We finally have a new Aussie-developed Game of the Week to show off this week, a bright puzzle title for iPhone and iPod (iPad universal binary coming soon), from Melbourne-based Bankroll Studios, called Scuttle.

As Rocket Rex, your mission is to save the baby dinosaurs from certain extinction at the jaws of Crunch, before he turns them into dino burgers. Use precise shots to work the angles and save the day, before you run out of eggs and Crunch has his lunch. Loads of challenging levels spread over multiple prehistoric landscapes ensure hours of Jurassic action and strategic game play.

Scuttle is a top down physics puzzle that revolves around knocking small creatures into caves by launching eggs at different angles. Blast your way through the levels at a leisurely pace or unlock the gold medal challenges with precise strategic shots.

• 54 Challenging Levels
  
• 3 Prehistoric Landscapes
  
• Gold, silver and bronze medal challenges
  
• Special items to help solve levels
  
• Pinball launch action
  
• Endless puzzle solutions
  
• Exclusive Scuttle comic strip from the creator of Horror High

We've actually had a bash at the game, which is available in the App Store today and it's pretty damned addictive. The solid design of levels and simplicity of play will also makes this an anytime, anywhere game to bust out.

Check out screens and art by clicking the thumbnails below, as well as a trailer showing off the game in action. And click here to get it directly in the App Store now for the ripe price of 99 cents.

Last week many eager fans were counting down in anticipation for Diablo 3, the long awaited sequel in the Diablo series. Among the high spirits were however some troubling moments, with Australian GAME going into voluntary administration causing concern over those who had placed pre-orders many months ago.

Luckily, Blizzard being as awesome as they usually are, footed the bill by offering anyone who had a pre-order receipt before the 15th of May to purchase the game through their battle.net service and then receive a refund on the amount that they had placed down with GAME.

Today Blizzard has released new details on the situation, with instructions for those wondering what they have to do in order to receive their refund. Hopefully those affected will receive a speedy return of credit and can enjoy the fiery pits of hell with a peace of mind.

Square Enix and United Front have today released a new trailer for their upcoming title Sleeping Dogs, an open-world sandbox that lets the player chose their direction. Featuring a basic 101 on just what to expect in the vibrant Hong Kong districts, the trailer showcases the very brutal and unforgiving measures that undercover cop Wei Shen is forced to use on his victims.

An energetic fusion of East and West, old and new, Hong Kong is one of the most unique cities in the world, and Sleeping Dogs an open world game like no other. In the 101 trailer, London Studios and United Front Games delve deep into every aspect of the game from the brutal martial arts combat to the intense vehicle shoot-outs and street races, the wealth of side content and social features to the girls, guns and gambling dens.

Check out the trailer below for the very brutal introduction (HD here) and make sure you check out our game page for the latest news, screenshots and trailers.

Sleeping Dogs will be available on August 16th for PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

New characters, weapons, kits, gear and maps are on their way to Mass Effect 3, across all platforms, for anyone who redeemed an Online Pass when they fired up the game, and for free.

The Rebellion Multiplayer Expansion opens two new fronts against the Reapers: Firebase Jade’s jungle reservoir and Firebase Goddess on Thessia. In-game reinforcement packs now include three new weapons (Reegar Carbine, Krysae Sniper Rifle, Cerberus Harrier) as well as equipment, consumables, and six new characters from species that have lost lives or whole planets to the Reapers: Quarian Engineer and Infiltrator, Vorcha Soldier and Sentinel, Ex-Cerberus Adept and Vanguard. The battle continues!

The content arrives on May 29 (likely May 30 here), and you can find more detailed info on the new content right here. This is obviously good news for the multiplayer elite out there, but bring on the single-player content I say.

Check out screens for the new content via the thumbnails below.

German publisher Kalyspo have lifted the veil off a stylish new first person shooter -- a cell-shaded vampire-themed game with stealth and RPG elements titled DARK.

DARK - developed by RealmForge, creators of the award-winning Dungeons - puts players in the role of a vampire out to discover the secrets of the mysterious global GeoForge Corporation. By making the most of powerful vampire skills, stealth and lethal combat abilities, players will engage and destroy their enemies, while moving silently through a stylized futuristic cityscape. The treacherous techno universe of DARK is rendered in gorgeous cel-shaded graphics with gameplay that tests the players’ ability to master both stealth and combat.

Watch the debut trailer embedded below. DARK is in the works for PC and Xbox 360 with an early 2013 release date.

It isn't every day a trailer can send chills through your body while watching, but the guys from 4A Games and THQ have achieved just that in the latest trailer for Metro: Last Light. Featuring a live-action cast, the trailer depicts Moscow in the year 2013 and what is inevitably the start of a nuclear war.

The Moscow Metro. A monumental feat of Soviet engineering, with a dark secondary purpose - to serve as a refuge in the event of an atomic attack. As the Cold War thawed and the threat of nuclear annihilation seemed to fade, this purpose was forgotten – except by a few, waiting for the signal, ready to open the vaults... the last refuge for the remnants of mankind.

While a trailer like the infamous Dead Island and its slow-motion view gave a sense of sadness and desparation, this trailer definitely gives a feeling of helplessness, something that works so well with the post-apocalyptic setting.

You can check out the video below for the chilling scenes (HD here) and also make sure you check out our game page for all the latest screenshots and news. If you haven't yet tried your hands at Metro: 2033, Steam is offering the full game for a great price of $4.99.

Metro: Last Light will be available 2013 on PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

Facing massive financial trouble following lacklustre sales of their action RPG entry, Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, 38 Studios and Big Huge Games have apparently reached tipping point with multiple reports suggesting all staff at 38 have been laid off, and BHG has closed its doors.

We reported a few days ago that 38 Studios had already laid off staff in an effort to repay a start-up loan obligation to the Rhode Island Economic Corporation, but also pointed out that the team were working on an MMO based in the Amalur universe dubbed "Copernicus". Unfortunately, it appears all the Rhode Island staff have been laid off, and the Maryland-based Big Huge Games, a subsidiary of 38 Studios has closed its doors (via Polygon).

"Big Huge Games was home for my wife and me for our adult lives so far, I'll miss it terribly, but so proud. Good night and good luck," came a Tweet from friend of the site and lead world designer on Kindgoms of Amalur, Colin Campbell, all but confirming Polygon's report.

Since news of the closures has hit, so has new media for "Copernicus" with a handful of screens making their way onto NeoGaf, all of which you can check out by clicking the thumbnails below.

While Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning didn't do quite as well as the teams involved had hoped, its universe was ripe with potential, and it's always sad to hear of an ambitious and talented developer closing its doors.

Before Double Fine Studios' adventure game ignited the Kickstarter craze, the much-loved indie studio had already announced another project in the works under the guidance of Monkey Island and Maniac Mansion creator Ron Gilbert. Today, that project has been revealed as The Cave -- a colorful adventure-platfomer to be published by SEGA in "early 2013".

If you enjoy rappelling, spelunking and dark rocky caverns then be prepared to be disappointed! And then intrigued. And then AMAZED. And then disappointed again, but only for a minute. Then relieved, amused, bewildered, excited, and satisfied. In that order. Your first clue that The Cave is a place like no other will come just after you assemble your team of three unlikely adventurers – each with their own unique personalities and skills – and stumble across a subterranean amusement park and a medieval castle, not to mention a fully armed and ready to launch nuclear-tipped ICBM.

Watch the debut trailer below (or here in our HD video library) for some hot spelunking action.

The Cave is due in early 2013 on "consoles and PCs for digital download".

The Diablo III community has had a mixed affair of solid experiences, and not so solid experiences since the hotly-anticipated game was released on May 15. And while there's certainly a mad cry from the side of the fence dealing with countless issues, Blizzard has chimed in to assure everyone that they're addressing each and every problem with the game.

A number of hotfixes were applied a few days ago, the details of which you can view here, but they've also announced the the Auction House has been delayed again until they can "ensure everyone has the smoothest experience possible" and that they need "more time to iron out the existing general stability and gameplay issues" before they let a rabid community loose in the new system.

On concerns over account hacks and general Battle.net security, the team has assured everyone that the actual number of players contacting customer service over concerns of account compromises is "extremely small", adding that "the Battle.net and Diablo III servers have not been compromised".

"In all of the individual Diablo III-related compromise cases we've investigated, none have occurred after a physical Battle.net Authenticator or Battle.net Mobile Authenticator app was attached to the player's account," the update said. "And we have yet to find any situation where a Diablo III player's account was accessed outside of "traditional" compromise methods (ie someone logging using an account's login email and password).

"To that end, we've also seen discussions regarding the possibility of account compromises occurring in ways that didn’t involve these "traditional" methods -- for example, by "session spoofing" a player’s identity after he or she joins a public game," the post continues. "Regarding this specific example, we've looked into the issue and found no evidence to indicate compromises are occurring in this fashion, and we've determined the methods being suggested to do so are technically impossible. However, you have our assurance that we’ll continue to investigate reports such as these and keep you informed of important updates."

The team conclude the security concerns with just reminding users to use "smart password management" and basically boil a lot of it down to common-sense.

The post also mentions that sometime next week a full patch will be released that "will further address client issues and apply additional bug fixes".

Another day, another matinée - here are all the gaming-related videos that have crossed our desktops since the last screening:

• Metro: Last Light "Enter the Metro" Live Action Trailer
• Assassin's Creed 3 "Road to E3" Dev Diary Trailer
• Far Cry 3 "Road to E3" Dev Diary Trailer
• DiRT Showdown Launch Trailer
• Sleeping Dogs "Sleeping Dogs 101" Trailer
• Rift "Conquest PvP" Trailer
• Sniper Ghost Warrior 2 "Sarajevo Urban Combat" Gameplay Trailer
• Transformers: Fall of Cybertron "Dinobots Unleashed" Dev Diary Trailer
• Anarchy Reigns Japanese Launch Trailer
• ArmA 3 "Lighting Showcase" Trailer
• Batman: Arkham City Game of the Year Edition "Voice Cast" Dev Diary Trailer
• Command & Conquer: Tiberium Alliances Launch Trailer
• Dungeon Defenders "Summoner Hero Class" Trailer
• Steel Battalion Heavy Armor "How To" Trailer
• DARK Teaser Trailer
• The Cave Debut Trailer
• Street Fighter 25th Anniversary Collector's Set "Overview" Trailer
• Ghost Recon: Future Soldier "Fight Now" Trailer
• Ghost Recon: Future Soldier AU TV Spot Trailer
• Dragon Ball Z for Kinect "QR-Code Card Reader" Trailer
• Jetpack Joyride "Flash The Dog" Trailer
• When Vikings Attack PS3 & PS Vita Gameplay Trailer
• Ridge Racer Unbounded "Demo" Trailer
• Auto Club Revolution "Indianapolis Oval Hot Lap" Trailer
• Combat Arms: Spiders vs Scorpions "Episode 1 - The Trap" Trailer
• NASCAR The Game: Inside Line "Drive for the Cover" Trailer
• Angry Birds Friends Launch Trialer
• Spellforce 2: Faith in Destiny Intro Cinematic Trailer
• Red Orchestra 2: Game of the Year Edition Gameplay Trailer

As always, stay tuned for the latest game videos as we get them online!

The forthcoming patch 1.6 for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, which supports Kinect voice-commands for Xbox 360 as well as new kill cams on all platforms and a number of other additions and requisite bug-fixes, will also be landing a new, heavily requested feature: mounted combat.

In fact, the Bethesda Blog says anyone who opted into the patch's beta on Steam can check out the new addition as of today. There's no word on whether or not mounted combat will land on consoles, but Bethesda will let us know once they've made a decision.

"Thanks again to all our fans, we remain committed to supporting the game through our free updates, mod tools, and more," the team wrote on the Blog. "And yes, we’re still working on our first add-on, Dawnguard – some great stuff to show you soon, stay tuned."

Hit the link above for a breakdown of the current additions and fixes to patch 1.6.

The House Standing Committee on Infrastructure and Communications has issued a statement today, confirming that the Australian Federal Parliament's inquiry into IT pricing and the high markups burdened on Australian consumers -- often affectionately referred to as "the Australia tax" -- has commenced, defining the terms of reference (which distinctly includes video game pricing) and indicating that public submissions on the matter will be part of the inquiry process (via: delimiter):

The Chair of the Committee, Nick Champion, said “Australians are often forced to pay more for IT hardware and software than consumers in overseas markets. The Committee’s inquiry aims to determine the extent of these IT price differences and examine the possibility of limiting their impact on Australian consumers, businesses and governments. The Committee will look into the cost of computer hardware and software, including games, downloaded music, e-books, and professional software, to name a few. The Committee is looking forward to hearing from the companies who set these prices and the consumers and businesses that purchase their products.”

The terms of reference for the inquiry, which will take public submissions until 6 July, state that it will examine:

• Whether a difference in prices exists between IT hardware and software products, including computer games and consoles, e-books and music and videos sold in Australia over the internet of in retail outlets as compared to markets in the US, UK and economics in the Asia-Pacific;
  
• What those differences are;
  
• Why those differences exist;
  
• What the impacts of these differences might be on Australian businesses, governments and households; and
  
• What actions might be taken to help address any differences that operate to the disadvantage to Australian consumers.
  

More details can be found in this statement from Federal MP Ed Husic and the official documentation over on the House of Representatives website.

Ubisoft and French developer Nadeo -- best known for their Trackmania arcade racing games -- have released the first trailer for their upcoming first-person shooter, the PC-tailored Shootmania: Storm:

For the first time in its history, Nadeo have decided to bring to FPS what made TrackMania such a phenomenon: its unique competitive spirit and a sense of fun.

In conjunction with the online competitive multiplayer, ShootMania Storm will also feature extensive map editing capabilities, allowing players to customise, design and share their creations across the community, using the soon to be released, upgraded ManiaPlanet 2.0 gaming system.

The debut trailer doesn't actually show any first person gameplay, but Nadeo maintain that the footage has been created "using only game tools" and we'll even forgive them for the dubstep because it looks like a lot of fun.

Watch the video below (or here for the HD option), swing by our game page for some screenshots and head over to the official site if you'd like to sign up for a chance at their upcoming beta test.

Another day, another matinée - here are all the gaming-related videos that have crossed our desktops since the last screening:

• ShootMania Storm Debut Trailer
• Far Cry 3 "Insane Edition" Trailer
• Ghost Recon: Future Soldier "Elite Mode" Trailer
• Darksiders 2: Death Lives "Death Strikes" TV Spot Trailer
• The Walking Dead "Playing Dead - Episode 4" Dev Interview Video
• Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance "E3 Demo Title Screen" Teaser Trailer
• Heroes of Newerth "Hero Spotlight - Bramble" Trailer
• League of Legends "Champion Spotlight - Darius" Trailer
• Babel Rising "Kinect" Launch Trailer
• Babel Rising "PS Move" Launch Trailer
• From Dust "Google Chrome" Launch Trailer
• Magic the Gathering: Duels of the Planeswalkers 2013 Gameplay Trailer
• SCHAR: Blue Shield Alliance "Aft to Basics - Walkthrough" Trailer
• Rune Factory Oceans EU Teaser Trailer
• Fantasy Golf Pangya "Tomahawk Update" Trailer
• KickBeat PS Vita Debut Trailer
• CD Projekt RED Group Summer Conference 2012 Invitation Video

As always, stay tuned for the latest game videos as we get them online!

Consolers have had access to a playable demo for 2K's Spec Ops: The Line for a few weeks now, but the publisher has now confirmed that PC gamers won't be missing out on a chance to try before they buy, they'll just have to wait a little longer.

A blog post on the official 2kGames site announces June 12th as the release date for the PC demo, as well as the system requirements for the game proper (which as expected for multi-platform titles these days, are very modest):

Minimum: OS: Windows XP SP3, Software: Steam Client, Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo @ 2GHz / AMD Athlon 64 X2 Equivalent, Memory: 2 GB RAM, Hard Drive: 6 GB free, Video Memory: 256 MB, Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce 8600 / ATI Radeon HD 2600XT, Sound Card: DirectX Compatible

Recommended: OS: Windows Vista/7, Software: Steam Client, Processor: 2.4 GHz Quad Core processor, Memory: 3 GB RAM, Hard Drive: 10 GB free, Video Memory: 512+ MB, Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GTX/ATI Radeon HD 4850, Sound Card: DirectX Compatible

Although the PC demo is running behind its console counterparts, the game's release is still supposedly simultaneous scheduled for all three platforms, two weeks after the PC demo on June 29th 2012.

We have no idea why the first footage of a game from a Japanese publisher that's being created by a US developer is coming from German reporters, but Capcom Germany via Kotaku) have a video offering the first look at Spark Unlimited's Lost Planet 3 in action.

The four minute clip is interspersed with German IGN writers babbling about the game, but there's plenty of snow, alien and mechanised power suit action found within that needs no translation. Check it out below.

Lost Planet 3 is due in 2013 for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC.

Boasting of their hugely successful launch, Blizzard has announced that Diablo 3 has set a new record for PC games, having sold more than 3.5 million copies by first 24 hours of its May 15 launch -- a figure the publisher is quick to point out, does not include the additional 1.2 million copies of the game that were included in World of Warcraft subscribers' "Annual Pass" promotion.

Notably absent from the release however, are any figures pertaining to Mac OS player numbers.

As of the first week of the game’s availability, that number had already grown to more than 6.3 million.* The above figures also do not include players in Korean Internet game rooms, where Diablo III has become the top-played game, achieving a record share of more than 39% as of May 22.†

“We’re definitely thrilled that so many people around the world were excited to pick up their copy of Diablo III and jump in the moment it went live,” said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. “We also regret that our preparations were not enough to ensure everyone had a seamless experience when they did so. I want to reaffirm our commitment to make sure the millions of Diablo III players out there have a great experience with the game moving forward, and I also want to thank them for their ongoing support.”

As for the state of the game itself, the server issues plaguing the initial launch seem to have subsided and Blizzard are getting on with the balancing tweaks and the game's first hotfix notes describe some notable adjustments to both the Monk and Wizard classes.

For more on Diablo 3, swing by AusGamers' own in-depth review.

The Witcher developer CD Projekt RED and GOG.com have announced that they will be hosting their 2012 Summer Conference next week on May 30th 2012 at 5pm GMT (technically still Spring in the Northern Hemisphere, but let's not split hairs).

Like their previous conferences, the Polish company will be live streaming the event for all to tune in to, however the time difference equates to 2am, Thursday, June 1st here in AEST, so hopefully we'll have a recording to share the following day.

In an invitation video (embedded below), CDP CEO Marcin Iwiński mentions only that it will be a "major announcement", not a "Smurfs game", and that there will be a lot of information from both The Witcher developer and their sister company, online retailer GOG.com.

The live-streams will be made available on both thewitcher.com and facebook.com/thewitcher , which all but confirms that the primary announcement will be related to the popular RPG franchise, however recent job listings suggest that the developer has both another Witcher sequel as well as an all-new RPG property with more contemporary themes in the works, so perhaps we'll get to learn more about both.

SEGA and Steam have announced that a map editor for Creative Assembly's Total War: Shogun 2 and the expansion Fall of the Samurai is now available for download, allowing players to "create and automatically share Lan, Naval and Siege Battle maps with other players".

TEd is a powerful tool that enables users to alter terrain type and height, and comprises libraries boasting hundreds of unique battlefield props, such as trees, buildings, railway lines and coastal batteries. Users can construct vast and intricate castles from their component pieces, sculpt beautiful rolling landscapes, and model their own unique townscapes or vivid coastal scenes for naval battles.

When a map is built, it can then be used in any custom VS AI or multiplayer battle, at which point it will be automatically shared with the player’s opponent. Experienced tacticians are now capable of building their own challenging battlefields around features such as choke-points, forests, rivers and custom deployment zones.

Eager map-makers can find it in the Steam Library's "tools" menu, or by clicking this steam link.

The original Nexuiz, released in 2005 was a built on the Quake 3 engine source, offering more of that fast-paced shooter gameplay in a completely free package. Fast-forward seven years to a market now conditioned to much slower FPS games, developer IlFonic have remade Nexuiz as a retail game, polished up for modern-eyeballs with CryEngine 3 technology.

Back in March, we found out that the game wasn't a very good fit for the Xbox 360, but held out hope that the PC version to follow might still work out ok (particularly after the recent success of the delightfully fast-paced Tribes Ascend).

The revamped Nexuiz is now available on Steam for PC, but even at it's generously low US$9.99 launch price, it looks to have limited appeal. Find out why in this review.