Square Enix Members Launches

Square Enix's new community site for North America that we told you about a bit ago launched today. The new community site features exclusive interviews, ShinRa ID Card generators, contests & giveaways, and more. Currently, the only video featured on the site is a Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII TV Spot, but there is more to come. Finally there is a Fan Zone, and an official blog. Enjoy the community.

[SQUARE ENIX MEMBERS]

PlayStation 3 Update 2.20 Now Available

Just a brief note, PlayStation 3 firmware update 2.20 is now available for download on your consoles. All it's new features can be viewed here.

[Thanks Juan!]

SEGA Superstars Tennis: The Mini-Games

SEGA Superstars Tennis, which is out now, comes with many mini-games involving tennis, but bringing back the old SEGA games we knew and loved. Our upcoming feature writer, Matt, describes them as highly addictive, and testing them out myself, I have to agree. I bet you can guess which mini-game he likes best. Enjoy!

Grand Theft Auto IV to Cost More on PlayStation 3 at WHSmiths, Game and GameStation

WHSmiths, a major UK high street retailer, has priced the PlayStation 3 version of Rockstar's upcoming Grand Theft Auto IV at £44.99, while the Xbox 360 version is priced at £39.99.

The retailer states they've priced the PlayStation 3 version higher for the pre-order campaign. “The PS3 version will probably cost more. We’re expecting an RRP from Rockstar on April 14,” the GameStation staffer said. “They dictate the price, basically.”

Be smart, always go Amazon. Both versions are available on Amazon for £34.99.

[PS3 GTA IV more expensive at WHSmiths, Game and GameStation expect similar]

Electronic Gaming Monthly April 2008: 50 Cent Bullet Proof 2, Motorstorm 2, SOCOM Confronation

Why does it have to happen? We don't know. The original 50 Cent: Bulletproof shipped over a million to hip-hop heads who just couldn't get enough of the Cent. The game was horrible though. The latest issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly, however, reveals 50 Cent: Bulletproof 2. It's not all bad however.

The latest issue will also give us an in-depth preview of SOCOM: Confrontation along with the first screens (in-game?) of Motorstorm 2. Lets just hope the next 50 Cent isn't as bad as the first.

[Yes, There Is Going To Be A 50 Cent II]

Fallout 3 to Feature Over 200 Endings

Bethesda's Todd Howard was recently featured on the official Xbox podcast. He talked about their upcoming Fallout 3, revealing somenew information, such as the number of endings available in the game. Lets take a look.

-”Fans sending death threats” says one of the OXM guys. Another one calls Fallout fans”rabid Right Wing kind of fans”.

-Over 200 endings, since last week. The 12 endings was surpassed sometime ago.

-The game is twice bigger than what they thought in the beginning.

-Always just one humanoid-type companion, and another NPC like Dogmeat.

-Dogmeat can die, but they are working on his health and how you maintain him.

- Dogmeat can be given assignments, and will try to follow them with his Radiant AI.

-Brotherhood of Steel doing their own thing; already in finished state on the game; they are on the verge of extinction, you’ll interact with them a lot more after a determined point in the game.

-The game is finished, but needs a lot more polishing and testing, they are doing many playthroughs; they keep adding stuff, sometimes it takes 100 hours to play, just the main quest takes about 20 hours.

-Absolutely tracking at fall 2008.

Wow, talk about one long year I'm going to have in 2009. Two hundred endings is mad, mad enough for me to get them all.

[Fallout 3 will have over 200 endings, you will never have a life again]

Amazing Real-Time Demo Shown Running on PlayStation 3

Original Post: A website known as 4Sceners have uploaded an image gallery of screen caps they received when they viewed an amazing in-game demo on the PlayStation 3. They said the game's graphics were truly in-game and looked better than Crysis, KILLZONE 2, and Metal Gear Solid 4.

The translation is rough, but they describe the video as opening up with the PlayStation 3 logo showing. The video is called Linger in Shadows. They say the experience was so intense. The gallery features many animals, such as a huge cat showing near a Greek temple, and a dog. They say the quality is something to be desired. We have no idea if this is a game, because of translation. But if you could help us out, here is the original link.

[Linger in Shadows]

Update: Okay, some new information. Seems that this was shown b y a demoscene group called Plastic. Sony Computer Entertainment trademarked the title Linger In Shadows back in November 2007. The demo for this was shown at the Breakpoint 2008 gathering this weekend, saying it would release publicly on the PlayStation 3 as a possible graphical showcase for the system. They said it isn't really a game.

Other people who attended the Breakpoint 2008 were talking about it on the Pouet forums, saying that a playable Linger In Shadows was one of the projects commissioned by Sony. When we find out more, we will update you.

[First Tiny Look At Linger In Shadows, A Mysterious Real Time PlayStation 3 Demo]

Rainbow Six Vegas 2 Online for PS3 Being Worked On

Just about last week, we reported that Rainbow Six Vegas 2 on the PlayStation 3 was suffering from online problems. Those problems included bugs, disconnection issues, and freezing.

A GameFAQs forum member contacted Ubisoft and received a response from a customer service representative. They responded "issue is currently being worked on by the development team." They did not give a release for the fix, but noted "it should not be long."

[PS3 Vegas 2 suffering from online "itis," fix coming]

Warhawk Patch 1.4 to Feature New Game Modes

Dylan Jobe just keeps revealing more through PlayStation.Blog comments. A Warhawk player commented on when they will see new game modes and Jobe responded.

"So while I can’t say too much, I can say that the team is hard at work on developing some new game modes.

We have a lot of new designs at various phases of development so I can’t say which ones will make the cut for the v 1.4 patch just yet…but rest assure that the next patch *will* have new modes, and of course, they will be free."

Hmm, new modes. I wonder what they can be? Perhaps something completely different from game modes we'd expect. Lets hope they are innovative.

[PS.Blog Comment #26]

Grand Theft Auto IV: Xbox World Multiplayer Impressions

The latest issue of Xbox World 360 Magazine will feature a 17 page feature on the multiplayer mode of Grand Theft Auto IV. They also do a podcast where they speak of their magazine article, which is not on shelves yet. Here is a bit of what they give us.

- They love the multiplayer mode. They talk about how in other games you're able to forgive it for having a poor multiplayer mode because it might have an amazing single player mode. But then you see Grand Theft Auto IV and it has as big of a single player mode as those games and an amazing multiplayer mode to go along with it.

- They say it's one of the best looking games on the 360 (probably PS3 as well). The lighting is what makes it according to them. They go on to talk about how games like Oblivion are hurt visually because of it'll chug sometimes and how something like Gears is really beautiful but it's very linear. But Grand Theft Auto IV has the size of Oblivion and the beauty of Gears.

- The framerate is really smooth. They mentioned the only time it started to chug is when 4-8 of them were shooting rocket launchers at a gas station to make it blow up.

- It's mentioned that at any time you can just pull out your phone and jump into a game.

- One of them mentions how he's always felt that the series has been a "jack of all trades, master of none" type game, and now it's a master of them all.

- The combat is amazing. They said it feels like Resident Evil 4.

- The driving is really good although it's harder than any of the previous versions. They mention that if an actual racing game used its driving model you'd be happy with it.

- They'll be leaving next week to review it.

[NeoGAF]

Warhawk Developer Working on New Game

They are called game developers because they develop games. Warhawk has been developed, so whats next for it's creator, Dylan Jobe? On the PlayStation.Blog, he mentioned a new game he is developing. "Begin development on a new game... *Check*". When we find out what this game is, we will be sure to keep you updated.

[Unsurprising: Warhawk dev working on new game]

Sonic Unleashed: 3 More Artworks

SEGA On has some new artwork on the upcoming Sonic Unleashed. They claim the game is launching with a huge production budget. The Sonic Team is developing it of course, but not just them. SEGA’s developer teams including those from Japan, the US and, apparently for the first time, even Europe. They want to prove Sonic could work in 3D environments.

[UPDATE: SONIC UNLEASHED Update Day (2) Big Budget Blockbuster, SONIC TEAM, More Art]