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And so the era of paid-DLC for Mass Effect 2 begins. The free Firewalker add-on, with awesome new Hammerhead vehicle missions, is on tap for later this month, but April will see a brand new party member being introduced to the cast of colorful teammates in BioWare's space epic.

As was rumored and leaked a few months ago, Kasumi, a human female thief from the Citadel, gets her own mission in "Kasumi's Stolen Memory," pegged for April 6th and a currently undetermined prince point. Most likely around the neighborhood of 400 MS Points.

Shepard touches base with Kasumi either after you've completed the suicide mission and have opted to continue scouting the galaxy, or during your current playthrough's quest log. "Once recruited, Shepard aids Kasumi on a secretive mission of recovery, which requires a suave disguise and a run-in with an influential and predictably corrupt art collector."

In addition to a new squad mate, the DLC also brings with it a new Locust SMG, flash-bang grenade, unique loyaty power, and a new Achievement. Joystiq report that the mission clocks in at around an hour and a half.

Straight from the GDC floor, we present you with the gift of new, violent Splinter Cell: ConViction screenshots. Sam Fisher is still stalking mercs from the shadows and ceilings, blowing brains out, and generally making it a bad day for anyone that gets in his way. What more could you want?

Check out the full gallery after the jump. ConViction finally releases on April 13th.

It's not entirely certain what the above implies, but abrupt conclusion-drawing is that it's a release date for Dragon Age 2. So soon? During EA's financial earnings call earlier this year it was confirmed that BioWare's next Dragon Age title -- EA implied a full sequel -- would be arriving in Q1 2011. Makes sense, really. Dragon Age: Origins was completed for a good while when it finally released last November, so the foundation for a sequel was there, and work was said to have started on it prior to Origins shipping.

The first major expansion for Dragon Age, Awakening (which arrives this month either on disc, or via LIVE), has started popping up at various outlets, and 1UP snapped a picture of an insert, with a quite obvious date of February 1st, 2011 for some game that features winged creatures. That's definitely within EA's first quarter. Hmm.

Take it with a small grain of salt for now, but don't be surprised if we get an announcement of a super hot-looking title at E3.

THQ already assured us that the next Red Faction would make an appearance, hopefully a destructive one, at this E3, and the publisher spilled a few more details on it at GDC.

Danny Bilson, executive VP of THQ's Core Games unit, told Joystiq that Red Faction Guerrilla 2 (if it's called that) will take the franchise "to a whole new place, it kind of goes back to the old Red Faction because about 80% of it is underground." Bilson said it's more of a hybrid of Guerrilla and the first two Red Factions.

Apparently the sequel have a more "structured" narrative for its campaign, and the team are "going bigger" on it; needless to say the impressive destructible environments are returning, too.

Up for some fresh Medal of Honor reboot screens today? You're in luck, then, as EA shot over a nice selection of very Unreal Engine 3-looking shots of the new shooters' single-player campaign. Love the lighting in the first one, don't you?

Hit the jump to see out Tier 1 Operator infiltrating Afghanistan caves, getting the drop on foes, and then viewing an air strike as it makes fireworks out of enemies.

Medal of Honor is due out sometime before the end of September.

Lionhead Studios took the stage at GDC today to talk up their upcoming Fable III, and it was acknowledged that Twitter functionality, of some sort, is being weaved into Albion for our third trip through, this time as king. Said Lionhead boss Peter Molyneux:

"I Twitter now and, you know, I’ve got followers on Twitter. That’s an interesting mechanic, and we integrate that into the Fable experience."

Interesting. I feel compelled to head this off at the pass, too. Lionhead: do not even contemplate anything that involves auto-Tweeting. Just stop it now.

Molyneux further reierated that the returning dynamic online co-op feature for Fable III, which is now refined to allow for both players' unique characters in one world, will allow for players to marry one another. Yes, no longer are your marital escapades restricted to lowly NPCs.

In terms of user interface, we already got word that things like the HUD and visual representation of experience are changing/going away, and now so too are things like the flat, static menus, apparently. Molyneux dropped details on a new butler character that we'll encounter during the journey, who will be played by John Cleese. Why a butler, you ask? Players will now be dropped into a fully realized room, one that is packed with virtual clothes, potions, gear, and even the world map. Much better than a static inventory menu, no? Now with British comic relief, too!

The designer stated that Lionhead are trying to make the game more immersive and accessible by switching to 3D-based spaces, instead of 2D text-based menus, as "less than 60%" of players understood "less than 50%" of Fable II's features. That's not acceptable, it seems. Judging from what has been created for Fable III, though, this is a welcome improvement.

As for the game's still-secretive inclusion of Project Natal, Molyneux offered only this: "Natal is wonderfully adaptive to this experience. I can’t give you specifics, but it’s been a real joy to put some Natal stuff in there.”

This is ... awkward. Just a little bit. Not a day has passed since Infinity Ward confirmed their Stimulus Package DLC for MW2 on March 30th, and now EA/DICE are swooping in to steal the show.

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 gets its second batch of VIP maps -- available free if you purchased the title new -- on March 30th. If you opted for the used or rental route, you're ponying up 1,200 MS Points for these -- and they're already on the disc, too.

"VIP members will be able to expand on the deep and ever changing sandbox experience, which in itself provides near endless hours of entertainment, by having new content to keep things fresh. It also plays a vital part in making sure you, the players get proper value for the money you've invested in Battlefield: Bad Company 2. This is why these map packs are available at no extra cost, contradicting the industry standard and what our direct competitors are doing. Of course, it also helps avoid segmenting the community, making sure everyone can play together having the same maps available. There will be future paid downloadable content as well but these packs will focus on expanding other parts of the game experience rather than the selection of maps available for the basic game modes. We're dedicated to taking care of this product for a long time – helping you avoid "mapathy" without getting nickel-and-dimed."

As for what you'll be getting this month? Two new play areas: "Arica Harbor" in Conquest mode, and "Laguna Presa" for Rush mode.

Very clever, DICE. Well played. Your move, Infinity Ward.