The battle axe is Eddie's primary attack, and it works much like Devil May Cry's sword attack does - basic, yet effective. Riggs will shred on the guitar when he needs to cast various types of magic, and performing these magic attacks will require timed combo entry on your controller.

Brutal Legend [PSX Extreme via The Adventuress]

Ground-Breaking Multiplayer Combat Soars onto PlayStation(R)3 (PS3(TM)) With the Arrival of Warhawk(TM)

Fast-paced, 32-player action ushers in industry first - critically acclaimed Warhawk available at retail on Blu-ray Disc(TM) and as download from PLAYSTATION(R)Network

FOSTER CITY, Calif., Aug. 28 /PRNewswire/ — Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. (SCEA) announced today the North American release of the highly anticipated title Warhawk(TM), available exclusively for PLAYSTATION(R)3 (PS3(TM)). In Warhawk, players experience fast and dynamic multi-modal warfare, featuring white-knuckle aerial combat, armored vehicle assaults and frantic infantry combat in a massive war fought both in the skies and on the ground. In a first for the game industry, Warhawk is available to consumers both in retail stores on Blu-ray Disc(TM) (BD) and as a downloadable title via PLAYSTATION(R)Network.

An eagerly-awaited remake to the original PlayStation(R) hit of the same name, Warhawk was developed by Incognito Entertainment Inc., the acclaimed studio behind the Twisted Metal(R) franchise and cult-favorite War of the Monsters(TM). Warhawk is a multi-player only title, supporting up to 32 players battling at once for both online and offline play. Furthermore, Warhawk's QuickSplit technology allows up to four players to battle simultaneously on a single PS3 — either online or offline — with the press of a button. Featuring various multiplayer gameplay modes such as Team Deathmatch, Capture the Flag and a new Zone Mode designed specifically for Warhawk, players can engage in strategic team play or fend for themselves against a barrage of enemies from around the globe. Offering a full online feature set, players can also join teams or maintain clans within the Warhawk online community. Full stats, rankings, leaderboards, badges and other awards are supported and reward players for success on the battlefield. Players can also stay organized online with user-friendly communication tools.

"Warhawk's furious action-combat gameplay and brilliantly detailed landscapes demonstrate PS3's many capabilities," said Jeff Reese, director, software marketing, SCEA. "Players will move seamlessly from the fierce aerial dogfights to the heated armed assaults and vehicular attacks on the ground. Warhawk is an exhilarating addition to the PS3 line-up this fall."

Warhawk takes advantage of PS3's immense processing power in a variety of unique ways. For example, the Cell Broadband Engine(TM) — the digital heart of PS3 — provides the player an enhanced visual scope by rendering long viewing distances when in flight mode, resulting in a level of feature density unmatched in the genre. Furthermore, unlike the traditional server model, Warhawk allows players to use PS3s in their homes as global servers to host online games. This helps ensure that along with the SCEA servers, players can access consumer-hosted, community servers that are available to players around the world.

Adding to the thrill of piloting the most advanced fighter in the fleet, players can opt to use the SIXAXIS(TM) wireless controller's motion sensing technology to directly control their warhawk in flight, or "steer" their moving vehicle on land using the roll, pitch and yaw motion controls.

Warhawk is available for download directly from PLAYSTATION(R)Network for $39.99, and on BD through select retailers for $59.99. The retail version of Warhawk includes a Jabra Bluetooth(R) headset that comes in an exclusive piano black color and emphasizes the fun and strategic element of communication during gameplay. The BD version also includes bonus video content.

The independent Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) rates Warhawk "T" for "Teen". For more information about the ESRB, visit http://www.esrb.org. For more information about Warhawk, visit

http://www.warhawk.com.

Lionhead Diaries [lionhead]

He teased us about death back in May, but this time he actually elaborates. There is no death. Instead, your character gets beaten until he collapses. Then he (or she) gets beaten some more. And more. Continuously beaten until you get up. How do you get up? By paying for it in either experience or gold. How fast you get up, and presumably continue fighting and killing your enemies, depends on how much money you pay. Pay a lot, get up fast. Pay a little, lie on the ground for, say, sixty seconds.

So what's the consequence of not getting up fast? You get scarred. SCARRED. Irreversibly scarred. And the more scars you have, the more townsfolk, villagers, barristers and women despise you. Unless they're in some kinda weird scar club, which is still as of yet not confirmed to be in the game.

The inspiration for all this is, strangely enough, birthed from the scene in the latest James Bond movie where Bond is repeatedly punished in the genital area. Hard. And did we say repeatedly? Molyneux saw that Hollywood took their heroes beat them to a pulp, but never killed them. They would be scarred, sometimes irreversibly so, but never killed (unless you work with Jack Bauer). So why not take this mechanic and put it into Fable 2?

Since most of the game is spent in an effort to not die, let's talk about combat next. Molyneux says that in an RPG game, at least 50% of your playtime is going to be in combat. So he wanted to make a combat system that was both robust and accessible. The way he did that was by mapping just about every attack function (melee, at least) to the A button. It's definitely simple, and it's definitely button masher friendly—something P. M. said he wanted to embrace—but there's also a lot to do.

First, mashing the button just keeps you swinging and swinging. The AI will figure out your patterns and block most of your attacks, but some may get through. Timing presses correctly, while the enemy isn't blocking, is the key. Then there's blocking, which consists of holding down X. Holding down the attack button for a while gives you flourishes, which are essentially charged up moves.

If you want to get fancy, there's A and a direction for thrusts, and if you time everything correctly (A, hold A, or thrust A) you'll get a cool camera change that zooms in on the action. There's even a narrow focus to give it even more "dramatic effect". And on top of that, the battle music changes and adds drums, which supposedly is controlled by the rhythm of your attacks—or button mashes. It all comes together pretty cohesively.

However, Molyneux claims that the system is on par with say, a Virtua Fighter, but we don't quite agree. It's deep, sure, but it's not exactly at a Soul Calibur-esque level. But you do get to break items and throw stuff at enemies all with the same attack button. And although magic and ranged weapons weren't demoed, he says they work in much the same context-sensitive way as melee attacks.

As for the engine itself, it's also looking pretty good. Lips, as he pointed out himself, look like rubbish. And so does lighting on certain characters. But buildings, streets, breakable objects, flowers, character animations, and the general environment looked fantastic.

Is this the second of the big three things Peter Molyneux has in store for Fable 2? What's the third thing? I can't wait to find out.

The SCEA Santa Monica development team that worked on God of War is hiring.

Unfortunately the two job listings, one for senior technical artist and the other for senior designer combat, don't shed much light on what game or games the new hires would be working on besides something that features combat and, um, art.

I'm not even sure it's actually a God of War game sense that team will likely work on other games at some point. So, yes, not a lot of grist there. Brian Crecente

Join the God of War Team [Sony Protection Group]