Joystiq [Playstation]

There'll be No Gravity on the European PSN Store this week

by Jem Alexander { 55 minutes ago }

European PSP owners are about to receive another game for their collections when No Gravity arrives on the PSN Store tomorrow. The download-only title will be available via both the PS3 and PSP and will set you back £9.99 or €9.99, depending on where you live. Yeah, mainland Europeans get the better end of the deal this time.

No Gravity has been on the American PSN Store for almost a week now, so if you're not sure whether to grab it, your cousins across the pond might be able to help you make a decision. Check out our gallery of screenshots below and the game's trailer above.

Gallery: No Gravity (2-19-09)

Joystiq Review: Watchmen: The End Is Nigh

by Justin McElroy { 1 hour ago }

Before we get to the review in earnest, I'd like to address the die-hard Watchmen fans, the ones who fall asleep with their nose in the book every night and who are positive that the upcoming film will be incapable of capturing the book's dark yet occasionally cheerful nihilism. Watchmen: The End Is Nigh is everything you fear from an adaptation, and anyone who tells you differently is not and has never been your friend. Run far, far away.

... OK, with those nerdlingers gone, let's talk about Watchmen: TEIN's merits as a game, shall we?

Gallery: Watchmen: The End is Nigh

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Watchmen available now from the European PSN Store

by Jem Alexander { 3 hours ago }

Checked the PSN Store today? Of course not, why would you? It's Wednesday. Perhaps as a sign that the End truly is nigh, the European PSN Store has updated today (a Wednesday, in case you forgot) with the first episode of Watchmen: The End is Nigh. There's no telling whether this was mistakenly released a day early, or whether it was placed on the Store on purpose. At the time of writing the American Store has had no such update.

If you're not sure about whether to grab the game, you can try out the demo first, though it does weigh in at a pretty hefty 1.2GB. If you enjoy that chunk of gameplay, you can upgrade to the full game for £12.99/€14.99. We're not sure if the offline-only co-op brawler is worth that sort of money (that's four copies of Noby Noby Boy!) but it might do a good job of getting you in the mood for the movie which releases this Friday.

[Thanks, Mads]

Ubisoft cans World in Conflict's console release plans

by Dustin Burg { 17 hours ago }

Ubisoft has informed IGN that it has no plans to release World in Conflict: Soviet Assault to any console platform this month or anytime in the future. The PC version remains unaffected and will see a release later this month.

Soviet Assault's Xbox 360 and PS3 cancellation may be surprising for some, but for us, we questioned the project's console plans as of late. After the big Vivendi / Activision merger, Massive Entertainment's recent history and Soviet Assault's early delay, we knew something was up. We call it "game-cancellation-intuition." Not very catchy, we know.

Watchmen developer chat on Wednesday

by Jem Alexander { 18 hours ago }

Looking forward to some Watchmen later this week? The movie releases in cinemas on Friday but on Thursday the episodic downloadable game, The End Is Nigh, will be made available on the PlayStation Network. Jerry Pritchard will be fielding your questions about the game for an hour on the PlayStation Blog tomorrow (Wednesday) at 11am PST. Not sure what to expect from The End Is Nigh? Check out our hands-on impressions.

EA's Glen Schofield hopes Sony can 'figure it out'

by Majed Athab { 18 hours ago }

Speaking to GI.biz, EA Redwood Shores manager Glen Schofield expressed hope that Sony can figure out what to do with PS3's relatively high price tag in a time of economic woe. The conglomerate faces massive losses from its computer entertainment division and declining sales for its flagship console, but Sony doesn't seem to see a problem. Some suggest a price cut would be beneficial (and believe is actually on the way), but Schofield isn't sure it's the best direction: "You know, I can't tell them what to do. I don't know their finances."

So what is Sony to do? It seems like the company is caught between a rock and a hard place. "They've been such a great, great partner," said Schofield. "I hope they get out of this and they figure it out and they're around for a long time." If outsiders like Schofield are worried for Sony ... imagine what its employees are feeling.

FIFA 09: Full version of 'Ultimate Team' title update priced

by Xav de Matos { 19 hours ago }

EA Sports' Football World community manager, Romily Broad, has revealed the upcoming FIFA 09 DLC, Ultimate Team, will be priced at 800

/ $9.99 US (£7.99). For the uninformed, Ultimate Team is a fantasy soccer management mode that will allow gamers to assemble their fantasy teams by collecting virtual cards in various categories.

Footy fans should take note, this isn't regular DLC. The content will drop as a mandatory -- and free -- title update on March 19 (clocking in at about 1.3GB). Gamers will receive a five match trial with the option to shell out for the full version. Mandatory 1.3GB title update? Comcast -- and Rogers Cable -- users had better schedule their bandwidth usage accordingly.

Sony looking to make PSP PSN more like Virtual Console

by Majed Athab { 19 hours ago }

In hopes of bolstering its PSP PSN download scene, Sony plans to expand its digital catalog to include non-PlayStation console titles. "In general, there's a lot of discussion about [publishers'] back catalogs that will finally find its way to PlayStation Network in the back half of this year," said SCEA's John Koller to MTV Multiplayer. That would include both the promise of more PSOne titles (as North America seriously needs to catch up to Japan in that regard) and pre-PSOne retro titles.

Despite becoming more Virtual Console-ish, this expansion of the PSP side of PSN will also offer more portable versions of PS3 downloadable titles, such as PixelJunk Monsters and the already released Super Stardust Portable. Koller says that Sony's studios are preparing more internally developed download-only titles. This strong focus on digital distribution makes us wonder if the whole "dropping UMD" rumors are true.

God of War III concept art reveals Fire Titan

by Jem Alexander { 20 hours ago }

We're always appreciative when concept artists release their work for the world at large to see. Most remains unseen due to legal hurdles, or is later monetized in the form of art books. The above God of War III image, however, was found on concept artist Cecil Kim's website and reveals the "Fire Titan." which, according to the blurb, "battles against Zeus and his allies." MTV Multiplayer proposes that this may be one of God of War III's bosses but, if the trailer is anything to go by, this massive walking volcano is much more likely to be one of the game's levels.

If you're hungry for more God of War III concept art, be sure to make your way to concept artist Andy Park's website. He recently put up a load of artwork from the game, including enemy concepts and environment paintings that look to have heavily inspired the recent trailer.

Source - "Fire Titan" @ Cecil Kim's personal portfolio
Source - "God of War 3!" @ Andy Park's blog

[Via MTV Multiplayer]

Incognito, MyHawk collaborate on Warhawk stat tracking

by Majed Athab { 20 hours ago }

If you consider yourself to be a veteran Warhawk player, then you might want to check out MyHawk.org. The fan site, in collaboration with developer Incognito, tracks in-game Warhawk stats and has just undergone a major update which added in new stat features such as: "clan matches & tournaments, daily leaderboards, new graphs, per-weapon stats, stats on individual games, [and] game calendar."

The game's director, Dylan Jobe, revealed on the PlayStation Blog that this is all possible because of a little experimental XML feed. The XML feed streams raw Warhawk data, which any community -- not just MyHawk -- can get access to. Jobe calls it the "democratization of the player community." That means if you run a Warhawk community and want access to the global feed, Jobe says to "hit the Warhawk forums and post your info."

PixelJunk packed 3-in-1 trunk for Asia

by Alexander Sliwinski { 21 hours ago }

The PSN PixelJunk series will be bundled in the PixelJunk 3in1 Pack for the Asian market, reports Siliconera. The bundle will include Racers, Monsters and Eden. All games have English or Japanese language options, but there's no word yet if the disc includes the Monsters expansion or the Eden soundtrack.

Although we've yet to hear back from Sony Europe, Sony America let us know that it has no "official announcements at this time about the PixelJunk series." If the region didn't deserve a hard copy for Siren: Blood Curse's 9 gigglebytes, what chance does PixelJunk have? Ending on a good note: at least PS3 games aren't region locked.

[Update: Q Games president Dylan Cuthbert confirmed to Joystiq that this PixelJunk pack is Asia-only. "Right now, this special bundle is for Asia only."]

King of Fighters XII hits PS3, 360 worldwide this July

by JC Fletcher { 22 hours ago }

Ignition Entertainment has just announced a July 2009 worldwide release for King of Fighters XII, the impossibly gorgeous first HD entry in SNK Playmore's long-running 2D fighting series, on both Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. The fighter features 20 playable characters, all of whom appear as newly redrawn sprites, fighting in equally impressive 2D backgrounds.

According to the press release, preview footage and images for this unbelievably hot game are included in the PS2 release of King of Fighters '98 Ultimate Match, itself a fairly nice-looking KOF -- which happens to be out today. Prepare to be burned by the Orochi flames of a searing hot trailer after the break.

[Screen via KOF XII's official website]

2K Sports reveals The Bigs 2 for this summer

by David Hinkle { 23 hours ago }

2K Sports has revealed it's developing a sequel for its arcade baseball title, The Bigs. Unsurprisingly titled The Bigs 2, there isn't much else to know beyond the game's announcement trailer (you can find that beyond the break), which shows off baseball greats Wade Boggs, Ozzie Smith, Reggie Jackson and Roberto Clemente getting their slug on. It's currently set for release this summer. While the game hasn't been confirmed for any platforms, you can bet 2K Sports will be knocking this one out of the park onto all major consoles.

Who's ready to step back up to the plate?

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World Tour adds Queen, Hendrix and European DLC in March

by Dustin Burg { 1 day ago }

Activision decided today was the opportune date to announce all of the upcoming Guitar Hero World Tour downloadable content to be released in the month of March.

Musical goodness from Queen, Jimi Hendrix and a handful of European bands will be bicycle racing to the XBLM and PSN this month, including three songs from Vanilla Sky, Rasmus and Les Rita Mitsouko that'll be available this Thursday.

A complete listing of all the upcoming World Tour DLC can be viewed after the break, but be warned that some may find the release of both Queen and Hendrix songs in one month to be too overwhelming. For those music enthusiasts, we recommend taking a seat before continuing.

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Toy Cars DLC rolling into Burnout Paradise this Thursday

by Griffin McElroy { 1 day ago }

Following a somewhat embarassing premature release of Burnout Paradise's "Toy Cars" DLC a couple of weeks back on Xbox Live, Criterion has finally set a legitimate release date for the nine-car pack. Keep an eye on your respective system's digital shopping center this coming Thursday morning -- that's when Criterion anticipates the miniature vehicles will be released upon the inhabitants of Paradise City.

Surprisingly, with two days between us and shrunken vehicular carnage, Criterion hasn't announced the price of the DLC bundle -- though if it matches the costs displayed during February's accidental launch, we can expect to drop 1,000