The bundle-masters of Indie Royale have put together another eminently affordable package of independent video games featuring such things as helpful ghosts, hungry critters, drilling for oil, and World War II-based dinosaurs. It's called the Xmas Bundle, and it's on sale via the popular 'pay-what-you-want' pricing model through December 26.

Read more: What's under the tree? »

Next week's round of new video game releases is light on retail offerings but thankfully digital distribution picks up the slack. PC rules the roost, with goodies including reverse-tower defense Anomaly: Warzone Earth and Battlefield Play4Free, the free-to-play version of Battlefield 2.

However, surely the most thrilling new release is multiplayer Nazi dinosaur-o-rama Dino D-Day. Read more »

Video games have been presenting World War II as a jolly old lark for yonks now so, when you think about it, the concept of the Nazis creating an army of dinosaurs in Dino D-Day is little more than a slight genre shift.

800 North's Source-powered multiplayer shooter can now be pre-ordered from Steam ahead of its April 8 release. It'll regularly cost $19.99 but a pre-order discount brings it down to $17.99. Read more »

Ubisoft has confirmed to Shacknews that the always-on DRM in a few of its PC titles has been patched out, including Assassin's Creed II and Splinter Cell: Conviction. The Ubisoft representative reminded us that this was done on a case-by-case basis and that from the beginning the company had said it might patch the DRM out at some point.

New games, however, may still ship with the always-on DRM, Ubisoft confirmed to Shacknews. Read more »

Few would argue that the world has seen no greater enemy than the Nazis. How can the Nazis be even more terrifying? When they team up with dinosaurs, that's how.

Set in an alternate history, Dino D-Day is a multiplayer shooter set in World War II where players square off against the two destructive forces. Originally released as a "prototype" Half-Life 2 mod--still available on FileShack--Dino D-Day will soon launch as a standalone, commercial product. Read more »

This week's Xbox Live Deal of the Week is heavily influenced by the Italian Renaissance, featuring a number of deals for Assassin's Creed 2.For the rest of the week, gamers can purchase all downloadable content for Assassin's Creed 2 as well as select Avatar gear for a reduced price.

Assassin's Creed 2 DLC and Avatar Items on Sale Read more »

This weekend, Stardock's Impulse digital distribution service will be giving away free digital copies of the original Assassin's Creed with a purchase of Assassin's Creed II for $39.99.

Additionally, Ubisoft is running its own sale on its official PC store, marking down titles from 20% to 67%. Stand-outs include both Assassin's Creed titles for $$30 ($10 less than Impulse) and a Splinter Cell: Conviction bundle including DLC bonuses for $49.99. Read more »

The "Games on Demand" section of Microsoft's digital distribution platform Games for Windows Live "will soon be the home of day-and-date game releases from the industry's biggest names," the company declared today.

Alongside the day-and-date releases, which kicked off today with Ubisoft's Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands PC, the company will be adding more games to the online catalog, including those that don't utilize Games for Windows Live functionality. Read more »

[Update - 5/28/2010 18:49PM (BL)] Just a reminder, the contest is now closed. Due to the holiday, we will be selecting the winner on Tuesday, June 1 and notifying him or her via Shackmessage. Thanks for entering and good luck.

[Update - 5/25/2010 11:21AM (BL)] There was some confusion with this contest and some details are changing. The good news: anyone who has already entered is still entered. The better news, the prize is actually an Intel Core (tm) i7 980x! Additionally, we're giving everyone the chance to get a second entry to the giveaway: Read more »

Both Amazon and GameStop have quietly dropped the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 editions of Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed II to $29.99, half of its earlier $59.99 list price.

Read more »

Ubisoft is offering goodies including free games and downloadable content to gamers affected by the denial of service attack against its DRM authentication servers which left many unable to play Silent Hunter 5 or Assassin's Creed 2 on PC, Kotaku reports.

Some gamers are being offered a choice of Prince of Persia, Tom Clancy's HAWX, Tom Clancy's EndWar or Heroes Over Europe for free, while others are receiving the three Assassin's Creed 2 bonus quests previously exclusive to its Special Edition. Kotaku speculates that the peace offering is different for those who already own the SE. Read more »

The belated PC edition of Ubisoft Monreal's Assassin's Creed II, released in Europe last week, is arriving this week in North America. Thus, a launch trailer approaches:

Update: "Our servers are under attack again," Ubisoft says. "Some gamers are experiencing trouble signing in. We're working on it and will keep you posted."

Added the company: "We're happy to say ACII & SH5 are withstanding the efforts to crack them. We see the rumors but still confirm no valid cracked versions exist." Read more »

While Ubisoft Montreal's open-world murder simulator Assassin's Creed 2 won't hit North American PCs until March 16, a patch has already been issued with changes including a tweaking of the controversial DRM scheme that requires players be online.

Rather than being kicked back to the last checkpoint should their connection drop out--as was originally the case--players will be able to resume the game "from the exact same point" when they reconnect. The 19MB patch is over on FileShack now. Read more »

Though the full-fledged console release of the next Assassin's Creed game and its accompanying multiplayer mode won't arrive until later this year, Ubisoft has provided a tantalizing glimpse of how it could work with Assassin's Creed 2: Multiplayer on iPhone.

But even better than looking into the future is doing so for free, as the $2.99 iTunes App Store download is now available for nothing at all through Tuesday, March 2. Yay! Read more »