Splash Damage announced that Lionhead's Richard Ham, lead designer on Fable II, has joined Splash Damage, known for Enemy Territory: Quake Wars, as creative director where he will head the design team working on an unannounced mystery title being developed with Bethesda Softworks.

Rock Band 2 builds upon the original to introduce co-op band gameplay, multiple instruments, online multiplayer, unparalleled downloadable content and raises the bar by delivering an entirely new level of depth, connectivity, authenticity and features. Revealed last week, Harmonix and MTV Games confirmed that Rock Band is getting a taste of country music for the first time with the addition of the "Going Country" 5-pack.

X-Blades, previously known as Oniblade, is a third-person, anime-style action/adventure. Your heroine wields two magical blades that can be used as swords or guns, and has magical abilities, all of which are upgradeable.

Commander In Chief offers a true, realistic, and entertaining simulation of running a country’s government and taking part in economic, military, political, social, cultural, and foreign affairs by giving you the opportunity to become a head of state or government and make decisions on its behalf. Originally scheduled for release in 2008, CiC has been delayed until inauguration day (Jan 20, 2009).

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:

• Defense Grid: The Awakening (PC)
• Steel Fury: Kharkov 1942 (PC)
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  We will update this throughout the day when new announcements become available. Read more for details ...

Halo Wars is a strategy game based on the Halo universe where players will command armies of familiar and new UNSC units in its initial encounters against the Covenant, an alien coalition threatening to obliterate mankind. Originally scheduled for a worldwide release in Feb, 2009, the North American launch has been moved to early March, while the rest of the world is still set for late Feb. 2009.

Burnout Paradise gives players license to wreak havoc in Paradise City, a seamless racing battleground, with massive traffic-heavy roads to abuse. The PC edition will be customized with expanded online features, and community driven content.

Meteos Wars is a puzzle game where the story, situation and environments formulate one explosive adventure! In PowerUp Forever gamers get to hone your battle skills in the thrilling action-shooter game, where no two encounters are ever the same.

Rockstar's open-ended crime series returns to New York situated around the Eastern European protagonist Nikolai. The PC edition features a replay editor with Rockstar Social Club integration, expanded multiplayer, higher resolution, and match filtering. Last week we reported on the massive problems gamers experienced with the PC version, but a patch is ready and currently being certified by Microsoft, so it should arrive soon. Nvidia has already released specific GTA IV drivers, and ATi's are due Dec. 10.

Natsume announced that the company's full lineup for 2008 is now available at retail, including the most recent release of Rune Factory 2: A Fantasy Harvest Moon, Harvest Moon: Island of Happiness, Princess Debut and Hi! Hamtaro: Ham-Ham Challenge (all for DS) and Harvest Moon: Tree of Tranquility (Wii).