SEGA have revealed the planned map pack DLC for Aliens Vs Predator, "Bughunt", will land on the PlayStation Network, Xbox Live Marketplace and Steam this July 7, and features four new multiplayer maps and "new weather types".

The Bughunt Map Pack contains two new multiplayer maps for the six different competitive online modes; Deathmatch, Predator Hunt, Infestation, Species Deathmatch, Mixed Species Deathmatch and Domination, as well as two new maps for the "Survival" mode in which a team of up to four Marines fight to survive against the increasing horde of Aliens. For the first time, these maps will include environmental hazards and new weather effects.

The map pack will set you back AU$9.95 for both PSN and Steam and 560 MS Points. We have some new screens for the DLC below and right here.

An extensive update for Aliens vs Predator landed today, offering a bunch of changes and balance tweaks for multiplayer. Most notably (to me, anyway) are some excellent changes made to the dedicated server structure - here are some of the highlights:

- Dedicated server no longer needs the Steam client to be running.
- Dedicated server can use DLC maps.
- The dedicated server now installs to a standalone directory, and the install size is now ~2.2GB instead of 15GB
- The dedicated server will now also be available via the HLDSupdate tool.
- Improvements to the networking code used in dedicated server games to increase stability and reduce pings.

The full list of changes is available on the Steam patch notes page.

While these changes are excellent, not having them available at release (or in the demo) has no doubt cost this game serious street cred amongst the PC gaming community. Even with the problems plaguing Bad Company 2, it is undeniable that its popularity is in no small part to the known track record Dice have of releasing dedicated server-based games. Hopefully more developers will take note of the lessons learned around both of these titles.

One of the year's most anticipated titles turned quite sour for many PC gamers when they were given a taste in a lacklustre mutliplayer demo. SEGA and Rebellion Developments Aliens vs Predator brings an old favourite shooter franchise to a new generation of hardware with some lofty expecations to live up to.

Does it hit the mark? Regrettably, we feel that it falls short for a number of reasons - find out what they are in our in-depth review of the game's Windows PC version.

The initial release of the much-anticipated Aliens vs Predator dedicated server is now available. Unfortunately, from a server hosting perspective, it is a really poor implementation.

1. It seems you need to own the game on Steam to be able to install the dedicated server software.
2. You need to install the whole game (15gb) to be able to run a server.
3. You need Steam running to be able to run a server.
4. You need one Steam account per physical server (which means buying one copy of the game per machine).

Basically, this means it will be quite painful for people to run servers. Pretty disappointing initial release, especially given how much information exists on how to make decent dedicated server software.

After what has been a turbulent few months with classification drama and a disappointing demo SEGA and Rebellion's Alien vs Predator found its way to Australian store shelves today for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC (although Steam pre-orders still aren't unlocked until Feb 20th).

A couple of weeks ago, after all the feedback from AusGamers readers about the poor peer to peer multiplayer in the PC demo, we compiled a list of questions to send over to Rebellion with the hopes of finding out more about the game's promised dedicated server support.

Questions like:

• Is Steam registration and activation mandatory, even for owners of boxed retail copies of the game?
  
• Will there be a standalone dedicated server distribution, or will a full retail copy of the game be required to run one?
  
• Will ranked play only be available over the peer to peer matchmaking method

Unfortunately due to some email woes, we were unable to have these answered before the game shipped. Now that the game is available, and we have a PC retail copy for review, we decided that the first order of business should be to jump in and find out our own answers to these questions. Read on to find out our results.

Stay tuned for our full review of the PC version in the coming days.

This one probably won't be very useful to those PC players that have a hard enough time playing with low latency long enough to actually be able to practice the intricacies of close combat in the Aliens vs Predator demo, but at least it might come in handy for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 players.

Today's AvP trailer offers a tutorial on the game's hand-to-hand combat mechanics - a rather paper, scissors, rock affair with different strength attacks and a bit of flair. Watch it right here on AusGamers.

Aliens vs Predator is due on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC on February 18th 2010.

SEGA have sent through the following announcement from Rebellion, the developer of Aliens vs Predator, the recent demo of which caused some grief for many gamers who had problems getting into an online game.

Unprecedented demand for Aliens vs Predator following the release of the cross-platform demo yesterday morning brought to light matchmaking issues on the PC platform resulting in players having to wait to join games, or even not find games at all.

We’re pleased to say later in the day the issue was corrected and a small patch to the PC executable next time you launch it from Steam will have you finding and playing games using Quick Match as it was intended.

While this issue did not affect the Xbox 360, we are with SEGA’s assistance investigating reports of a similar nature on the PlayStation 3 and working flat out on a solution.

The full game features the ability to browse for and create games but for the purposes of simplicity the demo was limited to matchmaking, alongside the ability to set up groups with friends which mitigated yesterday’s issues for many.

We’re really sorry that this issue tainted a day in which we saw many people get hands on with AvP for the first time and we’re hugely gratified by the positive feedback to the game.

While it's good to see they've acknowledged the problem and (hopefully?) provided a resolution, it might be too little, too late - many gamers have indicated that they've canceled their pre-orders based on the poor multiplayer performance of the demo, which was especially disappointing given that the game was always said to have dedicated server support.

Dedicated servers aren't a solution to everything, but when you're releasing a demo for your multiplayer game - and you've touted dedicated servers as being a feature - it seems like it would be madness not to include that functionality in the demo. If you haven't tried the demo yet, maybe give it a go now that this fix is in and check it out.

A new trailer has also been released to showcase the gameplay of the Colonial Marines - check it out below:

Aliens vs Predator is due February 18 2010 for PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

SEGA have sent through the official word we'll be seeing a demo for their forthcoming FPS romp, Aliens Vs Predator, hitting the airwaves later today on all three formats, meaning you'll be able to grab it from Xbox Live Marketplace, PlayStation Network and Steam.

We're looking into grabbing the demo and hosting it locally for you right here on AusGamers, so stay tuned, otherwise start getting excited and we'll try and let you know when said demo is live on all three platforms.

Check out more for AvP on our game page.

Update: The demo for PC has landed early and is now available on Steam. The PC demo is multiplayer only, so stand by for word on servers.

SEGA have sent along yet another gameplay clip from the hotly anticipated shooter Aliens vs Predator, this time giving us a preview of the "Survivor" mode. Thankfully nothing to do with reality TV programming (although it would admittedly make that show much better), Survivor pits a group of marines against a waves of Aliens, cooperatively multiplayer for up to 4 players. Check out the vid below.

SEGA have sent along another new promo trailer for Aliens vs Predator, the game that was refused classification by the Australian Classification Board only to be re-classified MA15+ after an appeal. Titled "Kill Moves", today's video shows off some of the features that contributed to its ratings controversy.

Check it out right here on AusGamers.

Aliens vs Predator is due February 18th 2010 on PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.