About damn time Infinity Ward. The Modern Warfare 2 Care Package patch is finally on the way to the Xbox 360 to fix the glitches that have plagued online matches for months now.
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Not a bad looking week in new games with BioShock 2 and Dante’s Inferno arriving, along with Star Ocean: The Last Hope for the PS3 and Super Monkey Ball: Step & Roll for all you Wii Balance Board owners. The DS gets a little love too this week with Percy Jackson and Scene It? Twilight. The PSP gets no love at all with nothing out this week, which isn’t unusual. Hit the jump for the full list of new game releases this week and my pick of the week.
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A recent European PlayStation.Blog interview with Final Fantasy XIII Director, Motomu Toriyama, and Producer, Yoshinori Kitase, reaffirmed the total playtime of 50-60 hours we already knew about months ago, and talks about about the added missions (side-quests) in the game that add to the mix. When asked about the “sidequest” content specifically, they responded with the following: Read more…

The team at NaturalMotion has put out a developer diary series to better help prospective players understand what the game will be about. To be clear, this is not another Madden clone. You won’t see a “god mode” camera that lets you see the entire field, instead your perspective will be third person giving you a more “on the field” experience. In addition, the philosophy behind the controls are very player friendly and intuitive. Watch the full video below. Read more…

Sega’s voluptuous vixen, Bayonetta, has broken the 1 million sales mark with 1.1 million units sold on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 console. The economy hasn’t been too excepting of new IPs as of late, so it’s good to see that a half nude librarian witch can get a little love. I predict a Platinum Games sequel that features a fully nude Bayonetta who becomes clothed only when she performs special moves. Brilliant.

[Source: Gamasutra]

While most publications are still waiting patiently for their review copy, a few have already published their BioShock 2 review. Our phone call with the developer wrapped up yesterday and you can look for our BioShock 2 review to go live shortly after the game’s release on the 9th. In the mean time, here’s what the early bird outlets are giving the 2K Marin sequel.

IGN (91/100)
IGN UK (90/100)
PlayStation Magazine (100/100)
PSM3 UK (93/100)
PC Gamer (90/100)

The last time I sat through a lengthy PlayStation 3 game related install, it was full of cigarette smoke and Surgeon General warnings — a fitting, yet uneventful way, to pass the time with Solid Snake. Heavy Rain Developer, Quantic Dream, is prepared with their own ingenious alternative to twiddling your thumbs while their game loads into the PS3 as well — an swan origami building session! This makes sense considering the design of the cover, and unlike the Metal Gear 4 sequence, you’ll at least be able to take part in this one.

[Source: TheSixthAxis]

A Teaser trailer for the next installment of the Fallout series went up today. This game is currently in development by Obsidian Entertainment, as the franchise is currently on loan from Bethesda while they work on whatever it is they’re working on (Elder Scrolls 5?)

As you may or may not know, Obsidian was founded by former members of Black Isle Studios, including Feargus Urquhart and Chris Avellone; and as you may or may not know, these folks were the driving force behind the original Fallout and Fallout 2. So what can we expect here? If you ask me, we’re in for a game that Looks and plays like Fallout 3, but feels like Fallout 1 and 2 . . . . one can only hope. Read more…

There’s a rumor going around the internet claiming that Sonic will make an appearance in Super Mario Galaxy 2.

According to a trusted source close to Nintendo magazine NGamer, Sega’s infamous hedgehog will be in the Green Hill Galaxy level. Maybe from a trusted source, but for now it’s just a rumor. That is until Nintendo or Sega actually confirms it.

With Sonic 4 now officially revealed, and now a rumored appearance in SMG2, seems as if Sonic is gonna be busy in 2010, which is great news to hear.

I guess I could say something witty here, or maybe make one of those analogies you all love where I compare video games to some obscure band or movie. Instead, I will just let us all bask in the glory of this moment. For this… this my friends is the minute Sega finally got it right again. Read more…

In a conference call that occurred earlier today, THQ CEO Brian Farrell, revealed several high profile sequels already in development. The list included Red Faction Guerrilla 4 as a fiscal 2011 release, with Darksiders 2, Saints Row 3, and a new IP titled Homefront underway as well.

Interesting news for fans of the aforementioned franchises. I’m curious to see if Vigil Games will be able to build on the foundation they have created in Darksiders. Outside of that, it seems that Saints Row 3 may be the top secret project Volition has been keeping under wraps.

[Source: GameSpot]

Valve have today revealed the runners-up for last year’s TF2 propaganda contest, and they are officially brilliant. There are plenty of entries to look through, most in very high resolution, and all highly enjoyable.

Hit the link to see them. I think the TF2 community have really outdone themselves here. A lot of effort has gone into most of these, and it shows. Keep fighting the good fight, by the way. Play Demoman.

Exhibitors and concerts were announced today for PAX East in Boston, which takes place on March 26-28. Major publishers attending the show include EA, Ubisoft, Microsoft and Nintendo, along with well known developers like The Behemoth, Harmonix, Rockstar, Turbine and Twisted Pixel Games also making an appearance. Music acts will include, but aren’t limited to, Jonathan Coulton, MC Frontalot and Anamanaguchi.

Tickets to PAX East have been in high demand, so if you haven’t gotten yours yet, now is the time to do so. Hit the jump for the full list of exhibitors and music acts that will be at PAX East.

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Here at Ripten, we embrace diversity. We understand that there are many different shades of geek and that we have no right to cater to the handful we deem worthy of our love. Why ignore those who spend hard earned money and precious time on the costumes we take for granted? Now, we bring you the cosplay spotlight — a weekly offering of the best male and female cosplay on the web. Our focus is more on difficulty and final result rather than half naked and most cleavage, though we won’t shy away from boobs if we truly feel the cosplay is worthy.

This week, we’ll take a look at a guy and gal with huge-ass weapons, both hailing from juggernauts of the survival horror and FPS genre: Halo and Silent Hill. Read more…

In order to accurately review a game like Blood Bowl, you have to look at it from two entirely separate perspectives. On one hand is the type of gamer who is intimately familiar with the warm embrace of the Warhammer tabletop games and their subgenera. You remember the days of wielding your 28 mm metal miniatures as if they held the power of Thor’s hammer. The rules already lay dormant in the back of your mind, ready to be awoken and destroy Tokyo by the depth charge that is a Blood Bowl video game. On the other hand, you have the other 90% of gamers who are going to play this and didn’t even have a clue that Blood Bowl was a tabletop game to begin with. That gives developer Cyanide the double edged sword of having to make a game that appeals to a large amount of gamers while staying true to the source material. If they pitch the balance too far from one side to the other they will either have a game inaccessible to new comers, or have to face the ire of a whole lot of people who are hardcore enough that they might have the Living Rulebook tattooed all over their body like they are in a Clive Barker novel.

So roll a d16 and see which one you are. Read more…

I’ve been excited about Aliens vs Predator for a while now for no real reason other than it being a new Aliens vs Predators game. I know most people are kind of making negative waves about it based on what they’ve seen and the circumstances around it. For one, the Alien vs Predator movies were garbage, but the first game was pretty cool so I can write that one off. Also, this is the same company that made Rogue Warrior, but this is also the same company that made the first Aliens vs Predator which, once again, was pretty awesome. Even if the game is botched and single player isn’t very good, I don’t really see how you can mess up a multiplayer game that includes Aliens, Predators, and the lowly human being all spilling blood together. So the news of a demo hitting all the respective platforms on the 4th is pretty exciting. Hopefully this game meets the arbitrary expectations I have for it.

No word on if their will be any Predaliens. Check out PSN, Steam, and Live on the 4th and get your infared vision on.

[Source: AvPGalaxy, Title image from the hilarious Alien Loves Predator]

Visceral Games has assured the gaming public that Dante’s Inferno will be heavily supported with post release content. While the game isn’t set to be released for another week, Visceral’s Johnathan Knight is already greasing the wheels for many upcoming additions to the classic tale. While, as fans of Left 4 Dead and the first Mass Effect can attest to, just saying you are committed to making loads of extra DLC for a game doesn’t actually translate to tons of extra DLC, Knight has at least given a bit of information on the first planned addition. Read more…

If you don’t want know what happens after killing the Lich King in World of Warcraft’s latest expansion, you definitely don’t want to click play on the video below. Some of you may already know what happens due to internet leakage, so this will serve as nothing more than a visual confirmation. In any case, you’ve been warned. Go now … and never return. Read more…

Believe in the Madden curse? Well, if you do, you’ll be happy to hear that Doritos and EA Sports have a Super Bowl promotion lined up that will let you get in on the Madden 11 cover athlete action. Starting this Thursday, EA and Doritos will begin to release more information, i.e. candidates, voting procedures, etc.

So you’ve got a big decision to ponder while you chomp on your Cool Ranch flavored chips — will you vote a player you admire to the cover, or will you use your new found power to potentially jinx a star on a team you despise? After watching Troy Polamalu on my beloved Steelers hobble his way through this season, there’s no question in my mind what I would do.

[Source Kotaku]

David Cox, a producer at Konami and owner of the twitter account “CastlevaniaLOS”, tweeted a few details about the upcoming game today. In addition to sharing the title’s number seven ranking on GameTrailers most anticipated games list, Cox also revealed the following bits of information in response to questions about the game:

“There is lots of platforming – climbing, jumping, using the combat cross to swing, grip, rappel and all sorts of stuff !!” tweet

and in reply to a question asking how long the game was “looking to be?”, he stated:

“around 15 hours for an average player” tweet

Nothing too eye popping in terms of the platforming info, but I’m fairly happy with the gameplay length for a platformer. What are your thoughts?