Shields at the front and spears at the ready, its time for another edition of EpicBattleCry! In this week’s skirmish, we reflect on the PSN ApocolyPS3, check out the Blur mutiplayer beta, mourn the delay of Red Dead Redemption, and ponder the graphic differences between Final Fantasy XIII on the 360 and PS3.

First up in the main course this week, we talk about Steam coming to the Mac and all that means for Apple gamers. We also take a look at the rumors Sony is prepping some sort of mobile device to compete with the iPhone. Next up, we look back over the drama between Activision and Infinity Ward and what the future holds for the Call of Duty franchise.

The Battle Cry of the Week goes to the G.G. Collection, Valve, Mafia II, and The Secret World.

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Happy weekend everyone and welcome to another week of rumors and gossip courtesy of EpicBattleAxe.com’s The Rumor KILL. It turned out to be a buzz filled week after a slow start, but hey, I’m not complaining because some of these stories are so juicy my computer screen is actually melting.  From PSN to Twisted Metal to more COD, this week was chock full of stuff gamers are dying to see, and some that they might not be as excited for. Well, enough hype…I’m sure you’ve been waiting all week for my words of wisdom (or maybe not) but it doesn’t matter because it all begins right…wait for it…NOW!
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Hey gang, Daniel here closing out this week’s epic Member BattleCries with a rather thought-provoking topic for the weekend. Now, we’re gonna go off the rails a bit here and actually NOT talk about this week’s topic (which was “favorite exclusive franchises“). After all, we’ve already covered God of War, Mass Effect, Halo, and Mario/Zelda/Metroid so far this week. Sure, there are plenty more, but the BattleCry I selected today comes from Axe Head NoFunAtAll and is offers up something I’d really like to get your all’s take on. It’s about the PSN Trophy system and demoralizing gamers who simply don’t want certain bits of DLC. If you’ve ever had the sense of accomplishment that comes from beating a game, then you ought to check out today’s MBC and use the comment section below to join the discussion! Let’s get started after the jump.
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Be among them and attack from behind, its time for another episode of EpicBattleCry! In this week’s skirmish, we cringe as Tony Hawk sinks to new depths to sell copies of Ride, warm up our trigger finger for Metal Slug XX, rally around the rumor a new NBA Jam is headed our way, and discuss the recent Sony survey that points to premium (as in paid) subscription services coming to PSN.

With the Consumer Electronics Show 2010 behind us, we take a look at the offerings for gamers. Microsoft announced Game Room, and also confirmed Natal will be out this year. Sony launched the first salvo for 3D gaming and announced an expansion of PSN video services beyond the PlayStation platform. Who brought the heat, who stabbed themselves in the face? We sharpen the Axe on CES 10.

The Battle Cry of the Week calls on Nintendo to bring OLED technology to the next DS console, thanks George Lucas for the greatest unintentional entertainment of the week, celebrates Darksiders and other new, kick-ass IPs, and has love for Crystal Dynamics and the hope that we may see a new Legacy of Kain game one day.

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SCEA top dude Kaz Hirai spent some time at CES 2010 laying out Sony’s strategy for leveraging PSN on other platforms. In the broad strokes, Sony is going to be bringing PSN video services to televisions, Blu ray players, and Windows PCs. Hirai stated that SD and HD streaming movies would be available on these devices in the U.S. starting in February 2010. Check out the video after the jump for more details.

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Joystiq has an excellent breakdown of a recent survey from Sony Europe to a number of UK PSN members which may indicate that some type of premium subscription service is headed to PSN. Prices range from $5 to $25 USD per month to $32 to $160 per year. Features run the gamut from early access to content, to being able to play through the first hour of a game for free, to something called ‘token wagering.’

What does everyone think about paying for access to premium features on PSN? Microsoft has certainly demonstrated that people are open to a subscription based service. Considering Sony already offers many of the same features found on XBL Gold plans for free, what will they need to offer to entice people to sign up? Leave your thoughts below and hit the permalink for a full list of features discussed in the survey.

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One thing I love about our Member BattleCries is that gamers out there often bring up topics we don’t think of every day…Take today’s MBC for example…El Duderino brings up a pretty good point that I believe a lot of gamers would agree with. Check it out below and then comment here to voice your opinion. Got something else you’d like to sound off on? Head over to this week’s Member BattleCry topic starter and let your voice be heard!

El Duderino says:
December 22, 2009 at 1:40 am

My EBC goes out to to Microsoft, a long overdue tip of the hat for including a headset right out of the box. Sony is still scratching their head and wondering why XBL is so much more successful while every time I go on a game like uncharted 2 or even smaller titles like fat princess with my mic ready to go, I always end up talking to myself… Hence the fact that I purchase any big multiplayer title (like mw 2) for the xbox. SONY, GIVE ME A REASON TO STOP PAYING FOR XBOX LIVE!!!!!!!

If carrying around your PSP wasn’t helping you impress the ladies as much as you thought, then perhaps booting up some comics on that fancy handheld will instantly turn you into “Mr. Popular”. We kid of course, but comic fans will no doubt enjoy the freshly launched digital comics service for the PSP that utilizes the Digital Comics reader app to access hundreds of comics, including some for free, for your viewing pleasure while on the go.

Hit up this post on the Official PlayStation Blog for more details on what’s available and how to access the content.

Zipper Interactive have been busy trying to add the finishing touches to its next game, MAG, but they recently took the time to reveal the game’s box art and some impressive stats from the beta.

First, the cover itself… become mesmerized with all the pretty explosions coming from every possible direction, that may or may not play in slow motion when you play the game, due to your faulty internet connection.

What do you think? Pretty explosive art, eh? Now, check out the sweet stats that came from the beta via the Official PlayStation blog.

• More than 42,000 matches were played over the course of the full public beta (August 17 – December 5).
• During October’s beta period alone nearly 534,000+ miles were traveled in-game by MAG players each week.
• During the final month of the Beta 4 and 4.5 periods (November 9 – December 5):
  • Of the more than 65,000 players that logged on, 17,000 of them qualified for Squad Leader, 3500 people qualified for Platoon Leader, 1100 folks made it all the way to OIC, and 206 dedicated warriors made it all the way to the level 60 experience cap.
  • Nearly 18 million kills were made and an excess of 700 million shots were fired.
• The Top 3 most played maps all belonged to the Sabotage mode. They were, in order, Syr Darya Uplink, Darien Network, and Copper Hills Relay.

Interesting.. There are no statistics on the amount of teabags or friendly fire kills.

MAG is slated to release in North America on January 26, 2010, exclusively on the PlayStation 3.

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Sony wants you to celebrate the holidays at “home” this year in a big way and will be unlocking some surprises around PlayStation Home to not only bring holiday cheer but to give away some free stuff.

That’s right folks, not only are they hanging Christmas lights and decorating a tree in the Central Plaza but the Home community has a chance to get a free copy of Diner Dash!!!  Not quite what you had in mind? Well, you can also enjoy a ton of new content being released in the most festive of ways.

You can collect several free items to celebrate Chanukah, Christmas, or Kwanzaa. These items are available through the mall in Home.

Also available in the mall is a miner outfit that you can purchase to celebrate the announcement of Dead Space 2. Nice.

Fans of MotorStorm can also purchase a sweet new MotorSport:  Pacific Rift beach locale to call home and impress all your online home friends with. You can then purchase some MotorStorm themed furniture and items from the Furniture store to decorate your new place.

For those of you interested in a free copy of Diner Dash, the developers plan to host an event today for your chance to snag 1 of 50 copies. As pointed out by the US PlayStation Official Blog:

This Friday, December 11th, we will be throwing a scavenger hunt event to celebrate the release of Diner Dash. Those of you that log in between the hours of 12:00pm and 5:00pm PST (3:00pm and 8:00pm EST) will find segments of a voucher code scattered throughout PlayStation Home. The first 50 users that assemble and redeem the code will receive one free download of Diner Dash on the PlayStation Network. So if you’re reading this now, it’s time you get into PlayStation Home and start searching high and low. These codes are guaranteed to go fast!

Next week on home, PixelJunk also plans to reveal a new space for there new game PixelJunk Shooter so stay tuned for that.

Seasons greeting to everyone, no matter which home you spend your holidays in and good luck for those playing the scavenger hunt!

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