Call of Duty: Black Ops' Escalation pack at last lands on PS3, a month after its initial Xbox 360 launch.

For £10.99, yours will be five new maps to the mix, including George Romero-inspired zombie killing in Call of the Dead. There's even a digital version of Sarah Michelle Gellar.

Also watch out for delightfully named The 2D Adventures Of Rotating Octopus Character as a mini for both PS3 and PSP. The aquatic adventure tugged an 8/10 (out of tentacle?) from Kristan in Eurogamer's PSN: Comeback Special review roundup earlier this week.

Other DLC adds more cars for Dirt 3, new missions in Operation Flashpoint: Red River and extra challenges to Marvel Vs Capcom 3.

Like your fighting a lot more retro? The original series-spawning PSone title Tekken is available to nab for four quid.

You can read the full listing below, courtesy of the EU PlayStation blog.

PS3 Games and Demos

Magic: The Gathering - Duels of the Planeswalkers 2012 - (£7.19/€8.99) - 20% off for Plus subscribers, free trial available
Midnight Club: Los Angeles Complete Edition (£19.99/€24.99)
Back to the Future: Episode 3 (free with Season Pass)
Ape Escape demo (free)
Black Ops: Escalation zombies. A bit like escalator zombies.
minis (PS3 and PSP)

Babel, The King Of The Blocks (£2.49/€2.99)
The 2D Adventures Of Rotating Octopus Character (£1.74/€1.99)
Run Ghost Run (£2.39/€2.99)
Best Of Solitaire (£4.99/€6.19)
Jellycar 2 (£1.99/€2.49)
PSone Classics (PS3 and PSP)

Tekken (£3.99/€4.99)
PSP Games

WWE All-Stars (£23.99/€29.99)
LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean (£23.99/€29.99)
PS3 Add-Ons

Alice: Madness Return - Weapons Of Madness And Dresses Pack (1.59/€1.99)
Call of Duty: Black Ops Escalation (£10.99/€13.99)
DanceDanceRevolution: New Moves - DDR Konamix Greatest Hits(£2.99/€3.59)
Dirt 3 - Teams And Cars Unlock Pack (£2.39/€2.99), Power And Glory Car Pack (£4.39/€5.49) (contains the following content also available separately): BMW M3 Rally (£1.19/€1.49), Chevrolet Camaro Ssx Concept (£1.19/€1.49), Ford Focus St Rallycross (£1.19/€1.49), Lancia Delta S4 (£1.19/€1.49), Scion TC (£1.19/€1.49)
Hyperdimension Neptunia - 99 Knights (free), Apple Beret (Compa) (£0.79/€0.99), Black Kitty (Neptune) (£0.79/€0.99), Bourne Hazard (free), Level Cap +200 (3) (£0.79/€0.99), Witch Hat (If) (£0.79/€0.99)
Marvel Vs Capcom 3 - Shadow Battle 09 (£0.79/€0.99)
MotorStorm Apocalypse - Prestige Pack(£1.99/€2.49) (contains the following content also available separately): Prestige Supercar Custom Pack (£0.79/€0.99), Prestige Rally Car Custom Pack (£0.79/€0.99), Prestige Supercar 2 Custom Pack (£0.79/€0.99)
LittleBigPlanet - Solstice Costume (free – 1 week only!)
SOCOM Special Forces - Pro Assault Pack (free)
Rock Band & Yoostar

Rock Band Mini-Sale (ends 22/06/11): Going Country Pack 01 – (was £4.39/€6.59 - now £2.49/€3.99), Going Country Pack 02 – (was £5.99/€8.99 - now £4.39/€6.59, Going Country Pack 03 – (was £4.99/€7.99 - now £3.49/€5.29, Alt Country Pack 01 – (was - £4.39/€6.59 - now £2.49/€3.99, Johnny Cash Pack 01 – (was £6.69/€9.99 - now £4.99/€7.99, Roy Orbison Pack 01 (was £4.99/€7.99 – now £3.49/€5.29
Rock Band 2 - Lost Soul - Amberian Dawn (£0.99/€1.49), Airbrushed – Anamanaguchi (£0.99/€1.49), You Will Leave A Mark - A Silent Dawn (£0.99/€1.49), Fight For Greatness – Bloom (£0.59/€0.79), Spaghetti Cat - Parry Gripp (£0.59/€0.79)
Rock Band 3 - Hard Rock Hallelujah – Lordi (£0.99/€1.49), I Alone – Live (£0.99/€1.49), Lightning Crashes – Live (£0.99/€1.49), Take On Me - A-Ha (£0.99/€1.49), Tubthumping – Chumbawamba (£0.99/€1.49), Unholy Confessions - Avenged Sevenfold (£0.99/€1.49), Welcome To The Family - Avenged Sevenfold (£0.99/€1.49), King Of Rock - Run-DMC (£0.99/€1.49), Foo Fighters Pack 04 (£3.49/€5.29) (contains the following songs also available separately): Long Road to Ruin (£0.99/€1.49), Rope (£0.99/€1.49), Stacked Actors (£0.99/€1.49), Walk (£0.99/€1.49)
Yoostar 2 - Are You Trying To Seduce Me? (£1.39/€1.75), The Parthenon In Greece (£0.59/€0.75), Fast-Moving Clouds (free), Atop The Great Wall Of China (£0.59/€0.75), Licoln Memorial (£0.59/€0.75), Buckingham Palace Garden (£0.59/€0.75), One Senior Always Has To Be The Badass (£1.39/€1.75), They Think He's A Righteous Dude (£1.39/€1.75), Damone's Dating Advice (£1.39/€1.75), Has The War Started? (£1.59/€1.99), Give 'em Hell! (£1.39/€1.75), The War Department Promised 180 Men (£1.39/€1.75), Classic Hollywood (£4.99/€6.19), Hollywood Sets Pack (£4.39/€5.49), Hollywood Icons (£4.39/€5.49), Horror (£4.39/€5.49), The Death Of Kirk (£1.39/€1.75), You're Terminated (£1.39/€1.75)
PSP Add-Ons

Buzz: TUMQ - Decades Quiz 90's (£3.19/€3.99)

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...date-15th-june ...

Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has revealed his vision for Wii U online gaming.

The Japanese company aims to create a "more flexible system". It wants to allow each publisher the freedom to do what it wishes with its games in an online space.

"Nintendo's past console business has often included this idea of a set and fixed online structure," Iwata told investors at E3.

"So, I think that, going forward, the question is really to what degree Nintendo can create a more flexible system for its consoles.

"And, what we found at this point is that, as we discuss the online structure with different publishers, the things that the different publishers want to do are in fact seemingly rather different.

"Our current direction is how we can take the desires of the third parties and create a system that's flexible enough to enable them to do the types of things that they might want to do."

Nintendo pledged to work with game makers to enable voice chat (VoIP).

"But, what we're not going to do is to consider as prerequisite conditions that every game includes features like that because obviously there are some developers who may not want to do that."

Iwata also said Nintendo will "consider" how Wii U will work with social networking services, such as Facebook.

"We've come to an era where it's important to consider how the social graph of the social networking services can work in conjunction with something like a video game platform."

Nintendo isn't ready to offer concrete details on its Wii U online plan, but believes it will impress gamers in the end.

"Once you hear what we'll have to say, you'll feel that Nintendo has a policy of adapting itself to changes in the network environment in a flexible fashion rather than the one of sticking to a rigid mechanism, or perhaps you'll notice that we have found ways to take advantage of these types of features like VoIP and social networking, where our systems have been seen as being weak in the past."

Nintendo told Eurogamer at E3 that Wii U will offer a significantly improved online experience to that of its predecessor.

"The friend code system has also been refined. It still exists but in the same way that you'd need to pair up with friends on PSN or Xbox live. Now it's much closer to that kind of online gaming experience than what it was before," marketing manager Rob Lowe outlined.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...line-direction ...

Nintendo's "ideal situation" is that the 2012 launch of Wii U will convince those who want to buy a HD video game console now to wait for it.

"The ideal scenario for Nintendo would be that if people are considering purchasing another HD video game console, then knowing that they will have opportunity to purchase Wii U when it is released next year, they perhaps might delay their purchase of a console," Nintendo president Satoru Iwata told investors in a new question and answer session.

The Wii U marks Nintendo's first foray into high definition home console gaming. Microsoft of course went first in 2005 with the Xbox 360. Sony followed a year later with the PlayStation 3.

Iwata was responding to concern that the Wii U may hurt Wii sales. Nintendo's hope is that by targeting "late adopters", the Wii can enjoy a healthy end to its life.

"For those people who are considering their holiday season purchases, it becomes our job to convey to them that the Wii has great entertainment value and it will make their family and friends happy during the holiday season while they are at home.

"If those individuals are looking to make a purchase during the holidays this year, then the Wii U system, which won't be out in time for the holidays, will not be an option for them to choose from. Conversely, because the majority of the people who will purchase the Wii U system initially already own the Wii system, I don't think that the information about the Wii U system launch taking place next year will affect the sales of the Wii system."

Wii U was unveiled last week in LA. Its wireless controller features a touch-screen that can be used in unique ways.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/20...wait-for-wii-u ...

Do you remember that crazy Super Mario Bros. 3 fan remake we posted about late last year? Well, creator SKJmin has finished a sizeable update to his ambitious remake, one you'll be able to download on June 16. If you plan on doing so, we'd suggest making sure you actually own New Super Mario Bros. DS -- you know, for legal reasons.

The update adds enhanced graphics to each level, including new block sets and backgrounds, plus 84 bonus rooms, a new final castle and over 30 different cameos. For now, we must be content with 14 minutes of footage, which we've gone and tucked just past the break.

http://www.joystiq.com/2011/06/15/ne...-gets-updated/ ...

Amazon offers buy one, get one half-off on select games

f last week's video game industry festivities filled you with an unquenchable thirst to buy more video games, you should turn your unhealthy impulses towards Amazon. For a limited time, the retailer's offering buy one, get one-half off on a beefy list of 186 titles across various platforms.

Notable titles eligible for the offer include:
Killzone 3: Helghast Edition -- $59.99
Assassin's Creed Brotherhood -- $39.99
Heavy Rain -- $27.99
Fallout New Vegas -- $59.99
Medal of Honor -- $19.97
Demon's Souls -- $19.73
Metal Gear Solid 4 -- $19.16

http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.htm...96491&plpage=4 ...

Were you perplexed by the odd, seemingly misspelled word that kept periodically popping up during Sony's updates about the PSN outage? You know, Qriocity? It seems Sony is attempting to take advantage of your piqued attention, as PlayStation Blog has announced that all PS3 owners ages 18 and up are eligible to receive a free 180-day membership to the streaming music service.

To access the offer, PS3 owners simply need to select the "Music Unlimited" option under the Music pane of the XMB. After that, it's just a matter of figuring out which of the seven million tracks therein you want to listen to first. No, seriously, it's an important decision. If you kick off your Qriocity career with Hoobastank, we're going to be very disappointed in you.

http://www.joystiq.com/2011/06/15/so...to-ps3-owners/ ...

Nintendo has never shown interest in free-to-play games in the past, likely due to their requirement of support from sophisticated online infrastructure. And ... that is unlikely to change. Speaking to AllThingsD, Satoru Iwata said flatly that "Nintendo is not interested" in freemium games, alluding to the same discussion of maintaining the "value" of games that he mentioned at GDC.

"I'm not interested in offering software for free of charge," he said. "That's because I myself am one of the game developers, who in the future wants to make efforts so the value of the software will be appreciated by the consumers." Although freemium games can make money through ads and microtransactions, Iwata expressed concerns about "[destroying] the value of game software."

So, uh, don't expect that Wii U version of Ghost Recon Online to be free-to-play, even though the PC version is.
http://www.joystiq.com/2011/06/15/iw...-free-to-play/ ...

At first glance, the N-Control Avenger looks like the fevered dream of a quirky lunatic, destined for fame and failure as a legendary crapgadget. When one showed up on our doorstep, we were admittedly skeptical. Could a lever- and pulley-laden Xbox 360 controller clamshell really give us a competitive edge? Wouldn't all the extra bits and pieces only result in a cumbersome mess? Is this doodad really worth the $50 asking price? We went hands-on to find out, and boy howdy, were we surprised.

http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/14/n...k-complicated/ ...

As you may have noticed, we have a bit of a soft spot for Nintendo's other 3D device, the Virtual Boy -- despite its many, many flaws. So, it seems, does DIYer Tighe Lory, who liked the oddball console so much that he built an full-size arcade cabinet for it. As you can see above, that comes complete with some custom joysticks that replace the Virtual Boy's controller, along with a sliding mechanism that lets you adjust the Virtual Boy itself to just the right height instead of forcing you to hunch over a table. It even has some buttons on each side specifically for Galactic Pinball, and some other authentic arcade touches like a Nintendo serial plate and a backlit marquee. Head on past the break for Tighe's grand tour on video.

http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/15/d...dache-to-play/ ...