MCV proudly claims that its predictions have turned true: a new lighter PS2 model is headed for Europe and India. The new slimmed-down version of the PS2 will hit Europe and India this October; it will have a built-in AC power adapter, but its price will remain the same.

The article also mentions that SCE India is hoping to launch the PlayStation Network for PS3 in the region. Country manager Atindriya Bose said: “The PlayStation Network is ready for India. It is only the integration of the payment gateway that needs to be done.”

It is not known if the new model of the PS2 will hit North America or not.

Gamers are usually wary of libraries, what with their policies of maintaining silence and housing lots of boring books (well, there are ‘good’ books in there, too). However, residents of Centerville, Ohio can now borrow PS2, PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii games from their two community libraries, completely free of charge.

Initial offerings are a little sparse through: Kung Fu Panda, Madden NFL 08, Iron Man, Guitar, Sonic Heroes and Final Fantasy. The libraries will focus on family games and games for players over the age of 10.

Members will be able to keep a game for up to a week, with one extension available.

Following up on the allegedly leaked image that showed the PlayStation Store offering PS2 games, Sony Computer Entertainment has denied the report, stating that there are “no plans for PS2 downloadable titles on PS3.”

The image, posted by a N4G forum poster, is said to have come from someone inside Sony’s London studio. The poster also stated that the announcement would come at this year’s E3, with rollout expected in Summer.

Those looking to get their Guitar Hero on while anxiously awaiting Guitar Hero: World Tour are in luck as Activision has announced today that they have begun shipping Guitar Hero: Aerosmith to retailers across the US.

Focused around popular Rock ‘N’ Roll band, Aerosmith, the game will let players progress through Aerosmith’s career, playing at historical venues once played by the band.

The game will ship with an Aerosmith inspired guitar controller along with a load of the band’s songs, also including various songs from bands Aerosmith has played with or been inspired by.

Guitar Hero: Aerosmith is now available for all major consoles, including the PS2.

In today’s share of surprising news, a poster on the N4G forums has put up an image which shows PS2 titles available on the PlayStation Store. It is allegedly taken by an employee at Sony Studios London. According to his post, the source also claimed that the PS2 lineup will be officially announced at E3, which is just two weeks away, with an official launch coming later this Summer.

Earlier models of the PS3 feature backwards compatibility with PS2 games, though the PS3 model sold now do not. The games pictured in the snapshot include Metal Gear Solid 2, Red Faction, Ridge Racer 5, SSX, and The Bouncer.

It is yet to be confirmed by Sony, but I guess we just have to wait for two weeks before everything is detailed.

The New York Times reports that only 2,676 people stepped forward to file claims in the “Hot Coffee” class action lawsuit against Rockstar Games for GTA: San Andreas, amounting to a payout of less than $30,000. According to the terms of the settlement, customers offended by the “Hot Coffee” content in the game could submit compensatory claims of $5 to $35 each, or a revised edition of the title devoid of the offending code.

Rockstar parent company Take-Two estimates that the claims will amount to less than $30,000, much less than the $1.3 million in legal fees the company racked up dealing with the lawsuit.

“Am I disappointed? Sure,” said lead plaintiff attorney Seth R. Lesser. “We can’t guess as to why now, several years later, people care or don’t care. The merits of the case were clear.”

Additionally, Take-Two has agreed to make a $860,000 charitable contribution, bringing the total cost of the “Hot Coffee” to roughly $2.19 million, notwithstanding the costs in reprinting and distributing the revised edition of the game.

Call of Duty 3 is often considered to be the weakest entry in the respected WWII (until COD4) shooter series, but the developers don’t blame it on themselves – they blame it on the title’s blistering eight month development schedule.

Quelling fears that Call of Duty: World at War, the upcoming fifth installment, may suck, Treyarch senior producer Noah Heller told Videogamer that they are “polishing and pouring love” into the development of the title, and that “it’s the time to actually iterate and get things right, to make things feel right.”

Apparently publisher Activision had arranged a development rotation in which series creator Infinity Ward could work on Call of Duty 4 while Treyarch completed COD3 in a span of just eight months.

“I don’t think [Call of Duty 3] was a filler title,” said creative lead Rich Farrelly. “Because we were so focused on making the best game we can, sometimes we, at least in that case, we tried maybe to put too much in the game for the amount of time we had to develop.”

Read on »

Those looking forward to rocking out in Guitar Hero: Aerosmith will have 41 songs to do so, as Eurogamer carries full details on the tracklist in the game. The list contains various songs from the band’s back catalog, as well as collaborative and contemporary music such as “Cat Scratch Fever” by Ted Nugent.

The game will be released on PS2, PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii on June 29. Hit the jump for the full list of tracks.

Read on »

Konami today announced the development of Pro Evolution Soccer 2009, the latest installment in the venerable soccer simulation series. Also known as the Winning Eleven series, the latest installment includes a major graphic overhaul, new control elements (as well as moves) and enhanced online functionality.

It is in development for PC, PS2, PS3, PSP and Xbox 360 for release in Europe, where the sport is most popular (and also known as football), this Fall. No North American release date was specified, though it can be inferred that it will be released sometime around that period.

Atari, the eternally financially ailing publisher, has set a new low: it has filed suit against German gaming website 4Players for publishing a negative pre-release review of Alone in the Dark, alleging that it was written based on a pirated copy of the game.

According to this 4Players editorial, Atari’s lawsuit claims that the publication date of the review - which gave the game a 68% rating - implies that the site based its opinion on a pirated or preview version of the title. The site insists that it obtained a copy of the game through a retail connection before the title’s June 20 street date.

Meanwhile, Shacknews carries word from Gamer.nl that it was also asked to take down its 5/10 review of the game.

“Within an hour [after posting], Atari called to have the review pulled off, claiming there was an embargo till Friday,” wrote the site to Shacknews. “Our review copy was sent directly to us by Atari and [was] not a pirated copy. They explicitly told [Gamer.nl] that they only let high scoring reviews break the post-release embargo date.”

Activision has finally confirmed that Guitar Hero World Tour will be accompanied by the rumored touch-sensitive guitar controller that adds a touch pad below the five standard fret buttons, allowing players to “mimic a slap bass” and tweak sustained notes.

The company added that the game would support all previous guitar controllers and that it will not be compatible with existing downloadable content for Guitar Hero 3.

It was also disclosed that Billy Idol and Foo Fighters will be in the game, which will contain 85 master tracks. The game, so far, features the following confirmed bands: Sublime, Linkin Park, Van Halen and The Eagles.

Guitar Hero 4 is due out this Fall on PS2, PS3, Wii and Xbox 360.

Son of deceased author Mario Puzo, Anthony Puzo, has filed a lawsuit against Godfather license holder Paramount Pictures, claiming breach of contract over the licensed action game released back in 2006.

Puzo demands at least $1 million in compensation, noting that he never received any royalty payments from the licensed game. Anthony Puzo believes he is entitled to said payments due to an alleged 1992 agreement between his father and Paramount. Reuters reports that the deal entitled the author’s estate to a “significant share of the revenue of any audio-visual products sold or rented with elements of the ‘Godfather’ movies.”

A second Godfather game has been revealed as of late. It is not known if Puzo knows about the existence of this title or not.

CVG carries a video that features Alone in the Dark game director David Nadal reveal that the game was almost scrapped for being “too ambitious.”

He talks about his love for the horror adventure franchise, as well as his dream of making the game that was almost destroyed by the suits at Atari, the financially troubled company, who dubbed his ideas about the game highly ambitious.

The game hits PC, PS2, Wii and Xbox 360 later this week. A PS3 version is expected later this year.

By now everyone’s heard about the massive leak in Microsoft’s pipes. Amongst the flood of information about upcoming games is a few dribbles that’ll excite fans of quality superhero games. While Marvel has had a rather spotty history when it comes to the quality of their licensed video game products, none can argue that the first Ultimate Alliance wasn’t a well-crafted and fun game.

Some fan favorites will be appearing in the upcoming sequel which is set to take place in the midst of the epic ‘Civil War’ storyline, so players can expect to be battling alongside villains and fighting some heroes as well. Supposedly there’ll be a stable of over twenty characters to choose from, including Wolverine as always. The Hulk, Spider-Man, the Human Torch and Venom are among the characters mentioned. One interesting feature is that you’ll be able to ‘fuse’ two characters, creating a hybrid with the powers of both., which will eliminate the need to switch back and forth between your favorite characters. As with the previous game the title will be multiplatform; available on the Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, PSP, Wii and DS.

The first details of Call of Duty 5 come from the latest issue of UK gaming magazine Games, revealing the game’s title to be Call of Duty: World at War. It will be set in the Pacific Theater of World War II, going back to the series’ roots of World War II warfare.

Treyarch is developing the game for PC, PS2, PS3, Xbox 360 and Nintendo DS for release this Fall. The Wii version is reportedly being powered by the same engine that powered CoD4 on the console; it will support the Wii Zapper controller shell and is being handled by a separate team.

As per the magazine, the game will also be more violent, with the opening scene showcasing a torture sequence where a prisoner’s eye is burned out with a cigarette before his throat is slit and “blood splatters and dribbles down the side of the tent you are being held in.”

All that said, various reports are suggesting thats Infinity Ward, the studio behind Call of Duty 4, is already working on the sixth title in the series.

Oft-delayed and often alone in the dark game Alone in the Dark has gone gold on PC, PS2, Xbox 360 and Wii and have entered the manufacturing process for release on June 24; Europeans will get it four days earlier.

The game is a reboot of the franchise, featuring DVD-style episodic gameplay as well as various other enhancements.

Atari also has a PS3 version in development, which is due out sometime later this year.

Hoping to reach out to the XNA market, SCE has launched PlayStation-edu, a new program that gives college and university computer science departments access to PS2 and PSP development kits.

The program is aimed at teaching computer science and engineering students about PlayStation platforms using the same development kits used by publishers and developers, which are usually not available to the general public.

“SCEA wants to make sure that students who are graduating from college are ready to program on PlayStation hardware and that means getting it into your hands,” wrote SCEA developer support manager Mark Danks on the PlayStation Blog.

Interested schools are required to sign legal agreements with Sony, as well as purchase the development kits themselves. The price was not disclosed.

2K Sports has announced that 11-time NBA All-Star and 2008 Defensive Player of the Year Kevin Garnett of the Boston Celtics will be featured as the cover athlete and spokesman for NBA 2K9, the upcoming installment in the sports series.

“NBA 2K is where it’s AT! End of story,” said Garnett, who is currently playing in the NBA Finals against the Los Angeles Lakers. “It’s the game I play, the game my friends play, and the game anyone in the league serious about videogames plays. NBA 2K is the real deal, and until 2K Sports finds a way to plant an elbow in your chest, it’s the closest thing to actually being there on the court. I can’t tell you how pumped I am to be on the cover of NBA 2K9 – it’s a real honor. Now watch out! Because this fall 2K Sports and I are going to deliver the best basketball video game out there, period.”

NBA 2K9 is set for release this Fall on PS2, PS3 and Xbox 360.

The release of Guitar Hero: Aerosmith may seem like milking the franchise when there’s nothing much to milk. But Neversoft senior producer Chris Parise, speaking to Shacknews, revealed that releasing the game’s content as DLC for Guitar Hero 3 just wouldn’t work.

“I think DLC limits what you can do,” said Parise. “I think DLC means you have to have Xbox Live [on Xbox 360] or PlayStation Network [on PlayStation 3] Whereas I think your install base is still [mostly] PS2, they don’t get [DLC].”

He then goes on to point out that Aerosmith will feature the animations of Steven Tyler, Joe Perry’s “stuff” and that they wanted to capture the performance of the band, and not just provide their songs.

Parise notes that they have recreated a number of real-life venues for the game, utilized motion capture sessions with the band and included factoids and other bonuses throughout the game to mark the whole “experience.”

Guitar Hero: Aerosmith is released on PS2, PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii later this month.

If quote from Jeff Gertsmann of Giantbomb.com is to be believed Neversoft may be passing on their rights to develop new games in the Tony Hawk franchise to Robomodo, a Chicago based studio.

In his latest podcast Gertsmann was quoted to have said the following:

If this rumor is true, Neversoft is not working on the new Tony Hawk game. They have gone fully Guitar Hero and apparently, if this is all true, the new Tony Hawk game is being made by a new studio out of Chicago made up from [former] EA Chicago people. Robomodo is the name of the would-be developer.

Former EA Chicago people, huh? Could this mean the Tony Hawk franchise might be taking a stab at EA’s skate? Possible incorporating new innovative control into it’s latest title? I guess all we can do is wait until the next Tony Hawk comes out to be sure.