Edios just tweeted today that a Just Cause 2 demo will be coming soon (no platform details). No other details have been given at this point but they said more details will “follow soon”. When those details do come we will update this post.

Just Cause 2, a third-person sandbox action game, was originally planned for a 2008 Christmas debut but was pushed back several times, finally settling on March 23rd of this year. It maintains the similar, fast-pace action of the first game while introducing new game elements, weapons and vehicles (including a helicopter!).

Eidos Tweet [Twitter]

The folks over at IGN got a nice present from Ubisoft today, a rock with a date written on it. The date, 4.13.10 (April 13th, 2010) signifies that the release date for Splinter Cell: Conviction is now set in stone! Pretty clever on Ubisoft’s part, although I would’ve preferred that we never got this far (the game was originally delayed from a late 2009 release to early 2010 and then again a few weeks ago to April of 2010).

Ubisoft Dates Splinter Cell: Conviction (Again) [IGN]

Today Sony released their Q3 Financial Report for the 2009 Fiscal Year which described an increase in PS3 sales and a decrease in other gaming systems when compared to with last year’s 3rd quarter.

According to the report, Sony sold approximately 6.5 million Playstation 3 systems, 4.2 million Playstation Portable systems and 2.1 million PS2 systems. The PS3 was the only system to see an increase in sales, boosting a remarkable 2 million more sales than the previous year. The PSP and PS2 both saw a decline in sales.

However, Sony reports that because of “improvmenet in the cost of PS3 hardware” the profitability of their game business remains relatively unchanged from last year. You can read the full financial report via the source link below (warning: PDF)

Sony Q3 2009 Financial Report [Sony]

When Square Enix shocked the world at E3 2009 announcing that one of their most anticipated titles of this generation, Final Fantasy XIII, will be made available on the Xbox 360 the world met the announcement with skepticism and a lot of questions. With a title that was supposedly being designed exclusively for the Playstation 3, how could it hold up on what is seen as an “inferior” console with limited storage and processing power. However we have recently learned that the Xbox 360 version was being developed simultaneously with the Playstation 3 version of the game in Japan and as such has not suffered any of those “second-hand port” symptoms that have plagued many games of this generation.

The guys over at 1up, Jeremy Parish in particular, had the opportunity of playing the Xbox 360 demo, and has noted in his blog entry that the Xbox 360 version “runs just as smoothly on 360 as it does on PS3”. This serves as great news to Xbox 360 owners as their version of the game will not suffer performance-wise and the only "downsides" will be compressed audio and disc-swapping (both of which are minor in my opinion).

Source: 1up Blog

Microsoft has announced that their Kodu game creator has become available for download as a Technical Preview (TP) on the PC. The “game” was previously only available to members of the XNA Creator’s Club, those involved in the academic program and those who were willing to shelve out 400 Microsoft Points on the Xbox 360. Kodu will allow the end-user to create games without having any prior programming knowledge with premade sprites, actions and terrain.

While it is still limited in the actions and objects you can have in the game it still offers a valuable look at how and where user-generated content is evolving. The interface is very simple and easily picked up by anyone without needing to read any long manual or go through a tutorial so I highly recommend our users to try it out. For those looking for a tutorial or various games to try out, head over to Planet Kodu. You can download the TP version below:

Download: [Kodu Technical Preview]

Nintendo has announced that it’s 4th Nintendo DS iteration, the Nintendo DSi XL, will be coming to Europe on March 5th, 2010. The DSi XL features dual 4.2” screens (93% bigger than DS Lite) and will be available in “wine red” or dark brown colors. It will also come pre-loaded with two DSiWare titles (Dr Kawashima’s: Little Bit of Brain Training: Arts Edition and Dictionary 6 in 1 with Camera function) as well as the Nintendo DSi Internet Browser. No price has been attached to the press release but expect it to sell for more than the DSi. Check out a video of the new system after the break as well as the full press release.

In a press release today Ubisoft has detailed revised objectives for the 2010-2011 line-ups.  Ubisoft is expecting to end the 2009 fiscal year with an operating loss due to several various factors. They loss is reflected as a result of lower-than-expected sales, underperforming titles, abandoned projects and delayed titles. Among these delayed titles, Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Conviction, has been delayed yet again to a new projected release of sometime in the month of April 2010 from its original delayed date of February 23^rd.  R.U.S.E, a real-time strategy World War 2 game, has also been delayed from March of this year to a vague release window of 2010-2011.

However amongst the news of delayed games comes the announcement of a new Assassin’s Creed “episode” which will be the first in the series to offer online multiplayer. We will also see new entries into the Raving Rabbids  and Driver series. Also the company has announced their plans to re-focus their efforts on their AAA franchises and the Xbox 360 and PS3 platforms after poor performance on other consoles and titles. You can read the full press-release after the break.

Two weeks ago MadCatz announced a partnership with Activision and Infinity Ward to create some Modern Warfare 2 accessories, and the fruit of their labors were revealed today. Each system that the game is debuting on is getting a few accessories each. The Xbox 360 and PS3 will both be receiving a new controller and headset. The controller will add two more buttons to their default number and will add rubber grips. The headset is fashioned after a throat communicator that the army uses. However it seems that the 360’s headset will remain tethered to your controller, giving you less freedom than the wireless PS3’s headset.

You can also pick up skins for both the PS3 and 360 with Modern Warfare 2 art and styling. However they didn’t stop their as you can even add more “flare” to your existing controllers with collectable controller faceplates.

Last but certainly not least PC gamers will be able to pick up a “Combat GamePad”. However if the gamepad doesn’t suit your play style on the PC they will also be catering to the traditional keyboard and mouse players with an entirely new mouse and two new keyboard offerings.

Check out the full press-release and details for the controllers, keyboards, skins and mice after the break (including their respective pricing).

Dynamisim will be holding its first pre-order event for the Viliv X70 this Monday (July 6th) at 1pm EST. The X70 is the bigger brother of the Viliv S5 with a larger screen and build. It offers the same great features as the original Viliv S5 but in a larger package. This is perfect for those looking for something that bridges the gap between the UMPC and Netbook market. Most UMPCs have small screens (<5”), however the Viliv X70 will feature a 7” resistive touch screen with the power of a netbook.

You can read all about the Viliv X70 at Dynamism’s website where they have put up a very detailed list of specifications and features for you to drool over. I often get asked why pay a premium for this when you could get a netbook for a much lower price – the answer is simple. You are paying for the form factor, accessories (two different pre-order bundles available), GPS, the touch screen and the great quality that Viliv is known for.

Pre-Order [Dynamism]

We just got word from Davee that two official updates are coming to ChickHEN. After releasing it last night with an unforeseen bug the team will be releasing an update today that will allow users to successfully boot homebrew and fix the wlan and mediasync issues. For those careful readers, revision is plural in the title. Another update will come at a later date which would add plugin support and test the network update.

Shortly after the news broke out about the unofficial fix Davee came online and informed everyone in our chat channel that he would not be releasing an update. The community was not satisfied with the quick fix and rallied together behind Davee to encourage him to work on an official update from Team Typhoon. It's thanks to the community who replied to the request for Davee to release it that we can bring you this great news.