The Week in Gaming News

Our round-up of notable news from the world of gaming for the week of August 15, 2011.

• Bethesda has announced that Skyrim will use Steamworks and not Games for Windows Live.
• A slew of new trailers were debuted at Gamescom, including Dark Souls, Trine 2, Assassin’s Creed: Revelations, and Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception.
• Ubisoft announced the development of six new PSVita titles, including Assassin’s Creed and Lumines.
• A new streamlined Wii console is set to hit store shelves before this Christmas.
• A batch of Portal 2 DLC is due this September.
• The Legend of Zelda; Skyward Sword finally has a hard release date, and will make this year’s holiday season.
• Another round of voting has commenced to pick the look of the new female Commander Shepard in Mass Effect 3. This time, the vote will determine her hair color. Red is currently in the lead by a margin of approximately 6,000 votes.

And from Paste’s own news coverage:
• The Best of Gamescom winners have been announced, with Battlefield 3 taking home best in show.
• Sony has released the full tech specs for the PS Vita.
• Japanese retailers are backing away from the Xbox 360.
• Sony and Nintendo announced new console models and price drops.
• Activision has announced that Battlefield 3 will have dedicated PC servers.
• Adam Volk reviewed From Dust for the Xbox Live Arcade.
• And finally, check out Brian Taylor’s review of Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet for the Xbox Live Arcade.