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Capcom has hit us with a double-dose of goodness by opening both the North American and Japanese websites for Mega Man 10. At these sites you can check out more information on the game, some character art, the trailers we’ve already posted, new screens, and even some sample music tracks. Hit up the [...]

Huge start for long awaited RPG epic in Japan.

The Blue Bomber is back. Check out first footage of Mega Man 10 in action.

To coincide with the launch of Final Fantasy XIII in Japan, PlayStation Home has been updated with a number of virtual Square Enix goods -- all of them terribly expensive. For 600 yen (about $6.66), Final Fantasy fans will be able to purchase an avatar costume of Snow, Lightning or Sazh. (The Baby Chocobo wig for Sazh will cost an additional 100 yen, though.) While these costumes may be pricey, the alternative (cosplaying in real life) exacts an even greater cost. FF13-inspired furniture is also available at the Home Marketplace, ranging from 100 to 200 yen each. Perhaps you'll want a Cactaur for your apartment? Or a Final Fantasy XIII sofa? Certainly, there's no better way to relax after a lengthy FF13 grind than to sit down on your virtual couch.

"It takes place after an unimaginable natural disaster has struck the region," says former GameSpot editor-in-chief and current video game producer Greg Kasavin, discussing 2K Games' recently revealed shooter, Spec Ops: The Line. The unimaginable natural disaster he's referring to is a catastrophic sandstorm and the region is the financially precarious Dubai. With the one-time booming city-state finding itself in something of a bust, following the global economic downturn, scenes of Dubai's world-famous skyscrapers buried in sand surely struck a nerve. "We will have to review the game first before issuing any decision on whether to ban it or allow it," Mohammed al Mutawa, a video games censor at the United Arab Emirate's National Media Council, told The National. Juma Obaid Alleem, the director of media content at the NMC, told the newspaper that 'before a video game is released in the UAE, the NMC assesses whether it conforms with local laws and notifies authorities if it does not.' From there, we see references to "international matter" and "Ministry of Foreign Affairs" and we figure it best to take the 'wait and see' approach Mr. al Mutawa referred to. For his part, Kasavin is playing up the setting as a "fantastic location from an architectural standpoint" but is quick to point out that "the game uses the location purely as a location." He explained to The National that 'the enemies ... in the fictional Dubai would not have any clear religious or political beliefs associated with them' and that 'none of the shoot-outs took place in mosques.' With myriad games having angered religious or national groups before - everything from Resistance and the Church of England to LittleBigPlanet and the Qur'an - the Spec Ops team has plenty to learn from. We'll know more closer to the game's expected 2011 release. [Thanks, mister_jOBe; via LA Times]

Our spoiler-free impressions of the first hour and a half.

Find out which of your favorite characters goes out with a bang.

click to enlarge With the game set to ship out on January 26, EA held one last hands-on sneak preview of Mass Effect 2 on Wednesday night in San Francisco. We were there, of course, intrigued by an invitation that promised we'd learn what something called "Project Lazarus" was -- as it turned out, it's a crucial part of the game's plot that makes an appearance in the first 20 minutes. We know that because -- save for some optimizations here and there -- we played the first hour-and-a-half of a finished Mass Effect 2, from the title screen until being politely informed that we were about to enter forbidden plot territory. Which is surprising, considering that the opening of the game, apart from being one of the most dramatic we've witnessed in recent memory, is also chockablock with pretty huge plot twists. That said, we must warn you that the preview after the break contains what some may consider MAJOR SPOILERS -- so if you want the beginning of the game and the surprises it holds to remain unrevealed until launch day, seriously ... don't read any further.

Welcome to Joystiq's "Naughty or Nice" holiday giveaway extravaganza! It's simple: Just follow the instructions below to enter for your chance to win. Ah, but to win what? There's always a catch, isn't there? Each "Naughty or Nice" giveaway features two prizes: a totally sweet bundle of holiday cheer and, um, a lump of coal. Winners are selected randomly, we assure you. Of course, who's to say luck isn't dependent on virtue ... Have you been naughty? Or nice? To enter this giveaway: Leave a comment on this post telling us if you've been "naughty" or "nice" this year. (Note: Your response will not affect your chance of winning any of the prizes in this giveaway.) You must be 18 years or older and a resident of the US or Canada (excluding Quebec). Limit 1 entry per person per calendar day. This entry period ends at 12:00 pm ET on Tuesday, December 22. We'll randomly select one grand prize winner at that time to receive DJ Hero Bundle with Turntable, Dead Space Extraction, Muramasa: The Demon Blade, Rabbids Go Home, Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles, and Silent Hill: Shattered Memories for Nintendo Wii (Total ARV: $288); and one first prize winner to receive The Price is Right: 2010 Edition for Nintendo Wii (ARV: $40) -- please check your emails! For a list of complete rules, click here. With a strong dose of horror, this grand prize of third-party Wii games doesn't scream holiday cheer in the traditional sense -- but then, the Wii itself is nontraditional. As for the first prize, "free" is just right. What is Joyswag? Since we don't keep the games and merchandise we receive for review or promotional purposes, it becomes "Joyswag," which is passed along to our readers. Please note that Joyswag may be in "used" condition. For more info on our policy, click here.

It's a holiday miracle! Though there are a few intriguing items in this week's PSN update (such as the long overdue release of Braid, a demo for Army of Two: The 40th Day and Beatles: Rock Band's "Rubber Soul" DLC), the highlight of this latest update is the delectable set of discounts. Some games have had their prices temporarily reduced, such as Battlefield 1943 and Burnout Paradise. Others, such as Puzzle Quest and The Cube, have been permanently encheapened. Click past the jump to see the full list of additions and discounts! Choose your platform to view the corresponding release list: (Note: Continue past the break to view both release lists.)

Welcome to Joystiq's "Naughty or Nice" holiday giveaway extravaganza! It's simple: Just follow the instructions below to enter for your chance to win. Ah, but to win what? There's always a catch, isn't there? Each "Naughty or Nice" giveaway features two prizes: a totally sweet bundle of holiday cheer and, um, a lump of coal. Winners are selected randomly, we assure you. Of course, who's to say luck isn't dependent on virtue ... Have you been naughty? Or nice? To enter this giveaway: Leave a comment on this post telling us if you've been "naughty" or "nice" this year. (Note: Your response will not affect your chance of winning any of the prizes in this giveaway.) You must be 18 years or older and a resident of the US or Canada (excluding Quebec). Limit 1 entry per person per calendar day. This entry period ends at 12:00 pm ET on Tuesday, December 22. We'll randomly select one grand prize winner at that time to receive one copy of Assassin's Creed II, Dragon Age: Origins, FIFA Soccer 10, Forza Motorsport 3, Halo 3: ODST, Left 4 Dead 2, and DJ Hero Bundle with Turntable, plus additional Turntable controller, all for Xbox 360, and a "Live Turns Five" wireless Xbox 360 controller (Total ARV: $568); and one first prize winner to receive Rogue Warrior for Xbox 360 (ARV: $60) -- please check your emails! For a list of complete rules, click here. For the grand prize we've rounded up an eclectic mix of many of the best Xbox 360 games from 2009's fall and holiday seasons and tossed in a limited edition orange controller (from 2007 -- it's vintage!). All we'll say about the first prize is: rogue [rohg] -adjective 1. Operating outside desirable controls. What is Joyswag? Since we don't keep the games and merchandise we receive for review or promotional purposes, it becomes "Joyswag," which is passed along to our readers. Please note that Joyswag may be in "used" condition. For more info on our policy, click here.

A new trailer for Splinter Cell Conviction has landed on Xbox Live, giving us the first official reveal of the rumored co-op mode. The game will feature an entire co-op campaign, which will serve as a prequel to the single-player story of Sam Fisher taking on his old organization, Third Echelon. The co-op campaign stars two special agents, an American Third Echelon agent named Archer and a Russian Voron agent named Kestrel. From what we can glean from the trailer, the two agents are paired up to stop a "rogue element within the Russian military" who has acquired "advanced warheads" to sell on the black market. They do this by sneaking, killing hapless guards and blowing things up. In short, it looks like a lot of fun. Download the trailer yourself -- using the handy link below -- and expect some fresh impressions of the game right here on Joystiq very, very soon. Shortcut: Add the Splinter Cell Conviction co-op trailer to your 360 download queue [Via Xbox.com]

Capcom shows its old school pride with the return of 8-bit Mega Man.

One of the big PSN surprises of the year was Shatter, a retro-futuristic take on the popular brick-breaking genre. Anyone who's played the game is bound to agree that what makes the game so special is the fantastic soundtrack. From now until Christmas, Sidhe is running a special sale on its site, reducing the price of the DRM-free OST to one dollar. One hundred pennies. Yes, for less than the price of PAIN DLC, you can get the entire 14 track album to play on the go. [Via @jeffrubenstein]

As luck would have it, that one missing piece of content for Star Wars: The Force Unleashed that was "exclusive" to the "Ultimate Sith Edition" of the game -- the obligatory Hoth level -- seems to be heading to Xbox Live Marketplace. Spotted by Joystiq reader Andy in the "Coming Soon" section of the XBLM (and seen above), the "Star Wars: The Force Unleashed Hoth Bonus Level" certainly appears to be heading to, at very least, Xbox 360 users. We've contacted LucasArts to find out how much the content will cost, when we can expect to see it arrive on Xbox Live for download, and if it will be coming to PlayStation 3 and PC users as well. [Thanks Andy!]

Sony heard you liked games, so it put an MMO in your Home so you could socially game while you socially game. The company just announced the launch of Sodium One (yeah, we don't know either), a self-contained social MMO space within PlayStation Home. By taking the Teleporter installed in the Central Plaza, Home users can receive in-game objectives from an AI called "VICKIE." Said objectives then task the player with playing various minigames, including "objective-based meta-games, full arcade-style games and community events." The first game accessible in the space: Salt Shooter, a game in which players use tanks to shoot robots. Only five levels of this minigame are available for free, with more levels and items unlockable through microtransactions. Sony is giving away 1,050 free Salt Shooter unlocks to early Sodium One adopters, so be sure to go check that out soon if you're interested. More games, events, and virtual goods will be added over time.

The first trailer for Capcom's multiplatform retro revival, Mega Man 10, has given us a glimpse at all the evil, robotic things we'll be killed by over, and over, and over again. Evil robot castles! Evil robot light bulbs! Also, delightfully, the trailer includes a bit of the new soundtrack, which is as catchy and series-appropriate as that of its predecessor. The last part of the clip gives us an idea of the scope of the new Easy Mode, which is quite a bit easier than we expected. We anticipated reduced numbers of enemies and a greater supply of health powerups, but Easy Mode actually makes the levels less complicated! In our gallery, you can see new screenshots that hint at many of the stages we'll be challenging. There's an ice stage, a sand stage, a computery stage, a fire stage, and a ... truck stage?

No matter how often you play it, you won't be able to understand the Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker TGS demo unless you know Japanese. Thankfully, all that changes today with a brand new English language demo for your PSP. Based on our calculations, the English translation makes it about 15% more comprehensible than before. Excellent! The demo will be available on the PlayStation Store and here on Joystiq (via BigDownload) later today. To ensure a problem-free experience, make sure you have the latest firmware update and have at least 103MB of free space on your PSP.

An English demo is headed to the PlayStation Store with new content.

Where does Mega Man go from here?

Where does Mega Man go from here?

Where does Mega Man go from here?

click to go down Fake Memory Lane in our galleryThe best part of the Matt Hazard series, in our opinion, is the part that doesn't exist -- the fake retro series which the new games pretend to reboot. While the classic Matt Hazard games aren't precisely real, you can now buy the cartridges on eBay. To benefit Child's Play, D3 is selling mockup Hazard memorabilia, including nonfunctional game cartridges and functional Haz-Matt Carts shirts -- and, of course, slap bracelets -- in four simultaneous auctions. It's kind of the opposite of digital distribution: instead of getting a game without physical media, delivered over the internet, you'll get cartridges with no game inside through the mail.

Adding in the points awarded to our recent Propaganda Contest winners—60,000 frags added to the Killed Demomen score and 25,000 added to the Killed Soldier score—the war currently stands neck-and-neck at 5,727,928 Killed Soldiers to 5,742,720 Killed Demos. We need to stress to you that we have not gamed these numbers in any way: After a solid week of gut-grinding combat and an astonishing 11,470,648 total kills, the Demomen and Soldiers are separated by a mere 14,792 points.

PSN vs. Xbox Live Arcade vs. WiiWare. Which will come out on top this year?