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Return to the skies next year.

It's that time of year again...

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Last updated: Tuesday, 12:35 PM

#demo War spills across a much smaller CANVAS today as Sega releases a demo of Valkyria Chronicles II for the PSP on the PlayStation Network. Check out the sequel to the underappreciated PlayStation 3 game ahead of its August 31 release. More »

Game disc to feature brand new never before seen 30-minute Dragon Ball anime feature.

ArenaNet talks up its highly anticipated MMO. Also, a huge electric dragon.

When it comes to extremely violent heists, more is better, which is -- wait, what are we saying? You guys shouldn't really be engaging in extremely violent heists. Largely because they're against the law, but also because it's kind of a mean thing to do. However, if you're planning on taking part in a virtual extremely violent heist via Kane and Lynch 2: Dog Days' multiplayer modes, you can gain access to a few extra pieces of content by pre-ordering the title at various retailers.

Check out a list of these bonuses and a video of them in action just past the break.

Sony announced this morning via its EU PlayStation Blog that the demo for Mafia 2 will be a "24-hour exclusive" to PlayStation Plus subscribers on the EU PSN (people presumably still reeling from their bonus copies of LittleBigPlanet). Non-subscribers in the EU will get the demo tomorrow. The demo went live via Automatic Download and on the PlayStation Plus section of PSN this morning.

If you can patiently outlast today, you'll find the demo available to every European PS3 owner tomorrow. It's also available worldwide on the Xbox Live Marketplace right now and should be added to the US PSN later today.

#rockstar This post contains the last four screenshots of Red Dead Redemption's Legends and Killers downloadable content you'll ever need, as the pack goes live today for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. Pig Josh is now in your hands. More »

Return to the skies next year.

Three months ago, how many of you had heard of Scott Pilgrim? I’ve got to admit, I hadn’t. But after seeing the game at E3, I got really interested in the world created by Bryan Lee O’Malley. Now I’ve read all six of the books (highly recommended), will be seeing the movie this week (again!), and will definitely be playing Scott Pilgrim vs The World later today when it debuts exclusively on PSN.

First take a look at this brand-spanking-new trailer:

If that doesn’t convince you that this game is for you, I’m not sure what will. If you’re all about the 8-bit beat ‘em up style and chiptune music, do read on.

Recently, I (along with writers from a few other gaming sites) had the opportunity to chat with both Bryan Lee O’Malley (the creator of Scott Pilgrim) and Edgar Wright (the director of the upcoming Scott Pilgrim vs The World movie). Both have serious gaming cred; the Scott Pilgrim books are laden with gaming references, and Wright’s Shaun of the Dead and Spaced both prominently featured PlayStation games.

Now I was going to spend a couple of hours carefully transcribing the half-hour conversation and placing the reams of text here. Then I noticed that Game Informer’s Ben Reeves, who was sitting about 4 feet to the right of me during the interview, already did that. You should read it.

My questions were about PSP appearing in Book #6 (O’Malley is a fan of Half-Minute Hero) and how Anamanaguchi got involved in making the game’s (awesome, chiptune) soundtrack.

If you’ve got any further questions, feel free to drop them in, and I’ll see what I can do to get them answered. Otherwise, keep an eye out for the full game (and the free demo) later this afternoon.

Kicking the world in the teeth.

Videogame's launch coincides with Universal Pictures' nationwide release of the action-comedy Scott Pilgrim vs. the World.

#glitches We don't all play sports games, but can't we all enjoy the great glitches sports games bring us every year? In EA's NCAA Football 11, YouTube user TheBigCberry probably didn't want his team's mascot to be this helpful. More »

You may have heard of this whole Scott Pilgrim vs. The World thing -- it's kind of a big deal. There's a movie based on a series of graphic novels opening this week (we saw it a little early), and there's all manner of tie-in merchandise capitalizing on its epic epicness. So, here's the Scott Pilgrim video game. "Probably designed by Uwe Boll's less talented cousin Steve and coded by a drunken monkey," you say. Alas, licensed games do generally have that reputation about them.

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game is one of the best video game adaptations I've ever played. Like, since I was falling into pits playing E.T. on my Atari 2600. Unlike that train wreck and so many others that followed (with rare exceptions like Batman: Arkham Asylum), Scott Pilgrim isn't the product of dubious market research, cutting corners to maximize profits or designing a game for the lowest common denominator. It's clear almost immediately that this is made by people who have gaming ingrained in them down to the sub-atomic level. This is their love letter to their favorite hobby and, in turn, an invitation to revel in it alongside them.
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#bethesda There ain't no good guys, and there ain't no bad guys. There's just the revolutionaries and the security forces, and they just disagree with bullets in this first developer diary for Bethesda's Brink. More »

Denise and Michael Okuda lend their vast knowledge of all things Star Trek as consultants for the upcoming browser and Facebook games.

Players can participate in exciting challenges, missions and a pre-sale in honor Of upcoming new character.

#sega There's a terrific feature over at BoingBoing in which writer Jake Adelstein plays Sega game Yazuka 3 with three real-life members of the Yakuza. I have selected two wonderful excerpts. More »

#gamerental After testing out the service in several regions over the past year and a half, Blockbuster adds free video game rentals to its Blockbuster By Mail service, giving the specter of death hovering over the company brief pause. More »

A new professional StarCraft competitive organization was recently founded by South Korean television network GomTV, which locked down exclusivity rights to broadcast all Blizzard tournaments in the nation. Called the Global StarCraft 2 League, the organization will begin holding monthly 64-man tournaments across the country later in August, and then every month throughout the rest of 2010. To convince set-in-their-ways players to make the jump from the original StarCraft to the sequel, GomTV is offering over $125,000 in prize money for every tournament.

While potentially lucrative, these monthly tournaments are only preliminaries for a series of tournaments set for 2011, culminating in the Blizzard Cup next December that will crown the greatest StarCraft 2 player of the year. These tournaments will be broadcast globally starting next month -- but if you'd prefer to spend your precious time watching an American StarCraft 2 tourney, your chance might not be too far off. The MLG recently added the successful strategy title to its rotation.

Last Legion Games partners with Golden Nugget Casino, goes all in on branded social gaming.

Now available for download on Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network, level 8 features all-new enemies and wearable items.

Indie game gets a sequel.

Is Sega's Yakuza series a realistic depiction of life inside Japanese organized crime, or is it a total fantasy based on something the Japanese public would recognize? Tokyo Vice author and reporter Jake Adelstein asked several actual yakuza to play and review Yakuza 3.

"Midoriyama" (a pseudonym) found the power-ups true-to-life. "I like the fact that you power up by eating real food," he said. "Shio ramen gives you a lot of power - CC Lemon, not as much. It all makes sense." "Kuroishi" knew of a yakuza who had run an orphanage like the game's protagonist, Kazuma, once did. "Sure it was a tax shelter but he ran it like a legitimate thing. You know."

The gangsters were less impressed with the fighting. "No yakuza is going to run around getting into fistfights like that," Kuroishi said. "Especially not an executive type. He'll wind up in jail or in the hospital or dead, maybe even whacked by his own people for being a troublemaker." They were even less impressed with Kazuma's red shirt. "He's supposed to be a former boss of the Inagawakai," Midoriyama notes, "and he dresses like a chinpira (low level yakuza punk). He's a yakuza, not a host."

Finally, "Shirokawa" offered his opinion of the changes made in localization: "I feel sorry for the people who bought the American version. SEGA USA sucks."

Gamers invited back in time to immerse themselves in an action-packed epic mob drama.

Narrators. Narrators never change. Yes, of course Ron Perlman will be featured in Fallout: New Vegas, but you might be interested in hearing about the cadre of other famous folks lending their voices to the forthcoming Obsidian-developed RPG. Wayne Newton will play radio DJ "Mr. New Vegas," while Matthew Perry will voice "Benny, the head of the Geckos family." Felicia Day is handling the voice of "Veronica, a sarcastic Brotherhood of Steel scribe."

In addition, From Dusk 'Til Dawn favorite Danny Trejo will give his gravitas to "a third playable companion," hilariously named "Raul the Ghoul." Kris Kristofferson, Michael Dorn, William Sadler, John Doman, and Rene Auberjonois make up the rest of the star-studded list. We're not quite sure which one is the biggest celebrity -- and thus can't predict which character will disappear after the first ten minutes. It was so much easier when we were dealing with Liam Neeson and Patrick Stewart!

#ea There was a parade for a video game in New Orleans yesterday. For Madden NFL 11. That makes it a parade that's also a marketing stunt. Still, we are surely in the early days of video game parades. Baby steps. More »

Howdy Valkyria Chronicles fans – the time is almost here!

As Valkyria Chronicles II gets close to its August 31st release, we’d like to give you all a little sample of the game to try out and play for yourselves! If you’ve been wondering how Valkyria Chronicles II holds up to the first game, today you can experience the glory of getting those lovely headshots on a rebel (or ten) while on-the-go.

If you loved the first game, you’ll be glad to see that the feel of battle has been not only preserved, but also improved upon greatly. The new multi-field battle layout also adds another level of strategy, giving some missions a number of paths for you to send your squad through. Jeff and I also talked about the multiplayer in one of the recent blogs here, which offers both cooperative and competitive play in addition to the full RPG storyline.

Valkyria Chronicles II may be a PSP game in relation to its older PS3 brother, but trust me when I say not to take it lightly. This little gem not only manages to do justice to one of my favorite RPG Battle systems – ever – but also brings back the CANVAS system for a beautiful watercolor finish that looks just as good as it plays.

Finally, I’d like to include one other confirmation here on the blog: We’ve added a few new exclusive items to the Western version of the game! Among the many stickers that you can get for your tank or vehicle, we’ve added in a few brand new ones that both old and new SEGA fans are sure to smile at. Those of you who loved the first game will also be happy to note that we’ve included a few original characters as unlockable Easter eggs, just like in the Japanese version.

I could write about my love for this series for pages and pages – but the easiest way to experience Valkyria Chronicles is truly to play it. We hope you all will enjoy the demo when it goes live later today, and I’d love to hear what you guys think.

As always, hit us up with any questions or comments below, and I’ll do my best to respond to them all. All the best, and have fun!

Capcom has announced the impending arrival of another World Warrior to the iPhone's Street Fighter IV: the almost formally dressed spy, Crimson Viper. She'll be added to the fighting game through a free update, in the same manner as previous additions Cammy and Zangief. You can see a clip of Viper in action after the break, courtesy of IGN.

Capcom has yet to date this DLC, so you'll have to play Viper-free for now. In addition, Capcom hasn't made any announcement about a downloadable arcade stick for the iPhone, probably because that technology doesn't actually exist.

See how this battle will play out.