Weekly Recap Jan 5th: BioWare Commits To Frostbite 2, Sims 2 Online Shutsdown, Alan Wake 2

We already knew that BioWare would be using the Frostbite 2.0 for Mass Effect 4 but did everyone know that they would be using Frostbite 2.0 for everything else? Well, they are. Continually speaking of EA...they were also flooding the news channels this week with their regular shutdown notices, one of the games on the list included The Sims 2, which came as a pretty big surprise to some gamers. In addition to this, there's further news and movements hinting at an Alan Wake 2. These stories and more in this January 5th, 2013 edition of the Weekly Recap.

Sunday

Metal Gear Rising Revengeance Cyborg Ninja Outfit Exposed By Screenshot Grey Fox makes a return to form in the new screenshot.

Temple Run downloaded 2.5 Million Times Over Christmas The mobile title racks up some massive download mileage over the course of the holidays.

BioWare Sticking With Frostbite 2 The company renown for telling great stories will be doing so with one of the most advanced design engines on the market.

Primal Rage II Gameplay Footage Finally Revealed One of those games that helped define and shape the 1990s had a sequel that never came to be and was thought to be long lost to the age of time...until now.

Minecraft Sold 450,000 Copies Christmas Day Nearly half a million copies moved for Minecraft on a single day bringing the total to nearly 18 million copies sold. Unbelievable.

Guardians of Middle Earth Full Gameplay Guide Revealed Need a little help playing the game? Check out a full gameplay walkthrough guide.

Monday

Crunchyroll Now Streaming Anime For Xbox 360 Find your favorite anime for the Xbox 360 thanks to Crunchyroll.

Seal Team 12 Brings Ikari Warriors Action To Greenlight An isometric 3D action game set for release on Steam...if it gets enough upvotes that is.

EA Shutting Down Sims 2 Servers For PC, Mac Well, it was good while it lasted.

Destination PlayStation 2013 Announced For February The annual show will showcase the latest titles for the PS3 and PS Vita.

Xbox 360 Cloud Saves Back Online, Free Xbox Live Gold Membership Offered Be sure to check your Xbox Live messages for a free voucher to Gold.

First DmC Devil May Cry Review Is Surprisingly Positive In a shocking twist, reviewers are actually keen on the game.

Torchlight 2 Sales Top 1 Million Runic Games' title proves to be a hit and surpasses the 1 million mark.

Tuesday

Gaming Blend 2012 Recap Everything that helped shape this year gets a spotlight and a recap.

Star Control 2 HD Remake Now Available A redo of one of the classic old-school titles gets an HD makeover for today's generation.

Dead or Alive 5 Match Replay Uploads Coming Soon Upload your replays and showcase your skills to your friends without having to actually play the game in front of them...cool stuff.

Dead Space 3 Wants You To Talk Dirty And lay out some of those mean swear combos you've been hiding while around your significant other...you know those swear combos I'm talking about.

Zeno Clash 2 Screenshots Welcome In The New Year Environment and enemy shots showcase the game's continued reach for a unique creative goalpost.

Fez Coming To Other Platforms Phish finally stops being a douche long enough to potentially port Fez over to other platforms. Has the gaming community forgiven him, though?

Wednesday

2012 Review: Casual Gaming Infographic The rundown of all the highlights of casual gaming in 2012 gets a nice spotlight on an infographic.

GameStick Offers Android Gaming On Your TV Using a USB stick you can easily plug in the GameStick to your TV and play Android games.

Star Wars: The Old Republic Will Offer Same Sex Romances If you always wanted two wookies who like bananas to hook it up, well now you can.

Journey Named Amazon's Game of the Year More awards for the zen-adventure title Journey.

Lego Legends of Chima Games Coming in 2013 The Lego brand continues to expand with the new Chima series.

BlizzCon 2013 Confirmed Blizzard will return to the convention scene this year with a new BlizzCon, highlighting some of their top games.

Alan Wake 2 Announcement This Year? Could it be? It was teased quite some time ago by Remedy but it looks like it's now becoming a possibility.

Thursday

Bot Colony Is What Kinect's Milo Should Have Been No smoke and mirrors here folks, it's all legit AI interaction with Bot Colony.

World of Warcraft Defense of Alehouse Battleground Looks Like DOTA More MOBA action on the way for World of Warcraft.

Cyberpunk 2077 Trailer Days Away In the next recap don't be surprised to see the trailer in the next recap.

Razer Sabertooth Elite Controller Now Available Xbox 360 A new high-end controller from Razer gives your Xbox 360 gaming a nice controller makeover.

Ragnarok Online 2 Open Beta Finally Launches After a long wait the Ragnarok Online 2 beta goes live.

Friday

Gears of War Judgment Box Art Sends Baird Into Battle The official box art for Judgment surfaces.

Neverwinter Screenshots Go Dungeon Raiding Perfect World releases some brand new dungeon raiding shots of Neverwinter, the upcoming MMORPG.

Offensive Combat Arrives For Facebook The free-to-play first-person shooter brings the comedic action to Facebook.

GTA 5 Artwork Checks The Trunk So what's in the trunk? ...

ArcheBlade Opens Registration For Beta Test If you'd like to get in on the action and need an account, now would be the perfect time to sign up.

Saturday

2013 Games You Think Suck But Won't A list of top games for 2013 that may not turn out as bad as you think.

BioShock Ultimate Rapture Edition Includes Two Games, No Infinite Demo Good and bad news: extra games on disc but no demo for BioShock: Infinite.

In-Depth Review For Toy Soldiers: Cold War Touch Edition Check out Electronic Theatre's full-on review of the latest Toy Soldiers game.

Every Controller Ever Produced By Microsoft and Where To Find Them If you like the Xbox 360 controllers as much as every other core gamer out there, this is a list that you absolutely cannot miss!

Co-op International Downtown Special: River City Ransom Sequel So how well does the sequel to one of the greatest games ever made fair? Check it out to see for yourself.

That wraps up this edition of the Gaming Blend Weekly Recap. You can check out the new CG trailer for the upcoming Devil May Cry from Ninja Theory and Capcom. Enjoy.

Will Usher

Staff Writer at CinemaBlend.