PS3 Fanboy

From the moment the first fireballs are shot, your mouth will drop and you will say "wow." This anime clip for Street Fighter IV looks absolutely epic. Too bad there's no subtitles, though. Thankfully, the dialogue mostly consists of explosions and kicks to the face.

Enjoy.

[Via Joystiq]

If you're like most of us, you're probably taking the day off to watch some fireworks and grill up some BBQ (Jem, excluded. Sorry!). There's no better way to celebrate American patriotism than with a game as American as Battlefield: Bad Company (hey, it's about grabbing gold and blowing sh*t up).

For your chance to win a shiny gold version of Battlefield: Bad Company for the PS3, simply tell us how you're spending your 4th. You must comment before July 5th, 9AM EST to be eligible. One winner will be selected in a random drawing. Grand Prize Winner will receive a copy of Battlefield: Bad Company (Gold Edition) for the PS3. MSRP: $70. Click here for complete Official Rules. Eligibility is restricted to the legal residents of the 50 United States (including DC) and Canada (excluding Quebec). You must be 18 years or older to enter.

Usually, things go sour when the original developer of a game opts not to develop it for another platform. Case in point: the late-to-arrive EA-ported version of The Orange Box. A statement released by 2K Games reaffirms that development of the upcoming PS3 version of BioShock will be "assisted" by Digital Extremes (Unreal Championship, Dark Sector).

James Schmalz, CEO and founder of Digital Extremes had this to say in the press release: "You really can't ask for a more exciting, technically impressive world to work in than Rapture, and the incredible knowledge and talent between the 2K studios and our team at Digital Extremes is unprecedented. The collaboration on this project will make the PLAYSTATION 3 system sing with Big Daddy goodness and Little Sister 'thank you's'."

We're still hopeful for the PS3 version of this modern classic -- especially because it will reportedly have new content for PS3 owners. So long as this content isn't a "worse framerate," we'll be happy. We're counting on you Digital Extremes.

[Via Joystiq]

Love it or hate it, the second issue of Qore hits the PLAYSTATION Network today. Here's what you can expect:

• Resistance 2 - The big cover story for this issue is Insomniac's upcoming PS3-exclusive FPS. Bonus! You get to see host Veronica Belmont don a mo-cap suit just for this game.
• Silent Hill: Homecoming - A look at Konami's upcoming horror game.
• Madden Twenty Year Retrospective
• Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm - Exclusive first playable demo.

Qore is available for $2.99 each episode, $24.99 for a 13-episode subscription. (Also, for those waiting for the SOCOM Confrontation beta, you'll need to keep Issue 1. We'll tell all of you when the beta will be available.) Do you think this second issue is worth it?

Now that most everyone is done with Grand Theft Auto IV, what can Rockstar fans expect from the notorious publisher/developer? Midnight Club: Los Angeles will transplant car lovers into yet another huge, fully rendered city: LA.

The fourth installment of the Midnight Club franchise will hit PS3 systems October 7th in North America and October 10th in Europe. (That's a one month delay from its previously announced September release.) Rockstar is promising yet another seamless world, just like the one they created with GTA IV. But will racing nuts go for this, or will they stick with Burnout Paradise? Check out new screens in our gallery.

We finally unlocked all the Trophies for Super Stardust HD. As the first game available with Trophy support, many are jumping online to boost their PlayStation level. With 9 Bronze, 6 Silver and 2 Gold Trophies, we're sure this is going to keep many occupied for quite some time. Here's our guide to unlock all the Trophies. Good luck!

Hero of Lave - Complete planet Lave
Bronze | Difficulty: Very Easy
All Arcade mode Trophies can be earned in Easy mode. We recommend that you play on that difficulty to make it easier to get the Trophies you want. For this Trophy, simply beat the first level. Having trouble with the boss? Make sure you focus on only one weak point at a time. You should be able to destroy one weak point before he does his spin attack. His spin will vacuum space debris, so you may want to keep your distance in the early parts of this battle. The Trophy will unlock once you start the next level.

1UP's preview of the upcoming PixelJunk Eden is most curious. The strange title may be hard to grasp from videos, but according to their preview, all is clear within minutes of picking up the controller. With the wildly successful PixelJunk Monsters under its belt, all eyes must be on Q-Games' latest. It being the first new title to support Trophies will undoubtedly make it even more addictive. The combination of alluring visuals, yet another fantastic soundtrack, and simple and addictive gameplay make us want to download PixelJunk Eden as soon as possible.

You may have seen some new shots of inFAMOUS go up today on the PlayStation.blog. But don't worry, we have a few extra pretty stills from this incredibly hot-looking PS3-exclusive. Game Informer promises to have some juicy info in its upcoming issue, but undoubtedly we'll be able to share some info with you when E3 rolls along in a few weeks.

Enjoy.

The official US websites for SingStar Pop and God of War have been hacked, according to IT company Sophos. When visitors clicked onto the PlayStation site, they may have been greeted by a pop-up ad that claims viruses have been found on their computer. The scare tactic tries to trick people into buying anti-spyware software, and requires a visitor's credit card number.

According to Sophos, the hack was implemented through a "SQL injection attack" and according to the company, "the website is still infected." However, personal visits to the PlayStation sites on our browser (Firefox 3) have not turned up anything suspicious.

[Via Next-Gen]

The cheaper 40GB is missing a few features, the most noteworthy being backwards compatibility with PS2 games. However, it has a few other minor quirks. For example, it only has two USB ports, instead of four, and it's missing some memory card readers. (The 20GB launch machine is also missing memory card readers.) Well, Nyko will have none of that nonsense!

From the press release: "We found that many of our customers who had purchased the popular 40 GB version of the PS3, which has less USB ports and no media card reader, were looking for an affordable solution to expand with these features," said Chris Arbogast, Director of Marketing at Nyko Technologies. "With the Media Hub, an additional three USB ports and a media card reader are now possible for all PS3 models, allowing consumers to enjoy the full capabilities of their multimedia system no matter which model they choose."

The Media Hub is expected to hit stores in August, with a rather steep asking price of $20.

The popular PSN arcade shooter now includes trophies. Download the free 4.00 patch and you'll be able to acquire these 17 trophies:

Bronze Trophies

• Hero of Lave - Complete planet Lave
• Hero of Coventina - Complete planet Coventina
• Hero of Nemain - Complete planet Nemain
• Hero of Taranis - Complete planet Taranis
• Hero of Segomo - Complete planet Segomo
• The Tokenizer - Collect 5 tokens with a single boost in Arcade
  
• Scrooge MacBoom - Get 10 bombs in Arcade
• Extra Ships Optional - Survive 7 minutes without dying in Endless*
• Close Encounters - Survive 45 seconds without shooting or using bombs in Survival*

Silver Trophies

• Token Hoarder - Collect 15 tokens with a single boost in Arcade
• Well Prepared - Get 20 bombs in Arcade
• Shield Blaster - Collect 5 shield tokens while already having a shield
• Scenic Route - Complete a planet without using boost
• Late Boomer - Get 15 bombs in Bomber*
• Shock and Awe - Destroy 10 nukes in Endless*

Gold Trophies

• Multiplier Hero - Get 10x multiplier
• Split screen Co-op - Get 3 minutes of continuous Co-Op weapon boost on Segomo*

* These trophies require the purchase of additional expansion content.

One of the best thing about achievements and Gamerscore on the Xbox 360 is the ability to show it off to the world through the use of gamercards. These embeddable image files (example, above) allowed players to show off their recently played games, and their ever-growing Gamerscores. According to a recent post on TripleTags.com, the popular (but unofficial) source for PS3 gamercards will be getting support for trophies too. Hopefully, this will mean that players will no longer have to manually edit their gamercards with new games. Instead, a new API should allow the gamercard to update automatically with your recent trophy-enabled games and PlayStation level.

(Also, wouldn't it be great if PS3 Fanboy profile pages could show this kind of info? Maybe if you leave enough comments, we can bother our programmers to do exactly that!)

Our impressions of SOCOM Confrontation made it clear: the game needed some extra work. The hotly anticipated PSN game looked great in the alpha build that we played, but nagging issues like a stuttering framerate and random network problems, made us think a delay was for the best. Well, looks like the SOCOM team agrees.

In a recent post on SOCOM.com, Seth Luisi notes that "Unfortunately, even working late into the nights and every weekend, we've had to re-evaluate our schedule. Our top priority is delivering the best SOCOM online experience possible. Tough decisions had to be made and we've decided to push back the release date to October 14th, 2008. We just had to face the facts and do what is best for the title. Rather than sacrifice features, quality and stability, we had to do the right thing and re-adjust our schedule.

Obviously, this means those that are eagerly awaiting the beta (in addition to the final game) will have to be a little bit more patient. In the case of SOCOM Confrontation, we're confident that the delay will be worth it.

All signs are pointing to a major Xbox 360 price drop in the days leading up to E3. Leaked retailer scans show a new lower price for Microsoft's home console: a drop of $50 from $350 to $300. When this price drop happens, there will be a $100 price gap between the Xbox 360 and the cheapest PS3 model (40GB).

A similar price cut for PS3 may be unlikely, consider Sony's recent focus on profitability. Already, the cheapest PS3 includes wi-fi, a Blu-ray drive, and free access to PSN. Sony must do a better job at emphasizing the value of the PS3, in spite of its higher cost of entry. "The gap of $100 may be a fair price to pay for [PS3's] built-in wireless Internet connectivity and Blu-ray, but [Sony's] done a terrible job of explaining that to consumers," popular analyst Michael Pachter noted to Next-Gen.

PS3 won last month's NPD figures, and is likely to win again this month, thanks to the release of Metal Gear Solid 4. Undoubtedly, Sony will pay close attention in the following months. If their momentum begins to slow, Sony may follow Microsoft's footsteps. "In the event of decelerating PS3 unit sales trends, we believe Sony might rethink its strategy on PS3 pricing, but for now, the hope is that a stronger software lineup as opposed to price concessions will drive hardware adoption," Colin Sebastian said. For the full analysis, visit Next-Gen.

As you may already know, GamePro has scored an exclusive feature for Resistance 2. The issue, which should be hitting newsstands and subscribers soon, features a massive three page-wide cover -- a massive panoramic piece of Resistance 2 art. However, more intriguing than the cover is the great promo art featured on the back. Made to look like early sensational newspapers (think The Inquirer), these fake ads talk about the upcoming fight against the Chimera and link to the not-yet-functional getawarjob.com. We're expecting a fun "ilovebees-esque" ARG experience through this new effort. Stay tuned.