The sequel to the popular sandbox shooter, Crackdown, now has an official release date. Ruffian Games and Microsoft announced that Crackdown 2 will hit store shelves July 6 in North America, July 8 in Asia, Australia, and New Zealand, and July 9 in Europe.

Crackdown 2 offers many new features, most notably the multiplayer gameplay. Along with the four-player cooperative play, gamers can battle it out against each other in Pacific City with up to sixteen people. A series of video documentaries will be released soon highlighting the game’s new items and game modes, such as renegade orbs and the Rocket Tag game mode. The first ViDoc is embedded above.

Bizarre Creation’s upcoming racing game, Blur, prides itself on the social aspect of gaming.  We already discovered its Twitter functionality and gamers will be able to tweet just about anything from race results to cars they’ve unlocked.  In this trailer the dev team describes the social gameplay, namely the splitscreen action.

Players can choose from over fifty licensed cars and have wide array of powerups available to get revenge on your opponents.  Its online gameplay features up to twenty gamers at once with a ranking system that rewards each racer.

Be sure to check back later when we have details about the upcoming multiplayer beta headed to the Xbox 360 in March!

The DLC will be available April 1 on the Xbox Live Marketplace for 800 Microsoft Points.  Also, a demo of the game is currently on the marketplace for anyone that is looking to try it out.

The Game Changers are nominated by other members, current game changers, and EA Sports employees.  Those who have demonstrated leadership skills and are willing to help others in the EA Sports community are more likely to be chosen.

If you are interested in becoming a game changer, email answers to the following questions to gamechangers@ea.com.

1. Why do you want to become an EA Sports Game Changer?
2. What would the EA Sports Game Changers program gain from having you as a member?
3. What would the EA Sports Community gain from having you as a member of the EA Sports Game Changers Program?
4. What EA Sports Games do you currently play?
5. Is there anything else you’d like us to consider when reviewing your application?

Being an Xbox Live Ambassador myself, it’s always nice to see when the community members are recognized.  I will be applying to be a Game Changer too, as should any other helpful community members!

The ten cars featured in the pack are the following:

1. 2009 Audi RS 6
2. 2010 Ford Shelby GT500
3. 2009 Lotus 2-Eleven
4. 2010 Aston Martin One-77
5. 2010 Porsche Boxster S
6. 2009 Audi R8 LMS Show Car
7. 2010 Pagani Zonda R
8. 2010 Saleen S5S Raptor
9. 2010 BMW Motorsport M6 Coupe
10. 2010 Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport

There is also a free sample of the car pack also available for download on the marketplace.  The car featured in the free sample this month is the 2009 Lotus 2-Eleven.

Millions of gamers are playing MW2 online

Some more Modern Warfare two numbers:

• More than 11 million achievements were unlocked in Modern Warfare 2 on the first day alone.
• More than 2.2 million unique gamers payed Modern Warfare 2 on November 10th, also setting a new record.
• More than 5.2 million multiplayer hours

In just five days, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 has become the largest worldwide entertainment release in history.

The increased sales, despite the current recession, may have also been slightly affected (positively) by the most recent wave of banning modified Xbox 360 consoles from accessing Xbox Live.  Current reports estimate the number of consoles that were “banhammered” at up to a million consoles, although not even Microsoft is willing to confirm these numbers. With flashed DVD drive firmware, these consoles were able to play pirated games and since being banned, these consoles cannot connect to Xbox Live ever again.  While these bannings may have spurred on some more sales of legitimate copies of Activision’s newest hit game, no one can really be sure.

Embri’s Many Pockets

Effects

Requirements

To earn Embri’s Many Pockets in Dragon Age: Origins, save the Grey Warden Martine by completing The Missing Warden quest.

Amulet of the War Mage

Effects

Requirements

To earn the Amulet of the War Mage in Dragon Age: Origins, you must complete Dragon Age Journeys on the hard combat difficulty setting. The difficulty setting must be set to hard for the entire play through. The combat difficulty setting is chosen after character creation.

Helm of the Deep

Effects

Requirements

To earn the Helm of the Deep in Dragon Age: Origins, you must earn all five achievements in Dragon Age Journeys: The Deep Roads.

The Five achievements in the game needed to unlock this item are:

Included in the Legacy Pack are a 1960′s style presentation, orange AFL uniforms for the referees, AFL field and stadium logos, a retro football card-like user interface, and a classic film grain camera.  The Eight featured AFL teams are:

1. Buffalo Bills
2. Denver Broncos
3. Kansas City Chiefs (as the Dallas Texans)
4. New England Patriots (as the Boston Patriots)
5. New York Jets (as the Titans of New York)
6. Oakland Raiders
7. San Diego Chargers
8. Tennessee Titans (as the Houston Oilers)

The 15 AFL legacy game matchups during the 2009 NFL regular season will include the legacy pack presentation in the offline franchise, play now, and superstar modes.  Historic AFL uniforms can be selected in any online or offline mode.

To top it all off, the Legacy Pack includes additional Xbox 360 achievements for a grand total of 560 Microsoft Points.

The Demo, which allows you to play the full circuit of the Camino Viejo track, includes five playable cars:

• 2007 Porsche #80 Flying Lizard 911 GT3-RSR
• 2008 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution X GSR
• 2009 Mini John Cooper Works
• 2009 Ferrari California
• 2010 Audi R8 5.2 FSI quattro

The track, inspired by the Montserrat region just outside of Barcelona, Spain, allows drivers to race through the beautiful mountain course and try out the game’s new rewind feature.  Also, gamers can record their lap times on a leaderboard while signed in to Xbox Live.  Both the demo and game look great and keep your eyes peeled for the demo on the Xbox Live Marketplace on September 24.

The Price drops are most likely to help get a jump on holiday sales. Gamers can look forward to this holiday season with upcoming games, including the new and innovative Project Natal.

Will you be buying a new Xbox 360 for someone this December? Or maybe that PS3 slim looks better? Let us know by leaving a comment below!