Microsoft quiets 'Good' Fable 2 announcement

Well, that ruins our week. "The big bods over in Redmond decided that, this week wasn't the time to tell you what that announcement is we have ready here in Guildford," laments a new post on the Fable 2 Dev Blog. If we can somehow suffer through another weekend, though, Lionhead assures us it has permission to drop the free-floating "" news on Monday, November 24th. That way the studio can't possibly steal any thunder from (or get buried in) this week's new experience.

Report: EA shuts down Blueprint, Boom Blox sequel carries on

Was it a project? A division? A windowless room in the basement of EA HQ? Whatever "Blueprint" was, it is no more. All corporate employees of EA Blueprint were lost in the recent layoffs, transferred, or simply quit, reports Variety. The somewhat mysterious experiment, known as Blueprint, was established in mid-2007 as an effort to support a development process populated by individuals and small, independent teams working together virtually. Blueprint was best known for striking a deal with Armature, the studio founded by several former Metroid Prime developers, and for managing EA's trio of Spielberg games, of which Bloom Blox was the first.

As it turns out, a sequel to Boom Blox is currently underway, spearheaded by original developer EALA. The project is being shaped by many hands, though, co-created from various locations around the world. "Everybody is integrated, regardless of whether they're in the same physical location," an ex-Blueprint employee told Variety. "It's truly the spirit of what Blueprint was going to be."

New LBP costumes feature LocoRoco, TV-on-head

This week's PSN update will see the addition of new SackBoy costumes for the faithful followers of LittleBigPlanet. The first is a free costume created by a contest winner, featuring a SackBoy with a TV on his head. The original submitted sketch for "Sack-In-The-Box" can be found after the break.

The premium (read: pay) LBP costumes this week deliver a SackBoy take on the saccharine world of LocoRoco. Five costumes (pictured above) will come with the $3 pack. Now we await video featuring a full-blown LocoRoco LBP level.

A Vampyre Story sinks teeth into GamersGate

It's been so long since we last heard from A Vampyre Story that we half expected that the undead adventure game from former LucasArts vet Bill Tiller had been sent to the morgue. So imagine as the color returned to our cheeks with news that the Autumn Moon-developed PC adventure was released from its coffin and is now available to stretch its wings as a digital download. While currently it appears that A Vampyre Story is only available from GamersGate, a post on the game's official blog notes that it should begin popping up "on any decent download retail service," including GameTap and metaboli.

First announced more than four years ago, A Vampyre Story is set in Europe during the late 1800s. The game casts players in the gown of a young French opera singer who must escape the hand-drawn clutches of her vampire captive in order to rekindle her former life (and, we hope, the genre's relevancy as well).

New Avatar fashions planned every two weeks for six months

An Avatar ad on the NXE states that new fashions will be added every two weeks and will be noted by a gold star. Xbox Live Product Unit Manager Jerry Johnson confirms that new accessories will be added for at least the next half a year.

According to Johnson, the new fashions will be implemented in packs. We've already noticed that some clothing options have been taken away, like the "wife-beater" (no, it wasn't called that on the NXE). No word yet if these packs will cost anything, but we do know that Microsoft is considering it. What, you don't think the virtual Louis Vuitton bag or Marc Jacobs outfit (not the game designer) will be free, do you?

Sins of a Solar Empire v1.1 available; features AI, graphic, trade upgrades

Stardock and Ironclad have put a capital (ship) amount of work into the free Sins of a Solar Empire v1.1 patch. The crisp Advent laundry list of fixes and upgrades is incredibly long, but many players will be happy with the simple fact that the buy/sell and pirate window is now on the main screen.

Stardock also reiterated that those who pre-order the recently delayed $10 Entrenchment expansion will be included in the upcoming beta, which will have its details "announced soon." Now, in all seriousness, could Sins pretty please get a campaign mode to flesh out the lore?

The New Xbox Experienced

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Did ya hear? NXE is out today! And we wanna know how it's treatin' you! Take our poll, and then take a gander at our extensive video preview after the break (use the image above for easy navigation).