Alan Wake is most likely one of the most anticipated titles of this year, with it nearing development completion, Microsoft revealed during the Consumer Electronics Show that Alan Wake will indeed have “downloadable episodes” after its release — something that was previously mentioned in an interview.

“We have talked about it, and with our episode-based structure, it would be very logical,” Alan Wake creator and writer Sam Lake told Kotaku. “But nothing has been decided on the matter, and right now, we are fully focused on polishing the game and shipping it. After that, let’s see.”

Probably one of the most prominent features on the PSPgo is the ability to transfer UMD games onto the digital-only system. However, according a SCEA spokesperson, owners of PSPgo will NOT be able to transfer the UMD disc-based titles onto the system on its launch date – as previously thought.

“We were evaluating a UMD conversion program, but due to legal and technical reasons we will not be offering the program at this time,” the SCEA spokesman reported Kotaku. If you go back to this year’s E3 Expo, Sony did state that they were hoping to allow UMD games to be transferred over to the PSPgo by its launch. But, that didn’t turn out as we hoped.

Team Ico‘s Project Trico recently – I mean that in no sense of the word - received a name face lift, and here’s the reasons as to why. According to Kotaku, Yasuhide Kobayashi, SCEE senior vice president, stated that The Last Guardian (Project Trico) was given a English title so that it would appeal more to the US and European markets.

“There are so many issues we have to solve, and the biggest challenge is that the market in Japan is shrinking — they key is gaining success in the US and Europe,” stated the exec. “At the time of the original PlayStation the Japanese market was one third of the global market, and production costs weren’t that high — so we were able to generate profit from that market alone.”

“But now we’re in the era of the PlayStation 3, and the Japanese market is only one fifth of the global market — when it comes to production costs, those are swelling, so it means that unless we gain success in the overseas market our studio will go bankrupt,” said Kobayashi. “It’s a crisis we recognize.”

Speaking at a Press Conference in Tokyo last week, Square Enix’s Yoichi Wada stated that a release date for long-awaited Final Fantasy XIII could be revealed in a matter of weeks.

Anyway, Wada told the Japanese press that he would make “an announcement in a few weeks”. However, if you look at the stated time, this could mean that Square Enix is announcing the game’s release at the Tokyo Game Show – scheduled for late September.

The title is due out in Japan this winter, with its Western debut, on PS3 and Xbox 360, expected sometime in 2010. However, we’re hoping to see more on the title at Tokyo because Square has confirmed that the tile will certainly be in attendance.

With a name such as “Prestige” the only conclusion is that it would cost an arm and a leg. To add to that, there’s the fact that it comes fully packed with a pair of “fully functional night version goggles”. Seems like it’s going to cost alot, doesn’t it.

So what’s the cost Infinity Ward? Their response; a reasonable price.

To get the “Prestige” version, which includes an art book, limited Steelbook case and a token to download the original Call of Duty, plus the “fully functional” night version goggles, you should expect to pay $149 USD, almost twice that of the $79 “Hardened” edition.

Infinity Ward also confirmed, via its Twitter account, that the Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network versions of the original Call of Duty will have multiplayer support.

[Modern Warfare 2 Prestige Edition Comes With Prestige Price via Kotaku]

After improperly ditching the “Call of Duty” trademark for the last couple of months, the trademark somehow finds its way on to the official packaging for Modern Warfare 2. Turning Modern Warfare 2 into Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.

However, in the past couple of months, its developer, along with its publisher, proclaimed that Modern Warfare 2 “has taken on such a life of its own.” So what’s up with the change of heart Infinity Ward and Activision?

“Infinity Ward’s Modern Warfare 2 is the direct sequel to Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare,” a spokesperson told Kotaku. “We have focused our attention on Modern Warfare in order to most effectively communicate the fact that this is the first true sequel in the Call of Duty series.

As much as I hate to admit it, this doesn’t really explain much, or even anything. However, one can only wonder. Is this a direct cause to the recent brand awareness survey?

When it comes to holiday releases only the strong can make it out alive. That’s why Activision has bumped Singularity’s release date, because they do not want Modern Warfare 2′s release getting in the way of Singularity being a success.

According to Kotaku, Activision has today opened a time portal for Singularity, moving it to Q1 2010, well out of range of Infinity Ward’s Modern Warfare 2.

“The level of excitement for Infinity Ward’s Modern Warfare 2 coming out of E3 well exceeded our expectations and therefore we have decided to move Raven’s upcoming sci-fi first person action title, Singularity, from 2009 to Q1 2010,” said an Activision spokesperson to Kotaku.

“We believe that the March quarter will provide a better opportunity to establish the new cutting-edge action IP as a ‘must-have’ title and clears the way for Modern Warfare 2 to dominate this holiday season.”

[Activision Moves Singularity Out Of Modern Warfare 2's Way via Kotaku]

Activision’s head of state, Bobby Kotick has been on a recent high, saying that Activision may need to “stop supporting Sony” come 2010 or 2011 because “the PlayStation 3 is losing a bit of momentum and [that doesn't] make it easy for [them] to support the platform.” But, that hasn’t seem to faze Sony’s solid stature.

“PlayStation has tremendous momentum coming out of E3, and we are seeing positive growth with more than 350 titles slated to hit across all our platforms, including many anticipated games from our publishing partners,” said Playstation spokesman Patrick Seybold when speaking with Kotaku.

“We enjoy healthy business relationships with and greatly value our publishing partners and are working closely with them to deliver the best entertainment experience.”

Now, the statements made by both sides are very understandable, but like Seybold stated, coming out of E3 Sony has a solid line-up excluding Activision’s upcoming titles. Anyway, lets just hope that Activision doesn’t go ahead with their remark.

Even though we have to wait until next years E3 to see the next Zelda Wii project in action, Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto showed a select group of people at E3 the concept art for the newest Zelda Wii game, which is currently in production. And thanks to the guys over at Kotaku, here it is:

[nggallery id=22]

Update: “Before they would pitch us on someone like Clinton, they may first go ask if he would do something like that. In no way, shape or form, did we say is President Clinton is who we want for this role or [tell Blindlight to] go chase him,” Pete Hines, the vice president of PR and marketing.

Original: Well, if you need someone to voice the president in Fallout 3, who would better to get than the former ex-president of these United States?

“Celebrity acquisition applies not just to celebrity actors but to sports figures, politicians – we’ve made offers to Bill Clinton for video games and gotten great responses with attorneys who have said, ‘The former president will not participate in one of your video game products, thank you very much’,” says Lev Chapelsky, the general manager of Hollywood-based Blindlight.

“We appreciated that frankness and candor – you don’t get that kind of candor from Creative Artists Agency, frankly. If the answers no, they don’t return your call for six months.”

Chapelsky wanted to snag Clinton for the very obvious role of the president in Fallout 3. “Wouldn’t that have been brilliant? You get to that point in game,” he adds, “and you hear that voice in the ether coming from off-camera and you’re like, ‘I know that guy!’”

[Bill Clinton Was Asked To Voice Fallout 3 via Kotaku]

And the un-candid teasing from Kojima Productions continues, and you though you were mean. The developers behind the Metal Gear series still plan on announcing the game at E3 – revealed by a tip to 1UP sometime ago.

However, there’s an advertisement running in the latest issue of  popular Japanese gaming mag, Famitsu, which hints, and teases at an announcement on 2009.5.18 and its all written within the clouds. Anyway, right now, it’s only reported that Famitsu is running the advertisement. So, once again, hold until May the 18th for details.

In addition, it was spotted someone – we don’t know there names – some hidden clues, hidden within the advertisement.

[ Hey Look, Some Kojima Productions Ad Announcing An Announcement via Kotaku]

If you can’t wait to see what, or how, Beyond Good & Evil 2 looks like, don’t need to anymore.

Kotaku have gotten there hands on a video that shows a woman dressed very much like Jade in what she was waring during the games announcement UbiDays trailer, running through a rundown looking town, avoiding police, climbing on top of a building and then making her ultimate escape.

In reports yesterday, it was rumored that Sony was planning an “electrifying announcement” – the announcement wasn’t the rumor – revealing a beta of Uncharted 2 in the upcoming inFamous title. Looks like the rumors were  correct.

According to Kotaku via a photo provided, on a Best Buy pre-order box-art for inFamous it reveals the existence of a Multi-player beta test for Uncharted 2′s Mutli-player mode. 

In addition, as originally announced, the pre-orders will give players early access to the inFamous demo. However, announcing that one of the best single player titles features an Mutli-player mode really is something “electrifying”. InFamous releases this May on the 26th exclusively on the PlayStation 3. 

In reports earlier today, it was reported that the open-world sci-fi title Borderlands had gone fully cel-shaded, which is what you’ve seen in  something like the Naruto video games, graphically. However, when Kotaku contacted Gearbox president Randy Pitchford on the matter he had this to say.

“No, Borderlands is not cel-shaded — it’s a gritty and serious world after all,” Pitchford told Kotaku via email. “But since the game was first unveiled we have made big advancements with the art direction and the technology to support the art and have produced some pretty impressive, even shocking results.”

He also confirmed that the game’s official website will “soon” be updated with new content showing off some of the ” big advancements with the art direction and the technology” he was taking about.

“Finally, there’s always E3 in a few months where attendees can see the game live,” said Pitchford. “I know some folks have figured out that we’ve done something big to Borderlands even if no one is quite sure what we’ve done yet and I know I’m still being a bit cryptic on that.”

In the shadow of the Lost Planet sequel announcement, Capcoms exec Keiji Inafune also mentioned to Famitsu that they are also currently working on a Dead Rising sequel.

According to Inafune, “We’re finally putting out new Dead Rising and Lost Planet games! As a main principle we’re thinking about multi-platform, and expanding upon both slightly from the Xbox 360 version.”

But, sadly, in has statements in that interview he didn’t go into details on if the Dead Rising sequel would Multiplatform. And if you don’t remember, in their shareholders it said that most of their games are going to be Multiplatform, but lets wait and see want the future holds.

[New Dead Rising And Lost Planet Mentioned, Might Be Multi-Platform via Kotaku]

Earlier this week, Sony planted the latest bomb in the console war, which was sent out via a media bulletin, with claims that Nintendo and Microsoft are ‘peddling add-ons’ onto there console. But, it looks like Microsoft has something to say about that.

“First, I would say we absolutely would not want to trade places with Sony,” said Aaron Greenberg, group product manager for Xbox 360 to Kotaku. “We feel like being half the price of the PS3 served us quite well this holiday.”

“The fact that we’re doing this at half the price of their platform, we feel confident that we’re delivering great value,” he added. “I believe that we deliver more value for games and entertainment than any other platform on the market.”

“At the end of the day, consumers vote with their dollar,” Greenberg said with anticipation that the sub-$200 price point will give the Xbox 360 the majority of its sales. “I don’t think people take comparison grids into retail stores.”

“I would rather talk about why you should buy our console than why you shouldn’t buy the competitor’s system.” Well, there you go. Microsoft has once again put a close on another ‘claim’ from the people at Sony, but what does Nintendo have to say about it?

Wow, out of the many company’s that I though would be laying off people, EA had to come and pull this trick. Today, word has hit the web that Electronic Arts has “massive” layed off 6 percent of its staff, which adds up to be about 600 people.

“EA is continuing to make progress against our business plan, but we have the constant imperative to keep our costs in line as we grow our revenues and improve our margins,” said Electronic Arts spokesperson, Mariam Sughayer. “Decisions that impact people’s jobs are always extremely tough but all of the people affected will be treated fairly and respectfully.”

The spokesperson goes onto reveal that the company has “reduce hiring” and that “open positions that – they – had previously planned to fill this fiscal year” were closed. This is because they are tiring to “adjust employee numbers” to ensure that their resourced in a ways that allows them to continue to grow, revenue-wise.

“These are challenging economic times around the world, and it’s impossible for any business leaders to predict the future. However, EA has made good progress in improving product quality, building a holiday lineup of titles that is extremely strong, filling our new IP pipeline, and expanding our Direct-To-Consumer and online businesses. As well, our talent remains the best in the industry.”

[Electronic Arts Lays Off Six Hundred via Kotaku]

We all know that last month was the Xbox 360′s key month in terms of sales, but what about the upcoming months for the holiday season? Would the 360 have what it takes to stand in the top spot?

When speaking to Kotaku, Aaron Greenberg, group product manager for Xbox 360, said that, “We -Microsoft- expect to continue our price advantage over the PlayStation 3 for a long time,”. He goes on to state that, “And we feel confident that we’ll outsell the PS3 this holiday season in North America and in Europe. We’ll do it on a global scale.” Kotaku had the chance to talk to him right after the NPD sales were released, where it showed that the company moved 347,200 units to American consumers.

Three years ago, 50 cent was Bulletproof. Now, three years later 50 cent is ready to leave “Blood On The Sand”, well not anymore. Today according to the guys over at Kotaku, the sequel to discography-cum-video game 50-Cent: Bulletproof, 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand has been canceled. According to the information given to them, the team behind it, Swordfish was likely to be sold off that’s why the game was cancelled. If this rumor happens to be true, yeah it’s a rumor, Blood on the Sand will be the latest casualty of Activision’s purchase of Vivendi Games.

The game was set to take place in the Middle East were 50 Cent was doing a show with G-Unit and after the show G-Unit and 50 go to collect there money and the promoter refuses to pay 50 Cent and G-Unit. The plot kind of goes down hill from there. The game did have some very strong showing like in it’s latest trailer called “World Wide Gangster”.

Update: Sources close to Swordfish Studios have told GamesIndustry.biz that 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand has not been cancelled, despite internet rumours.

Not so long ago we heard word that Ryan Payton had lefted Kojima Productions were he was an Assistant Producer. Now, when he lefted Kojima Productions we didn’t know what he was going to work on. Well, today Kotaku is reporting that a very reliable source has told them that Payton has been hired by Microsoft to be the creative director on the upcoming Peter Jackson Halo game. This news comes right after the news that Gearbox Director of Technology Corrinne Yu has been hired by Microsoft Game Studios to be the Principle Engine Architect for Microsoft’s Halo Franchise Team. The news was then confirmed by Microsoft to be true so that, which kind of adds more credibility to the source.

Ryan Payton had previously worked at a freelancer at various magazines before joining Kojima Productions. Where he headed the podcast called, The Kojima Productions Report, which reports on various news within the company or rumors on the internet. When news was released that he lefted Kojima Productions he stated that he wanted find a job closer to his family here in the US. “I’m pretty satisifed with all I’ve accomplished at KP. I set my goals and hit almost every one. The dream has always been to get an original game concept green lit, but that’ll have to wait until I find a new home. The good news is that I’ve got plenty of exciting ideas that I’ve been keeping close to my chest.” said Payton when he lefted the company.

On the PlayStation Network you will be happy to see Episode 2 as it hits the PLAYSTATION Network today. In this month Episode here is what you can expect to see.

• Resistance 2 – The big cover story for this issue is Insomniac’s upcoming PS3-exclusive FPS. Bonus! You get to see host Veronica Belmont don a mo-cap suit just for this game.
• Silent Hill: Homecoming – A look at Konami’s upcoming horror game.
• Madden Twenty Year Retrospective
• Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm – Exclusive first playable demo.

Qore is set at the lovely price $2.99 per each episode,$24.99 for a year subscription.But Remember if your waiting patiently for the SOCOM Confrontation beta you will need to Hold On to Issue 1. We will tell you when there ready with the beta.

Isn’t it funny how many times inside sources are used in a rumor. According to Sarcastic Gamer’s “protected source”, Halo 4 is already in full development over at Bungie. The source didn’t get the chance to give them any details on the rumored game at this point, but he/she did confirm for sure that Halo 4 is an official project in development.

Japanese Software Charts have revealed that Dragonball Z: Burst Limit has sold 92,000 copy’s in Japan alone,  after making it’s international debut on June 5. Which in this case means that that game will be joining games like Yakuza 3 KENZAN! has an unexpected best seller in Japan.

1. Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit (PS3) – 92,000

2. Shiren 3: Karakuri Yashiki (Wii) – 59,000

3. Jikkyou Powerful Pro Baseball Portable 3 (PSP) – 43,000

4. Mario Kart Wii (Wii) – 39,000

5. DS Yamamura Misa Suspense: Maiko Kogiku (DS) – 38,000

[ Weekly JapaneseSoftware Sales via Gpara]

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Today, Ubisoft released as a part of Ubidays a new trailer for there upcoming Prince of Persia game, the trailers provide a glimpse of the game wich would be coming onto the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC this holiday season.

According to the people at Kotaku, God of War III is to feature online play.

Eagle-eyed reader Byron has pointed us towards a job listing on SCEA’s website, for an "Online Gameplay Programmer", who will "join the team behind the critically acclaimed AAA titles "God of War" and "God of War II." Interesting, interesting. That doesn’t say online programmer, it says online gameplay programmer. Anyone for a Kratos v Kratos battle for loin-cloth supremacy?

[God Of War III To Feature Online Play? via Kotaku]

Kotaku has received an email from CEO Dick Fontaine, informing them that President Steve Morgan would be resigning from the company.

Email:

After 7 productive years with GameStop, Steve Morgan has made the decision to reapply his energy and drive outside out GameStop Steve will officially be leaving the company on May 2nd 2008. Steve has stated from the very first day we discussed his position with our merged company that his goal was to head up a company as a CEO. After two and half very successful years as our President he now feels that the time is right to pursue his objective.