Assassin's Creed 3 will have a season pass for its DLC, this week's PlayStation Store Update confirms. The season pass will come with the Gold Edition of Assassin's Creed 3 and will be sold separately after launch, PlayStation Digital Platforms community manager Kristine Steimer writes in the comments.

We first saw signs of an Assassin's Creed 3 season pass in July, when GameStop employees received a notice to be on the lookout for post-launch episodic content. Assassin's Creed 3 Gold Edition costs $90 via PSN.

I'm still not clear what the actual name of the character I selected during my demo of Kenji Inafune's upcoming Vita game Soul Sacrifice was, nor was I able to grasp the more delicate workings of some of its deeper mechanics because the Tokyo Game Show demo I experience was (surprise!) completely in Japanese. But I worked around it.

Though the context of the upcoming universe alluded me, the combat in Soul Sacrifice broke down language barriers ... because it spoke the universal language of kick ass.

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The third DLC pack for Ghost Recon: Future Soldier is called "Khyber Strike," and it's heading to the Xbox 360 and PS3 on October 9 for $10, with a PC release to follow.

Khyber Strike will include three new multiplayer maps: Switchback, Palace and Transit.

'Switchback' is a close-quarters alleyway rumble, 'Palace' features an elaborate museum with a central courtyard, and 'Transit' has trains blasting through a close-range Moscow metro station. Khyber Strike also includes a new objective-based multiplayer mode, a Guerilla Mode map, new achievements and a level cap increase of +10.

Ghost Recon: Future Soldier (Khyber Strike DLC)

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Minecraft developer Mojang has a deal with UK's Egmont Publishing to create children's books and magazines in territories excluding the US, TechCrunch reports. A spokesperson can't confirm which products exactly will be borne of the deal, but they will include "a range" of items and will launch next year.

Egmont inked a deal with Rovio last month to publish a line of Angry Birds books in the UK. Angry Birds may just be the most merchandised modern game, and Minecraft might be looking to grab some of that market: By March 2012, it earned $1 million (of $80 million total) in revenue from merchandising since October 2010.

We have some suggestions for Egmont's Minecraft-inspired children's literature: Stevie Trotter and the Minecart of Secrets; Goodnight Moon, Hello Endermen; Everybody Mines. And for the adult book spin-off, 50 Shades of Coal.

That major Counter-Strike: Global Offensive update is now live on Steam, bringing with it two new maps: Monastery and Vertigo, as seen above.

The update also brings with it two new features, the first of which replaces the current competitive matchmaking system, "join in progress," with a queued matchmaking mode. The second feature allows players who disconnect from a match to rejoin or abandon it from the main menu, with abandonment resulting in a cooldown period during which the player can't enter another competitive match.

Other fixes include lowering p90, SMG and Bizon kill awards from 300 percent to 200 percent, streamlining the reload animation, fixing a hardware performance exploit, lowering grenade bounce and tons more, all outlined after the break direct from Valve.

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A sizable update is coming to Mass Effect 3 this week, aimed at fixing exploits and patching in some gameplay balances. A large deal of the changes affect multiplayer powers and enemy behaviors, like Banshees being stuck in a teleport routine and being able to grab Geth Pyros over cover.

Game crashing bugs have also been addressed, including a nasty Bionic Charge glitch that would render the match unplayable and the Singularity power has been redesigned. BioWare expects the patch will be available this Thursday, but nothing is set in stone: Xbox 360 and PS3 players will be automatically prompted to install the patch, while PC users will need to manually install the update through Origin.

For the full list (it's a full list) of changes, head on over to the BioWare forums.

Today kicks off Sony's Day 1 Digital initiative, which sees some of the holiday's most high-profile games available as day-one downloads on PlayStation Network. Resident Evil 6 and NBA 2K13 are the first two games available as day one downloads in October.

On top of the Day 1 Digital promotion, PSN users can pre-order Assassin's Creed 3 and snag a pair of Sega PSN games today: Sonic Adventure 2 and NiGHTS into DREAMS. More PSOne Classics are available on PS Vita today, including several Square Enix and Capcom games like Parasite Eve, Chrono Trigger, Resident Evil 2 and many more. Finally, a Silent Hill: Book of Memories demo is available for PS Vita owners.

The full list of this week's content, hit up the PlayStation Blog.

This week on Xbox Live, you can get into a fight for cheap. And not the kinds of fights you get into with racists over chat – the kind you might actually enjoy. The XBLM Deal of the Week, active from today through Oct. 8, gives you half off Virtua Fighter 5 Final Showdown, Street Fighter 3 Third Strike Online Edition, Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo HD Remix, and Dungeon Fighter Live – the last one not really fitting the theme, but at least it has "Fighter" in the title.

Other deals going on this week include discounts on Activision-published games, Secret of Monkey Island Special Edition, and Fighters Uncaged for Kinect.

Valve's line of creativity and productivity software is up and running right now (only one month late), offering tools for digital painting, 3D production and photography, all for 10 percent off through Tuesday, October 9, at 10 a.m.

The new Valve software lineup comprises the following apps, with their sale prices:

• CameraBag 2 ($13.49), a desktop photo app
• 3DMark Vantage ($18), a graphics test for DirectX 10
• 3DMark 11 ($18), a graphics test for DirectX 11
• ArtRage Studio Pro ($54), a painting and drawing package
• 3D-Coat ($89.10), a 3D production program

3D-Coat allows 3D models to be auto-compiled directly to the Team Fortress 2 Workshop, and 3D-Coat and ArtRage Studio Pro have Steam Cloud support.

These join the free apps of Source Filmmaker, which is already in Valve's bag, and Gamemaker: Studio, which has been upgraded to support Steam Workshop. Valve is offering the Windows versions of these tools, though CameraBag 2, ArtRage Studio Pro, 3D-Coat and Gamemaker: Studio are compatible with Mac as well, through their own websites.

Go get creative across platforms, people.

How do you reinvent an icon? No, seriously, how do you do that – we've never done it and it sounds hard. For many of the folks at Crystal Dynamics, it's the greatest undertaking of their careers, evidenced in this latest episode of the Final Hours series focusing on Tomb Raider.

Tomb Raider lead writer Rhianna Pritchett weighs in with just how much of herself she's put into Lara Croft and what it's like being the first female lead writer in series history. Crystal Dynamics' Karl Stewart also goes into the game's Comic-Con 2012 presence and the anxiety that comes from showing off Tomb Raider to the general public for the first time.

This latest episode also reveals pre-order bonuses through Amazon: an art book, in-game skin and a digital copy of the Final Hours series for Tomb Raider for Kindle Fire.

We're of the firm opinion that your time is too precious, too valuable to be spent reading a full review for a game that was already reviewed many, many years ago. What's the point of applying a score to a game that's old enough to be enrolled in the sixth grade? That's why we invented Deja Review: A quick look at the new features and relative agelessness of remade, revived and re-released games.

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Back in 1996, a war was raging between Sega and Sony. Whilst Sony told consumers that they were not "e" for its fantastic PlayStation, Sega tried to find a killer app for its Saturn, which simply didn't have the 3D chops to compete (2D ... well, that's an entirely different article). One of the volleys Sega aimed directly at the PlayStation was Sonic Team's Nights into Dreams, a 3D game that allowed players to fly with complete freedom.

Okay, so it was actually confined to a predefined, mostly two-dimensional plane, but that didn't keep Nights from being a hallmark experience for anyone who happened to have a Saturn.

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Endless Space will launch its first free content update, "Rise of the Automatons", today on Steam. Red Alert: The update is not compatible with older saves. Developer Amplitude Studios stated the update was created with input from the 4X strategy game's community.

"We really appreciate our players' devotion and ideas; they've given us ammo for many more updates and upgrades beyond this one," said Amplitude CEO Mathieu Girard. "They're numerous, argumentative, and occasionally challenging, but we wouldn't have it any other way."

Other improvements to the game in today's update include a new trade route panel, upgraded diplomacy, improved hero management, improved AI and other necessary "fixes, amendments and changes."

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SunFlowers is more than surviving the autumn, it's coming into full bloom on October 9 when it becomes available for PlayStation Vita. The flowery puzzle game released in Europe last month, but The Game Atelier tells us it arrives on North America's PlayStation Store next week, at a price of $3.99.

The game, played vertically on the Vita, is a mixture of gardening and reverse Space Invaders. Playing as the sun, your aim is to shoot sunlight through clouds so that it turns into yummy water for the flowers below. If you're unsure solar-controlled cultivation is your bag, SunFlowers has a trial mode which lets you play up until Level 6 for free.

Dead or Alive 5 gets its first downloadable content today and it's free, with the First Time costume pack now available for nada on Xbox Live Marketplace and coming to PlayStation Network for zilch later today. The DLC sees new character Mila garb herself in Tina's red and black number from the first Dead or Alive, while Kokoro, Zack, Bayman, Helena, Christie, Gen Fu, Akira, Sara, Pai, and Tina herself receive an alternative costume too.

Dead or Alive 5 came out last week, and Ludwig gave it four out of five stars in his review. He described the game as an "energetic revitalization of the series, lecherous reputation and all." Whichever side of that these costumes fall under, you can't argue with free*.

*you probably can but we're not going to.

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Reverb Publishing was forced this morning to clarify a press release which implied the company would only donate $5000 towards care for homeless cats if Edge of Space was approved on Steam Greenlight. The press release, while jovial in language, clearly said the money would only be donated to The Humane Society, an animal protection organization, if the game was approved by October 15 for release on Steam. The press release quickly dominated the comments on the game's Greenlight page, with views swinging both against and in defense of the publisher. This led Reverb to issue a clarification:

"Hey everyone! There has been a misunderstanding on the marketing side of Edge of Space. We do not support guilt voting in any way and our sincere apologies go out to anyone who felt that way. This was meant in fun, if anything, Reverb's intent was to add a bonus; if we can make it to the top 10 by the 15th, we will help out a worthy cause. Understand that there is some dark humor in the game and they wanted to play off of that. We love CATS!!! That's why we have them in our game to begin with! We have sugar bears too!!! So we like exotics."

In the Greenlight page's comments section, Reverb's VP of business development Doug Kennedy claimed that "even before the promotion was approved" his company had agreed to make the donation to The Humane Society.

Whichever side you fall on, this is by far not the first time a game's controversial PR campaign didn't go as planned, and certainly not the first one involving animals. We're, of course, talking about the debacle surrounding Sony and the dead goat at the God of War II event. Then there are the things that sound cool on paper when they're dangerous or awkwardly unethical. The inarguable good side of this story is some homeless kittens will be getting much needed care.

Nintendo of America posted its own version of the New Super Mario Bros. 2 DLC Nintendo Direct, showing off the same three downloadable Coin Rush packs released in Japan. The Gold Rush Pack, Coin Challenge Pack A, and the Nerve-Wrack Pack will all be released this Thursday, Oct. 4, for $2.50 each. Each pack contains three stages for play in Coin Rush Mode.

To see footage from the stages, and instructions on how to buy DLC within the game, watch the video here.

Update: a press release reveals that more DLC is planned for late October and late November.

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With Pokémon Black 2 and Pokémon White 2, developer Game Freak has finally decided to stop beating around the bush and give us a "true" sequel instead of a Pokémon Platinum-esque expansion pack. The series is better for it too, even if the much touted emphasis on storytelling remains largely superfluous.

Set two years after the events of the original Pokémon Black and White, it features a new silent protagonist, a new rival, and a handful of new gym leaders. More importantly, there are new Pokémon – or should I say, old Pokémon. Unova is now rife with Pokémon from previous generations – a welcome sight for fans of the series. It makes the world of Pokémon feel bigger and more connected than it already is, and makes the Unova Pokémon feel like they're "part of the family."

Disappointingly, the returning Pokémon aren't the only familiar component. As usual, Black 2 and White 2 rigorously follows the badge/Elite 4 formula that has long since worn out its welcome but will never go away. What a pity that Game Freak didn't use this opportunity to experiment a bit with the formula and trim down the usual rote badge quest (or make it entirely optional). As a franchise, Pokémon can be at once really smart and innovative, and annoyingly set in its ways.

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The first special-edition releases of the new toploading PS3 have been revealed for Japan, and they're ... uh ... different, and made in honor of two games that definitely won't have special-edition hardware elsewhere. The Yakuza 5 "Emblem Edition" (above) features gold emblems of the virtual crime families featured in the series around the edges of the 250GB system, and a gold controller to match, along with a special themed USB drive. It's due in Japan December 6.

The Fist of the North Star: Ken's Rage 2 "Legend Edition" has character art in white along the periphery of the black system, with a controller that is supposed to feature a Big Dipper design, but which looks a lot like it's been pooped on by birds. It'll be released on December 20.

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