Ray is back once again, providing you with the latest news digest of the gaming world every week. This spread will cover all the major formats; Xbox 360, Playstation 3, Nintendo Wii, DS, PSP, iPhone, PC and more. We explore the big news, the major announcements and even some that sneak under the radar. So sit back, enjoy and prepare to fill your head with the biggest stories of the week.

Fallout New Vegas is coming in 2010!
Credit: CVG, IGN, YouTube
Fallout New Vegas is coming and it’s coming in 2010! Obsidian, the development team behind Knights of the Old Republic 2 and Neverwinter Nights 2  released a teaser trailer this week and gave us a release window of Fall 2010. If you needed any further convincing that Game of the Year 2010 was going to be a hotly contested affair, then perhaps this might give you some perspective.

Got to love Frank Sinatra music being used to promote a computer game. Awesome!!

Project Needlemouse becomes Sonic the Hedgehog 4, the first true 2D platformer sequel in 17 years!
Credit: Joystiq, IGN, CVG
SEGA have finally lifted the lid on Project Needlemouse and given us some specifics. More specifically, the game is going to be Sonic the Hedgehog 4; a direct sequel to Sonic and Knuckles released back in 1993! No more bird collecting and stories about flying carpets, this is Sonic as we know and love it, with 2D graphics borne out with 3D visuals. It’s also been announced that the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions will sport 1080p support.

What’s more, while we’ve met many of Sonic’s friends over the years, the only playable character in Sonic 4 will be the spiky blue hedgehog himself, complete with his old school move set, joined by the homing attack of the more recent games. Sonic the Hedgehog 4′s music will also be familiar to people who’ve played the games in the past, reworking old themes and styles.

SEGA have said that the first episode will release in the Summer for all formats, and will have both Wii Remote and Six-axis support. The game will also enable you to compare speed runs via online leaderboards.

While I’m a little sceptical about the episodic nature of this and don’t quite understand how it will work, this is probably the best news to come out of SEGA in a long, long time. Am I allowed to be excited by news by SEGA? Is that still permitted in 2010?!

Still news in 2010!

Splinter Cell: Conviction dated for April 13th 2010
Credit: Joystiq
We finally get another ‘solid’ date for Splinter Cell Conviction. So solid in fact, that Ubisoft actually carved it into stone! April 13th 2010 will see the NA release of Splinter Cell: Conviction as cast into stone, and April 15th will see its release in the UK. It seems the first month of Q2 is just going to get as flooded as Q1 as a whole. Let’s hope that this one doesn’t disappear back into the shadows again.

Red Faction 4 to be unveiled at E3
Credit: IGN, CVG
THQ gave us a wealth of announcements this week, not least of which Red Faction 4, which they are preparing to showcase at E3 later this year. No real details were unveiled other than a tentative title. Whether it will be a game in the same vein as the original Red Faction games on PS2 or the newer spin on the franchise revealed in Guerilla last year remains to be seen. Either way, THQ seem to have a hit on their hands and they’re not shy in expanding that franchise even further.

Darksiders 2, DeBlob 2 and Saints Row 3 Announced
Credit: IGN
THQ also announced that Darksiders 2, DeBlob 2 and Saints Row 3 are headed into production. It seems THQ is investing its future in sequels and rightly so. Darksiders has been fending well for itself despite its stiff competition in Q1, DeBlob was a sleeper hit on Wii in 2008, many hailing it as the best game Nintendo never made, and Saints Row 2 holding its own against main rival to GTA IV. Great news for fans of all three of these franchises.

Dante’s Inferno DLC announced
Credit: Joystiq
As is the case with most every game these days, EA have decided to extend the Dante’s Inferno experience with some additional downloadable content. However, some of the ideas going into the content actually sound quite innovative and interesting. In March, a Dark Forest Prequel level will explore the story of the character Dante’s return from the crusades to Italy. Then in April come Trials of St Lucia, a co-operative multiplayer expansion with a new playable character and in-game combat editor! The editor allows players to create combat trails and share them online!

No pricing or specific release dates have been announced as yet.

GTA Episodes from Liberty City coming to PC / PS3 on March 30th
Credit: Joystiq
It seems the exclusivity agreement Microsoft have with Rockstar is about to expire, as The Lost and the Damned and The Ballad of Gay Tony are finally coming to Playstation and PC in just over a month. These are two excellent pieces of entertainment that have been hugely successful on Xbox and really added to the experience of an already tremendous title.

Great news for GTA owners and well worth the price of a full retail product for all the content contained therein.

Continuing the legacy!

Next Borderlands DLC  ‘The Secret Armoury of General Knoxx’ details released . Borderlands DLC disc to be released in Feb
Credit: Joystiq
One thing you can say for Gearbox, they certainly know how to support a game post launch. The third piece of Borderlands DLC has been announced with some screenshots. The Secret Armoury of General Knoxx will feature more achievements, more environments to explore and an increased level cap!

Also, later this month, for those who don’t get online or prefer shrink wrapping can purchase the first two pieces of DLC for Borderlands on disc, available for all formats.

Halo Reach not a Natal title
Credit: Joystiq
As we near closer to the Spring and the supposed launch of the Halo: Reach Beta, details are slowly starting to trickle in about the enigmatic new project from Bungie. A series of screenshots found its way onto the web last week, and we know the project is a prequel to the original Halo: Combat Evolved.

This week, we also learned that Halo Reach will be controlled via your regular Xbox pad and will not utilise motion control. But that was to be expected right? I mean, we don’t even have a release date for Natal yet, so how else would we have been able to participate in the beta in the Spring? Still, Bungie’s comments pertaining to this were not an outright dismissal of using the technology. Could there be some features within Halo Reach that use Natal? It would certainly add further stature and validity to a project Microsoft are investing so much time and resource into, and with Fable 3 already announced to be using the tech, surely the announcement of the new Halo game using Natal will boost its sales even more.

Let the speculation continue.

This week on Playstation Network
Credit: CVG
This week on PSN is pretty darn cool. Final Fantasy VIII, the most underrated edition in the series, makes its debut on the marketplace for both PS3 and PSP for the bargain price of £7.99. You can also pick up a demo for the highly anticipated Heavy Rain, an Eye Pet Lucky Dip Pack and an Infamous Giggawat Blade pack, all free of charge.

This week on Xbox Live Arcade
Credit: CVG, Major Nelson, Xbox 360 Achievements
It’s cheap times this week! The deal of the Week is yet another gem. For 400 points, you can pick one of last Summers crown jewels, Splosion Man! It’s already cheap at 800 MS Points, and so it’s ridiculously underpriced at 400 MS Points. Seriously, you can buy a lightsaber for your Avatar for the same price, but don’t buy the bloody Lightsaber, buy Splosion Man!

As for the XBLA release, we have Chime, also for 400 points. Single player game seeks significant gamer for musical puzzle fun. Me: unique, compelling, creative and demanding. You: quick-witted and open-minded with sharp reactions and a deep love of music. Let’s get together and play something beautiful. Featuring music by Moby, Paul Hartnoll (Orbital), Philip Glass, Fred Deakin (Lemon Jelly) and Markus Schulz. To make things even more interesting, for the first time ever that I know of, every sale of this game, 60% of the profits go to charity!

How generous.

KA-BOOOOOOM!!!

The third Behemoth game revealed
Credit: Xbox 360 Achievements
Behemoth, the genius behind the brilliant Castle Crashers and Alien Hominoid, have unveiled their next project, Battleblock Theatre… I know, right? Complete with a new trailer, here is a synopsis of the plot for their latest creation…

“Having shipwrecked on a mysterious island you find yourself both betrayed by your best friend Hatty and captured by the locals. All of this is happening while being forced into deadly performances. This however, is just the start of your problems.”

No word on a release date or price plan as yet.

Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker has been delayed… In Japan
Credit: CVG
While this may not be a reflection on the release date for other territories, the Peace Walker release date has been pushed back in Japan to make a final ‘few adjustments’. Kojima went on record in December to say that the NA release date will be May 28th. However, that release window is certainly looking less likely. Regarding this recent news, Kojima has also gone on record to say the delay is ‘a crime’.

Bioshock 2 Reviews are in
Credit: Metacritic, IGN
The verdict is out on Bioshock 2, and if early indications are anything to go by, it seems Q1 won’t just be remembered for its quantity, but also its quality. PC Gamer gave it 90%, PSM3 gave it 93% saying it tops the original in terms of storytelling and combat and IGN score it with 91%. If you ever had any doubts that this game would not live up to its heritage, early indications seem ready to prove you wrong. Check out Metacritic for regular updates.

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