After a year of major game releases, the game industry & gamers from all over the world are set to pick the best of the best for the 2011 Video Game Awards.

Shane Bell (Urgent Fury CIO) & Doc (The Tester (Season 1) & Replay w/ Doc) join Commander Fury to preview a few of the categories & make their 2011 VGA picks.

Story by Kirk Hamilton @ Kotaku.com.

In preparation for the November 15th launch of Ubisoft’s upcoming open-world stealth/action/swarthiness-simulator Assassin’s Creed: Revelations, the publisher will be running a multiplayer beta for the game from September 3-11th. However, the beta is exclusive to Playstation Plus members as well as “select Playstation 3 Uplay members.”

Multiplayer in the new title will be much the same as the surprisingly enjoyable cat-and-mouse of last year’s Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood, though with the expected number of new modes and maps. More information can be found at Ubisoft’s official Revelations beta webpage.

Story by Stephany Nunneley @ VG247.com.

The gamescome trailer for Assassin’s Creed: Revelations is below. It’s awesome. Go watch it.

Story by Stephany Nunneley @ VG247.com.

Ubisoft has released a video showing a chronological wrap up of all the Assassin’s Creed products that have been made so far along with news that on September 3, a multiplayer beta for Assassin’s Creed Revelations will be made available as a timed exclusive for PS Plus and Uplay members.

From September 3-11, Plus and Uplay members get exclusive access to the multiplayer beta on PS3, which offers access to nine characters: Sentinel, Vanguard, Guardian, Vizier, Thespian, Deacon, Bombardier, Trickster and Champion.

It will also include the maps Knight’s Hospital, Antioch, and Constantinople, with four playable modes: Wanted and Manhunt, along with the new modes Deathmatch and Artifact Assault.

No word just yet when the beta will go public.

In the trailer, also posted below, you’ll see clips from the first game, ACII, Bloodlines, Brotherhood, Discover, Chronicles, the comics, and even the upcoming Revelations, which is out in November on PC, PS3 and Xbox 360.

Story by Alexander Sliwinski @ Joystiq.com.

The launch date for PS3′s Splinter Cell Trilogy appears to have shifted once again, this time to September. Ubisoft told us in May that it didn’t have a ship date for the title, but several major retailers listed an August launch at the time. The bundle had previously missed its appointed March and June launch dates.

The latest release date of September 27 is now listed by the retail trinity of Amazon, GameStop and GameFly (which conveys only publisher-provided intel). We’ve contacted Ubisoft for an official sitrep on the Sam Fisher HD bundle.

Story by Stephany Nunneley @ VG247.com.

Ubisoft has announced Uplay Passport, which it said will offer “access to online features and exclusive content” for the firm’s various titles.

The new program was designed to provide players the above referenced content, and will part of the firm’s Uplay in-game service.

Uplay, apparently offers extra value with a “bevy of rewards and community features, just for playing Ubisoft games.”

The Uplay Passport program will begin in the coming months and will be included in many of Ubisoft’s core games which will come with a one-time use registration code. Upon redemption, players will be provided with content and features only available through the passport program.

Customers who’ve acquired a pre-owned game can purchase a new Uplay Passport online for $9.99 and automatically unlock the game’s online content and features.

The first game to implement Uplay Passport will be Driver: San Francisco, as reported yesterday.

Story by Stephany Nunneley @ VG247.com.

Ubisoft has released a trailer for Driver: San Francisco, which focuses on the single-player aspect of the game. You can watch it below, courtesy of Gematsu. Driver is due on PS3 and Xbox 360 at the end of August.

Story by Stephany Nunneley @ VG247.com.

Ubisoft will implement its own version of the online pass system when Driver: San Francisco is released called Uplay Passport, according to a report on Gamerzines,

Uplay Passport works like other online pass systems by only allowing those who purchase new copies of Ubisoft games to play online multiplayer free of charge.

Players can also purchase a Uplay Passport code from Xbox Live Marketplace or PlayStation Store, but the price has yet to be announced.

Uplay Passport could also make its way into other Ubisoft published titles.

According to a statement given to GZ, AC: Revelation’s lead game designer, Alexandre Breault, said he was “not aware” of the initiative.

Ubisoft CFO Alain Martinez told investors back in May 2010 the company was “looking very carefully at what is being done by EA regarding what we call the $10 solution,” stating the firm would “probably follow that line at sometime in the future.”

Story by Nemesis

Here is the new trailer for Call of Juarez: The Cartel showcasing the multiplayer modes; Robbery Crew, Team Deathmatch, Star Witness and Cartel Deal. As you play, your character will evolve, and you will unlock weapons and gear like most other first person shooters out there.

Call of Juarez: The Cartel is out on the Playstation 3, Xbox 360, and PC on July 19th.

Story by Johnny Cullen @ VG247.com

Ubisoft’s released a 7 minute video of Call of Juarez: The Cartel, all of it featuring gameplay, with scenes set in alleys, nightclubs, highways and more within the clip. You can watch it below the break. Game’s out on July 22 for PS3 360 and PC.

Name: Ghost Recon: Future Soldier
Release date: TBA
Platform(s): PC, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, Xbox 360, Wii and Nintendo DS
Publisher(s): Ubisoft
Developer(s): Ubisoft Paris

Gearbox Studios will be releasing a new game in the Brothers in Arms series, it was revealed today during Ubisoft’s E3 press conference.

Fans of the old games may want to be wary, though: it sounds like the tone of the series is shifting slightly, Gearbox boss Randy Pitchford saying that we’ll see soldiers whose favourite thing in the world is “kicking Nazi ass”, and you’ll be engaged in some “gleeful killing”.

How gleeful? Your four squadmates will use electricity, a branding iron, tomahawks and a mini-gun reespectively.

Meaning, it’s more Brothers in Arms: Inglorious Basterds than your daddy’s Brothers in Arms.

The new game is called Brothers in Arms: Furious 4, and it’ll be out in 2012.

Story by Luke Plunkett @ Kotaku.com.

Part 2 is loaded with info about the South Hall at E3 including:

• An exclusive interview with Craig Owens of EA
• An exclusive interview with “Doc” of the Tester Season1
• A round table with Owners Shane, AC and John along with special guest Bill F’kn Murray
• How I owned the Devs of Medal of Honor
• And a Prize Pack beyond any ever done with the new command at Urgent Fury

Assassin’s Creed® 2 is the follow-up to the title that became the fastest-selling new IP in video game history. The highly anticipated title features a new hero, Ezio Auditore da Firenze, a young Italian noble, and a new era, the Renaissance.

Assassin’s Creed 2 retains the core gameplay experience that made the first opus a resounding success and features new experiences that will surprise and challenge players.

Assassin’s Creed 2 is an epic story of family, vengeance and conspiracy set in the pristine, yet brutal, backdrop of a Renaissance Italy. Ezio befriends Leonardo da Vinci, takes on Florence’s most powerful families and ventures throughout the canals of Venice where he learns to become a master assassin.

Key Features

EZIO, A NEW ASSASSIN FOR A NEW ERA
Ezio Auditore da Firenze is a young Italian noble who will learn the ways of the assassins after his family was betrayed and he looks to seek vengeance. He is a lady’s man, a free soul with panache yet has a very human side to his personality. Through him, you become a master assassin.

RENAISSANCE ITALY
Italy in the 15th century was less a country and more a collection of city-states where families with political and economic strength began to take leadership roles in cities like Florence and Venice. This journey through some of the most beautiful cities in the world takes place in a time in history where culture and art were born alongside some of the most auspicious stories of corruption, greed and murder.

A NEW-FOUND FREEDOM
You will be able to perform missions when you want and how you want in this open-ended world that brings back free-running and adds elements such as swimming and even flying to the adventure. The variety in gameplay adds another layer for you to truly play through the game any way you choose.

DYNAMIC CROWD
Discover a living, breathing world where every character is an opportunity for the player. Blending in with the crowd is easier, working with in-game characters provide ample rewards but can also lead to surprising consequences.

BECOME A MASTER ASSASSIN
Perfect your skills to become a master assassin where you brandish new weapons, learn to disarm enemies then use their weapons against them and assassinate enemies using both hidden blades.