PlayStation 3
Metal Gear Solid 4 (Finished Game Hands-on)

Xbox 360
Ninja Gaiden II (Impressions)
Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts (Impressions)
Penny Arcade Adventures (Impressions)
Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise (Impressions)
Too Human (Impressions)
Assault Heroes 2 (XBLA in Brief)

What's scarier: Silent Hill, or finding out that the latest game in the series isn't being developed by the folks who made the last five games? For many fans, it was the latter when, at E3 2007, Konami revealed that Western outfit The Collective (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Marc Ecko's Getting Up) – now Double Helix – would be crafting the creeps this time 'round.

Things, as they are wont to do, change ... but from our time with the latest playable version of Silent Hill: Homecoming, we were more scared by the game than we were about how it's going to turn out. The generally positive vibe was generated in large part by what lead designer Jason Allen told us is changing – but also what isn't. Full impressions after the break.

In the latest round of the great "our drum kit is better – or at least bigger – than your drum kit" conflict of ought eight, Konami definitely comes out the clear winner with Rock Revolution. However, we don't necessarily know if that's a good thing, based on our experience playing the title at its formal unveiling.

Despite the fact that it will offer support for lead and bass guitars, Rock Revolution is very much a drum-centric game. The behemoth of a drum controller has six pads and a pedal, looking like something Darth Vader would have lying around in his hyperbaric chamber.

It seems I've become the architect of my own failure. Instead of demolishing the skyscraper of untouched games in my living room, I recently and rather foolishly added three more stories to it. Three very involving, convoluted and relentlessly ridiculous stories, mind you, but ones that I've already been through once. With the release of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots close enough for me to start using the word "impending," I thought it was time for a Metal Gear Solid replay.

A word of warning: While I've tried to steer clear of plot-related spoilers, we're talking about a game that's nearly ten years old. FYI, the Titanic sinks at the end.

The website which reported that three Rock Band tracks would be packaged with the South Park: Season 11 DVDs has now taken that bit of info back. TVShowsonDVD.com says that a Paramount representative informed them the information was incorrect, but that there will be other bonus materials in the release. South Park's eleventh season had the infamous "Guitar Queer-o" episode.

Considering South Park had an entire episode about Guitar Hero, it would have been a little weird if the DVDs came with Rock Band downloads. However things got mixed up, it's a little sad to see the info turn out false -- unless the "bonus materials" end up being Guitar Hero III tracks.

[Via X3F]

The moment we'd been awaiting for ever since Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of The Patriots was announced at E3 2005 came on Wednesday evening, when we walked up to a PS3 running the final, ready-for-retail build of the game and ever so slowly pressed "start" with quivering thumbs. We were whisked from the title screen – a real-time scene showing a suit-wearing Old Snake in the graveyard from previous trailers – to the Middle East, where after only a few minutes we realized that Kojima has done it again: he's taken MGS in a new direction, with wild ambition, while still keeping sneaking the No. 1 priority.

No spoilers here; we're just as set as you are on having as little of the game ruined for us before we get to sit down and play it, good and proper. That said, make with the clicking and read our tale of 40-odd minutes with what will surely be a system-seller for PS3 after the break!

Hopefully, people have been brushing up on their non-English. This week's Rock Band Weekly brings us the songs packaged with the European release of Rock Band. We've known for a while these tracks were coming as DLC, and Harmonix has seen fit to do it the week of Rock Band's European release. Also, all DLC available in North America should be available in Europe beginning May 20.

Individual songs

• "Beetlebum" - Blur (Cover, 160 MS Points / $2)
• "Hier Kommt Alex" - Die Toten Hosen (160 MS Points / $2)
• "Countdown to Insanity" - H-BlockX (160 MS Points / $2)
• "Perfekte Welle" - Juli (160 MS Points / $2)
• "Manu Chao" - Les Wampas (160 MS Points / $2)
• "Hysteria" - Muse (160 MS Points / $2)
• "Rock N Roll Star" - Oasis (160 MS Points / $2)
• "New Wave" - Pleymo (160 MS Points / $2)
• "Monsoon" - Tokio Hotel (160 MS Points / $2)

Le sigh, videos for all of next week's tracks can be found after the break. The DLC will be available next Tuesday and Thursday for Xbox 360 and PS3 respectively.

Bad news, kids: Golden Axe: Beast Rider won't have any co-op play. Nigel Cook, Senior Producer at Secret Level, Sega's Bay Area studio creating the arcade "reimagining", said it was a "difficult decision" to remove the original's group gameplay and "focus on one player for the first game in the franchise." So, there are going to be more titles, and "the second game in the franchise is going to have all the characters in co-op," but for the first installment it's all about perfecting the combat. Now that you've had a moment to digest the very concept of a Golden Axe without cooperative play, let's discuss that combat system.

Beast combat is what makes the game special, Cook tells us, but it's not the only combat offered. He compared the game's melee system to action paragon Devil May Cry, and the arcade's magic system is back as well. First, the beasts: There are five offered in the game including a giant gorilla, a cheetah-like cat thing that can become invisible, and the "raptor," an enormous T-Rex-esque reptile with a scorpion tail. As you can see, historical accuracy is very important in Beast Rider.

If you were hoping that Sega was going to use its recent Gamers Day event to show off the "unleashed" half of Sonic Unleashed, you'll be disappointed to learn that the speedy blue hedgehog is still very much "leashed" ... even after breaking out of his cage some months back. Despite being unwilling to sway from its rigid marketing schedule and share what we're assuming is going to be the game's key selling point – the nighttime (and "unleashed" werewolf Sonic we presume) half – Sega does want us to reconsider a traditional Sonic game working in 3D. That would be the daytime half.

The presentation began with an explanation that, although the game is being developed by Sonic Team – the very same development team that delivered the universally panned next-gen Sonic the Hedgehog in 2006 – it is in fact a different team that "didn't work on the last one." Apparently the game's lead designer, Yoshihisa Hashimoto, "understands well where the failings were there." If you find it comforting that Sega's owning up for the previous title's shortcomings, you're not alone but we're a long way from being sold on the latest outing.

Although this information has been reported on in one form or another, here's the condensed list of Sony's first-party titles coming out for PSP and PS3 in the foreseeable future:

• Hot Shots Golf: Open Tee 2 (PSP) -- June 3, 2008
• Secret Agent Clank (PSP) -- June 17, 2008
• wipEout HD (PSN) -- Summer 2008
• Elefunk (PSN) -- Summer 2008
• PixelJunk Eden (PSN) -- Summer 2008
• SIREN: Blood Curse (PSN) -- Summer 2008
• SOCOM: US Navy SEALs Confrontation (PS3) -- September 16, 2008
• LittleBigPlanet (PS3) -- October 2008
• NBA 09 (PS3, PSP, PS2) -- Fall 2008
• BUZZ! Quiz TV (PS3) -- Fall 2008
• BUZZ! Master Quiz (PSP) -- Fall 2008
• MotorStorm Pacific Rift (PS3) -- Fall 2008
• Resistance 2 (PS3) -- Fall 2008
• Killzone 2 (PS3) -- February 2009

Dates, titles and everything else are subject to change without warning. If it's LittleBigPlanet though, you'll probably hear quite a bit of whining from us first.

Apparently, rumble does matter to a lot of Americans. According to SCEA, the feedback-giving DualShock 3 had $10.9 million in sales during the month of April, meaning that about 200,000 Americans were ready to put down $55 for some vibration from their PS3 controller.

As we learned from our initial impression of the DualShock 3: Yes, it's worth it. We do know that the Sixaxis is on its way out, but at this point only the MGS bundles come with the DS3. We're still waiting for the "official" changeover to occur with regular PS3 consoles.

If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, Harmonix must be beside itself with this last week finding not one but two companies hopping on the developer's coat tails and revealing a pair of drum kits that bear more than a passing resemblance to those used in Rock Band. However, while Guitar Hero IV's kit still carries some basis in reality, the kit revealed by Konami for the company's newly announced Rock Revolution looks to be designed for players with extra appendages or other rhythm enthusiasts who are not quite human.

With six face pads of three different sizes, as well as a kick pedal, Konami's kit is certainly the most complex of the three. However, according to MTV Multiplayer blogger Patrick Klepek, the drums carry what sounds like a much more forgiving difficulty curve than those in Rock Band, which while great are almost unapproachable by rhythm game newcomers even on the easiest setting. By contrast, and according to his admittedly brief time with Konami's offering, the game doesn't penalize players for improvising during a song, and also features five difficulty settings with the lower two removing the foot pedal entirely. Still, the question remains as to if there is room enough for another peripheral-heavy rhythm game, not so much in the genre but in our own living rooms.

Sure he and his team may have missed the playoffs yet again and are likely fantasizing about what might have been while swinging at balls from the back nine, but that hasn't stopped Columbus Blue Jackets' young-yet-impressive captain Rick Nash from scoring cover duty on Take Two's fall release of NHL 2K9. Also worthy of note from 2K is that developer Visual Concepts has "taken over" development duties for this latest game in the franchise -- as opposed we assume to working in tandem with fellow studio Kush Games -- and that the devs are rebuilding the title "from the ground up."

Not to take anything away from three-time All Star Nash, but it's still an odd choice, at least by team standings, given the Blue Jackets' once again abysmal campaign during the 2007-08 regular season that saw the fledgling team rank near the bottom of both the Western Conference and overall league in points. However, perhaps those who make these kinds of decisions are hoping this is the sort of voodoo that will turn Ohio's NHL franchise around -- sort of like a reverse Madden curse.

Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. has announced that it is integrating the YouTube API to allow developers to add video uploading to their titles. The first game to utilize the new feature is Mainichi Issho, a free Japanese PSN title that debuted in November 2006. As seen in the screenshot above, you will now be able to upload in-game video to YouTube for sharing from inside the game.

No other title has been announced to use the YouTube API, either for a new title or updating an exiting game. Our dream? YouTube uploads with LittleBigPlanet. It seems like a no-brainer.

Things that won't surprise you

April proved to be yet another lucrative month for the ol' gaming biz, with total industry sales reaching $1.23 billion, reports GameDaily. Software sales in particular grew to $654.7 million, an increase of 68% carried on the fine leather seats of Grand Theft Auto IV's recently stolen convertible. Rockstar's urban riffraff romp sold 2.85 million copies -- that's 1.85 million on Xbox 360 and 1 million on PS3 -- while Nintendo's Wii took the top spot in hardware sales. Mario Kart Wii, however, had to settle for second place.

Things that will surprise you

It was a photo finish for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, but the photographers had likely packed up and left for the day by the time the steeds reached the finish line. Selling 188K and 187.1K units respectively, the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 were thoroughly bested by the systems that didn't have GTA IV. We'd feel a bit silly if we were them.

- Wii: 714.2K 6.8K (0.94%)
- DS: 414.8K 283.2K (40.6%)
- PSP: 192.7K 104.3K (35.1%)
- Xbox 360: 188K 74K (28.2%)
- PS3: 187.1K 69.9K (27.2%)
- PS2: 124.4K 91.6K (42.4%)

You'll find the top ten in software sales after the break.