Time for another jog 'round the old rumor mill, folks! It seems that Capcom may have leaked information on Lost Planet: Colonies, a sequel to the third-person-shooter Lost Planet: Extreme Condition. Various information were divulged in the two-page spread. See the scan after the jump!

Looking at the Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB) is sometimes like looking into future, with your frequency adjusted to home in on the video games channel. In this update, we deliver you not one but TWO titles getting the sequel treatment. Well, one of them's getting a sequel, the other's getting an expansion. Interested? Check out all the details in the full article.

Want to get a great deal? If you're in Canada, then you're in luck: Best Buy Canada offers Bungie Studios' Halo 3: Legendary Edition for only CA$ 99 (US$ 100), and they're also offering a copy of Capcom's Lost Planet for free if you grab the LE. Check out the full article for more details!

Lost Planet players who're enjoying the 360 version of the game would do well to heed our call. We recently received an email from Capcom with details on an "extensive network update" that'll be occurring on August 30.

According to the email, the network update they'll be implementing will allow players to select from three different connection types when creating an online match. Players will thus be able to pick and choose the best connection type for their own environments, improving the quality of their connectivity and, hopefully, their enjoyment of the game.

Here are the three connection types, as well as some additional notes from Capcom:

Default: This is the standard setting regardless of upload speed.

Pattern A: This is more suitable when your upload speed is fast. Try this if your connection is unstable with Default. Pattern B: This is more suitable when your upload speed is slow and your connection is not stable with Default. Try this if your connection is unstable with Default.

After the update is released, you may experience some problems if you join a multiplayer match where players who have installed the patch and those who haven’t are participating. The expected problems are as follows:

• Glitches with screen text
  
• The game stops progressing at certain screen.
  
• Disconnection (disbanded mission, etc)

If you experience problems like these, please try signing out once and signing in again.

Expect to have some minor problems playing the online multiplayer when the patch goes up. In the meantime, you can always brush up on your skills by finishing Lost Planet's single player campaign again on the hardest difficulty setting.

Owners of Capcom's Lost Planet (Xbox 360, PC), may want to watch out for next week, as the company reports that a new series of game downloadables will be cropping up. For the PC gamers in particular, expect an automatic patch to kick in this August 16, which will carry specialized DirectX 10 Geometry Shaders. This update is expected to enhance DirectX 10 capabilities, including visual effects like depth of field effects, motion blur, and fur shading.

The second part of the patch is support for a new chat system in Lost Planet PC's multiplayer mode. This feature will carry four general messages to be used to communicate with other players in the lobby, in-game, and result screens. Here's a shortlist :

• Lobby
• Let’s go.
• Hold on a sec.
• It’s nice to meet you.
• Roger!
• In-game
• Thank you.
• I’m sorry.
• You’ve gotta hold’em off!
• Roger!
• Result Screen
• Let’s go.
• Thank you.
• What do we do now?
• Thanks.

Last on the list is Lost Planet PC's Map Pack 2, which will carry Battleground, Lost Technology, Ruins, and Ice Drop. These maps were originally part of Lost Planet's Packs 2 and 3 for the Xbox 360, with their PC port now being handed out for free.

For the Xbox 360-based owners, good news comes with the announcement that your Map Pack 3 (Lost Technology, Ruins, and Ice Drop) will be available for free. And as previously reported, Map Packs 1 and 2 will also be free. All three packs are available on Xbox Live at the same time as the PC updates (August 16) - just be sure to have ample storage space to hold them all. Also expect an update to improve connectivity to be released in the near future.

Buy: [Lost Planet: Extreme Condition (360)]
Buy: [Lost Planet: Extreme Condition (PC)]

 

Good Free things come to those who wait. Indeed, that will be affirmed by this news we have for you today. To those of you who shelled out 400 Microsoft Points for the Lost Planet Maps on Xbox Live (particularly Map 1 and Map 2), you just might want to calm down when you here this bit.

Visiting the official Lost Planet blog, we found out that Capcom is actually giving out the previously released Maps 1 and 2 for free over at Xbox Live. Yup, we bet you're wishing now you held on just a little longer to that 400/ 800 Microsoft Points now, eh? The reason for this is that although the maps have been released on XBL for quite some time now, Capcom will be making the maps available to PC users for free this coming 20th. So, in the spirit of good fun, why not make it simultaneously free for the next-gen owners as well?

And so you have it. More free goodies for those who were broke enough to wait out for the Lost Planet maps, and MS Points down the drain for those who can't sit still waiting for the maps. Well, at least everyone will soon be happy playing them maps, right?

Oh, and we've got new screenshots to boot. Check them out.

 

In case you've forgotten, the much-awaited third map pack for Lost Planet: Extreme Condition goes live today. Actually, this has been promised by Capcom ever since the game came out.

Prior to this, the map for Battleground which used to be an exclusive to the Collector's Edition was released for free on Xbox Live. Map Pack #3 will cost you 400 Microsoft Points and its size is approximately around 232.50 MB.

It contains three unique maps which can be used as battlefields once you go online. The first map is called Technology and is kind of interesting because it somehow serves as a tribute to the pixelated days of 8-bit gaming.

The other two maps are called Ruins and Ice Drop. The first one puts players in an ancient temple in the middle of a thick jungle while the other one is a frigid glacier map sporting a lot of deadly peaks, nooks, and crannies.

Lost Planet's Map Pack #3 is available for all Xbox Live members in all regions.

With a huff and a puff, folks at the NeoGAF forums seem to have dug up something rather interesting for Lost Planet fans. Someone had sourced InsideGamer, a website based in the Netherlands, claiming that the previously reported "Lost Planet Colonies" trademark of Capcom is more or less confirmed to be a game.

The screencap above was taken by InsideGamer. It's part of the release list of Netherlands-based publisher/distributer Nobilis, and notches Lost Planet Colonies to be released for the Xbox 360 and PC platforms January of next year. Now, "released" here could mean different things. Released as a map pack, maybe? Or, what some are hoping, released as a sequel.

We'll give you more info as they come along. Hopefully, we don't have to release intergalactic space recon-units to find those lost colonies.

Capcom's third-person shooter, Lost Planet: Extreme Condition, will be getting its third Map Pack on June 21 over at the Xbox Live Marketplace. Unfortunately, this map pack isn't free as it will weigh you down by 400 Microsoft Points. Map Pack #3 will include 3 new multiplayer levels:

• Technology - a throw-back to the good old days days of pixelated 8-bit gaming
• Ruins - an ancient temples set amidst a lush jungle
• Ice Drop - a frigid glacier with lots of peaks, nooks, and crannies

Along with the announcement of the Map Pack 3's arrival date is the release of a slew of high-resolution screenshots from Capcom. Check them out!

    

More screenshots at the Full Article!

In case the non-owners of Capcom's Collector's Edition release for Lost Planet feel they're being left out in the cold game content-wise, we've picked up news that should warm you up. Capcom has sent out a press wire announcing that starting this June 7, the Battleground map, previously a Collector Edition exclusive, will be made available for download in Xbox Live Marketplace for the low price of zero Microsoft points - ergo, it's free.

According to the description in its aforementioned press kit, the Battleground map "sets players in an abandoned town scattered with rubble from ruined buildings and features indoor and outdoor areas with multi-level vantage points." That's not all for this news bit, though - we've also managed to pick up several pictures of the upcoming Battleground map, in case the guys want to preview the map prior its release. Enjoy!

The rest of the Battleground images are available in the Full Article