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The latest popular MMORPG to hit store shelves, Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures, was just released on Steam. The game is currently only $44.99 (Reg: $49.99) when you order it through Steam. The latest MMO to arrive on Steam is Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures. It will be available for an additional 10% off for one week until Sept 11. All games are available via Steam, a leading online platform for the delivery and management of PC games with over 15 million accounts worldwide. Keep in mind that the game is well over 32GB in size once it's decompressed and on your hard drive and may take a little while to download.

Just announced, Europe will see Far Cry 2 hitting their store shelves come October 23. It will be a simultaneous release for the PS3, Xbox 360, and PC versions of the game. There is no firm release date specified for the North American release just yet. In related news, a few more details were revealed for the map editor in Far Cry 2:

By having a map editor, replayability now becomes infinite. You don't have to wait for new maps to be released, you can simply go and make your own map or download other user maps. And with the sharing system we'll have with being able to upload maps to a central server (as opposed to only peer to peer), before you even download a map you will be able to see what the community feels is a good map through the rating system. And this tool can encourage an entire community of creative map makers, who might normally say, “If I was able to, I'd make the map this way, or that way". Rather than just talking about it, you now have the ability to go ahead and do it! You can even take another user's map, and if you like most of it but would have done part of the map in a different way, then you'll have the ability to edit the existing user-created map (with keeping credit to the original map maker). This sharing option will hopefully get the community to put their creative heads together and collaborate to come up with even better maps.

Update: To celebrate the release of Far Cry 2, Ubisoft unveiled the Far Cry 2 Collectors' Edition that will include: Exclusive wooden box, Original Far Cry 2 Game, Limited edition Far Cry 2 t-shirt, "The Art of Far Cry 2" Art book, Collector 50km map, Making-of DVD.

As Electronic Arts prepares to unleash Maxis' long-awaited life simulator Spore, creator Will Wright has noted his belief that its emphasis on player-made content will have long-term effects in the realm of video games.

"Spore will change the way people look at games forever and change hopefully the perception people have of their own creativity," he told the BBC.

The first footage of THQ's action-heavy take on the Warhammer 40,000 property has begun floating around the internet, showing off over nine minutes of the combat game and what the development team refers to as "intimate brutality."

While publisher THQ has yet to officially announce Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine, with some rumors claiming the title has yet to be approved for full production, the Gears of War-esque game is believed to be in the works for PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

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Microsoft Europe today announced a new program that will allow select members of the Xbox Live community to see upcoming films before their theatrical debut.

Few additional details were offered on the program, which is known as the "Xbox Live Film Club." The company provided an Xbox.com link for more information, though that page is not yet available.

As members will need to "win the chance to get involved with the Xbox Film Club," it seems that the Film Club will merely provide access to real-life sneak previews instead of letting folks stream or download the film from the Xbox Live Video Marketplace.

Likewise, it is unclear if the Film Club program will be available for Xbox Live members in North America, though Shacknews has contacted Microsoft for more details.

Square Enix, which recently made "a friendly offer" to buy a controlling stake in Japanese publisher Tecmo, has withdrawn its proposal following a rejection from the beleaguered game company.

The Final Fantasy-producing giant isn't done hunting, however. "We are talking with quite a few companies in and outside of Japan. We are routinely in such talks," said Square Enix president Yoichi Wada as relayed by Reuters.

Tecmo, best known for its in-house Team NINJA creations Dead or Alive and Ninja Gaiden, rejected Square Enix's offer yesterday and instead entered negotiations with Koei, the Japanese publisher known for its battlefield hack-and-slash Dynasty Warriors series.

Square Enix publicly asked Tecmo to explain itself, but was ignored. "Followed by the notice, [Square Enix] immediately requested TECMO for explanation of some issues to receive no response to it, even reasons of the rejection," read a Square Enix statement issued today.

The attempted merger was the latest in a string of acquisitions from the mega-studio. Square merged with Dragon Quest developer Enix in 2003, forming Square Enix, and then purchased Space Invaders owners Taito in 2005.

Next week's downloadable Rock Band songs will add three new tunes from metal rockers All That Remains to the multi-instrument musix game, developer Harmonix today revealed on its message board.

Per usual, Xbox 360 owners will gain access to the tracks next Tuesday, September 9, with PlayStation 3 gamers receiving the pack the following Thursday, September 11.

All That Remains 3-Pack (All Master Tracks)
• This Calling
• Chiron
• Two Weeks

The entire bundle will sell for 240 Microsoft Points ($2.50), while each track will be available for individual purchase at 80 Microsoft Points ($1).

Two of the tracks--"Two Weeks" and "Chiron"--hail from the band's new album, which hits September 16. Until that date, those two songs will only be available via Rock Band.

EA Redwood Shores' sci-fi survival horror title Dead Space, which was recently pushed up twice for finishing early, has hit a snag: the game has been outright banned from sale in Japan, Germany, and China, reports Destructoid.

According to the report, publisher EA has not yet announced whether or not it will re-work the game for release in those countries. On our shores, the game is still set for its new early launch date of October 14 on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. A PC version will arrive on October 20.

• No European price cut for Xbox 360.
• Mattrick: “I can’t say we’re going to beat Nintendo”.
• EA working on Madden patch after freezes reported.
• Rumor- Intel vying for Larrabee chip in Xbox 720.
• Xbox LIVE Film Club.
• Extended Play Download Days (price drop on DLC) on Xbox LIVE.
• Randomly selected European gamers to receive US MotorStorm 2 demo.
• PS3 Rock Band PAX pack not working.
• Sony goes hunting for big game.
• Play Tool on Fake Instruments.
• Sting playable in Guitar Hero World Tour.
• Guitar Hero World Tour 'Sting' Trailer.
• New Duke Nukem 3D XBLA Screenshots.
• Even Gears Of War 2's Marketing Is Bigger, More Badass.
• Xploder Cheat Saves for Xbox 360.

Aspyr announces the completion of development on the Macintosh edition of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, saying the now-gold Mac edition of Infinity Ward's military shooter sequel should be in stores on September 15. An Intel Mac running OS X 10.5.4 or later is required, and integrated video chipsets are not supported. Those interested in preordering the game can do so via this page.

Activision Blizzard announces a UK release date for Call of Duty: World at War, saying the Windows, Xbox 360, Wii, DS, PlayStation 2 and PlayStation 3 editions of the military shooter sequel will hit ye olde game shoppes on November 14. Europeans will also participate in the October beta test that was announced with yesterday's news of a November 11 US release date (story). Call of Duty: World at War, developed by Treyarch, returns the series to its original setting of World War II.

MCV has word that October 24 is the UK release date for Far Cry 2, Ubisoft's African follow-up to Crytek's tropical first-person shooter. That date applies to the Windows, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3 editions of the game, as well as a special Collector's edition that will include a t-shirt, a making-of DVD, an art box, and give you wood, as it is all housed in an "exclusive" wooden box.

Eurogamer.de reports hearing from Electronic Arts that the report that Dead Space has been banned in Germany (story) is not accurate. According to the story (which is in the site's native German), the game has not yet gone through the rigorous German classification process, which has been known to be rough on games with violent content. Destructoid's had also reported the horror game has been banned in Japan and China, but there has been no follow-up on the accuracy of that part of the story. Thanks Videogaming247.

Friday already? Fantastic. Word from analysts predicts that online game sales will hit $8 billion in 2013, the expectation isn't new but it's significant to see such a number put to it. Speaking of putting numbers to things, it looks like it'll be $5 to import all but 3 of Rock Band's tracks into the forthcoming sequel. And I want to point out we've got a trailer posted for Skate 2, which I know a good number of Shackers have been anticipating. And can we give Bergman a round of applause?

Ubisoft Montreal's open-world shooter sequel Far Cary 2 (PC, PS3, 360) will hit European retailers on Friday, October 24, the company announced today.

Unleashing a circus of values, Microsoft today slashed the prices on a number of the downloable games add-ons available through the Xbox 360's online Marketplace.

Offering savings of up to 60% on select pieces of downloadable content, the Extended Play Download Days sale will run until the end of October, according to a blog post by Xbox Live director Larry 'Major Nelson' Hryb.

Regularly priced at 400 Microsoft Points ($5), BioWare's Mass Effect add-on Bring Down the Sky now sells for 300 Microsoft Points ($3.75). Some of the track packs for Neversoft's Guitar Hero III are on sale as well, temporarily priced at 360 Microsoft Points ($4.50) instead of 500 Microsoft Points ($6.25).

For a complete list of the sale items and prices, scope out the complete list. To figure out real-world cost, divide the price by 80, as 80 Microsoft Points are equivalent to $1.

Funcom's mature PC MMO Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures today marks the latest game to arrive in Valve's PC digital distribution storefront Steam.

Continuing its wave of Guitar Hero World Tour announcements, publisher Activision today revealed that beloved bands Tool and The Police will be featured in the game.

Along with the below on-disc tracks, the multi-instrument music title will sport a specially-created Tool venue, made with the help of the band and said to highlight the "art style that has become a staple in their music videos, live shows and album artwork."

• Tool - "Schism"
• Tool - "Parabola"
• Tool - "Vicarious"
• The Police - "Demolition Man"

Spore - changing the game is a BBC article talking with Maxis about Spore, getting Will Wright to overcome his aversion to hype, quoting the designer as saying: "Spore will change the way people look at games forever and change hopefully the perception people have of their own creativity." It's that creativity that is the focus of the article, as they talk more about creature creation, and the role players have in furthering the content of the game going forward. They also touch on ambitions for Spore as a brand, once again mentioning the possibility that this will eventually be another label for EA, like Wright's The Sims. Also, Behind the prototyping of 'Spore' on CNET looks at the role of prototyping in the development of the game. In another Spore related note, we want to follow-up on yesterday's Spore shipping news (story) by clearly stating the game's North American release will be this Sunday, September 7,  a simple date that was posted incorrectly here at first, and was still wrong even after a first attempt at correcting the error. Apologies for the confusion. Thanks Mike Martinez and Ant.

Paradox Interactive announces that Mount&Blade is gold, ending a beta period for Turkish developer TaleWorlds' medieval role-playing game that's gone on for years now. The game will be released for digital download on GamersGate and will be available in North American stores on September 16, and in Europe on September 19. Word is: "Mount & Blade is a single-player, third or first-person action/role-playing game set in the medieval war-torn land of Calradia. The game features groundbreaking horseback combat, intuitive swordplay, and a free-form environment in which players can roam freely to explore new cities, conquer foreign armies and earn a reputation as the realm's most courageous warrior."