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PureSim Baseball 2 is now available from Wolverine Studios, rather than its previous publisher. The game, developed by Shaun Sullivan, will replace the previously announced title, Draft Day Sports: Pro Baseball, which Sullivan briefly considered giving birth to at Wolverine before the deal was arranged to move the PureSim Baseball franchise to Wolverine, maintaining the brand identity of Sullivan’s franchise.

Currently available for purchase, the game has been updated to v2.31 with 2.32 available in beta. While the game is doing quite well, no word on whether Wolverine needs any call center services to handle the order volume related to the PC baseball mainstay!

After making the leap from freeware to a pay title with his first Wolverine Studios release, Music Wars Rebirth, developer Antuan Johnson has announced that he has begun development on Music Wars 2010, the next big installment in his music industry simulation series.

According to a Wolverine press release, the new features in the game will include the following features:

• NEW Digital Downloads
• NEW Added territory – Latin America
• NEW Hundreds more bands and artists
• NEW Superior engine performance
• NEW Create music videos, live albums and DVDs
• NEW Form your own band
• NEW Improved trend model
• NEW Strategic marketing options
• NEW Multiplayer option

All of this sounds like the game is moving in the right direction! So stop investing all your spare change in water filters and save up for this PC gem!

Mass Effect was probably my favorite RPG of last holiday season, and now that the sequel is set to arrive in January 2010, word has reached us via press release that there will be a limited edition release of the game with loads of extras. Like what? Well…

Available on January 26 in North America alongside the standard edition, the Collectors’ Edition of Mass Effect 2 comes in a premium, tin case and includes the full version of the game, a 48-page hardcover “Art of Mass Effect 2” book, Issue 1 of the Mass Effect Redemption comic book, and a bonus DVD with behind-the-scenes and making-of videos. In addition, the Mass Effect 2 Collectors’ Edition will include unique in-game weapons and armor that can only be obtained by purchasing this version.

About the only thing missing is hero Captain Shepherd’s secrets for the best way to lose belly fat. But I guess you can’t have everything… where would you keep it?

The classic puzzlers Mercury and Mercury Meltdown are available on PSN for PSP and PSP Go in a special bundle price of $9.99 until December 5, according to a Sony press release, but that’s only mildly good news.

What would be better news is if Sony had a way to allow PSP Go owners to get games they already own on a standard PSP UMD for free. But since they don’t seem to care about stuff like that, well… let’s just say if Sony wises up and switches their mind on that issue, it would set off a lot of emergency alert systems.

Resident Evil 5 is already a memorable game, but come 2010 it’s going to be even more memorable, because there will be a whole new set of downloadable content being released for the game, on the Xbox Live network for 360 owners and on PSN for PS3 owners.

While this isn’t exactly a “just around the corner” announcement, folks who enjoyed the chills so far and wanted a bit more will be getting exactly that. Maybe there will even be some new in-game items, like a Canon camera! Who knows?

OK, well… Capcom knows. But I mean, other than them…

One of my favorite RPGs on PSP is Level 5’s memorable Jeanne d’Arc, so you can imagine my disappointment when my copy of the UMD broke recently. I’ve been trying to find a replacement, but the game is currently harder to locate than legitimate health insurance leads.

I have the scent of one; if it remains unsold until Friday or so, I’m home free and can replay the classic to my heart’s content. But for now, I’m just sitting around waiting…

The action RPG Borderlands, from the same publisher that brough us Oblivion and Fallout 3, may be the hidden gem of this holiday season. With a playing style similar to the above-mentioned games, it’s a hot item for sure.

Another hidden gem is the Atlus-developed Demon’s Souls, which has monsters as huge as those found in the PS2 classic Shadow of the Colossus, and yes, one hit from them can end you. It’s a mega-tough game for hardcore RPG fans only, and, like Borderlands, it’s already on store shelves.

Which is the superior game? Depends on what you like and that’s almost as interesting as a diet pill comparison.

Best part? Demon’s Souls is a PS3 exclusive!

I have a fever; it’s source is not a flu bug, but Dragon Age: Origins, the hot new RPG from BioWare, makers of most things good, RPG-wise, on this side of the ocean.

Did anyone catch the commercial campaign on prime time TV? Looks like EA is really getting behind the BioWare team with a strong promotional push.

It’s about time. Most of BioWare’s titles have always been valuable like loose diamonds; this time, maybe they’ve stumbled across a setting!

Wolverine Studios is now in the middle of beta-testing its next big title, Draft Day Sports: Pro Basketball 2, a long-awaited follow-up to the title that helped launch developer Gary Gorski’s start-up company several years ago.

I’m pleased to say that I’m part of the open beta-testing team and that the process is proceeding quite smoothly indeed. While it’s a little too early to treat the code as preview-worthy, I do want to put the word out there that this game is under heavy, active development and will hopefully be released sometime this basketball season.

Beyond that, I can’t say a lot due to the nature of beta-testing and disclosure agreements; but I am excited to be in on the open beta and watch as this title comes together. More details, and a preview, soon! What a franchise opportunity for Wolverine!

While the Xbox 360 team have been trumpeting their partnership with Netflix, the raw facts are that to take advantage of it, you have to have Xbox Live Gold. Now comes word that Sony is finalizing a deal to stream some movies and TV shows onto PS3 via Netflix – all within the PlayStation Network, which means, basically, it’s free… no additional charge beyond the Netflix account and a PS3 with broadband hookups.

Is that amazing? Well, it’s nice, at least. And about a year later than it should have been, but who’s quibbling? Not I. All in all, it’s about as appealing as Black and Mild cigars; that that however you will.