Age of Empires Online's march to retail will conclude this fall, the game's official Twitter announced, with a Microsoft rep informing us a specific launch date is expected to be revealed May 31.

After launch, the freemium title will have "a parade of Premium Content" at under $20. The additions include two more civs to keep the Greeks and Egyptians company by the end of 2011, along with a "Premium 'Pro' Civilization" pack that will advance players immediately to level 20 for "expert play."

Check out our Age of Empires Online preview for what to expect from the initial experience.

Shadows of the Damned is, among other things, a delivery system for new Akira Yamaoka music. Pre-ordering the game, according to a new announcement, will get you the soundtrack, featuring some new Yamaoka tunes and English punk band The Damned, in an even more convenient format.

Pre-orders of Shadows of the Damned from the EA Store, GameStop and Amazon will come with a free download of the 12-track soundtrack. Amazon specifies that the incentive applies to existing pre-orders, too, so if you've already put money down on the Suda-Mikami grindhouse epic, you're already getting a musical bonus!

You can hear a bit of the soundtrack under the funny voice-overs in this dev diary.

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Square Enix saw the success of the Super Mario All-Stars limited edition, and has decided to mark Dragon Quest's 25th anniversary in much the same way, with a Wii disc loaded with unaltered old games.

The Dragon Quest 25th Anniversary Famicom & Super Famicom Dragon Quest I, II, III collection (that's the title!) shows more interest in completeness than Nintendo's set, however, packing the Famicom (NES) versions of Dragon Quest I, II, and III, along with the updated Super Famicom (Super NES) versions of the Dragon Quest I & II cartridge and Dragon Quest III, in a single package. It's slated for release this September in Japan.

Technically, translations for all three games exist, since all three were released in North America on the NES. However, given that they were NES-era translations, some freshening of the text would probably be required before releasing them these days.

You may not be able to purchase anything on Nintendo's 3DS eShop until the update goes live at some point later this month, but Best Buy is more than happy to start selling you virtual monies for when it does. As spotted by Reddit user "phillipsteak" at his local Best Buy in Merced, California, $20 eShop cards are already out there, readying themselves for virtual deployment.

We confirmed the cards with the California Best Buy, where reps said only $20 denominations were currently in stock and listed in the store's inventory. Jumping coasts, a Connecticut-area Best Buy similarly confirmed having $20 eShop cards in stock, as well as confirming no other types were listed, while locations in West Virginia and Oklahoma had no knowledge of the cards. If you happen to be at your local brick-and-mortar tonight and you see one, feel free to snap a shot and send it over with your name and location!

Update: We've got another image of the cards spotted in New York City, this time at a Best Buy in downtown Manhattan. Thanks Zethyr!

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There are two very different games on XBLA this week. On the one hand we have Star Raiders, a space combat sim and, on the other, we have Gatling Gears, a twin-stick shooter. It's worth noting that while multiplayer modes were mentioned when Star Raiders was first announced last year, it appears they didn't make it into the final product. Check out the latest XBLA in Brief and see if either game gets your gears turning.

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We know that the Duke's been away for a good long while, but you can't say the guy doesn't feel guilty about it. He feels so bad, in fact, that for the simple task of pre-ordering his new game Duke Nukem Forever through the OnLive service, he'll reward you with a free MicroConsole (an almost $100 value).

...What's that? You say that they did something similar with Red Faction: Armageddon and this is more promotional stunt than heartfelt apology?

Man, people were a lot more trusting in the 90s.

Talk about not a moment too soon! Here we were in an utter panic about what we'd wear this Halloween (we were torn between Ghostsama bin Laden and Green Lantern) when our answer comes direct from the new issue of Famitsu -- albeit via Andriasang.

Armored Core 5 is arriving in Japan in October, according to the mag, which should give us plenty of time to pick a robot costume, cobbled together from cardboard boxes and colored tinfoil. Plus, considering the game won't come to North America until early 2012, think how avant garde we'll seem!

There's apparently even going to be a closed beta for the game just prior to the Japanese launch. We can only hope we get some invites stateside, so we get an inkling of what foil colors to stock up on.

TimeGate has announced that players across the PC and Xbox 360 versions of Section 8: Prejudice have reached the combined goal of 10 million in-game kills, thus unlocking the new Assault Mode. The objective-based gametype is now available to all players on both versions of the game. In Assault, the attacking team tries to capture all designated control points on a map, while the defending team attempts to hold onto them for as long as possible.

TimeGate has also announced plans for an Xbox Live Game with Developers session this Sunday, May 15 from 5–8PM ET. Head over to the Xbox.com events page for details.

For those intrigued by From Software's Dark Souls, the decision to pre-order looks like it will be considerably less difficult than the actual game. Rather than selling a collector's edition of the game at a premium price, publisher Namco Bandai is instead offering one as the pre-order bonus -- meaning it's priced at the standard $60.

The Dark Souls Collector's Edition will come in a metal case and will include an art book, mini strategy guide, behind-the-scenes development videos and a download of the game soundtrack. It will be available this October for PS3 and Xbox 360.

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Sega today formally unveiled Crush3D (geddit?), the 3DS remake of 2007's perspective-shifting PSP puzzle-platformer, Crush. With the announcement, the publisher released a handful of screenshots and a debut trailer, and pinned the game to a September 6 launch in North America (September 9 in Europe and Australia).

Not only does it add 3D graphics, but this reimagining of Crush has also undergone a fairly significant aesthetic change. Gone are the dark and dreary environments of the original game, replaced by a much less stressful jewel-toned palette. Check out Crush3D's brightened-up locales in the new screenshots below and video after the jump.

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During Namco Bandai's "Level Up Dubai 2011" press event last night, the publisher announced some welcome news for the very patient Tales fans in Europe: The PS3 version of Tales of Graces F will be released in that region. Community manager Rich Bantegui live-tweeted news from the event, revealing that the "mothership" Tales RPG will be out in Europe in 2012. In addition, the newly opened page for the game on the company's North American site shows a 2012 date.

Bantegui also confirmed reports that the 3DS remake of Tales of the Abyss would be released in Europe, though no date was provided.

In response to previously unknown plans at Atari to lay off approximately 51 of Eden Games' 80 total employees, the Test Drive Unlimited developer is staging a "Symbolic Day Strike" today. A statement sent to Gamasutra from an unnamed Eden Games employee explains the act as a response to what the studio believes is "mismanagement" on the part of its parent company and publisher, Atari, and an effort to engage Atari president Jim Wilson directly. The Eden Games message claims that Wilson has "never introduced himself to his employees."

The proposed cuts at Eden, said to be taking place this coming June, are supposedly the result of a change in Atari's focus, as it moves away from packaged retail goods and towards MMOs and games with online-based business models. Eden Games' latest projects -- the Test Drive Unlimited series and Alone in the Dark -- have all been retail-centric, potentially spurring the decision by Atari to cut staff at the studio.

An Eden employee clarified that the strike was in direct response to stalled negotiations with Atari, and said that Eden "didn't receive at this time any information or feedback from Atari management." The representative also noted that internal projections put the studio's latest effort, Test Drive Unlimited 2, at around 900K units sold to date.

Being a good cop in '40s-era Los Angeles isn't as simple as sticking to the book. If L.A. Noire's launch trailer is any indication, detectives will need to rely and relay a lot on his face. Specifically, that look he gets whenever he bites into a lemon.

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One of the many announcements made by Namco Bandai during its Level Up event in Dubai was the release date of Ace Combat: Assault Horizon, the explosive series reboot for PS3 and Xbox 360. It's flying to North America on October 11, and will be released in Europe on October 14. The European version will also be available in a limited edition bundle (above), with a soundtrack, "exclusive aircraft digital content," and a notebook signed by the development team, all presented in a steelbook case.

Namco Bandai also briefly mentioned Ace Combat 3D, the 3DS flight sim first announced during a Nintendo event in October. No details came up, but at the very least we know the three-dimensional dogfighting game is still in the works -- so keep an air sickness bag handy.

Update: Find a new trailer for Assault Horizon after the break.

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Back in March, the ridiculously named pair of Lady Gaga and Zynga formed a union to donate funds for Japanese disaster relief; a goal they accomplished to the tune of $3 million. Yesterday, they announced a new partnership to raise money for Lady Gaga and Zynga, which entails the May 17 opening of "GagaVille" -- a neighboring region to FarmVille that features unicorns, crystals and an early chance to listen to unreleased tracks from the stylish songstylist's upcoming album, "Born this Way."

Other promotions include a free download voucher for the album included with every $25 Zynga gift card sold at Best Buy, a Words with Friends contest to snag Gaga merch, and a handful of Gaga-themed items added to the RewardVille storefront. Now, if you don't mind, we're going to print off this article, throw it in a time capsule and bury it in our yard, because in 50 years we're pretty sure most of the words we've used so far are going to be hilariously nonsensical.

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Finished Portal 2 but haven't had your fill of Aperture Science testing chambers? Aside from handing out a slew of free content in the coming months, Valve is releasing the Portal 2 Authoring Tools -- essentially giving PC users access to some of the nuts and bolts behind the developer's critical hit.

The tools are free for owners of the game on PC, and can be found in the Tools tab of Steam accounts. As with previous Source Engine mod kits released by Valve, you'll be able to employ all of the game's assets: single player and co-op levels, character skins, sound effects, music, and 3D models are all at your disposal.

Beyond the basics, Valve is including an updated version of Faceposer (facial animation software), some "examples maps and instances to help build new maps," and an "updated suite of command-line compiling utilities." That last part sounds dangerous, so we'll leave it up to you to figure out what it does.

You'll be able to see the next Tekken release in 3D, making the act of a mohawked robot punching a bear more immersive than ever. You just won't be able to play it. Announced at a Namco Bandai event in Dubai, Tekken: Blood Vengeance is a new CG movie scripted by Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex and Cowboy Bebop writer Dai Sato, with animation by Resident Evil: Degeneration's Digital Frontier.

You can see the first trailer (and its brief scene of panda riding) after the break. It'll be out in Japanese theaters this summer.

In other Tekken movie news, Anchor Bay Films announced a North American release for last year's live-action Tekken film, which will hit Blu-ray and DVD on July 19.

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