Rockstar Social Club Pre-Registration Begins Today

Rockstar Games has officially opened up pre-registration to their Social Club today. The new Social Club will allow members to keep their Rockstar game stats online such as Grand Theft Auto IV and Midnight Club: Los Angeles. The site works for both the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live. Lets take a look at just some of the features.

* People who register for the Rockstar Games Social Club BEFORE April 29th 2008 will be rewarded by being automatically entered to win a special prize for true GTA fans: your portrait custom drawn by Rockstar Games’ in house art team in the signature art style of Grand Theft Auto IV's illustrations.

* LCPD Police Blotter -- A virtual map and tracker of single-player criminal activity logged in Liberty City from the aggregated data of millions of connected players - showing the most dangerous areas of town, most commonly used weapons and more.

* The Story Gang -- This special single-player leaderboard recognizes players who complete Niko Bellic's main story arc of Grand Theft Auto IV - The leaderboard ranks players according to the total amount of playing time it's taken to complete the story, as well as a historical rank by who has completed it first. Members of this club will receive special online widgets and merit badges marking all of their in-game accomplishments.

* The 100% Club -- Watch to see who will be the first to complete 100% of the game. The first ten people to be identified on the Social Club as reaching 100% will be sent an ultra-rare commemorative 'key to the city' to mark their accomplishment. In the future, the 100% Club will then carry a historical leaderboard showing rankings of who has completed 100% of a game in the shortest span of playing hours.

* The Hall of Fame -- This area will dynamically recognize those singularly elite players who have reached the top of the hill on various statistical leaderboards, and will also contain a personal awards display of special in-game landmarks and successes in Social Club competitions.

* The Liberty City Marathon -- A ranking of special physical milestones achieved in the game - from the amount of miles walked, driven, or swam - to the number of bullets fired and stunt-jumps jumped. There will be additional special marathon-based competitions in the future from this area as well.

Visit the site for pre-registration at the link below.

[ROCKSTAR SOCIAL CLUB]

Saints Row 2: Vehicles and Weapons Trailer

THQ and Volition have released a new trailer of the upcoming Saints Row 2. The new trailer is an ad for the Ultor Corporation who want to help rebuild Stillwater. The trailer shows the "rare" occasions where thugs come out and play. Enjoy!

Grand Theft Auto IV Is Officially Gold

Take-Two Interactive President Strauss Zelnick has announced today at their annual general meeting that Grand Theft Auto IV for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 has gone gold.

"Trucks are rolling next week and there will be a lot of them", Strauss said. The game will be arriving in just 11 days on April 28/29, 2008. It is going to be one hell of a day.

[GTA4 Has Gone GOLD!]

PSM3 Issue 100: TimeSplitters 2 HD Remake Petition, TimeSplitters 4 Information

The latest issue of PSM3 features some new information on TimeSplitters 4. The game is going to run on the same engine HAZE runs on and instead of mocking movies this time, they will be mocking video games. Considering this is a PlayStation 3 magazine and the HAZE engine already runs on the PlayStation 3, you can mark it as confirmed for this console. The latest PSM3 podcast pretty much confirms that as well.

Along with that comes a petition from the editors at PSM3 to Free Radical. Free Radical Boss Dave Doak said that if they get enough support, they will remake TimeSplitters 2 in HD. Want that remake? Give psm3@futurenet.co.uk with the subject 'Splitters HD' to show you want it.

[The campaign for TimeSplitters 2 HD starts here] [NeoGAF]

Tekken 5: DR Patch Adds Rumble, Pickup Match Mode

Namco Bandai released a new patch for Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection today that includes rumble support for the DualShock 3 controller along with a new Pickup Match mode. Yeah, it's free this time.

The Pickup Match mode allows players to bypass the waiting room and continue playing one-on-one matches continuously, meaning no more interruptions.

A few other tweaks made in this patch include the ability to make names for rooms, a country/flag search, new notifications, and new casual matches. Some bugs have also been fixed as well.

[Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection patch adds rumble, Pickup Match mode]

PowerUp Forever Coming to PlayStation Network

Namco Bandai's press event this week revealed a new 2D shooter coming to the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade this summer called PowerUp Forever. In this game, you'll go up against an armada of evil enemies across space. You'll be able to alter your ship's size, shape and power. THe larget your get, the larger enemies you wil face. View the first screenshots here.

Oh yeah, sadly, Namco Bandai is only remaking Soul Calibur for the Xbox Live Arcade. Not cool.

[PowerUp Forever: more space, more shooting on PSN]

Iron Man Demo Coming to PlayStation Store Next Thursday

One of the reasons that I hate only having PlayStation Store updates on Thursday is that we always get half-assed on our content. Tomorrow, Xbox Live will be receiving the Secret Level developed Iron Man demo from SEGA. However, they stated it will arrive on the PlayStation Network "soon", meaning next Thursday. Throw us a bone here. They should have released it today. Lets wait a week now, that will be fun. It can't just be me here, readers.

[Iron Man demo tomorrow]

Facebreaker Features Colorful Characters, Broken Faces

Electronic Arts released a new trailer for Facebreaker today, showing off the many colorful characters in the game. Mainly, it tells the reason why they love to fight, and that is because "they like to punch people in the face". Give the video a watch, I swear I've seen some of these characters in Guitar Hero. Enjoy!

Backbreaker Gameplay Looks Painful

Natural Motion's Backbreaker sure looks like it is putting fun (and pain) into a football game. It's no wonder it looks so good coming from the company who created the Euphoria Engine (engine behind Grand Theft Auto IV and Star Wars: The Force Unleashed). Watch the new video above, it looks fantastic.

US PLAYSTATION Store Update: April 17, 2008

It's been two weeks since we received an update, and we are finally back on the weekly schedule. Lets see what arrived in the revamped PlayStation Store today.

Downloadable Games

• Gran Turismo 5 Prologue ($39.99)

Demos

• UEFA Euro 2008 Demo (free)
  

Add-Ons

• Warhawk: Operation Broken Mirror expansion ($7.99)
• Warhawk Booster Combo (Omega Dawn & Broken Mirror) ($11.99)
• Rock Band Add-Ons
• “Still Alive” by GLaDOS and Jonathan Coulton (free)
• “Sprode” by Freezepop ($0.99)
• “Shake” by Count Zero ($0.99)
• “Rock Rebellion” by Bang Camaro ($0.99)
• Harmonix Pack 1 ($2.99) - Harmonix Pack 1 includes “Rock Rebellion” by Bang Camaro, “Shake” by Count Zero, and “Sprode” by Freezepop
• “Call Me” by Blondie ($1.99)
• “Simple Man” by Lynyrd Skynyrd ($1.99)
• “Message In A Bottle” byThe Police ($1.99)
• Classic Rock Pack 1 ($5.49) - Classic Rock Pack 1 includes “Call Me” by Blondie, “Simple Man” by Lynyrd Skynyrd, and “Message In A Bottle” by The Police.
• Super Stardust HD Solo ($4.99)
• LAIR: Dragons and Control Pack (free)

Game Videos

• Warhawk: Operation Broken Mirror Trailer (free)
  
• Condemned 2: Bloodshot Making Of The TV Spot (free)
• HAZE Mantel Corporate Vision (free)
• This is Vegas Annoucement Trailer (free)
• Gran Turismo 5 Prologue Friendly Fires Video (free)
• Gran Turismo 5 Prologue Beyond the Apex Trailer (free)

Theatrical Trailers

• Pineapple Express Trailer (free)

Themes

• Warhawk Theme (x2) (free)
• LAIR Mokai Theme (free)

Hmm, we've been at least three weeks without at demo update, and yet we only receive one demo. Eh, well, what am I gonna do. Enjoy the update.

PLAYSTATION Store Global

• EU PLASYSTATION Store Update: April 17, 2008
  

Custom Soundtracks Coming to Burnout Paradise

Once again Sony Computer Entertainment, game developers shouldn't have to be doing this *cough* in-game xmb *cough*. Criterion Games have officially announced today that they are bringing custom soundtracks to the PlayStation 3 version of Burnout Paradise. That means if you don't like a song in the game, go ahead and put on your own. Yay.

[Custom Soundtracks On PS3]

Spider-Man: Web of Shadows Confirmed for All Consoles Possible

Activision has announced today that Spider-Man: Web of Shadows is currently in the works for all consoles possible. Thats is right, it is coming to the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PlayStation 2, PSP, Nindendo DS, Wii, and PC.

The game will be set in a free-roaming New York City where Spidey can swing freely with his customizable powers. In this game, you can be the hero or the anti-hero who only cares about himself. Other Marvel heroes are set to appear in the game's missions and such as well. View the teaser trailer at the link.

[Activision Confirms Spider-Man: Web of Shadows]

LAIR Demo Available on Hong Kong PlayStation Store

Am I hearing correctly? Did Sony just put up a LAIR demo on the Hong Kong PlayStation Store? I bet I know why they chose to do it now, those sly dogs. Now that the game doesn't suck, everyone wants to give it a try. Hopefully, it will come to the US PlayStation Store as well later on today. If you want it know, head over to the Hong Kong store. The demo on the Hong Kong stores is 1919MB and fully English.

[PSOnly]

Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm: More Screenshots

Namco Bandai has released several more images of the upcoming Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm for the PlayStation 3. The game will feature 25 "fully transformable" warriors to play as along with a story mode as well. It's certainly a game worth looking into. Enjoy!

EU PLAYSTATION Store Update: April 17, 2008

Finally, an update for the new PlayStation Store has arrived. First, Europe gets their update as usual, and as usual it is not much. I think Metal Gear Online will cover up for it this time though.

Demos
- Metal Gear Online Beta (free)

Add-Ons
- Warhawk: Operation Broken Mirror (price)
- LAIR: Deadly Dragon Pack (free)

Game Videos
- Grand Theft Auto IV: Everybody's a Rat Trailer (free)

Thats the update, enjoy playing Metal Gear Online!