After much rumour and speculation, Sony has unveiled the new PSP, It’s actually codenamed NGP and will revolve around five key concepts: Revolutionary User Interface, Social Connectivity, Location-based Entertainment, Converging Real and Virtual (augmented) Reality. It will be compatible with the PlayStation Suite and is backwards-compatible with downloadable PSP games and content from Sony’s PlayStation Store.

The PSP’s replacement has a five-inch, 16 million colour 960×544 OLED touchscreen, twin cameras, twin speakers and a microphone. There are also twin analogue sticks and a ridiculously powerful quad-core processor based on the ARM Cortex A9. Expect four to five hours from the battery.

Games will come on “new media,” not UMD anymore, but we’re unclear on what sort of flash memory is being used. Sony’s rather proud of the fact it’s offering the world’s first dual analog stick combo on a portable device, though we’re more geeked about the quadrupling of pixel count from the original PSP.

Sony’s live event has been graced by demos of some pretty popular games, including Killzone, Resistance, Little Big Planet, and Uncharted — with the latter serving as a demo platform to show off how the NGP’s rear touchpad can be used to more intuitively climb up some vines. That touch panel on the back is the same size and positioned directly under the front OLED touchscreen, which allows for some pretty sophisticated controls when using the two simultaneously. The combination of a touchy front and back is fascinating – Sony talks about it enabling “touch, grab, trace, push and pull hand movements.”

The NGP doesn’t just have that nifty quad-core processor: it’s got a quad-core Imagination Technologies PowerVR graphics processor too. We can summarise its spec in one word: mighty.

Sony promises that the PSP2′s built-in GPS will mean some interesting location-aware games via the PlayStation Network, and an application called Near will let you know if your friends are, you’ve guessed it, near you. The PSP2 also includes a three-axis gyroscope, three-axis accelerometer and three-axis electronic compass for handheld-waggling motion-controlled tomfoolery.

The new console’s UI will be called LiveArea, which has a bunch of vertically navigable home screens and built-in social networking through PlayStation Network. You can jump between games and the LiveArea without losing your progress and comment on your buddies’ great feats of mobile gaming.

In closing its presentation, Sony trotted out Hideo Kojima to show off a cutscene from MGS 4 rendered in real time on the NGP. It was pulled directly from the PS3 version of the game and ran at 20fps, which looked very smooth indeed to our liveblogging eyes. Videos and Sony’s full PR are now available below.

Developer Silicon Knights
Publisher Activision
Release date Q3/Q4 2011
Genre Action

X-Men: Destiny is an upcoming video game based on the X-Men comic book series. It is currently being developed by Silicon Knights and is planned to be published by Activision. It is currently scheduled to be released in Q3/Q4 2011. The story is being written by Mike Carey, writer of the X-Men: Legacy comic book series. The game was announced at the 2010 New York Comic Con on October 9, 2010, and it has not yet been announced on which consoles it will be released.

Gameplay

In X-Men: Destiny, players will be put in the role of a new mutant who joins the X-Men; they will have to make choices to decide the ultimate destiny of their character. According to early sources, X-Men: Destiny is placing an emphasis on “choice” as its main focus, as opposed to a more traditional linear type of gameplay. According to the official press release, “the all-new original video game casts players as new mutant recruits in a rich, branching storyline that features a deep element of choice and gives players ultimate control of their destiny”.

BLACK AND WHITE
Your currency comes in the form of X-Genes, which can be used to boost yourself or as gifts to other X-Men to form alliances. You’ll have the chance to choose which characters become friends or foe, which is a nice touch if a little blunt for a series that has always been about moral grey-areas.

Speaking of which, every significant decision you make in the game will be not-so-subtly signposted as the action freezes and you’re forced to go one way or the other, drastically altering the path of the story. It’s as subtle as a brick to the face, but it’s stylishly done.

The rest of the game is action, and you bring your chosen skills into the third-person fight. Chaining regular attacks will fill your Mutant Power meter with juice, allowing you to unleash ever more devastating abilities on your enemies – again depending on the core skills you choose to select from the start.

While Destiny already seems unlikely to claw back much of X-Men’s lost popularity, it’s wealth of licensed characters (Cyclops, Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Gambit and many others) are already confirmed.

And the storyline fits snugly into those explored in the comics should ensure decent fan service with just enough super-hero fare to tide us over until Batman: Arkham City finally arrives.

Plot

Destiny is based in San Francisco, after the dead of Profesor X, the city is divided into human and mutant areas due to conflict between the two groups. The game begins at a peace rally being held in memory of the deceased Professor X, where the player chooses from one of three mutant characters to play as, who have been originally created for the game. The game allows for the player to decide which mutants become their allies and enemies through choices made in the course of the story.

Developer(s) BioWare
Publisher(s) Electronic Arts
Director(s) Casey Hudson
Composer(s) Clint Mansell
Platform(s) Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3
Release date(s) “Holiday 2011″ (Q4)
Genre(s) Action RPG
Mode(s) Single-player

Mass Effect 3 is an upcoming action role-playing game developed by BioWare and published by Electronic Arts for Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.It is scheduled for a Q4 2011 release and will mark the third and final chapter in the Mass Effect trilogy of video games.

When Mass Effect 2 finally surfaced last month, fans around the world where treated to a phenomenal experience crafted exclusively by the infamous RPG studio, BioWare. Now that you have had a chance to playthrough the story in its entirety, I decided to point out some key story plots that may be explored in the final chapter of the trilogy. Feel free to express your thoughts on the matter and let us know if your team survived the suicide mission.

Gameplay

Decisions will be imported from Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2 as to keep continuity within the series. It will pull over 1,000 variables from those previous titles to shape how players experience the final chapter.

One of the most questionable characters in the game comes in the form of the controversial Illusive Man. While actor Martin Sheen provided an excellent soundtrack as the advisor, his motives are unconventional and sinister at best. If you recall the mission where you investigate an abandoned Collector Ship base, the whole scenario plays out to be nothing more then a cleverly planned ambush attack. This could have been used as a measuring stick to determine if Shepard and his team are truly up to par for the battle that’s ahead of them. Once you beat the game though, further suspicions are cast upon this significant character. If you chose to save the Collector technology to aid you in defeating the Reapers, then the last shot you’ll see is of the Illusive Man sporting a sadistic grin on his face shortly after dismissing you from the mission debriefing. At the same time you also have an option to detach yourself from working with him by simply telling him to screw off. Regardless of which decision you choose, it’s clear that this will greatly affect you in Mass Effect 3. BioWare succeeds in keeping the suspense going within their stories which is why I wouldn’t be surprised if Illusive Man ends up becoming a villain down the road.

Story
Earth is burning. Striking from beyond known space, a race of terrifying machines have begun their destruction of the human race. As Commander Shepard, an Alliance Marine, your only hope for saving mankind is to rally the civilizations of the galaxy and launch one final mission to take back the Earth.

The dramatic scale of Mass Effect 2’s story is a classic that will be remembered for several years to come. The idea of the bar being raised in the next chapter is one I’m highly confident BioWare can surpass. The final encounter with the Reapers needs to be heavily defined and far more superior then the Collectors. If you recall, the end of the game delivers a message that Harbinger is coming and there is a focus on a partnership between the Collectors and The Reapers. The final encounter with The Human Reaper (A Terminator Clone) isn’t challenging enough and I fully anticipate new adversaries the next time around. When you decide to destroy the Collector Base there are hints that you may not be prepared for what’s ahead as a result. The effects of your choices were beautifully illustrated in how you choose to give orders during the final mission. Mass Effect 3 should exceed this and make you feel like the experience really is a life or death type of situation.

Mortal Kombat (2011 video game) is the working title for an upcoming new fighting game in the Mortal Kombat series, currently in development by the newly named NetherRealm Studios. It is the ninth installment in the series and the first to be published exclusively under the Warner Bros. label. Mortal Kombat is set for an April 19, 2011 release in the US, and a EU release on April 21st, on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 systems. A PC version is also a possibility. The game has been Refused Classification in some country due to “violence that exceeds strong in impact”,Warner Brothers are currently reviewing all options available including possibly appealing the rating.

The story begins after the events of Mortal Kombat: Armageddon, but then returns to the period in which the first three games – Mortal Kombat, Mortal Kombat II and Mortal Kombat 3 – occur. Due to a plot twist (the character Raiden now having knowledge of the future), the events of this time are slightly altered.

Mortal Kombat is the first title in the series to include 3D graphics with gameplay solely on the 2D plane (2.5D). The developers have also stated that this is the first game in which they are making a conscious effort to create deeper gameplay for more dedicated players of the series and of fighting games in general. Mortal Kombat was officially announced on June 10, 2010, accompanied with a debut trailer showcasing the new presentation and new gameplay features.

Gameplay

Mortal Kombat characters and levels are rendered in 3D, gameplay is restricted to a 2D combat style.

In terms of gameplay, NetherRealm Studios have intended for Mortal Kombat to be accessible to the casual player, so that the casual player could not be removed from the experience of the game because of its complexity and so that it could promote a back and forth where the gaming experience could be more “attracted the player” rather than one-sided. With this in mind, NetherRealm Studios also stated that they intend to focus on the hardcore player by excogitated new features in the gameplay as to create a deeper fighting experience. Coupled with the new features, the developers have stated that they are bringing in experts on the fighting game genre to help develop a more balanced game. Ed Boon, Mortal Kombat co-creator and creative director of Mortal Kombat, has also stated that they created Mortal Kombat with programming “hooks” that will allow to easily fix post-launch gameplay issues.

Unlike previous Mortal Kombat fighting games, there are four attack buttons that each represent a corresponding limb, a concept better known for its existence in the Tekken franchise. A “super meter” was added to enhance the gaming experience, which can be charged by various actions during battle such as performing a combo or getting hit by the opponent. The super meter can be charged to three levels which if used up will either enhance a special attack, interrupt a combo, or cause the attacker to perform a super combo called an X-ray move. During these X-ray moves, the camera will zoom in and will show an inside view of the character who is being attacked while bones and organs are broken or ruptured.

Some modes that have been confirmed are the online mode, the Tag-Team fighting mode, and the Challenge Tower. The Online mode will include a King of the Hill option, where up to eight players will be able to spectate on fights and play the winner; include a rating system where spectators can rate the battles after it is over, and act as a “forum” to find out how to perform various combos or moves they see while spectating a fight.

The four player tag-team feature is completely new to the series, where two players can choose to play together. During a tag-team fight, characters can briefly come in and out of the stage and perform “assist attacks”, or can perform “special entry attacks” where the tagged character can enter the stage while attacking and remain in the combat while the other character jumps out.

The Challenge Tower mode is a single player option, that Ed Boon described as “similar to an arcade ladder”. It will include specific challenges of various difficulties providing currency rewards upon completion; players will have the option of using up some of this in-game currency to by-pass the more difficult challenges.

Characters

The development team also confirmed at GamesCom 2010 that every character would have two fatalities, each with the ability to perform stage fatalities. According to Ed Boon there will be fifty to sixty fatalities included in Mortal Kombat.

Here are the characters that have been revealed :

1. Cyrax
2. Ermac
3. Jax
4. Johnny Cage
5. Kitana
6. Kung Lao
7. Mileena
8. Nightwolf
9. Raiden
10. Reptile
11. Scorpion
12. Sektor
13. Shao Kahn
14. Sindel
15. Sonya
16. Sub-Zero
17. Kratos
18. Liu Kang
19. Noob Saibot
20. Jade
21. Stryker
22. Goro

RUMORED CHARACTERS

1. Kabal
2. Quan Chi
3. Shang Tsung
4. Sindel
5. Human Smoke
6. Shinnok
7. Rain
8. Robo Smoke
9. Tanya
10. A Brand New Character

Developer(s) : Vatra Games
Publisher(s) : Konami Digital Entertainment
Series : Silent Hill
Platform(s) : PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
Release date(s) : NA Fall 2011
: EU Fall 2011
Genre(s) : Survival horror
Media/distribution :Blu-ray Disc, DVD

Silent Hill: Downpour is an upcoming survival horror video game. The eighth installment in the Silent Hill series, the game’s tentative title was Silent Hill 8. It will be released in fall 2011. The game was developed by Vatra Games and will be published by Konami Digital Entertainment for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

Shinji Hirano, says: “In honoring the rich history and strong following of Silent Hill, we’re working hard to build a next-generation horror game that the fans truly deserve… This Silent Hill introduces an all-new storyline and unique evolutions in gameplay, building on innovations and successes from over a decade of true survival horror and terror.”

Gameplay

Silent Hill: Downpour’s camera will remain primarily in a third-person perspective. The game will feature the “mind-bending” puzzles and “thought-provoking storyline” that launched the series into mainstream fame, and will provide a “deep psychological horror experience” with multiple side-quests depending on the player’s in-game decisions and behavior. The player can only carry one weapon at a time and these weapons may break. The game will also feature puzzle difficulty selections. Buildings that were used in previous Silent Hill games, such as a hospital and a school, will not return. The element of water holds a prominent role, with torrential rain being featured.

Plot

Former Silent Hill main man Akira Yamaoka won’t be on board for the upcoming Silent Hill: Downpour, seeing as how he peaced out from Konami back in 2009. In this instalement main protagonist character is Murphy Pendleton, an escaped prisoner. E3′s teaser trailer indicates that a little girl, a postal worker, a civilian, and a female police officer will be supporting characters.

The game’s events take place in the southeastern region of Silent Hill, which has never been explored in previous games in the series, and the plot will not have any connection to previous installments.

We’ll have to wait to see how it comes together, though, when Silent Hill: Downpour hits PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 this fall.

Developer : Polyphony Digital
Publisher : Sony Computer Entertainment
Designer : Kazunori Yamauchi
Platform : PlayStation 3
Release date :
NA November 24, 2010
EU November 24, 2010
JP November 25, 2010
AUS November 25, 2010
Genre : Racing
Mode : Single-player, multiplayer, online multiplayer (16-player)
ESRB: E
Media : Blu-ray Disc

Gran Turismo 5 is the fifth edition of the Gran Turismo racing simulator series. Developed by Polyphony Digital and published by Sony Computer Entertainment, it was released for PlayStation 3 on November 24, 2010. It expands on the Prologue version and is the first entry of the series to developed for PlayStation3.

Game Play

The game marks the first entry in the series to feature online races for 16-players. A damage model has been confirmed with variations of damage depending on whether the vehicle is “standard” or “premium”. Over 1,000 cars will be featured in the game; it will feature 26 different locations and 71 different tracks. Night racing will return in GT5.
World Rally Championship, NASCAR and Super GT licenses are featured for the first time in the Gran Turismo franchise.

New features
A damage model, with variations of damage depending on whether the vehicle is “Standard” or “Premium”.
Weather effects (feautred only on selected curcuits) Optional Stereoscopic-3D resolution.

Karting
New visual effects including dynamic skid marks, dust and grass being kicked up and affected by other elements and also the ability for drivers to flash their headlights.

A course editor which allows the player to create new circuits by using tools that randomly generate track-parts, including the amount of corners, the time of day and the amount of sectors. There are a variety of themes the player can choose from to act as a base for each circuit design.

Damage
Gran Turismo 5 is the first game in the franchise to include both mechanical and external damage modeling, including a real-time deformation engine that will process model deformation according to the speed and angle of impact. In addition, it was revealed at the 2009 Tokyo Game Show that it will also be possible to overturn cars for the first time in the series. The vehicles in GT5 are separated into “standard” and “premium” vehicles. Standard vehicles feature a less detailed damage model with dirt, scratches and dents appearing on the car in the event of an accident. “Premium”-vehicles feature a slightly more advanced damage model. Gran Turismo 2 previously included damage, but was limited to mechanical failures only.

Tracks

Gran Turismo 5 features 26 different locations or “scenery” and 71 different tracks. This is a significant leap from the previous iteration in the main numbered series, Gran Turismo 4, which featured 51 total tracks. Dunsfold Park, located in the United Kingdom – the test track of the British automotive television show Top Gear – will be included in the game. The playable demo of Gran Turismo 5 at Gamescom 2009 featured the Tokyo Route 246 track, seen in previous incarnations of the game. Various real-life circuits will be returning from previous games in the series. These include (among others) Nürburgring, Circuit de la Sarthe, Tsukuba Circuit, Mazda Laguna Seca Raceway and Suzuka Circuit. New circuits will be included in the game, these include (among others) Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Monza circuit, Daytona International Speedway, a special karting track based around the Piazza del Campo – a historic public space in Tuscany, Italy used for the Palio di Siena, and two new Rome and Madrid city circuits. Many fictional circuits return from previous games in the series including ‘Trial Mountain’, ‘Deep Forest Raceway’ and more. An official list of all tracks featured in the game has been released by Polyphony Digital.

Vehicles
The number of vehicles present in the game has been confirmed to be 1,031.Lamborghini and Bugatti will make their first appearance in the game, following on from their introduction in Gran Turismo PSP, and it has been confirmed the new Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG will appear, along with Ferrari’s recently unveiled 458 Italia as well as the Lexus LFA supercar. McLaren will also make their first appearance as a native manufacturer with the inclusion of the McLaren F1 road car (the F1 GTR race version was present in Gran Turismo 4, but was included in BMW’s dealership).[19] Le Mans spec cars will make a return appearance. Hybrids were previously included in Gran Turismo 4 with the Toyota Prius and the Honda Insight. At the 2009 Tokyo Game Show, Yamauchi mentioned that the latest hybrid and electric cars will be included, including the Tesla Roadster. At Gamescom 2010, it was also revealed that GT5 will include the Jaguar XJ13 race car prototype, as well as the Ferrari 330 P4 and the Ford GT40 Mark IV race cars, and as the developers put it, “will allow players to create the race that never came to be”, since the XJ13 program was canceled before the car was ready for competition. Additionally, in association with Red Bull Racing, the development team worked on a new prototype car called the “X1 Prototype” which was designed with the idea of, “If you built the fastest racing car on land, one that throws aside all rules and regulations, what would that car look like, how would it perform, and how would it feel to drive?” This car was worked on by Polyphony Digital and Red Bull’s aerodynamics expert, Adrian Newey, and is one of the cars in the game. Up to 16 cars or 32 karts will be able to race on track at once whereas previous installments featured only six cars per race max. Recently, Polyphony Digital released the official vehicle list which also shows which vehicles will be standard or premium.

Standard and Premium

The cars in GT5 are separated into two categories, “standard” and “premium”. Standard cars have standard headlights, and basic damage modeling. In addition, standard cars do not feature interior camera views. Premium cars feature headlights capable of high and low beams, detailed interior camera views, and detailed damage models. Premium cars also feature working windshield wipers which can be used on tracks with rain or snow. Around 20% of all cars featured in the game fall into the “premium”-category.

Development

Gran Turismo 5 has received considerable praise from game critics. The game currently holds a Gamerankings-score of 87.5%. Reviewers praised the number of cars, car-specific information and single-player content included and commented positively on the driving-physics which had been improved from Prologue. The inclusion of karts as well as licensed WRC and Nascar-vehicles was also received positively.
The graphics received mixed reviews with reviewers praising the lighting-effects as well as in- and exterior-details of premium-cars, stating that Photo Mode showed-off their detailed graphical design very well, but commenting negatively on the detail of standard-cars which lacked cockpit-views, looked like upscaled versions taken from GT4 and did not keep up to the level of detail found in the premium-models. The newly-included damage-feature received criticism for barely effecting car-handling and damage-effects only being applied after multiple serious crashes. Graphical on-track-detail was also criticized as being sub-par to the detail found on the cars.
The new Course Maker-feature was also commented negatively upon. Reviewers were dissatisfied with the tool only allowing to edit randomly-generated tracks instead of letting users create their own track-layouts.
The AI was also criticized for still making CPU-drivers brake unexpectedly and not being aware of the player’s car on the track, just as in previous games in the series. IGN called it “the series’ now trademark zombie A.I.

Song Track Naming Competition
At E3 2010, a new trailer was shown revealing various aspects about GT5 including a release date. The song used for the trailer was by Japanese composer Daiki Kasho; many fans wanted to know the name of the song, but it was untitled. Polyphony Digital recognised this and started a competition open to all fans around the world, to submit a name for the song. The winner would have their name immortalised in Gran Turismo 5′s credits and their title become the official name of the music track. The winner was chosen by series creator Kazunori Yamauchi out of 5,444 entries: it was “5OUL ON D!SPLAY” (a stylised form of “Soul On Display”) submitted by a fan from Argentina.

Your Playstation 2 isn’t working most of the time or not at all and your wondering why? More than likely, if your disks look as if there nothing wrong with them and you’re getting those nasty “Disk-Read-Errors” on more than one disk then it is probably one or two laser problems that is the culprit. Either your laser voltage needs to be adjusted or dust and dirt are obstructing your laser, or both. The way I see it, you have two options if you want to repair your PS2.

For a fraction of the cost you can download the Professional Playstation 2 Repair Guide and quickly learn to fix your PS2 game console yourself using the easy step-by-step directions. No problem is too complex. Here’s just a sampling of what the guide will teach you: Adjust Voltage, Clean the Laser, Fix Squeaking and Clicking Sounds, Repair DVD and CD Reading Errors and much more. Not only will you master repairing your own console, but as an added benefit, you can start professionally repairing other people’s Playstation 2 consoles in your spare time for money! The Playstation 2 Repair Guide was written for people who are complete novices in electronics.

Please check this link for complete tutorial
The Video: Click here/here

Ever wonder why Microsoft hasn’t released an HDMI cable for the Xbox 360, or whether the AV port was really capable of digital out? Well, here’s your answer: engadget landed pictures of what appears to be the second Xbox 360 — the Xbox 360 v2, if you will — codenamed Zephyr. (The original Xbox 360, if you recall, was codenamed Xenon.)

According to Engadget, Microsoft has been busying itself with a new version of the Xbox 360. The team has snapped some sneaky pics of the new console that was previously only thought to boast a die shrink for its Xenos GPU and tri-cored IBM CPU. This provides lower power, less heat and hopefully a better console life-span.

It appears that Microsoft has decided it needs to keep up with the Jones’ (Sony) and integrate a HDMI port as well as the standard analogue A/V port. Not pictured is the all new, larger 120GB hard disk (twice that of Sony’s 60GB PS3) that may or may not come with the package. This means users can use the Live Marketplace to download a lot more stuff without having to resort to deleting things left, right and centre – a problem made all the more worse since Microsoft has starts its movie, TV and music download services.

The question is, despite the new console features, will it require people buying a Zephyr to have a HDMI/HDCP enabled TV to watch HD-DVD and High-Definition content? Up until now, thanks to the recent Xbox Live update, Microsoft has enabled people to use the analogue component and VGA connections to watch their movies in HD, essentially DRM-free. Could this mean more people seek out the version 1 console in DRM-free preference?

There’s no word yet on whether or not the new HDD will come inside the new bundle, but its regardless a welcomed change for Xbox enthusiasts. One much needed upgrade that has no word of actually coming to light is an internal HD-DVD drive. It’d make the package a lot cleaner, but appears to have missed the boat on this revision.

Will this make the version 1 consoles cheaper since it offers fewer options? Despite the fact the new console should be cheaper to make on a 65nm, including HDMI means Microsoft has to pay royalties on every console sold. Add into the fact it will need a separate firmware to the version 1 consoles and you’ve increased the work, and cost, on your development team.

The 65nm process is said to be delayed for several months, so it may be until 2nd or 3rd quarter before we can get a hold of it. That wait might mean Sony will get a better foothold on this market before Zephyr sees the sales floor…providing, of course, that the PS3 can get some games out worth playing.

Prices are expected to remain the same on the console to keep the competition with Sony and Nintendo stiff, and these changes are expected to hit the shelves soon. No official word has been released yet, however.