This new plan will come into effect at the beginning of next month and is something sure to please Western PS3 owners. We’ve still not got it as good as the Japanese, but it’s better. Then again, it’d be kinda hard to do a daily store update. I can hear the others now “bloody hell Barlow, calm down, we don’t need more work!”

A source, described by IGN as “trusted”, says that the developer is supposedly creating cross platform software. Despite being Sony exclusive for some time, the company are not a part of the ‘PlayStation family’. It’s completely possible that they could bring their talents to other platforms, but that doesn’t mean you’ll be seeing Ratchet & Resistance on Xbox 360 – those franchises are published by Sony.

Insomniac’s Ted Price had nothing more to say than that the developer does not comment on rumor and speculation.

If the rumors are true this could bring some great new IPs our way. Although it could be great for gamers, the fanboy inside me wants Sony to just buy them…like now. This could be a real kick in the balls (technical term) for Sony and the PlayStation brand, but please bear in mind that it is a rumor.

…”Sony can do better”. Sony are claiming that the PlayStation Eye can already do facial recognition like that of Microsoft’s new darling, Project Natal.

During the Develop conference, that was going on in the UK this week, Sony revealed that their little used camera can do facial recognition. It was also said that the camera can track your movement too. Besides that little more was said, I wonder if Sony have had Natal-esque tech all along? It certainly seems like it.

SCEE also said that this technology was already being made available to developers if they wished to use it in their games. Joystiq have also noted that the tech can track finger movement and the movement of facial bones. Sony failed to comment on weather the Eye could track specific movements, which would deliver a real blow to Microsoft. Hopefully we’ll hear more on that soon.

The, not so, shock announcement of a 360 Metal Gear game was made by Microsoft on Monday, but it wasn’t Metal Gear Solid 4. Hideo Kojima took the stage in LA and said “I didn’t say anything about Solid Snake”. Intriguing.

The new game, entitled Metal Gear Solid Rising, was revealed at the end of the Microsoft press conference in LA, but MS made no mention of the game’s exclusivity. Just after the reveal, industry website, GamesPress noted that the game would be multiplatform and would be coming to, both, PS3 and PC as well as the Xbox 360.

This was confirmed yesterday at Konami’s presser. That’s right the new MGS featuring Raiden will be coming to a platform near you in 2010. As a Metal Gear fanboy you can definitely consider me excited.

Capcom announced this week that Dead Rising 2 does, in fact, have multiplayer.

It was ‘confirmed’ a few months back after IGN asked a PR person if the game did have a multiplayer component to which they were given a resounding yes. Capcom went on to deny these claims, but have now ‘re-announced’ that the zombie based action game will have multiplayer.

Developer Kenji confirmed this to Eurogamer earlier in the week and it’s nice to finally have a clear answer. This is another one to add to the ‘to-play list’.

Devil May Cry-esque game Bayonetta and it’s witchey, long haired title character looks like they’ll be hair-kicking their way onto PS3 and Xbox 360 this “fall”.

SEGA announced their release plans for the game last night at an event in Tokyo. The release will be of the simultaneous, worldwide variety and, well, that’s about it. Some new screens were released (below) showing SEGA’s wicked witch in action.

Of course we’ve no idea about anything else said at the Tokyo event as it was, for obvious reasons, all in Japanese. I’ll try and get a hold of SEGA and see if they can confirm what was said. I really doubt we’ll see anything more about the game until E3 though. The game looks like it could be good, let’s hope it isn’t this year’s Heavenly Sword.

It seems we’re a little late with this one…well better late than never I guess. SEGA have announced that OutRun Online Arcade will be hitting the PlayStation Store next Thursday.

I think it’s a little weird that this is ‘exclusive’ to the European PSN. Ok, so if you don’t know what i’m on about (which is most of the time I bet) let me break i down for you. Microsoft secured OutRun Arcade exclusively for the Xbox 360 in North America, but not in Europe. How odd. So basically us Europeans are going to be invaded my all those American OutRun Fans.

Anyway, the game is going to be £7.99 (about $10 is you want to import) and hopefully we’ll be able to get our hands on it soon enough and deliver our verdict.

Hothead Games, publishers of Penny Arcade Adventures, have recently aquired, the former XBLA exclusive, Braid for release on PC and Mac. Now, I know what you’re thinking, “how does this relate to a PS3 version?”, well with Hothead now having the rights to distribute on other platforms this could mean that Jonathan Blow’s game could be hitting the PlayStation Store in the future. Of course this is only speculation for now, but personally I can see it happening. We’re in a recession and indie developers need money too. Here’s hoping anyway.

[By Anthony]

Ok, so last year was hailed by the people at Sony as ‘The Year Of The PS3′ and sure it’s sales have grown and the number of people adopting the system has increased pretty rapidly, but still there was the complaint that “the PS3 has no games”. Last year saw the release of Metal Gear Solid 4, Gran Turismo 5: Prologue, Resistance 2 and LittleBigPlanet, but even that didn’t convince many that Sony’s juggernaut of a console was worth dropping the cash on. I think that’s about to change. I’m about to put my neck on the line and say that 2009 will be officially ‘The Year Of The PS3′. Hit the jump to find out why.

The one thing that makes a person go out and spend £300 on a games console is the games. Sure, the Wii has cornered the casual market and Microsoft continue to drop the price on the 360 making it almost irresistable to the average gamer. Looking at what the two aformentioned companies have to offer consumers in 09, I can see a major difference between those and Sony. Microsoft and Nintendo are yet to release any kind of indication of what’s coming this year but Sony seem to have a lot of exclusives to tempt us gamers, here’s just a few of them:

• Killzone 2
• inFamous
• God Of War III
• A New Ratchet & Clank
• Uncharted 2

That’s a pretty good list. Naughty Dog’s Uncharted: Drakes Fortune is still one of the best games on the console and Uncharted 2: Among  Thieves can only build on that. Resistance 2 was a little hit and miss, but with Ratchet Insomniac have a well established series and hopefully they’ll better their last retail effort ‘Tools Of Destruction’. God Of War III has not been confirmed for 2009, but with the ammount of coverage it’s getting i’d be surprised if we didn’t see it towards the end of this year. Yet again, it’s an established franchise with a good fan base and I, personally, can see this being a system seller. Next we come to inFamous. A brand new IP from Sucker Punch, looks like something really cool and could tempt many to invest in a new console. Last but by no means least, Killzone 2. Guerilla set themselves a task of reaching what they had presented in a CG trailer almost four years ago, and by all accounts they’ve surpassed it. I think this might be the game to turn many a 360 fanboy and make them bow at the feet of Sony and the PlayStation 3. All of the above are really cool, but the ammount of exclusive PSN titles will give gamers another fantastic reason to invest in the console. I mean who dosen’t want to play Fat Princess?

Of course we don’t know what the other two companies have in store. Microsoft released Gears 2 last year and the Halo ‘expansion’ ODST will sell, but is unlikely to get more people to buy the system. In Alan Wake they have something potentially really cool, but nothing has really been heard of that for a while and the question is, are you sure it hasn’t been cancelled already? The only major game I can think of at the time of writing is Mass Effect 2, and now that EA owns BioWare I can’t see that being exclusive, because, as every gamer knows, EA like money.

Nintendo had a horrible Christmas period in terms of software and the ammount of shovelware seems to marr many hardcore gamers view on the console. Unless they come out with something special for the hardcore crowd, I can see their patience dwindling and those still clinging on being forced to invest in a true ‘next gen’ console.

All of the factors above will surely lead to the rise of the PS3 in 2009. Microsoft and Ninty are going to have to pull something special out of their arses to keep the hardcore gamers from coming over to the ‘dark side’. I’m sticking my neck out, but trust me 2009 is going to be a great year to be a PS3 owner.

[By Anthony]

Sony’s PlayStation 3 turned two yesterday and shortly after, Sony decided to tell the world that the PlayStation Network currently has 14 million registered accounts worldwide. Sony definitely released this to take a little bit of the limelight away from Microsoft, who’re releasing Mii’s with cover flow ‘The New Xbox Experience’ tomorrow. Coincidentaly that too is releasing to 14 million users of Xbox Live. Hit the jump for more.

In a post on the PlayStation Blog Sony released the below statement:

PlayStation Network has truly hit its stride with unique downloadable games and a video delivery service featuring movies, TV shows, and original programming that you can watch in HD with your PS3, or bring with you on your PSP. And with 14 million active accounts and 273 million pieces of content downloaded, we know that you’re thirsting for this digital entertainment.

Personally, I’m not a fan of NXE or hardcore consoles trying to hit the mainstream.

Question: Why does everyone but Sony want to hit the mainstream entirely, rather than keeping a good balance between hardcore and mainstream.

Answer: They can’t!