DLC has been a bit of a tricky thing for the Assassin’s Creed series because it’s so story driven and there’s a lot of canon to deal with, both in the game and historically. AC3 tried to mix things up with a massive what if scenario involving George Washington as the bad guy, but the episodic release cycle had people (including myself) losing interest before it even concluded.

AC4’s first significant single player DLC, Freedom’s Cry, seems much better planned out and well executed by contrast. First of all, there was plenty of setup in the main game by making the DLC’s protagonist, Adewale, a major NPC as Edward Kenway’s right hand man and counselor, and then setting the game 15 years in the future to keep needless crossover out of the way. Secondly, Freedom’s Cry delves into a very different but extremely significant theme of the seafaring era, slavery, and does so with the right amount of respect, while also allowing to indulge in the aspect of righting the terrible wrongs surrounding you. As the game progresses you quickly find that Adewale is a powerful, intelligent character who should command more respect than Edward but doesn’t, merely because of the color of his skin.

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Microsoft has announced that they have sold over 3 Million Consoles before the end of 2013. Congrat’s to Microsoft for selling that many consoles in 2013. Here’s the news below…

Thanks to you, 2013 was an incredible year for gamers, entertainment fans, our industry and Xbox. With Xbox One we saw the most epic launch for Xbox by all measures. We are humbled and grateful for your loyalty and delighted by the millions of hours of gameplay and entertainment enjoyed on Xbox.

Together, we ushered in a new era of games and entertainment with Xbox One. Over 3 million Xbox One consoles were sold to consumers in 13 countries before the end of 2013. It’s been incredible to see Xbox One selling at a record-setting pace for Xbox, and we were honored to see Xbox One become the fastest-selling console in the U.S. during our launch month in November. Since our launch, demand for Xbox One has been strong, selling out throughout the holidays at most retailers worldwide. We are continuing to work hard to deliver additional consoles to retailers as fast as possible.

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Teslagrad is an indie game developed by Rain Games, and this game has decided to take an interesting take on its narrative. It also takes a few cues from from platformers like Metroid’s map design, while throwing in some puzzle elements. But this game has some issue that keep it from being truly great.

In Teslagrad, the story is told much like a silent movie. You play as a young boy who is escaping from some red clad soldiers. After outrunning them, he finds himself trapped in a tower that has many hazards based on electricity, magnetism, or electromagnetism. To solve the trouble of traversing these hazards and puzzles, the boy will find items that will let him progress these rooms. You will be able to do things like punching certain blocks to change their polarity, or dash with a burst of electricity to teleport past thin walls, you can also get a cloak that works like a magnet to push or pull you in many directions.

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The Walking Dead Season One released back in 2012 and by the time it had finished its season, the game had managed to earn many awards and praise. The game was an episodic visual novel story in the vein of Heavy Rain. Season Two continues this tradition, and things are still looking promising for the quality of the narrative.

Season Two takes place only a few months after the conclusion of the first season. But after an incident occurs, there is a 16 month time-skip. You continue following the story as Clementine, and players will get to see the results of the growing up well before her time has done to the young girl. She is definitely older in both looks and mind, doing things that in the past would have paralyzed her with fear. She has also been stripped away of much of her innocence. And she will need it, because aside from the Walker plague, she now lives in a world where the survivors can’t usually be trusted.

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Danish development studio Press Play is pleased to announce that its cinematic puzzle-platformer, Max: The Curse of Brotherhood, is available now for Xbox One.

“Max: The Curse of Brotherhood is Press Play’s contribution to bringing the puzzle-platform genre to the new generation of consoles,” said Creative Director Mikkel Thorsted. “We’ve put a great deal of passion and ambition into creating a unique experience.”

Max: The Curse of Brotherhood is a story-driven adventure filled with action-packed platforming and creative puzzle-solving. Armed with only a Magic Marker, Max must confront evil at every turn in a hostile and fantastical world in order to save his kid brother, Felix. With five magical powers and twenty levels in seven unique worlds, Max: The Curse of Brotherhood is an adventure for players of all ages.

Max: The Curse of Brotherhood Launch Trailer:

Max: The Curse of Brotherhood Launch Screenshots:

Rated E (Everyone) by the ESRB and 12 by the PEGI, Max: The Curse of Brotherhood is available starting today, December 20, on Xbox One for $14.99. For more information, please visit http://pressplay.dk/.

Nintendo Wishes You Happy Holidays with this cool e-card:

The 2013 Steam Holiday Sale is on now. For the entire holiday season, shoppers can take advantage of huge savings on thousands of games.

Following in the Steam Sales tradition, there will be different promotions happening all day, every day — including eight-hour Flash Sales and Community’s Choice Sales, where gamers may weigh in on which titles should be discounted next. On top of Flash and Community’s Choice promotions, more than one hundred games and software titles will be featured as Daily Deals throughout the sale.

Participating in the 2013 Steam Holiday Sale will also earn customers exclusive Holiday Sale Trading Cards. Collect, trade, and craft Holiday Snow Globe Cards that can only be earned during the sale. Users who collect all 10 cards can craft the Holiday Sale badge and earn a variety of limited-edition rewards. Learn more about the feature at http://store.steampowered.com/promotion/snowglobefaq.

Today, Xbox Entertainment Studios announced an original documentary series that will debut exclusively on Xbox in 2014. Xbox will produce the series with two-time Academy Award-winning producer Simon Chinn (Searching for Sugar Man and Man on Wire) and Emmy-winning producer Jonathan Chinn (FX’s 30 Days and PBS’s American High) through their new multi-platform media company, Lightbox.

“Our collaboration with Xbox offers an unparalleled opportunity to make a unique series of films around the extraordinary events and characters that have given rise to the digital age,” said Simon Chinn. “Our goal is to produce a series of compelling and entertaining docs which will deploy all the narrative techniques of Simon’s and my previous work. It’s particularly exciting to be partnering with filmmakers like Zak Penn who come to this process from other filmmaking disciplines and who will bring their own distinctive creative vision to this,” added Jonathan Chinn.

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One of Nintendo’s popular characters from the recently released Super Mario 3D World game is coming to two of its biggest titles of 2014 for Wii U. Rosalina will be playable in both Super Smash Bros. and Mario Kart 8. Nintendo also launched NES Remix in the Nintendo eShop on Wii U, re-imagining parts of 16 classic NES games. A new game for Wii U developed by Tecmo-Koei that will feature the action-packed Warriors series set in the world of The Legend of Zelda was also revealed for launch in 2014. This is a separate project from the new installment of The Legend of Zelda series that is in development for Wii U by longtime series producer Eiji Aonuma and his team. Nintendo made these announcements and revealed new information about a number of Wii U and Nintendo 3DS games during a Nintendo Direct announcement. To view the Nintendo Direct in its entirety, check it out below:

Zelda Hyrule Warriors Screenshots:

“Today’s announcements reinforce that Nintendo systems are consumers’ best options for enjoying quality games now, and will continue to be in 2014,” said Reggie Fils-Aime, Nintendo of America’s president and COO. “From new upcoming games in the Mario Kart and Super Smash Bros. series to original Nintendo eShop content like NES Remix, Wii U and Nintendo 3DS provide a combination of value and variety that only Nintendo can offer.”

Zelda Hyrule Warriors Teaser Trailer:

Some of today’s announcements included:

Wii U News

– Super Smash Bros.: Rosalina, who was introduced in the Super Mario Galaxy games for Wii and makes a surprise appearance in the new Super Mario 3D World for Wii U, will be a playable character, accompanied by her starry friend, Luma. The game will launch in stores and the Nintendo eShop on Wii U and Nintendo 3DS in 2014.

Super Smash Bros. Roslina Screenshots

Way more new and screenshots, click on through…
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Majesco Entertainment Company, publisher of the Zumba Fitness video game franchise that has sold more than nine million copies worldwide, announced today that free, playable demos of Zumba Fitness World Party are now available for Xbox One, the all-in-one games and entertainment system from Microsoft, and Kinect for Xbox 360. The demos feature two hit songs with dynamic choreography—Lady Gaga’s “Born this Way” and Daddy Yankee’s “Limbo.”

Majesco also released a behind-the-scenes trailer revealing how the newly released World Party game was produced using state-of-the-art technology that makes players feel like they’re in exotic locations around the world with Zumba’s celebrity instructors.

Zumba Fitness World Party Behind the Scenes Video:

Download the playable Xbox One demo from the dashboard direct to your console via the Xbox Live online entertainment network from Microsoft. The Kinect for Xbox 360 demo is available.