Gearbox Software today announced a partnership with advertising company Double Fusion to bring in-game advertising to future Gearbox titles.

Under the terms of the deal, Double Fusion is to provide Gearbox with dynamic advertising technology to support the delivery of in-game ads and integrated sponsorships in upcoming Gearbox games. The companies stated that they will "work together to ensure that all advertising programs are appropriate and add value to the gamers' experience."

As of this time, Gearbox has not disclosed which of its upcoming titles—such as Aliens: Colonial Marines (PC, PS3, X360) and Borderlands (PC, PS3, X360)—will incorporate the ads.

Several companies are expanding within the lucrative sphere of in-game advertising. EA and Microsoft recently extended a deal in which Microsoft's in-game ad arm Massive, Inc. would provide streaming advertisements for upcoming EA Sports titles on the Xbox 360.

Publisher Sega today officially announced Aliens: Colonial Marines, the Gearbox Software-developed FPS title based on the popular movie series.

The squad-based shooter will support four-player cooperative play, and is set to hit stores within the year.

Featuring a story-driven single player campaign centering around a team of soldiers facing an alien assault, Aliens: Colonial Marines will attempt to recreate the look and feel of the original films while providing a tense FPS experience.

The game will also boast a four player co-op mode, with each player taking on a distinct role within the squad. Additional multiplayer modes will be announced at a later date.

Elements taken directly from the Aliens sequel will include pulse rifles, flamethrowers, and the Sulaco spaceship. A soundtrack described as "brooding" will also accompany the claustrophobic environments.

Weapons, skills, and equipment new to the Alien universe will also make an appearance, though none were specified.

Aliens: Colonial Marines will be released on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC in late 2008.

There's a Samba de Amigo preview on GameSpot, offering brief impressions of the Gearbox Software Wii game.

With Marvel Universe Online (PC, X360) officially canceled and the studio no longer involved with City of Heroes (PC), the latest effort from superhero MMO developer Cryptic Studios is Champions Online, a super-powered MMO planned for PC and consoles.

Word of the project comes from a writeup detailing gaming publication Game Informer's March issue. No further details are available at this time.

Gearbox's upcoming Aliens shooter will be called Aliens: Colonial Marines when it hits PC and unspecifid consoles--most likely PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360--in 2009, the article revealed. It also contained the official title of Volition's next Red Faction entry, Red Faction: Guerilla.

Computer & Video Games has been updated with a new Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway preview, taking a quick look at Gearbox's WW2 action game.

Shacknews has learned that multiple Unreal Engine 3 licensees have been served with subpoenas in an effort to obtain their confidential engine contracts for use as evidence in Silicon Knights' coming court battle with Epic Games.

The two companies became embroiled in a legal feud after Silicon Knights filed suit against Epic last July. As part of its lawsuit--the allegations of which include Fraud, Negligent Misrepresentation, and Breach of Contract--Silicon Knights demanded all profits from the Epic-developed blockbuster shooter Gears of War in the form of awarded damages.

The subpoenas mark the first time that developers other than Epic have been entangled in the dispute. Companies that have licensed Epic's Unreal Engine 3, and are potentially now involved in the suit, include Electronic Arts, 2K Games, Ubisoft, and the United States Army, among many others.

"I'm leaving the litigation to the lawyers but, if this is the case, I'd like to apologize to any of our licensees who Silicon Knights have inconvenienced," remarked Epic VP Rein when contacted today by Shacknews. "We know that, like us, they just... Read more

Amidst an already busy CES, Microsoft also announced nine new titles set for Games for Windows branding, to be released in 2008.

• Alone in the Dark, Eden Studio (PC, PS3, X360)
• Bionic Commando, GRIN/Capcom (PC, PS3, X360)
• Conflict: Denied Ops, Pivotal Games (PC, PS3, X360)
• Empire: Total War, Creative Assembly (PC)
• LEGO Indiana Jones, Traveller's Tales (TBD)
• Microsoft Train Simulator 2, Microsoft Game Studios (PC)
• Sins of a Solar Empire, Ironclad Games (PC)
• Space Siege, Gas Powered Games (PC)
• Tomb Raider: Underworld, Crystal Dynamics (PC, PS3, X360)

Microsoft did not disclose whether any of these titles will support Live for Windows, cross-platform play or achievements. This newest roundup of games will join an existing roster of anticipated releases in 2008, including Gearbox Software's Borderlands (PC, PS3, X360) and Fallout 3 (PC, PS3, X360) from Bethesda Game Studios.

The persistent hype of all flavors surrounding Ubisoft Montreal's Assassin's Creed (PC, PS3, X360) seems to have paid off, as the title sold more than 2.5 million copies in the four weeks following its Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 launch. The figure makes Assassin's Creed the fastest-selling new video game property ever in the U.S., the company claimed in a statement.

Based on these startling numbers, Ubisoft has revised its current fiscal year estimates, predicting sales of 5 million units of Assassin's Creed rather than 3 million through March 30, 2008. In fiscal terms, the company bumped its revenue prediction to 840 million Euros ($1.23 billion), up from 825 million Euros ($1.21 billion).

The company is so confident in its financial position that it has pushed the release of three anticipated titles into the next fiscal year: Ubisoft Montreal's Far Cry 2 (PC), Ubisoft Shanghai's Tom Clancy's EndWar (PC, PS3, NDS, X360), and Gearbox Software's Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway (PC, PS3, X360). All three titles will now retail sometime in the coming fiscal year, which begins on April 1, 2008.

This is the third time in recent months that Ubisoft has delayed multiple titles, with Free Radical's Haze (PS3) bumped to an early 2008 release last month and Ubisoft Montreal's Splinter Cell: Conviction (PC, X360) pushed into the next fiscal year. Earlier this year, the company delayed four unspecified titles.

Thanks to the Spike 2007 Video Game Awards, we get a first look at Borderlands (PC, PS3, X360), the new sci-fi action RPG from Gearbox Software. Update: a high-def version of the trailer is now available.

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Registered users can watch the HD stream.

New at Eurogamer today is this Brothers in Arms Hell's Highway Q&A. Gearbox president Randy Pitchford is asked about what we can expect from the game.

Over at 1UP you can find a Borderlands Q&A, asking Gearbox president Randy Pitchford about his company's co-op shooter. Article includes new screenshots.

Confirming earlier reports, Sega announced it will be bringing a new iteration in the long-lost Samba de Amigo franchise to Wii next spring in North America and Europe as well as Japan.

As previously indicated, Brothers in Arms creator Gearbox Software will be developing the game. Gearbox is said to love both of Sonic Team's maraca-shaking Dreamcast titles, which had players shake height-sensing maracas to music at various altitudes. This time around, the Wii remote and nunchuk will replace those costly maracas. (Note: "Jesus Christ," exclaimed an overjoyed Chris Faylor when Sega's press release arrived in the Shack inbox this morning. -Remo)

Though details are few, Sega says the soundtrack will include both new song as well as returning favorites. Notable tracks from the original titles that may appear in the new edition include Bellini's "Samba de Amigo," Reel Big Fish's cover of A-ha's "Take on Me," and Hideki Naganuma's Jet Set Grind Radio anthem "Let Mom Sleep." More details on the song list and other new features are said to arrive within the next few months.

With the opening of its latest store in Jackson, CA, mega-retailer GameStop now serves gamers the latest in new and pre-owned goods from 5,000 locations worldwide.

Amador county supervisor Theodore Novelli and GameStop VP John Deegan were on hand for the balloon-decorated ribbon cutting ceremony, as were several other excited onlookers (all pictured left).

"With more customers being attracted to the video game category, they will increasingly find a GameStop convenient to them," noted GameStop COO Dan DeMatteo. "This landmark store opening underscores the strength of our business model and represents a spectacular effort on behalf of our 44,000 employees worldwide."

The core of the GameStop business model is centered around soliciting trade-ins from customers and providing them with in-store credit or cash, which encourages them to spend more money in-store, and then reselling the used ... Read more

Dance monkey, dance! Reports coming from all corners of the internet say that the latest issue of Nintendo Power announces Sega's beloved maraca-shaking monkey dancer is coming to Wii courtesy of, brace yourself, Brothers in Arms creator Gearbox Software.

Gearbox is said to love both Sonic Team's Dreamcast original and sequel, which utilized a set of special height and motion-sensitive maracas and required players to shake the maracas at varying heights in beat with the music, so it's not too far-fetched of a proposition--especially since the company is working with Sega on the upcoming Aliens FPS.

Given the popularity of the Wii and the capabilities of its controller, a Wii edition of the always-popular-in-a-social-setting Samba could tackle two of the biggest barriers that prevented the original from taking off: the sinking popularity of the Dreamcast and the cost of the $80 maracas, which were not bundled with the game.

Shacknews attempted to confirm this news with both Sega and Gearbox, but had yet to receive a comment as of publication. In the meantime, this writer will be fishing out his Dreamcast and imported copy of Samba de Amigo Ver. 2000 and shaking two fistfuls of awesome to such hits as Bellini's "Samba de Janeiro," Reel Big Fish's cover of A-ha's "Take on Me," and Hideki Naganuma's Jet Set Grind Radio anthem "Let Mom Sleep."

Though the console version are still on track for a November release, the PC version of Ubisoft Montreal's stealth action title Assassin's Creed won't sneak into retail until early 2008, Ubisoft announced today. Ubisoft had not given a different date for the PC release until today's announcement on the company's holiday lineup.

Both console and PC versions of Gearbox Software's WWII shooter Brothers in Arms: Hells Highway will also be pushed from their holiday 2007 release to a retail date within Ubisoft's fourth quarter for the current fiscal year. This places the Ubisoft-published title in stores sometime from January through March of 2008.

The announcement listed the Wii port of Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30 as on track for a December release, but made no mention the upcoming original Wii title in the series, Demiurge's Brothers in Arms: Double Time.

The Gearbox Software jobs page has been updated, as the Dallas, TX area developer is looking for more people to join the Borderlands team. Open positions include: concept artist, game programmer, level designer, 3D modeler, and texture artist.

There's an extensive Borderlands preview on Computer & Video Games, checking out the new post-apocalyptic action game at the Gearbox Software offices.

Like an actor trying to make it on Broadway, game studios have to start somewhere--although, unlike the latest off-Broadway production, you've likely heard of BioShock. With a growing body of part-time work, developer Demiurge Studios is beginning to break into the big-time. I talked with studio director Al Reed about the company's approach to Wii development, as well as its upcoming Wii port of the Gearbox Software franchise, Brothers in Arms: Double Time. Read it.

At one point, the heat gave out in the slumlord-owned house we called an office, but we couldn't afford to stop working--so we just pointed the power supply fans from our computers at us, put on some hats and worked through it for a week.

Action Trip and GameSpot have posted previews of Borderlands, the new Gearbox game. Check out some new screenshots here.

New screenshots from Gearbox's sci-fi FPS/RPG hybrid Borderlands (PC, PS3, X360) have been released, depicting armored soldiers with Killzone-esque eyes, a sniper overseeing a vast landscape, and an enormous vehicular earth saw apparently modeled after real-life heavy excavators.