It came with a bang, but even Sony Ericsson's Xperia Play seems to have already become yesterday's treasure in a world swamped with dual-core superphones. Still, the Play remains the only Android phone on the market with a full-on slide-out gamepad, and while the library's still lacking, there's oodles of promise here. And that, friends, is where you come in. For those that forked over whatever it took to snag one, we're anxious to know how you'd do things differently. We're guessing that SE didn't sink an absurd amount of resources into this thing without a successor in mind, so what are you hoping to see in Revision B? A higher-res display? A few more buttons to mash? Ice Cream Sandwich? Get as crazy as you wanna be in comments below, won't you?

http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/26/h...s-xperia-play/ ...

If you have an Iconia Tab A500 and an unbridled passion for running the latest Android software, we've got good news for you. Acer's 3.1 update for the 10-inch Tegra 2 slate has actually slipped out a little early and can now be downloaded at the source link below. It brings the resizable widgets and other goodies that Xoom and Eee Pad Transformer users have been savoring for a while, though that's naturally not been enough for some and there are already custom ROMs built off this leak that augment the upgrade with superuser privileges. Alternatively, should you be disinclined to flash your own tablet, you can just wait for Acer to start beaming Android 3.1 over the air to its European A500s on July 5th.

http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/27/a...-out-in-china/ ...

505 Games' Zumba Fitness has retained the top spot in the UK chart in week of few new releases which sees L.A. Noire retake second and Duke Nukem slip to eighth.

F.E.A.R. 3 is the only new top ten entry at third, whilst EA's first game from Grasshopper Manufacture, Shadows of the Damned only manages a chart position of 31 in its opening week. Transformers: Dark of the Moon manages 17th on its debut.

Zumba Fitness' reign continues thanks to a 33 per cent increase in sales this week, meaning that the health title outsells its three closest competitors combined. Zumba Fitness has been in the chart 31 weeks.

Elsewhere, several titles, including Dirt 3, LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean and L.A. Noire managed to gain places despite sales dips. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D took a 69 per cent sales hit and dropped to sixth from second.

Last Week This Week Title
1 1 Zumba Fitness
4 2 L.A. Noire
New Entry 3 F.E.A.R. 3
7 4 DiRT 3
6 5 LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean
2 6 The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D
10 7 FIFA 11
3 8 Duke Nukem Forever
5 9 Brink
28 10 Top Spin 4
8 11 inFamous 2
19 12 Crysis 2
23 13 Assassin's Creed Brotherhood
9 14 Dungeon Siege III
14 15 Wii Sports Resort
16 16 Tiger Woods PGA 12
New Entry 17 Transformers: Dark of the Moon
15 18 LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars
17 19 Portal 2
35 20 Virtua Tennis 2

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/article...t-in-31st-week ...

Nintendo has hinted that Japan-exclusive Wii games The Last Story and Pandora's Tower will launch on these shores.

Nintendo offered an olive branch to angry fans who had spammed the Japanese company with requests to localise some of the Wii's most promising games.

On Friday last week Wii fans took to Nintendo of America's Facebook page to call for US releases of JRPGs Xenoblade Chronicles, The Last Story and Pandora's Tower.

Xenoblade Chronicles has a confirmed European release, but The Last Story and Pandora's Tower are, at the time of writing, exclusive to Japan.

"Hey fans, we appreciate your enthusiasm," Nintendo said on Facebook. "Look for more updates to come soon!"

Following a mass pre-order campaign, Xenoblade Chronicles, or Monado: Beginning of the World as it's known in the US, is top of the video game chart on Amazon.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...s-fan-movement ...

George "Geohot" Hotz, the man who hacked into the PlayStation 3, is working for social networking giant Facebook, according to online reports.

Hotz reportedly revealed he was working at Facebook after turning down a challenge to crack the iPad 2.

A member of the Chronic-Dev Team named Joshua Hill said in a live stream interview with MyGreatFest that Hotz, who settled out of court with Sony earlier this year, didn't want the attention a hack attempt on the iPad 2 would bring.

Hill claims Hotz is working at Facebook in video of the interview published by Techunwrapped.

Geohot apparently has a Facebook page, too. The first post at the top of page reads: "Facebook is really an amazing place to work… first hackathon over."

Apparently, Geohot "doesn't want to do public appearances anymore".

Well he's changed his tune…

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...g-for-facebook ...

LulzSec has announced it has disbanded – but not without one last hack.

Its "planned 50 day cruise has expired," the group said on Twitter, "and we must now sail into the distance." A bit like that boring bit at the end of The Lord of the Rings, then.

In a parting shot, LulzSec claimed to have released the user names and passwords of over 500,000 accounts gathered from several gaming forums and the Battlefield Heroes beta. The leaked information is now online. It's probably worth changing your password. Again.

The Battlefield Heroes website is down as a result. "Service on the Battlefield Heroes free-to-play site has been temporarily halted while we investigate a security breach," EA said in a statement.

"Our investigation is ongoing however it appears that screen names and encrypted passwords associated with an early beta version of Heroes has been compromised. To the best of our knowledge, it appears that no personal data was compromised.

"No emails, account history, credit card numbers or payment methods. Any further updates will be posted on this page. We apologize for any inconvenience and hope to have the game back online shortly."

In a press release of sorts, LulzSec claimed it was made up of "a crew of six" and its 50 days of "lulz" had been planned from the beginning.

LulzSec has claimed responsibility for a number of attacks on video game companies. Its attack on Sony, it said, was motivated by the Japanese company's pursuit of PlayStation 3 jailbreaker George Hotz.

It went on to hack or attack companies and video games including Nintendo, Bethesda, Minecraft, League of Legends and Eve Online.

LulzSec's decision to quit comes just a week after UK authorities arrested 19 year-old Essex man Ryan Cleary in connection with computer-related offences.

It also follows an apparent attack on LulzSec itself from an anti-hacker group calling itself the A-Team.

It posted what it said were the real names and locations of LulzSec's most senior members in the UK, US and Sweden, along with transcripts of their conversations. Has this sent LulzSec underground?

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...h-parting-hack ...

Sony's PlayStation Vita handheld faces an uphill struggle, reckons Xbox chief Dennis Durkin.

Speaking in an interview with IndustryGamers, Durkin argued that the handheld market might be too over-crowded to support another new hardware release following the underwhelming 3DS launch.

"I’m not sure I would want to be launching a dedicated portable device right now into that market,” he said.

“I think the DS - if you look at the 3DS, certainly versus people’s expectation's it’s not been as successful as people would have thought. So that’s a very crowded market and a very, very red ocean right now with a lot of change happening. So I’m not sure it's [a good idea].

"You only have a certain number of bets you can make as a company and you have to decide what you want to put your wood behind and I’m just not sure that that’s a place that I would put mine."

Sony's new machine is due to launch sometime in late 2011 or early 2012.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...-vitas-chances ...

Team Fortress 2 has dislodged perennial chart hog Counter-Strike from the top of Steam's most-played list.

As noted by PC Gamer, the announcement earlier today that Valve's team-based shooter has gone free-to-play sent the game rocketing from the lower reaches of the top 10 to the number one spot, which Counter-Strike has owned since time immemorial.

It seems, for today at least, the move to a microtransaction-supported business model has won the game tens of thousands of new users.

At the time of writing 69,962 users were playing Team Fortress 2, compared to 54,754 on Counter-Strike.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...counter-strike ...

Still seemingly intent on playing Mr Nice Guy following the PSN hack brouhaha last month, Sony has announced a massive PlayStation 3 DLC sale.

Starting today you can grab savings on a long list of titles until 6th July, including add-ons for Modern Warfare 2, Grand Theft Auto 4, Assassin's Creed II and Super Street Fighter IV among many others.

According to the PlayStation Blog, the list below is apparently not exhaustive and there'll be more offers on Sony-published titles added on the 29th June.

Not only that but it's also taking requests for the next round of price cuts due later in the year.

Fill your boots:

Mafia II: all DLC (£12.99/€16.99); Betrayal of Jimmy Pack (was £6.29/€7.99 – now £3.19/€3.99); Jimmy’s Vendetta Pack (was £6.29/€7.99 – now £3.19/€3.99); Joe’s Adventure Pack (was £6.29/€7.99 – now £3.19/€3.99); Renegade Pack (was £1.99/€2.49 – now £0.95/€1.19); Greaser Pack Pack (was £1.99/€2.49 – now £0.95/€1.19); Vegas Pack (was £1.99/€2.49 – now £0.95/€1.19); War Hero Pack (was £1.99/€2.49 – now £0.95/€1.19)
Borderlands: The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned (was £6.29/€7.99 – now £3.19/€3.99); Mad Moxxi’s Underdome Riot (was £6.29/€7.99 – now £3.19/€3.99); The Secret Armory of General Knox (was £5.49/€6.99 – now £3.19/€3.99); Claptrap’s Robot Revolution (was £6.29/€7.99 – now £3.19/€3.99)
GTA IV: Episodes Bundle (£11.99/€14.99; Ballad of Gay Tony (was £15.99/€19.99 – now £7.99/€9.99)
Red Dead Redemption:Undead Nightmare (was £7.99/€9.99 – now £4.79/€5.99); Undead Nightmare Collection (was £15.99/€19.99 – now £9.99/€12.99)
Aliens vs. Predator:Bughunt Map Pack (was £4.79/€5.99 – now £2.39/€2.99); Swarm Map Pack (was £4.79/€5.99 – now £2.39/€2.99)
Sonic & SEGA Allstars Racing: Metal Sonic & Death Egg Zone (was £4.79/€5.99 – now £2.39/€2.99); Ryo Hazuki – Forklift Truck (was £3.99/€4.99 – now £1.99/€2.49)
Valkyria Chronicles 2: Complete DLC Pack (PSP) (was £3.99/€4.99 – now £1.99/€2.49)
Vanquish: Tri-Weapon Pack (was £1.59/€1.99 – now £0.95/€1.19)
Assassin’s Creed II - Sequence 12+13+Secret Locations (£6.29/€7.99)
Shaun White Snowboarding - The Hard Pack (was £3.99/€4.99 – now £2.39/€2.99)
Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood - Old West Map Pack (was £7.99/€9.99 – now £4.79/€5.99)
Far Cry 2 – Fortunes Pack (was £3.99/€4.99 – now £2.39/€2.99)
Tom Clancy’s HAWX 2 – All in One DLC (was £7.99/€9.99 – now £5.49/€6.99)
Tom Clancy’s EndWar – Escalation Pack (was £3.99/€4.99 – now £2.39/€2.99)
Scott Pilgrim vs. The World – Knives Chau Add-on (was £1.59/€1.99 – now £1.19/€1.49)
Enslaved: Odyssey to the West – Pigsy’s Perfect 10 (was £7.99/€9.99 – now £5.49/€6.99)
Soul Calibur IV: Ultimate Weapons Bundle (was £2.39/€2.99 – now £1.59/€1.99); Bonus Weapons Bundle (was £2.39/€2.99 – now £1.59/€1.99); Complete Music Set (was £11.99/€14.99 – now £7.99/€9.99)
Lost Planet 2: Map Pack 1 (was £3.99/€4.99 – now £1.99/€2.49); Map Pack 2 (was £3.99/€4.99 – now £1.99/€2.49)
Super Street Fighter IV: Complete Costume Pack (was £15.99/€19.99 – now £7.99/€9.99); Ultra Brawler Pack (was £3.19/€3.99 – now £1.59/€1.99); Ultra Challengers Pack 1 (was £3.19/€3.99 – now £1.59/€1.99); Ultra Challengers Pack 2 (was £3.19/€3.99 – now £1.59/€1.99); Ultra Classic Pack (was £3.19/€3.99 – now £1.59/€1.99); Ultra Femme Fatales Pack (was £3.19/€3.99 – now £1.59/€1.99); Ultra Shadaloo Pack (was £3.19/€3.99 – now £1.59/€1.99); Ultra Shoryuken Pack (was £3.19/€3.99 – now £1.59/€1.99)
Resident Evil 5: Untold Stories Bundle (was £3.19/€3.99 – now £1.59/€1.99); Versus Mode Pack (was £3.99/€4.99 – now £1.99/€2.49)
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare - Variety Map Pack (was £7.99/€9.99 – now £3.99/€4.99)
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2: Stimulus Pack (was £10.99/€13.99 – now £5.49/€6.99); Resurgence Pack (was £10.99/€13.99 – now £5.49/€6.99)
KillZone 2 Complete DLC Bundle (was £7.99/€9.99 – now £3.99/€4.99)
WarHawk Complete DLC Bundle (was £7.99/€11.99 – now £4.79/€5.99)
Fat Princess - Fat Roles Expansion (was £3.99/€4.99 – now £1.99/€2.49)
flOw Add-on (was £2.39/€2.99 – now £1.19/€1.49)

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...c-sale-article ...