We Admit It: We Want Bully on PlayStation 3

Yeah. With the release of Bully: Scholarship Edition on the Xbox 360 and Nintendo Wii, we are envying their release. We love the graphical improvements made as you can see in the latest GameTrailers comparison, or the preview below. Of course they may not be the best, but we like them.

We would really like to test out the new features that are present in the Scholarship Edition such as those 8 additional stages and 4 additional classes. Yeah, we want to do it in next-gen. Sadly, we cannot. Unless Rockstar releases this on the PlayStation 3 as well as a Regents Scholarship Edition, then we are forced to watch in silence.

Hot Shots Golf 5: Hole In One Interview

Keisuke Futami, the lead artist over at Clap Hanz, talks to us at GDC 2008 about the art style of Hot Shots Golf: Out of Bounds. He speaks of the new shot system as well. Enjoy!

GameStop Starting God of War III Pre-Orders Tomorrow

According to a source at GameStop, tomorrow, March 5, 2008, GameStop & EB Games stores will start taking reservations for Sony's upcoming God of War III.

It seems that now the new God of War: Chains of Olympus game is out on the PSP, SCEA has given GameStop the permission to start reserving God of War III.

Get those pre-orders in, it's going to be one hell of a game.

[GameStop to begin God of War III reservations tomorrow]

U.S. Airforce Wants 300 40GB PlayStation 3's

The United States Air Force is looking to conduct some technolgy assesments of cell processors, and they need Sony's PlayStation 3 to aid them. How many? 300 warriors (not the movie people).

"The Air Force Research Laboratory is conducting a technology assessment of certain cell processors. The processors in the Sony PlayStation 3 are the only brand on the market that utilizes the specific cell processor characteristics needed for this program at an acceptable cost."

As of now, it's only a request for proposal, meaning sellers will provide price quotes to the U.S. Air Force.

[70 -- 40GB Console Systems] [US Air Force Wants 300 40gb PS3s]

LittleBigPlanet & LEGO Indiana Jones Playable at Wembley

Play, a UK consumer-focused retail store, has a Live bash at the Wembley Stadium on Saturday March 15 and Sunday March 16, 2008.

Some of the games you'll be able to play at the event include LittleBigPlanet, LEGO Indiana Jones, Ghostbusters, Condemned 2: Bloodshot, SEGA Superstars Tennis, Rock Band, and more.

According to SPOnG, "All the major video games companies, including Sega, Electronic Arts (EA), Activision, Microsoft, THQ and Ubisoft will be showcasing their hits for 2008."

If your going to be attending the event, be sure to snap pictures and video of whatever you play or do. If your under 16, you'll need an adult to accompany you, but you don't need an adult to send us your pictures.

[Play Little Big Planet and LEGO Indiana Jones at Wembley]

Burnout Paradise v1.2 Update Brings Many Fixes

Criterion Games updated their website today with new information the upcoming v1.2 patch for Burnout Paradise. They state they are nearly complete with the update, but yet no word on when it will release. Everything in the update can be seen below.

The Top 10 problems reported by you have been fixed, these are:

• PS3 game can crash when a player is taken down and the player that has performed the Takedown leaves the game.
• The game indefinitely displays "Connecting to Paradise City Servers" if it's having problems pinging the rebroadcast server.
• Disconnecting the controller before a race begines can mean that race timings can be manipulated with players who didn't cross the line first being awarded the win
• Repeatedly joining and leaving a game with 8 players can cause the game to hang.
• Hammering the A (360) or X (PS3) after unlocking a car can cause the game to hang.
• East Crawford and Watt St achievements can not be achieved if the player goes online and sets road rules before attempting them.
• Audio distortion when using 5.1 / DTS and looking rearwards.
• Enhanced 360 streaming performance stops instances where the game seems to pause for a second or so.
• Total time driven in player stats would stick at 145 hours :)
• VoIP connection problems with 8 player games.

Game experience enhancements

• We're going to be running road rule timers in all events and online challenges.
• Tuning Online Takedown logic & physical behaviour to iron out instances where it doesn't feel fair.
• Increase online race timer timeout so players have a greater chance of finishing the race.
• Fix drifting bug when drifting and boosting there wasn't any real control on the brake so players would grind around the walls of the corners. Getting better control.
• Boost fix, stabbing the boost has too much of a jerky behaviour in the car handling.
• Surround sound fix - Centre speaker was 4dB louder, ruining the mix and the speech has now been positioned correctly.
• Tweak Marked Man gameplay AI, was easy to exploit by driving in reverse.
• Increase the # of search results returned for online games.
• Increase Picture Paradise timer so it doesn't kick in so quickly.

Other high priority issues being fixed

• Some online race start points face the players in the wrong direction
• Instances where Barrel rolls were not registering correctly in Stunt Run
• Instances in Stunt Run where players would crash but not wreck & score multipliers by driving away
• Fixed instances where the counting of Boost Chains would drop out
• Some instances where Revenge Rivalries desync & don't get fixed until players are updated online.
• Some instance where the Host couldn't change the game access if the game was created through an invite.
• Achievements, Awards and Challenges numbers sometimes not updated if the player didn't leave the game cleanly
• Online challenge issues where the challenge couldn't be completed if it was started at the exact time that a player left the game.
• Incorrect rivalry updates when European players played against English or Japanese players. Online connection issues
• Force timeout if the 360 gets stuck on "Connecting to Paradise City Servers" - NAT error
• Rich presence on 360 didn't change correctly when there is a change in the game parameters.
• Instances where Friends were not being displayed on the mini map.

[BURNOUT PARADISE V1.2]

PlayStation Network's John Hight: PSN Redesign Confirmed, Warhawk DLC, etc.

John Hight, Sony Computer Entertainment America's Director of Product Development, was interviewed today about the PlayStation Network. He pretty much confirms the PlayStation Network overhaul in April by saying: "I think you will see a pretty big change in the PlayStation Network in the early part of April, where we roll out some new interface stuff largely based on customer feedback." Sadly, he was still quiet on the video service, but we know it is on it's way.

In the interview, John Hight reconfirms the new Warhawk: Operation Broken Mirror expansion pack which should be on the PlayStation Store by April 2008. For those complaining about a lack of PSone titles on the US Store compared to the JP Store (including me), he also says "I'm pretty darn sure they will [appear on the American PSN], but I don't know which titles."

Hopefully when this new PlayStation Network redesign comes, it will bring new features, and a Store that isn't a webpage.

[The State of PlayStation Network: John Hight Interviewed]

PSM3 Editor Speaks on Upcoming In-Game Communications

Ray Maguire, Sony Computer Entratainment Manging Director, stated a few days ago that we will be receiving in-game communications in the summer.

From a post from a few days ago, Maguire stated: "Our momentum will continue with the introduction of in-game communication in the summer, firmware update 2.4 and the strongest line-up of games through our third party partners and our own studios."

TechRadar spoke with Daniel Dawkins, an editor for UK based PSM3 Magazine. He told them “This brings the PS3 up to parity with Xbox Live, the key difference being that it’s free". Dawkins added: “Sony is working its best to respond to what gamers want. The amount of evolution in terms of the firmware updates over the last year has been phenomenal.”

Lets hope we can trust this editor and that it really does put is almost up to par with Live.

[PS3's in-game comms extended]

Echochrome In Real Life

A new advertisement for the PSP version of Sony Computer Entertainment's upcoming Echochrome is quite fun to watch. It shows a real life version of the game, as a man goes through a mini-stage. It just started airing in Japan. Enjoy!

Initial D: Extreme Stage: First 10 Screenshots

Famitsu's got the first 10 screenshots of the upcoming Japanese PlayStation 3 title, Initial D: Extreme Stage. Whats known so far is that this is a port of Initial D: Arcade Stage 4, and will feature PlayStation Network online play in order to race players online. The screens look alright, not too fantastic, but it could just be the style of the game. View the screenshots at the link.

[10 Initial D: Extreme Stage Screenshots]