Despite having previously stated that trilogy’s exclusiveness is “in the question”, the Mass Effect series lead project director, Casey Hudson revealed that the trilogy, just like how it started, will finish on Microsoft’s platform. When questioned about the trilogy going multi-platform, Hudson had a couple of choice words:

“You get the Xbox 360 or your PC, but the Xbox 360 is the one that’s going to run out of time at some point, and you create your character and play through an entire trilogy on that platform,” Hudson told GameZone.

As early last week, Hudson did revealed that he’s expecting a “short turnaround” with the development of third installment into the trilogy, meaning that after the release of Mass Effect 2, development should begin shortly after. Be that as it may, this news still confirms a multi-platform Mass Effect 3; it doesn’t detract from there being one.

Netflix plans to continue its domination of the video streaming market with its newest partnership, introducing its steaming service onto the Wii. According to Netflix, the program is scheduled to release onto Nintendo’s platform this spring, and it will require consumers to reserve a disc in-order to participate (they also must have an account, of course).

“Our research shows that 86 percent of all U.S. Wii consoles are located in the living room,” said Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime. “The Wii console is the social hub around which friends and family members gather to play games and have fun. Soon both new and longtime Wii owners will enjoy the benefits of Netflix – and a variety of informational and entertainment options – by being Netflix members and connecting their consoles to the Internet.”

The partnership between the two companies will extend the reach of Netflix, thanks in-part to the mainstream popularity of the Wii. The Netflx program will be available on the platform this spring and, to enable the streaming, consumers will need an instant-streaming disc, which is currently available at no additional cost to subscribers via the Netflix’s website.

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.”

Modern Warfare 2 has surpassed sales expectations, selling an estimated 4.7 million units within the first 24 hours; that’s an estimated $310 million in profit within 24 hours. As it turns out, people have been rushing onto Xbox Live to play Modern Warfare 2, respectively, with their friends; pushing the amount of online users to “record breaking heights”.

In a post on his Twitter account, Xbox Live’s Larry “Major Nelson” Hryb said that, “Over TWO MILLION people [were] connected to the [online] service at once”, something that has never been done before on any online platform; setting a new record for most concurrent users for the service.

In the few past week, rumors have been speculating at a public beta for Bad Company 2, however, the rumors weren’t clarified. That is until now. Exclusively for the PlayStation 3, starting November 19, PlayStation 3 gamers will be able to experience the unprecedented action, destruction, vehicular warfare, squad play and open sandbox environments that only Bad Company 2 can deliver in the form of a private multiplayer beta.

The Battlefield: Bad Company 2 multiplayer beta will feature the “Arica Harbor” map, where up to 24 players can compete in one of the game’s four intense multiplayer modes called “Rush”. The new map displays a superb balance of vehicle and infantry combat, as the American assault unit attacks the Russian army base with full force, advancing further through a beautiful desert town and towards the industrial area in a desperate attempt to overtake the Arica Harbor.

“This is an outstanding opportunity for PlayStation gamers to get early access to one of the most action-packed and polished shooters in the marketplace with Battlefield: Bad Company 2,” says Rob Dyer, SVP, Publisher Relations, SCEA. “We’re happy to help DICE achieve their superior level of multiplayer excellence in the game.”

Along with that, early next year, players worldwide will be able experience Bad Company 2 when DICE releases a multiplayer demo on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC.

With the recent speculation about a third Killzone, a dutch television shows’ commentator made it known that Guerrilla Games is indeed working on another Killzone on PlayStation 3; stating that a “the commentator said something remarkable”, reports dutch gaming site PSFocus.

Along with that, the VideoJug commentator also stated that fans could expect the sequel within the next two years – sometime within 2010-2011. “At this moment in the greatest secrecy worked on the sequel to Killzone 2. The release is expected in 2011, perhaps even in 2010,” said the commentator, translated by Google.

Personally, I would love to see another Killzone. Along with that, I would love to see a Killzone 3 with cooperative play. Sony has yet to comment on the rumors.

This hasn’t been officially confirmed yet. After the recent speculation about Gran Turismo 5 featuring a track editor, Polyphony Digital has “confirmed” that the sequel will indeed feature a track editor; allowing players to edit and create tracks.

“Yes it will have a track editor. You will be able to rebuild a track from scratch or edit the tracks that are already put in Gran Turismo 5,” a Polyphony Digital spokesperson confirmed to Everything 4 Gamers. However, any other details about the track editor haven’t been revealed, but, hopefully, soon we’ll see some details.

They then when on to talk about the game receiving a “simultaneous release” worldwide. Responding: “Sorry, we can’t give out any of that information at the moment. You will just have to wait and see.”  We’ve contacted Sony to see if any of these details are true.

Update: The reports are incorrect. According to a picture taken of the magazine (click to view NSFW), Beyonetta didn’t actually get that “prefect score”. Instead, Beyonetta manage at total of 38 points out of 40 – 40 being the highest that any game can receive from the magazine.

Original: While we’re anticipating its release here in the United States, over in Japan, Famitsu has handed Bayonetta a “perfect score” – which isn’t a honor handed out freely by the magazine.

Until today, only eleven (well, now twelve) games have ever been given that honor by the magazine. So this kind of a big deal. However, within the last two years [2008-2009] three games have been given this honor, which leaves one to question the scoring by Famitsu.

[Famitsu Awards Bayonetta A Perfect Score via Kotaku]

Borderlands has yet to hit store shelves. But, that hasn’t stopped its developer, Gearbox, from announcing its first episode of downloadable content, “Zombie Island of Dr. Ned” – which seems to have more of a Halloween “niche” then anything else.

As planned to be “the first in a series” of downloadable content for Borderlands, Zombie Island of Dr. Ned will set you back a total of $10 on all three platforms, including PlayStation 3, PC and Xbox 360. Here’s the description:

“Tasked with keeping the workers of Jakobs Cove alive, Dr. Ned (who is not related to Dr. Zed from Fyrestone) does his job a little too well, creating zombies and other abominations that now run rampant in this region. Players will have to work alongside Dr. Ned as they embark on a quest to cure the inhabitants of Jakobs Cove in this full-fledged expansion filled with new enemies, new quests and rare loot drops.”

Having not played Borderlands, this seems like a huge risk for the developers over at Gearbox because no one knows if the game is good, or bad. However, from the looks of things, it seems that Borderlands is more good then anything else. With that said, Zombie Island of Dr. Ned is do out “later this year”.

While it’s still unsure when we’ll be getting Gran Turismo 5 in North America, Kazunori Yamauchi has stated that they could release Gran Turismo 5 right now. However, Polyphony Digital won’t be doing that. You see, the studio wants to make sure that it has “that classic GT feel”, the studio head explains Famitsu.

“We could release it any time we want,” he tells Famitsu. But, Polyphony Digital is more interested in making the overall experience prefect for everyone that’s going to be buying the game, translates 1UP. However, although “daily progress is slow,” the Japanese developer insures that “[the game's] still going forward at a steady clip.”

With that said, this is excellent news, even if we still have to wait for a solid release date.

[Thanks to Joystiq]

There’s no doubt in our minds that Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker is going to blow our expectations, and the competition away when it releases next year. However, knowing Kojima, he has something surprising that we haven’t seen before to excite fans of Peace Walker.

When talking to Famitsu Magazine, Kojima took the time to tease at a “major” feature that will be unveiled in Peace Walker. “There is a system which haven’t been revealed yet, and it will be a surprise,” Kojima said to the magazine, reports PS3 Center.

Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker is due out in 2010 exclusively for the PlayStation Portable. And with this news, we’re convinced that Peace Walker be worthy of a purchase when it releases, once again, in 2010.

We recently sat down with Martin Wahlund (CEO, Fatshark) to talk about their upcoming downloadable title, Lead & Gold: Gangs of the Wild West – a third person multiplayer-oriented shooter aiming to give players “a chance to relive the thrills of a gunfight in classic western settings.”. Enjoy.

GCO: What’s the general idea behind Lead & Gold?

Martin Wahlund: To deliver a fun and good looking multi-player game with strong game modes that suits the western setting well. This, at a very good price for the players.

GCO: People have called Lead & Gold “Team Fortress meets the old west”, what do you have to say about that?

MW: It is not that far off. Team Fortress is great and there are many common elements in the games but also many differences.

GCO: Lead & Gold is a team based multi-player experience. Please describe some key elements in the game.

MW: Team play. You win as a team or lose as a team. Another key element is the class that you chose to play, it dictates the way you play in each scenario.

The in-game leveling system is also something that stands out; you get experience from completing mission objectives or killing enemies. The character then, evolves by gaining improved synergies.

GCO: Does Lead & Gold have some kind of perk system, much like that in the Call of Duty games?

MW: Not directly. The closest thing is the synergies that the characters get when you level up your character in each scenario.

GCO: We’ve noticed that Lead & Gold uses the same engine as GRIN’s Bionic Commando. Were there any setbacks caused by GRIN’s closing during development?

MW: Well, we worked close with GRIN and it was a shame to see the studio close down but we are still alive and kicking.

GCO: Is there support for dynamic (explosive) environment in the game?

MW: In some sense, yes. You can destroy certain objects with a well placed powder keg. It could be a wind mill or a door.

GCO: Going back to perks. Is there a class system?

MW: Yes. There are 4 main classes in the game at release, the trapper, the blaster, the deputy and the gunslinger. All of them have a special ability for example the trapper can set traps. We hope to release more characters as downloadable content in a near future.

GCO: When can we expect Lead & Gold to release?

MW: Q1 2010.

GCO: Thanks for your time.

If you were wondering how much motion control Resident Evil 5: Alternative Edition would use, Capcom’s PR (Public Relations) boss Chris Kramer relayed to GameTrailers that Alternative Edition, the motion controlled version of Resident Evil 5 for PlayStation 3, will use motion control “from top to bottom” – meaning for all movement featured in the game.

“They’re going to be using motion controller on PS3 from top to bottom, going in from movement to combat,” Kramer told GT. “I’ll be very interested to see it in practice.” During the interview, Kramer did note that he hasn’t seen Resident Evil 5: Alternative Edition fully using motion control, however, he did say that, that’s what they told him.

Kramer then went onto talk about Capcom using Natal in future games. “I haven’t heard anything about Natal right now,” he continued. “The team’s said it’s focusing on motion control support for the PlayStation 3 platform, and they’re thinking very hard about what they can offer to be of an equal level of interest for 360 players.”

[Thanks to VG24/7]

Update: Microsoft has revealed much needed information about the second disc that will come encased with Forza Motorsport 3 saying that players will be able to play the whole career on disc one, and that the second disc is just extra content.

“The game comes on two discs, but you can play through the whole career on disc 1. Disc 2 is just additional content, ie extra cars and tracks,” a spokeperson told GamerCenterOnline. Or, in other words, Forza Motorsport 3 has alot of “extra content”.

Original: Because not all the cars and tracks could fit onto one disc, Turn 10 had to split Forza Motorsport 3 onto two discs. The first disc is most of the game, which features most of the tracks and about 300 cars, and the second you’ll need to install the onto the hard dive or memory card to get the remaining 104 cars and 29 tracks, reports IGN.

When you insert the first disc, the game will ask if you want to install the second disc, which takes up 1.9 GB of space. However, if you don’t have that much space on your hard dive, you can choose pieces of disc two to install – in which it’s broken up into four packs, much like downloadable content (IGN has a list).

After that, the game reads it and adds in the content seamlessly to the game. If you don’t have them stored onto your hard dive or memory card, you won’t see the content offline or online. We’ve contacted Microsoft to learn more about these packs, and if they’ll be fully available right at the games launch.

Polyphony Digital certainly won’t be winning any races for releasing Gran Turismo 5, that’s for sure. But, the developer has been kind enough to keep us updated with all the soils featured in Gran Turismo 5. With that said, during the Tokyo Game Show, Sony and Polyphony finally attached a release target for Gran Turismo 5.

Announcing that the racer will mostly launch in Japan come in March 2010. And that the game will mostly release in other regains “not that much later”, says series creator Kazunori Yamauchi.

“I don’t think it’s going to be that much later in the US and Europe,” Yamauchi said. “This is based on our production schedule. The reason why the dates for the US and [European] regions are not decided yet is because their marketing is still discussing their issues. It shouldn’t be too far off from [the Japanese] date for the other regions as well.”

[Gran Turismo 5 probably coming to US, EU in early 2010 - Polyphony via GameSpot]

The Alternative Edition of Resident Evil 5 may have sparked a bit jealousy within 360 owners. However, during a Darkside Chronicles stage event at the Tokyo Game Show, producer Jun Takeuchi talked about new content that will be added to the 360 version of Resident Evil 5.

The new content that he mention was an added mission to the 360 version Resident Evil 5, which originally served a as flashback scene; with Chris and Jill duking it out with Wesker in the mansion. 360 owners may not have the availability of motion control yet. However, according to Dengeki, Capcom plans on offering the new content in “a different form” to 360 owners.

Released during the Tokyo Game Show, the newest The Last Guardian trailer is home to the a “hidden message” that Fumito Ueda, founder of Team ICO, would like to convey to the fans. In an interview with Dengeki, Ueda said that the hidden message that he wanted to convey to the fans was Toriko’s “natural movement”.

“This trailer’s all about the giant eagle Toriko, as you can see,” Ueda told Dengeki. “I wanted to show how it moves naturally. I don’t know whether you’ve noticed or not, but every body part is animated. Toriko’s whiskers move and after a while its ears move independently. I wanted fans to notice those movements.”

Reviewing the TGS trailer, he wasn’t lying about the characters natural movement. Even in the announcement trailer back at E3, the characters natural movement was very explicit. Obviously, Ueda’s art is sometimes hidden, but he’s a true artist none the less. We can’t wait to see more on The Last Guardian.

Sony has dropped a massive bombshell for PlayStation Portable owners today. During their TGS press conference, Sony announced a miniature version of PlayStation Home called Room – the two “o”s are actually an infinity symbol (“R∞M”).

“PlayStation Room” (shown above) features avatars, live blogs, photo albums and social networking. Along with, Chat, mini-games, and real-time communication. Room is being tested in Japan right now because Room is more inline to what Japanese gamers want, however, we’re fairly certain that it will come to North America, sometime in the future.

During Microsoft‘s E3 ’09 keynote, they revealed the long awaited and rumored sequel, Crackdown 2. However, it isn’t until now – the Tokyo Game Show – that we’re getting to see the first pair of screenshots, and, well, they’re freaking amazing.

[nggallery id=31]

Activision revealed today that Blur, the company’s highly anticipated foray into the racing genre, is now scheduled to ship in 2010. Stating that they’re moving Blur from 2009 to give the development team at Bizarre Creations more time to enhance the game’s online multiplayer gameplay component.

“We are committed to making Blur a great new racing franchise, and we are very encouraged by the game’s design,” stated Mike Griffith, President and CEO, Activision Publishing. “The additional time will allow the studio to fully optimize the vision they set out to create for Blur including a distinctive and groundbreaking multiplayer mode that will appeal to a broad audience.” Blur is now scheduled to release sometime in 2010.

In the shadow of the recent announcement of Star Ocean on PlayStation 3, Square Enix confirmed that its upcoming action-RPG NieR will release in two versions; NieR Gesthalt for the Xbox 360, and NieR Replicant for the PlayStation 3. However, during the past couple of weeks, the names recently made an appearance, but no clarifications were made, at that time.

Details are incredibly light at the moment on the two versions. But, what we do know is that both versions have their NieR character attempting to find a cure for a character who has a mysterious illness. Hopefully, all will be cleared up at next week’s Tokyo Game Show, where the Xbox 360 version will be playable.

The upcoming month of October is loaded with potentially excellent titles, one of those titles, absolutely, being Codemasters‘ Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising. However, little is known about the games Multiplayer component, until know.

In a report posted by The Lost Gamer, it revealed that the entire campaign can be played cooperatively; you can enlist “up to three other online Marines and take on the opposition.” Each mission can be played with a different fire team so don’t worry about leading one team through the entire campaign, which is a plus – if there’s quitters.

Dragon Rising is home also to a PVP (Player Vs Player) system. In this mode, you can set yourself up with three AI controlled Marines and go head to head against a friend or foe. The game also features two other modes of play called Annihilation and Infiltration, which will see you and your merry band of soldiers engage in the ultimate wargame across Skira Island.

Annihilation will see both teams start at either end of the battlefield with the ultimate arsenal of weaponry at their disposal and then its a fight to the death with the winning team being the last man standing. Infiltration on the other hand will see one team holding a location on the map whilst the other team will take on the role of a covert Special Forces squad and its their job to take over the location. Dragon Rising releases on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC on October 6th.

Taking a momentary break from his “fast paced” third-dimensional action, SEGA revealed their plans to take Sonic back to his two-dimensional (2D) roots. In order to answer the fans demands for a new 2D Sonic game, SEGA stated that this is a Sonic game for “old-school Sonic fans”, and that it’s briefly named “Project Needlemouse“.

“Old-school Sonic fans have long asked to see Sonic return to a more 2D style of gameplay,” said Ken Ballough, associate brand manager at Sega America. “Many liked the daytime stages in “Unleashed,” but wanted to see a game that plays purely similar to the early games of the Genesis. “Project Needlemouse” is that critical first step that brings Sonic back to his 2D roots.”

Although the new Sonic game wasn’t explicitly named, the trailer features many signature sounds and effects from the original games, which showes that the game is really being made for ”old-school Sonic fans”. The new game will viewed in 2D and in HD, however, no platforms were announced. So we’re left wondering if “Needlemouse” will be a traditional $60 boxed game or a download-only title. I guess we’ll see when the game releases in 2010.

Increasing the presents of the game, Rockstar revealed a new character that will be featured in Grand Theft Auto: The Ballad of Gay Tony, Tony “Gay Tony” Prince – who is obviously a main character in the game – via a trailer.

The exclusive 360 episode, Grand Theft Auto: The Ballad of Gay Tony, will put players in the role of Luis Lopez, as his part-time hoodlum duties are supplemented by full-time work for nightclub impresario Tony “Gay Tony” Prince. The Ballad of Gay Tony will release on Xbox LIVE this October for $19.99 or 1600 MS points and requires players to have Grand Theft Auto IV for Xbox 360 and Xbox LIVE membership to download.

With its anticipated release next month, fans have been waiting for a chance to finally see The Ballad of Gay Tony in action ever since it was announced back in May. That’s why Rockstar has announced today that they’ll doing exactly that, and have released the first ever trailer for The Ballad Of Gay Tony, “You’ll Always Be The King Of This Town”.

The Ballad of Gay Tony will release on Xbox LIVE this October for $19.99 or 1600 MS points and requires players to have Grand Theft Auto IV for Xbox 360 and Xbox LIVE membership to download.

I’m really starting to wonder what “breaking an Xbox Live sales record” really means because, every week, this seems to be the issue. Anyway, adding to the list of many Xbox Live record breakers, Microsoft today dubbed Chair Entertainment‘s action-adventure game Shadow Complex “the most downloaded single-player title in Xbox Live Arcade history,” meaning that it has planted itself as an “XBLA sales record breaker”. So, from us here at GamerCenterOnline. Shadow Complex… we congratulate you. O yeah, by the way, Microsoft hasn’t revealed your sales numbers yet (that’s just there for all of you that were hoping they would).

Rockstar have been quite and it hasn’t said much about much about newest expansion to Grand Theft Auto IV, The Ballad of Gay Tony, ever since it was announced back in May. However, in recent weeks, they have been going all out, even releasing the first pair of screenshots and its release date. In this coming week, you’ll get to see more.

On Tuesday, September 1, they’ll finally release the first trailer for The Ballad of Gay Tony, which will be featured with the Episodes from Liberty City trailer.  The Episodes from Liberty City is a disc-based version featuring both The Lost and Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony add-ons for Xbox 360. Once again, the trailer will release on Tuesday, September 1.

We were a bit disappointed when Sony confirmed that the PSP Go wouldn’t come bundled with Rock Band Unplugged like we previously heard. Now, we know as to why Sony didn’t bundle the game with the PSP Go. Anyway, instead of the full game, you’ll receive a “voucher” for an exclusive demo of the title. But, wait there’s more.

Sony has stated, on the PlayStation.Blog, that Rock Band Unplugged Lite – yes, that’s what the demo’s called – is basically a demo of the game that allows you to play five tracks from the complete game. However, it will accept downloads from the Rock Band Unplugged store, effectively allowing players to build a track list of their own, which is great news.

Presented by Timbaland and developed by the studio behind Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, Rockstar Games has revealed that its music application, Beaterator, will release in North America on September 29 for the PlayStation Portable and the PlayStation Network. But, that’s not all. They even released a video of Timbaland showing the game – shown below.

“I’ve worked closely with Rockstar Games to make something completely unique,” said Timbaland. “Beaterator is like taking my music studio and turning it into a suite of tools anyone can use. We can’t wait to hear the beats people make and share with the world.”

Initially created in 2005 as a Flash application on Rockstar’s website, Beaterator quickly took on a life of its own. Featuring thousands of loops and sounds made by both Timbaland and Rockstar, Beaterator puts the power to make professional-level music at your fingertips in a format that’s portable, accessible and fun.

Microsoft has confirmed that they’ll be getting rid of the Xbox 360 Pro by stopping production of the product all together, which we all ready knew. However, the main attraction here is that they have revealed that the Elite – originally sold at $399 – will get a price drop and will sell for $299.99, and what’s remaining of the Pros will be cut to $249.99. While the hard drive-less Arcade units will remain at $199.

Responding to the news, Microsoft’s Aaron Greenberg had this to say to CNET. “I’m sure some will think this is a response to competitor pricing,” he said. “But we had planned this reduction months in advance. Retail circular ads and store merchandising were all lined up. We wanted to be ready for the holiday season.” However, Microsoft’s decision to reduce the price of the Xbox 360 isn’t a surprise because numerous rumors have been swirling around the internet of a price drop. Expect to see the price drop in effect this Friday.

It’s hard to get that “solid frame-rate”. However, BioWare seems to have found the prefect FPS to make all the little interruptions go away. When being interviewed by VG247, BioWare’s Jesse Houston confirmed that Mass Effect 2 will run at a solid 30FPS.

“If you look at most good shooters, they lock down frame-rate at 30FPS: we’ve done the same thing. Bam. Everything’s 30FPS, streaming is fixed up,” said the associate producer for the game. ”If you remember in Mass 1, if you took a step backwards and you hit a weird stream and it’d pause for a moment. We’ve done a away with that. What you’re seeing here is pulled straight from the game.”

When speaking to Kotaku, Hiromuchi Tanaka, producer on FFXIV, told them that there’s an important issue  keeping them from bringing the title on to the Xbox 360. The “rockblock” that he speaks of is, Microsoft‘s “network policy”.

Since the PlayStation 3 and Windows PC versions allow for cross communication and cross platform play, this is an important issue that Square Enix can not over look. Because it can effect the longevity of the tite on that paffic system, “system” being the Xbox 360. However, Tanaka says that Square Enix is trying to reach an agreement with Microsoft allowing Xbox 360 players to enjoy the game, saying the developer is still “considering” the platform.

Anyway, with that said. It’s no wonder as to why Square Enix hasn’t announced a Xbox 360 version of the game yet. However, we hope that Microsoft can over look this and bring Final Fantasy XIV on to the 360.

Amadeus Arkham, celebrated doctor or demented murderer? You be the judge! With a new video vignette, Eidos Inc. and Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment today reveal the “History of Arkham Asylum” as featured in the upcoming Batman: Arkham Asylum videogame, coming out August 2, 2009 for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC.

With the overwhelming power it will take to run Final Fantasy XIII, Square Enix producer Yoshinori Kitase confirmed that the 360 version of Final Fantasy XIII will ship on multiple discs, as previously thought.

“This is not the final count as we’re still working on it, but we’re aiming for about three discs for the Xbox 360 version,” he stated when talking about the number of discs. After that, he then when on to assure that the two versions of the game will be practically identical, although he did concede that there will be “subtle differences” between the two.

“The 360 version and the PS3 version should be pretty much equal, both in terms of content and the visuals as well,” he continued. ”Since the hardware is different, there might be some subtle differences if you compare screenshots side by side, but the team’s being very careful about the compression of the data and the visuals, so that it’s exactly the same on both.”

Fans have been demanding a reason as to why Konami and Kojima Productions would release the next installment of the Metal Gear Solid saga on to the PSP, instead of releasing  it on the Playstation 3. During the latest episode of the Kojima Productions podcast, Sean Eyestone explained the teams decision to develop Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker for the PSP.

“We want people to go out and socialize with other people. You know physically take your PSP with you, go to your friend’s house and hang out together,” said Eyestone. ”Of course, we could have done co-op, maybe, on PS3 or something like that. But, whenever you do online co-op, that actually, in a way, kind of discourages people from playing together.”

He later stated that, “So not just going home to your respective houses playing online but actually physically coming together, enjoying yourself and kind of recapturing that old-school feel of playing together, enjoying a game together.”

When you put it that way, I’m actualy very happy they did this. Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker will release exclusively on the PSP sometime in 2010.

[Konami explains why Peace Walker is only for PSP via Examiner]

If you live in the United States and you have to an Xbox Live account, boy! do I have some news for you. In an information update posted by Major Nelson, he revealed that Xbox Live members can now access PayPal as a method of payment for Xbox Live Marketplace – that’s if they live in the United States.

Anyway, with this system, you can use PayPal to buy Microsoft Points without having to associate your credit card information to your account.

A couple of things to point out:

PayPal is currently supported for Xbox LIVE users in the U.S. only.
PayPal can only be used to purchase Microsoft Points on Xbox.com.
PayPal accounts are not available for purchasing Microsoft Points on the Xbox 360 console.
You can associate multiple Pay Pal accounts with your Xbox LIVE account.

Speaking exclusively to Gamesindustry.biz, Ubisoft Game Designer Michael de Plater acknowledges that the festive holiday season is a “brutal” duration to release new IPs and that many good games could fall wayside as a result.

“It’s a bit tough to launch a new IP exactly at Christmas when you’re head-to-head with blockbuster sequels. It’s interesting to see a number of big titles, like Heavy Rain, being targeted at 2010 to avoid the Christmas rush,” he explained. “And Ubisoft’s got Ruse coming out in 2010. Even God of War 3′s in 2010, that’s how brutal it is. I mean, you’ve got Assassins Creed 2, Modern Warfare 2, Mass Effect 2.”

“To me, it’s been a period of enormous change, and the last four years I would say has been the time when games have actually surpassed movies as the premium blockbuster entertainment,” he continues.

Speaking of, the summer is basically an empty season for video games. I don’t know why developers and publishers can’t just space things out because, like I said, the summer season is basically empty for video games.

Personally, I hate the fact that I have to install my games onto my PlayStation 3′s hard dive to play them. But, we have been informed by one of the developers at Naughty Dog that Uncharted 2 does not require an installation on to your PS3, which is exciting news for all the installation haters out there.

Anyway, Christophe Balestra has informed people on his twitter, which is somehow the news hub for all the latest gaming related information, that, “Uncharted 2 does not require any install.” Basically, meaning that you can get right into the action.

Along with this announcement, Balestra also revealed that Naughty Dog will be feature that the upcoming GamesCon event. “Naughty Dog will be at GamesCon. One of our artists, who’s German, will make the trip.”

On the Japanese version PSN a game entitled Gomibako, also know as Trash Panic, re-released today. The title is free to download, however, you have to pay 100 yen, or one dollar, for every three lives. You die three times, you have to pay another dollar. The cycle viciously continues until you either decide to stop spending money or stop playing.

Luckily, Trash Panic allows you to gain rewards that are featured in Playstation Home. However, this wasn’t a feature in the original Trash Panic. In the traditional game, you brought the game and played as much as wanted.

Anyway, this is a test run for future games that will run on this pay as you play model. However, is it an alternative for people who play games less and thus do not have to spend as much money as someone who plays regularly? Who knows, but I prefer a to pay for my games up front,  not having to worry about spending another dime.

A recent blog post by The RAM Raider suggested that Eidos is tampering with the review scores of the upcoming Batman: Arkham Asylum game, or rather, “artificially hyping up” its forthcoming release. However, Eidos is claiming that there’s no truth to the matter of “tampering with the review scores”.

“With regards an article posted on RamRaider alleging that Eidos has fixed review scores for Batman: Arkham Asylum, we want to state that no discussions have been held about review scores with any magazines,” said Jon Brooke, Head of UK Marketing, Eidos. “In short there is simply not one shred of truth in this article, except for the title of the game.”

However, back in April the developer stated that it does expect big things from the game. So why would they temper with the review scores?

“We expect Batman Arkham Asylum to not only be the biggest game of the summer but one of the stand-out games of the year,” Brooke told MCV. “It’s as close to perfect as we’ve ever come, it looks amazing, plays beautifully and has a rich twisting storyline with enormous replayability. I’m confident enough to say that it will set a new benchmark for licensed games and it’s going to establish itself as one of our best games ever.”

[Eidos: No truth in Batman review score fixing claim via Video Gamer]

Ever since the MechWarrior 4 expansion pack released in 2002, fans have been waiting, hoping for another MechWarrior title to cool their Mech fighting needs. Now, seven years later, their prayers, and hopes, have been answered.

First shown via a teaser trailer, we can now confirm that there is a new MechWarrior title in development at Piranha Games, who recently HELPED with the newest Transformer title.

Anyway, this new title is simply entitled MechWarrior, and will serve as a reboot for the franchise. You’ll still be piloting mechs, but the developers reckon that current console technology will for the first time let you feel like you’re really behind the sticks of a giant fighting robot.

They’re also shooting for a “dynamic battlefield”, and rather than feature a food chain of mechs, instead want to let players choose a style of mech and then upgrade that to suit their tastes as they progress through the game. MechWarrior is coming to the PC and Xbox 360, with no details yet on either a publisher or a release time frame.

[New Mechwarrior Game Confirmed, Will Reboot Series via Kotaku]

The addicting team squad based role playing game Fat Princess was originally slated for a June release, which happens to be this month. However, sadly, it turns out that, that isn’t going to be happening. But, they haven’t left us hanging in the rain.

Instead, it will be out “at some point [during the] summer” – I know, that does sound like an exact date [/sarcasm]. Along with this, they stated that its release will be a worldwide one.

[Mike Kebby via Euro PS Blog]

First announced way back in September of 2007, Gearbox Software has finally settled on a release for Borderlands – and it couldn’t of came at sooner time.

When speaking to Shacknews in a recent interview, developer Gearbox Software revealed that it’s targeting a October release for its post-apocalyptic shooter-RPG Borderlands.

“Borderlands represents an important evolutionary leap in game design and technology,” said Christoph Hartmann, President of 2K. “By utilizing revolutionary new technology to create thousands of unique, randomly generated missions, weapons and situations, Borderlands will raise the bar for next gen action games.”

This game looks better and better every time we talk about it. Crackdown’s 2 product page on Xbox.com has some details not revealed during Microsoft’s E3 Keynote. And these details are juicy.

The sequel is to have four-player co-op and competitive multiplayer for up to 16 people.

The games developer said earlier this week that it “takes multiplayer gaming to unprecedented levels for the ultimate co-op and competitive multiplayer experience”.

Valkyria Chronicles has seem to have hit gold within the month of April with a huge sales jump from its predecessor month March, skyrocketing the game into best-seller lists, off of store shelves.

In the month of April alone, Valkyria Chronicles sales in North America increased by over 400% from, once again, March.

Half a year after a game is out, being able to say that sales doubled is a fantastic thing – that sales suddenly tripled is even more rare, said SEGA.

The burning hot sales can be attributed to community contests, DLC and the temporary price drop to $30.

Beside reports stating that the game is an on going discussion, during the Microsoft keynote, Microsoft unveiled Crackdown 2 via a trailer.

Coming exclusively to Xbox 360 in 2010, Crackdown 2 will take multiplayer2 gaming to unprecedented levels for the ultimate cooperative and competitive multiplayer experience, providing you and your friends with the complete freedom to explore, destroy and play as you return to restore justice and peace to Pacific City — by any means necessary.

Remember Game Fuel? Well, it seems Mountain Dew is teaming up with folks over at World of Warcraft - instead of the people at Halo – to release two brand new flavors, which are Alliance Blue and Horde Red. These products will be available for a limited time, so they’re sure to be collectibles as well.

In addition, Dew and World of Warcraft have created an interactive microsite where they’re giving away swag and free trial memberships to World of Warcraft. You can check it out here: http://www.mountaindewgamefuel.com/

Lets state the obvious, we all know that developers are working on more games then they have announced, but with a developer like Realtime Worlds you can’t help but wonder what have the been working on the low, low?

Anyway, with a game like Crackdown under his belt, ex-Realtime Worlds developer Ross Nicoll revealed the projects that he has spent time working on at Realtime Worlds. And one of the games he spent time working on was an “unannounced project” for Realtime Worlds.

Here’s his work bio via his LinkedIn: “Started out At VIS Entertainment in 2003. Moved to Realtime Worlds in 2005. Member of the Crackdown audio team that won the 2007 “Best Use of Audio” BAFTA award. After Crackdown, I worked on APB, and another unannounced project. Left Realtime in Feb 2009 to take on the role of Audio Design Lead at Ruffian Games – www.ruffiangames.com.”

Another interesting point: Rumors have been floating about that Ruffian Games was formed to work on Crackdown 2. So, what is the “unannounced project”. We know that they are still working on it.

[APB Devs Working On Another Game? via Kotaku]

Talk about a bold statement. Developer Bethesda Games, know for the Fallout titles, are feeling pretty good about their newest project with Splash Damage in Europe, enough to call it a both a “genre-breaker” and a “killer app.”

“We’re not announcing the name yet, but it’s a first-person shooter. That’s a product that we believe is a genre-breaker, it’s a real killer app,” European managing director Sean Brennan told GamesIndustry.biz.

“From a quality perspective we’re pitching that along the same lines as Fallout 3. We’ve kept it under lock and key, there are so many innovative features in there we don’t want to reveal them too soon. We’ve spent significant resources developing the title. And that’s a great example of our European work.”

So what’s Capcom planning for this years E3? Well, that’s a question you don’t need to ask anymore.

Capcom has announced which games they will be showcasing at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) on June 2-4. This list shows the two unnamed unannounced titles, which was reported going to surprise you, and the other we’ll see coming. The list also shows all of their high anticipated upcoming games. 

Here’s the list; Bionic Commando (PC); Dark Void (PC, PS3, X360); Dead Rising 2 (PC, PS3, X360); Fate/Unlimited Codes (PSP); Lost Planet 2 (PC, X360); Marvel vs Capcom 2 (PSN, XBL); Mega Man Star Force 3: Black Ace (DS); Mega Man Star Force 3: Red Joker (DS); Monster Hunter Freedom Unite (PSP); Resident Evil Archives: Resident Evil (Wii); Resident Evil: Darkside Chronicles (Wii); Spyborgs (Wii); Street Fighter IV (PC); Untitled Mystery Game #1; Untitled Mystery Game #2.

Today, at the Xbox 360 Spring Press Conference in Tokyo, Yoshihisa Kanesaka of Namco Bandai took the stage to revealed their upcoming game, Magna Carta 2 – which is only releasing on the 360.

Along with the reveal of the game, he also showed the first game play for the game (located below). Magna Carta 2 is expected to release in Japan on 8/6/2009, and Japanese pre-order-ers will get a special visual book for doing so.

However, no word has been given on if we’re going to see an American release, but it’s likely that we are going to be getting one.

It was a recipe for success: one of the biggest franchises in gaming, on the most popular platform available, leaving rest to positive reviews.

Well, that wasn’t the case with Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars because the other day reports started coming in that the title is under has sold 100,000 units in the U.S. – a total of about 89,000 units. That compares to 805,000 units of “Pokémon Platinum” sold on the DS by Nintendo from its March 22 launch through April 4.

But, however, GameStop says that the game is ‘exceeding [their] expectations’.

“‘GTA: Chinatown Wars’ is exceeding our expectations and illustrating the power of the franchise on a new platform,” GameStop spokesman Chris Olivera said in an e-mail to MTV News. “We’ve seen a solid lift in sales of ‘Chinatown Wars’ following the launch of the DSi and believe that the product will continue to enjoy a long life at our stores as the buzz around the new handheld gaming experience continues to grow.”

Most likely one of the biggest franchises that Sony has ever released, has been announced, recently, to be heading to the PSP. However, we have been given the quiet eye when it comes to details on any part of the game. Until now.

In an interview with Pocket Gamer, MotorStorm: Arctic Edge director Richard Ogden revealed that the game will support eight player multi player. But, the PlayStation 2 version will feature a ‘split screen for two player races’.

“The PSP version will have Ad Hoc and Infrastructure Mode multiplayer for as many as eight players, whereas the PS2 has split screen for two player races at home on the sofa. The PS2 version will also have uprated graphical content to suit its technical capabilities and bigger screen area,” said Ogden.

Final Fantasy XIII has been a long time coming and, as you know, Square Enix’s title has a huge burden on its shoulders. With five years of hard work along with time and money invested, the latest full chapter of the Final Fantasy series needs to deliver on all levels.

“There is an unusual sort of pressure on Final Fantasy XIII,” said producer Yoshinori Kitase when speaking to Edge Magazine. “I’d say we need this game to have ten times the success of these smaller titles.”

“But I don’t think that means we’ve compromised in terms of the game design or creativity in any way. Indeed, the development of the game has very much followed in the tradition of the previous titles in the series, welcoming input from the full range of development staff.”

FFXIII has been in development for about five years now. The demo will be out in Japan later this month.

[EDGE Magazine via EDGE]

In what really is a shocking turn of events, it seems that UbiSoft has released the teaser for their upcoming, and soon to be announced game, Assassin’s Creed 2.

But, that isn’t all to this announcement, apparently the teaser is home to some many hints to the games setting and time-line. Here they are; the teaser site has some Da Vinci-esque imagery going on, which hopefully means that it’s taking place within the Da Vinci era in Italy; and there is also the mention of “Animus” within the teaser site.

Sounds exciting, doesn’t it? We’ll just have to wait for the next issue of Game Informer for more details.

In reports yesterday, that were from GDC, it was read that Massive Action Game, aka MAG, was an “iteration of SOCOM”. So GamersDigest when to investogate the statements made at the event.

When speaking to Cindy Bowens, the community manager at SCEA, she clarified the comments made.

“I just wanted to give you a heads up in response to the quote about MAG being an ‘iteration of SOCOM,” she told GD. “I wanted to clarify that this is a misstatement. MAG is a brand new IP and is unrelated to SOCOM… It is not a sequel nor built upon SOCOM. It will be a brand new experience.”

Trust us when we say that this isn’t a Apirls fools joke. Today, Sony has announced that Jak and his mischievous sidekick Daxter are back together, and for the first time-ever on the PSP and PS2 in Jak and Daxter: The Lost Frontier.

Prepare for non-stop action and adventure as the duo travel across mysterious lands and take to the sky on a mission to save their planet from destruction.

Picking up from where the original Jak and Daxter trilogy left off, Jak and furry friend Daxter team up with their friend Kiera on her quest to become a Sage and save their world from the threat of darkness. As the environment of their planet slowly dies, our two worldly heroes embark on a mission to protect their world from the threat of ‘dark eco’. Jak and Daxter: The Lost Frontier will release on both platforms this Autumn.

A THQ rep has confirm with us today that Red Faction: Guerrilla has been given a release date of June 9, 2009.

Along with that, we were told that a demo will be releasing on April 23th with any GameStop pre-order of the game, which gives you about three weeks before its release date. 

In Red Faction: Guerrilla, the protagonist Alec will be able to run, jump, hijack vehicles, and use weapons to traverse across the open world of Mars and fight the EDF (Earth Defense Force).

Weapons in the game will include; machine gun turrets, rocket turrets, remote charges, a sledgehammer, machine guns, along with many others. Red Faction: Guerrilla will feature a third-person point of view - all previous Red Faction games were played from  a first-person perspective.

It makes prefect sense that we’d be getting the sequel to one of the best DS games of last year, Professor Layton and the Curious Village, it was just about a matter of time until the announce it for our regain.

At the Game Developer Conference, Level 5 head of publishing Akihiro Hino told the audience, when being asked, he wants all six Layton games to eventually come out in the U.S. and Europe. If we do the math, this means that there are six Layton games in the works – one of them being the recently revealed Professor Layton and the Devil’s Flute.

Ending on that statement, he also revealed that the are currently working on on the localized version of Diabolical Box, and they hope to release it in the next six months.

Besides all the controversy over the game’s downloadable content not being free, and that it didn’t come with the full retail version of the game. We can, without a doubt, tell you that the downloadable content for Resident Evil 5 has indeed been delayed, which Capcom announced this morning.

Earlier this month, Capcom announced Resident Evil 5′s ‘versus mode’ DLC will becoming to the market, which means that it’s going to be on both PSN and Live – sorry for the messed up translation. They also revealed the games prices on the system’s marketplaces ($5 on the Playstation Network and 400 Microsoft Points on Live).

They have announced that it has changed its released date to April 9, according to Capcom’s Japanese notice – it’s only for Japan kids. “We deeply apologize to those customers who have been waiting for this down loadable content,” Capcom states.

We can’t wait for BioWare’s newest project, but, really, when are they going to release anything about the game’s plot? I mean we already know its links up with the ending of the first Mass Effect – thanks to the ever so revealing teaser trailer for the game.

Anyway, it seems like we have some more in depth details about the games plot – it not an official reveal tho. In the Amazon listing for the upcoming sequel, Mass Effect 2, it ‘leaked’ what seems to be the plot details for the game.

The second chapter in the Mass Effect trilogy “takes you to the darkest reaches of space, where you must uncover the mystery behind the disappearance of humans across many worlds.

“Prepare yourself for a suicide mission to save mankind. Travel the galaxy to assemble a team of soldiers and combat specialists, and launch an all-out assault on the heart of enemy territory.”

In an attempt to divert from the ways of the first BioShock, a company spokesperson has revealed 2K Games’  plans to release the game ‘simultaneous’ on all platforms.

“We’re aiming for simultaneous release on all platforms (Xbox 360, PS3 and PC),” a company spokesperson told CVG, with the promise of details on the sequel’s illusive multi-player mode “soon enough”, and it really can’t be “SOON ENOUGH”!!! The game is anticipated to be released late 2009.

UbiSoft has confirmed that the sequel to Call of Juarez, Bound in Blood, will be headed towards stores sometime in June, which was stated via a release schedule.

UbiSoft’s release schedule doesn’t give specific dates for each versions, so as of right now the game looks like it will release on PS3, 360, and PC on the same day. It is stated that the game will be a, “bigger and better adventure to fans of shooters and the lawless Wild West.” Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood will release on the PS3, 360 and PC.

The first BioShock title was all about single player even with the latest re-boot on the PS3 stayed within those factors.

In the latest issue of Game Informer, which included some very in-dept info on the upcoming game, Bioshock 2, it revealed plans for a multi player mode and co-op component.

Detailed for the multi player modes aren’t thin on the ice right now, but we believe they will revealed the modes soon.

What happened two weeks ago? What you don’t remember… Well, just so that you know, that’s when Killzone 2 released, however, now it seems that the PS3 exclusive has now sold over 1 million copies.

On the games opening weekend, Killzone 2 went on to sell 700,000 copies in both North America and Europe. And, of course, the following week it went on to sell another 300,000 copies, which, according to the charts, is about over a 50% drop in sales – a pretty decent showing considering the title was launched in a non-holiday sales period.

In total, the game has sold about 1.05 million copies thus far. With it’s Japanese release coming next month, the title should manage to stay on the charts for a while, hopefully.

We have been patiently waiting for sometime now, but still they haven been candid on releasing any details on the title. But, now it looks like they plan to change that with the release of the 200th anniversary edition of PC Gamer mag.

In an CVG report it revealed that in the 200th anniversaryedition of PC Gamer BioShock 2: Sea of Dreams will be unveiled to the public – screenshots and everything.

The ‘next month’ page of PC Gamer issue 199, which is in subscriber’s hands now, promises a “world exclusive” on the 2K sequel, which after all the teasing we’ve been succumbed to this month surely must be the first proper look.

According to vague hints on 2K’s viral website, the second game takes place seven years after the original when a spree of mysterious kidnappings of young girls are cropping up in coastal towns along the Atlantic – and it looks like something from the sea is responsible. PC Gamer 200 will be on shelves on April 9.

Update: Well,  the games producer, Toshihiro Nogashi, revealed on his personal blog that the game has sold over 300,000 units in its first week.

Original: Well, it looks like the game is a true success in Japan because Enterbrain, the publisher of Famitsu, has revealed that Yakuza 3 has sold over 232,000 units in Japan on its first day.

This means that it’s between Metal Gear Solid 4 (465,000) and White Knight Story (207,000) when it comes to first day sales. Also, the series spin off, Yakuza Kenzan, sold only 181,000 copies during its first week on the marketing, meaning that this game has surpassed it.

[[MAJ] Yakuza 3 : c’est déjà un succès via Jeux-Actu]

We all know that Killzone 2 hasn’t released yet, but for those of us that were lucky enough to get the game early it wasn’t fun playing online mainly because the online wasn’t working well.

Anyway, Seb Downie, a producer at Guerrilla Games, announced that later on today a patch will go live fixing the ’931′ error, which displayed while going online in Killzone 2. And well it’s later on and, well, the patch has released.

“We’re on this one and have a good idea why it is occuring,” he says. “There will also be a new patch released in the next two hours to hopefully fix this. In the mean time, stay cool and normal service will resume shortly. This is the only fix included in the patch. You may experience a little bit of down-time both here and on the game servers. It may then take a while for the site and game to repopulate the stats.”

When releasing a new Tony Hawk title nine years in a row, Activision took 2008 off to institute calling it a part of their ‘innovation plan’ for there Tony Hawk series. But, ever since then they have been very ‘no talk’ on the title, but, boy, does time pass and now it seems that we finally get new – rumored – details on the next Tony Hawk title.

When speaking to Variety’s The Cut Scene blog, two anonymous sources, who have reportedly have seen the game first-hand, said that the next Tony Hawk title will abandon controllers altogether, but instead it will be using ‘board-like’ peripheral, which sounds alot like what the Wii’s Balance Board did in Skate it for the Wii.

These sources say that the game will not be so much about requiring precise balancing, but the focus will be more on “grabbing and manipulating the board” to perform tricks. They also say that the Wii version will be getting a Board also, instead of the the Wii’s Balance Board.

These sources also corroborated the rumor that Robomodo – a new development studio primarily formed by ex-members of EA Chicago – are developing both the game and making the new peripheral.

Update: This is only for the European version of the game. There’s no word on if the other versions will be getting the same treatment.

Update 2: It’s still very unsure which version of the game this is for, but we all know it’s not the US version, sigh.

Update 3: This is for the Japanese version of the game following the release of the game on February 26. We are sorry about that, we had though for a second that the game was already released Japan.

Original: The game hasn’t released in the United States, yet, but it seems that SEGA has the downloadable content all figured out. When speaking on the games DLC, SEGA has confirmed its plan for releasing the future downloadable content for Yakuza 3 in a very elaborate manner.

Starting March 5, Sega will offer eight consecutive weeks of extra content for the game. Over the eight week period a total of 29 pieces of content, ranging from special missions to item packs, will make it out to players.

In celebration of the release of the first Downloadable Content for Grand Theft Auto 4, Microsoft has announced a week free of multi-player for Grand Theft Auto 4. The experience will give players the chance to play for a total six days, all together – no more or less.

The deal will start from 9 AM on February 17 and continuing until midnight of February 22 for only players with the ability to access Xbox Live.

The company has planned a full slate of Xbox Live events during the time period including a chance to play the game online with members of the development team at Rockstar Games.

In response to the latest PlayStation Portable 2 rumors, which were started by IGN, a rep from Sony has replied to the, so-called, ‘non-sense’ rumors.

When speaking to TechRadar yesterday, a SCEE rep told them that in no uncertain terms that there were definitely no current plans for a PSP 2, despite IGN’s claims from its unnamed sources.

To quote original IGN article: IGN has learned from several credible sources that the PSP 2 is indeed on the horizon, and will be packing multi-touch technology. According to our sources, the PSP 2 will feature a widescreen multi-touch interface comparable to that of the iPhone for both in-game control and menu navigation.

Resident Evil 5, by far, has shown some very interesting showcases in its video library, but its yet to show something like this. As a timed exclusive to Gamekyo, Capcom has revealed an new story trailer that shows some very important spoilers from Resident Evil 5. The game will be heading your way in March. Also Capcom is planning to release a demo for the game this week so watch out for the demo.

If you will, take a trip back with me to 2001 and, would you kindly, try to remember all the gaming related rumors that were revealed in that year. I know that it’s hard to recollect, but there was one very interesting rumor that I will never forget, and that was the Capcom vs. SNK 3 rumor.

In an interview with Jeux-Actu, Street Fighter IV producer Yoshinori Ono commented on the possibility of Capcom reconsidering the development of Capcom vs. SNK 3. In the interview Yoshinori Ono recalls Capcoms firm focus of unwavering fans of fighting games.

He even goes back far enough recalling being asked about Capcom considering the development of Street Fight IV. With that, he goes into there being a demand for Street Fight IV saying, “because fans demanded it they got it,” or something along that road. And he says that the same may go for Capcom vs. SNK 3, that if fans demand it.

As of lately one thing that has been pushing down the number of new friends I make on Xbox Live is the current 100-friends limit that has been pushed by Microsoft since the release of Xbox Live. But, it looks like Microsoft may have plans to increase the limit of friends you can have on Xbox Live.

When speaking to Joystiq at CES, Xbox director Aaron Greenberg told them that, “I can’t commit to when that will happen, but that is something we want to do. It’s definitely something we’re looking at expanding and, as this social network grows, we’ve absolutely heard the pleas for that. It’s on the list.”

Then he went onto say that how they had thousands of potential friends turn away daily on Xbox Live. And, as he said, it’s on the list so lets see what future plans they have for Xbox Live.

During Sony’s presentation at CES, Guerrilla Game’s Hermen Hulst started talking about AAA titles on the PlayStation 3 that will release this year. In his presentation, on AAA titles, he gave out details that we already knew about the game, like destructible environments, etc., aspect for this one piece of information.

Now, he didn’t official give out this piece of information, but Killzone two will offer most gamers about ten hours of single-player gameplay.

Depending on some other factors like difficulty, your skill level, and weather or not you want to collect all the trophies, this game has some great single-player story detail. Because 10 hours is an average for a game of this nature, which isn’t bad at all.

Sony has alot of upcoming titles for their PlayStation 3 this year, but this is one game that sounds like if it’s too good to pass up.

Apparently, in the pages of the Dutch Official PlayStation Magazine they announced a ‘secret’ project that Sony is planning to reveal next month to them. But, because they are beneath a ‘strict embargo’ they weren’t welling to say anything about the title. But, it does sound pulpy…

“We can’t because of a strict embargo, not yet much lost (or better said entirely nothing), but next month we fly to the US to bring [a new] title for [the] PlayStation 3… [from] Los Angeles,” reads the Dutch Official PlayStation Magazine magazine.

What comes to mind when you think Music based video games? Is it Rock Band or is it Guitar Hero? Or is it Singstar? Well, probably one of the most over looked downfalls in this gaming generation has to be the fixation on the casual gaming market, and sadly this game doesn’t divert from that manner. But, none the less, Lips is a party game that has one of the greatest bonding powers of getting friends and family to play with on another. However, one can only wonder if Lips is going to be just another video game face plant or an instant sensation?

After previous failed attempts by Microsoft at trying to recreate the fun derived from group gaming, with such examples as Scene It! and You’re In the Movies, Lips is another offspring of the guys over at iNiS in Japan, which is known for games like Elite Beat Agents – another party-driven game – and many others. Opinion-wise, I really do not think that it was a great idea to name the game Lips, which brings up the games first downfall. We really don’t think we need to go into detail about that.

However, with the game having a somewhat bad name, it does differ from its predecessors. The game has a start up track of about 40 songs, all of which are master tracks including music videos and select previews. They also have different videos other than the original video made for the song that the gamer can pick from. The game has a multiplayer feature that pits you against another player, or against the computer. As for mics, Lips has two beautifully designed wireless microphones that light up as you sing.

When singing, the upcoming lyrics will be highlighted in gray, and the current lyrics will be highlighted in white. However, in two player mode, where player one is on the top and player two is on the bottom, you sometimes fix your eyes on the gray lyrics if you are player two and end up singing the wrong words, which becomes a problem. Also, when singing in the right pitch and balance, the word bars will be colored in the the color of your mic (ex. player one red, player two blue).

Luckyly, the guys over at iNiS knew that you may not be able to hit all the notes so, unlike other music games, you are unable to fail any songs, which is both its strength and weakness. It’s just like the problem that many people had with Elika from Prince of Persia in his newest adventure. It really takes away from the challenge, I mean would you really want to play a game that does nothing to challenge the gamer? I think not.

If you add all those things together it really does make for a weak single-player experience, but this game is really strong when you play it was a buddy. Which brings me to the co-op and mutliplayer part of the game. When in this mode, you can take on a song with a friend (ex. Umbrella by Rihanna). This song has a better co-op standard then other songs in the game, for example Another One Bits The Dust by Queen. But, lucky the mutliplayer works great for this game.

Closing Statements:

I really had alot of fun playing this game. It is really strong in most aspects of it and will surely keep you playing for hours on hand. The interface is remarkably easy to use, the initial track list is solid, and the microphones are outstanding. But, there is one problem, it does not push itself as being a game that a hardcore gamer would want to pick up and play. The game also has the ability for you to transfer music from your iPod, but what really makes me mad is that you can’t upload music from an iPhone or iTouch. That is one reason we couldn’t put that in our review. Also the quality of the videos are mostly in SD, which doesn’t fit this game at all.

Score: B-

Possessively one of the most rumored games in the passed year, or so, it seems that the sequel to the hit 360 exclusive, Crackdown, maybe coming to reality very soon. It was apparently brought back in to rumor when the all-but-official arrival of Scottish developer Ruffian Games.

The team at Ruffian Games is composed of some of the key members of the original Crackdown development group, which brought up the Crackdown 2 rumor because the company is funded Microsoft.

Now, VideoGaming24/7 is reporting that Realtime Worlds studio head Colin MacDonald has confirmed the developer is in “ongoing” discussions with Microsoft regarding a another Crackdown game, Crackdown 2.

MacDonald said that while an offer to develop a second game hadn’t been made to Realtime Worlds, he “very much” doubts “that Microsoft would harm an otherwise fruitful existing development relationship by gambling on funding Crackdown 2 with a startup on RTW’s doorstep, for obvious reasons.”

A developer that’s best known for their hit car crashing series, once developed a shooter game that was more then amazing to look at, it was amazing to play and the game was simply entitled, Black.

Now, as it was pointed out by x360PlayDiary, on the Criterion games website there was a listing stating a game for a release in 2009 on the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC known as Black: Second Mission, which is most likely the sequel to the Black.

Hopefully soon new information will be disclosed and there will be official confirmation on the game.

Truly Assassin’s Creed was one of the best games of 2007 and we have been waiting for an announcement ever since UbiSoft mandated that there would be a sequel announcement when fans demanded it the most. Well, it looks like the fans have demanded it but this should help them until the official announcement. Yeah, we’ll still have to wait.

During Ubi’s first-half fiscal 2008-09 conference call, which was today, there was a question asked about there being a Assassin’s Creed sequel. While an Ubisoft executive would not confirm the game’s release for fiscal ’10, lead exec did concede that “we are working hard on the product” — CONFORMATION!!!

But, it still seem that Ubi is still keeping to claims that an Assassin’s Creed sequel won’t be released until there is “more anticipation for it.” If you ask me there’s alot of demand for it so what are they waiting for? Anyway, it was confirmed that Altair, the main character of Assassin’s Creed, will be playable in there latest upcoming game, Prince of Persia. However, there was no details given about the game, go figure, but there looks like there’s going to be some very interesting rumors on this game.

It’s funny because when Dead Space was released reviewer’s said that it  was better then Resident Evil. This was because it was the first time in a long time that anyone took a good crack at the horror series. I’m mean Dead Space is a really good game but now that you look at it, the game doesn’t have that long lasting appeal but I’m not here to review. Anyway, the guys over at Gaming Indians had a chance to go hands on with Resident Evil 5 and according to them the game looks alike on both platforms which are the PS3 and 360.

“As expected, Capcom’s proprietary Framework engine churns out some gorgeous visuals. Chris’ model in particular is superb with excellent attention to detail. Sadly, the frame rate in this particular build wasn’t up to the mark. The level also suffered from a few V-sync (screen tearing) issues. Although we only got to play the PS3 version, both versions are expected to look nearly identical when released.”

We all know the game has some “gorgeous visuals” because we have all seen the videos and gameplay. But it’s great to know that Capcom isn’t that byist on platforms. The game going to be amazing and this just adds to the hype, great job Capcom.

Okay. It’s not really ready yet, but it will be making its way onto a console near you very soon, Nov. 19. As of right now, the update is sitting in a sever farm at Microsoft Headquarters just waiting to make its way down your Ethernet cable straight into your 360, but from this video, after the update is complete, you’ll be truly into a the New Xbox Experience. That’s geared to any genre that makes you a gamer. The update is set to bring a profound change that will bring a new ever lasting appeal to a bigger audience.

I don’t know about you, but the last big update of Burnout was just amazing, it added almost everything that the game was missing. But, that was for this year and it looks like Criterion Games is already thinking about ’09, but you may want to know why and I’m here to tell you “because they can.”

According to an official update on the Criterion website, they have already revealed the first big content update for ’09 that will  be added to Burnout: Paradise called Burnout: Paradise Party. The content update is said to add a more social asset to the game by joining players.

The new update will add three new modes Stunt, Speed and Skill. Stunt is exactly what it sounds like, Speed focuses on quick time trials and other timed challenges, while Skill requires you to race through oncoming traffic at maximum speed. They’re also going to pour on some extra Trophies/Achievements, so there’s no reason not to pick up the new Party pack when it becomes available.

[Criterion To Offer New Party Content For Burnout Paradise via PSXextreme]

Microsoft has shipped 22.5m Xbox 360s through September 2008 and should pass the totals of the original Xbox, which shipped 24.7m worldwide, next quarter. This was revealed in Microsoft’s updated system results earlier today for the Xbox 360, the company is reporting that they shipped 2.2m consoles from July 1 to Sept 30 bringing the total number to 22.5m shipped since launch.

For Microsoft, Q1, Q5, and Q9 are the quarters ending December. Given that Q1 was the supply constrained launch in 2005, and that the original Xbox only shipped 24.7m units worldwide, the Xbox 360 should top its predecessor next quarter.

[Microsoft Details July to Sept Results, Xbox 360 to Top Xbox Next Quarter via VGCharts]

That’s right. Sometimes reading does gives you new information even when your not looking for it. According to the newest issue of GamesTM Magazine, Capcom is planning to release the demo for Resident Evil 5 in early 2009. There wasn’t any information given on if it will be the same demo that was shown a E3 or even the Games Convention. So keep an eye out for new information in the upcoming months, we will be contacting Capcom for more information.

Microsoft has revealed the latest figures which was published by Chart Track revealing a massive 214% rise in sales for the Xbox 360 in the last two weeks. The console also outsold the PlayStation 3 by more than two-to-one in the UK.

Here’s what Chris Lewis, Vice President, Interactive Entertainment Business EMEA, had to say: “This data shows that the Xbox 360 trajectory continues upwards, and not just in the UK. We’ve seen uplift in all countries in Europe and are confident that even at this rate of growth we can keep retail satisfied with a steady supply of consoles throughout the Christmas season. Our commitment to continuously improving and innovating new content, our new high-profile marketing campaign and the fact that we’re now the best-value next-gen console on the market with an entry-level ERP of £129.99 combine to make Xbox 360 the right blend of gaming and wider experiences at the right price to offer unparalleled entertainment for everyone. And these figures prove it.”

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