If you were unable to partake in all of the food, festivities and fun of gamescom 2010, you’re probably pretty bummed right about now…Well, SOCOM fans in particular have reason to hold their heads (and beer steins) high this morning as Sony has released a video showcasing the gamescom 2010 SOCOM 4 demo in its entirety with commentary by lead designer, Travis Steiner.

The vid, which you can watch above courtesy of the PlayStation Blog, helps celebrate the 8th anniversary of developer Zipper Interactive’s first-ever PS2 game in style by showcasing the demo of the latest entry in the franchise being played all the way through.

So, at least you can SEE the game in action even if you won’t actually PLAY it until sometime next year…

Check out the vid and let us know what you think!

Those of you that have Funcom’s upcoming modern-day MMO The Secret World firmly on your radar will most likely wanna check out this new video that delivers a unique glimpse into the starter experience for new players. Through exclusive new footage and developer interviews, viewers get an idea of what locations they will visit, what characters they will meet and what gameplay mechanics they will get to play around with if they start out as a Templars character in London. In The Secret World players can choose to begin as a Templars, Illuminati or Dragon character and depending on what secret society you choose, you either begin in New York, Seoul or London. Again, the newly released video focuses on the starter experience for a Templars character in London.

“It feels great being able to show the world some of the exciting stuff that we are working on,” says Senior Producer and Game Director Ragnar Tørnquist. “It might only be scratching the surface of the vast universe of ‘The Secret World’, but this video gives a unique glimpse into what Templars players will experience when they first enter the game. We look forward to revealing even more soon, not only about the Illuminati and Dragon secret societies, but the game and the world as a whole.”

You can check out the video right here and once you do, be sure to let us know how your thoughts on The Secret World.

If you’ve been turned off by spawn campers in UTV Ignition’s Blacklight: Tango Down then you might be happy to know that the publisher today released an XBLA and PC update for the downloadable shooter to address the issue. The patch adds several new features and addresses said spawn issues, round times, matchmaking and while making several other tweaks to the game.

In addition, the update also resets the time limit for the trial version of the game, allowing everyone to experience all the new features for themselves, including players who previously downloaded the trial version. The update goes live today for XBLA and PC users, and will be included in the PlayStation Network release set to launch within the next few weeks. The PC update also includes the addition of Steam updates for players with Steam accounts.

“The entire team took fan feedback and critique to heart and constructed the update to specifically address their concerns,” said Jared Gerritzen, Lead Designer at Zombie Studios. “As one of the summer’s top XBLA downloads, we’re really happy with the way fans have been enjoying the game, and we’ll continue to make sure players are having the best online experience possible.”

“What we have always tried to do from the outset with Tango Down is rewrite the rules for DLG’s” added Marcus Beer, PR Director for UTV Ignition Entertainment. “By listening to player feedback and releasing this second free update, we are showing our commitment to gamers that we will continue to support and improve the game, which is not something that often happens with downloadable games.”

As the press release puts it, players who were once frustrated by spawn campers will find relief as the update includes an increased spawn invincibility time to prevent enemies from making easy kills. Nice. Additionally, the update improves matchmaking times as it brings gamers into the action faster than ever before. These, in addition to dozens of additional fixes, aim to give fans a deeper, richer and more streamlined experience with the summer’s best-selling XBLA shooter which sold over 100,000 copies in its first 3 weeks on release.

So, does this update change the way you feel about Blacklight: Tango Down? Camp out in the comments to let your fellow gamers know how you feel…

Marvel vs. Capcom 3 producer Ryota Niitsuma recently spoke with the guys at Gamasutra about the highly-anticipated brawler. When asked about MvC3 in comparison to MvC2, Niitsuma stated that while the pace of the game hasn’t changed much all together, MvC3 has drifted a bit more to the accessible side. The reason? Niitsuma said Capcom noticed that the speed of Marvel vs. Capcom 2 was just a bit too fast for newcomers to join in, so they felt it could use a bit of a nerf.

Official quote:

“The pace hasn’t changed that much, but it is indeed just a bit slower-paced than Marvel vs. Capcom 2. It’s a totally different game, of course, but in terms of pace it is a bit more leisurely; I think we’ve struck a good balance. The pace of MvC2 is something that long term fans are used to by now, of course, but for newbies to the fighting-game genre, we saw it as just a bit too quick.”

How do you think this will affect Marvel vs. Capcom 3? How will the die-hard community react to this change, whether it be small or not. With fighters, even a slight change can drastically affect the game. Drop kick below and let your voice be heard!

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Dash back to school next week with some of the hottest titles ever to hit the Sega Genesis way back when, but now for the iPhone. Fear not guys, the chicks will be crowding all over you when you play as the blue hedgehog or begin battling street punks filled with rage. And girls, tell your significant others you aren’t texting Bobby down the street, but you are just kicking ass in Phantasy Star 2, which happens to be Sega’s newest iPhone release.

If you wanna be the ‘it‘ kid in school and say you got sweet Sega games on your iPhone, check the list below and browse each game’s discounted price!

• Super Monkey Ball 1 for $1.99
• Super Monkey Ball 2 for $2.99
• Sonic the Hedgehog for $2.99
• Sonic the Hedgehog 2 for $2.99
• Golden Axe for $0.99
• Shining Force for $0.99
• Streets of Rage for $0.99
• Ecco the Dolphin for $0.99
• Super Monkey Ball 2: Sakura Edition (iPad) for $3.99
• Phantasy Star II for $2.99 (actual price is $4.99)

Which game(s) will you be picking up? Cry havoc with some classic flair below!

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Ever have those nights playing Call of Duty, Left 4 Dead, Battlefield, or even Uno, and you just can’t understand what your friends are saying? You get to that point where you wanna rip off your headset and just snap it in two?! Microsoft must have had a few of those nights too, because come November this problem will be fixed.

Said to launch alongside Kinect, a new update will upgrade the audio codec you use on Xbox Live to chat and trash talk with other players. Hopefully, you won’t have a ‘crackly headset on top of your head’ anymore, as stated by Xbox Live Europe’s general manager Jerry Johnson.

Let’s hope this update really does work, because it can be real bothersome when I try to tell the kiddies on CoD to shut their mouths! Haha, just kidding…

How do you think this will work out? Let us know your opinion below, and make sure we can understand you amidst the crackly static.

Source

BioShock 2’s last installment of DLC, “Minerva’s Den,” will officially hit PSN and Xbox LIVE August 31 for $9.99, or 800 Microsoft Points, while Games for Windows LIVE will get it at “a later date.”

“Minerva’s Den” introduces a new cast of characters in an independent narrative following Sigma, another Alpha-series Big Daddy working with Brigid Tenenbaum to stop the villainous Reed Wahl’s dictatorship over a key district in Rapture. To thwart Wahl, Sigma must access Minerva’s Den, a kingdom which holds The Thinker, a giant supercomputer controlling the Rapture Central Computing District.

BioShock 2’s final DLC is “single-player focused” and features new weaponry, an epic new plasmid, more dangerous Splicers, Security Bots that shoot lightning bolts and rockets, and The Lancer, a new model of Big Daddy. Also, those who downloaded the previous “Protector Trials” will have an added advantage with the Master Protector tonic, which increases the harvest times for your hungry Little Sisters.

This is DLC worth paying for, in my humble opinion – will you guys be picking it up at the end of the month? Sound off below!

Via Joystiq

Target and Best Buy both announced expanded used game trade-in services this week, just in time for major developers to start making a profit off pre-owned games with online codes and subscription models. But I’m sure that’s just a coincidence.

Best Buy will officially launch used game trade-ins in 600 stores this week, with the promise of more to follow soon. Games can be traded for Best Buy gift cards, which can be used instantly in the store. There is no mention of a cash trade-in option – it looks like Best Buy is following in the footsteps of great aristocrats worldwide and keeping it in the family.

Target’s new Electronics Trade-In service packages cell phone and iPod trades with video games, and should be in over 850 stores nationwide by 2011. Trade-ins receive Target credit of up to $200, but that amount would probably only be for a 4G iPhone at this point.

Best Buy will sell back used games “soon,” while Target does not specifically mention direct sale of any used games.

Both stores will offer online options for trade-ins, Target through a partnership with electronics recycling site NextWorth, and Best Buy through their own online system that will appraise games, accept them through the mail and send out gift cards 7-14 days later.

What does the mainstream trade-in service mean for our used game consumer future, or that of gaming in general? Leave us your thoughts in the comments!

By Lorin Baumgarten

On this week’s episode of EpicBatleCry, the hosts talked quite a bit about game delays. As you know this is a favorite topic of mine and, therefore, you might be expecting me to write about it this week. Well, I will not. Although – I will say that I still can’t figure out why an industry that makes more money than the music industry and is creeping up on film still cannot seem to manage what the other two forms of entertainment mastered long ago: schedules. I mean, didn’t we all learn about schedules and managing expectations and fulfilling commitments in some intro class in high school? I mean seriously, gaming industry, get your sh*# together when it comes to…wait a minute, wait a minute. I said that I am not going to write about this topic this week, didn’t I?. Sorry. I got a little caught up there. What I dowant to discuss this week is a topic DK brought up on the show in the context of Mass Effect 2, but is an even more interesting question when extrapolated out to the industry in general. That question is: are games being dumbed down and/or diluted in order to appeal to the masses and , if so, are they losing quality and merit because of it?

Read the rest of this entry…

If you can’t possibly find the time to log in more hours on Monster Hunter Tri, now you are able to make every other minute in your day just as epic. How? Simple, purchase the Monster Hunter Tri Official Soundtrack, now available via download or CD. It sells for about $16 bones and you can go here to score both the digital download or hardcopy.

So, will you make your next family vacation more epic with this blasting in the minivan? Let us know below.