Now, 2K Games is capitalizing on Enemy Unknown‘s success by releasing an XCOM-branded third-person shooter. The publisher announced today that The Bureau: XCOM Declassified will be released on August 20 (August 23 in Europe) for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC. 2K’s statement did not touch on whether the game will be coming to next-gen consoles or the Wii U at a later date.

The Bureau will be set in 1962, and tell the story of XCOM’s first encounter with aliens. Players will “lead” squads of Bureau agents against the invaders and cover up any evidence of the encounter.

“The Bureau tells the story of XCOM’s mysterious beginnings,” said Morgan Gray, creative director at 2K Marin, the development studio in charge of The Bureau. “We’re expanding the universe with a declassified tale of government conspiracy and heroic cover-ups told through third-person tactical gameplay.”

The game will also feature the XCOM strategy games’ feature of forcing players to live with the consequences of their decisions. Bureau agents can die permanently, and 2K is billing the game as more tactical than a normal third-person shooter.

“The team has been working hard to leverage core XCOM elements like tactical decision-making and permanent death of squad mates in a purposeful way that makes this a unique tactical shooter,” said Gray. “To that end, The Bureau will challenge players unlike any other third-person tactical shooter.”

Today, some good news has come for Metro fans.

Deep Silver has announced that Metro: Last Light will be released before summer. The game will be released in North America on May 14 and in Europe on May 17. Last Light will be available for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC.

The game had already been delayed twice, and its most recent release date was sometime in March 2013.

“The new release date is the ideal way to strike the balance between bringing the best out of Metro: Last Light and not keep the fans waiting longer than necessary.” , said Klemens Kundratitz, CEO of Koch Media. “We won’t leave that time unexploited and will work closely together with 4A Games to make the game even better. It will receive all the attention it deserves.”

Over on the Metro Facebook page, the game’s developers have promised to use their extra time to give the game a “final layer of polish.” They have also stated that pre-order details are being worked out and will hopefully be announced “soon.”

Today, EA released another trailer showing off all the new maps included in the add-on. The four new maps included in the DLC are “Operation Riverside,” “Nebandan Flats,” “Kiasar Railroad,” and Sabalan Pipeline. As shown prominently in the trailer, dirt bikes will also be introduced in “End Game,” as well as a capture the flag game mode, new assignments, new dog tags, and a new dropship that can perform vehicle drops.

Unfortunately, the tailer does not include any actual gameplay, instead opting to show off the new maps and dirt bikes with frozen panorama shots.

The most notable announcement is that Fuse has been delayed to the first quarter of EA’s fiscal year 2014. This means the game, instead of being released in March as planned, will be delayed at least one month, and possibly as many as three. From EA’s prepared statement:

Ted Price and the Insomniac Studio are putting a lot of polish into their new game Fuse. The extra work delivers a big payout for players and Fuse will be released in Q1, our Spring quarter.

Fuse is a new sci-fi shooter the Insomniac is working on for EA. A trailer released last December revealed that the game is taking cues from both Borderlands and Gears of War. Insomniac is the studio that has developed quite a few popular PlayStation series, including Spyro the Dragon, Ratchet & Clank, and Resistance: Fall of Man.

The Fuse delay could also be related to EA’s announcement that it will stop making Medal of Honor games. As part of that reveal, EA stated that it has a plan to “bring year-over-year continuity to our shooter offerings.” Here’s hoping EA isn’t forcing Insomniac to change the ending of Fuse to leave more room for yearly sequels or spinoffs.

During the EA earnings call, Medal of Honor: Warfighter was consistently blamed for the poor revenue. As a result, EA is writing off the entire Medal of Honor Franchise, and apparently won’t be making any more of the games for the foreseeable future. From EA’s prepared comments:

Medal of Honor was an obvious miss. The game was solid but the focus on combat authenticity did not resonate with consumers. Critics were polarized and gave the game scores which were, frankly, lower than it deserved. This one is behind us now. We are taking Medal of Honor out of the rotation, and have a plan to bring year-over-year continuity to our shooter offerings.

A few things here. First, critics were not polarized on their feelings toward Warfighter – the game was met with almost universal distaste. Also, who are they kidding with the phrase “combat authenticity?” The ARMA series is combat authenticity; Warfighter is a Call of Duty clone. As for the yearly shooter offerings EA just promised, expect to see a spinoff Battlefield series announced in the near future.

The failure of Medal of Honor: Warfighter shouldn’t have come as any surprise to EA executives. The game was a textbook example of a terrible publishing strategy. Warfighter was a cynical attempt to capture some of the Call of Duty franchise’s fans by releasing a game that was similar, but featured even more of the “macho” military bravado seen in Activision’s titles. Furthermore, the game was clearly shipped unfinished to meet EA’s release date, which was scheduled for one month before the release of Call of Duty: Black Ops II. Gamers who did buy Warfighter were greeted by massive day-one patch that fixed dozens of bugs and glitches that should never have made it onto the final game disc.

The beta includes two different team-based multiplayer modes – Hunter and Crash-Site. Hunter mode sees two players don a nanosuit and team up to hunt down the other players using stealth tactics. Players killed by the hunters become hunters themselves, similar to the “zombie” modes seen in other shooters. Crash-Site sees players working in teams to attack and defend control points on a map. Both modes support up to 12 players on consoles and 16 on the PC.

Both modes are introduced in a new trailer for the beta test that was released today. The beta lasts for two weeks, ending on February 12, just one week before the launch of Crysis 3 in the U.S.

The test will include two team-based modes (Hunter mode and Crash-Site mode) and two different maps. The beta will last for two weeks, leading right up to the week before the launch of Crysis 3 on February 19.

“With Crysis 3 we are delivering the deepest, most robust Crysis multiplayer experience yet,” said Cevat Yerli, CEO of Crytek. “We have listened closely to our fans and have evolved the multiplayer in Crysis 3 by adding a host of new gameplay features including the unique Hunter mode, deadly new weapons like the Predator bow, deeper loadout and unlock options, enhanced upgrade systems and more social features like the “New York Feed.” Top it all off with the ultimate weapon in the Nanosuit and you have a multiplayer experience that is unlike anything else out there.”

The “New York Feed” Yerli mentions is an in-game social feed that lists the achievements and milestones of gamers and those on their friends list. It also offers “dynamic challenges to complete,” according to Crytek.

Accompanying the announcement is a new Crysis 3 trailer showcasing the game’s trademark Nanosuit. The Nanosuit itself will, evidently, be playing a large part in the game’s story as well as its gameplay.

“With Black Ops II, the team set out to challenge assumptions about what fans should expect from Call of Duty, and there’s no exception with Revolution,” said Mark Lamia, Treyarch studio head.

Titled “Revolution,” the add-on will include four new multiplayer maps, “Downhill,” “Hydro,” “Mirage,” and “Grind.” A new map for zombies mode called “Die Rise” will also be included. It pits players against the zombies inside of collapsed skyscrapers in a ruined Chinese city.

In addition to the new maps, a new SMG called the “Peacekeeper” has been added for multiplayer, and a new zombies mode called “Turned” will allow players to take on the role of zombies themselves.

The DLC will be available first on the Xbox 360. On January 29 fans can download the update via Xbox LIVE for 1200 Microsoft Points.

Thankfully, EA and DICE are still supporting last year’s Battlefield 3, which was a hit and well-received. Today EA released a teaser trailer for the upcoming Battlefield 3 DLC. Titled “End Game,” the add-on will feature four new multiplayer maps “designed for high speed combat and action.” New vehicles are included as well, including the dirt bikes that feature heavily in the trailer. Also, the capture the flag game mode will be part of the add-on, as well as a dropship that can perform vehicle drops.

The game, called God Mode, will feature what Atlus is calling “retro shooter action” with some RPG elements thrown in for players to battle undead cannon fodder in Hades. The developer claims it will have non-linear gameplay, “fast and frantic” shooting, and “hordes of on-screen enemies. As with most shooters these days, God Mode will have a four-player co-op mode. From Atlus’ YouTube description:

“Do you like running? How about gunning? What if special abilities are thrown into the mix? Upgradable weapons? Let’s say there’re dozens of on-screen enemies to unleash this firepower on, and as your reward for dispatching them you get experience and gold to collect that can be used for character customization and new equipment–all the while playing alongside friends in 4-player cooperative play! If you like the sound of all this, then you’ll love God Mode.”

The title will also feature customizable characters and an experience system that unlocks new weapons and abilities. If you think all of this sounds a bit similar to Borderlands 2, you’re not alone. As the trailer reveals, the developers of God Mode are also trying to capture the black humor of the Borderlands games.

Still, if Atlus can release something half as fun as Borderlands 2 as a low-priced, downloadable title, God Mode stands a chance of being a sleeper hit in 2013. The game is scheduled to launch in “early 2013″ for Xbox LIVE, PlayStation Network, and Steam.