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Hi there all you ZEN fans!

ZEN Studios is revealing another trailer for our upcoming arcade golfing multiplayer game, Planet MiniGolf. This time we’re revealing the coolest tips, tricks and power-ups to help you become the best mini-golfer around! This Tips & Tricks trailer will show off all of the things that will help you get a hole in one. Check out an exclusive sneak peek of the Planet MiniGolf Tips & Tricks trailer below!

This is a small taste of what Planet MiniGolf will deliver. ZEN Studios is also offering a contest to all you MiniGolf fans! You only need to follow these two easy steps to win: head over to our Facebook page and “like” us, and then send an email to: planetminigolf@zenstudios.com telling us which power-up allows you to control the ball when you hit it. You will then be entered to win a customized Planet MiniGolf golf kit!

Be sure to check out Planet MiniGolf when it launches on PSN next month for $9.99. For more information you can always check out our previous posts on the PlayStation.Blog or visit the official ZEN Studios website!

The following promotion is intended for viewing in the 50 United States and the District of Columbia (“D.C.”) only and shall only be construed and evaluated according to United States law. Do not enter this sweepstakes if you are not a legal resident of, and located in the 50 United States or District of Columbia at the time of entry.

PLAYSTATION®NETWORK PLANET MINIGOLF CONTEST OFFICIAL RULES
Void outside the 50 United States and D.C. and where prohibited.

Official Contest Rules

1. DESCRIPTION: The “Planet MiniGolf Giveaway Contest” begins at 12:01 AM [PST] on Wednesday, May 19, 2010 and ends at 11:59 PM [PST] on Tuesday, June 1, 2010. The Sponsor of this Contest is ZEN Studios. The administrator of this is ZEN Studios.

2. ELIGIBILITY: Contest is open to legal residents of the fifty (50) United States and Washington, D.C. who are at least 18 years of age at time of entry and who have internet access as of the Start Date. Any individuals (including but not limited to employees, consultants, independent contractors and interns) who have, within six months prior to the Start Date, held employment with or performed services for Sponsor, Contest Administrator, ZEN Studios, or any organizations affiliated with the sponsorship, fulfillment, administration, prize support, judging, advertisement or promotion of the Contest (collectively, “Contest Entities”) are not eligible to enter or win. Immediate family and household members of such individuals are also not eligible to enter or win. “Immediate Family” shall mean parents, step-parents, legal guardians, children, step-children, siblings, step-siblings, or spouses. “Household Members” shall mean those people who share the same residence at least three months a year. Void where prohibited.

3. HOW TO ENTER: Head to ZEN Studios Facebook page at www.facebook.com/zenstudios and “like” ZEN Studios, then send an email to: planetminigolf@zenstudios.com explaining what power-up allows you to control the ball when you hit it, this information can be found in the “Tips and Tricks Trailer.” To be valid, entries must be received no later than June 1, 2010 at 11:59pm PST.

All entries must be received by 11:59 PM [PST] on June 1, 2010. Limited to one entry per person. Entrants must provide all information requested by Sponsors to be eligible to win. Incomplete, unreadable, or unintelligible entries will be disqualified. All information provided by entrants becomes the property of Sponsor and will not be returned or acknowledged. Proof of email does not constitute proof of entry.

4. PRIZES: Each prize winner will receive one ZEN Studios Planet MiniGolf golf kit, including: a customized Planet MiniGolf Golf Towel, a custom three pack of balls, and a custom set of Planet MiniGolf tees.

5. WINNER SELECTION AND NOTIFICATION: 25 prize winners will be selected following the Promotion Period. Winners will be determined by a single random drawing of all valid entries received by Sponsor, whose decisions are final. Selection will be held on or about June 3, 2010. Sponsor will send a notification email to each winner’s e-mail address they use to enter the conest. If any winner does not respond to Sponsor’s notification email within 7 days of the date of the notification email, he/she will be disqualified and a new winner will be selected based on the original selection criteria.. Please allow four to six weeks for receipt of prizes.Prize winners cannot assign or transfer the prize to another person. No cash or prize substitution is allowed except at the discretion of Sponsor. Other restrictions may apply.

6. CONDITIONS OF PARTICIPATION/RELEASES: Contest is void where prohibited or restricted by law. All federal, state and local laws and regulations apply. By participating, entrants agree to be bound by these official rules and the decisions of the Judging Panel, Sponsor and the Contest Administrator, which shall be final in all respects. By participating in this Contest and/or by accepting any prize that they may be awarded, entrants agree to release the Sponsor, Judging Panel, and Contest Administrator; their parent, subsidiary and affiliated companies, units and divisions and advertising and promotional agencies and prize suppliers; each of their respective officers, directors, agents, representatives and employees; and each of these companies and individuals’ respective successors, representatives and assigns (collectively, the “Released Parties”) from any and all actions, claims, injury, loss or damage arising in any manner, directly or indirectly, from participation in this Contest and/or acceptance or use of the prize. Entrants authorize the Released Parties to use their name, voice, likeness, biographical data, city and state of residence and entry materials in programming or promotional material, worldwide in perpetuity, or on a winner’s list, if applicable, without further compensation unless prohibited by law. Entrants also grant ZEN Studios a perpetual, fully-paid, irrevocable, non-exclusive license to reproduce, prepare derivative works of, distribute, display, exhibit, transmit, broadcast, televise, digitize, otherwise use, and permit others to use and perform throughout the world their entry materials in any manner, form, or format now or hereinafter created, including on the internet, and for any purpose, including, but not limited to, advertising or promotion of Sponsor and/or ZEN Studios and their respective services, all without further consent from or payment to you. Neither ZEN Studios nor Sponsor is obligated to use any of the above mentioned information or materials, but may do so and may edit such information or materials, at their sole discretion, without further obligation or compensation. The Released Parties shall not be liable for: (i) late, lost, delayed, stolen, misdirected, incomplete unreadable, inaccurate, garbled or unintelligible entries, communications or affidavits, regardless of the method of transmission; (ii) telephone system, telephone or computer hardware, software or other technical or computer malfunctions, lost connections, disconnections, delays or transmission errors; (iii) data corruption, theft, destruction, unauthorized access to or alteration of entry or other materials; (iv) any injuries, losses or damages of any kind caused by the prize or resulting from acceptance, possession or use of a prize, or from participation in the Contest; or (v) any printing, typographical, administrative or technological errors in any materials associated with the Contest. Released Parties shall not have any liability for damage to any computer system resulting from participating in, or accessing or downloading information in connection with this Contest, and reserves the right, in their sole discretion, to cancel, modify or suspend the Contest should a virus, bug, computer problem, unauthorized intervention or other causes beyond Sponsor’s control, corrupt the administration, security or proper play of the Contest. Released Parties may prohibit you from participating in the Contest or winning a prize if, in their sole discretion, they determine you are attempting to undermine the legitimate operation of the Contest by cheating, hacking, deception, or any other unfair playing practices of intending to annoy, abuse, threaten or harass any other players or Released Parties’ representatives. This Contest will be governed by the internal laws of the State of California. Any and all legal actions or claims arising in connection with this Contest must be brought in a court of competent jurisdiction within the United States. CAUTION: ANY ATTEMPT TO DELIBERATELY DAMAGE THE WEB SITE OR UNDERMINE THE LEGITIMATE OPERATION OF THE CONTEST MAY BE IN VIOLATION OF CRIMINAL AND CIVIL LAWS AND WILL RESULT IN DISQUALIFICATION FROM PARTICIPATION IN THE CONTEST. SHOULD SUCH AN ATTEMPT BE MADE, RELEASED PARTIES RESERVE THE RIGHT TO SEEK REMEDIES AND DAMAGES (INCLUDING ATTORNEY FEES) TO THE FULLEST EXTENT OF THE LAW, INCLUDING CRIMINAL PROSECUTION.

7. PRIVACY POLICY: Any personal information supplied by you to ZEN Studios will be subject to ZEN Studios privacy policy posted at http://www.zenstudios.com/legal.html. By entering the Contest, you grant ZEN Studios permission to share your email address and any other personally identifiable information with the corresponding Contest Entities, and you are automatically registered as a member of ZEN Studios web site and subject to its privacy policy posted athttp://www.zenstudios.com/legal.html. As a result, you may receive additional email communication or promotions from the Sponsor as any of their members would. ZEN Studios will not sell, rent, transfer or otherwise disclose your personal data to any third party other than the Contest Entities.

8. SPONSOR: “ZEN Studios Planet Minigolf Giveaway” Winner’s List or Rules, 18711 Tiffeni Drive, Suite K, Twain Harte, CA 95383

9. PRIZE WINNER LIST: For the list of prize winners, available after June 5, 2010, or a copy of these official rules, mail a self-addressed, stamped envelope to: “ZEN Studios Planet Minigolf Giveaway” Winner’s List or Rules, 18711 Tiffeni Drive, Suite K, Twain Harte, CA 95383

Are you enjoying this week's WiiWare release, Bit.Trip Runner? Would you like it even more if it were non-interactive, huge, and stuck to your wall? LTL Prints, who offers vinyl wall graphics based on Jet Set Radio Future, Dragon's Lair, Super Meat Boy and more, is now selling a line based on the Bit.Trip series and Gaijin Games' iconic, blocky Commander Video character. The vinyl prints range from the easily recognizable (Commander Video himself) to the abstract (a set of rectangular "beats" as seen in Bit.Trip Beat, and simple icons representing the first three games).

The prints come in a variety of sizes, from one foot long ("laptop size") up to seven, so finding space for some Bit.Trip artwork is significantly easier than beating a Bit.Trip game.

Game development insights from the sci-fi adaptation.

Sequel to most realistic military strategy game ever.

Classic RPG series hits the Nintendo DS this July.

Whether it's by land or by sea, you'll have ample opportunity to make things go kaboom this week on Xbox Live Arcade. SNK is offering another side-scrolling actionfest in Metal Slug XX (1200), while Games Distillery launches a steampunk naval warfare title, Aqua (800). Not since the end of Commando has there been such a long line of dudes ready to buy their own farms.


Xbox.com: Add Metal Slug XX to your Xbox 360 download queue (1200)
Xbox.com: Add Aqua to your Xbox 360 download queue (800)

#republished Based upon part five of the Mimesis as Make-Believe serial. See part four here. More »

#handson There is nothing more iconic in the world of Tron than those neon light cycles and identity discs. So it's fitting that my first encounter with the upcoming Tron game involved both. More »

Nintendo and Square Enix have announced that the North American release of Dragon Quest IX: Sentinel of the Starry Skies for DS has been set for July 11, exactly a year after it launched in Japan. As was revealed in February, Nintendo will be publishing the game here -- although the English localization is being handled by Square Enix and not NOA's Treehouse team.

Dragon Quest IX has sold more than four million copies to date in Japan, where the game's WiFi "Pass-By Guest" feature has proven very popular. North American gamers will get a chance to experience it as the renamed "Tag Mode," silently trading character stats, battle records and play data with other DQIX players simply by walking near each other with their handhelds in sleep mode. If you encounter a player who's logged more than 400 hours in the game, it's probably this guy.

You'll find pre-order information (and a rather delightful trailer) on the game's official website.

Update: Dragon Quest IX will be released in Europe on July 23.

World War II gets a little more polish.

During an investor meeting in Tokyo, Square Enix president Yoichi Wada indicated that the company is considering a multiplatform release for Final Fantasy Versus XIII. An attendee asked Wada about the possibility of putting the currently PS3-exclusive Fabula Nova Crystallis game on Xbox 360 like Final Fantasy XIII, in order to boost sales outside of Japan, to which Wada responded (according to Andriasang's translation) "We'll be looking into it internally until right before the formal announcement."

Wada did not mention when that "formal announcement" would take place. E3 is coming up, so it's entirely possible Wada is building up to that, having expressed his hope for an E3 unveil previously. But we've given up on expecting this game to become real any time soon. When it stops existing only in secret trailer form and becomes an actual, playable game, we'll be shocked, regardless of the platform (or platforms).

#crime Arrested at the inaugural Penny Arcade Expo East in Boston for allegedly attempting to steal early code for Atomic Game's upcoming multiplayer shooter Breach, Justin D. May faces arraignment today in Boston Municipal Court. More »

Happy ModNation Racers day, everyone! A healthy portion of the European PSN update this week focuses on United Front's customizable racer on both its big and tiny platforms. There's also the launch of downloadable versions of Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands and Armoured Core 3 Portable on the PSP, the addition of the "Darkspawn Chronicles" DLC for Dragon Age: Origins and Aerosmith's "Love in an Elevator" finally gets added to Guitar Hero 5. We can sleep well tonight with that knowledge in our brains.

Choose your platform to view the corresponding release list:
(Note: Continue past the break to view both release lists.)

Justin May, the 20-year-old man accused of trying to steal Atomic Games' Breach off the PAX East show floor, finally showed up in court today -- after previously skipping bail and eventually agreeing to show up for arraignment. Assistant District Attorney Kate Clayman briefly recited the facts of the case in Boston Municipal Court this morning and the judge released May on his own recognizance. No monetary bail was set.

Suffolk Country District Attorney Press Secretary Jake Wark told Joystiq that May will return to court with his defense attorney on June 27 to file a motion to dismiss the case.

According to Atomic Games' complaint field with Boston police, the company placed the value of Breach "in excess of $6 million." We're currently following up with Atomic Games and the District Attorney's office to find out how events are expected to proceed from here.

Hi Everyone! For all you Hustle Kings out there, we have two great bits of news for you.

Firstly, on May 19th a new patch will be made available which contains the following features and changes:

• Improved Breaking! Instead of the rack being perfectly spaced every time, a very slight variance has been introduced between the balls which causes almost every break to be different.
• You can now replay the shots that are played in attract mode.
• You’ll see more stats during loading screens.
• Game options can be modified in online rooms.
• You can watch other people’s matches in the all new Spectator Mode!
• Plus a new loading icon, viewing player’s profiles during an online match, and more.

But that’s not all, there is a brand new chalk coming to the in-game store: The Second Sight chalk allows you to see the path of an additional ball… really helpful on those tough trickshots and plants.

Finally (and the best bit in my opinion) is that the Hustle Kings Snooker Pack will be launched for PS3 on June 8th. Included in this great pack is a brand new environment, new ball set, with the full Snooker rules and scoring. As well as traditional Snooker, if you get this pack you will also get an offline tournament mode, more music, and a brand new game mode called “Snooker6” where there are only 6 red balls allowing for a much quicker game.

The Snooker Pack will be available for $2.99 and the full game of Hustle Kings is required prior to installing the Snooker Pack. Once you get the Snooker Pack there will also be a batch of new trophies for you to try and unlock. To help with this we have included a free pack of Eagle Eye chalk if you purchase the Snooker pack! Overall I have really enjoyed the time I have spent playing snooker and can’t wait to get online to pit my skills against the rest of the community!

Since the Snooker game type of billiards isn’t quite as popular here in the US, I wanted to give a very brief overview into the game. May I present, The Brief Intro into the World of Snooker!

Snooker is a completely different style of game from how a game of pool is traditionally thought of in the US. It has different balls placed in a new layout, is played on a different table, and the games last much longer. Snooker tables are much bigger (approximately 6ft by 12ft) and they have rounded pocket corners.

Each colored ball has a specific point value. Red (1 point), Yellow (2 points), Green (3 points), Brown (4 points), Blue (5 points), Pink (6 points), Black (7 points).

The ball placement is as shown in the following image:

How to score points in Snooker:
The player must first pocket a red ball for one point and the ball is then left off the table. Then you must pocket a ball colored other then red. The point value of that colored ball is awarded to you and then that ball is placed back on the table at its original placement point. Then you pocket a red ball and alternate pocketing between the two groups of colors (Reds and all the others) until all the red balls are pocketed. Now you must pocket the remaining balls in their point order so, Yellow followed by Green, Brown, Blue, Pink and finally Black. When you have more points than there are left on the table you can then call that frame.

In an ideal world with a perfectly skilled player (aka. someone besides myself) you would pocket a red followed by the black ball and continue that until all the red balls are off the table. That would give you 8 points each cycle (1 point for the red plus 7 for the Black).

Fouls:
The minimum penalty is always four points. So should you scratch the cue ball, then you concede 4 points to the other player. If you pocket a ball of the wrong color you concede at minimum four points to the other player. If you incorrectly pocket a ball with a point value greater than four then you concede the point value of that ball to the other player instead of the minimum four points. If you strike a ball of the wrong color first and pocket a different colored ball, you then concede the minimum penalty or the value of that ball.

That in a nutshell is the game of Snooker. It’s an extremely challenging type of game style in billiards. Although it is really rewarding to play due to the increased amount of strategy needed to play the game. A “give-away” hint for you… don’t hit a non-red ball if you are breaking. I learned that one the hard way and gave away 6 points to my opponent for striking the pink ball my first time playing. Oops.

We hope you enjoy the new features as much as we do and we’ll see you online!

#releasedate The wait for the North American release of the game that sold more than four million copies in Japan comes to an end this July, as Nintendo locks in a date for Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies. More »

Nintendo and Square Enix have announced that the North American release of Dragon Quest IX: Sentinel of the Starry Skies for DS has been set for June 11, nearly a year after it launched in Japan on July 11, 2009. As was revealed in February, Nintendo will be publishing the game here -- although the English localization is being handled by Square Enix and not NOA's Treehouse team.

Dragon Quest IX has sold more than four million copies to date in Japan, where the game's WiFi "Pass-By Guest" feature has proven very popular. North American gamers will get a chance to experience it as the renamed "Tag Mode," silently trading character stats, battle records and play data with other DQIX players simply by walking near each other with their handhelds in sleep mode. If you encounter a player who's logged more than 400 hours in the game, it's probably this guy.

You'll find pre-order information (and a rather delightful trailer) on the game's official website.

#anime Senri Kawaguchi (in the pink shirt) is a 13-year-old junior high school student. But that's not all. More »

Q-Games released some welcome news for those of you eagerly anticipating PixelJunk Shooter 2, as well as those who don't know whether or not they should be eagerly anticipating it. The sequel to the PSN shooter is "full steam ahead, anchors away and all that ... commotion to that order," Q-Games president Dylan Cuthbert said in a PlayStation Blog post. He promised that not only will Shooter 2 be larger than the original game, but that "it will have some features that are new to the PixelJunk series in general."

If you are not intrigued about the sequel simply because you haven't experienced Shooter, Q-Games has something for you too. On May 25, Cuthbert said, a demo of the original PixelJunk Shooter will be released on the PlayStation Network. If you like that, you can buy PixelJunk Shooter, like it, and then join us all in waiting for 2.

#sony There once was a time, when PS3s looked like grills and still played PS2 games, that Sony was accused of being arrogant. Now, though, another company has assumed the mantle. More »

Get your first glimpse at combat in Monolith's Wii epic. Lots of new screens included!

Sega bringing over four player arcade title with plenty of multiplayer options, including four-way split screen play.

#ironman2 In 2008, Anthony Le set out to do something very important: Build a suit from Iron Man. More »

#art You know you've been playing too much Tetris when you start seeing coloured, falling blocks when you're away from the computer. More »

#supermariogalaxy2 From first grade until college, I studied Spanish...and since I moved to Japan, I have forgotten it all. Kaput, gone, bye-bye. But not Mario voice actor Charles Martinet. He totally remembers it. More »

#clips Google Earth has already been used for a few games, like cheap flight simulators. Know what it hasn't been used for? A giant map to let you drive the A-Team's black van across. More »

#pacman Another chic Pac-Man product for the heap. More »

#clips Quick refresher: The Empire Strikes Back, like me, was released in 1980. Explains the haircuts. And the whole "Luke" thing. If it had been released in 1950, however, it would have looked a little different. More »

#imperialhot At a Tokyo investors meeting, Square Enix president Yoichi "Imperial Hot" Wada stated that the company was "looking into" bringing PS3 exclusive Final Fantasy Versus XIII to the Xbox 360. More »

#screengrab The Prince of all Cosmos gets busy reticulating splines. As seen on Coolvibe. More »