via Eurogamer


Sony has revealed that everyone who buys inFamous in the US will receive a bonus - access to the multiplayer beta test for Uncharted 2.

This is a US-specific promotion, but Sony has told Eurogamer that it's working on something for Europe that will be announced in due course.

Uncharted 2's multiplayer modes - five-on-five competitive matches and three-player co-op - have just been announced by Sony and developer Naughty Dog. You can read more about them in our hands-on preview.

This move echoes one made by Microsoft in 2007. Sony's rival included an invitation to the Halo 3 multiplayer beta with every copy of Realtime Worlds' open-world action game Crackdown. The parallels don't end there - inFamous is also an open-world actioner with a rooftop-hopping, superheroic theme.

Announcing the news at an event last week, Nate Fox, creative director of inFamous developer Sucker Punch, said: "We're so excited. Naughty Dog is like a brother studio to us."

We'll have more on inFamous in the coming days, so stay tuned. ...

via IGN


Square Enix announced a Japanese release today for Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a Dark Lord. So why does this matter to you, the presumably non-Japan-based gamer? How does new screenshots and a few new details on the game sound?

As previously detailed at its Game Developers Conference unveiling, My Life as a Dark Lord is a sequel to the early WiiWare game My Life as a King. Things have flipped around somewhat, though. This time, you take control of a demon and attempt to keep adventurers from making it up to the top of your tower and stealing your dark crystal. To achieve this, you position traps and monsters around on the various floors of your tower.

In the Japanese version, the demon you control is named Mira. She's known as "Miss" in the English version. The background story, as detailed at the newly opened Japanese official site, kicks off when a mysterious object is seen flying through the sky. That object is your tower -- yes, it's one of those flying towers that everyone's talking about! Mira, who became the Dark Lord following her father's death and now longs for world domination, issues a battle decree against all the world's adventurers.

How exactly the game plays out is still somewhat of a mystery, and that's despite a full blowout in this week's Famitsu. It appears that you'll use "Negative Power" to place your traps and monsters about the floors. You end up clearing a stage once you've defeated a certain number of adventurers. Should your traps and monsters fail, the adventurers slowly advance up your tower.

The site lists the following staff members for the game:

Producer: Iwano Hiroaki, Shiba Takamasa
Director: Hiroyasu Kaneko
Scenario Director: Motomu Toriyama
Main Character Design: Yasuhisa Izumisawa
Composer: Kumi Tanioka
Art Supervisor: Toshiyuki Itahana
Executive Producer: Akitoshi Kawazu, Yu Miyake

A Japanese release for My Life as a Dark Lord is set for June. As the US version was announced first, we hope this means a worldwide release won't be too far off. ...

via Computer and Video Games


The Achievement list for Fable II's upcoming See The Future DLC pack has appeared on Lionhead's official site.

There's little information on the second DLC release as yet, but Lionhead's promising that details will slowly appear on its blog over the coming weeks.

Here's the Achievements list:


...

via Computer and Video Games


Crystal Defenders R1 and Adventure Island: The Beginning are this week's new WiiWare downloads, while DSiWare gets Real Football 2009.

Here are the official details for each:

...

via Computer and Video Games


Crystal Defenders R1 and Adventure Island: The Beginning are this week's new WiiWare downloads, while DSiWare gets Real Football 2009.

Here are the official details for each:

...

via Computer and Video Games


Microsoft's Entertainment and Devices Division is back in the red, after reporting it's first two profitable quarters ever last year.

The Xbox division (which is also comprised of Windows Mobile and Zune) fell from a profit of $106 million to a loss of $31 million, for the third quarter ended March 31, 2009.

Despite the drop Xbox 360 was the division's strong performer, with console sales up "almost 30 percent" to 1.7 million units, says MS.

Microsoft as a whole reported overall revenue of $13.65 billion, a six percent decline from the same period last year and the first year-on-year revenue fall in the firm's history.

Expectedly, the company put the hiccup down to the world recession, in an interview with The Guardian.

...

via Eurogamer


Eidos has confirmed that The Joker will be an exclusive playable character in the PS3 version of Batman: Arkham Asylum.

He'll be free to download from the PlayStation Store, but will only be playable on the Challenge Maps.

Eidos was unable to tell us what treat may or may not await Xbox 360 owners in response. But we'll let you know what we hear.

That's Batman Asylum, then: a superhero game that might finally live up to its licence. Our recent hands-on impressions can tell you why.

Batman Asylum launches in June on PS3, Xbox 360 and PC. ...

Here's the latest sales data for consoles in Japan with some changes in ranks from last time:


Playstation 3: 62,527
Playstation Portable: 40,065
Nintendo DSi: 38,287
Nintendo Wii: 13,221
Xbox 360: 8,652
Nintendo DS Lite: 6,438
Playstation 2: 4,230


In rough figures: PS3 tops the list, up highly by 46,000. PSP is next, down 800. DSi is 3rd, down 2,000. Next up is the Wii, down 100. Xbox is 5th, down 2,000. The DS Lite comes in, down 200. Last up is the PS2, up 100. Figures from Media Create. ...

via Engadget


We don't know why T-Mobile isn't trumpeting this, but Deutsche Telekom's Q1 results are out, and the multinational carrier says that over one million G1s have been sold in the US, making up a majority of the 1.5 million 3G devices currently active on T-Mo's network. That's quite an accomplishment in just six months, considering the Android handset launched without nationwide 3G coverage -- it's better now, but we're talking just 21 cities back in October.

Of course, a million's just a drop in the bucked compared to the number of Blackberrys, iPhones, and Windows Mobile devices out there, but we've got enough of a soft spot for Android to overlook it -- now let's get some more devices out the door and really boost that marketshare number, shall we? ...