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Protect your PS3 controller from shock and scratch! Available in four colors: Red, Blue, Black and Sliver. ...

According to a "senior UK trade source" who allegedly spoke with CVG, the next Call of Duty game from Treyarch will be set in Vietnam and arrive at retailers this November. "It's going to be November again - just as with World At War and Modern Warfare 2," the source was quoted as saying.

We heard as much back in May of last year, when Treyarch was said to be looking for "Vietnam War era tunes." Add to that the fact that Activision's Noah Heller explicitly said Treyarch would no longer be working on WWII-based Call of Duty games and you've got yourself a more reasonable sounding rumor. We've asked Activision for comment and will keep you updated as we hear more.

http://www.joystiq.com/2010/01/07/ru...g-in-november/ ...

Hopefully, the third time is the charm for SOCOM Fireteam Bravo. After two delays, the Slant Six-developed co-op shooter is finally making its way to PSP on February 16 on both UMD and PlayStation Network.

As per usual, online multiplayer is central to the upcoming SOCOM sequel. Fireteam Bravo 3 will not only support sixteen player Infrastructure play, it also features four-player co-op -- a first for the franchise. Considering Slant Six's track record, it'll either play like the brilliant SOCOM Tactical Strike ... or like SOCOM Confrontation.

http://www.joystiq.com/2010/01/07/so...d-february-16/ ...

After teasing us with half an image last night, Mad Catz and Capcom have announced a new "Tournament Edition" arcade stick is in development, branded with new art featuring Super Street Fighter IV. The stick will be made available in two flavors (check them out below!) for the Xbox 360 and PS3. Alongside the "Tournament Edition S" sticks, Mad Catz "anticipates" releasing four new FightPads for consoles, branded with new art. Considering the supply and demand issues the original batch of controllers saw, we "anticipate" Mad Catz will flood the market with the new batch of peripherals.

Unfortunately, Capcom recently pulled Super Street Fighter IV from its Q1 release window; however, we can only presume the controllers will be made available within the same time frame as the game itself. When we pried a Mad Catz rep for a release window on the new controllers they would only confirm it's slated for a release this spring. Hopefully that means we'll get our hands on both items in time to shield us from the April showers.

http://www.joystiq.com/2010/01/07/ma...v-accessories/ ...

An oblique reference to a DS successor helped turn Satoru Iwata's interview with Japan's leading newspaper into a full-on bombshell. Specifically, the Nintendo chief said such a device must be enabled for motion control. What could they be working on?

Motion control in a handheld is trickier proposition because, of course, you're manipulating the thing you're supposed to be watching. So offhand, an accelerometer seems like a no-brainer. And Shigeru Miyamoto himself referred to it as far back as 2004, before the original DS's debut.

An accelerometer would enable tilt-steering for a racing game, for example, plus shaking or waggle controls. It's not hard to imagine a game in which players tilt or flip their characters/vehicles/puzzle pieces back and forth across two screens.

But Iwata specifically told the Asahi Shimbun the device must have a sensor to "read the movements of people playing." Something like WarioWare: Snapped already uses the DSi's camera to recognize player motion independent of the device, through capturing a player's hand as a silhouette, for example. Maybe the DSi successor would improve that.

Finally, what will this thing be named? The DSe? The DS2? The DX? The Dii? Nintendo had some interesting working names for the DSi LL, maybe one of those could be recycled. The company would likely only break from the DS branding if it were a radically different device. Well, Iwata referred to successors of the handheld in dismissing speculation that Nintendo would not implement cellular functions or monthly service plans for connecting to a gaming service. And the DS is absolutely a proven winner. So something different sounds unlikely.

We've asked Nintendo for a clarification of their plans for a DS successor device, but haven't heard back yet. Until we hear something, let's put it to the mob: What can we expect to see? What DS franchises and hits can most benefit from motion controls? What does motion control on this platform offer that it doesn't on something like the iPhone - or even a console? We've got the rumor - let's start the speculation!

http://kotaku.com/5442055/motion-con...ight-that-work ...

To go with their big address at the Consumer Electronics Show earlier today, Microsoft released some statistics on Xbox Live and the Xbox 360's install base.

To date, around 39 million Xbox 360 consoles have been sold worldwide, while there are 20 million people on Xbox Live (no disclosure was made on how many are Gold subscribers). Odd, you would have thought the ratio on that would be much higher considering Xbox Live is one of the console's main drawcards.

As for those Xbox Live users, 10 million have used non-gaming applications like Twitter, Facebook and Netflix. Only half? Again, would have expected it to be a little higher.

Rounding out the numbers was news that 500 million Xbox 360 games have been sold since the console's launch. That's nearly 13 per console. Not bad.

http://kotaku.com/5442283/xbox-360-3...e-on-xbox-live ...

Yesterday, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata made the first public mention of the company's plans for a successor to the wildly-popular DS handheld. So we know, vaguely, what Nintendo want from the console. That's fine. Here's what we want.

But first, some caveats! This isn't pure fantasy. We're not going to be asking for HD graphics with simulated surround sound speakers and a wholly digital shopfront. Those are things Nintendo just will not bring to the table, at least not over the next few years.

Instead, we're going to say what we want, but within the parameters of what we believe Nintendo, a company as conservative as it is successful, could actually deliver.

NOTE: The picture above is not intended as a true "concept", or mock-up. It's just a DSi XL, modified to give you an idea of where we're headed with all this.

GRAPHICS
Iwata says the next Nintendo handheld will have "highly detailed graphics". Now, this doesn't mean "high definition"; that would be far too costly and tech-savvy than Nintendo have shown themselves willing to be in recent years. And besides, on a small handheld screen, you're not going to notice (or care) whether something is really 720/1080p or not.

It just means "highly detailed", something the Nintendo DS was not. It was a Nintendo 64 on a smaller screen. Just like the Game Boy Advance was a Super Nintendo. And the Game Boy a NES. Put the dots together and it's not hard imagining the DS's successor having the graphical punch of, say, a GameCube. Or, for that matter, a Wii.

A GameCube in your hands? That's something we'd like to see.

CONTROLS
A big reason for the success of the DS was the accessibility of its touch-screen controls. Nintendo are also (usually) big on backwards-compatibility. So we'd say it's a lock that the next handheld will have some form of touch-screen interface.

But! We'd like to see some changes to the rest of the controls. Namely, the introduction of not just one thumbstick, but two. Sony had kind of the right idea including a nub on the PSP, but then blew it by only having one, meaning direct ports of not only PS2 games, but many successful PS2 control schemes, were out of the question. And the PSP has suffered from this ever since.

Including two thumbsticks might not be as aesthetically pleasing as Nintendo's Apple-copying designers may like, but sometimes you need to trade beauty for functionality. Plus, it would let Nintendo do what they're enjoying so far on the Wii, and that's re-release a ton of old GameCube games.

DISPLAY
It's 2010. Time to cut your ties with the 4:3 aspect ratio, Nintendo. Widescreen is the industry standard these days, so the DS's successor needs to stretch its screens out a little. Those screens also need to be of a slightly better quality, especially the "spongy" bottom screen, which on the DS sometimes looks a little washed out.

And yes, we said "screens", not screen. The two-screen gimmick worked well on the DS when developers made proper use of it, and with Nintendo on top of the world and in no need of further zany attempts at differentiation (as the dual-screen layout was thought of when first unveiled), we're fine with the company's next handheld again coming with two screens.

Though, if costs could be kept down, two touch screens would be nice...

APP STORE
We're only copying Apple's name for the thing so we're all on the same page. Nintendo have shown with the DSi that they're finally comfortable not only with downloading games directly to a handheld, but downloading non-gaming applications as well. Thing is, with these games and apps available only for the DSi and DSi XL - and not the more numerous DS Lite - it's more a niche service than a full-blown aspect of Nintendo's handheld strategy.

But on a new platform, they can step things up a little. Really integrate it, make it a cornerstone of the device. Applications, small games, retro re-releases, even communications (with Nintendo unwilling to make a phone, a Skype application could plug the gap), they could really go to town. The only limits would be that Nintendo would of course control the store (so it wouldn't be flooded with crap), and there's always a question of size...

STORAGE
Ah, a tricky one. Adding a considerable piece of onboard storage would drive the price of the device up, and Nintendo don't traditionally release pricey devices. But it's got to come with something. A continuation of the trend set with the DSi would be fine; a small amount of onboard storage (though 1GB would be nice instead of the DSi's paltry 256MB) built into the handheld, then the option of inserting an SD card for more space, or for transferring stuff off the internal memory.

Nintendo should also learn a lesson from the Wii's early problems, and support the running of applications and smaller games directly from an SD card.

MEDIA
Nintendo have traditionally shied away from multimedia convergence with their devices, but this is gradually giving way, particularly with the more recent editions of the DS, which can do things like play music.

This new device, then, needs to have some sort of media functionality. Though nothing fancy; a basic mp3 player, a basic movie player, ...

Halo anime anthology Halo Legends is coming to North American DVD and Blu-Ray on February 16th. Which of the three versions will you be picking up?

http://kotaku.com/5442632/halo-legen...d-and-detailed ...

With a name like Hexyz Force, it can only be some sort of Japanese RPG being released for the North American PSP by Atlus, the company that brought us Yggdra Union.

Hexyz Force (pronounced "I have no idea, perhaps Hex-ees?), is a Japanese RPG being released for the PSP on May 25th by Atlus, so if your assumption matched mine, you score 2 points. Developed by Sting of Riviera, Yggdra Union, and Knights in the Nightmare. Hexyz Force is a traditional RPG featuring two different campaigns. Players can choose to play as the young cleric Cecilia or the elite knight Levant as they attempt to save their world from impending doom.

Judging from these screens the game looks gorgeous for a 3D PSP RPG, with more than 20 minutes of anime cutscenes for those of you who prefer a flatter sort of art. They also boast virtually no loading times in their official announcement, which would be lovely. We'll see how that works out when Hexyz Force hits retail and the PlayStation Store this spring.

For more information, visit http://www.atlus.com/hexyzforce.

http://kotaku.com/5442793/the-psp-ge...n-may/gallery/ ...