XboxSold.com BLOG

Today’s pre-Black Friday deals at Amazon are centered around PlayStation 3. They should be particularly useful for anyone who either recently bought the system or is planning to do so in the very near future.

I say that because it’s nothing but titles from Greatest Hits line-up, which a lot of long-time owners are likely to have already, and you really need to buy three games to save a worthwhile amount.

The selection is LittleBigPlanet, God of War: Collection, Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time (and Tools of Destruction), Killzone 2, Infamous, Uncharted, Resistance, Resistance 2, MAG, and Gran Turismo 5 Prologue. Quite a few essentials in that list, wouldn’t you say?

Disappointing news on the third-person, cooperative tower-defense front — Trendy Entertainment’s Dungeon Defenders for PC, Xbox Live Arcade, and PlayStation Network won’t be out this year. Trendy’s Jeremy Stieglitz has revealed that while the mobile versions for iOS and Android will hit in mid-December, other platforms will have to wait until January of 2011. 

The good news is that Trendy has already completed work on two additional maps, several items packs, and new enemies. all which were originally planned to be released as downloadable content. No more, as the studio is cramming that content into the final release. On top of that, they’re promising to make the first month’s post-release DLC “free for all platforms that permit it”; this will include one new level, along with a brand new hero class. 

Dungeon Defenders is looking slick, so the delay is unfortunate. More content isn’t a bad thing, and no one can really hear our complaining over the noise all of these other awesome holiday games are making. Check out our preview of the game for more info on the title while you wait.

Official “Game is Delayed” Thread! [Trendy Entertainment Forums]

When you woke up this morning, you prayed to your God of choice that you’d visit Destructoid and have a silly amount of Dynasty Warriors 7 images to gawk at. Well, you’re in motherfrigging luck, son! Here is a bunch of screens and CG artwork, as discovered on Koei Warriors. 

The images show off a whole bunch of characters. Returning warriors include Cao Cao, Xiahou Dun, Xiahou Yuan, Zhen Ji, Lu Meng, Lu Xun, Zhou Tai, Da Qiao, Ling Tong, Zhao Yun, Xing Cai and Ma Chao. There are also some freshly revealed Jin characters, including a rather sinister Richard E. Grant lookalike in Zhuge Dan.

It’s also worth noting that there appears to be two Xiahou Dun character models — one with two eyes, and one with the eyepatch. Looks like Omega Force is actually putting some effort into the visuals this time, which is nice to see!

The character redesigned look great and some of the weapons are absurdly cool, but I’m a little dismayed at all the shoehorned female characters Koei insists on throwing in. When legitimate characters like Cheng Pu, Deng Ai, Yu Jin and many others are currently ignored, there’s no excuse for Koei to invent fictional female characters that don’t need to be there. Ah well.

Put away those inappropriate jokes, the Canadian-developer previously known as Artificial Mind & Movement (A2M) has changed its name to Bahaviour Interactive. 

The name change comes as the studio hopes to focus on original IPs on multiple platforms, while still working as a “for-hire” studio with major publishers. The studio has also revealed a number of titles its working on, including Wet 2, a sequel to Naughty Bear, Doritos Crash Course for Xbox Live Arcade, and the multi-platform Rango.

The “new name” is actually a return for the studio, who was known as behavior when it began as a small developer of PlayStation One games in the 90s. 

It was leaked earlier this year, but now it's confirmed: Artificial Mind & Movement are developing a game based on the upcoming film, Rango. 

It's called Rango: The Video Game (shocking), and will be published by Electronic Arts for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii, and Nintendo DS. Inspired by the upcoming film (which features the voice of Johnny Depp), the game takes place in an Old West town called "Dirt, where players rob through a gritty, pint-sized Wild West filled with wild rides, off-color characters and frantic shoot-outs."

Rango: The Video Game hits next March, just in time for when the film hits theaters. 

Hulu Plus, Hulu's premium subscription television/movie streaming service, has been available to PlayStation 3 owners since July… as long as they're PlayStation Plus subscribers. 

But starting next week, Sony has revealed that Hulu Plus will be available as a download for all PlayStation 3 owners. The Hulu Plus service — which is still in "preview" — is subscription-based, and costs $9.99.

I've been a subscriber to Hulu Plus since July, accessing it from the "video" section of my PS3's XcrossMediaBar. As someone who ditched cable well over a year ago, I'm actually really enjoying having quick access to shows I love on my television. 

If you already subscribe to cable and have a DVR, this service might not be for you. But if you watch a handful of shows that Hulu offers (enough to justify it's $9.99 monthly price tag), I'd say it's worth checking out. 

http://publishers.springboard.gorillanation.com/admin/videos/new_edit/357/214239

Here's a video of Hulk Hogan playing Def Jam Rapstar with his daughter Brooke, while "Mouth of the South" Jimmy Hart fondles an Xbox 360 controller. This isn't a trick or a dream — this is actually happening. 

You're welcome. 

Square Enix has announced that it will be launching intriguing online shooter Mindjack on January 18, 2011. If you've never heard of the game (understandable), it's a title that aims to seamlessly blend single-player narrative and competitive multiplayer into one unique beast. 

The general idea is that players can hack into the brains of NPCs in other people's single-player games, kind of like the Agents in the Matrix. They'll be able to either aid or oppose the main player, who takes on the role of federal agent Jim Corbijin.

It sounds incredibly exciting and I'm definitely eager to see if they can pull it off. I've always loved the idea of human-controlled "NPC" figures, and this is a nice step in that direction. I'll definitely keep an eye on it. 

Rock Band 3 is out, and I've already told you that it's great. But the question on a lot of people's minds is "When can I get my hands on the six-string Fender Stratocaster guitar controller?" Up until now, we didn't really know; thanks to Fender, now we do. 

The legendary guitar manufacturer has set up its official landing page for the peripheral/instrument, and here's the deal: It's going to cost $279.99, and it will be available on March 1 of next year. Pre-orders begin on January 1, and I have a feeling these things will be scarce, so plan accordingly. 

I had a chance to play with the guitar — which can be plugged into a real amplifier as well as used as a controller for the game — at E3 earlier this year. As a guitarist, it felt nice enough, and was responsive when played with Rock Band 3's pro mode. By "nice enough" I mean I didn't put it through rigorous testing, so if you're going to ask me questions about the s**t dudes talk about while standing around Guitar Center trying to impress each other with their totally sweet licks, bro, I don't have your answers just yet.

Anyone planning on picking this up?