Well it looks like Microsoft had a little slip-up this morning and revealed details on the upcoming Modern Warfare 2 DLC package. According to the marketplace listing, the package will include 5 multiplayer maps, 2 of which are returning fan-favorites from the original Modern Warfare. There were previously leaked details and images of these new maps floating around for several weeks now but now we have our first “solid” leak. The new maps include:

• Bailout: multi-level apartment complex
• Storm: open industrial park with “heavy machinery”
• Salvage: a snow level featuring a junkyard with debris and crushed cars stacked up
• Crash: Original MW map with crashed helicopter in middle and several buildings
• Overgrown: Original MW map with “grandma’s house” with two sides of the map separated by a dry river bed.

Xbox 360 owners will be able to pick up these new maps on March 30th while PS3 and PC owners will have to wait another month before they are able to pick them up.

Modern Warfare 2 DLC [Xbox Live Marketplace]

Today Ubisoft released its first part of the Q&A developer videos that it will be slowly rolling out. Ubisoft previously asked users to create video questions for the developers of the game to answer and today marks the first video of answers to those questions. Most of them were trivial questions, not revealing too much about the upcoming game.

However one question and answer did catch out ears: Will there be a demo coming to Xbox Live? The answer is a simply “yes”. There were no other details shared in the video other than the demo will consist of possibly one level. It is unclear whether or not the demo will be a singleplayer or multiplayer demo but I would count on a SP demo showing up sometime early next month.

You can watch the video after the break

Shortly after the announcement of some new, free content for Mass Effect 2, BioWare follows it up with some paid content for the fans. Rounding out the cast will be Kasumi, a female thief who will take up the 12th squad member slot on the Normandy. Kasumi will be arriving with what promises to be 90 minutes of gameplay, a new achievement, a flash-bang grenade loyalty power, and a new "Locust" SMG.

No price has been announced yet for the DLC, but hopefully the interactive dialogue scenes will improve upon the lackluster ones that came with Zaeed's tall tales.

Kasumi's Stolen Memory [Joystiq]

The action-role playing game, Torchlight was released for PC back in October 2009 available only by digital download up until recently when a box copy was released. The game received great reviews but got poor mainstream recognition. This could change when the game is released on the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3.

“We’re going to put some serious effort into it -- pretty quick-- getting Torchlight onto consoles. There’s a lot of really cool things about the console world, too, that would work well with our game. So, we are definitely going to be going in that direction." - Runic CEO Max Schaefer

The developer of the game seems very enthusiastic about the future of this project. I'm personally really excited as I'm not a PC gamer. It will be great to play out their new innovative developments on another platform. Very few details have surfaced other than its existence, but expect it to bring a great new game to your collection.

Runic Games 'putting serious effort' into console Torchlight [Joystiq]

In what can only be described as a slap in the face to Infinity Ward and Activision, the people at DICE and EA have updated their blog with a post poking fun at the "Mapathy" campaign from a few days ago.  The second free map pack for Bad Company 2 will be available on March 30th on all platforms to those who have entered their VIP code in game and will include the following:

Arica Harbor Conquest mode - US Command launches a break through action directly at the Russian base. Collateral damage is of no consequence. Capture and secure tactical positions in Conquest Mode across the vast Arica Harbor map.

Laguna Presa Rush mode - The valley and surrounding mountains possess a strategic value in the battle for South America, and an infantry assault supported by light armor vehicles is likely by both armies as US forces defend the nearby Dam.

As for the negative marketing going on, I'll let you decide for yourself if there is some bad blood here or if it's just friendly competition:

It also plays a vital part in making sure you, the players get proper value for the money you’ve invested in Battlefield: Bad Company 2. This is why these map packs are available at no extra cost, contradicting the industry standard and what our direct competitors are doing. Of course, it also helps avoid segmenting the community, making sure everyone can play together having the same maps available. There will be future paid downloadable content as well but these packs will focus on expanding other parts of the game experience rather than the selection of maps available for the basic game modes. We’re dedicated to taking care of this product for a long time – helping you avoid “mapathy” without getting nickel-and-dimed.

Tomorrow, at 8:00am GMT (3:00am EST), EA will be resetting their BFBC2 servers for maintenance and will remain down for an undetermined amount of time. Luckily this scheduled time won’t have a large impact on those playing the game as it is either early in the morning or late at night when this downtime will happen (depending on your time zone).

The BFBC2 servers have been suffering from several problems since the release of the game, preventing a lot of players from playing the game’s multiplayer so hopefully this downtime will address and fix the majority of their problems.

EA Maintenance & BC2 [Battlefield Blog]

If you have access to the Cerberus Network, then you'll have access to this small piece of new weaponry released today as free DLC. It's not much, but it's free; so we really can't complain about having a new weapon that throws out lighting to fry up some Geth with. Here's the full description of the Arc Projector:

The Arc Projector ionizes targets with a non-visible laser to ready them for a high-voltage electrical attack. As the lightning-like bolt hits its first target, a sophisticated auto-targeting system paints succeeding targets with the ionization laser, allowing the electricity to take the path of least resistance and arc between them. An entire enemy strike team can be shocked to death with a few pulls of the trigger. Careful aiming will also allow the user to arc shots to nearby explosives as well.

Hopefully this little taste of DLC will open up the floodgates and bring the previously mentioned Hammerhead hover tank to us, along with some new episodic content. Two screenshots of the Arc Projector can be seen below.

[View with PicLens]

FourZeroTwo (Robert Bowling), the “Creative Strategist” at Infinity Ward, recently tweeted that Modern Warfare 2 has reached 25 million unique players online (all platforms combined). In the same tweet he also noted that there will be “a lot of #MW2 DLC details coming this week!” So the wait is finally over, we might finally get details about what is included in the DLC and when it might be released (and for how much, my guess is on $10).

In a slightly unrelated note, the Xbox 360 will also be receiving the Longitude/Latitude fix which will improve matchmaking for those outside of the continental US. You can also expect a double-XP weekend to popup sometime around the DLC release (making it easier to legitimately get to 10th prestige!)

FourZeroTwo [Twitter]

According to Ubisoft’s official Twitter account their DRM servers (responsible for protecting their new games from piracy) were attacked yesterday which would not allow users to play either Assassin’s Creed II or Silent Hill 5 on the PC. It seems that the very same attack that prevented users from playing yesterday is happening again today according to a recent tweet by Ubisoft.

Also Ubisoft is reporting that their games are still withstanding crack efforts by the piracy community with no confirmed cases of pirated copies successfully being played. At this rate, however, this new DRM (which will be included with Splinter Cell: Conviction) is proving to be more trouble than it is worth for those that have bought the games.

Servers Under Attack [Twitter]

Today Ubisoft released the first developer diary video Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands. This dev diary reveals that this game will be going back to it’s 3D origins, the Sands of Time. The video showcases both combat and various acrobatic moves, all of which seem fluid and true to the original. Ubisoft this time is not trying to re-invent the series (like they did with Prince of Persia) but rather return to their true roots and deliver the same great experience. You can check out the first gameplay footage of this game after the break.