Just released are a new bunch of new PS3 and 360 screenshots from Silent Hill: Homecoming. They look pretty nice, not ‘current-gen-effect-heavy-Alone in the Dark-nice’, but nice enough for fans of the series. But my question is this: Is simply polishing the graphics to a high sheen enough of a step-up now that the current-gen consoles are well into their life cycles?

I am not trying to damn Homecoming before I get any hands-on time with it, but from the screens it looks like it will play exactly the same as all the last-gen games in this series. Am I alone in wanting more from developers than a coat of polish? Even whilst playing GTA IV I have had some doubts, is it just GTA III with better graphics? On reflection I don’t think so. GTA IV does enough new things and throws up enough surprises to warrant the rave reviews that it has received, but this is not true of all games. I’m getting excited about God of War III, but as the gameplay of the first two games is so perfect how are they going to improve it other than just give it a graphical makeover? Continue reading this story..

If you’re a fan of the Dragon Ball Z series and were hotly anticipating the newest game in the series, you might want to consider where you’ll be purchasing said game. You see, when you buy the exclusive special edition of Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit for either the Xbox 360 or the PS3, you’ll receive an added bonus. Xbox 360 gamers will be treated to the first 7 episodes of the Dragon Ball Z animated series, while PS3 owners will enjoy the special Blu-ray edition of DBZ: Dead Zone feature. And to guide you towards reserving your copy early on, there’s a Burst Limit T-shirt in it for you as well should you wish to pre-order.

Burst Limit has already been making a few waves with its visuals, which are by far the best of the series to date, but there are a couple of other aspects of the title that may turn some heads. For starters, the game has an amazingly fast-paced style that may surprise alot of fighting game fans. Burst Limit is most certainly the most free flowing and smooth of all the DBZ games to date. Another unique feature is that in any given fight you can knock your foe so far into the air that you can actually continue the fight in an pseudo-airborne state. So, think Powerstone 2 but with a next gen make-over and DBZ flair. Ok, I’ll bite.

Atari have released a ~480MB demo on both Xbox LIVE a PSN if you feel the anime fighting urge coming on. The full game is set to release June 5th in Japan, 6th in Europe and 4 days later, on the 10th, for the US. Keep it locked here for an upcoming review and everything you need to know to keep your Dragon Ball demons at bay. And oh, KAMEHAMEHA!

[See also: Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit gallery]

What do you get when you cross Guitar Hero, Rock Band, and a company that wants to prove they originated music rhythm games? You get Rock Revolution, the latest musical brain child from Konami, that’s what. The game was showed off at Konami’s Gamer’s Night 2008 and promises to be “the most innovative and realistic rock game to hit the market, that will provide a quality drum peripheral and music that players will appreciate,” according to Anthony Crouts, Konami’s Vice President of Marketing. Continue reading this story..

Available on PLAYSTATION Store from today is the demo for Codemasters’ Overlord Raising Hell. Originally an Xbox 360 title, the PlayStation 3 now gets what is being referred to as the ‘definitive’ version of the tactical pillage-em-up — next to additional levels that promise to take the player deeper into the crazy world of Overlord, Raising Hell will also offer online cooperative as well as split-screen head-to-head modes, plus enhanced visuals and full 7.1 surround sound. Damn it, now I have to go and buy two more speakers.

The game will arrive on store shelves on June 20.

Dylan Jobe posted information on the PlayStation Blog about a Warhawk team tournament that will officially kick off on May 27. Going up against people around the globe and absolutely destroying them is enough fun in its own right, but this particular Warhawk competition offers more than just international bragging rights.

Everyone that registers and competes in the tournament will receive the GGL Ceremonial Knife that will replace the original combat knife. It doesn’t add any extra damage, but it’s an unmistakable relic that makes people say, “Where in the world did you get that?” The winners of the tournament will get the Champion’s Blade which is like a half sword, half knife weapon that bleeds gothic influences. The winners will also receive six-inch Warhawk statues that you can place next to your console for that added ego boost when you need it. Continue reading this story..

Fresh from Japan and some person’s scanner, we get brand new screenshots (hi-res: 1 2 3 4) of Resident Evil 5 that look just as amazing as what we’ve previously seen from the game. Other than that bad ass chainsaw, which I hope will be a usable weapon with all my heart, the screens and article don’t tell us much new. The story reemphasizes the fact that sunlight and shade will play a big part in the game and that levels will have you running in and out of houses frequently, thus changing the lighting and the way you’ll need to play the game. The guys behind the game say this light/shadow dichotomy is the motif for the entire game.

The article also reveals that despite the game taking place far away from any previous Resident Evil locations, we will be seeing the return of some big, bad bosses from past games. The example given in the story is evidently Nosferatu from RE: Code Veronica. Not my favorite RE boss but still a good one and it’ll be interesting to battle him without moving like a tank. Also, and I believe we already knew this, but three weapons are confirmed for the game: hand gun, sniper rifle and knife. We can also expect a new trailer in the near future.

Now, in order to drive up traffic, I’ll mention something about race: some of the zombies are black.

[See also: Resident Evil 5 gallery]

SEGA ON, a German blog on all things SEGA has got the rumor mill gears turning on a possible sequel to the popular RPG and cult favorite Skies of Arcadia. The blog writes that according to “very reliable” and “close” sources over at SEGA, the sequel will drop sometime this year but that we shouldn’t be expecting any official announcements before Tokyo Game Show.

There’s apparently also a Wii version already in the works, and the game could also be getting released on PlayStation 3.

The Tokyo Game Show will take place October 9 - October 12, so I guess we’ll just have to sit still until then to see if there’s any weight to this rumor.

According to an announcement given by Konami at a press conference in Japan today, development on Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots has concluded and the game is ready to be wrapped in plastic and thrown on store shelves across the globe.

At the event, before the mandatory press showcasing of the game, Konami’s president Fumiaki Tanaka spoke a few words about the current rise of casual games: “In recent years, casual games have become extremely popular. With the rise of new consumers, the [game industry] is expanding into new directions. While it’s said that the current mainstream is casual games, we took the challenge to make a blockbuster title, Metal Gear Solid 4, headed by Kojima.”

Without giving away any details, Tanaka also spoke about how the PS3 still has a lot of untapped potential and assured the audience that Konami will continue to work with the PS3 to bring forth more blockbuster titles after the Metal Gear series is concluded. After successfully warming up the audience, MGS creator Hideo Kojima spoke about the many challenges that he and his team had to go through to develop for the PS3, including working with the Cell processor, creating HD quality graphics and sound, and releasing the game throughout the world at the same time. Continue reading this story..

Some might argue that what separates videogames from other forms of electronic entertainment is the fact that games challenge and test us. While a healthy challange keeps us coming back and gives us a sense of accomplishment at the end of it all, there are some things that can just tip us over the edge and put us on the warpath; green skin and ripped purple pants included.

Seen as just about everything has been organized into lists of ten since Moses came wandering back down the mountain, here’s our Top 10 videogame annoyances.

10. Getting up to change discs

You know how convenient it is to load Arcade games in the Xbox 360 or PSN games in the PS3? Imagine if all games were like that… As somebody who actually owned the ill-fated HDLoader for the PS2, which allowed you to upload your games to the PS2’s HDD, going back to swapping discs for the current generation consoles has become quite a drag. With Microsoft edging all its bets on the death of the physical medium and the fact Sony offers gamers the chance to download some of PS3’s games, it’s only a matter of time before having to get up to change games is nothing but a painful memory. Continue reading this story..

Quick, what do Call of Duty 5 and the upcoming James Bond: Quantum of Solace game have in common? The folks in charge of developing them of course, as in Treyarch. Or that’s how things currently seem anyway — there hasn’t been an official announcement one way or the other but with Activision wanting to release a new CoD game every year, and Treyarch looking for talent who’s into WWII shooters, that’s the logical conclusion to reach.

Activision CEO Mike Griffith recently went on the record to say that the new Treyarch-developed Bond game will be using CoD4’s game engine and as such will “bring Bond games to a new level.”

Goldeneye on the N64 was one of the best FPSs of its time, and is revered by many as a classic to this day. By using already proven technology, Treyarch have quite the opportunity to really bring the Bond series back to its former glory. Treyarch is the company behind the somewhat underwhelming CoD3 (which certainly had its moments) but regardless, it’s nice to see that a developer with moderate FPS experience has its hands on the Bond license for a change.

James Bond: Quantum of Solace will be released alongside the movie this fall with dates of October 31 in the UK and November 7 in the US. No systems have been specified yet but Xbox 360, PS3 and PC seem likely candidates.

After the whole internet recently claimed that Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima was dissatisfied with the oh-so-soon to be released Metal Gear Solid 4, the man himself has gone on record to shine the bright light of perspective onto what he said.

If you cast your mind back, Kojima was quoted earlier in the year saying that the team had huge ambitions for the game but, when they sat down with the Sony’s hardware, they couldn’t quite get what they initially expected out of the PS3. The big quote of the time was that MGS4 was “One Step” out of the “Ten” they hoped to make. This news was taken as meaning that Kojima was ultimately unhappy with the game.

Now Kojima has, in his podcast, made a concerted effort to put the whole affair into context, blaming cultural and linguistic differences for the miscommunication. This isn’t the first time Kojima has attempted to sort this out, in a recent interview with Spanish website Meristation he did allude to the fact that what he said may have been lost in translation.

In his most recent statement Kojima speaks of modesty and how western journalists failed to appreciate that his comment was meant to understated and slight, rather than a proclamation at the failings of Sony’s hardware. Continue reading this story..

Konami have announced a couple of European pre-sales initiatives for the upcoming June 12 launch of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots. If you pre-order, you’ll receive a little bonus DVD called Metal Gear Saga Vol. 2. The DVD contains a seven-part documentary detailing the history and evolution of the series and offers “valuable insight into the series and the history of Metal Gear’s iconic hero, Snake.”

This is a follow up to Metal Gear Saga Vol. 1, which was bundled with MGS3: Subsistence, and I remember a similar thing being bundled with MGS2 way back. A quick bit of googling reveals that this Vol.2 DVD seems to be the same one you get in North America if you pre-order the Limited Edition, just so you don’t feel left out. Of course you can watch it all on YouTube anyway… Continue reading this story..

Faking the Band is a weekly feature detailing the latest in downloadable content for Rock Band.

I know what you’re thinking. Why does every Rock Band song have to be from the white man? When can we get some multiracial, multicultural riffs up in here - or female ones, at the very least? Enough of this scene and punk and thrash. Cracker rhythms, all of them. Has everyone forgotten that rock as we know it today evolved from the rock ‘n’ roll of the 1940s and 50s, an exciting commingling of gospel, folk, jazz and, of course, rhythm and blues, each style a distinct part of the black American experience? Where’s the diversity, brother?

Well, the trio of master tracks coming May 13 will remedy that!

I’m sorry, what was that? They’re all white? You’re kidding. Oh, I see. Two of the bands have female lead singers, and Public Enemy’s Chuck D does guest vocals on one song. Well, that’s better than nothing, I suppose. Here’s to progress, everyone!

Continue reading this story..

For awhile now, Sony has boasted quite a bit about the recent success of the PS3 over its number one competitor, the Xbox 360. From sales figures, games line-up, to the success of Blu-ray over HD DVD in the format war, Sony seems to be pretty happy with where its black behemoth is at. All the while, for the most part Microsoft has kept pretty quiet not returning many of the PR jabs, instead focusing solely on the success the Xbox 360 has had.

But looks like Microsoft’s Aaron Greenberg has decided it was time to go on the offensive again. In an interview with Destructoid, Greenberg targeted the PS3’s 1080p support, Blu-ray, PlayStation Home, PS3’s supposed lead in Europe, and Killzone 2.

“We have been fighting Sony’s promises from the day we entered the market. Three years ago at E3 they showed what PS3 games would supposedly look like with the Killzone 2 video, that we are now learning will ship four years later. That means that we will have shipped Gears of War and Gears of War 2 before they can even get Killzone out the door,” Greenberg stated.

“Think back to GDC 2007 when Sony promised to leap ahead in online with the Sony Home unveil. Here we are two years later and multiple delays for a product that appears to have little to no buzz. Where are the achievements? The friends list integration across all games? Where is the long-promised video store? Continue reading this story..