Goodbye, Spunk. Apparently, the ESRB is very picky not only with how many fingers have been chewed off by zombies, but also by the name given the video game characters. "Spunk" would have been a nice addition to the character's list in Overlord II had the ratings board not  deemed it inappropriate.

Got some minions to control? Learn how to channel their pint-sized malevolence into a great force of chaos that follows your every whim with this instructional video from Overlord 2's Minionstry of Information.

He may not be the Lich King, but he's got enough evil to fuel his next three games all the way into next year. Codemasters is set to unleash a generous spread of malevolence in 2009 with three brand new Overlord titles. Get ready for the sequel to the 2007 Minion-fest as well as its two new spin-off titles. Find out more about them in our full article after the jump.

The Overlord and his army of lethal minions are gearing up for another round of mayhem this November. A total of three new downloadable content packs for Codemasters and Triumph Studios' Overlord (PC, Xbox 360) will become available this month on the Xbox Live Marketplace.

The downloadable content is led by Overlord: Raising Hell. This expansion pack adds all new single-player levels to the original Overlord game. Each of these new levels is a hell for each of the game's five kingdoms. Players will have to battle it out against fallen heroes to claim the throne of each kingdom's underworld.

Next up is the Overlord Challenge Pack. This premium download is for players looking for a challenge. It includes seven new online maps, including the competitive Protect Your Power map where players must defend the Overlord's tower against waves of enemy attack. The Challenge Pack also introduces a new Legendary difficulty mode.

Finally, there's the free Split-screen Multiplayer Pack. This free update will be available alongside the premium packs and will finally let players go head to head in an all-new split-screen multiplayer mode. It also includes a new multiplayer map, Rocky Race, which sees a pair of Overlords working cooperatively to survive the onslaught of a rampaging arch rock giant.

All three downloadable content packs will be available this November. Pricing has yet to be announced, so check back here for more updates. Downloadable content for Overlord's PC version is expected to become available in the New Year. A special edition PC box set of Overlord is also being readied for release in Germany. This box set will include all three of the updates above.

Codemasters has denied rumors that its recently-released PC and Xbox 360 title Overlord will be ported to the Sony PlayStation 3 video game console. This according to European video game news site Eurogamer.

The rumors surfaced due to a job listing spotted on the website of Overlord developer Triumph Studios. The job posting advertised for somebody who could handle porting Xbox 360 and PC code base to PS3.

There is no word yet on what exactly Triumph is planning to port to the PS3. The most recent title on the Triumph website apart from Overlord is Age of Wonders: Shadow Magic. The latter was first released four years ago.

 

Codemasters has recently announced the unleashing...err...shipping of Overlord to the U.S. earlier today, after teasing evil apprentices with demos over Xbox Live Marketplace and the PC. Now the full version can be had after Overlord officially releases on the PC and Xbox 360.

The dark comedic creation by Dutch developers Triumph Studios has touched over 750,000 gamers across both platforms since the release of the demo, all vying for the chance to become an all-powerful Overlord. Leading 50 overly loyal minions of four selectable types, players can now run unhindered across the lands, pillaging villages, conquering kingdoms and leading your army to defeat corrupt heroes.

The action adventure game is rated T for Teens by the ESRB (that's 13 and above folks) and should be available for a suggested retail price of US$ 59.99 for the Xbox 360 and US$ 49.99 for the PC.

Buy: [Overlord (PC)]

A little forging is restful for the mind, sire. It helps clear your head for the evil deeds ahead.

When your little henchman says it clears your head, they didn't say anything about the sacrificing of minions to get the job done. That's right, folks. In Triumph Studios' Overlord (PC, Xbox 360), forging is less a matter of getting the right mold for the job than it is summoning a lot of minions to jump into molten metal to sweeten the creation with magical power.

Not only are they willing to jump to their deaths, they seem happy to jump into molten metal to aid their master. Sometimes, you have to wonder if your minions aren't the stupidest things on earth, but at least they do their jobs with gusto. Without further ado, here's a forge trailer to show you exactly what we mean. If you're interested in learning more, feel free to check our impressions of the demo as well.

 Since when is being bad, er, bad? Not in Overlord, we assure you. Triumph Studios has hit the nail right on the head by capitalizing on the universal fact that evil is more exciting than good and taking a ride on the whole anti-hero bandwagon.

Like a lot of you out there, we were delighted when we finally had the chance to download the Codemasters demo of the game for the PC and the Xbox 360. We must say that we weren't disappointed and the demo got us lusting for more power than ever.

The story puts you in the iron boots of a mysterious masked character who awakens with the powers of an overlord. Sadly, you don't exactly have a castle with scantily-clad coquettes catering to your every whim, just yet. Don't fret though - you've got a gang of naughty goblins to shoe in for the lovelies.

You will realize that your tall, proud Dark Tower is falling apart and you need to do some serious housekeeping and remodeling to make the crib more pleasant. Then again, you just woke up and you're flat-down broke, so you have to seek out some peaceful villages for "donations."

With your posse of fine goblins, you seek out villages, pillage them dry and if you're lucky, take home some hot peasant girls to help you at home. Unfortunately, you've got some competition in town. The past "heroes" of the land who slew your predecessor have themselves been corrupted by fame and power and are now abusing the peasants themselves. There's room for only one peasant tormentor in town and there ain't no way we're passing up the role, right?

Essentially you can play the game two ways: evil, or downright freakin' evil. This will reflect on how the peasants treat you. You know you've been protecting the people's interests if you march into town and see them cheering. However, you know you've been real nasty if they're offering their virgin daughters just to keep your head cool.

    

While visually this isn't the most stunning thing to show up on the PC or Xbox 360, we think the visuals are good enough to be competitive in this generation of gaming. The devs did the right thing by adding premium to gameplay. From this demo, we can already tell that we're going to have one deep gaming experience when the game finally gets released. Learning spells, summoning the different minion types, upgrading your gear and improving the Dark Tower are just some of the things you'll be busy with.

But without a doubt, the real fun in Overlord comes from the gamer himself. Nothing is more satisfying than living the tyrannical dreams that most of us have but can never do in real life. It's so much like Lord of the Rings except that you're Sauron. Or maybe something to the context but not the gameplay of Disgaea. Whatever the case is, we give the Overlord demo its props and we'll be waiting for the whole package with painful anticipation.

How do you unleash your evil hordes upon the land if you don't have the requisite life force for it? The hapless victims? The sheep. This new video of Codemasters and Triumph Studios' Overlord teaches Life Force Harvesting 101.

The fluffy and innocent creatures need to be slaughtered (for a lack of a better term) to harvest life force from them. Of course, to get to the sheep, you also need to kill the shepherds armed with pitchforks to get to them. Since you are the Overlord, your minions will be doing most of the dirty work and present you with the glowing life force orbs.

We'll leave you to watch and learn from the video. Overlord for the Xbox 360 and PC will be invading the shelves on before June's end.

  

There's no new information on the character, the setting, the gameplay, or the Minions. There are, however, a handful of screenshots of you, the new Overlord, as you go through your usual activities of searching for the Seven Lords, conquering lands, and bullying and killing enemies with your sometimes unreliable minions in the upcoming game, Overlord.

Triumph Studios' and Codemasters' video game for the Xbox 360 and the PC is an adventure game where as the reincarnated Overlord, you need to be as evil as you can be to succeed as the new all-powerful master of evil. You have four types of minions (Brown, Blue, Red, and Green) under your control which you can order around to do the dirty and oftentimes tiring work of getting what you want.

If you're not familiar with the game, you can check out and download the recently released demos of Overlord for the PC and 360. We bet that after getting the feel for the game (and after experiencing all that power you can have), you'll also become one of those power-hungry people waiting for the full game's end of June release.

Before you kill off your in-game enemies though, take a look at the screenshots and see how freakin' cool you'll look.

   

More screenshots of Overlord at the Full Article!