The Giant Bomb guys put one of their engineers on the case, having him trawl through data collected by their website. The site tracks Achievements, Trophies and similar accolades that are available through the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and the PC's Steam service. The team announced the most common names during a recent podcast, acknowledging a caveat: They would be double or triple-counting for some games that have the same Achievements in different editions or are on multiple platforms.

Here's the list:

1) Untouchable — used in 55 games, according to the Giant Bomb guys. Including in: Aegis Wing, Altered Beast, Beijing 2008, Buzz Jr: Robo Jam, Call of Juarez, Conan, Contra, Defense Grid, Double Dragon, Dreamkiller, Facebreaker, F.E.A.R. 2, Hail To The Chimp and more...

2) Hero — used in 30 games

3) Veteran - used in 28 games

4) Survivor - used in 27 games

5) Treasure Hunter - used in 19 games

Other common ones include: Collector, Legend, Winning Streak, Sniper, Champion, Team Player, Death From Above, Sharpshooter, Collateral Damage, Pack Rat, Completionist, Exterminator, and Perfectionist

Note to developers: If you're really having trouble figuring out unique names for Achievements, try reading more Kotaku for inspiration.

Giant Bombcast: 12/08/09

[PIC]

Heavy Rain will have Trophies. But you won't be told that you earned them until the breaks between the game's chapters.

Quantic Dream co-CEO Guilaume de Fondaumiere told Kotaku in New York that the game's Trophy alerts will operate on a delay. That gets the team around the problem of having the little Trophy alert message and accompanying chime interrupt scenes of tense crime-scene investigation or a father's quiet struggle to get his son to talk to him after a bad day at school. The game will maintain its mood during the important parts by rewarding the gamer with alerts during transitional scenes.

Since their inception, Achievements on the Xbox 360 and the similar service of Trophies on the PlayStation 3 have been widely popular among gamers. But the alerts that signify the winning of an Achievement or Trophy can and do get in the way of subtitle text or otherwise distract players. And while an option to turn the alerts is one solution to this issue that some gamers use, having the Trophies rewarded after the fact is another method that permits a notice of accomplishment without killing a carefully constructed mood.

Heavy Rain ships in early 2010 on the PlayStation 3.

There are 2 silver and 9 bronze trophies becoming available with the new content, reports PS3Trophies.org. They will raise the total trophies to 70. Pricing and release date still are unknown.

Here's the list:

Bronze
• PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN Booty Master - Collect all of the PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN prize bubbles
• Beast Slayer - Destroy the KRAKEN boss
• Ace Port Royal - Ace Port Royal
• Ace Pirate Town - Ace Pirate Town
• Ace The Frigate - Ace The Frigate
• Ace Cursed Bay - Ace Cursed Bay
• Ace The Kraken!!! - Ace The Kraken!!!
• Tributary - Publish a level containing WATER
• Salty Dog - Complete 20 community leves that contain WATER

Silver
• HMS Interceptor - Complete the race in Cursed Bay with at least 4000 points left on the clock
• The Bends - Achieve a Score of 7000 in the Diving for Treasure Survival Challenge

DLC Added: LittleBigPlanet [PS3Trophies.org]

Here's what we got. Haven't seen these on Xbox Live (the version I play) yet. Take that for what you will:

Bronze
• Small Tournament - Completed the lesser challenge in all 3 coliseums

Silver
• Hell-Burbia - Completed the larger challenge in the Hell-Burbia coliseum
• The Angelic Ruins - Completed the larger challenge in The Angelic Ruins coliseum
• The Gully - Completed the larger challenge in The Gully coliseum

Gold
•Big Tournament - Completed each of the larger challenges in all 3 coliseums

"Challenges" obviously point to the in-game-only achievements that reward beaucoup XP, so who knows what the exact parameters are.

Yesterday morning, Neumann got giddy and said "some little birdies might sing in or around an hour," but apparently jumped the gun. Two hours later, he pulled back the announcement, and proceeded to take shit for it. So your cover's blown, might as well spill the beans @mikeyface!

DLC Added: Borderlands [PS3Trophies.org via Destructoid]

"There was a tester we had who came in and was constantly describing Drake as going into ‘beast mode,'" said Minkoff, a designer on Uncharted 2. "Like, ‘Man, I went into beast mode and merced those fools!' And I said, ‘We need a beast mode medal.' It had to happen."

But what you do to get the "Beast Mode" medal is the larger part of why Minkoff talked with me earlier this week about designing for trophy support on the PS3. Beast Mode isn't a difficult challenge, you just pet every yak you encounter in the Tibetan Village level, and the instructions for getting it are there in the game. But at this stage of the game, Naughty Dog wanted to encourage players to interact more with those they encounter, outside of doing so to advance the story.

It's part of how developers are using things like trophies - which have been mandatory on all PlayStation 3 games for nearly a year now - and internally built medal systems to condition player behavior, and steer them to aspects of gameplay that they might not seek out, whether from habit or not knowing it's possible.

And, of course, it supports replay value. Which is why I was interested in Uncharted 2 as an example of developing for trophy support. Its strong, linear narrative forms the bulk of its experience, but that doesn't exempt Naughty Dog from the obligation to invite gamers back for more after they finish the last chapter.

"I think the virtue of making a really good game with a story that really satisfies people, is that it's not something people are going to put down and never pick back up," Minkoff said. "We find that people who complete a normal playthrough, they go back and instantly start on hard. They look at the trophies. They look for more things to do in the game, and trophies help to add that value."

Development for trophy support necessarily comes toward the end of a project, Minkoff said. The team doesn't reinvent the wheel figuring out what to award - Uncharted 2's trophy list mirrors in large part that of Uncharted: Drake's Fortune. But they do consider what their players will be looking forward to doing, and want to reward them when they pull it off.

"Being that Uncharted 2 is an action-adventure game, we wanted people to have an incentive to explore these worlds and see them from a different perspective, and use all the skills we've taught them," Minkoff said. "Our combat related trophies are in there to help people learn advanced tactics. People might not know about Steel Fist [finishing off a foe with one punch] or shield takedowns until they go in and read the trophy list."

The treasures and the kills, carried over in large part from Uncharted 1, condition a completionist mindset of seeing every inch of the world Naughty Dog created, and using all of the weapons placed in the game rather than relying solely on a trusted favorite.

Just as important is how difficult the trophies are to earn. "There were big arguments over here about how to handle that," Minkoff said. "We don't want somebody to come out of a game and feel like they accomplished nothing, and they only got two trophies because the others were so esoteric, weird or difficult to find. It's like a slap in the face, to say, ‘You thought you played Uncharted, but you really haven't.' "

The way Naughty Dog built their trophy structure "people should get about a third to a half of them on their first playthrough," Minkoff said. "It'll be on the lower end if they're just rushing through and killing everyone, on the higher end if they're finding, maybe, half the treasure and doing exploration."

However, the studio has no way of knowing if its expectations are borne out by the statistics. Plenty of minute details and gamer behaviors are measured, but nothing comes back to Naughty Dog regarding trophy collection, Minkoff said.

"We track tons of stuff - where people die, how many weapons are used, what's the most used weapon in a particular area, what's the longest playthrough for a checkpoint," Minkoff said. "But we don't track trophies. [That analysis] is done by gut. We do tons and tons of playtesting, so we get a feeling for what players do, what they don't do, what they like to do and what we should encourage them to do. But we develop that from playtesting."

Sony Computer Entertainment caps the number of trophies and points a game can award. Increasingly, you're seeing developers turn to internal reward systems to extend the payoffs to gamers; Naughty Dog is no different, engineering a medal system that's familiar to what multiplayer fps gamers have seen elsewhere. Its intent is still the same as the trophies - get players to wring every last drop of value out of the game. Motivating the in-game medal system is the virtual money one earns, which can be redeemed for in-game unlockables.

It also allowed Naughty Dog to offer two types of rewards and make the game more accessible to gamers of varying levels of skill - or time to commit to it. "We didn't want people playing through the game and feeling there was no way to ever get the platinum trophy, that there was no way to get all the trophies because it was so super-complex," Minkoff said. "We decided, if it's core to gameplay, it gets a trophy. If it's a skill-based honor, like a ‘Hey man, look what I can do,' thing, then it's a medal."

Ultimately, it all presents a fuller picture of the gamer - not just for others, but also something he or she can reflect on, and remember the time spent in a rewarding game.

"One of the wonderful things it does is give you a constant reaffirmation that you're doing the right thing and playing the game the right way," Minkoff said. "There's nothing like sneaking up, and taking down a guy, and getting that notice that you have the Master Ninja trophy. It means you have improved, you are continuing to master the game, and we are recognizing that. It's not just ‘Oh, here's another guy to kill.' It's ‘Here's a guy who matters in a larger context. And when I defeat him, that will be recognized.' It's a solid way of rewarding and reinforcing a game's action."

Until now, all we knew was that the collection, which remasters God of War I & II in full HD on a single Blu-ray disc for the PlayStation 3, was coming out in November. The collection is now slated to be on retail store shelves on November 17th, just in time for the Thanksgiving holiday here in the states, giving players something to do between rounds of Modern Warfare 2.

Along with the release date announcement, Sony has also released a full list of trophies for both God of War games, which we've reproduced below, courtesy of the magic of cutting and pasting. Behold our power!

GOD OF WAR

Bronze

1.21 Gigawatts - Acquire Poseidon's Rage
Rocking Out - Acquire Medusa's Gaze
Bolt Action - Acquire Zeus' Fury
Sword Man - Acquire Blade of Artemis
Soul Search - Acquire Army of Hades
Matador - Win the first Minotaur fight
Scape Goat - Win the first Satyr fight
Roll Over … and Die - Win the first Cerberus fight
Don't They Ever Shut Up! - Defeat the Desert Sirens
Beat a Dead Horse - Complete the Centaur sacrifice to Hades
Kickboxer - Complete the Spike Room Box Puzzle
Rockin' the Boat - Complete the Sex Mini-Game
Don't Leave Her Hanging - Rescue the Oracle with 10 seconds to spare
Get the Ball Rolling - Complete the Challenge of Atlas
Totally Baked - Complete the Human sacrifice
Splash - Kiss the Nyad
Get Me a Beer Kid - Free yourself from the depths of Hades
Zero Health = Bronze Trophy - Open a Health Chest when your health meter is already full
Hitman - Get a 100 Hits Combo
Getting My Ass Kicked - Die enough times to get offered Easy Mode

Silver

Kratos' Marble Collection - Collect all the Gorgon Eyes
Stick it in Your Cap! - Collect all the Phoenix Feathers
It's the HUGE One - Retrieve the Captain's Key
Take the Bull by the Horns - Defeat Pandora's Guardian
God Killer - Kill Ares
Head Hunter - Obtain the head of the Architect's wife
The Power to Kill a God - Retrieve Pandora's Box
Hitman 2 - Get a 200 Hits Combo
Legend of the Twins - Watch the ‘Birth of the Beast' Treasure
Seeing Red - Max out all Weapons and Magic

Gold

Prepare to be a God - Beat the Game on any Difficulty
You Got the Touch! - Climb the Spiked Column in Hades without taking damage
I'll Take the Physical Challenge - Complete the Challenge of the Gods
Speed of Jason McDonald - Beat the game in under 5 hours on any Difficulty
Key to Success - Collect all of the Muse Keys

Platinum

Trophy of Zeus - Unlock all God of War Trophies

GOD OF WAR II

Bronze

Breaking Wind - Acquire Typhon's Bane
Big, Tuff, Buff and Rough - Acquire Rage of the Titans
Blue Balls - Acquire Cronos' Rage
Shiner - Acquire the Golden Fleece
Rock their World - Acquire the Head of Euryale
Learning to Fly - Acquire the Icarus Wings
Shaky Ground - Acquire Atlas Quake
Death from Above 2009 - Defeat the Dark Rider for the first time
Resurrection - Climb from the pit of Hades
Rock Hard - Defeat the Titan Minotaur inside Atlas
Pick'n on the Little Guy - Win the battle outside of the Palace of the Fates
Watcha Got on the Hot Plate? - Solve the riddle of the Fire Phoenix Statue
Whip it Good - Whip the Steeds of Time
Lift with Your Knees - Topple the Temple in the Bog of the Forgotten
Swinger - Cross the collapsing Grapple Bridge
Stoner - Stone and Shatter 30 Enemies
Super Sized - Get a 500 Hits Combo
Hitting Your Stride - Power up any item

Silver

Eye Can't Believe it - Collect all the Gorgon Eyes
Go Make a Pillow! - Collect all the Phoenix Feathers
Eye Sore - Collect 20 Cyclops Eyes
Boss Batch 1 - Kill the Colossus of Rhodes, the Dark Rider, and Theseus
Boss Batch 2 - Kill the Barbarian King, Euryale, and Perseus
Boss Batch 3 - Kill the Kraken and all three Sisters of Fate
Daddy Issues - Defeat Zeus
Rise and SHINE - Awaken the Phoenix
Spread ‘Em - Open the wings of the Temple of the Fates
Shine King - Open the door to the Temple of Euryale
Blowin' Your Wad - Max out all Weapons and Magic

Gold

The End Begins - Beat the Game on any Difficulty
Feel the Urn - Collect and use at least 2 Urns of Power
Bleeding Thumbs - Beat the Challenge of the Titans
15 Min Fight Scene - Battle your way to the Loom Chamber in under 10 minutes
You Know the Germans Make Good Stuff… - Collect all Uber Chests

Platinum

Trophy of Gaia - Unlock all God of War II Trophies

God of War Collection Ships November 17th, Plan Your Trophy Hunt Now! [PlayStation Blog]

However, there are six "secret" Achievements/Trophies and a whole slew of "kill xx enemies this way" awards that suggest the game hasn't been watered down at all. My personal favorite will probably be "Whoooaaaa!" and "Wheeeeeee!" because it involves excessive blood-sliding.

A Playlogic representative declined to confirm or deny the inclusion of the child-killing Achievement/Trophy, but they did supply us with this list:

Gamerscore / Trophy level / Name / Description
15 / Bronze / Closed "The Lumberjack Lands" / Complete all the chapters in "The Lumberjack Lands"

15 / Bronze / Closed "The Candy Castle" / Complete all the chapters in "The Candy Castle"

15 / Bronze / Closed "The Little Kingdoms" / Complete all the chapters in "The Little Kingdoms"

15 / Bronze / Closed "The House in the Clouds" / Complete all the chapters in "The House in the Clouds"

15 / Bronze / Closed "Who's Famous Now!" / Complete the "Who's Famous Now!" chapter

15 / Bronze / Incredible Combo! / Perform a 50 hit combo

15 / Bronze / The Sky is the Limit / Perform an aerial combo

15 / Bronze / King for a Day / Win an Arena chapter without dying

15 / Bronze / Pacifists Finish Last / Lose an Arena chapter without killing

15 / Bronze / King Pushy / Win an Arena chapter by using push only

15 / Bronze / Unstoppable / Win 5 Arena chapters in a row in 1 play session

15 / Silver / Notorious / Win 100 Arena chapters

50 / Silver / Variety is the Spice of Life / Complete Stuffy the Taxidermist's collection by defeating all enemies

100 / Gold / Mine! / Collect all weapons

15 / Bronze / Beaver Killer / Defeat The Log Champion

15 / Bronze / Real Beaver Killer / Defeat The Log Champion again

15 / Bronze / Puppet Master / Defeat Pinocchio

15 / Bronze / Go Eat Your Own House / Defeat Hansel and Gretel

15 / Bronze / And All is Quiet Again / Defeat The Pied Piper

15 / Bronze / The Witch is Burned / Defeat The Candy Witch

15 / Bronze / I Didn't Want Her Anyway / Defeat The Little Giant

15 / Bronze / Beat up the Bully / Defeat The Little Giant again

15 / Bronze / Turning a Blind Eye / Defeat Father Giant

15 / Bronze / Left the Tailor in Stitches / Defeat The Little Tailor

15 / Bronze / "Fairytale Land" is Painted Red / Spill 10 000 gallons of blood

15 / Bronze / "Fairytale Land" is Sucked Dry / Collect 1 000 000 riches

15 / Bronze / Hand Holder / Complete game on easy mode with multiple players

15 / Silver / Sharing Celebrity / Complete game on medium mode with multiple players

15 / Silver / Dream Team / Complete game on hard mode with multiple players

15 / Bronze / Hero / Complete game on easy mode single player

15 / Silver / Legendary / Complete game on medium mode single player

15 / Silver / Heroic Ever After/ Complete single player on hard mode

15 / Bronze / Whoooaaaa! / Slide through blood continuously for 3 minutes

15 / Bronze / Wheeeeeee! / Slide 330 feet continuously through blood

15 / Bronze / Master Slicer / Slice 250 enemies with a sharp weapon

15 / Bronze / KABLAM! / Crush 250 enemies using a blunt weapon

15 / Bronze / Strike a Pose! / Stun 50 players using the love potion or love wand

30 / Silver / Who Wants My Autograph? / Complete all chapters from start till end with at least an A or A+ Grade

125 / Bronze / King Bling / Buy all statue upgrades

15 / Bronze / Treasure Hunter / Open all treasure chests

15 / Bronze / Weapons Are For Babies / Kill 250 enemies without using any weapons

15 / Bronze / Lazy Bastard / Remain in Taleville for more than 15 minutes

0 / Platinum / Victorious! / Unlock all Trophies!

Note: That "King Bling" Gamerscore reading looks like a typo — we've contacted Playlogic for confirmation.

Take for instance the game's version of Heavy Metal Flu: Six Degrees of Schafer.

"The "Six Degrees of Schafer" Achievement/Trophy is rewarded when you play with or against Tim Schafer in Brutal Legend's epic multiplayer mode. The achievement is also viral, meaning that once you play Tim (or someone who has played Tim), you then have the achievement, and then when you play someone else, they get it, and then when that person plays someone else, they get it, etc etc, rinse, repeat…. Think of it like the flu, a heavy metal flu if you will… "

Note that the Playstation 3 version has one more trophy than the 360 version has achievements. It's called Rock God, earned for collecting all PS3 trophies.

360 PS3 Name
15 Bronze Got a Car and a Date Completed "Welcome to the Age of Metal"
15 Bronze Start a Revolution Completed "Exploited in the Bowels of Hell"
15 Bronze Thick as a Baby's Arm Completed "Lair of the Metal Queen"
15 Bronze Hair Remover Completed "Battle for Bladehenge"
15 Bronze French Kiss Instructor Completed "Pilgrimage of Screams"
15 Bronze Chicks n' Booze n' Stuff Completed "Sanctuary of Sin"
15 Bronze Ran to the Hills Completed "It's Raining Death"
15 Bronze Fistfull of Fog Completed "Dry Ice, Wet Graves"
15 Bronze No More Tears Completed "Sea of Black Tears"
25 Silver Groupie Completed Campaign mode on Easy
25 Silver Roadie Completed Campaign mode on Normal
25 Silver Legend Completed Campaign mode on Brutal
20 Bronze Overkill Completed all hunting secondary missions
20 Bronze Squeal Like a Chicken Completed all racing secondary missions
20 Bronze Protector Completed 20 ambush, outpost defense, or mortar secondary missions
50 Gold Metal God Achieved 100% completion on the stats screen
10 Bronze Serpent Samaritan Freed 40 Bound Serpents
15 Bronze Serpent Spanker Freed 80 Bound Serpents
25 Silver Serpent Savior Freed all 120 Bound Serpents
5 Bronze One Hit Wonder Purchased 1 upgrade in the Motor Forge
25 Silver Loyal Customer Purchased all upgrades in the Motor Forge
20 Bronze Virtuoso Learned all guitar solos
20 Bronze Tourist Viewed all vistas
20 Bronze Now You Must Tell the Tale Viewed all Legends
20 Bronze Voices From Beyond Unlocked all songs in the Mouth of Metal
20 Bronze Flowerslave Summoned all Motor Forges
10 Bronze Practice Bloody Practice Won an AI Stage Battle - any difficulty
20 Bronze Iron Fist Won an AI Stage Battle - Brütal difficulty
10 Bronze Victör Won a ranked multiplayer match
20 Silver Subjügator Won 10 ranked multiplayer matches
50 Gold Cönquerer Won 50 ranked multiplayer matches
20 Bronze Master of the Flame Double Teamed with every Ironheade unit
20 Bronze Master of the Tear Double Teamed with every Drowning Doom unit
20 Bronze Master of the Blood Double Teamed with every Tainted Coil unit
20 Bronze Armchair General Won a Stage Battle by yourself against the AI without attacking
30 Silver Favored Acquired 3,000 Fire Tributes
30 Silver Sellout Spent 250,000 fans - any mode
20 Bronze Some Demon Flesh on your Bumper Slayed 150 enemies with the Deuce - any mode
30 Silver I've never touched an axe before Personally smote 300 enemies - any mode
10 Bronze Silence, groundwalker! Gained 5 or more seconds of hang time in a single jump - any mode
15 Bronze Six Degrees of Schafer*** Played with or against another player who has this Achievement
15 Bronze Ringleader Trapped 15 enemies in one ring of fire with the Fire Baron's Double Team
15 Bronze Painkiller Killed 25 enemies with the grinder of one
Rock Crusher
15 Bronze Dollpocalypse Hit 6 enemies with the explosion from a Brood's Double Team
15 Bronze Euthanasia Hit 15 enemies with one Agony Ball using the Pain Lifter's Double Team
15 Bronze Death From Above Killed 20 enemies with one Bleeding Death
15 Bronze Coolest Thing Ever Jumped over a Hextadon in the Deuce
15 Bronze Beast Master Rode every animal in the world
50 Silver Boar Bather Rode a Razorfire Boar into the Sea of Black Tears and live to tell the tale.
20 Bronze Quill Tosser Killed a Tollusk using only Ground Urchins

N/A Platinum Rock God Got all PS3 trophies

What's changing? The ability to view more detailed info on your Trophy collection online for one thing. Sorting, Trophies comparison against friends and enemies, and a better PlayStation Network Portable ID for three more things.

Eric Lempel, director of PlayStation Network Operations, lays it all out for you.

My Trophies collection is nothing to brag about, so don't expect to see me flaunting my PSN Portable ID around the web.

When can we expect all this? Later this week, according to Lempel.

Enhanced PlayStation Network Trophies Online [PlayStation.blog]

The Trophy patch will be issued prior to the release of the next downloadable level for the game, one set on Tatooine and introducing Boba Fett to the game's adventure.

Trophy hunters, be warned, LucasArts told Kotaku that a Sony requirement necessitates that anyone wanting to use this patch will have to let their current PlayStation 3 save file for the game be deleted. Maybe you can copy it, but the message we're getting is that it won't work, as per Sony requirements for Trophy patches.

With the Tatooine DLC coming in the fall, the Trophy patch should be out in the next few months. The Xbox 360 version has supported Achievements since launch.

"Acquire Waffle Weapons!" is earned once you pick up the "Ray Gun," "DG-2" and "Monkey Bomb" at the same time. There's also a mention of a teleporter. I haven't played CoD:WaW in a while, but this is the first I've heard of any ray guns. Sounds like the game's getting a little pulp science-fictiony with secret weapons of the Third Reich.

The full list is below. They went up on the official site July 23.

• 40 Knives!:
Kill 40 zombies with the bowie knife.
• Acquire Waffle Weapons!:
Obtain the Ray Gun, DG-2, and the Monkey Bomb at the same time in a game.

• Der electrican!:
Link all teleport pads before round 7.

• Frequent Flyer!:
Use the teleporter 8 times.

• Locksmith!:
Open all doors in the map.

• The Might of the Monkey!:
Use the Monkey Bomb.

• Perkaholics Anonymous!:
Survive untill round 20 without buying a single perk.

• Pack Addict!:
Upgrade 5 weapons at the Pack A Punch Machine.

• Wacker Packer!:
Upgrade any weapon in Pack A Punch.

• Elevate Your Senses!:
???

The 10 New Achievements/Trophies for Map Pack 3 [Call of Duty.com, thanks The Whitedwarf]

When news of the patch spread last month, Capcom didn't give a date for its release. We heard it got approved this week, through the company's official Twitter feed. It is now out, so run go get it if you want unlimited lives, and want to swing into walls without detaching and falling to your death.

Unfortunately, Comcrap is taking its sweet-ass time installing my interwebs, so I can't connect and verify if this is on Xbox Live or not. I'll update the post if anyone can verify it for us meantime.

If you were wondering, I'm doing all of my blogging on a tethered iPhone, and it is just as rad as it sounds.

Now that they've gotten the full sequel out the door, Capcom and developer Grin have been hard at work tweaking and fixing the Bionic Commando remake, slipping in support for PlayStation 3 trophies in the process. The update, which is due sometime soon, tweaks the easy and normal modes for both the Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network versions of the game, while leaving hard and super hard alone for those of you with madder skills.

How much easier is it? Can you say unlimited lives? Capcom can. Now when you die you will respawn at the last piece of solid ground you stood on. You can also reel out your line if it's too short, and swinging into a wall while hooked will no longer send you falling to your death. They've also fixed a bug with the Super Joe Machine Gun, giving it more damage when upgraded along with the bigger clip.

Needless to say, if you can't finish the game once the upgrade hits, there is most likely something seriously wrong with you.

Trophies coming to Bionic Commando Rearmed plus 100% less broken controllers. [Capcom Unity]

Tipsters who spotted the price page before it was removed said the game will cost $12.99 (€12.99 in Europe, £9.99 UK) on PlayStation Network and list for 1000 Microsoft Points on Xbox Live. Couldn't confirm that this morning, but it sounds reasonable.

The achievements page was dated yesterday, so perhaps it wasn't a mistake. But it added 10 new Trophies, three silver and seven bronze, bringing the total in Burnout Paradise on the PS3 to 98. They are:

Drive through 20 Island Smash Gates
Smash 15 Island Billboards
Land 5 Island Mega-Jumps
Jump through Deese's Donut
4.5 seconds of Crash TV Air Time
Complete a 750 yard drift inside the Inspiral Car Park
Complete your first Island Tour
Find all Island Events
Complete all 10 Island Freeburn Challenges
Smash all 45 Island Billboards

Criterion Games brags that the 98 trophies in Burnout Paradise is 32 more than the next closest game on the PS3. For the Xbox 360, Big Surf Island adds five achievements worth 110 Gamerscore, bringing those totals to 60 achievements, 1,250 total Gamerscore. The new achievements are:

Smash n' Grab - Drive through 20 Island Smash Gates
Surf Boards - Smash 15 Island Billboards
Island Explorer - Find all 15 Island Events
Crash TV Air Time - Get at least 4.5 seconds Air Time from the Ski Jump
People Person - Complete all 10 Island Freeburn Challenges. These can be completed by 2 - 8 players

Big Surf Island: Trophies and Achievements [Criterion, thanks DCJoeDog, Jeremy, anonymous and others]

Chris goes into great detail about the stunts included in the game, which are sequences of events and combinations of powers used to kill the enemy creatively. Sucker Punch teamed with the Sony testing team to generate a list of more than 80 stunts, narrowing that down to a little over 20 using an "experience monitor" that measured the power used versus the damage done.

Chris also delivers details on the trophies included in the game, which they've broken down into six convenient categories, including:

Game, story and mini-mission completion
Collect all dead drops and shards
Traversal
Stunts
Power-Based
Karmic decisions

Examples include the "Get off my cloud", which is received for knocking someone off a high building to their death. Once again, I find myself extremely glad that life has no achievement system.

inFAMOUS - Trophies and Stunts [PlayStation Blog]

It seemed rather silly to release a trophy patch one week and a functionality patch the next. Perhaps that's why the new global patch for SingStar got pushed back until today. Now players can win various trophies by singing their hearts out, sharing their videos, and not breaking all the glass in the house while trying to reach those high notes.

The patch also introduces a newly redesigned SingStore and My SingStar Online; quick song purchase functionality; and the promised voice control features that mean you never have to put your hands on that filthy controller that for some reason shipped with your $400 to $600 karaoke machine.

Check out the official post over at the PlayStation blog to see a teaser trailer for the upcoming SingStar Queen.

SingStar Global Patch Adds Voice Control, Trophies and More [PlayStation.Blog]

Gamasutra asked a number of prominent developers, from Infinity Ward (Call of Duty) to EA (Skate) through Naughty Dog (Uncharted), just that question. And while all recognised the importance of implementing them correctly in a game (as this can increase both sales and time spent playing), they each had a few different ideas on implementing them.

The Skate guys believe you need to earn them. Naughty Dog reckon that they're there to recognise skilful events, while Infinity Ward (and this is the way I like my achievements) think that they need to be spread gently, and evenly, throughout the experience, because "It's really nice to get a pop-up every hour or two saying that you've done something cool".

Unlocking Achievements: Rewarding Skill With Player Incentives [Gamasutra]

PlayStation 3 owners of Capcom's Age of Booty finally have something to show for all of their hard work with the introduction of trophy support for the game, first promised back in October in order to soften the blow of the game being delayed for a month.

Along with trophy support comes a playable demo of the game, now available on the PlayStation Store, so PS3 owners who've been on the fence since the game was released back in November finally get a chance to try it out before handing over $9.99 their hard-earned real money points.

While this first step only lets you look at your own trophies via the web, Playstation promises that later this year they will be adding the ability to compare and sort trophies in new ways.

In the meantime, take a gander at what tomorrow will bring:

Viewing your PlayStation Trophies on PlayStation.com

Most importantly, patch 1.40 for Resistance 2 will see the return of levels to players who have had there level reset back to 1. Players who had the misfortune of being reset will not only gain back what they lost, but also keep all of the experience they've received since the reset occurred. Huzzah!

There's also some changes to trophies, including a fix for the bugged "Killing Machine" trophy that wasn't being rewarded to players who achieved 10,000 kills. They're also balancing the hell out of the game, adjusting Medic-class XP gain in co-op and (thank goodness) preventing parties from joining free-for-all deathmatch games.

Check out the link below for a full list of the improvements coming to Resistance 2 on Monday.

Resistance 2 Patch 1.40 Details [PlayStation.Blog]