Dungeon Siege 3 "Treasures of the Sun" Out In October

MjolnirX - Dungeon Siege 3 will be getting some fancy new expansions that sound just downright great. The new expansion is titled "Treasures of the Sun". It'll be available on both the Xbox 360 for 800MP and the PS3 for $9.99.

New features include raising the level cap from level 30 to level 35, re-allocation of your talent and proficiency points that can be moved around to better suit your new level cap, and a new enhancing system also lets you boost your armor for the new dungeons.

Press Release:

DUNGEON SIEGE III Downloadable Content Details Revealed

DUNGEON SIEGE III: TREASURES OF THE SUN Adds Hours of Hack 'n' Slash Gameplay, New Story Arc and Action-Packed Quests

LOS ANGELES (September 1, 2011) - Square Enix, Inc., the publisher of SQUARE ENIX® interactive entertainment products in the Americas, announced today a robust downloadable content (DLC) pack for DUNGEON SIEGE® III will be available in October. Introducing several additional hours of gameplay, players will enjoy more of the World of Ehb with DUNGEON SIEGE III: TREASURES OF THE SUN™ as it offers a brand new plot arc, additional quests, new enemies and tons more loot.

In DUNGEON SIEGE III: TREASURES OF THE SUN, players will extend their journey and travel beyond the borders of Ehb to an all-new environment: the Aranoi Desert. On their search for a lost Legion hero, players will fight through hordes of new villains only to find a forgotten abbey hiding a long-lost secret: the greatest treasure of the Azunite faith.

Further supporting the hours of new content in the expansion, developer Obsidian Entertainment has introduced several refinements to the systems and mechanics of DUNGEON SIEGE III:

New abilities: Players will be able to attain mastery of the arcane through powerful new attack, defense and healing abilities.

Level up to 35: DUNGEON SIEGE III: TREASURES OF THE SUN will further power up players by raising DUNGEON SIEGE III's existing level cap from 30 to 35.

More monsters and items: Players will encounter new monsters in the Aranoi Desert-including mummies and giant skeletons-and will find more powerful items, adding to the thousands already available in DUNGEON SIEGE III.

Reallocate Talent & Proficiency Points: Players can reallocate points spent in Proficiencies and Talents, enabling changes to character customization throughout the campaign.

New Enchanting System: Transmuting items now gives players chances at gaining powerful new Vials that allow them to enhance their weapons and armor through the DLC's new enchanting system.

DUNGEON SIEGE III: TREASURES OF THE SUN is anticipated for release in October for $9.99. Players can download the DLC via Steam® (Windows PC), Xbox LIVE online entertainment network (Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft) and the PlayStation®Network.


About DUNGEON SIEGE III

DUNGEON SIEGE III is now available at retailers in North America for Xbox 360, PlayStation®3 system and Windows PC via Steam. DUNGEON SIEGE III is rated T (Teen). Please visit the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) website at www.esrb.org for more information about ratings. For more information about DUNGEON SIEGE III, please visit the official website at www.dungeonsiege.com or the official Facebook page at www.facebook.com/DungeonSiege3.

About Obsidian Entertainment

Obsidian Entertainment is an entertainment software development company passionately dedicated to making high quality role playing games for Windows PC and console systems. Obsidian was founded in 2003 by five game development veterans who've produced, programmed and/or designed award-winning role playing games for a variety of platforms over the last 15 years: Feargus Urquhart, Chris Parker, Darren Monahan, Chris Avellone and Chris Jones. Obsidian Entertainment's Web site can be found at http://www.obsidian.net.

About Square Enix, Inc.

Square Enix, Inc. develops, publishes, distributes and licenses SQUARE ENIX®, EIDOS® and TAITO® branded entertainment content throughout the Americas as part of the Square Enix Group. The Square Enix Group operates a global network of leading development studios and boasts a valuable portfolio of intellectual property, including: FINAL FANTASY®, which has sold over 100 million units worldwide; DRAGON QUEST®, which has sold over 58 million units worldwide; TOMB RAIDER®, which has sold over 35 million units worldwide; and the legendary SPACE INVADERS®. Square Enix, Inc. is a U.S.-based, wholly-owned subsidiary of Square Enix Holdings Co., Ltd.

More information on Square Enix, Inc. can be found at http://www.square-enix.com/na/.

DUNGEON SIEGE III © 2011 SQUARE ENIX, INC. All Rights Reserved. DUNGEON SIEGE,DUNGEON SIEGE III: TREASURES OF THE SUN, DRAGON QUEST, EIDOS, FINAL FANTASY, SPACE INVADERS, SQUARE ENIX, the SQUARE ENIX logo, TOMB RAIDER and TAITO are registered trademarks or trademarks of the Square Enix Group. "PlayStation" is a registered trademark of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. Windows, Xbox, Xbox 360 and Xbox LIVE are trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies. OBSIDIAN ENTERTAINMENT is a registered trademark of Obsidian Entertainment, Inc. STEAM is a registered trademark of Valve Corporation.

Crimson Alliance: Either $10 or $15

Castrum - Upcoming XBLA dungeon-crawler RPG Crimson Alliance will come in two forms: a $15 version with all 3 classes playable, or three different $10 versions, each with just one of the game's three classes playable. Basically, if you don't care about the classes that involve not ripping spleens out with your bare hands, you save $5.

Source: Game Informer

Torchlight 2 Priced At $20

Castrum - Runic Games has officially announced pricing for Torchlight 2, their Diablo-clone game that manages to make Diablo 3 look late-to-the-party.

$20 will get you a strong single-player dungeon crawler campaign, online and LAN co-op, and the ability to play single-player offline (which, sadly, actually is a feature these days). It would appear Torchlight 2 lacks co-op for more than 2 players, though some co-op rather than none is always welcome in a dungeon crawler.

Source: Joystiq

Blizzard Implementing "Cash-For-Items" Scheme In Diablo III

Developer	Blizzard Entertainment
Release Date	To Be Announced

MjolnirX - Blizzard has recently announced a new type of Auction House for its newest iteration of the Diablo franchise. This new AH will feature weapons and armor available for purchase using real money. This will run alongside (though separately) with the traditional auction houses like World of Warcraft's that use in-game currency.

Like the World of Warcraft auction houses, Diablo's cash-only AH will require the user to pay a fee to put an item up for sale, then they will be required to pay a transaction fee when the item is sold. The seller may then keep the money on his (or her) account for use in-game or for other Blizzard products, or cash-out with yet-another fee attached. The fees are at this moment still being negotiated, though I'm sure on such a grand scale, and with such a dedicated fan base, that it won't matter. At all.

This poses a scary situation. I can see many people, especially a few friends I know, making this a full-time job. I'm already picturing my friends trying to make a living off of playing and selling items in-game. I suppose it remains to be seen how much in-game items will cost. Blizzard has a tendency of pumping out some really expensive, rare or even one-off items that may end up costing hundreds or thousands on the new marketplace. After all, Blizzard will profit off of every item sold.

I'm not liking what this game is implying for the future of games. Microtransactions seems to be the way of the future. Look at games like Farmville (or any Zynga, or even any Facebook game), any iOS game, and many Xbox 360 or PS3 games like Record of Agarest War, where in-game purchases will give you an edge over the average Joe pinch-penny. The era of fair, balanced gaming is over. Hail your new king, Disposable-Income Man.