According to Sony’s official PlayStation Blog, the first downloadable content for Heavy Rain, titled “The Taxidermist,” will be available on April 1st. That is, of course, unless you pre-ordered Heavy Rain, in which case Sony has already handed it over to you free of charge. The rest of us will be paying the regular $4.99 so we can watch Madison Paige walk into yet another creepy-looking situation.

Another week comes, and so does another batch of Rock Band content, this time featuring music from punk rockers X, British garage rockers Little Fish, KISS Guitarist Ace Frehley, OneRepublic, and…Carrie Underwood. Song list will be sorted Artist/Song:

While the recently released God of War 3 might be the end of the trilogy, it isn’t the end of the franchise. And a little secret unlocked by beating the game might point towards a future installment.

Those who have already managed to ravage their way through the game, and earned themselves a Platinum trophy in the process, will have found a link to the website http://www.spartansstandtall.com. Going to this site takes you to a sub-site of the official God Of War website and… not much else.

“Life in the West”  is the third in a series of trailers Rockstar Games is releasing to promote the upcoming open-world western, Red Dead Redemption.

This latest entry talks about the world at large and reveals the areas and towns you will be encountering on your adventures. What’s more is the side jobs you can pick such as cattle wrangler, farm protector, and hunter.

Keep an eye out for some new costumes for John Marston, as well.

The fact that Bruce Willis will be portraying Kane in the upcoming Kane and Lynch film has been known for quite some time, but last night screenwriter Kyle Ward mentioned via twitter that Oscar winner Jamie Foxx has been cast as the lunatic mercenary James Lynch.

“Done deal … Jamie Foxx is in.”

Kyle Ward also happens to be writing the script for the Uncharted movie, and had to clarify his tweet to a fan who asked if this meant Foxx would be playing Nathan Drake. Ward simply stated, “Foxx for Lynch (Kane/Lynch)”.

In an interview with MTV, God of War 3 director Stig Asmussen stated that the franchise is finished with Greek mythology, much to the chagrin of the studio heads. Asmussen’s stance on the future of God of War is pretty surprising. John Hight, director of Product Development at Sony Santa Monica, never imagined the series straying from the world of Greek mythology. Here’s Asmussen’s full statement on the future of GoW:

Greek mythology is finished. That’s what we’ve been saying all along, we’re closing the book on the trilogy and Kratos has obliterated Greek mythology so it just becomes a myth. I don’t know what’s next, to be honest with you, I have no clue, but I wanted to make sure that we had some tools in there that we could kind of resurrect the story and take it some other places.

Gearbox and 2K will be releasing a retail disc for Xbox 360 containing the two Borderlands DLC packages of “The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned” and “Max Moxxi’s Underdome Riot” for $19.99 on April 6, 2010. Oddly, the disc will not be coming to the PS3, but both content packs are available individually via the PlayStation Network.

Zipper Interactive is rewarding MAG players with free DLC. The Trooper Gear Pack, which will be available March 25 on PSN, adds a great deal of content for players to enjoy, including the highly requested Flashbang Grenade. Players can also enjoy three special edition light machine guns: Raven’s APEX 100SE, SVER’s RTK-74, and Valor’s Mk 46 Mod 1. Finally, there will be new uniform setups, Trooper Light and Trooper Dark, for each PMC group.

As soon as the new content becomes available, Zipper Interactive will be hosting a Double XP event. It is scheduled to start at 12AM Pacific March 25, and end at 11:59 Pacific March 28. Simply log in and play. At the conclusion of each match, your earned XP will be doubled. Quitters, however, will not get the bonus.

Growing up, side-scrolling beat ‘em ups were a large part of my life. They kept me out of trouble, helped me deal with stress, and most of all, they were just plain fun.

So being able to see the Final Fight franchise come to XBLA is a very exciting prospect, especially when we can all play it starting April 14 for 800 MS and April 15 on PSN for $9.99.

As you can see, Capcom has taken some care of replicating the arcade experience by enabling you to play on a cabinet. In fact, as soon as you start playing the game, the borders of the screen will show what the original cabinet had on it.

Yes, you read that right. We mean that Sam Fisher – the covert agent from the Splinter Cell series.

A few days ago, the Twitter account Sam Fisher made its first tweet after an email containing a link to his profile was sent around to industry media outlets.

Since then, the account has registered a series of posts from the persona of the agent himself. The account has been “Twitter-Approved” as authentic – and Sam is keen to put in vague, dark words. He even replies to messages directed at him.

For those of you who thought Heavy Rain might have been a bit ‘heavy’ on the storyline, or perhaps those of you who wanted to skip the whole investigating thing, don’t you wish there was a slimmed-down, simpler version of the heart-pumping moments in Heavy Rain?

Would even just one of those heart-pumping scenes do it for you?

Then clearly, all you need is Press X To Jason! Just beware, if you haven’t actually played Heavy Rain, the one-minute flash game does actually contain a spoiler (Hint: it involves Jason).

I don’t know about you, but I have been wondering how many copies Battlefield: Bad Company 2 has sold so far.  Thanks to EA, we now know that information.

The game, which released March 2nd, has sold 2.3 million copies worldwide.

That makes it the best selling March release ever in Europe and North America.

Beware the All Seeing Eye!  Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment have given the world a first glimpse of The Lord Of The Rings: War in the North.  Developed by Seattle-based Snowblind Studios, this will be the first LOTR game to target a mature rating.

LOTR: War in the North is the game Snowblind Studios was destined to make.  With a resume that includes Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance and both Champions Of Norrath games, Snowblind practically invented the modern console action-RPG.

Peter Molyneux: The Man, The Myth, The Legend. A man well-known for blasé and incredibly hyperbolic statements, Molyneux is an interesting man to watch. Now working as the Creative Director of Microsoft Game Studios, Europe, it’s rare to see him talk about games that aren’t made for the Xbox platform, and even rarer to see him mention something that isn’t Fable 3.

Speaking at the current South by Southwest (SXSW) festival, Molyneux offered his opinions on the recently released PS3 exclusive Heavy Rain, a title which we gave 5/5 in our review.

Molyneux couldn’t speak highly enough of Heavy Rain, stating that;

“… There’s no question in my mind that games like Heavy Rain — games that have a new fidelity in the way that they present their experiences; obviously made with cinematography and motion capture in mind — can really show the way forward to a new form of entertainment, which is evolving the story and choices and consequences.”

Molyneux also believes that this is the future of video games – a statement which may be more plausible than his previous “[Fable 2]’s dog will change video games forever.”

“I recommend anyone who wants to start to see the first glimpses of the future of video games to go out and buy it, but, personally, I could not bring myself to play more than 90 minutes, because the world that was there was so dark and so emotionally involving I felt emotionally beaten up.”

That’s something I agree with entirely – after completing Heavy Rain, I felt completely emotionally drained. The shock impact of my game’s ending left me feeling sick and cheated – an emotion I don’t believe a video game had invoked within me before.

The final aspect that Molyneux praised was the use of Quick Time Events as an integral part of the gameplay, claiming that it;

“… really meant that you had to pay attention all the time because you didn’t know whether these quick-time events were going to come up. I have to take my hat off to [Quantic Dream] … There’s a couple of things they do in that game which were really revolutionary, and what they do with quick-time is fantastic.”

Perhaps it’s the British patriotism within that forces me to, but I agree entirely. Heavy Rain was such a departure from the ‘traditional’ video game that I really believe it has paved a new way for video games to evolve. Much like Facebook online games, that’s not to say that every game in the future will follow Heavy Rain’s path (although I suspect that Fable 4 may be heavily influenced by Quantic Dream’s title), but to see the gameplay elements taken, adapted, and refined into a title of another genre… well, it fills me with hope as to where gaming is headed.

What did you think of Heavy Rain? Do you agree with Peter Molyneux?

Source: Joystiq

Square Enix has announced that their upcoming action shooter sequel, Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days will be hitting store shelves on August 24 in North America and August 27 throughout Europe. The title will be available on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC via the Games for Windows label. But that’s not all a brand new trailer has also been released which gives us our first look at some gameplay footage. Oh, how they spoil us.

For all you God of War fans out there, Sony has a present for you. Downloads for the God of War Trilogy Soundtrack and Blood & Metal EP have appeared on the internet linked from the official God of War website.

I’m unsure if it’s a time limited offer or a mistake but they’re available for the time being, although it might take a while to download; last time I checked, mine were speeding away at a hurtling 30KB/sec. A quick search shows that these two items were part of the God of War III Ultimate Edition package, redeemable by voucher code, so they might not be available for long!

Time to head back to the virtual skate park.  EA have announced a May 11 release date for Skate 3 in North America.  Skaters the world over can join in on May 14th.

Developed by Black Box, Skate 3 sends skaters to Port Caverton, a brand new city that promises to be, “a true skater’s paradise with unique districts, skate parks, and endless lines.”

Don’t like what you find in the city?  Take matters into your own hands with the new Skate.Park editor.  Extensively reshape Port Calverton, or create your own custom skate park.  It’s up to you.

As you’ve probably already heard, the release of Obsidian Entertainment’s spy RPG, Alpha Protocol, has been pushed back to June 1, 2010.  To satiate those gamers who were interested in the title, Obsidian has released a series of Developer Diary videos related to the story of the game. The short of it is Alpha Protocol aims to put players in the shoes of super-spy, Michael Thornton, who must assassinate a high-level terrorist in the Middle East in order to prevent World War III from breaking out. While on his mission, he is cut off from his chain of command and must follow the “Alpha Protocol” in order to survive. Throughout, gamers will have to make judgment calls as to who can be trusted, so that Thornton can complete his mission.

Apparently building on the experience from its developing stint on Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords, Obsidian appears to be mixing Bioware-like drama with the ally system from Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction. Rather than sticking with the ”good vs. evil” paradigm from KOTOR II, however, Obsidian is pushing a “shades of gray” choice tree. To see the gameplay in action, check out the preview video below:

If the sight of God of War III hitting the shelves had finally motivated you into putting some pants on and going out to buy a PS3, you might have to wait a while.

Looks like everyone is buying a PS3 (me included, although that was for Heavy Rain), and it’s thanks to the release of the eagerly awaited God of War III. The console was sold out at major US retailers this week and it looks like good times for Sony. Gamestop.com reported the 120GB version console as back-ordered and the 250GB wasn’t available for purchase, Amazon and Best Buy had both versions listed as out of stock too.

In the wake of Spider-Man 4 getting canned and replaced by a 3D lower budget reboot film to be directed by Marc Webb (ya, his name is Webb), some wondered what would happen to the inevitable movie tie-in game that would go with it to likely disappoint gamers and fans alike.

While we know we won’t be getting that, we do know thanks to GamePro that there’s a coming major reveal of Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions, the game by Activision which sets out to shift the tide for the fumbling series.

EA Sports initial entry into the world of MMA video games, the creatively-titled EA Sports MMA, is due to release during the second half of this year. In order to get the hype train going, and to possibly convince gamers to hold off from picking up THQ’s UFC: Undisputed 2010 earlier this year, EA has released a new trailer showing what to expect from its version of the octagon (and optional four-corner ring). From the footage shown, EA looks to be attempting to offer a more visceral and action-packed version of MMA. Whether it will be more accessible to casual fans of MMA than THQ’s offering is still yet to be determined.

We’re rounding the bend, and gearing up for the checkered flag.  MotoGP 09/10 is just a few days away, and to celebrate, the good people at Capcom have released a brand new video.  Check out the new MototGP 09/10 trailer:

Recently, a few leaked shots of an unreleased Xbox Live theme started appearing online.  The shots seem to reveal new costume sets for some Super Street Fighter 4 characters.  Even Hakan, the final new character who was revealed last week, is in one of these shots.

While the verdict is still out on whether these images are legit or not, they certainly seem to be so.  Check them out after the jump. (Click on the thumbs to see bigger versions.)

Kotaku has a great interview with Stig Asmussen, director of the God of War trilogy, in the latest Kotaku Talk Radio. Specifically, they ask him some interesting questions about any cuts they had to make for in God of War 3. Stig talked about how the multiple Titan encounters in the final episode in the trilogy required so much time and resources that the work was overwhelming.

The Batman: Arkham Asylum GOTY Edition is nearly upon us and for all those who never picked it up in the first place (or those who don’t mind double dipping), Eidos has released details of what to expect.

• Trioviz™ 3D vision (3D glasses included)
• Scarecrow Nightmare Challenge Map
• Crime Alley Challenge Map
• Prey in the Darkness Map Pack (2 maps)
• Insane Night Map Pack (2 maps)

Yet another game crashes into what seems to be an ever-expanding month of releases.  Today it was announced on the Playstation Blog that ModNation Racers will be released May 25th  for the PS3 and PSP.  Developed by United Front Games, ModNation Racers mixes Mario Kart style racing with LittleBigPlanet’s customization to create a rather unique, yet familiar, racing game.

Along with the announcement of the release date, it was revealed that pre-order bonuses will accompany the game.  Each bonus is exclusive to a specific retailer.  GameStop will offer God of War 3’s Kratos along with his Kart of Chaos.  Amazon will give you Ratchet and Clank.  Best Buy is offering Nathan Drake and his Jungle Jeep.  These bonuses are great, though they really leave PlayStation fans with a bit of a tough choice about where to buy the game.  The face of each bonus racer perfectly captures the character’s overall personality.  I especially like how accurate Kratos’ scowl is in ModNation form.

Short Version: Final Fantasy XIII is a beautiful game that’s both challenging and rewarding, but it’s greatness is mired in tedium and slow progression.

Game Rant’s Rory Young Reviews Final Fantasy XIII

There’s a simple beauty in recalling a Final Fantasy game that you’ve played. All of the negative aspects of the game fade away, and you’re left with the most poignant experiences. Final Fantasy XIII doesn’t disappoint in that regard; it’s filled with points of emotional gravity and intensity. Whether it’s a cut-scene or a boss battle, Final Fantasy XIII goes above and beyond your typical RPG expectations.

Sadly though, Final Fantasy XIII has negative aspects in abundance, to the extent that some fans will be put off. A quarter of the way through the game I had found little to enjoy, and I only truly began to adore it in the game’s final chapters. At over forty hours of gameplay, Final Fantasy XIII is an investment, and a challenging one at that.

Microsoft’s Aaron Greenberg claimed that the lack of a Blu-ray drive was a key reason why the Xbox 360 has been more successful in hardware sales than the PS3, so far.

While this sounds a little suspect, it does make some sense. He stated:

“Being $100 cheaper is part of the reason we’re nearly twice their installed base.”

Alright, fans of giant robot action, time to get caught up with Transformers: War For Cybertron.  High Moon Studios Game Director Matt Tieger and friends take you on a behind the scenes tour of the upcoming third-robot action title.  Set on Cybertron during the civil war between the Autobots and the Decepticons, Transformers: War For Cybertron is a completely fresh take on the Transformers universe.  Check out the Transformers: War For Cybertron behind the scenes video:

We don’t know exactly how many copies God of War 3 will sell, but we can speculate.

Preorders of the game, according to VGChartz, are currently sitting around 487,000 units.  That’s a pretty promising number, and is a higher preorder count than other PS3 exclusives like Uncharted 2 and Final Fantasy XIII.

As a comparison, Mass Effect 2 had the highest preorder count for a single system so far this year at 475,000 (the Xbox 360 version).  It’s gone on to sell right around 1.5 million copies on the Xbox 360 since then.