Ubisoft’s upcoming Splinter Cell: Conviction will be released in demo form later this week. The demo of the awesome looking, stealth-action game will be released on March 18th which is the upcoming Thursday. Look out for some Sam Fisher style, interrogations and stealth moves when the demo hits X360 and PC.

Expect to see the full game in shops on April 16th (EU), only available on PC and X360.

Shigeru Miyamoto, of Nintendo, has mentioned that new hardware is currently being worked on. There have been no details on what it is though. Could it be the Wii HD? A DS successor? The resurrection of the Game Boy? Either way, it’s being kept under wraps for the time being so we’ll have to wait and see

Valve have happily shown their dislike towards the PlayStation 3 and have used that reason for not developing games on the system. However, more recently they have been saying that they want to make games for the PS3 when they feel they are capable of doing so. They weren’t happy with the PS3 port of The Orange Box and want to make the PS3 titles of their games on par with the X360 and PC.

Of course, Valve won’t be doing this until they are ready and their next game, Portal 2, won’t be showing up on the PS3. Despite this, Valve are moving in the right direction by hiring 3 of Naughty Dog’s employees. Naughty Dog have been behind the likes of Jak & Daxter and Uncharted so they know their way around Sony consoles. Valve snapped up Vitaliy Genkin, Alex Vlachos, and Elan Ruskin who have all had experience with the hardware at Naughty Dog.

This should definitely help Valve support the PS3. Hiring employees from one of the the best PS3 developers out there is a good sign and if this kind of thing keeps up, PS3 owners can look forward to future Valve games on the system.

Source: PlayStation Lifestyle

Insomniac Games, the developers of Resistance, Ratchet & Clank and Spyro the Dragon have always had a strong relationship with Sony but aren’t actually owned by the company. Despite this, they have never made a game for anything but Sony consoles. According to IGN, a “trusted source” told them that the developer is becoming a multi-platform developer.

Like I said, Insomniac is an independent studio but they have had a long relationship with Sony. If this rumour is correct, I doubt that Ratchet & Clank or Resistance would come to 360 because Sony have put funding behind the games and as far as we know, they still have some form of relationship.

However, it is likely that any multi-platform games will be new IPs that we haven’t seen before. Insomniac refused to comment on the rumour.

Update: Insomniac replied on NeoGaf saying the following:

“Well guys, Ted has spoken so you have that.

But c’mon, didn’t we just deal with this rumor like two months ago? And a few months before that? And so on?”

Posted with express permission of Hooked Gamers

[Spoilers below - Rough plot of DLC detailed]

If you’ve been following Mass Effect 2 you’ve probably heard about the rumoured DLC which would apparently give you a new character called Kasumi. Not only did the rumours rise on the Internet but Bioware hinted at it in game and via the Cerberus Network. At GDC today, Casey Hudson (Head of Bioware) revealed the next DLC to be released for the epic, sci-fi RPG and that it will be titled “Kasumi’s Stolen Memory”.

As the name suggests, it does in fact add Kasumi into the game, allowing you to use her in missions as a squad member. Kasumi’s special ability is the Shade Strike which makes her invisible and sends her dashing towards to the enemy to unleash a powerful attack.  It was also revealed that she will interact with the other members of the crew and characters; she’s not just a mindless skin.

Of course, it will also add a new mission to the game which will clock in at about 90 minutes. The mission is essentially a heist which is something new for Mass Effect and also something that I’m looking forward too. It involves entering an estate undercover and cracking a safe, followed by some fighting. That’s only roughly what happens though.

What does sound interesting about this mission is the subtle hints at Earth. By the sounds of the things, this estate is full of statues which include Michelangelo’s David and the Statue of Liberty. According to Hudson, “At some point we will go to the Earth” but not in this DLC and he never mentioned when. Either way it would be nice to see what Mass Effect’s Earth looks like.

It will also give players some other goodies to play with. A new sub-machine gun will be available to use, as will a new power. With the DLC, Shepard will gain the ability to throw flash bangs (Well, if you choose that ability). Finally, a new area of your ship will be unlocked which is where Kasumi will reside when not on a mission.

Like the first game’s DLC it won’t be available from the off and requires you to have access to your ship. Unlike the first games, however, it is possible to play it after finishing the game. This will be the first paid DLC for Mass Effect 2 DLC but no price was specified. It was mentioned that this was the first in a series of paid DLC though. As you would expect, Kasumi’s Stolen Memory will be released for the PC and X360 versions of the game and should be available next month.

Gamestation are selling Bioshock 2 for £23.99 on both the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. I still haven’t got round to playing this but I loved the first game and I’ve heard good things. For this price, it sounds like it will be worth it.

PS3 – £23.99

X360 – £23.99

“Mapathy (n.) [map-uh-thee] (often expressed as, “How the hell did you know I was there?!”) is a state of indifference to the same old maps one has been playing for the last several months. The Mapathetic individual no longer derives pleasure from blowing up people hiding in the cockpit or on top of the crane. More than 20 million people may be at risk of Mapathy”

Mapathy is clearly a problem. It was brought to our attention by Robert Bowling/FourZeroTwo via Twitter but he also provided a cure alongside the problem.

“The cure is coming to Xbox Live March 30, 2010″

If you haven’t realised what is going on yet, this is Infinity Ward announcing that the Modern Warfare 2 DLC will be arriving on March 30th and, in turn, curing Mapathy. To be honest, this was a great way to announce the DLC.

This DLC is a timed Xbox 360 exclusive but it will be available on PS3 and PC at one point.

Today the Viacom President and CEO, Philippe Dauman, officially announced Rock Band 3 and states that it will once again “revolutionize the music genre”. It will have a worldwide release this holiday season so look out for an innovating and fun music based video game around then.

“Harmonix is developing Rock Band 3 for worldwide release this holiday season! The game, which will be published by MTV Games and distributed by Electronic Arts, will innovate and revolutionize the music genre once again, just as Harmonix did with the original Rock Band, Rock Band 2 and The Beatles: Rock Band. Stay tuned for more details!”

The big question is, just how will it innovate the genre further? It introduced drums and previously Harmonix also introduced guitars to the genre but hopefully it won’t just be a new peripheral. Natal could play an important role. Virtual instruments? Capturing stage moves? That would mean it would have to be a X360 exclusive though’ or at least just play differently on PS3. We’ll just have to wait and see.

Activision were nice enough to send me some beta codes for Blur to giveaway to the quickest reader of my blog. I will be distributing the codes in various ways. The first code is after the jump so you’ll have to be very quick if you want this one. For a chance at getting the second code you’ll need to be following In Creation Games on Twitter and the code will be posted at a random time today or tomorrow.

If you want the third code then you’ll just have to keep an eye on the site. The codes will only work with an Xbox 360.

First code: WR9Y3-CKW7T-MP6GW-VKVWY-K4GRW

Fans of the frankly awesome South Park will have probably seen the above clip before but for those who haven’t, you need to see it. Harmonix seem to share the love for the clip and have decided to bring it to Rock Band in the Lady Gaga Pack 01 next week.

Lady Gaga Pack 01 consists of “Poker Face,” “Just Dance,” “Monster,” and “Bad Romance” by Lady Gaga but the main attraction is obviously Cartmen’s rendition of “Poker Face”. It will be available next week for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Wii.