The Rundown: Jan. 8, 2009

EA announces a stand-alone expansion to RA3, City of Heroes is available for Mac gamers, Nyko shows off at CES, EVE Online expands, SmackDown vs. RAW 09 gets some DLC and much, much more in today’s Rundown. Right after the jump…

Command & Conquer Red Alert 3: Uprising Announced
Red Alert 3 is back in the limelight again, thanks to a brand new expansion. Command & Conquer Red Alert 3: Uprising is a PC exclusive that promises a brand new stand-alone, single-player campaign product. The game will be set in the aftermath of Red Alert 3, with the Soviets still reeling from a crushing defeat, the Empire of the Rising Sun desperately trying to regain its identity and the Allies finding themselves in the midst of corruption and deceit within their own ranks. In addition to four mini-campaigns , Uprising will also introduce the new Commander’s Challenge - 50 challenges with special rules and conditions against 50 different commanders. Release date to be determined..

You can go Home, EA Sports
Electronic Arts plans to join in on the PlayStation Home Beta beginning with the EA SPORTS Complex, which is currently in development and is slated to launch this Spring. EA SPORTS Complex is described as a space designed for both casual and hardcore EA Sports gamers where they can play exclusive new EA SPORTS multiplayer games, interact with each other, view (daily, weekly and annual) leaderboards and watch trailers and other content from some of their favorite EA SPORTS games.

For those about to rock, Wii salute you.
Living-room legends, get ready to shred, drum and wail with Activision’s Guitar Hero World Tour for the Wii. You’ll be rocking out in no time to 86 on-disc tracks from music legends such as The Eagles, Van Halen, Metallica, Michael Jackson and The Doors and featuring in-game appearances by Ozzy Osbourne, Billy Corgan and Travis Barker. The Wii version of Guitar Hero World Tour features the Mii Freestyle mode, which connects players to music using their Miis. Look for it in stores now.

First DLC for WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2009
The first downloadable content package for WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2009 has been released for the PS3 today. The content package for PlayStation Network, is available for $4.99 and includes Evan Bourne, Ted DiBiase and Charlie Haas, holiday costumes for Kelly Kelly and Maria; a masked costume for Kane and new ring gear for Chris Jericho, MVP and Edge. In addition, future content is planned for PlayStation Network, as well as the first content for Xbox LIVE Marketplace for Xbox 360. No word on when this or other DLC will hit Xbox Live Marketplace.

Shaun White’s Glamour Pack DLC
Ubisoft has released the Glamour Pack for Shaun White Snowboarding. The pack is available for the Xbox 360 (400 MS Points) and PS3 ($4.99) features a variety of gear including 7 pants, 7 coats, 4 tuques, 4 gloves, 4 boots, 4 goggles, 14 snowboards, 2 bindings, and 3 backpacks.

City of Heroes Mac Attack
NCsoft has released the Mac version of City of Heroes. Looking forward to some sewer missions with you people. Beware of Doctor Turkey Neck on Victory. The Mac port was put together by TransGaming and is available on NCsoft’s PlayNC store and GameTreeOnline. The Mac Special Edition includes the client, thirty days of play time and a set of exclusive in-game items. More at www.cityofheroes.com.

EVE Online Expansion in March
CCP announced the launch of the tenth free expansion for EVE Online. EVE Online: Apocrypha coincides with the March 10th, 2009 release of EVE Online as a boxed product through a partnership with Atari. The fabric of space will be transformed as unpredictable wormholes open to connect previously unexplored regions of the universe to the stars of New Eden. The seeds of advanced new technology will also make their debut in the game, which will enable production of the Tech 3 modular ships. NPC agents in EVE Online: Apocrypha will also be authorized to assign Epic Mission Arcs to the pilots of New Eden. These branching missions are full of stories and intelligent and deadly adversaries, says CCP. EVE Online: Apocrypha will be available at retail stores in March and as a free download at www.eveonline.com/download for existing subscribers. A new premium graphics client for Mac will also be included in the retail box.

Nyko Shows Off at CES
Nyko Technologies is showing off a number of new products at the Consumer Electronics Show 2009 in Las Vegas, Nevada this week. In addition to the previously announced Metal Pedal and Charge Station Quad (Wii), The Nyko Wand - an alternative to the Wii Remote, and the all-in-one Kama Charge Kit. All will be available in April of this year. I’d talk more about these new charge kits but i’m kind of ticked off at Nyko for the faulty battery packs that came with their first charge station..

Emergent Tech in Gamebryo
NaturalMotion, the animation technology company behind the euphoria engine, announced that its morpheme animation middleware is now “tightly integrated” with Gamebryo, Emergent Game Technologies‘ multi-platform game engine. Gamebryo has been used in more than 250 shipped games titles including Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Fallout 3, Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning, Civilization Revolution, and the upcoming Splatterhouse.

Square Enix Scores Ubisoft Japan Deal
Square Enix and Ubisoft Japan have entered into an exclusive distribution agreement which will see Square Enix distribute Ubisoft Group games exclusively in Japan starting April 2009. Details on games to be released will be available at a later time. It’ll be interesting to see what games will be released in the region and how well they do. Prince of Persia seems like a no-brainer right out of the gate..

When Drama Queens Attack
Now you can be the most popular girl in town with the help of Majesco’s Drama Queens, a new Nintendo DS game where you can be catty and claw your way to the top. Stealing another girl’s boyfriend, working towards a big promotion, securing a BFF and more await you in your bid to be the biggest drama queen. Look for the game this spring.