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ToeJam & Earl dev hiring for new Sony game

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HumaNature Studios, the creator of ToeJam & Earl, appears to be working on a Sony-exclusive title, posts on Tech-Artists and the Gamasutra jobs board suggest. HumaNature is working on a title "directly for Sony," studio co-founder Greg Johnson writes in a head-hunting post on Tech-Artists.

Johnson describes the title as "cute and filled with quirky personality. It's also super innovative in the area of emotional AI and personality simulation. It's designed for both male and female players, and will be marketed in the US and in Japan." Whew -- finally a video game for male and female players. We were getting tired of all these games marketed to "people."

The Gamasutra job listing doesn't mention Sony specifically, but does provide more context for the game itself: "You should love games that create charming and believable, emotionally compelling simulated worlds; games like ICO, Beyond Good and Evil, Animal Crossing, Scribblenauts, LittleBigPlanet, and others."

HumaNature stresses the importance of creativity and innovation with this title, and we can't help but picture a Vita game coming out of all this creative ... stuff.

[Thanks, Jonah.]

Dead Space 3, Need For Speed: Most Wanted 2 listed by South African retailer

Leak-prone South African retailer BT Games today posted pre-order pages for Dead Space 3 and Need For Speed: Most Wanted 2 (since altered). Neither title has been officially announced, although there's been plenty of chatter about the former.

Eurogamer grabbed screens of the Need For Speed Most Wanted 2 posting. This isn't the first time in recent memory that BT Games, which bases its listings on information provided by publishers and local distributors, has posted pre-orders before an official announcement. The company outed Jak and Daxter HD Collection in October, over a month before it ever became official.

Kevin Butler is DLC in LittleBigPlanet Karting

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At least a few pre-orders of LittleBigPlanet Karting will include a free DLC pack featuring Kevin Butler, the fictional VP from Sony's promotional campaigns. The pre-order deal is live through Amazon and GameStop and it includes the Kevin Butler Sackboy costume and executive golf cart.

Next step for Sony advertising: The VP: Kevin Butler, King of Shadowfighting: The Game: The Marketing Campaign.

Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus coming to Japan this summer, limited edition arcade stick in tow

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The XBLA/PSN port of Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus will roman cancel its way into Japanese living rooms sometime this summer, according to Siliconera's translation of Famitsu. Still no word on a North American or European release date, however, but a Japanese release window is a good sign that things are progressing in some fashion.

Despite years of inactivity brought on by legal troubles and developmental purgatory, the Guilty Gear series still holds a very special place in the living, beating heart of the fighting game community. So much so, in fact, that arcade parts manufacturing powerhouse Sawna Denshi is producing a limited edition Guilty Gear arcade stick for the PS3, set to launch alongside the game's Japan release.

The stick will be available from Ebten for ¥13,980 ($171.95) when it does launch, but since Sanwa only operates in Japan, we doubt it'll make its way to any domestic retailers that don't specialize in importing esoteric wares from the Land of the Rising Sun.

Ubisoft, Gametrailers sued in Assassin's Creed copyright infringement case

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American author John Beiswenger has filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against Ubisoft and Gametrailers that claims the Assassin's Creed franchise stole core ideas from Beiswenger's novel, Link. Link was published in 2002 and the first Assassin's Creed game dropped in 2007.

Beiswenger claims the Animus in Assassin's Creed is a direct copy of his Link device, which allows users to access ancestral memories and relive specific moments in history, much as the Animus does. Beiswenger says his novel discusses "assassinations" and has "spiritual and biblical tones" also found in Assassin's Creed. And then there's the battle between good and evil that Beiswenger says Assassin's Creed stole right from the pages of Link.

Beiswenger is suing Gametrailers for the Assassin's Creed trailers that he says infringe on the same Link copyright. There are 11 counts against Ubisoft and Gametrailers in total, and only most of them made us laugh.

Beiswenger is seeking up to $5.25 million in damages and a cessation of further copyright infringement. We're pretty sure that second part is already happening, so perhaps Beiswenger will get something out of all this paperwork after all.

YouTube hiring for next-gen console app integration [update]

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YouTube is padding its ranks with next-gen gaming console programmers, looking to "build the next generation game-console-based TV experience with YouTube video content," a Google Jobs listing found by IGN reveals. YouTube already has an app on Xbox 360, but apparently it wants to build a presence across all next-gen platforms, seeking someone with "deep technical knowledge of Microsoft Xbox 360, Sony PlayStation 3 and/or Nintendo Wii."

YouTube is seeking someone to "deliver a compelling lean back experience with monetization and e-commerce offerings (ie, pay-per-stream, ads)" and "develop leading edge User Interfaces and delight users with innovative media rich solutions." Looks like YouTube wants to figure out how to take our money, but wants to make us happy about it. That's better than wanting our money, but making us depressed about it.

Now if YouTube would develop a PC app, it'd have all the important consoles covered. Oh... wait.

Update: This is actually the same job listing Google posted a year ago. Please, someone go make YouTube's new app already!

Darksiders 2 launch delayed until August

THQ announced this morning that Darksiders 2 has been officially delayed until August 2012. The financially troubled publisher said in February that Darksiders 2 would launch on June 26. According to Vigil, the additional time is meant for "polish and to ensure that all aspects of Darksiders 2 meet the high-quality bar the team is targeting."

The word comes a week after THQ EVP Danny Bilson claimed in an interview that Darksiders didn't have an announced launch date and that "the team is working really, really hard." He added, "We're not going to ship it before it's done."

007 Legends: six Bond films shaken, not stirred, into a single game

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Activision's new 007 Legends for Xbox and PS3 features a storyline that ties together six classic James Bond films, ending with the new Skyfall (no idea if that one's a classic yet!). Activision has yet to announce which films from the character's 50-year-long movie history will be represented, but we guarantee they'll include tuxedos, girls, and gunfights. We also guarantee it'll be weird that the same guy, at roughly the same age, is taking on missions in the '60s and now.

Developed by Eurocom, the new game seems to serve as a sequel to the Wii's Goldeneye 007 and its updated port Goldeneye 007 Reloaded. A single-player mode brings back that game's MI-6 Ops Missions, this time playable from a villain's perspective as well. Multiplayer is also included, in both local split-screen and online competitive modes.

007 Legends is due this fall. We just realized, why not tie together seven Bond films for the story? Then the title could have been a nice self-referential pun.

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Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning sales surpass 410,000

Any new intellectual property has it hard these days, but Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning seems to be doing okay with 410,000 copies sold in the US since launching a couple months back. WPRI.com reports the RPG from 38 Studios and Big Huge Games moved another 80,000 units in March, according to NPD data.

As NPD spokesman David Riley notes, it's "an impressive figure for just two months, no matter how you slice it."

It's even more impressive when one takes into consideration the data only covers the US and doesn't tally PC sales made through digital distribution networks (as EA recently stressed). In that case, the Reckoning portion of the Amalur franchise is doing well for a new IP.

Savan has arisen in this Dragon's Dogma digital comic

Image Protip: If you're an ordinary man, just like those before you, and you love your dad a whole bunch, you should expect to get your heart stolen by a dragon. It's just a fact of life, revealed in this latest Dragon's Dogma trailer. ... Continue Reading

Ghost Recon: Future Soldier multiplayer walkthrough almost walks through walls

Image The only thing more terrifying than a ghost is a bunch of ghosts with guns and x-ray vision. And maybe sharks. Creative director Tommy Jacob doesn't mention shark-prevention tips in the above video, but he does show some strategies to take out foes in Ghost Recon: Future Solider's multiplayer. ... Continue Reading

Tekken Tag Tournament 2 will have 'Fight Lab' tutorial mode


Newcomers to the Tekken franchise shouldn't have a hard time learning juggle combos – that's the intention of a new Fight Lab mode that Namco is adding to Tekken Tag Tournament 2. It puts players in the shiny shoes of Combot, a learning fighter robot.

Fight Lab takes Combot through a series of progressively more difficult minigames, teaching combos and schooling players on what to do in specific scenarios. "To novice players, they're playing various mini-games that we've prepared and enjoying them while gaining customisation items and techniques," Tekken series lead Katsuhiro Karada tells Eurogamer. "Then they've gone through the mode a certain amount, and they've gained more Tekken knowledge and ability in the game."

Ultimately, players will be able to customize their Combot with moves from other fighters and use him in the single-player and online multiplayer modes.

PSA: Ninja Gaiden 3 'Ninja Pack 2' DLC swings a big scythe today


Swords are a bit too inefficient for our liking. We enjoy weapons that can kill dudes by the dozen in one massive, sweeping motion. The Ninja Gaiden 3 "Ninja Pack 2" DLC adds an enormous scythe to Ryu's arsenal and the multiplayer side of the game. There's also new armor and headgear, and 20 new trials to conquer, for 800 MS Points ($10) on Xbox Live and $9.99 on PSN.

PSN Tuesday: House of the Dead 4, StarDrone Extreme, Disgaea 3

Today's PlayStation Store update extracts The House of the Dead 4 from its forgotten existence in arcades, planting it in your tastefully lit abode for $9.99. You can also purchase the Vita's StarDrone Extreme, an enhanced and now cross-compatible version of the fast-paced PlayStation 3 hurtling game. (Yes, that's a genre. You hurtle.)

Sony has expanded the store with tongue-in-cheek strategy RPG Disgaea 3: Absence of Detention, new Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception DLC and a downloadable version of Dead Rising 2: Off the Record. PlayStation Plus subscribers can begin downloading the beta for Ghost Recon: Future Soldier, which opens up on April 19.

For a full list of this week's additions, check out the PlayStation Blog.

Axel free to all in Twisted Metal tomorrow, Sweet Tooth skin for Starhawk previewed

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For those of you still firing missiles in Twisted Metal (but didn't think of pre-ordering it ahead of time), good news! Axel was formerly only available as a pre-order bonus, but as of tomorrow, April 18, his vehicle will be available to all. You too can run around on two wheels, pushing smaller vehicles around with your special moves.

The PSBlog has also posted a video, embedded below, of the Sweet Tooth skin going to Starhawk when it launches early next month. Every (new) copy of Twisted Metal has a code for the Outcast skin, so you'll just have to punch that in when the Starhawk comes out.

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Barry Sanders joins Robert Griffin III on NCAA Football 13 cover

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Robert Griffin III won 2011's Heisman Trophy, an award given to the best footballers who ever footballed in college football.

Griffin, who was selected to grace the cover of NCAA Football 13, will be joined by former Heisman recipient Barry Sanders, a football hall of famer. Sanders was voted to be on the cover by the fans in a contest which pitted eight past Heisman winners against each other in a bracket-style elimination tournament.

NCAA Football 13 launches on the Xbox 360 and PS3 on July 10. Hit up the trailer above to see some of the new passing system changes in the next installment.

Faux PS4 built based on rumored specs, gets rumored results

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The fine people at Official PlayStation Magazine UK trust the PlayStation 4 spec rumors enough to build the entire next-gen console with the assumed parts, which are all off-the-shelf PC pieces. Rumors have the PS4 using an AMD A8 3850 processor and AMD Radeon HD 7670 graphics card, the latter of which is identical to a mid-range, year-old AMD graphics card, the HD 6670. The processor is a "cheap" CPU solution, OPM writes.

With that stellar introduction, OPM tested its fake PS4 against an Intel i7 2700K with Just Cause 2, and against the PS3 with Bulletstorm and Skyrim. OPM tracked rendering and frame-rate benchmarks for each system, and was underwhelmed with the results. Just Cause 2 was clocked at 21 frames per second, and the other two stuck around 30, but with barely noticeable graphics improvements from the PS3 version.

Again, these are only the rumored PS4 specs, and simply duct-taping them all together and popping in a game doesn't equate a true, finished console. Techradar's components editor Dave James offered some insight into OPM's test: "Sadly just benchmarking the relevant PC components in the current crop of Windows-compatible games wont give you much of an idea how a PS4 utilising those components would actually perform.

"Coding on closed-platform devices, like consoles, means you can squeeze every last drop of performance out of the hardware because you know that every one of those devices will be exactly the same."

Sony may use newer versions of the graphics card and processor as well, James said. The moral of this story, then: Rumors are rumors.
Image credit: OPM

Tekken producer Harada: No DLC characters for us

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Capcom's been explaining itself over the on-disc DLC that came with Street Fighter x Tekken, but Tekken series producer Katsuhiro Harada said there will be no such problem with his side of the franchise. Because, you see, he told Edge that no Tekken game will ever have DLC characters at all.

That's quite a pronouncement. He clarified that he doesn't have a problem with Capcom doing it, noting that their motives may be different from his. But Harada sees, he said, "the characters and their move sets as chess pieces – they are essential items necessary in the game and we would never sell any of those individually."

That doesn't rule out DLC completely, as Harada added that vanity items that might be added to the game after the fact would likely come with a charge. Characters might also be added to a Tekken game in advance as pre-order incentives, as long as they could eventually be unlocked by all players in the game. But as for after-the-fact characters, you won't find any of those in Tekken x Street Fighter if Harada has his way.

PSA: Teeth of Naros DLC available for Reckoning today


Ready to take a bite out of Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning's "Teeth of Naros" DLC? The pack is available now on Xbox 360 for 800 MSP and PC for $10, and available later today on PSN for the same price.

The expansion includes the floating city of Idylla, three new "Twists of Fate," a bunch of "Kollassae" and 20 side quests. Don't forget to pick up the latest armor fashions too and show them off around Amalur.

New Sorcery trailer uncovers a plot

Image For our next trick, we will make the next two and a half minutes of your day disappear. ... Continue Reading

Featured PS3 Stories

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Now Playing: April 16-22, 2012

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NPD: Binary Domain sold 20K in March

Posted on Apr 13th 2012 2:30PM

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Skullgirls review: Close, but no cigar

Posted on Apr 13th 2012 2:00PM

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