LucasArts announced today that big things are in store for The Force Unleashed later this fall. In addition to a new level that continues the story, they will be releasing a special edition of the game dubbed The Force Unleashed: Ultimate Sith Edition. In addition to the previous levels released in the original version of the game, this new title claims to “show gamers the deepest, darkest side of the Force in a story that puts them on a collision course with Luke Skywalker himself.” It will also include the DLC and an all-new exclusive bonus level.

It was unclear if the new level they plan on releasing is the same as the one included in this special retail version of the game, however the way they worded the press release leads me to believe that they’ll be different. The new downloadable level they mentioned takes place on Tatooine, and involves the Emperor sending you to dispatch Obi-Wan Kenobi, leading you to Jabba’s palace, and a show down with the infamous Boba Fett. It sounds pretty exciting so I hope that you haven’t sold your copy of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. If you have, or you just want it, you can a buy a copy for relatively cheap if you look in the right places.

Microsoft’s Aaron Greenberg recently comments on the potential success of the PS3, or lack thereof. His belief was that Sony has spent way too much time focusing on the Blu-Ray, believing that what happened with the Playstation 2’s DVD player would repeat itself. For those of you who may not be aware, the PS2 quickly became one of the cheapest DVD players on the market, and served a dual purpose for many households. While these are actually pretty good observations, I think it’d be safe to say that Sony simply didn’t know what they wanted to promote when they presented the PS3 to the market.

There’s no question that the system has amazing graphics, powerful exclusives and the ability to play Blu-Rays, but I’m not sure Sony really knows how to market those features effectively myself. My thoughts aside, Greenberg went on to state that Sony is now headed in the right direction, capturing the early adopters in the core market and now shooting for triple-A titles.  This is evident by their lineup for the next year, and I agree as I’m looking forward to such games as Uncharted 2.

[via Gamasutra]

The other week, PS3 owners found themselves unable to access Hulu content on their systems. While the browser itself was never the best for viewing the site, it was possible to do so, making the PS3 even more appealing to consumers looking to create a media hub. Since the service had been blocked, people have speculated as to why, but it looks as though Hulu themselves have finally put forth a reason.

Apparently it’s the content providers to blame. Seeing as a good portion of income in made from the way videos and television shows are rented, or purchased, through the Playstation Network, they have sought to protect their flow of income. It’s a smart move on their part, but at the same time, it’s a feature that really helped the PS3. Then again, I have to wonder how many people actually browse the net on their PS3, at least, on a regular basis. On the bright side, the ability to actually purchase, and transfer, shows to a portable hard drive is a huge plus though it currently shares that feature with it’s competition. Perhaps in the future, we can hope that Hulu strikes some form of deal with content providers in order to allow the viewing of certain shows which aren’t currently available on the Playstation Network.

[Image Source: Sony Computer Entertainment Japan]
[via techradar]

 The download only title, Battlefield 1943, launched the other week for Playstation Network, Xbox 360, and PC. Since it’s release, the title has been plagued by a lack of available servers, which made connecting to a game a pain. The game itself is said to be really fun, and while I haven’t played it myself, I’ve enjoyed the numerous other Battlefield titles over the years. Coming from a solid franchise, I’m sure the game is definitely worth checking out. At least, now that they’ve decided to add more servers.

In a post on Major Nelson’s blog, he relays that EA has informed him that more servers are coming in order to meet the demand. He noted that EA and Dice have been working nonstop since the game launched in order to keep content up to date for the community as it grows. This is excellent news so, I encourage anyone who hasn’t already gotten a chance to play to give it a shot if you enjoy world war 2 shooters. Just don’t expect it to be on par with Call of Duty: World at War; there’s a reason the game is only a fraction of the cost. Speaking of which, I’ll have some interesting insight as to why the next Modern Warfare game is getting the Call of Duty name tacked back on to the title later today.

[Image Source: battlefieldhq]

While Atlus did have the game shown at E3, I thought it was rather nice of them to set up an entire panel regarding the game at this year’s Anime Expo in LA. I’m here covering the convention for another site I write for, but I felt this piece of news might best be served via this blog. Aram Jabbari welcomed a producer who worked on the series as well as the director of the game via a pre-recorded segment that helped to explain the mechanics of the game. In short, the game looks incredibly difficult, but for people who really want to get the most out of their purchases, I couldn’t recommend the game more. The game itself allows players to cooperate or play competitively in an online experience that only serves to assist the single player experience of the game. This gives added depth by allowing players to share their experiences in their own unique worlds with others.

The visuals in Demon’s Souls are actually quite beautiful for this PS3 Action-RPG, which is set in what looks to be a European inspired fantasy setting. It’s quite violent, and features plenty of gore, so fans of that should also be pleased. As announced tonight, the game should be ready to ship in October. It will include a limited edition that comes with a sleeve and the original Japanese cover art. Both the standard and limited editions will also feature a pre-order bonus artbook.

 [Image Source: Atlus]

According to a recent PushSquare interview with Tecmo, the developer went on record explaining that they are currently in love with developing for the PS3 right now as it has highest specs. This strikes me as odd as many developers have found that the ease of development for the Xbox 360, and the additional memory that the console makes available tends to steer most developers towards choosing the Xbox as the lead console for most projects. That said, Tecmo proved with Ninja Gaiden Sigma that programming for the PS3 wasn’t a big challenge for them, and even stated that they can’t understand the complaints from other devs.

They went on to explain that their recent shift in development is merely because the specs better suit their games. While I’m not privy on the details, I can only assume this means that the lack of space on standard DVDs results in compressed textures and sound. No doubt they’re excited about their upcoming title, Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2, and with their recent merge with Koei, it wouldn’t surprise me if we start seeing more PS3 exclusives from both of the development teams. I’d love to see other developers eager to take on the PS3, but I honestly hope they don’t abandon the Xbox all together. The market is still huge and ignoring it is probably a bad business practice.

A new patent has surfaced on the net showing the potential for PS2 emulation via the Playstation 3’s cell processor. This could mean that before we know it, every PS3 owner might have access to the entire PS2 library, instead of just the early adopters who purchased the console in it’s infancy. Sony is still behind in sales and could use as much help as possible to overtake Microsoft’s current lead. Unfortunately, there’s no news on if this is only going to provide emulation through retail discs, or if it’ll pave the way for digital distribution of the library via the Playstation Network.

We’re also left in the dark regarding when this might be implemented. While it’d be nice to see digital distribution become an option, I’d hate to have to repurchase my library should Sony decide to lock out the emotion chip emulation in previous consoles. I doubt that’d happen, but greed has led to terrible decisions in the past. This leaves me wondering, will anyone consider picking up a PS3 should this feature be made available in the near future? The original details of the patent as reported by The Mirror are listed below.

The patent describes a means of directly emulating the PS2’s Emotion Engine chipset using the PS3’s Cell Processor. Those with a keen memory for PS3 hardware models will recall that when the console first launched in the US, the original 60GB came with full PS2 backwards compatibility via an Emotion Engine chip.

In the UK we weren’t blessed with the same hardware backwards compatibility support, but in those early days there was a software solution that at least makes most games run to some degree. More recent PS3 models, including the 40GB and 80GB versions, have dropped backwards compatibility altogether, after the Graphics Synthesizer was removed to lower production costs.

[Image Source: Sony Computer Entertainment Japan]

I’m a bit late to the party, and since it’s not really news anymore, I’m not going to go into the details. In short, id Software, developer of such titles as Doom, Quake, and the cult classic Commander Keen, was purchased by ZeniMax media–the parent company of Elder Scrolls developer, Bethesda Softworks. It’s not entirely a shock as id Software has been without a major triple A title for quite some time. With the way the industry has been going, many companies have found themselves in the midst of mergers, and acquisitions. It’s a shame that id Software had to fall into the later category, especially since the game had maintained its status as an independent developer for so long.

So what does this mean for us fans of their classic shooters? Well, it’s hard to say. ZeniMax is a larger company and while I hope that id Software is allowed to finish the projects they have in production, I can’t help but feel that they might be reorganized. Bethesda has been rather fond of creating first person, action based, role-playing games, and while their latest titles such as Rogue Warrior and Wet are a breath of fresh air, you can’t help but realize that Bethesda will be making sequels to both Elder Scrolls and Fallout at some point. Until then, I can only hope that titles such as Doom 4, and Rage see the light of day. Of course, they are still hiring according to their website, and from the sound of the press release they have on their front page, nobody should be worried. That said, you never know what might happen. Let’s just hope for the best.

 [Image Source - id Software]

I’ve decided to start a few weekly features where we simply summarize the newest titles being releases here in the US. For your convenience, we’ll be linking each title to PriceGrabber.com so that you can easily click on them to find the best deal from multiple vendors. I’ll also try to include links to metacritic just incase you want to view some scores before laying down some cash for these.

For this weeks releases, hit the jump! (more…)

Electronic Arts has confirmed that a small team at the Swedish developer, DICE, is currently at work on a sequel to the first person action-adventure, Mirror’s Edge. EA’s European Vice-President, Patrick Soderlund, told gaming news site VideoGamer at E3 that “we have a small team on it and I’m excited about what we do.” While he didn’t state it directly, he implied that the game may still be in the early stages of development, stating that “you will see another Mirror’s Edge for sure. It’s just a matter of when that time is and what we do with it.”

DICE is also currently at work on the next Battlefield title, and while there is no news regarding which product will see the light of day first, the smart money is on Battlefield 3. EA had previously over-estimated the sales of the original Mirror’s Edge, and sunk quite a bit of money into the marketing and development of the game only to be met with mixed reviews. Having played it myself, I could easily see why they’d be hesitant to back a sequel despite that I enjoyed it–call it a guilty pleasure. The game played like the first 15 minutes of The Matrix, spread out over 5 to 10 hours worth of gameplay. It was fun but short, and these days, you can get the game for pretty cheap. Thankfully, the replay value has been extended thanks to new downloadable content, which provides several new levels.