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Modern Warfare 2: Prestige Edition? Forget it (along with the money you spent on it). With the launch of Call of Duty: Black Ops just a few months away, Activision has announced new and elaborate special editions to sit alongside the regular package. As you can see above, the ultimate package (again dubbed the Prestige Edition) comes with a working RC car complete with a camera that provides TFT color video and audio to its operator. You might recognize it as unarmed replica of the vehicle seen in the game's multiplayer trailer.

In addition to the perv mobile, you'll get the pictured Black Ops medallion (not to be confused with a Medal of Honor), an exclusive Xbox Live Avatar outfit (we've contacted Activision to find out what PS3 and PC can expect as a substitute), and four co-op multiplayer maps. The Hardened Edition will include everything listed above, with the exception of the RC car.

Neither edition has been given a price at this time, though retailers seem to once again peg the Hardened Edition at $79.99 and the Prestige Edition at $149.99. We'll let you know as soon as we learn more.

While this may not come as a surprise for some of you – as part of Naughty Dog’s continuing support of our multiplayer community, we’re glad to say we’ve got some new UNCHARTED 2 DLC on the way real soon!

Like, next week soon.

On Tuesday, August 17, the UNCHARTED 2: Among Thieves Sidekick Skins pack will be available for purchase with the PlayStation Store. After the last two sets of multiplayer skins we released, we heard that you wanted more Sully, more Chloe and more Elena (among many, many other things) – and that’s exactly what we put into the pack. Not to neglect the villains team, we also threw in two enemy characters from UNCHARTED: Drake’s Fortune – Dillon and Mac – who complete the set we started with Blain and Dutch.

The UNCHARTED 2: Among Thieves Sidekick Skins Pack includes the following multiplayer characters:

• Heist Chloe
• Borneo Chloe
• Borneo Sullivan
• UDF Sullivan
• Winter Sullivan
• Wetsuit Elena
• Dillon
• Mac

On the same day, we’re also releasing an UNCHARTED 2 Dynamic Theme for your PS3. As you can see from the screenshots and the embedded video, the Dynamic Theme features a scene from Chapter 15 – Train Wrecked, when a critically injured Nathan Drake is high up in the mountains, stumbling through the snow away from the train wreck he survived to recover the Phurba Dagger.

The UNCHARTED 2: Among Thieves Sidekick Skin Pack will be released on the PlayStation Store on August 17 for only $2.99 for the 8 skins. The UNCHARTED 2: Among Thieves Dynamic Theme will be released on the same day $2.99 as well.

Global publishing deal sees the return of the multi-million collar hit franchise.

#pc Today is day one of QuakeCon in Dallas, Texas. The main event should be the show's keynote address, which kicks off at 2:30pm in Dallas, which is 1pm Kotaku Time (aka MT). We'll be liveblogging it. More »

Anyone waiting for Battlefield: Bad Company 2 to get the "Game of the Year" treatment may hit pay dirt soon enough. The Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Ultimate Edition has been spotted on a couple of retail sites -- ShopTo.Net in the UK and Amazon in the US. The game appears to contain all the downloadable content released thus far, including all the VIP content, the limited edition unlocks and the four-player Onslaught Mode, as well as DICE's online-only XBLA and PSN game, Battlefield 1943.

Amazon has PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions listed at $59.99 for August 31st. It's worth noting that Onslaught is actually the only pay-for DLC ($10) included on the Ultimate Edition. The VIP content normally comes free with new copies of the standard edition, and the Limited Edition bonuses -- apart from the two weapons from 1943 -- can be unlocked the old-fashioned way (by playing the game!). Since the older version of Battlefield: Bad Company 2 retails for $40 or less, it becomes a question of whether you want the included Battlefield 1943 with an effective discount of $5 (its regular price is $15).

We've contacted EA and will update this post if we receive any official details on the Ultimate Edition.

[Thanks, Eric]

After adding another accolade to its trophy case, the popular game system is updated again.

#patentpending Imagine finishing a video game like Mass Effect and then having a personalized comic book generated featuring the decisions and tactics you used while playing. Apple has already imagined it, and they've got the patent application to prove it. More »

Top Gun festivities include a troop parade, scavenger hunts and prizes from Paramount Digital Entertainment.

#callofdutyblackops Due out this November, the special edition of Call of Duty: Black Ops will include a tiny remote control "video surveillance vehicle" inspired by the games multiplayer. More »

Starting tomorrow players can enjoy the one-of-a-kind MMORTS with MMORPG-style character control.

Atari and Eden Games' Test Drive Unlimited 2 has pulled into the slow lane for now, with the open-world racer missing its September debut in favor of an "early 2011" launch. Consequently, the planned beta period has also been pushed back, although players who already signed up will apparently be rewarded with "exclusive in-game content" when the final game arrives (and they'll still participate in the multiplayer test drive).

According to a message posted on the official website for Test Drive Unlimited 2, the delay will allow Eden Games to apply "a few extra months of polish" and ensure "that we deliver a robust and reliable online service from the day we go live." The new beta dates are expected to be announced "shortly."

And Australia too.

#clips Brotherly love, there's nothing like it, and there's certainly nothing like the particular brand of brotherly love found in upcoming shooter F.E.A.R. 3, as seen in this new cinematic trailer. More »

Square Enix's pretty iPhone RPG gets prettier today, with the release of Chaos Rings for iPad. Sure, you could already play the original version on iPad (and still can) but the $15.99 iPad-native version has enhanced graphics for the bigger screen.

Even if you don't want to take a pair of fighters through fight after fight in the Ark Battle Arena, this release might be good news for you: to celebrate, Square Enix has discounted all its other iPhone titles -- most notably Sliding Heroes, which has been marked down to free. See the full list here (iTunes link).

#ps3 Sony's motion-sensing Playstation Move hits stores next month, but that doesn't mean you're going to have to wait a bit more than a month to check it out. More »

Reformat the Planet is a documentary by 2 Player Productions about the 2006 Blip Festival and the artists who helped put it together (and then played a bunch of amazing chip music on stage), including Nullsleep, Glomag, Bit Shifter, Hally, Anamanaguchi, and more. 2PP just announced the date for the long-awaited DVD release: August 24.

The two-disc package includes the original movie, as well as a "Reformat the Planet 1.5" featurette that follows up with the next couple of years of the New York chiptune scene (a clip of that can be found after the break). The discs also have music videos and songs from some of the included artists.

In addition, 2PP partnered with Fangamer to create some lovely merchandise that can be purchased in bundles with the DVD. If you want to look like a person who knows a lot about music made with Game Boys, you can buy a shirt, square buttons (how is this possible?), a poster, and Blip Festival DVDs and CDs. Then you can watch the movie and actually know a lot about it!

#pullquote As said on Reuters. More »

THQ's sleeper subway hit, Metro 2033, was patched recently in support of the "Ranger Pack" DLC, but it appears the update clashed with how the game tracks Achievements. Conflicted reports suggest the patch prevents all Achievements in the game, or simply the ones from the Ranger Pack -- either way, it's still a problem in need of a correction. According to the official Metro 2033 Twitter account, the publisher has been aware of the problem since August 3, most recently acknowledging the situation on August 5 as something on Microsoft's end.

In a statement to Joystiq, a THQ representative said, "We are aware of some users experiencing issues with achievements for Metro 2033's Ranger Pack DLC. We are currently investigating this issue with Microsoft and expect to have a resolution shortly." The representative added that the company should have something more concrete to share in "the coming days."

This is Teemu Maki-Patola from Virtual Air Guitar Company. Our team specializes in breaking new ground with motion-based gaming, and we’ve returned right here to the PlayStation.Blog after weeks of preparation ready to show off the latest trailer for Kung-Fu LIVE! Thankfully, this comes just before we head to not one, but two of the biggest fan-friendly gaming events on both sides of the Atlantic. The trailer gives PlayStation owners a taste of the epic multiplayer opportunities to pick up a controller and fight a player on-screen. It also adds insight into just how far you can take your costume ideas in Kung-Fu LIVE.

Working on the game this summer has been a non-stop fight to the finish. We’ve been balancing the physics on all of the interactive items in the new environments and everything is coming along smoothly. We’re spending a ton of time on the soon-to-be-revealed boss battles and on tuning the difficulty levels of different in-game enemies. As a big first step for motion-based gaming, the hard difficulty level will actually be challenging your fighting skills to the max.

As for multiplayer, it’s been one of the most fun things to test and tweak in the office. You can see the idea in the trailer with the ninja fighting the bald dude on the left and the blond guy on the right (yours truly). That’s just a taste of what you can do in this game. It can even be expanded to four players using DualShock 3 controllers against one fighter playing controller-free with nothing but his own moves in an all-out five person arena brawl! You can even see the ninja pick up a small kung-fu magazine, another guy with some soft-padded nun-chucks, and one fighter using his own boxing gloves in the game. Our patented Freemotion tracking system will work with any smaller handheld objects you’d like to use in helping to lay the smack down on screen. It’s definitely fun to experiment with whatever makes you feel ready to take on the world!

We’ve announced that players will have the chance to go body-on with the game at Gamescom (Hall 6 – Open Booth C-033.) What we didn’t get to tell you (even though so many of you were wondering in our last post) was that Kung-Fu LIVE will also be playable at PAX Prime 2010 in Seattle, WA, September 3rd – 5th in Booth #3654. In addition to that, for anyone still looking to get a hold of those elusive, SOLD OUT 3-Day passes for PAX, they can stay tuned to our Facebook page for details from us on how to win some! You’ll have to convince us (as well as other fans on the Virtual Air Guitar Company fan page) that you’re the most BADASS fighter there is, and you’ll need to submit a photo of yourself as proof! All of the rules and details will be there on the fan page on how to win.

As for the shows, we’ll be revealing many of the new enemies, new levels, boss battles, and giving the crowd a taste of multiplayer for the first time at both Gamescom and PAX. We can’t wait for you to hop into the game for yourselves, and attendees at both shows have the chance to walk away with some exclusive Kung-Fu LIVE gear! We don’t want to spoil the surprise, but we promise it will help you get in the mood to show off your fighting skills. Costumes will be completely optional, but are definitely encouraged to help intimidate your enemies.

Thanks again for checking out the trailer, and we can’t wait to see you at these shows in the coming weeks as we rapidly approach our launch on PlayStation Network this Fall!

#kinect Microsoft's Kinect will not go on sale in China. The fact that video game consoles are banned (yet, still widely available through the gray market) means that Microsoft isn't able to give the controller-free peripheral an official launch. That's okay. More »

#ps3 A lot has been made about the potential for the PlayStation Move's motion controls, but let's not forget that the PS3's humble little PlayStation Eye cameracan do motion control of its own, no plastic wands required. More »

#cosplay There's cosplay, where kids coble together their own outfits using stitches, fabric and rubber, and then there's cosplay, where an official costume from a game is made commercially available. Like this one, for American McGee's Alice! More »

#thethirdbirthday Heroine Aya Brea returns in PSP game The 3rd Birthday, the latest installment in the Parasite Eve franchise. And it has some fantastic jean damage. More »

#clips For all the fond memories American kids have of educational game The Oregon Trail, the fact is the game itself stinks. What it needed was to be more like ExciteBike. More »

#gallery Paris is truly a world class city. The French are wonderful people. Know what else is wonderful? Cosplay. More »

#microsoft Microsoft makes games for the Xbox 360. Microsoft makes games for the PC. Now Microsoft will be making games for mobile phones! More »

Rising Star bringing home cult survival horror this year.

#education Carrianne Howard studied game design. As Bloomberg previously reported, she ponied up US$70,000 for a "worthless" degree from a for-profit college. Howard not only lost $70,000 on that bum degree, she also lost her love of video games. More »

Professor Layton and the Lost Future coming in October.

Atari pushes open world racer back to 2011.