrives on PS3 later this fall. Yes, it's just called DanceDanceRevolution. Apparently, no extemporaneous "Mixes" or "Maxes" or "SuperNOVAs," or even spaces, were required this time around.

This version of DDR -- the series' first outing on the PS3, no less -- includes some form of Move support, meaning dancers will have to move their arms in rhythm while simultaneously moving their legs, similar to the Wiimote controls of DDR Hottest Party. Also, using the PlayStation Eye, players can record their best routines and throw it on Facebook and YouTube using the console's Video Editor and Uploader. These videos are going to be absolutely thrilling, and we, for one, cannot wait to see your totally sweet moves.

The zombies from Treyarch's Call of Duty: World at War DLC will make a return in Call of Duty: Black Ops, according to a listing at Best Buy Canada's online store. The description for the Hardened edition of the game details the four maps included with both collector's editions, describing them as "Four Zombie Maps Pack made famous from COD: World at War."

This information is further evidenced by multiple accounts at Black Ops fansite CODBlackOpsNews.com, where GameStop employees at several stores revealed marketing materials for the game (people even snapped pics, as seen here). The maps are said to be remakes of the World at War zombie maps "updated for the Black Ops engine." While we're glad to see the mode making a return in Black Ops, we're really concerned with something else -- zombies that can travel through time. That sounds, like, double terrifying.

EA has announced its lineup for GamesCom, both to be shown on the show floor and behind closed doors, and Dragon Age 2 is on both lists. If you plan to attend the August 18-22 event, you'll be able to meet (someone's version of) protagonist Hawke for the first time. Other games on the floor include Rock Band 3, Darkspore, the newly dated Crysis 2, and Star Wars: The Old Republic.

Meanwhile, EA will have private showings for Bulletstorm, EA Sports Active 2, EA Sports MMA, The Sims Medieval, and more. Perhaps press will get an opportunity to interact with whatever Epic's "Bulletstorm-sized unveil" is -- though we don't necessarily want any of our colleagues' heads to explode. See the full list of showings after the break. Your head will ... be perfectly fine, but intrigued!

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