The first game to be added is Trion Worlds’ MMO Rift. Other titles are coming from ten more publishers (Robot Entertainment, CD PROJEKT RED, Freebird Games, Recoil Games, Autumn Games, 1C Company, inXile entertainment, Paradox Interactive, Core Learning Ltd. and N3V Games) in the coming months.

“Origin is focused on providing choice to consumers and the games they play,” said Craig Rechenmacher, Vice President of Business Development and Marketing for Origin at EA. “From blockbuster franchises to high-quality independent titles, we’re bringing the industry’s best content to one place. We’re excited to welcome new partners and a diverse new line-up of titles to Origin today.”

If you’re interested in finding out when these titles will be added, Origin’s official website is the place to go.

The Sims 3: Showtime is supposed to make your Sims big stars, right? Well, they might get a little extra somethin’-somethin’, thanks to EA Play’s new collaboration with Kitty Purry — I mean, Katy Perry.

The new expansion, currently slated for a March release, will be getting a collector’s edition featuring the starlet, and future content featuring Perry will also be produced.

“Today marks the start of the most integrated and exciting collaboration with any artist in the history of The Sims,” said Steve Schnur, Worldwide Executive of Music for EA. “Katy Perry has been a fan of The Sims for several years, and her Simlish recording of her hit ‘Hot and Cold’ featured in The Sims 2 series quickly became the most popular Simlish music video to date. We couldn’t be more excited to work with Katy and bring her distinctive talents, style and personality to the franchise’s global fan base. No performer could better represent the humor and fun of The Sims brand.”

“I love how you’re able to play out different stories through your Sims characters – giving them different careers and watching them succeed,” said Perry. “It’s cool to see the Sims’ stage performances in The Sims 3 Showtime decked out just like my California Dreams Tour – even my cotton candy video screens are in there! I always like to think of myself as a cartoon, and now I’m a Sim!”

The Collector’s Edition of The Sims 3: Showtime will include the expansion, the Ultimate Stage and Katy Perry-themed contend like fashions, a guitar and a Sim hairstyle. An exclusive poster will also be included.

To celebrate, EA’s released a new Sims music video — to the tune of Perry’s latest single, of course. Watch below.

Electronic Art’s Origin service is expanding to include titles outside of EA publishing. Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, THQ and Capcom Entertainment, Inc will be hosting some of their PC titles on the Origin service. Starting in November Batman: Arkham City, Saints Row: The Third and other titles will be available.

“Since launch, we’ve had overwhelming support from both publishers and developers across the gaming industry, recognizing Origin as an opportunity to deliver more of their great content straight to consumers across the globe,” said David DeMartini, senior vice president of Origin at EA. “We’re excited to welcome Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, THQ and Capcom as the first publishers to offer their games via Origin.”

“When we met with the EA team and discussed their long-term vision for Origin, we were excited to lend our weight to their efforts,” said Christian Svensson, senior vice president at Capcom Entertainment. “We hope to expand our PC fanbase for our legendary brands on Origin.”

Looks like Origin is looking to make it’s mark in becoming a service that PC gamers use to purchase new and upcoming games.

You may or may not know this, but women play hockey. There are a lot of them who do, actually. So when 14-year old hockey fan Lexi Peters sat down to play an EA NHL title, she was sad to find out that she couldn’t play as a female athlete in the game.

Lexi’s been playing hockey for four years. She just wanted to make a character that looked like herself. Most women know that feeling, I bet.

So instead of brushing it off, Lexi wrote a letter to EA. Initially, the reaction was a bit of a cold one, and not just because the game is literally on ice. EA just didn’t think the NHL would let that happen.

Wrong. NHL‘s lead producer, David Littman, went to the NHL, asked for permission to include female players and got it.

Now, Lexi is going to be the default female character for the series’ first-ever gender-inclusive game. You can customize her just like you can a male character.

“Lexi’s letter was a wake-up call,” Littman told Canada’s Globe and Mail. “Here’s a growing audience playing our NHL game and we hadn’t done anything to capture them.”

So, hey. Speaking up isn’t so bad sometimes.

BUY

Eleven years ago on my birthday, American McGee, a game designer introduced the world to his own dark, sinister version of Alice in Wonderland; American McGee’s Alice which developed quite a cult following, along with a fair amount of critical and commercial success. His grim, macabre version of Alice took place a few years after Through the Looking-Glass. Alice narrowly escapes her burning home, only to listen to the cries of her family as they’re incinerated while trapped inside. She then retreats back into Wonderland, albeit not the wholesome and light hearted version we’ve previously known as a coping mechanism. The original game left many questions unanswered, and American McGee and his studio, Spicy Horse finally decided to answer them, while bringing Alice’s story to a close after lengthy hiatus.

Is it worth your time and money to return to Wonderland again, and discover the truth behind the death of Alice’s family? I certainly think so. Madness Returns [which is set exactly a year after its predecessor] opens with Alice mid therapy session with her psychiatrist, Dr. Bumby, who encourages her to let go of the painful memories and guilt she harbors over the loss of her family ten years earlier. The game boasts some really great cinematics, with selectively colored black and white ink sketches not unlike the actual drawings you’d see in Lewis Carroll’s source material. Alice is finally free after spending 10 years in Rutledge Asylum, but is still left wondering about the truth behind her family’s demise. The game’s rendering are MUCH improved over the previous installment, but don’t see their true potential unless you’re playing the PC version, on a very game worthy PC.

Alice is beautifully rendered herself. From her varying range of dresses, to her flowing hair, the character model is exquisite. The costumes in the game are beautiful, and Miss Liddell has a plethora of dresses to choose from, a new one for each area. Her animations are smooth, and her hair has some of the best physics I’ve seen in many a game. Unfortunately, only some of the environments match Alice herself in their aesthetics. The first Wonderland area of the game, The Vale of Tears was rich in color and detail, while one of the later areas; A Samurai themed world later in the game looks pretty unpolished throughout. It’s textures are bland and didn’t seem to have much care put into them, while the colors are extremely pallid. When recreating something like Wonderland, it’s disappointing that the developers didn’t devote more time or imagination to every area, as the source material certainly gives a lot for creative freedom. The immersion, while great in some regards wasn’t entirely consistent either. You might find yourself faced hitting quite a few invisible walls in Madness Returns. What annoyed me the most was the inconsistencies with the walls as well; In the Queensland was able to jump up on ledges in one of the Chess rooms, but unable to in a subsequent room of identical design.

That being said however, I felt that these intrusions didn’t detract from my enjoyment too much; Madness Returns has very solid platforming mechanics without being tedious. On a personal note, I’m actually quite picky about what platformers I’ll dedicate any of my gaming time too; I find many to be clunky and either too redundantly straight forward, or overly convoluted in an attempt to create depth. I found that Madness Returns found a really fantastic balance between the two; the platforming challenges the player is face with felt rewarding, and required some planning, without being frustrating or overly simple. When you do make a mistake, the game’s auto-save feature puts you back right where you died; which prevented the game from becoming repetitive. Madness Returns integrated the lore of Lewis Carroll’s work beautifully as a game experience as well; Alice will have to use her “Shrink Sense” (Shrinking Violets, “Drink Me” Shrinking Potion) to reveal hidden platforms or pathways throughout the level. There are breakable obstacles with her very appropriate Teapot Cannon sub weapon, as well.

In addition to the Teapot Cannon, Madness Returns boasts a creative arsenal of weapons, which can be used in a variety of situations and manners. The signature Vorpal Blade from the first game returns as your primary weapon of choice. Other weapons from the previous installment have been replaced; but with creative and fun counterparts. You get a Hobby Horse for powerful, wide range attacks. A Pepper Grinder, to shoot enemies from afar with; The Clockwork Bomb, which comes complete with a pocket watch detonator, and the Umbrella, which you can deflect projectiles with. Rather than forced rigid combat aspects, players can use any of these weapons to combat enemies. You can choose to keep your distance and take down opponents with your Pepper Grinder, or beat enemies into submission with powerful Hobby Horse strikes. These weapons are of course, only present in the Wonderland portion of the game however, which is the majority of the game. The plot shifts according to Alice’s on goings in Victorian London, centered around the Whitechapel District.

After her release from Rutledge Asylum, Alice is trying to live as normal of a life as she can. Under certain circumstances, she finds herself falling back into Wonderland, which is apparently in grave danger. An “Infernal Train” poses a threat to Wonderland, complete with an eerie, abandoned station in every realm. Alice discovers saving her sanity can also save Wonderland, so she sets out to do so, along with discovering the nature of the train, and what it symbolizes. As Alice ventures through Wonderland’s twisted scenery, she discovers memories revealing hints about the truth behind her families’ deaths, and her descent into madness. What occurs in Whitechapel impacts Alice’s hallucinations and descents into Wonderland. Without wanting to spoil much, while I enjoyed the plot, I felt it the narrative was a bit scattered and erratic, yet haunting and engrossing. This may have been intentional on the part of the creators, to reflect Alice’s own insanity, which I can respect. The Cheshire Cat’s cryptic bread crumb trail of hints is present in this game too, and works nicely in tandem with the memories you discover. Some parts of it are deliberately vague, and while each character you encountered in the original game seemed to represent something, it’s difficult to discern what some of them symbolize now, yet some of these figures also tie in nicely with details we already know.

Game play feels similar to a Zelda title, which is enjoyable in most regards. Alice’s Will meter is now gone (since weapons don’t rely on Will, and only the Pepper Grinder and Teapot Cannon have cool down restrictions) and her HP is now represented by red roses, not unlike heart containers. Combat is centered around finding enemies weakness’, striking at the correct time and dodging with your extremely pretty butterfly teleport. The combat is built on EA’s Unreal 3 Engine, which makes it pretty solid to play overall. The combos are fairly basic, you can transition from your Vorpal Blade and chain into your Hobby Horse. But if you were expecting a combo system on par with games like Bayonetta, you won’t find that here. Alice is also unable to attack while in air; a decision I felt could have made the game more strategic if included. And while its predecessor was more tailored for playing with a mouse, Madness Returns seems geared for a controller, and I felt maybe a little more development in combat could have supported the newer control type too. There are also quite a few mini games, primarily puzzles scattered throughout Wonderland as well. A lot of these are actually optional, but some of them are pretty fun and provide a nice reprieve from the denizens of Alice’s mind. The Oriental Grove chapter features a fun 2D side-scrolling mini-game that feels like a throwback to older adventuring titles, with a very interesting water color art style.

The talented Chris Vrenna of Nine Inch Nails, who composed the soundtrack for the first game has also returned. I felt the music in the previous installment was better than this one, but still enjoyable and supported the atmosphere and tone of the game nicely (Especially in the House of Cards area in the Queensland.) Most of the [appropriately talented] original voice actors have returned as well. What really makes the game a solid package for me is the free copy of the original American McGee’s Alice. Exclusively available on the PC when it was released, gamers like myself can finally enjoy it on a home console (either PS3 or 360, each version of the game will come with a voucher.) I will admit, the controls don’t compliment a basic controller too well, but the game is still very fun to play, and completes the experience for those of us who didn’t have gaming PC’s in the early millennium.

Overall, I feel Alice: Madness Returns, while lacking in certain departments is still a quality title. I feel that some of the issues present don’t detract from the unique experience the game offers you; a very solid platformer with some interesting weapons and a variety of game play mechanics, complete with mini-games. There’s even a set of DLC dresses and weapons available for the game as well. I definitely enjoyed the game, but it’s source material offers so much creative freedom, I felt they could have done even more with it. It has some brilliant ideas and concepts, but could have executed them in a more polished, refined fashion in some departments as well. I would still highly recommend this game to any gamer looking for something to shake up the monotony of current generation games that are afraid to try anything new, or fresh.

This fall, you’ll be able to download a whole new world at The Sims Store using SimPoints — Hidden Springs. The area includes a hint of magic among the vacation locales, like a lake, spa and ski lodge.

In addition to letting your Sims live the high life, a “deeper mystery” is available to uncover beneath the waters.

I’m personally imagining some sort of Fountain of Youth scenario, but I suppose we’ll have to wait until this fall to find out.

At E3 this year we got to take a peek at a demo of Sims 3 Pets. We didn’t get a hands on so this preview is really all informational, but should help to see if you want to have pets enter your Sims’ world.

Sims 3, as a product, has reached some milestones on it’s own. Over 3 billion in game sales and with more variety in how players play the game. Sims 3 allows players to be builders, achievers, experimenters, and storytellers. There have been amazing stories that players have told with Sims 3 and now they can include pets.

The Pets are not just added characters to a game, they are Sims themselves. Players will have over 100 different breeds of dogs and cats to choose from. From there, players have the ability to customize their pet in all the ways they are used to customizing their Sim. During the demo, we made a green and black, long nosed doggie. Odd? Maybe, but it does speak to the flexibility of the pet creator. Although I’d be surprised if players didn’t leave their pets in their original breed looks.

Pets can also have jobs, karma and personality traits. The Karma powers are new to Sims 3. Using the pets and the pedometer in the game players can collect Play Coins. The coins can be used to make your Sims happy or to cause havoc. Always your choice.

There are platform specific features for Sims 3. The Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 have treasures and mysteries for the pets to find. Specifically on the Xbox 360, players will be able to use Xbox Kinect to direct the Sims and their pets. Players can use Kinect to get through the menus.

The Nintendo 3DS version allows players to use the Karma Powers, or trade pets with their friends using StreetPass. That’s one way to breed your very unique pet.

PC players are not to be left out. They will get the option to create horses along with cats, dogs, birds, lizards, rodents and snakes.

Sims 3 players will enjoy incorporating pets into their Sims lives. I think it will add to people’s stories and create some unique breeds of animals.

In other Sims news, we were unable to check out Sims Social at E3. But hopefully we will get news soon on what to expect from that experience.

With this implementation, click a button and  you can try a game in your web browser before you buy.  And if you do like it, you can get it with a single click. Perfect for the more impulsive among us, right? And the best part is that a game will never be out of stock.

“Over the next 12 months, when people see a video game on TV and want to try it out, they can be sure the fastest way will be on Walmart’s website,” said David Perry, executive officer of Gaikai.  ”It’s an exciting time and you’ll see more sites around the world doing these stealth launches with us.”

Gaikai has already signed an agreement with Electronic Arts, and they’re working with 20 other game publishers to increase their library.

However, you don’t have to look at them that way if you don’t want to — Joystiq did some shuffling and managed to organize them in a much more readable fashion. (I thank them for that, seriously.) I’ve republished that whole list below. What are you shelling out for?

2K Play

Wii:
Nicktoons MLB — August
Nickelodeon Dance — November

DS:
Nicktoons MLB — August
Dora and Kai-Lan’s Pet Shelter — November
Team Umizoomi — November

Wii:
Zumba Fitness 2 — Nov. 8

Power Rangers Samurai — Fall 2011

Nintendo
Wii:
Wii Play: Motion — June 13
Mystery Case Files: The Malgrave Incident — June 27
Kirby Wii — Fall
Fortune Street — Holiday
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword — Holiday
Mario Party 9 — TBA
Rhythm Heaven — TBA

DS:
Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 2 — Aug. 28
Kirby Mass Attack — Sept. 19
Professor Layton and the Last Specter — Fall
Super Fossil Fighters — Holiday

Sega

Wii:
Captain America: Super Solider — July 19
Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games — November

DS:
Captain America: Super Soldier — July 19

Tecmo Koei

Wii:
Champion Jockey: G1 Jockey & Gallop Racer — Q4 2011

Telegames

DS:
Ultimate Card Games — Q4
Ultimate Brain Games — Q1 2012

THQ

Wii:
UFC Personal Trainer — June 28
WWE 12 — Nov. 22

Ubisoft

Wii:
The Smurfs Dance Party — July 19
Family Feud 2012 (working title) — Sept. 27
The Price is Right Decades — Sept. 27
Just Dance 3 — Fall
The Adventures of Tintin (working title) Dec. 6

DS:
The Smurfs — July 19

WB Interactive

Wii:
Green Lantern: Rise of the Manhunters — June 7
Sesame Street: Ready, Set, Grover! — Summer
Happy Feet Two – The Videogame — Fall

DS:
Green Lantern: Rise of the Manhunters — June 7
Sesame Street: Ready, Set, Grover! — Summer
Happy Feet Two – The Videogame — Fall
LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5-7 — Holiday

WiiWare*

La-Mulana — Summer
MotoHeroz — Summer

DSiWare*

AfterZoom — July 14
Pro Jumper! Chimaki’s Hot Spring Tour Guilty Gear Tangent — June 23
Moto eXtreme — June 30
Zoonies — Escape from Makatu — Summer
House, M.D. — Blue Meanie — August
House, M.D. — Skull & Bones — November

The Sims Social will launch this summer on Facebook in five languages. You’ll get to create a brand-new Sim, build it a home and then play with your real-life friends.

EA Play announced that this title would have a companion mobile app available so that you don’t have to constantly nurse Facebook — you’ll be able to fulfill your Sim’s wants and needs on the go.

In the game, you’ll be able to engage with every aspect of your character’s social life, including moments like the all-important first kiss. And, of course, this is Facebook, so you’ll be helping your friends with tasks. You might (cough) even make some Woohoo with them. Yeah. That could get awkward. But your Sim can take on your personality.

“Just like you and me, The Sims is now on Facebook,” said Jeff Karp, Executive Vice President of EA Play. “EA invented people simulation games with The Sims. Over the last decade, The Sims has sold in excess of 140 million units and spawned an active fan community that has grown into the millions. These fans are all enthusiastic, passionate individuals living out their dreams, adventures and fantasies, and expressing their creativity. As The Sims moves to Facebook, their personalities shine through more than ever. The game is alive, brimming with the humor, romance, mischief and creativity that only The Sims can provide.”

To learn more before the game’s launch, you can check out the game’s Facebook page, naturally.