You’ll be able to buy the new Warhawk Pack very soon – in April actually (adding more evidence to the leaked release schedule) and we can provide you with some nouveaux screenshots.  Sadly importers of the game will once again find it hard to buy the pack. At least there’s a free patch.

Operation: Broken Mirror will reach the Playstation Store next month with the same price as the previous pack (£3.99/$7.99).  You’ll not only get a whole new map, including 10 different layouts, but a new vehicle: the Armoured Personnel Carrier.

Designed for rapid infiltration, the tough and swift APC allows six passengers to fire weapons through its side hatches and features a ‘speed boost’ to charge through enemy lines more effectively. Once the APC reaches its destination, it acts as a forward spawn point for swarms of reinforcements.

There’s also a driver-activated E-POD (Electrostatic Plasma Ordinance Disrupter) that emits a burst of energy that absorbs enemy fire to provide a temporary shield for your troops. It is also a hazard for enemies, who are damaged when they enter it.  The APC is a spiffing piece of equipment, that’s for sure!

The new icy map is an Eucadian stronghold, where snowy conditions blanket an intricate network of freeways and towns, the hub of which is the war torn Radial Village. What’s exciting is that it’s the biggest map so far, even bigger than the massive Omega Dawn.  Incognito’s Dylan Jobe lets a Playstation blogger know just how big it will be:

That is a very good question cause I know that we got a lot of feedback from Omega Dawn that its layouts were too big!

So first off, let me say that yes, the new battlefield is very large. In fact, it is bigger than Omega Dawn — But Wait !!! This was done very intentionally so that we could provide more variety with the layouts in this new Booster-Pack than any other previously released level.

There are way more small layouts and medium sized layouts — including some asymmetrical ones. There are 10 layouts in the new battlefield so you guys will have more control over the games your setting up.

We were very aware that we needed to give you smaller layouts with this booster pack so hopefully you’re happy with the increased variety of small to medium layouts.

It sounds splendid, but all this tempting might be putting some unfortunate people through agony.  Yes, those forgotten importers. There was a significant problem with the Omega Dawn Pack – those who imported Warhawk from the US couldn’t download the pack.  You see, Playstation 3 games are region free, but Playstaiton Downloadable Content is not.  An odd decision, but one that has left many burnt. 

Dylan Jobe finally answered our calls recentley, letting us know exactly what’s being done with the problem importers are having:

I have looked into this and there is unfortunately not a whole lot I can do for you or the other players that have contacted me.

Not sure what your specific circumstances are but I know that some players around the world have imported Warhawk from SCEA and they don’t have access to a PS Store in their region or in some cases, don’t have a credit card that will work on the US store.

Again, I wish there was something that I could do to directly help this but it is totally out of my control :-(

Oh well.  Of course we can all access any store we like, but not all of us have a US credit card to buy the content.  Furthermore, the Warhawk packs are tied to the country/region the disc was bought from. The only way a UK resident with the US disc can play Operation: Broken Mirror, is to get the pack off of an American friend.  If we’re lucky enough to have a friend who will share the US pack with us, Sony and Incognito will miss out on our monies.

Nonetheless, the v1.3 patch can be downloaded with ease early next month. Among a bunch of new fixes, it’ll include two new troop weapons: the wrench and the Bio Field Generator.

The wrench pickup replaces the knife and can be used in the same way, but can also repair your team’s vehicles. The Bio Field Generator also replaces the knife and is deployed like a proximity mine, sticking to walls and vehicles. It generates a nanite cloud of your team’s colour – allied troops standing within the cloud experience rapid health regeneration with the opposite occurring to the enemy.

Bring it on!

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Along with the v1.2 update released today came an in-game store, where the new Omega Dawn Booster pack could be bought from. However, Europeans were treated to the pack for 0.00 Euro’s – that’s right it was free and now some lucky buggers are flying in the new map right now.

This news was unfortunately posted on the Official Playstation forums and is now unavailable. We’ll have to wait until tomorrow to buy the pack for $7.99 or £3.99.

Dylan Jobe also revealed yesterday that new booster packs will likely follow if the demand is there.

*Update 1* – Some are reporting that The Booster Pack is available for download right now, but you’ll have to pay.

*Update 2* - Dylan Jobe has confirmed the Booster pack is on the US Store and that they are working on bringing it back to Europe (it was taken down after some lucky peeps were getting it for free.)