Week of May 20, 2007

New content has been added to the PlayStation Store today:

Joust Game ($4.99): Be the ultimate knight in shining armor as you mount your ostrich, grab your lance and battle your way through hordes of enemy knights!

Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune Trailer (free): Download the trailer for Naughty Dog's next generation adventure, Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, exclusively for PS3 system. A 400-year-old clue in the coffin of Sir Francis Drake sets a modern-day fortune hunter on a search for the lost treasure of El Dorado, leading to the discovery of an uncharted island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

MLB 07 The Show (PS3) Videos (free): The best-selling baseball franchise is back! This season we’re proud to introduce a slew of new features including: Road To The Show, Adaptive Pitching Intelligence, Online League Play, Pitch Command System and unique Umpire Personalities. MLB 07 The Show – nothing gets you closer!

Championship Sprint Video (free): Gentlemen, start your engines! Download this video and see what makes Championship Sprint a timeless classic.

Midway's highly anticipated World War II FPS title, Hour of Victory, will be live and playable for the first time next week via Xbox LIVE® Marketplace. Midway will release an exciting single-player teaser demo on Wednesday, May 30, providing a glimpse of the game's cinematic and frenetic gameplay in advance of Hour of Victory's march to retail stores in June.

The Hour of Victory demo will give the player a sneak peak into the rugged North African level. Players will be able to pick any of the three characters in the game, the Covert Operative, specializing in stealth and sabotage; a British Commando specializing in the guns-blazing frontal assault; or an Army Ranger who specializes in sniping and demolitions.

Hour of Victory allows you to play a key role in the pivotal and cinematic battles from the European and North African theaters of World War II, using the skills and gameplay style you choose. Sneak into enemy territory as a covert operative, storm the gates as a British Commando, or snipe from afar as an Army Ranger. Each character's unique attributes will be needed for the fulfillment of the overall objective. Only with all these skills working closely together will you be able to say that you helped define the Hour of Victory.

Built using the powerful Unreal® Engine 3.0, Hour of Victory combines authentic details from historic World War II battles and adds in frenetic and cinematic gameplay. Players will also be able to take control of any vehicle on the battlefield whenever they wish as they sharpen their skills to impact the key battles from the European and North African Theaters.

Introducing 30 new animals and more than a dozen dinosaurs, ranging from the adorable dodo bird and massive American mastodon to the saber-toothed cat and T. rex, “Zoo Tycoon 2: Extinct Animals” provides new ways for players to experience the award-winning gameplay of “Zoo Tycoon 2.” Aspiring zoologists will be challenged to dig for fossils, bring animals that once roamed the earth thousands of years ago to life in the Extinct Research Lab, and wrangle rampaging dinosaurs with a tranquilizer gun.

The “Zoo Tycoon 2” franchise continues to provide the ultimate zoo experience. Since its launch in November 2004, “Zoo Tycoon 2” has continued the award-winning legacy, receiving recognition from the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences, “Children’s Technology Review,” “Scholastic Parent & Child” and the Parents’ Choice Foundation. Other “Zoo Tycoon 2” expansion packs include “Zoo Tycoon 2: Endangered Species,” “Zoo Tycoon 2: African Adventure” and “Zoo Tycoon 2: Marine Mania®.”

Tales of the World Radiant Mythology™, will be coming to the PSP® (PlayStation®Portable) system in Summer 2007. Players will create a hero to embark on a valiant quest to save the land of Terresia from the gripping force of a powerful evil, set on destruction. Complete with full character customization, an exceptional battle system, and featuring a cast of intriguing characters both old and new to the series, Tales of the World Radiant Mythology is set to bring another quality Tales RPG to the PSP system for the first time.

In line with its Tales predecessors, Tales of the World Radiant Mythology will once again set a new RPG standard with genre defining graphics, an in-depth and completely new storyline, and an innovative free-roaming battle system, all set in a new portable world that allows players to take their new Tales journey with them anytime, anywhere.

In a strange turn of events, JoWood sends word giving developers the world over a chance to work on Gothic 4. Sadly, they fail to address whether they will be patching Gothic 3 to a playable state.

JoWooD Productions is already working on the sequel for its most successful and well known RPG brand. After positive planning and concept phase and first promising negotiations with developers, JoWooD Productions officially calls for proposals, to give all teams the chance to work on that project. JoWooD is looking for development studios with a focus on PC and current gen consoles. To ensure the high performance of this role-playing-game, JoWooD is focusing on the quality of the product as well as the typical and well known gaming style.

Attention Developers! Please find relevant information here:http://corporate.jowood.com/

Koreans the world over (and other RTS players who love one style of play) are singing in the streets as Starcraft 2 has been announced. Don't expect to see the game until late 2008 though.

We have six new screenshots of The Sims: Pet Stories

London, 24 May 2007 - Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE) announced today availability of the latest version of the PLAYSTATION® 3 firmware. Version 1.80 features upscaling of PlayStation® and PlayStation 2 games, and DVD movies up to full 1080p HD resolution when viewed on a compatible HD TV set.

The capability to upscale DVDs to HD quality is a feature normally only associated with top range DVD players, and its inclusion in the latest firmware upgrade now allows PS3 owners with an existing DVD collection to dramatically enhance the viewing pleasure of their DVD collection when viewed through a compatible HD TV set1. Not only can DVD movies be enhanced to full 1080p HD quality but so too will PlayStation 2 and PlayStation games be upscaled to provide much improved gaming pleasure.

In a comprehensive update to PS3™s already impressive capabilities, Version 1.80 also allows users to enjoy Remote Play on their PSP across the internet, allowing them to access their PS3 anywhere in the world where a broadband internet connection is available2.

Version 1.80 also allows users on a home network to seamlessly view and play rich media content such as images, music and video on their PS3, that is stored on their DLNA3 enabled devices such as PCs and laptops elsewhere in the house, reinforcing PS3™s credentials as a home entertainment hub that truly deserves pride of place in the Living Room.

A host of other enhancements include the ability to print photo images stored on PS3™s hard disk or inserted storage media to a selection of Epson printers.

PS3 owners will be able to upgrade their PS3 with the latest Version 1.80 firmware from 24th May 2007.

Liezen, Austria, May 22nd 2007; JoWooD confirms having been in promising negotiatons for the development of Gothic 4 on PC and console with various prospective development studios. Releasing Gothic 4 on current-gen console is the next logical step for the Publisher's strategy. JoWooD puts most of its focus on high quality standards as well as reacting to the communities comments and requests for the sequel to its flag-ship title.

Since Pluto 13 and JoWooD have not come to terms regarding the development of Gothic 4, the collaboration has come to an end.

The Wii Shop Channel received three new classic titles for your purchasing pleasure:

Donkey Kong Country 2™: Diddy's Kong Quest™ (SNES®, 1-2 players, 800 Wii Points)

Streets of Rage™ 2 (Sega Genesis, 1-2 players, 800 Wii Points)

Blazing Lazers (TurboGrafx16, 1 player, 600 Wii Points)