The Nariko outfit in the UK can be snagged by pre-ordering the game through Play.com, while gamers in the ice spider-infested wilds of Canada are urged to wait a bit longer for an announcement the fiery warrior's sackcloth doppleganger.

Pre-order: And finally...Nariko SackGirl [LittleBigPlanet News - Thanks Dave!]

"I think it is fair to say that we do not comment on rumour and speculation, especially about games that have never been announced," said SCEE corporate PR manager Nick Caplin.

Caplin did tell us, though, some detail behind why Eight Days and Getaway 3 were scrapped, and why we oughtn't worry about SCEE:

"Regarding 8 Days and The Getaway, we review the progress and viability of games on a regular basis taking into account feedback from within WWS [worldwide studios] and all the RHQs [regional headquarters], and at our latest review, felt that the budget and resources required to complete these games could be more beneficial elsewhere."

Moreover, Caplin said there's no trouble on the European front. "We are still dedicated to our first-party studios and are very excited about the fantastic exclusive titles coming this year, such as LittleBigPlanet, Resistance 2 and Motorstorm: Pacific Rift, as well as some very exciting titles coming in the near future."

" Please note that LBP, Motorstorm: Pacific Rift and Killzone 2 are all from European studios," said Caplin.

An inside UK source tells us that Heavenly Sword 2 has been canned by Sony Computer Entertainment of Europe. The game was axed after months in development because it is no longer seen as commercially viable, our source tells us.

The news came during an emergency meeting set up for the Sony Cambridge team which was working on the game.

On a side note, Ninja Theory, who have already said they weren't working on the sequel to their Playstation 3 exclusive, have grown increasingly bitter about their treatment at Sony's hands, our source tells us. I'm told that the development studio, which once had offices in the same building as Sony Cambridge, have started packing up to move to a new location.

I guess when they said they wanted to move away from Sony and get into multi-platform development they weren't kidding.

If true, this marks the third major project, counting Eight Days and Getaway 3, that has been canned by SCEE. Is the Europe arm of Sony in trouble? No clue, but we've asked for comment.

We see an entirely different area of progress: a form of independent production based on real-time game engine technology. We reckon you could do something like Beowulf for 15-20 per cent of the cost... If you are already creating hi-res assets for a game, then sharing these can bring that cost down even further... We have a lot of experience in performance capture, animation, rendering and so on. We can compete in the same way that indie films can live alongside blockbusters.

20 percent of the cost is dandy and all, Ninja Theory, but would your film have Angelina Jolie? Well.

Make Beowulf [Games Industry]

It's a brutal environment out there for an independent, particularly considering the size of the games that we're developing... But we've now signed up the new game and the future looks pretty rosy for us... our new game is going to be PS3 and Xbox 360.

Ninja Theory co-founder Nina Kristensen says her company may also have a movie in the works, a totally CGI affair "using the game engine alongside the game itself." Sounds interesting. At least more interesting than, say, Final Fantasy: Spirits Within.

Ninja Theory considers CGI movie alongside new multiformat title [GamesIndustry.biz]

Instead of making some stupid cabinet or a DVD shelf like the rest of the class, I decided to make something a little more original...Ironical, I was the first one to get cut by my sword. I let a kid hold it and he got a little power hungry, started swinging it around and cut my in the arm. For a wooden sword, it sure cuts well.

Cake-loving home ec students, we're looking in your direction for a proper rebuttal.

Real Life Heavenly Sword [GameGrep via PS3Fanboy]

They initially asked for video game background, then they had a follow-up phone call asking which games I had played or owned, focusing heavily on Heavenly Sword. There were 3 surveys done on Monday, groups of 6 for the first 2, 4 for the last group (my group). Predominantly males, asking about our impressions on Prince of Persia, God of War, Ninja Gaiden and, of course, Heavenly Sword. Some questions were asked about why Heavenly Sword didn't sell so well, what our impressions were on the gameplay, how the cutscenes were done, combat mechanics.

At the end of the night they gave us a few pieces of paper and asked our takes on the ideas (probably already set in stone). The following are the sheets that they asked our opinions on:

1. Heavenly sword 2 will take place 10 years after the events in heavenly sword 1

2. The main character will be a male with martial arts background

3. The main character will be Kai, but she will be a more mature woman.

4. The game will require you to master different martial arts styles before retrieving the heavenly sword

5. The game will, instead of button mashing, have controls that utilize an analog stick to go through weapons.

6. The game will have downloadable weapons, characters, and enemies to customize your experience.

7. The game will be more interactive with the environment

8. The game will have you on a storyline with replayable missions, as opposed to an open world

Right now we're working on an exciting new concept that has got everyone we talk to buzzing. We can't say a lot except that it's going to be great to work on and should be even better to play! It'll take all the things we loved about Heavenly Sword and make them bigger and better than ever before.

Devil May Cry 4 (PS3, 360)
Heavenly Sword (PS3)
Assassin's Creed (PS3, 360)
Call of Duty 4 (PS3, 360)
Halo 3 (360)
Mass Effect (360)
Lost Odyssey (360)

If you're feeling like a shopping spree you could pick up a couple games and use those gift cards to put towards that Rock Band bundle bringing the price down to a comfortable $129.

Best of the Sunday Ad Video Game Deals (2/17 - 2/23) [CheapAssGamer]

Playboy's Best Games of 2007 [Playboy]

So that was pretty sad in Heavenly Sword when red-headed Nariko croaked, huh? No worries! Just because she's dead, doesn't mean she's dead — especially in a game called Heavenly Sword. Says Nina Kristensen from developer Ninja Theory:

The beautiful thing about inventing a universe like that of Heavenly Sword is that you get to make up all the rules and happily, in the Heavenly Sword universe, just because you're dead, it doesn't mean your life is over ;)

...We haven't announced anything as yet but I can confirm that when we wrote the original story we did write it as a trilogy...

[Thanks, Ray]

Finalist #1

Lawrence writes:

The model in the photo is my girlfriend Kristen, and we shot it in my house against some silk sheets as a backdrop. She came up with the idea and carved the apple herself (it wasn't a photoshop job or anything). Legibility is a little tough when carving apples, but hopefully our "sign" is readable enough.

Finalist #2

James writes:

The recipe pictured, though delicious, does not necessarily exist—however, the red PlayStation Controller does (it was a Toys "R" Us exclusive). It has become one of my most reached for kitchen utensils, after having fallen out of favor with developers following the introduction of the original DUALSHOCK.

Finalist #3

Josh writes:

I call it "The End of an Era." Yes, that is our living room wall. No, I don't think I'll be married for much longer. See, I asked my wife if I could paint the wall red for the contest, I just kinda left out the spray paint part. The good news is that I actually got off my lazy butt and had some fun and my wife will end up with a nice(er), fully painted, red wall-eventually. The bad news...well, let's just say it's bit cold at our house for this time of year. At least if I win my wife can claim it was all her doing - if she didn't love red so much I'd have been screwed!

Finalist #4

Edrian writes:

Hmmm well it's basically a book-esque style with lots and lots of red stuff in it as the contest guidelines suggest. First is lots of big bold red "FF0000" and one "KOTAKU" text. But it doesn't stop there #FF0000 is a hex code for the color red. And if you look at the middle of the picture there is a very out of place ring, well you shouldn't focus on the ring but the shadow that it casted on the paper. Yes it's a heart (awwwwwwww). . . *ahem* hearts are related to red am I right?

Finalist #5

Alexandre writes:

Here is my submission for the Use Red, Win Heavenly Sword contest.

Finalist #6

Brendan writes:

Wasn't sure if the Lego and Cards spelling out Kotaku counted, so there's also a sign on the TV that says "Kotaku Contest".

My sister and I had fun putting this together

Finalist #7

Daniel writes:

I started spray painting last week as a hobby and decided that this was as good a time as any to spray characters as opposed to words. It's done on wood... I thought I captured the spirit of one Heavenly Sword, red haired heroine and I had to rush it when I got home from work to get it in on time. If you're wondering, the emo looking lemming in the bottom right corner is my signature (yes, it's a stencil).

Finalist #8

Bururian writes:

Came to me at the last minute. Can't remember how buzzed I was actually doing it though. I did drink most of that beer though.

Finalist #9

Fujoshi writes:

Well, here it is, my entry. It's complete with a Lego sword donated by my son.

Finalist #10

Pharlain writes:

Everyone loves game cakes. Except Luke. Sorry Luke. I'm a pastry chef by trade and I wish I got more requests for wedding cakes with game themes. Or any requests for game cakes. Anyhow here's a trade secret; that really smooth mailable stuff, fondant? Tastes like crap. It really really does. Technically it's edible, but that's only technically. I believe that any dessert should not only look kickass, it should be delicious. The entire cake is frosted with my very own buttercream which is magically delicious as only massive amounts of butter and sugar can be. The runes are piped buttercream and the other decorations are entirely white and bittersweet chocolate. That's not a transfer on top. The head and sword are both real chocolate. The bottom tier is a chocolate cake with a red cookie and cream filling. The top tier is red velvet with strawberry filling. That mini cake in the right corner is an example of how red the actual cake is.

I love letter openers, especially game-themed ones... and now I have three. A King Arthur sword, a Link sword in stone and this very nifty Heavenly Sword sword on a nice stand. Now off to flail the paper from my bills and slit the lids of unsuspecting packages.

So hit the jump for our Frankenreview: the one review that will dictate whether or not the PS3 is good for something other than big screen porn. That is, if you don't consider a beautiful redhead kicking royal ass in skimpy clothing to be some logical extension of pornography.

GameRevolution
I can not remember the last time I cared so much about the characters in an action game, and not just the heroes, the villains as well. Like Gollum, even the bad guys have complex motivations. The facial expressions, body language, and the lip synch are so spot-on it's uncanny. I found myself actually excited for more story exposition, rather than disappointed I was dropping out of the action.

GameInformer
From the moment Nariko chooses to wield the Heavenly Sword, her time with it is limited. As a player, your experience with the sword will also be fairly short; most gamers will probably finish the game in about seven or eight hours. However, that timeframe is dense with non-stop thrills thanks to the game's ability to continually throw compelling new challenges in front of you.

IGN
The game's biggest strength is its combat system, which in large part works very well. Instead of using only face buttons to put together combos, you have three different stances that each has its own set of moves...Unfortunately, in most one-on-one battles it makes most sense to mostly stick with Triangle as it doubles for a move-breaking counter attack. The more often you use Triangle, the more likely you are to unknowingly counter an enemy's attack and come back with an instant-kill finishing move.

Eurogamer
Now and then Heavenly Sword takes a break from all the hackandslash guff and lets you shoot at things from big cannons...In these hugely entertaining (but rather samey) interludes you can...hold down L1 and effectively steer the missile directly to its target. By default, the game encourages you to use the SixAxis tilt controls, but although it feels rather fantastic when you wobble your pad to your target, it's horribly imprecise. After a few hours of struggling with it, we couldn't quite believe how much easier it was to control the direction with the analogue stick in comparison

Pro-G
If you are looking for a purist's hack and slash that will test you for months, go elsewhere, ideally to Ninja Gaiden Sigma. But if you want a thrilling and cinematic adventure that will give you ample opportunity to show off the muscle of your PlayStation 3 and provide a glimpse of the console's possible future, you could do far worse than pick up this big-budget epic.
Penny Arcade pointed out that Heavenly Sword reviews (specifically 1UP's) read like a struggling game with an 8 tagged on. And while I agree that Heavenly Sword is certainly sandbagging a bit with the PS3's currently high handicap, I think the reviewers were so generous despite length and mechanic issues because of the game's extremely high level of cinematic polish. Either way, the fanboys can dry their tears.

Can't remember how buzzed I was actually doing it though. I did drink most of that beer though.

This week has a nice choice of titles spread out over various systems (sans the PSP). I'm trying to get to Heavenly Sword tonight so I can see for myself what it's going to be like and I am anxious to check out Jam Sessions and Drawn to Life for the DS. I've avoided Oblivion for a while just because I'm afraid of getting sucked in, but the inclusion of all the expansions on one disc is intriguing. What to do, what to do?

Heavenly Sword (PS3)
Will Nariko and her moves rival Kratos?

Skate (X360)
Skate to your heart's content and see what life is like without Tony Hawk.

NHL 2K8 (PS3, X360, PS2)
All the fun of Hockey without the broken teeth.

NHL 08 (X360, PS3, PC, PS2)
Because we always need more hockey games.

Galactic Assault: Prisoner of Power (PC)
Rule the planets in this sci-fi RTS.

.hack//G.U. vol. 3//Redemption (PS2)
The final game in the trilogy. The end of an era...

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion - Game of the Year Edition (X360, PC)
All of Oblivion including the two expansions in one tidy package.

Kengo: Legend of the 9 (X360)
You are a legendary samurai in feudal Japan doing the stuff a samurai does.

DiRT (PS3)
More racing action for your PS3.

Jam Sessions (DS)
Strum your blues away.

Drawn to Life (DS)
Draw your own character and put him through his paces.

Guilty Gear XX Accent Core (WII, PS2)
Still guilty after all these years.

Fatal Inertia (X360)
Race in supersonic planes and kick some ass.

Ship Simulator 2008 (PC)
Imagine the fun of piloting your own oil rig!

Wow, I didn't know you could play Heavenly Sword as diminutive Icelandic songstress, Bjork! Wait a minute, that's not Bjork, that's Kai, the crazy chick from the demo who talks to invisible things in her hands. Either way she's got a big ass gun for such a tiny little girl and she knows how to use it.

I have a copy of Heavenly Sword in my hot little hands, I just need to carve out some time to check it out. Perhaps if I can plow my way through today's articles I'll get a chance. The more footage I see the more I like, I just hope the actual game lives up to the demo and the videos and turns out to be more than just (as someone so eloquently put it) "God of War with boobs." We shall see...

Thanks to everyone who sent this in!

Thanks IceAlchemist!

New movie trailers for Pixar's WALL-E, The Brothers of Solomon and The Lives of Others join new PS3 wallpapers for Blast Factor: Advanced Research and, again, Heavenly Sword. This update is so solid it makes me want to do our secret, multi-step handshake—you know, the one that ends with us doing a little hip bump and double finger gun snap-point at eachother?

What they don't explain in the article, unfortunately for storage format war purposes, is whether that 10 GB footprint of sound takes up that much space on a Blu-ray disc. Is that the final compressed size? Or is that the master recording data? Semi-official Sony blog ThreeSpeech says says it's the former, so it's possible they took advantage of the extra storage and left much of it uncompressed.

If they're accurate, that's huge.

Heard About: Heavenly Sword [Develop]

The main thing is that there's really no difference between acting and motion-capturing. The research, the trying to embody a character is the same. But the main thing about motion-capture is that you're sort of puppeteering a version of yourself. You can calibrate that by manipulating certain things about your personality... I'm slightly ambivalent about the difference between playing a character and being motion-captured. It's no different from being in costume, except that instead of having synthetic materials on your face you've been captured in a game. Simple as that.

This clip was originally intended to be for PlayStation G.A.P. members only, but has thankfully found its way to the internet for us all to enjoy. This first in a series of animated looks at the story behind Ninja Theory's Heavenly Sword, it features some striking, if somewhat familiar, looking artwork. We can only hope that these clips will eventually find their way to the PlayStation Store (and the Heavenly Sword disc, as well).

I've never played a good game where the developers put a big icon of the button you're supposed to press onscreen... I look at Heavenly Sword and it seems really half-assed, because it's asking you to do all these button-timing sequences but you are not getting much payoff from it.

Snap! Heavenly Sword producer Kyle Shubel's answer to those criticisms?

My response to Mr. Itagaki would be that the intent of the Hero sequences is to empower the player to experience events that would be nearly impossible to play in a natural platforming state... for example, making the player run down ropes, leaping from rope to rope as they're being cut from underneath you, all while dodging other objects — that would be a frustrating experience to 99 percent of our users if we were to force them to do that manually.

Thanks Christian!

You can see more of Nariko and her badassness after the jump!

The trailers are a fascinating watch as you can see the game and character progress. Don't care what the haters say, I like Nariko's fire truck-red locks best.

Heavenly Evolution [Destructoid]

Talk about great timing. I just received a much more robust demo of Heavenly Sword in the mail. The demo that hit the PSN yesterday was two levels of chapter two. The disc I just received has all ten levels of chapter two, or about one and a half hours of gameplay. I'll try to play through all or at least a big chunk of the game while streaming with our new Justin TV live video rig. The quality is not high at all, so don't expect to walk away from watching this with any sense of the graphics... or maybe even the game. :)

Sorry, couldn't resist. This is the shortest demo I have ever played. From hitting start on the controller until the message "Redemption Arrives In September", only seven minutes passed. I timed it. Mind you this was without skipping the brief opening scene between Nariko and her adorable crazy little friend, and I managed to miss a jump and fall to my death once.

After the nifty opening scene I found myself running down a series of ropes towards a platform that seemed to serve no purpose other than to have people run across ropes towards it. Via some timed button presses I made my way down to the rocky plateau pillar thing as the enemies that were hanging out there tried to impede my progress, cutting the ropes out from under my feet. With one last flying leap, taking an enemy out in the process, I entered my first battle.

Two minutes and some furious button smashing later I was standing triumphantly over the remains of two waves of evildoers. Combat was relatively fluid, though a little confusing when the enemies really start to close in. Even on a 42 inch LCD it was still a bit hard to see what was going on. My foes consisted of enemies with just swords (fodder) and enemies with shields (annoying fodder.) Every now and again I would pull off a finishing move that would zoom in as I killed guys in various creative ways.

After that fight I learned why this pillar thing was standing in the middle of nowhere. With a kick I sent it toppling towards the main square of the fortress I was infiltrating, more button presses landing me gracefully in the middle of another group of mixed enemies. Once they were down two giant wooden doors opened, revealing three large enemies...and the demo ended.

Seven minutes, and it ends just like that. No big boss fight to try out, no giant plot revelation, no finding an ancient artifact. Just, "here comes more enemies, see you in two months!" You know that feeling you get when you're about to sneeze and then can't? Exactly the feeling I got here.

As for aesthetics, the graphics were solid but the framerate was erratic at times. Sound was excellent no matter which language option I chose in order to stretch out my playtime a little by pretending I was a different guy from another country. By far the best aspect of the whole demo for me, the music was completely top notch. Very atmospheric and brilliantly arraigned.

A demo is created to give players a taste of what they can expect once the full game comes out, and honestly if this is all they can manage to scrape together I am a little worried that this will be the whole game. So far all I am seeing is button mashing combat against endless waves of enemies interrupted by the odd interactive cinematic, and that's been done better elsewhere. Bad show.

Just to keep expectations low, we'll just say, that we consider a Ratchet & Clank Future demo is an inevitability and that it won't be released in the past.

Updated: Heavenly Sword And Ratchet & Clank Future Demos Coming Soon [Game Informer]