From Hamburg to South America: Bigpoint announced that the free-to-play online-game developer and publisher is opening  a new office in Sao Paolo, Brazil’s largest city.

Rift: Planes of Telara is a graphically stunning online game is set in a world being torn apart by dimensional “rifts” that tear into the land of Telara, releasing powerful forces that threaten the very existence of the entire universe.

Another day, another batch of games shipped to stores. Instead of giving them all their own posts, we grouped them, and so far there are announcements for:

• Arma 2: Private Military Company Expansion Pack (PC)
• Deathspank: Thongs of Virtue (PC)
• Epic Mickey (Wii)
• Eve Online: Incursion DLC (PC)
• Golden Sun: Dark Dawn (NDS)
• Halo: Reach Noble Map Pack DLC (X360)
• Lylian: Episode One - Paranoid Friendship (PC)
• PT Boats: South Gambit (PC)
• Silly Bandz (NDS)
• Star Shipping (PC)
• Zumba Fitness: The Video Game (Wii/PS3/X360)

We will update this throughout the day when new announcements become available. Read more for details ...

Magic: The Gathering - Tactics will allow players to command forces of dramatic 3D figures and powerful spell cards pulled from the Magic: The Gathering Multiverse. Players can participate in single player scenarios or jump right into PVP action against other players worldwide, 24 hours per day.

Microsoft announced that demand over the Black Friday weekend has propelled retail sales of Kinect for Xbox 360 to more than 2.5 million units worldwide since it launched just 25 days ago.

World Supremacy is a beer-and-pretzels strategy game of contemporary conflict for one to eight players. In World Supremacy players have but one goal: total global control through utter annihilation of all who oppose.

For years, countless people recognized the entertainment benefits of video games. It’s no question that once that controller hits the tips of your fingers, you are transported into a world of challenge and excitement – and that can be addicting. Well this holiday season, it’s OK to be a little transfixed.

Wow, that was a rather quiet news day yesterday. There wasn't much happening at all. I'm afraid that we're going to be seeing more of those from here on out, as most companies are pushing out their holiday titles, and not much new stuff will be coming until next year.

While most normal businesses have their holidays over the summer, the video game industry usually shuts down over the holidays. Maybe the Video Game Awards will bring some excitement next month ....

Game Party: In Motion offers players full-body motion control of in-game or X360 Avatar characters, using the motion-sensing technology of Kinect in a collection of 16 games.

Anno 1404: Venice will combine the signature gameplay mechanics of the series and the richness of the Venetian culture with an all-new online multiplayer mode.