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It’s been more than a year since we heard anything new come out for this game, but Electronic Arts has finally revealed new details for The Godfather II - they even released a new pending release window for February next year.

The Godfather II will be set in an open-world environment, and will be picking up where the first game left off. It will be introducing “The Don’s View,” which the press release describes to be

an innovative strategy meta-game that allows players to oversee the entire world as they grow the family business. Using the Don’s View, players will be able to build, defend and expand their crime rings, while keeping an eye on the movements and plans of the rival families.

Players will also learn to master the business of organized crime by building a family of Made Men, hiring crew, handing out orders, and promoting their best men up the ranks.

You will be fighting alongside your hand-picked crew, with each family member specializing in their own field of, how do you say this… specialties? Yeah, specialties - such as demolition, arson, engineering, first-aid, and more. Sweet.

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Developer mopx0 managed to emulate Microsoft’s Windows Vista OS on the Sony PlayStation 3, and has uploaded a video to show this attempt in action. Booting up on the PS3 took Vista around 25 minutes.

Based on what we’ve picked up from the author’s comments, this attempt was pulled off by first installing Vista on a PC using Qemu 0.9.1 and Bochs Bios 1.171, with Qemu creating an .IMG file of Vista after installation. mopx0 used Vlite to speed up the installation, though it still took a day to complete.

The dev also installed Qemu and Bochs Bios on the PS3’s Linux partition, before the Vista .IMG from the pc was transferred over to the console’s HDD. From there, he used the command line qemu -hda vista.img -m 256 -L “Location to Rev 1.171, Drag n Drop” -cpu pentium3 to run Vista off the Qemu emulator.

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Previously slated for an August release, Criterion Games’ Davis Update for Burnout Paradise (PlayStation 3, Xbox 360), now known as the “bikes pack,” is set for release in September. Over on the PlayStation Blog, Criterion’s Jeremy Chubb explained a little of what was coming in the update, and it certainly makes us excited for bikes.

According to Chubb, the “bikes pack” will add two new motorcycles to the game - the Firehawk racing bike and the FV1100 street bike - as well as 70 motorcycle challenges.

Once the update goes live, the game will also get day and night modes as well as weather effects. The day-night cycle happens to increase or decrease the number of vehicles on the road when you’re racing, and night time introduces special “Midnight Rides” challenges that you can undertake.

While we feel rather bad that the update isn’t coming in August, we’re still thankful that the content is free and of high-quality. Let’s just hope the updates for the Xbox 360 or PS3 versions of the game don’t run into any hitches along the way.

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An interesting question was recently raised by MCV UK to Capcom. The publisher was asked if there was ever any consideration towards toning down gore in Resident Evil 5 (PS3, Xbox 360) to make it accessible to a lower age group. Rhys Cash of Capcom UK answered in behalf of the company by replying:

We’re never going to create a gore-free Resident Evil title to try and get a lower rating as it’s a game about the horror experience and gore is part of that. We’re primarily about making great games and if it’s appropriate to the title we won’t shy away from making a 15+ or 18+ title.

Cash added that mature content applied in appropriate contexts is nothing to be shied away from. It was also pointed out that there will always be a market for mature content even in platforms like the Nintendo DS and the Nintendo Wii where the younger crowd comprises the majority of the user base.

He cited the success of Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles and Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition from last year. Both were hits even though the Wii is mostly looked at as a child-friendly console.

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SoulCalibur 4 (Xbox 360, PlayStation 3) director Katsutoshi Sasaki recently had a nice post over at the US PlayStation blog. In his write-up, he explained why Namco chose Darth Vader as the exclusive SoulCalibur 4 character for the PlayStation 3, and he shared some of the experiences they had in the process.

Sasaki says the rationale for picking Darth Vader as a playable character in Namco’s latest fighting game is because of the character’s massive global popularity and his status as a symbol for the Star Wars franchise.

The challenge, Sasaki said, was bringing the character to life in a video game. Resources were limited, according to the director, as he confided some of the biggest challenges in constructing the Sith Lord.

“Admittedly though, recreating Darth Vader for SoulCalibur 4 was harder than I initially thought because there is not a lot of reference material as he was only in a few lightsaber fights in the movies,” he said.

Another challenge that the Namco team encountered was that of making guest characters “fit in.” The devs wanted to make Darth Vader feel as much like himself as possible with the use of the Force, but at the same time they wanted to keep that power in check so that he doesn’t end up dominating the rest of SoulCalibur 4’s cast.

“Ultimately, we created a Force gauge to put a limit on using the power,” said Sasaki. “However, we felt players would be frustrated if they couldn’t use the Force on an empty gauge, so we are allowing them to use the Force but it will be counted as a penalty against their character.”

At the end of the day, Sasaki said that he believes their team has “brought Darth Vader up to a level” where fans can have a genuine experience of the movie icon. Let’s hope they deliver on that promise as they have most of the time.

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In the past, playing MMORPGs was mainly associated with being a PC experience. However, John Blakely, the Vice President of Sony Online Entertainment, believes that DC Universe Online (PlayStation 3, PC) will change that with its “moment to moment” combat system.

Blakely explained this combat system in detail as well as how it would differ from the more traditional MMORPG combat systems we’re used to:

It’s more like an action-shooter; it’s more like Resistance, or something like that than it is Hulk: Ultimate Destruction.[The gameplay] reflects what you would actually expect if you were a superhero.

But that’s the hard part because if you look at our existing games, EverQuest and EverQuest II, they deliver a really good experience but at a different pace — it’s much slower, it’s much more methodical.

Does this mean, that they will be alienating the core MMORPG players? Not exactly. Blakely said that while the MMO guys will be a little uncomfortable with the system at first it is “going to be something they’re going to get excited about learning about and getting into.”

It also seems that Blakely is very confident with this move towards a less traditional combat system saying “we are an MMO company and we know what our players like.” Further adding that “you can look at the feature sets that we have in our existing products, and we’re going to draw a lot of those pieces in… People are used to it.”

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Trophies were announced and they made some noise. 2K Games has commissioned the design team at 2K Marin to spend some time with BioShock PS3’s Trophy system, and from what’s been revealed in the official PlayStation Blog, it will be ranked as if you, the player, were an Olympian.

First baked off the Trophy-Maker were the Bronze Trophies. These basically are given out to those who are moles reincarnated in the highest form of molehood given the knack of thoroughness at digging and exploring through the BioShock universe. So don’t be quick to dismiss those nooks and crannies; there just could be some surprise waiting for you there.

To quote the blog,

Our hope is that players that may otherwise neglect a system will want to explore it just for the Trophy. Systems like Researching, Modifying Weapons, Hacking, and Crafting are all loaded with awards. A meticulous players will find themselves up to their armpits in their prizes.

Up to armpits indeed, huh? Moving on - and we bet this next trophy will bury you to your neck with prizes - we have the Silver Trophies.

So this may only be second best, but by George if this isn’t one of the more difficult Trophies to get in-game! Silver Trophies are otherwise known as the “Historian” Trophy and are awarded for finding every single audio diary. EVERY. SINGLE. DIARY. No more, no less. If you have no problem burrowing through nooks and crannies for the Bronze Trophy, then there shouldn’t be a reason why you won’t stick your head under desks and chairs or inside doors that lead to the unknown to find the audio diaries.

Of course, not all Trophies are revealed. There are several of them whose location remains secret. It is up to you to trip over this yourselves. Makes it that much more challenging, huh? Now who’s just second best?

Then again, there is the Gold Trophies to strive for - the real beauties as the developing team describes. It’s not as easy as finding hidden treasures in locked up vaults, though. This will require, nay, demand something more rigorous from you, gamer. Something called “repeat performance.”

As the blog explains,

When considering how to use these Trophies to reward players, we chose to give a respectful nod to those few who desire a challenge. We believe that BioShock PS3 has a lot to offer in a single play through, but we wanted to emphasize and reward a player’s second or third descent into Rapture. This led us to create new Trophies that encourage more advanced tactics and enemies that provide a greater challenge.

Gold Trophy number 1 is “Brass Balls”. To get this, you have to win BioShock on Hard difficulty. Simple enough? Not quite. You have to do it on Hard difficulty with the Vita-Chambers turned off. No respawning allowed here, guys. Then again, there is no easy way to glory.

That’s just Gold Trophy number 1. They’re not ready as of yet to reveal the rest, but we do gather that there’ll be more. And you can bet they will make you push that bar for self-challenge higher.

That’s all the information we have for you now on BioShock PS3’s Trophy details. We’ll leave you alone now so you can let all these beautiful images sink in. But do come back here for more updates. You know we’re good for it.

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Konami recently announced some good news and bad news regarding the recent connection issues that recently Metal Gear Online following its Gene expansion update. For the good news, the company has announced that all services on “my Konami,” except for the MGO Shop, have been restored. More importantly however, Konami has also announced that their refunding process for the customer who were overcharged due previous to processing errors has been completed.

The bad news is that Konami also reports that it’s still in the process of finding a solution to the problems currently affecting the MGO Shop and Reward shop.

The company further reports that it apologizes for any inconvenience the problem may have caused the players, and that they’re currently looking for a permanent fix for the situation. That’s all for the moment - drop by against in case we receive any word of an update.

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E3 may now be over, but the games shown off at the event will be a part of our lives throughout this holiday season and beyond. One title that will occupy the lives of PLAYSTATION 3 owners for hours upon hours this fall is Valkyria Chronicles. This PS3-exclusive strategy-JRPG from Sega (to clarify, NOT a PSP game), is utilizing the power of the console to push its dynamic and visually arresting Canvas Engine.

The graphics in Valkyria Chronicles appear similar to an animated watercolor painting, with a bit of the colored-pencil-sketch action seen A-ha’s 1980’s “Take On Me” video. As you’ll see in the video below – it really works.

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Sony is planning on bringing gamers together in a bigger way than ever before. The PlayStation E3 2008 press conference introduced large scale multiplayer gaming plans for the PS3 with MAG, short for “Massive Action Game.” The game is touting 256 player battles. It’s a big effort in itself, but not the only one planned for the PS3.

Sony Online Entertainment’s PS3 games will also support MMO and persistent gaming (where things keep happening in the world while you’re away). Games like The Agency and DC Universe Online will offer co-op and competitive play. The Agency will offer an almost ARG (alternate reality gaming) experience, with communications from characters spanning beyond the game itself (websites, cellphone communicaitons and text messages). Watch for more details on those here soon.

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