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Sony VP "confident" for 13 million PS3 sales

Among a slew of much-touted fiscal strategies revolving around improving the PS3's technology and firmware, Sony Executive VP Kaz Hirai has said that he is "confident" the PS3 will climb to over 13 million units sold by March 2010, the end of Sony's fiscal year.

Hirai certainly appears to have some solid numbers backing up his statement; a total of 4.3 million units have been sold within the first and second quarter of the year, which lends some crucial momentum for the game console to remain a strong contender for the upcoming holiday season.

With the imminent launch of Final Fantasy XIII nearing the horizon, Sony will probably see increased PS3 purchases within the Japanese and worldwide market to accompany the highly-anticipated title.

Sony has also laid the groundwork for a new online med...

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GameStop Black Friday deals leaked

It appears that every retailer is getting their Black Friday advertisements leaked before the dark shopping day arrives. GameStop has become the most recent store to have its deals leaked to the masses, featuring juicy console bundle deals and reduced prices on a few big titles.

Here are some of the top deals in the advertisement:

- Xbox 360 Elite w/ LEGO Batman, Pure, & Choice of Call of Duty 4 OR Spider-Man: Web of Shadows - $299

- PlayStation 3 120GB w/ LittleBigPlanet GOTY & God of War Collection - $299

- Call of Duty: World at War (360/PS3) - $39.99

- Batman: Arkham Asylum (360/PS3) - $39.99

- Forza Motorsport 3, Left 4 Dead 2, Halo 3: ODST - $39.99 each

- Wii Sports Resort w/ Extra Wii MotionPlus - $49.99

- Metallic Blue Nintendo DSi w/ Mario vs. DK: Mini's March Again, WarioWare Snapped, Dr...

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Tom Petty, Kelly Clarkson in next Rock Band DLC pa...

With the family friendly LEGO Rock Band now released and joining its non-blocky counterparts, names like Kelly Clarkson are going to be seen a lot more often on the Rock Band and LEGO Rock Band stores for DLC. Clarkson will join Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers in next week's Rock Band DLC releases in two separate track packs.

Coinciding with the release of their new live album, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers will have a six-track DLC pack available next week that includes master recorded tracks from the album. The pack is titled "Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers Live Anthology Pack 01".

Clarkson will have her song "Miss Independent" featured along with "Our Lips Are Sealed" by the Go-Go's and "Who Knew" from P!nk in a three-track "Girls Who Rock!" pack.

Here is the full list of tracks for nex...

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New Dragon Age DLC returns to Ostagar

Players itching to get personal payback against the darkspawn in Dragon Age: Origins will get their chance on all three platforms. BioWare has announced Return to Ostagar, the newest DLC for the game that will surface this holiday season.

The site of the darkest hour for the Grey Wardens, Ostagar is the site of a huge battle between King Cailan and the Grey Wardens against the evil darkspawn. The battle goes horribly wrong as the Grey Wardens are nearly rendered extinct and King Cailan himself is squished like a tomato.

In Return to Ostagar, players will be able to return to the now darkspawn infested fortress to take revenge upon those that slaughtered your friends. Players will also uncover secrets and seek out the arms and armor of King Cailan himself.

"We are very proud of the phenomenal ...

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Bioshock 2 Special Edition announced, screams awes...

These special editions are becoming more and more awesome, as developers create more game paraphernalia that fans just can't live without. Bioshock brought a Big Daddy figurine that was perfect for desktops all over and it looks like Bioshock 2 won't be outdone. 2K Games has detailed the special edition of Bioshock 2 and if you're serious about your Bioshock love, then this set is for you. 

For $99, you get quite a few goodies:

-Vintage posters from Rapture

-A CD with the orchestral score from the game

-A 164 page art book in the style of books from Rapture

-A vinyl 180g LP that features the soundtrack as well.

That last one makes me faint from happiness. Vinyls are the best way to listen to music and I can just geek out placing it on my record player to listen to some quiet and sinister music. ...

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Phoenix Wright set to shout "Objection!" on WiiWar...

The latest issue of Famitsu has revealed that the first three Phoenix Wright games will be coming to Nintendo's WiiWare service. Capcom then confirmed that they would also be coming to US gamers starting in January. Starting with Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, the games will be released every other month, March and May, for $10 a piece(1000 Wii Points for those who only think in fake money). The extra case added to the DS version of Ace Attorney will also be released as DLC for $1 in May.

Each game will be a direct port from their original platform releases, so Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney will be a direct port of the GBA version, explaining the absence of the DLC case from the port. Each game will be unchanged from their original releases and be presented in widescreen, but with the actual ...

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Sony launches PS2 in Brazil, commence palm to fore...

It appears that Sony had inadvertently (advertently?) overlooked a particular country during the worldwide release of one of their consoles. Thankfully, the mistake has been corrected and the fine denizens of Brazil can enjoy the latest cutting-edge games on their brand new...PS2?

Serving as either an intentional slap in the face or haughty indifference, the PS2 system appears along with a gamut of games on the Brazilian Sony Style store for an inflated $800. What the advertisement fails to list, however, are the obligatory platinum-encrusted laser discs and gem-studded controller to accompany such a price.

The icing on the cake? Plenty of PS3 games are available to buy in the store, with the console to play said games but a glimmer in many Brazilian eyes. No word yet from Sony as to when th...

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Atlus clarifies dearth of game supplies

Make no mistake, Atlus has certainly made a name for itself by developing well-known titles such as the Persona and Trauma Center series. Of course, getting your hands on an Atlus game is a feat in of itself; after initial sales, the games seem to mysteriously vanish from the shelves and remain extremely hard to find. Is this some sort of nefarious scheme at creating false demand? According to Atlus, certainly not.

Responding to a comment left at the PlayStation Blog, Atlus PR & Sales Manager Aram Jabbari explains that the scarceness of Atlus games is simply market play.

"As a smaller publisher, we usually don't manufacture much surplus inventory, but we will never intentionally undersupply the market. We build to launch demand, which is most often dictated by pre-order trends, so if you...

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Halo: Reach to air on Spike TV's VGAs

Geoff Keighley of GameTrailers TV has announced that the world premiere of Halo: Reach will air on Spike TV's 2009 Video Game Awards (VGAs). Keighley made the announcement through his Twitter account. This premiere will be the first showing of Halo: Reach since the vague teaser trailer for the game back at E3 2009.

Voting for the fans' choice VGAs is now open. There are 28 total categories for people to cast their vote on, from Best Voice and Best DLC, to Best Soundtrack and Game of the Year. Spike's 2009 awards show will air live at 8pm on December 12th.

 [Twitter] 

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PS3 firmware 3.10 to include Facebook integration

Not ready to rest on their laurels, Sony has announced that they too will be adding Facebook to their console. The update will come as part of the PS3 firmware 3.10, allowing users to log into Facebook straight from the XMB. The integration will allow users to update their status, see friends' status, upload their trophy stats, and display games they have recently purchased in the PSN Store. Developers will also be able to get in on the fun by allowing updates to be sent from games to your feed.

Other additions include an updated Photo category to make photo viewing easier, and a redesigned friends list that reduces the clutter of the previous version. The new firmware is coming soon, but no release date has been set. 

[Playstation.Blog]

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EA shuts down Pandemic Studios

Early this morning a rumor broke out claiming that Electronic Arts had shut down Pandemic Studios, releasing approximately 200 employees in the process. That rumor was later confirmed by EA.

An internal memo from the company confirmed the layoffs, with a "core IP team" being moved to EA's Los Angeles' office. The layoffs even included Andrew Goldman, formerly the studio's CEO; Josh Resnick, formerly the studios president; and Greg Borrud, vice president of product development.

"I want to make it clear that the Pandemic brand and franchises will live on," wrote EA Games Label Senior Vice President Nick Earl in the memo. "In the months ahead, we will announce plans for new games based on Pandemic franchises. This type of change can be difficult. But the situation calls for us to act decisively...

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Dev: Final Fantasy XIII will be "best selling titl...

Hot on the heels of Square Enix's announcement of US and EU launch dates for the incoming Final Fantasy XIII is a confident boast by CEO Yoichi Wada that the latest incarnation of the venerable RPG series will easily become the best-selling title yet, even trouncing the exalted Final Fantasy VII.

Speaking at the Montreal International Game Summit, Wada-san clears up any pre-existing notions of FF XIII establishing anything groundbreaking like FF VII did -- it is the thirteenth game in one of the longest-existing game franchises in history, after all.

Instead, the hopes for the game to sell well will rest with it bringing classic elements of Final Fantasy -- an engaging storyline, solid characters, and drop-dead gorgeous graphics -- to a more receptive Western audience.

"When we say that i...

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