Sony has announced the new motion controller the PlayStation 3, the controller is named as PlayStation MOVE. The controller looks like a wand with a ping pong ball on top of it which changes colours.

PlayStation Move uses the PlayStation Eye camera to track the wand’s position, and inertial sensors in the wand to detect its motion. Although the controller would be implemented on the existing PlayStation 3 console, but at a later stage it can be used as a new platform that would limit itself to motion gaming only.

The main component of PlayStation Move, the PlayStation Move motion controller is a wand controller which enables the user to interact with the PlayStation 3 through their motion and position in front of the PlayStation Eye webcam.

The Controller features a big Ovoid primary button (Move), which is surrounded by the small action buttons on the four sides; you will also notice a regular-sized PS button, arranged in a similar configuration as on the Blu-ray Disc Remote Control. The Remote also has the Start and Select buttons on the side while you will find an analog trigger underside.

The tail of the remote has a wrist strap, USB port, and extension port. The Controller also has the vibration feature which is based on the Haptic-technology. The orb light of the controller can be used to provide visual feedback, simulating aesthetic effects such as the muzzle flash of a gun, or the paint of a brush.

The PlayStation Eye can monitor up to four MOVE controllers at a time. Like any other wireless controller you would need your MOVE, which is done by the PlayStation Move Charging Station where you can charge two units simultaneously.

Another important part of the controlling unit is the Move Sub-Controller which is used for navigation. It is used in conjunction with the Main Controller for certain types of game plays. You will find the sub controller as a replication to the major functionality of the left side of a standard PlayStation Wireless Controller, the PlayStation Move navigation controller features a left analog stick (with L3 button function), a D-pad, and L1 and L2 analog triggers.

The navigation controller also features the action buttons, as well as a PS button. So the navigation controller is similar to the SIXAXIS or DUALSHOCK controller which makes the sub-controller replaceable by any of the former ones during the game play.

A call for Resurgence

Modern Warfare 2 fans be happy! – now much more than just additional battlegrounds to target your enemies with the Resurgence Pack. There are 5 brand new multiplayer maps on the PlayStation 3 shooter.

You can download the Modern Warfare 2 Resurgence Pack from PlayStation Stores now.

Monkey Madness

news just out from PSN, Monkey Island 2 Special Edition: LeChuck’s Revenge on PlayStation 3 lets you go on a fantasia voyage of packed with characters, pirates and great (and humourous) dialogue. It comes packaged in a Special Edition case. Get Monkey Island 2 now.

Marvel at this

You can be a true Marvel hero (or villain) with a marvellous batch of LittleBigPlanet Marvel Comics downloads. The Marvel Level Kit has a collection of treats to set up your perfect comic book flavoured adventure, while an assortment of costumes also await to let you dress up Sackboy as five legendary Marvel characters: Iron Man, Thing, Daredevil, Doctor Octopus and Mystique.

Go on – create a costumed caper by downloading these amazing extras for LittleBigPlanet from PlayStation Store.

Sony Santa Monica has announced it has two new projects in pre-production at the studio: a week before its most recent project, God of War III, launches.

John Hight, product development director at the studio, told MTV:

“We’re jumping right back in, I’ve got a small concept team working on our next product for us.

“We’re actually gonna do something different this time, we’re gonna have a short-term concept, a game that we hope to turn out.”

So when can we expect to hear of this new project?

“I’m not gonna say when.”

Oh.

“But then, we have a much longer term concept team going through, two teams going on at once.

“One with a kind-of long-range, ‘Here’s what we’re gonna do years down the road’, and then another one that’s, ‘Here’s what we’re gonna do as the very next project’.”

Awesome stuff. As for now, God of War III is due out for release next week for PS3.

Source: VG247

God of War III cost a lot of bling-bling. $44 million, to be exact.

Sony Studio Monica’s John Hight revealed the piece of info in a video interview with GiantBomb.

“We are stamping discs now, so we’re effectively done. Just got a couple of countries that we’re finishing up on this week, and we spent $44 million to make God of War III,” he revealed.

Cha-ching!

The reviews embargo broke earlier tonight, with the consensus being “for the love of Christ, buy me.” So yeah, go do that and buy it

God of War III launches next Tuesday in the US and next Friday in the UK.

Thanks, The Dutch Slayer.

Source: VG247

Harmonix and MTV Games today announced that a three pack of songs from The White Stripes, as well as singles from The Futureheads, The James Gang, Shaimus, and Neil Pert will be added next week to the Rock Band Music Store.

Here’s what you’ll get for Xbox 360 and Wii March 9 and PS3 March 11:

The White Stripes Pack 02: Fell in Love with a Girl,, Seven Nation Army, You Dont Know What Love Is You Just Do As Your Told
The Futureheads: Decent Days & Nights, Hounds of Love
The James Gang Joe Walsh, ya know: Walk Away
Shaimus: All of This, Tie You Down
Neil Peart: The Hockey Theme

Each will run you 1.99/£.99/1.49/160 MSP/200 WP per track or 5.49/£2.49/3.99/440 MSP for the White Stripes track pack.

Shaimus tracks are 99 cents each.

Source: VG247

2K has announced that the first bit of downloadable content for BioShock 2 will be made available worldwide on March 11.

Called the Sinclair Solutions Tester Pack, it’s the first in a series of single and multiplayer DLC and will run you 400 MSP on GFWL and XBL, and 4.99 on PSN.

Sinclair Solutions Tester Pack contains a number of customization features that will allow players to further their character’s development in the multiplayer mode.

The pack includes:

Rank increase to level 50 with Rank Rewards
New playable characters – Louie McGraff and Oscar Calraca
20 new trials available for rank 41 or higher
A third weapon upgrade for each weapon
Five additional masks available for rank 41 or higher

Announcements about additional DLC for the game’s single player and multiplayer experience will be made in the coming weeks.

BioShock 2 has already shipped over three million units worldwide just four weeks after its release, bringing total sales of the franchise to 7M units.

Source: VG247

DICE has said that so far, more people have been playing the PC version of Battlefield: Bad Company 2 than on the console.

Note that this is compared to each console separately, not both PS3 and Xbox 360 combined. Still – that’s an interesting bit of information, there.

Also, the multiplayer servers for PC and PS3 are back up and running after a bit of a snafu yesterday.

Apparently, EA found the issue and put a fix in place and brought the servers back online.

According to a post, the developers are aware that there are still “a number of remaining disconnect issues on PC” and have released the R5 server to hosts to address some of the disconnects.

Work on the fix is ongoing, and if you have any questions or are looking for a solution, checkout this post.

EA also noted that BFBC2 was “so popular that yesterday the concurrent users in Battlefield: Bad Company 2 surpassed that in Battlefield 2 which has been going strong for almost 5 years”.

That is popular indeed.

The game was released this week, and the reviews so far scream “got to buy it, got to buy it”.

Source: VG247

God of War III’s senior producer, Steve Caterson, has weighed in on comments and suggestions that Dante’s Inferno screams of Kratos, and honestly, he didn’t have much to say about it.

Speaking with Industry Gamers, Caterson pretty much just shrugs it off and instead talked about how much work went into making God of War III.

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but from our standpoint, we’re running our own race, said Caterson. We’re trying to outdo ourselves and we’re our own worst critics and we often beat ourselves up.

“We take a lot of pride in what we do and we want to do the best we can on the games we make and we don’t want to leave anything on the table. We want everyone to have the same experience, one that we all agree on, and when you put the game down we want to be able to look you in the eye and say, ‘We gave it our all.’

For us, it’s always been about previous games we’ve worked on. Nobody came into the office one day with a game someone else made and said, ‘Look at this, we need to have this in our game.’ It’s always been about outdoing ourselves; with God of War II, we had to outdo the Hydra and I think we did it with the Colossus battle, and this time, we had to be even bigger than that with God of War III.

“I’d like to think we succeeded.

The world will find out if Sony Santa Monica did indeed succeed come March 16 in the US and March 19 in the UK.

After which, the team will deservedly be taking a break and playing videogames.

Source: VG247

Someone with an early copy of God of War III has uploaded a new trailer of Gran Turismo 5 online for us to see. We salute you, sir!

It’s after the break.

It shows off some of the game’s tracks like the old Nurburgring, Suzuka and more, as well as revealing a lot more of the damage system for the Polyphony racer.

Do we want it? Yes. But apparently, 90 percent finished isn’t good enough for us, so we’ll have to wait until that last 10 percent is reached instead.

A new NASCAR trailer from the game got out on Friday as well. Might be worth a watch already if it you haven’t done so already.

It was due to release sometime this month in Japan, but it was delayed back in January. A new date for the region is yet to be decided.

For the west, meanwhile, originally thought to be down for a summer release by SCEA, a fall release was mentioned by an SCEE exec last month.

For now, we’re in limbo: no exact date has been given.

Thanks, GT Planet.

Source: VG247

Bizzare Creations’ Ged Talbot has revealed that Blur will not get day one DLC released for it – but fret not, it’s coming.

The reason, according to the lead designer, is that the team wanted to concentrate on the getting the game just right before shifting focus on extra content.

“I don’t have any dates for DLC, but what I can say is it’s always been a massive part of the strategy to support the game with DLC,” he told MTV, adding that the team is spending most of its hours on the multiplayer Beta test through Xbox Live.

“We do have plans for DLC,” he assured. “Again, no one has worked on it yet.”

Game’s out for PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 on May 25 in the US and May 28 in the UK.

The Beta begins next week.

Source: VG247

European Xbox 360 bossman Chris Lewis has said that there is no reason for gamers to fear that Microsoft is losing it’s edge with the release of Project Natal.

Far be it – the firm says it’s staying committed to the core audience.

Speaking with MCV via ZombieGamer, Lewis wants to reassure owners of the console that they have nothing to fear, especially with the release of exclusive titles aimed at the main audience on the docket Fable III, Alan Wake, Halo: Reach, Crackdown 2.

“From the beginning, Xbox has always had a very deliberate strategy to focus on core gamers and then expand the market,” he said. “Project Natal is meant to complement, not replace, the experiences for this audience on Xbox 360.

“We’ve reached new heights in creating a more natural and responsive gaming and entertainment experience for people of all interests and skill levels, whilst maintaining our commitment to deliver quality core games that consistently exceed expectations.”

This mirrors Aaron Greenberg’s comments about being careful with what is released for the controller – which Microsoft seems really adamant about drilling into folks heads.

Guess they are afraid consumers are worried about some titles for it being considered shovelware like Wii continually gets tagged with – according to some.

Natal is slated for release sometime around the holidays and expect to see celebs in the commercials once adverts start to air.

Source: VG247

GameStop has announced which costume has won enough votes to be included in the Red Dead Referendum program for Red Dead Redemption.

Turns out, Deadly Assassin was the winner.

Now, those that pre-order, will get a code for the chance to earn the outfit which allows John Marsten to regenerate Dead-Eye targeting at a faster rate.

Once you redeem the code, you have to do the following to get ‘yer duds:

Win a Duel in Armadillo: Travel to the town of Armadillo, and accept the challenge to fight a duel. Just make sure to win.
Capture or Kill Mo Van Barr: While in Armadillo, find the wanted poster for Mo Van Barr, accept the Bounty Hunting mission, and bring this notorious member of the Walton Gang to justice, dead or alive.
Solve the Mystery of the Missing Townsfolk: People have been disappearing for weeks from the outskirts of Armadillo. Track down the clues, solve the mystery and live to tell the tale.
Search Coot’s Chapel: Find the ruins of Coot’s chapel in the wilds of Cholla Springs, and search it for treasure.
Complete the Twin Rocks Hideout: Find the legendary criminal hideout of Twin Rocks, located North of the town of Armadillo, to complete this final challenge.

This special edition of the game also comes with the original soundtrack along with special packaging.

There’s a video showing off the Deadly Assassin threads through the link.

Originally set for release in April, it was announced this week that Red Dead Redemption would instead see a more “western friendly” release May 18 in the US and May 21 internationally, and also to add more polish .

Source: VG247

Peter Molyneux has revealed that there have been “countless revisions of cameras and countless revisions of software” updates made to Project Natal since it was first shown to the press.

Speaking to GI.biz, Molyneux tried to quell some fears that the peripheral is a bit laggy, especially in relation to comments made by Jonathan Ross – who, according to Molyneux, played with an older version of motion device.

“It’s always a huge frustration as a designer when you see somebody play a version when you know it’s been exceeded many times over,” he said. “It so often happens, because you do a version for a show and then you don’t do another version because you’re too busy developing the game.

“So very often you get a position that what a person’s looking at is two, three, four months, a year old and you kind of want to go, ‘no, no, it’s 10 times better than that!’ So it is very, very frustrating; it always is – there’s just countless revisions of cameras since the one at X10 and countless revisions of software.

During E3, Microsoft is slated to show the final version of Natal along with some titles expected for it at launch.

The peripheral will be out in time for the holiday shopping extravaganza.

Source: VG247

Lara Croft’s going back to her roots in her upcoming downloadable adventure, Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light.

Wait! No she isn’t! She is, however, going back to someone else’s roots in a top-down isometric, arcade-style co-op game that’s straight out of the 1980s.

If you’re saying “called it” right now, you’re lying.

According to a first look posted on GameSpot, Guardian of Light will feature two playable characters: Lara Croft duh and a Mayan spearman named Totec. The two will use their special abilities to help one another platform and mow down waves of enemies controlled by an evil spirit named Xoxolt.

Also, despite the removal of the phrase “Tomb Raider” from the game’s title, Guardian of Light will, in fact, have tombs. As such, Lara and Totec will bond through the morally questionable act of grave-robbing, teaming up to solve a number of co-op centric puzzles.

So yeah. This ain’t your father’s Lara Croft. Because, in all likelihood, your father didn’t have a Lara Croft. But if he did, it probably would’ve been something like this. Or something.

Source: VG247

We gamers aren’t exactly known for our attention spans.

“Well, we just finished God of War III and–”

“Yeah, okay. That’s nice. So what are you doing next?”

Speaking with Industry Gamers, Senior Producer Steve Caterson said that his studio’s plans are far from set in Kratos’ rock-hard abs stone. We meant stone.

I have no idea! I just finished three years of my life on God of War III and seven years on the God of War series – I have kids younger than that! We’re excited to work on large projects but it’s not a decision that’s made flippantly and we’re going to take our time with it,” he said.

“The only game I had the chance to play through the past few years was Dead Space; there are other games that have released that I want to have a chance to sit down and have those experiences! Actually playing some of those great games out there and seeing what other developers are doing I’m looking for to it that’s the best part of finishing a game!

Say, sounds like you guys know your way around this God of War business. How about another one of those?

“Well, God of War III is the end of the trilogy. We didn’t leave you on a cliffhanger but I think it’s not the end of the franchise. I’m looking forward to do something different if we can. It also might be nice to return to the franchise if we can and bring all that knowledge back from wherever we go. Anything’s possible. It’s premature to say what it might be, since I don’t even know what I’ll be doing next week!”

Next week’s headline: “God of War III team sleeps in late, has a decent lunch, catches up on episodes of Lost.”

Source: VG247

LittleBigPlanet was a big hit, since then people have been wondering if developers, Media Molecule will ever make a title elsewhere.

We have that very answer here. Sony Computer Entertainment has acquired Media Molecule for an undisclosed sum. So now we can expect all future LittleBigPlanet titles and any other titles Media Molecule happen to be developing be on the Playstation platforms.

Excellent move for Sony.

Source.

Battlefield Bad Company 2 is nearing it’s released date and already there is some planned downloadable content for the shooter.

Here’s the full list of DLC planned.

March 18

• SPECACT Upgrade Bundle
• SPECACT Assault Upgrade
• SPECACT Engineer Upgrade
• SPECACT Medic Upgrade
• SPECACT Recon Upgrade

April 1

• Arica Harbor Conquest Mode
• Laguna Presa Rush mode

Source.

Naughty Dog has been listening to feedback regarding Uncharted 2’s multiplayer experience. The developers released a recent multiplayer patch, but more changes are going to take place.

• Auto-shoulder switching
  We’re thinking about removing this entirely and/or adding a toggle to your online profile.
• Medals being obscured when you have been killed
  If you happen to get medals right as you’re killed, the scoreboard comes up and you can’t see the medal and cash award. I think it’s safe to assume we’ll address this.
• Limb damage
  We’ve been testing out changing the hitboxes so that shots to the limb require require damage than torso hits or headshots to dispatch your opponent.
• Grenades
  We’ve been looking at different adjustments to grenade damage and radius to see how those adjustments fare.
• Boosters
  We’ve been playing around with balance adjustments to some boosters.
• Glitches and exploits
  This is a little bit of an on-going process, but addressing these are definitely things we’re working on and have been updating consistently over time.

Source.

Not even two days since its formal reveal, but yet already, the Game Informer feature of Portal 2 is already online.

But we know what you want: the info. So here it is, served with chocolate cake.

The game takes place hundreds of years after the original. Hence why the Apature centure looks a lot like a jungle possibly.
GlaDOS returns as the main villain, with the subject from the last game, Chell, coming back to be the protagonist.
The co-op campaign is separate from the main story in the game. It lets you play as two bipedal robots.
Those personality cores thrown into the fire at the end of the last game? They’ve shut off areas of the Apature lab and made it their own.
Physics has a bigger role this time, with one demo showing a portal could be used from an air vent to suck air from one area to an another.
Reflection cubes will be added to the game for laser-based puzzles.
Valve had no idea Portal 1 would be so big.
The original Portal was seen as a “test bed”. The sequel will be a fully fledged title.

Already sounding awesome. We’re pumped. There’s some more info and scans over at PALGN.

Let’s just hope we get a debut trailer this week during GDC.

The game’s due out this holiday season for PC and 360. The magazine also mentions a Mac release.

Source: VG247

You love Halo. You’re hardcore. You’re not. This guy is.

There’s a video here of a chap pulling apart the recent Halo: Reach multiplayer trailer to a stupefying degree.

That’s it, really. He goes into detail on every single thing in the movie, including game-types, abilities, weapons, medals, classes, HUD and more.

The game’s out later this year. Watch it. You’ve got nothing better to do. It’s Sunday.

Thanks, Mike.

Source: VG247

That’s right folks, additional ram has been unlocked for Playstation 3 developers. The latest firmware update has provided developers with more ram, similar to what happened with the PSP when it got more clock speed.

Where did the reduction come from? It came from the operating system as the memory footprint went from 120mb to just 50mb.

SCEA’s Patrick Seybold confirmed to Joystiq:

Since the launch of the PS3, we have been continuously making efforts to reinforce our support system to game developers, allowing them to express their creativity freely on the PS3. As part of this support for game development, the size of the PS3 OS memory footprint has been reduced through network update for the game developers.

That’s right, one of the biggest Playstation 3 exclusives has been banned in The United Arab Emirates. No specific reason for the ban but Megamers made the following report on the matter:

The UAE’s National Media Council (NMC) has banned Heavy Rain on PlayStation3. Heavy Rain has an 18+ PEGI rating and has been conceived from the earliest stages as a genuinely adult experience. This means that it deals with strong content including blood and nudity, but treats this content in a mature and sensitive manner. The game is not intentionally controversial or sensationalist, and all the themes and content are consistent with what consumers would expect to see in a mainstream Hollywood thriller.

Will Sony censor some of the content in Heavy Rain at a later date?

Source.

2k Games has announced the first downloadable content pack for recently released BioShock 2. The new pack will include:-

• Rank Increase to level 50 with Rank Rewards
• New playable characters Louie McGraff and Oscar Calraca
• 20 new trials*
• A third weapon upgrade for each weapon
• Five additional masks

Here’s the full press release.

New York, NY – February 22, 2010 – 2K Games announced today an aggressive post-launch downloadable content plan for BioShock2 that extends and enhances the single and multiplayer experiences by adding more glimpses into the award-winning world of Rapture. Downloadable content will be made available soon beginning with the Sinclair Solutions Test Pack, available this March from the Xbox LIVE Marketplace for the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and Games for Windows-LIVE for 400 Microsoft Points and from the PlayStationNetwork for $4.99. Future expansions into the world of BioShock 2 are slated to arrive over the coming months and will continue to expand on the stories of the denizens of Rapture.

• Rank Increase to level 50 with Rank Rewards
  
• New playable characters Louie McGraff and Oscar Calraca
  
• 20 new trials*
  
• A third weapon upgrade for each weapon
  
• Five additional masks*

*Some items are only available after a player achieves a rank of 41 or higher.

In the coming months, 2K Games will also be publishing downloadable extensions of the single player experience that provide new insight into the world of Rapture. These packages will include more narrative, new tools and new challenges that extend the lore and fiction of the failed Utopia under the sea.

Source.

A Hollywood advert has given small details of the next Call of Duty game, revealing characters names and the Vietnam settings.

VG247 spotted this and said:

“voice over/motion capture” for an Activision “video game” has described character Frank Barnes as being part of an elite Vietnam unit,

This is purely a rumour but it sounds positive to me. Activision announced that there will be another Call of Duty game this year but havent released any details.

Source.

MAG Patch/Update version 1.02 is available and will weigh in at approx 40mb/55mb. It fixes various issues, the list is below.

Gameplay

• Fixed issue where water-submerged players could not be resuscitated.

Interface

• Restricted Medic icon for downed players will only show up to those with the “Resuscitation” Support Skill Equipped.
• Incapacitated player icons are now hidden from teammates who can’t resuscitate them.
• Added distance indicator for incapacitated teammates (meters).
• Added distance display for “Anti-Personnel” and “Anti-Tank” Mines for both teammates and enemies equipped with the “Explosives Detector.”
• Localization changes for language in the Armory screen.

Technical

• Fixed XP requirements for Level 36 (moved from 23,686 to 21,999) and Level 37 (moved from 23,803 to 23,083).
• Statistical changes to support eventual integration into MAG.com website.

Server

• Improved server performance to reduce instances of lag in population-heavy games.
• Groups cannot enter match if one of its members is banned from the game.
• Regional server hosting IDs adjusted in North American locations.

Source.