Destination Playstation is a nice and cozy meeting between Sony representatives, retailers and 3rd party developers, which takes place in Arizona, every year. If you are a console freak, then you probably know about all this bullshit, and even more, if you are a proud owner of a Playstation, be it a handheld, be it a PS3, or be it a PS2 for all those juicy bishojou games out there, you’ll be pretty interested in this.

First off, we’ll get a Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots PS3 Bundle in Q2 2008, which will include a nice 80 GB Playstation 3, a retail version of Solid Snake’s upcoming adventure, plus a Dualshock 3 controller, all for only 499.99 USD. The price is good, I must say, the only thing that I do not know for sure is the presence (or absence) of the dreaded backwards compatibility.

Secondly, PSP owners will get a huge boner when this pretty God of War PSP Entertainment Pack hits the shelves, for a mere 199.99 USD. The bundle will include a nice custom red PSP, with Kratos’ face forever carved into the handheld’s back, the upcoming God of War: Chains of Olympus, plus the voucher to freely download Syphon Filter: Combat Ops from the Playstation Store.

Last, but certainly not least, the much awaited Dualshock 3 will finally get its ass on the North American market, starting with April, 2008. It will be charged with no less than 54.99 USD, and it is said to be compatible with over 100 PS3 games. Frankly, I still think Sony lost a LOT with delaying this launch, but, hey, better late than never.

I have stopped thinking weird things about Japan and its inhabitants since I, myself, became obsessed with anything related to that place. Well, almost anything, their little 2D girls especially. We all know that place as a paradise for gamers, with people of all ages, be it youngsters, be it 80 years old dudes that run around in wheelchairs, playing like madmen every game they can possibly get their hands on.

A quick visit to the Kotaku website reveals some nice and interesting statistics regarding the Japanese grannies (you know, those nice old ladies which are supposed to cook a lot, and which provide their grandsons and granddaughters with endless advices regarding the meaning of life), and their time spent in front of a gaming console. From a “pool” of over a thousand obaa-sans, aged between 50 and 69, no less than 41.3 percent own a gaming console.

Not bad. Almost 13 percent are playing games frequently, be it puzzle games, study games or simulators, with a bit of love for action titles, also. So remember kids, next time you have to visit granny on weekends, think twice before rejecting such a kind offer. She might have just bought that awesomely fantastic God of War that you have been drooling on since September. For those who love numbers, here is a short list with the most common consoles that can be spotted in grandma’s living room:

Nintendo DS 65.5 percent
PlayStation (any model) 61.5 percent
Super Famicom (SNES) 36.5 percent
Famicom (NES) 28.2 percent
GameBoy (including Micro) 25.5 percent
GameBoy Advance 17.8 percent
Wii 17.6 percent
PSP 14.2 percent
Nintendo 64 12.8 percent
Sega Saturn 5.0 percent
Xbox (doesn't specify) 4.5 percent
Dreamcast 4.5 percent
Other 2.9 percent

Here's a little something to wash away that sorrow of seeing the Wii version of Civilization: Revolution cancelled put on hold last month: 2K Games announced a release date for the latest chapter in Sid Meier's 17-years old series, on its remaining platforms. So, without further ado (but with plenty of screenshots below), the PS3, Xbox 360 and DS versions of Civilization: Revolution are to be released on June 6. Lovely, and now for the accompanying PR'ish game synopsis.

"Built from the ground up solely for console and handheld gamers, Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution features fast-paced, pick-up-and-play action involving strategic global domination and history's most intrepid leaders, as well as a highly competitive multi-player experience. Sid Meier's Civilization Revolution brings the renowned Civilization franchise to consoles for the first time, delivering the vast re-playability and unmatched addictive gameplay that has become synonymous with the works of Sid Meier. New graphical touches and a streamlined interface will transport the Civilization franchise to a level that fans have never seen before."

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It wasn't a secret anymore that the third game in Volition's literally ground-breaking action series would be titled Red Faction: Guerrilla, after last week's revelation, but pretty much everything else was still unknown. Until, that is, THQ made a proper announcement yesterday, clearing a few details regarding the shooter formerly known as Red Faction 3.

The most striking change is that Red Faction: Guerrilla will be a "third-person open-world action-shooter" (ok, those are actually two striking changes), and of course that it will be released for all three heavy-duty platforms - PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. The game will keep its signature destruction-based gameplay, and even "redefine its limits" as they say. The story will take us back to Mars, 50 years after the events of the original Red Faction (good thing there's no mention of Red Faction 2, since I couldn't be arsed to play it).

"Players will take the role of an insurgent fighter with the newly re-established Red Faction movement as they battle for liberation from the oppressive Earth Defense Force. Throughout their fight for freedom, players will carve their own path, wreaking havoc across the vast, open-world environment of Mars, from the desolate mining outpost of Parker to the gleaming EDF capital city of Eos. Utilizing improvised weapons, explosives and re-purposed mining equipment and vehicles, Red Faction: Guerrilla allows players to tear through fully destructible environments in an unforgiving Martian landscape swarming with EDF forces, Red Faction resistance fighters, and the downtrodden settlers caught in the cross-fire. Red Faction: Guerrilla will also feature a robust multiplayer component, including several modes focused on destruction-based gameplay."

For now, a tentative release date is set for fiscal 2009, meaning that it could come out anywhere between April 2008 and March 2009... at the earliest.

The folks from Radical Entertainment are doing some pretty radical things in their new action game, Prototype. For one thing, their vision of New York is rather frightening - or at least the art director doing the concept is. You'll know what I mean once you watch this Prototype 'New York' dev-diary (so much oversized ego in that guy... it's frightening!). If you can't be bothered with all that dev-blah-blah, or you need to kill some time while the trailer is loading, here are the latest screenshots issued by Sierra / Vivendi. The game might be released on the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 in Q3 2008. Or it might not.

- The world of Fallout 3 will be much smaller than Oblivion, Bethesda's Pete Hines told some aussies, "but packed with stuff to do". Stuff to do is good, mkay.

- "For Sims 3 there will be new information soon", Sims Studio head Rod Humble let slip in a forum posting. And guess what: they are "actually launching less [Sims games] this year than last". Oh, and "the Sims Label was created to innovate, make original games and take creative risks". I loled.

- Aion: The Tower of Eternity is coming in 2008. How exactly is that a novelty, beats me!

- Naruto: Ninja Destiny went gold, and is now destined to launch on February 26 for the Nintendo DS. Naruto sucks dragon balls.

- April 22 was announced as the day Square Enix will release its new DS action-RPG set in modern-day Tokyo, The World Ends With You. No U.

- Unreal Engine 3 got licensed by yet another Korean developer - Dragonfly (Karma Online, Special Force), who will be using it to make a new... something, whatever.

On the same day that EA was revealing Red Alert 3 for the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360, Vivendi also made a similar, albeit shadowed announcement, about another supposedly-hardcore RTS game heading for all three supposedly-hardcore platforms: World in Conflict. As one of last year's top strategy titles on the PC, World in Conflict was previously known to be in development for the Xbox 360, but this week a PS3 version was also confirmed.

Both the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 version of World in Conflict are now set for release in autumn 2007, effectively meaning that the Xbox 360 has already been delayed almost one year from its initial date. But looking on the bright side, this way the devs (Swordfish Studios, overwatched by Massive Ent.) will hopefully have enough time to do a proper port, controls-wise.

Other-wise, World in Conflict will be reinforced with new content on the consoles, for both its singleplayer campaign and multiplayer mode. And this yet-to-be-detailed "new content" will also be made available on the PC, in the form of an expansion. More info about the latter should be interecepted soon.

For every guitar that Fender throws on the market, there is an idiot thinking he’s the next Yngwie Malmsteen. And it seems that, from now on, for every fucking Guitar Hero game released, there will be a band that will take advantage of it. Rumor has it that there will be no less than four Guitar Hero titles emerging in 2008, the first being dedicated to all-time favorite (not mine, but hey, I don’t hate them or anything) rock band, Aerosmith.

The game will be released this summer, more exactly in June, and will give the fans a chance to follow in the footsteps of their beloved idols, from the time they were a bunch of kiddies dreaming of greater glory, right until they got showered in cash and began to afford about any hooker they could lay their eyes upon. It seems that only Joe Perry, Brad Whitford and Tom Hamilton will be “playable” characters here, with Stevie-boy and Kramer-kun deciding to pass this one out.

To start all things straight (not that we would ever question their sexual orientation in any way), the ladies at Activision will be providing Guitar Hero III owners with Aerosmith’s hit “Dream On”, starting today, with the possibility of download being available until February 18. That means you have just about two days to get your hands on it.

So, Guitar Hero: Aerosmith will be available in June for all the platforms, developed by Neversoft (PS3, X360), Vicarious Visions (Wii), and Budcat Creations (PS2). Rock on, or something.

1UP scoop.

Black Rock Studios, formerly known as Climax Racing and developers of several ATV Offroad Racing and MotoGP games, are staying true to their genre of choice. As announced by their big brothers from Disney, their new project is simply called Pure - a pretty cool looking squad quad racing game planned for release on the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 this autumn. For now, some self-explanatory screenshots.



Update: The first cinematic trailer is here.

We won't have to dig like madmen for any scans of some Hungarian preview, after all, because Electronic Arts have just announced Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 in a nice big press release, complete with screenshots and a trailer. The first surprise we get is that EA's Los Angeles studio is developing this RTS sequel not only for the PC and Xbox 360, but also for the PlayStation 3. Next up, Red Alert 3 boasts a fully co-operative campaign set in "a breathtaking alternate future spawned by time travel run amok", while adding "an astounding new faction that will shake-up the Red Alert universe as we know it", and "bringing naval combat into the heart of the game design". Not to mention they're already hinting at the beta! But let's take them one at a time, right after these pics.


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