Sony has announced it will release a Mass Effect-themed costume pack for Little Big Planet on May 21.

The Mass Effect DLC will cost £4.79 (approximately $7.28) and will contain skins for series characters Shepard, Liara, Wrex, and Garrus.

Commander Shepard gets a skin, plus N7 helmet, armour, and gauntlets. Liara comes with a skin, plus gloves, armour, and a head. The Wrex skin also features a helmet, armour, and gloves.

Finally, Garrus comes with his own skin, chest armour, gloves, eye piece, and head.

The DLC will be compatible with LittleBigPlanet 2, LittleBigPlanet Karting, and LittleBigPlanet PS Vita.

The pack also features a variety of Mass Effect in-game stickers.

In February it was rumoured that UK studio Sumo Digital had been working on Little Big Planet 3 for "well over a year."

Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment today revealed voice actors for the leading roles in Batman: Arkham Origins. The Dark Knight will be played by Roger Craig Smith, while the Joker will be brought to life by Troy Baker, according to a new report from Joystiq.

Smith and Baker are voice-over veterans. Smith provided the voicework for Chris Redfield in Resident Evil 6 and for Ezio Auditore de Firenze in Assassin's Creed II. More recently, Smith played the voice of Sonic the Hedgehog in Disney's animated film Wreck-It-Ralph.

As for Baker, he is already familiar with the Batman series, having provided voicework for numerous characters in Batman: Arkham City, including Harvey Dent and Robin. Baker most recently played Booker DeWitt in BioShock Infinite and will be heard as Joel in Naughty Dog's upcoming post-apocalyptic game The Last of Us.

Though longtime Batman voice actor Kevin Conroy will not play the Caped Crusader in Batman: Arkham Origins, he has been confirmed for the game. It was recently revealed that Conroy has already spent 10 months working on the game, though his contribution to the project is unknown.

Batman: Arkham Origins launches October 25 for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC, and Wii U. A 3DS game--Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate--will launch the same day for 3DS and PlayStation Vita developed by a group of former Metroid Prime developers at Armature Studios.

Warner Bros. also confirmed today that Deathstroke will be a playable character in Batman: Arkham Origins. Gamers who preorder the title will receive early access to the Deathstroke pack. For more on Batman: Arkham Origins, check out the game's all-new trailer below.

Microsoft has submitted a filing to trademark Forzavista, ahead of its next-gen Xbox unveiling on May 21.

Siliconera spotted the trademark, which Microsoft submitted on May 15, 2013, noting specific text that said the Forzavista filing would be for "a feature of interactive video game software which allows players to obtain statistical information of internal and external features of a vehicle and to virtually navigate and operate those vehicles."

Forza Motorsport 4 featured a mode called Autovista, which allowed the player to explore high-detail models of 25-odd cars, and featured narration by Top Gear host Jeremy Clarkson.

Sources in April said Microsoft was gearing up to release a next-gen Forza with "super life-like" graphics later in 2013.

Microsoft has released a Turn 10-developed Forza Motorsport every other year since the series started in 2005. Last year's spin-off Forza Horizon was developed by UK-based Playground Games.

GameSpot will be covering Microsoft's next-gen Xbox unveiling live from the company's Redmond campus.

Microsoft will demo the Kinect-enabled IllumiRoom video system tomorrow during its next-generation reveal event. That's according to noted Windows blogger Paul Thurrott, who has a track record of accuracy.

The IllumiRoom technology can alter the appearance of a room, trigger apparent motion, and extend a field of view, all in the name of enabling new gameplay and viewing experiences. A proof-of-concept video of the system is available below.

In addition, Thurrott said that Microsoft's plans to release a subsidized Xbox 720 have been scrapped. Previously, it was believed that Microsoft would offer a $300 Xbox 720 if gamers signed up to pay $15 per month for two years of Xbox Live Gold.

A Microsoft representative was not immediately available to comment.

Microsoft currently offers a similar plan for the Xbox 360, allowing gamers to grab a system for $99 when they sign up for the two-year broadband plan.

GameSpot will have full coverage of the next-generation Xbox presentation, which begins May 21 at 10 a.m. PDT. Microsoft will reveal the platform and its vision for the future of games and entertainment during the event. Infinity Ward will also be on-hand at the presentation to show off Call of Duty: Ghosts.

The state of Rhode Island, which obtained 38 Studios' assets last summer after the studio went bankrupt, now plans to sell off the Amalur franchise. A lawyer for the Ocean State told The Providence Journal today that unnamed parties have come forward and expressed interest in the assets.

"Who knows what the value ultimately will be," said Richard J. Land of Chace Ruttenberg & Freedman. "But there is interest in the assets."

38 Studios' intellectual property includes drawings, designs, and other work related to its Amalur franchise. Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter said in August that the Amalur IP is worth around $20 million.

No interested parties were named and Rhode Island's legal representation was not immediately available to comment.

In addition, The Providence Journal reports that the case against 38 Studios founder Curt Schilling and other company executives will begin on Wednesday. Rhode Island sued Schilling, a former Boston Red Sox pitcher, in November over the controversial 2010 $75 million loan that brought 38 Studios to the state.

When 38 Studios went belly up, Rhode Island was left with an estimated $130 million debt. Selling the company's IP is an effort to recover some of that deficit.

The suit contains numerous claims, and opens by alleging that the defendants did not speak with the Rhode Island Economic Development Committee board when doubts about 38 Studios' sustained financial viability became known.

"Defendants knew or should have known, but failed to inform the EDC Board, that 38 Studios was destined to fail according to 38 Studios’ own financial projections," reads a line from the complaint.

In total, the complaint includes 17 counts of alleged wrongdoing. These include counts of fraud, unjust enrichment, civil conspiracy, breach of implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, negligence, legal malpractice, negligent misrepresentation, fraudulent misrepresentations and omissions, and breach of fiduciary duty.

Schilling has asked a judge to dismiss the lawsuit, claiming it is "100 percent baseless."

Former Grand Theft Auto producer Jeremy Pope has spoken about his personal decision to never work on violent video games again.

Speaking to GamesIndustry International, the Grand Theft Auto III and Vice City producer said that his personal decision to focus on non-violent development is similar to wider industry trends occuring right now. "I had grown up playing all types of games, violent games included, and worked on Max Payne and Grand Theft Auto," said Pope.

"I would always kind of defend the games we were making and I was pretty proud of being involved, but then when I would visit my grandmother in highly religious Alabama and have to explain what I do for a living, I didn't feel so great about explaining to them that I was a part of 'that game' they've been hearing about. I think that's what sort of planted the seeds of me wanting to work on different types of games."

Pope adds that his decision to work on non-violent games doesn't detract from his admiration of Rockstar's work. "I definitely want to make a point of saying that I actually love Rockstar's games and I think that it's unfortunate that their games were specifically called out and targeted by the media, because their games - and we all know this - are really masterworks."

But thinking of ways to create non-violent games is important to generating meaningful narrative in games, Pope adds. "I do agree that we need to be pushing ourselves [as an industry]. With any storytelling medium or any medium at all, you want to have conflict because that's how you can generate interest, and oftentimes the simplest or most base way to do that is through violence that isn't necessarily tied into a deeper, more meaningful story."

"I think it's often easier to do violence than it is to generate meaningful, interesting conflict through nonviolent ways. I would agree in that sense that we need to push ourselves and get away from sequels and rehashing, and taking what technology affords us and using that as a primary means to justify another rehash; in other words, we're just souping up what's already been done."

Pope also thinks it's easy for the games industry to come under attack--from sources such as the NRA--because it lacks an ambassador. "We had the same problem 10 years ago and it still persists today," he said. "We don't really have a great ambassador, if you will. The ESRB does what it can, but it really shouldn't fall to the ESRB. And because it's such a large industry growing at an incredible rate, it's really difficult for any one body to emerge to become that [ambassador]. I feel like that's a large part of the issue. And then you see the NRA has one guy who goes up on a podium and gives a talk, and whether you agree with it or not there is a clear single voice and something to react to. I think that's a big challenge for us [as an industry] and I'm not sure how we get there."

"The industry has really only begun to take off in the last 20 years," added Pope. "So we'll get there; you kind of see more and more developers exploring mature themes in a more creative and responsible way now that we have less of a distribution roadblock and we have more platforms where developers can kind of flex their creative muscle a little bit."

Pope now works at a mobile startup called Rally Games, which he founded in 2011. Its first title, free-to-play robot racer Top Bot, was released for iOS in April.

Naughty Dog confirmed a multiplayer mode for The Last of Us last year, but has yet to give firm details about it. That stands to change soon, as the developer said today on the PlayStation Blog that "multiplayer news is imminent."

The comment comes from Naughty Dog community strategist Eric Monacelli, who added, "We will be talking about it very shortly if everything syncs up."

Last week, Naughty Dog lead artist Nate Wells talked up the Last of Us' multiplayer mode over Twitter, saying it is the "best ever conceived." Some multiplayer details have previously leaked.

Though Naughty Dog has not given details about what form multiplayer in The Last of Us will take, the developer has spoken out to say the mode will not be "tacked on."

"We don’t approach [multiplayer] in any of our games as tacked on," the developer said last year. "And we also always have separate teams working on the different components so that we can maintain full focus on making [single-player] and [multiplayer] up to our standards."

Monacelli was also asked about the possibility of a downloadable content season pass for The Last of Us. He responded by succinctly stating "Good idea!"

Naughty Dog's last game, Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception, featured a DLC pass in the form of the $25 Fortune Hunter's Club offering.

Ubisoft is confident that the struggling Wii U will turn around. A representative for the Assassin's Creed and Far Cry publisher told Games Industry International that a stream of high-profile Ubisoft titles coupled with Nintendo executing on its three-pronged strategy will give the platform new life.

"As with any new console, it takes some time to grow an established base," the Ubisoft representative said. "Ubisoft has a varied and high-quality line-up for Wii U, with more big titles on the way including Rayman Legends, Watch Dogs, Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, and Splinter Cell: Blacklist. We're confident that this will help in continuing to attract gamers to the Wii U system and that Nintendo will take steps to ensure that the Wii U is successful in the market."

Ubisoft's statement of faith in the Wii U comes after Battlefield and FIFA publisher Electronic Arts announced last week that after shipping four titles for the platform, it has no new games in development for the system. By comparison, EA supported the original Wii with 78 titles.

In addition, in a series of since-deleted tweets, an EA Sports engineer blasted the Wii U, calling the platform "crap" and saying Nintendo is "walking dead."

The Wii U has struggled since launch, selling 3.45 million units worldwide and reportedly only 55,000 systems in the United States during April. Nintendo has apologized for a lack of software, saying this will be corrected beginning in August with the release of Pikmin 3.

The all-new 3D Mario game for the Wii U announced in January is rumored to launch by October. Nintendo also has a new Mario Kart game in development for the system, as well as a Smash Bros. title and two Legend of Zelda games, among others.

Microsoft has spoken out to promise "tons" of Xbox exclusives to be revealed during next month's Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles. During Larry "Major Nelson" Hryb's latest podcast, Xbox executive Aaron Greenberg teased the news and suggested the next Xbox may be on store shelves by this holiday.

"E3 will be all about the games," Greenberg said. "At E3, I mean, if you're a gamer, it's going to be tons of exclusives, world premieres. Obviously, even beyond that we have a lot to share between then and this holiday."

If the next Xbox does launch this holiday, it will do so directly in competition with the PlayStation 4.

Greenberg also discussed tomorrow's high-profile next-generation Xbox reveal event, taking place at Microsoft's headquarters in Redmond, Washington. He said the presentation will focus on the new platform and will be full of surprises.

"We're really going to tell one story across two events. We're going to start on the 21st and really that's about revealing next Xbox platform [and] our vision for the future of games, the future of entertainment," Greenberg said. "We definitely have a lot of surprises planned. I know everyone knows that the Infinity Ward team is hard at work on world premiering Call of Duty: Ghosts and we're going to see what that looks like for the first time."

Infinity Ward yesterday launched a teaser video for Call of Duty: Ghosts, showing off an in-development version of this November's first-person shooter.

Greenberg further explained that the reason Microsoft chose to invite media to its headquarters for the announcement was so that they could get an "inside look" into how the platform came to life, directly from the developers who designed it.

"People are going to get a great inside look at really the making of the new platform and the team that's brought it to life. To be honest, it's really about the team, the people here," Greenberg said. "That's why we're inviting people to campus. We're going to bring them behind the scenes a little bit. We've never done this before and it's really exciting to be able to do that. It's a lot of laying the foundation. Just a couple weeks later we go to E3."

GameSpot will have full coverage of the presentation, which begins May 21 at 10 a.m. PDT. Microsoft is widely believed to announce its next-generation Xbox at the event and give first details about the long-rumored platform.

A new report suggests that upcoming Assassin's Creed movie could reach cinemas on May 22, 2015.

An update on Box Office Mojo pegs the May 2015 release date. The in-production movie stars Michael Fassbender in a lead role, and a screenplay penned by Michael Lesslie.

Lesslie previously penned the Hamlet prequel Prince of Denmark for the theatre. The play features a teenage Hamlet, Ophelia and Laertes and their exploits around Elsinore castle.

Details about the film's director and supporting cast are still unknown.

Ubisoft announced in October 2012 it has "fast-tracked" the movie and partnered with production outfit New Regency.

Last week Ubisoft said that it did not expect this year's Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag to match the sales of 2012's Assassin's Creed III.

Nintendo has said on Twitter that its next Nintendo Direct will feature a look at Wii U versions of Smash Bros, Mario Kart, and the new 3D Mario title in the works at the Japanese publisher.

The Nintendo of America Twitter account wrote "#IwataSays We will discuss new Smash Bros., 3D Mario game, Mario Kart and other Wii U titles in our #NintendoDirectNA before the start of E3."

Nintendo said in January that Nintendo EAD Tokyo, the team who made Mario Galaxy, Mario Galaxy 2 and Super Mario 3D Land, will be in charge of the new 3D Mario.

The new Smash Bros, meanwhile, is being developed by Namco Bandai.

No date has been given for the next Nintendo Direct. E3 2013 runs from June 11 through June 13.

Nintendo has opted out of a large-scale E3 press conference this year, saying it will instead focus its efforts elsewhere.

Last week's Nintendo Direct featured the publisher announcing a three-game exclusive Sonic partnership with Sega, a release date for New Super Luigi U, and new details about Pikmin 3.

4A Games' Metro: Last Light has emerged top of the UK charts after its first weekend on sale, although the well-received sequel failed to match the numbers shifted by its predecessor in 2010.

The original Metro 2033 was released in March 2010, and debuted fifth in the UK charts at the time.

Deep Silver purchased the rights to Metro: Last Light in January, and the publisher also notches up a second place finish with open-world zombie mulcher Dead Island: Riptide.

FIFA 13 climbs back up to third place, and 3DS-exclusive Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity enters the chart in fourth.

Call of Duty: Black Ops II is fifth, Tomb Raider sixth, and the retail release of Telltale Games' serial adventure The Walking Dead is seventh.

The top 10 is rounded out by DC brawler Injustice: Gods Among Us in eighth, which pushed Assassin's Creed III into ninth by less than 200 sales, and BioShock Infinite in tenth.

Elsewhere in the chart, poorly reviewed movie-tie in Star Trek drops to 32nd from last week's 24th place finish, and Medal of Honor: Warfighter re-enters the chart at 37th.

The Top 20 UK chart for the week ending May 18:

1. Metro: Last Light
2. Dead Island: Riptide
3. FIFA 13
4. Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity
5. Call of Duty: Black Ops II
6. Tomb Raider
7. The Walking Dead
8. Injustice: Gods Among Us
9. Assassin's Creed III
10. BioShock Infinite
11. Far Cry 3
12. Luigi's Mansion 2
13. Lego City Undercover: The Chase Begins
14. Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes
15. God of War: Ascension
16. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
17. Grand Theft Auto IV
18. Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City
19. Skylanders Giants
20: Dragon's Dogma: Dark Arisen

Developer Cryptic Studios and publisher Perfect World took the Astral Diamond Exchange and auction hall of its MMO, Neverwinter, offline to "resolve a high priority bug" that involved a currency exploit.

The auction hall and Astral Diamond exchange are currently offline due to the exploit.

The cheat allowed players to duplicate Astral Diamonds, the in-game currency bought with real-world money. Users reported the exploit in the game's official forums, according to a report on Massively.

The game's publisher, Perfect World has locked threads about the exploit and taken action against a number of accounts that allegedly used the bug. Suspected cheaters will receive email notifications, while users found guilty may either have their accounts temporarily or permanently banned. Players who believe they have been unfairly caught up in the issue are being urged to contact customer support.

Long-time Batman voice actor Kevin Conroy has confirmed his involvement in the upcoming Batman: Arkham Origins, Joystiq has reported.

The actor revealed at Comic-Con that he has already spent 10 months in the studio recording lines for the game, although he did not specify which role he would be playing. Conroy was the voice of Batman in Arkham Asylum and its sequel Arkham City. He also played the character in MMO DC Universe Online, and the recently released DC brawler Injustice: Gods Among Us

The news contradicts reports earlier this year that the actor would not be reprising his role as the Caped Crusader in Arkham Origins.

Fans will have a chance to gain access to an unannounced Deathstroke DLC when pre-ordering Arkham Origins, according to an offer on Amazon.

No further details about the character's involvement are available, although Deathstroke was previously featured in a Warner Bros. teaser trailer fighting Batman.

Batman: Arkham Origins tells the story of Batman's early years in the Arkham series. It is the first game in the universe not to be developed by UK developer Rocksteady. The game is scheduled for release on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC, and Wii U on October 25.

Persona 4 Arena and BlazBlue series developer Arc System Works has revealed its upcoming 2D fighting game, Guilty Gear Xrd -SIGN-, during the company's 25th anniversary event held in Japan.

Are you ready to rock with Guilty Gear once more?!

The reveal trailer (below) showcases two of the main characters from the Guilty Gear series: bounty hunter Sol Badguy and holy order warrior Ky Kiske. The two are shown duking it out, using their signature moves from previous games.

The trailer also teased characters Millia Rage and Eddie. The game will be built on the Unreal Engine, using 3D models for the first time in the series.

Guilty Gear creator Daisuke Ishiwatari will be reprising his role as the game's director, and while the game is currently slated for an arcade release, no launch date or home console version has been announced.

The official Call of Duty Twitter account today posted a teaser video for Call of Duty: Ghosts.

The video, a short clip released through Vine, shows what appears to be several shots from an in-development version of the upcoming first-person shooter.

It ends by reminding Call of Duty fans that Ghosts will be on display during Microsoft's next-generation reveal event on May 21.

GameSpot will have full coverage of the presentation, which begins at 10 a.m. PDT. Microsoft is widely believed to announce its next-generation Xbox at the event and give first details about the long-rumored platform.

One Electronic Arts developer has taken to Twitter to sound off on the struggling Wii U. As spotted by IGN, EA senior software engineer and architect Bob Summerwill did not hold back when expressing his feelings for the platform.

"The Wii U is crap," Summerwill said, before deleting that tweet and all others. "Less powerful than an Xbox 360. Poor online/store. Weird tablet. Nintendo are walking dead at this point."

"Sony, MS, Apple, Google all following the same playbook," he added. "Standard, powerful, hardware, with focus on software and services."

Summerwill suggested that Nintendo should have exited the hardware business and instead shopped around its major titles to Microsoft and Sony.

"Nintendo are still operating like it's 1990," he said. "They should have 'done a Sega' and offered Mario/Zelda as PS4/Durango exclusives. Instead they make this awful console. Just stop it! Just make great games!"

Summerwill has worked at EA in a number of technical roles since 1999.

His comments came a day after EA confirmed that after releasing four games for Wii U, the publisher has no new titles in development for the system. By comparison EA supported the original Wii throughout its lifespan with 78 total games.

[UPDATE] Following the publication of this story, a Trion Worlds representative confirmed the cuts as part of a company reorganization. Development on Rift and the studio's other games is unaffected moving forward.

The representative also pointed out that the 80 percent layoff figure is "definitely exaggerated."

"To best position Trion in a rapidly changing industry, we have reorganized our teams and are expanding our free to play offering," the Trion Worlds representative said. "With Defiance, we delivered a great game that more than one million gamers registered to play and continue to enjoy.

"As we progress from launch to ongoing development of the game, we are adjusting our staffing levels to deliver new content and improved features," the statement goes on. "Rift, and our other titles in development, were unaffected by these changes. We are very much looking forward to the free to play release of Rift and are excited by the other new titles currently in development."

The original story follows below

Defiance developer Trion Worlds enacted a round of major layoffs today, according to sources speaking with IGN. The site has heard that as much as 80 percent of the company has been let go.

The bulk of the layoffs reportedly came at Trion Worlds' San Diego, California outfit, where Defiance is in development. A source added that senior leaders may not receive severance packages due to "undelivered services."

The layoff rumors come a week after SyFy ordered a second season of Defiance the TV show and Trion Worlds laid out extensive downloadable content plans for the game.

Defiance has more than 1 million registered players.

Trion Worlds also has US offices in Redwood Shores, California and Austin, Texas. In addition, the company operates a studio in London, England.

Trion Worlds could not be reached for comment at press time.

In addition to Defiance, Trion Worlds is currently developing End of Nations and fantasy massively multiplayer online role-playing game Rift, which will go free-to-play next month. The company is also co-developing Warface with Crytek.

During Microsoft's next-generation reveal event next week, the company will show off a "smaller and denser" Xbox console, as well as redesigned controllers. That's according to sources speaking with The Verge, who described the new controller design as "flattened."

The "smaller and denser" Xbox console is reportedly the rumored third generation Xbox 360 console that will be "significantly less expensive" than current models. According to Windows blogger Paul Thurrott, this console is codenamed "Stingray."

Details regarding the form factor of the Xbox 720 have not been divulged.

Unlike the PlayStation 4's DualShock 4 controller, no images of Xbox 720 controllers have leaked of yet.

In addition, The Verge has heard from sources that Microsoft will release an Xbox 360 dashboard update this summer in preparation for the next-generation Xbox. Part of the update will be a refreshed user interface, complete with smaller Live Tiles, similar to those that will be found in the upcoming Windows 8.1 update.

Another purpose of the update, according to the sources, is to ensure Xbox 360 owners can upgrade to the next Xbox and continue to interact with the friends on the past platform using beacons, achievements, and messaging.

The update is also said to kill off the controversial Microsoft Points system, replacing it with gift card and real-world currency alternatives. This was rumored earlier this week.

The site understands that a public beta for the Xbox 360 update will be available in late June or early July before a full release in August.

A Microsoft representative told GameSpot, "We're excited to share more about the new generation of games, TV, and entertainment on May 21, but have nothing further to share at this time."

Microsoft's Xbox 720 event takes place Tuesday, May 21 at 10 a.m. EDT. GameSpot will have full coverage of the event as it happens.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story stated the rumored "smaller and denser" Xbox console was the Xbox 720. GameSpot regrets the error.

Japanese developers must go "back to basics" if they are to return to prominence, according to GungHo Online Entertainment president Kazuki Morishita. Speaking with Gamasutra, Morishita said Japanese studios need to focus on making "good games."

"Let's say that Japanese games are in their darkest times right now. There's no way to go but up, if that's the case," Morishita said. "In terms of making games, I think Japanese developers need to go back to basics about why they make games in the first place, which is to make good games."

GungHo Online Entertainment recently acquired No More Heroes and Shadows of the Damned developer Grasshopper Manufacture. The studio is currently working on Killer Is Dead, a multiplatform action game helmed by studio boss Goichi "Suda51" Suda.

Morishita is not the first Japanese developer to speak out on the current state of the industry in the region. Mega Man and Dead Rising designer Keiji Inafune said last month that Japanese studios are beginning to become aware of the "problem," but still have a ways to go.