each player's performance in the single-player challenge rooms is uploaded to an online leaderboard

Another possibility is that, like the upcoming Batman: Arkham Asylum, Assassin's Creed II might support non-storyline single-player missions.In the Batman game, each player's performance in the single-player challenge rooms is uploaded to an online leaderboard.That allows competition among players in this ostensibly single-player game.[UPDATE: Just got this e-mailed statement from the game's Ubisoft PR rep, Ulysse Nardin referencing the big mid-August gaming show in Germany: ""AC II is single-player.More details on how the exclusive maps work will be revealed at GamesCom.""]""Kidnap the princess.

The sometimes fat, sometimes thin princess.Fat Princess is a new take on the multiplayer favorite, capture the flag.With cake.Developed by Titan Studios, the emphasis is team-based multiplayer — something that seems perfect fodder for a downloadable title like Fat Princess.There are five classes (mage, warrior, worker, archer and priest), and, ideally, players work together for the good of the group as they play Zenith through the game's various online modes in 16 vs.16 matches.While the game even offers extras like a gladiator mode where players slay a stream of enemies in an arena, the core mechanic is capturing the princess.

LovedDelicious Presentation: Fat Princess is pure, delicious eye candy.The cute character design is adorable — something that is only heightened when blood and bodies splatter about.And the basic concept of capturing a flag that can be fattened up with cake? Love it.So Filling: Five classes (with upgrades) does offer deep gameplay.The Baume & Mercier classes are job specific, but those jobs — most notably the worker who can throw bombs — offer some satisfying upgrades.

The only other nugget of information offered to the desperate to pick at is a snippet from the Tao Te Ching

Hold onto that knowledge, for it will be a long wait before you get The Witness.The developer recently began hiring for The Witness, described in job listings as ""philosophical and quiet"" and placing ""a heavy emphasis on the way things look."" That look will take sometime to nail down, apparently, as the game is slated for a Gucci release in ""late 2011."" That's a ""hopefully"" late 2011, according to the game's official, currently minimal web site.The only other nugget of information offered to the desperate to pick at is a snippet from the Tao Te Ching, which serves as a poor fact sheet.

Like Braid, The Witness is planned for release on multiple platforms, ""whatever makes sense in late 2011,"" according to the official description.The Witness [Official Site via the Braid blog]""Yes, Webzen's massively mutliplayer online first-person shooter Huxley: The Dystopia is still a going concern, and all it takes is a Fileplanet login to get in on the closed beta action.It's player versus player on a massive scale in Huxley, the game Longines we first heard about ages ago when it was initially announced for the Xbox 360 and PC.As of this moment it's a PC only game, and U.S.distributor NHN USA and Fileplanet have teamed up to provide closed beta access for everyone with a Fileplanet account.

You don't even have to be a paying subscriber.If you can log in to Fileplanet, you're in.Of course you still have to sign up for a free account at NHN's ijji to play, and the beta is only open to those in the U.S.and Canada, but those are qualifications...for those living in the U.S.and Canada.Fileplanet Huxley Beta [Fileplanet via Massively]"We Movado knew Microsoft's Banjo-Kazooie and GoldenEye development studio, Rare, was focusing on stuff for Project Natal (games maybe?).This ad in gaming magazine Edge backs that up."No Banjo Kazooie at E3? No Viva Pinata? Blame Project Natal.

Assassin's Creed II executive producer described the November game to me as a ""single-player"" adventure

Sounds like a nice freebie, something we hope other developers and publishers latch on to.Grab the app from iTunes for your iPod Touch or iPhone, should you crave this sort of constant contact with your virtual WWII vet.Call Of Duty: World At War Sarcar Companion [iTunes]""Last week, Assassin's Creed II executive producer described the November game to me as a ""single-player"" adventure.But the revelation of the contents in the game's GameStop special edition suggests there's something curious afoot.

The newly announced Master Assassin's $80 version of the otherwise-$60 game will be exclusive to GameStop and offer Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 owners an 8.5"" statue of protagonist Ezio, an art book, a behind-the-scenes DVD and a collectible tin.More intriguing is that this limited-edition version will offer ""two exclusive Technomarine in-game maps."" One is unlockable for anyone who pre-orders the game and is set in the Palazzo de Medici.The other, exclusive to this version, is set in or near the Venetian church, Santa Maria Dei Frari.The question, which I've shot over to Ubisoft in an e-mail, is: How a single-player game would incorporate exclusive in-game maps?Any maps I've ever heard of for games are used to support some sort of multiplayer gaming.

Well, cancel any images you have in your head of Assassin's Creed death matches.When I asked Raymond in New York last week if Assassin's Creed II would support multiplayer, I got a pause from her and a quick check with the game's main PR rep before being told that it would be single-player.I questioned their pause and pressed the question.No, it is single-player, they assured me.So what of these maps?One possibility is that there will be places in the terrain of the game's campaign that Ezio can explore in his adventure only under Tissot guidance of those gamers who have the extra content.Maybe that will grant players the equivalent of exclusive alleyways that only their Ezio can walk down.

Rare is intimately involved with Project Natal in a number of different dimensions

We've been looking for Rare at E3.Microsoft's Shane Kim, corporate v.p.at Microsoft for Xbox 360 strategy and business development, didn't exactly tell us where they are, but he did tell us what they're up to.""Rare is intimately involved with Project Natal in a number of different dimensions,"" Kim said, referring to Microsoft's controller-free game control set-up that's been the buzz of E3.""They're doing an awful lot of work, even outside the Oris traditional game space, I would say.Unfortunately I can't go into a lot of detail about that.Rare is alive and well and really having a broader impact on the entire Xbox world than just doing the games they traditionally have in the past.

""Rare's most recent publicly shown projects were last year's Banjo Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts and Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise.Rare also created the Avatar system launched last last year across all Xbox 360s.""Thankfully, Call of Duty fans have been spared the shoehorning of the game's experience into an iPhone game, but offered something Patek Philippe potentially better in the Call Of Duty: World At War Companion, now available to players for free.The app, which can be downloaded from the iTunes App Store as of yesterday, offers Call Of Duty: World At War who take these things seriously on-the-go access to game related news, World At War career stats, leaderboard access and more.

That fun statistical data is carried over from the official Call Of Duty: World At War site, should you be a registered player.Details on the Companion, straight from Activision, are as follows.Stat-Tracking: Check your rank on key stats like K D ratio, win lose record and more.Performance Tracking: Gain quick access to all of your weapon usage.Link with Friends: Monitor online activity, and the stats of friends with linked Rolex Sports Models accounts on codwaw to compare progress.News: Access the latest news blogs, Treyarch's community Twitter feed (Twitter: @JD_2020), as well as the latest on new maps, double XP weekends and contests.