It was just like yesterday when we reported about the first issue of the free PS3 magazine called P3Zine. Fast forward to the present, the magazine is now on its third issue and for something that wouldn't cost you a buck, it sure does pack a lot of gaming goodies.

In P3Zine's Issue #3, you would find a Colin McRae: DIRT hands-on preview and an exclusive interview with the game's producer, Codemaster's Alex Grimbley. The fun read doesn't stop there as this issue also includes:

• The Darkness preview
• Stuntman: Ignition preview
• Dark Sector preview
• PlayStation 2 reviews
• PlayStation 3 community section

Not bad for a free mag right? All you need to have to be able to read P3Zine is a copy of Adobe Reader (version 6 or up). With all that said, here's the download link to P3Zine's third issue.

Download: P3Zine Issue# 3

Just yesterday, we reported that Crytek established a new studio in Budapest, Hungary, to work on a new game which is apparently a non-FPS title. Over at Next-Gen.biz, Crytek engine business manager Harald Seely talked about their new studio and their drive to think outside the FPS genre that has made them famous.

When asked about their new studio, Seely said that "we think that there are a lot of other interesting opportunities out there... We haven't really scratched the surface of [what the] CryENGINE can do. We want to explore those opportunities." No other details were revealed about Crytek Budapest's game-in-development.

But he did talk about Crytek's move to open house in Budapest. He said that:

Eastern Europe as a source of game development has already proven itself... It's already growing very quickly, a lot of companies have put studios in the East. A lot of them aren't really publicized. A lot of the work is in the mode of outsourcing. But I think as they become more and more experienced with the tools we have today, there's going to be a lot of original ideas coming out of there as well.

With regards to Crytek's alleged plans to dish out something good on the PS3, this is all Seely had to say:

How's our PlayStation 3 project coming? I wasn’t aware we announced any PlayStation 3 project yet.

In case you have forgotten, this rumor was revived due to a job listing for a PS3 programmer on Crytek's official website. Earlier, Crytek CEO Cervat Yerli just said "nope, no comment on this" when asked about Crytek's PS3 plans. Crytek's lips are still sealed, so you guys could still speculate away.

The last time we talked about Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, its producers - Justin Manning and Chris Roberts have just revealed what their dev team has been slaving for this past eight months. Now, more revealing shall take place - albeit minor details about the game's PS3 outing.

We have here three new PS3 screens of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Aside from that, we would also divulge its official packshot - just so you know what to look for come the game's release date. Let us keep this short and sweet, shall we? Here are the Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix screens and packshot.

The game is set to come out on June 25, 2007 for the U.S. and June 28, 2007 for Europe. Keep checking us out for more updates about the game.

 

Starbreeze's comic book-inspired game The Darkness (PS3, Xbox 360) already has a release date (June 25 for the U.S., June 29 for Europe) and a demo date for the Xbox 360 version. Now may just be the right time to gaze at the game's final logo and final PS3 packshot.

Of course, when talking about The Darkness, the name Jackie Estacado is bound to be mentioned. Aside from fighting his former employers (his Mafia ex-employers to be exact), he is also fighting the creatures of the Otherworld. And because words are not enough to describe this game of modern day crime drama and supernatural horror, we've hooked you up with a short video teaser of the game. Click play and check it out for yourself.

A few days ago, we reported that Gundam Musou is U.S. bound with a new name - Dynasty Warrios: Gundam. We bet that a lot of people are excited with this development, so to keep the excitement up, here are some screens and artwork of the game. Let's start with the screens first, shall we? Here they are:

That's just the tip of the iceberg! Dynasty Warriors: Gundam artworks could be found on the Full Article!

As much as we appreciate Guy Wilday's insights and opinions about SEGA Rally (Xbox 360, PS3, PC), it's now time to get dirty with these three recently released artworks of the game. Here, check out how detailed they have become, and make sure to click on them to appreciate them more:

   

SEGA Rally is still stamped with an "Autumn 2007" release date. In case you didn't know, this game is being developed by Sega Racing Studio and Mr. Wilday is one of their directors. If you wanna know more about the game, we suggest you check out its features in one of our earlier articles. We'll be dishing out more on this game as more details and goodies come our way.

 

Checking out Australian gaming website, mygen, they have posted some scans of Ubisoft's alleged Xbox 360 exclusive, Splinter Cell: Conviction. Apparently, these scans came from a Finnish magazine who is said to have scored an exclusive interview with the Ubisoft folks. There were some info divulged about the game and mygen was kind enough to translate the more important and interesting stuff. Here's what they came up with:

• No more sneaking around in the shadows...You won't have to use force or sneak around as long as you don't act suspiciously.
• According to the article, every single object that is rendered on screen has physical properties and most of them can be used by Sam. For example, Sam can pick up furniture and use it as a weapon, or throw printers at enemies or papers in the face of enemies to gain the upper hand in fights.
• Melee fights are much more than "press this button to hit" this time around. There's different context sensitive attack buttons and as mentioned before lots of environmental interaction.
• The Ubisoft developers said that the fact that they are exclusive to the 360 allows them to do much more than if they were multiplatform, but they also state they doubt they would be able to achieve what they're doing with the game on the 360 on the PS3 even if it was PS3 exclusive.

Well, that's all we could find for now. Trust us when we tell you that will hook you up with more info when they come our way. For now, check out the scans we have for you all.

  

It was back in October 2006 when 2K Sports first took the lid off their baseball game title, The BIGS (Wii, Xbox 360, PS3, PSP). Fast forward to today, the game now has a cover athlete and some of its features have also been divulged, now may be the best time to report an interview.

Over at Gamespot, they had a short chit-chat with Blue Castle Games' Jason Leigh. He talked about the game's development (which is going really well or so he says) and how they are creating an over-the-top arcade baseball game while still being true to a sport that is rich with tradition thanks to Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth among many others. To that, Jason said that:

Baseball is already an exciting game, so our focus was how to make the coolest stuff happen all the time. The BIGS is very much a solid representation of baseball, but taken to an entirely new level. The first thing that you'll notice with The BIGS is that it has a really cool arcade pace. There is minimal downtime, and everything feels faster and snappier. We put a lot of effort into our animation system to make sure that there is a lot of style and athleticism with the catches and throws. The players really do feel more heroic, even when pulling off routine plays. When they start to pull off the big moves--diving catches, double plays, wall catches, etc.--we really made sure to pay that off with bigger animations, audio, and presentation.

He also discussed the game's league challenge mode (which has now been renamed as "rookie challenge"). Basically, this mode will let you in on the usual "zero-to-hero journey" - you're in charge of harnessing a rookie player's talents, from spring training to being the World Series MVP. Spring training would include building your player's skills by using minigames as their training ground.

Once you've proven your mettle, you'll earn your playoff spot and all of a sudden your rookie would be carrying his team on and to the World Series. It's a long way to the top, so it's nice to note that there are some unlockable rewards - sunglasses, batter ditties, bat graphics, tattoos, and you can choose your rookie's nickname or moniker.

The BIGS on the Wii would use both the Wiimote and Nunchuk - and of course, you get to swing it like a bat and throw it like you would a baseball. Leigh also said that they are already in the final stages of refining the control scheme. Xbox Live Achievements like "get X strikeouts, get X home runs in a game...and pitch a perfect game" would also be put in place. Unfortunately, The BIGS won't be in the PS3 Home online service...well, "not this year" says Jason.

You can check out the full interview by clicking on our read link below.

Putting the SIXAXIS comment behind him and focusing on their upcoming SEGA Rally game (PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PC), Guy Wilday talked to website Spong about the game and what gamers could expect from it.

The game is being developed by SEGA's new studio (it's being developed in the United Kingdom by SEGA Driving Studio) so it must be daunting for Wilday and his crew to develop a prized franchise right? Well, Wilday has a different opinion about it. He says that developing SEGA Rally is actually fun and exciting mainly because of its esteemed and successful history. Optimists, that's what we need.

As to how many tracks could we expect from the game, they are still undecided in that department. He explains that:

We could quite easily have 100 different tracks, but if players didn’t feel like they were racing bumper to bumper in frantic races with mud splattering everywhere we wouldn’t have achieved delivering a proper SEGA Rally experience. However, we’re confident that we’ll deliver that and also have a varied selection of tracks for players to race on.

That's not the only game aspect that's in the fine-tuning department - Wilday divulges that the race modes, locations, and the range of cars are still being worked on. He also highlights the importance of the computer AI, which he believes is one of the aspects that people remember about SEGA Rally. The crew is hard at work to ensure that the AI is a perfectly balanced. He refused to reveal features that will be in place to increase the game's longevity (downloadable content like new cars, modes, stages etc). But he did say that:

There will be online for both PS3 and XB360. Can’t go into too many details now, but we’ll certainly have online races.

You could check out the word-per-word interview by clicking on the Read link below.

Over at Slashdot, they have featured a short Q&A session with Sony Computer Entertainment honcho, Phil Harrison. In spite of his busy schedule, he managed to thoroughly answer the readers' inquiries...that says a lot about him, right? The questions range from the personal (how he got into the business), the interesting (the homebrew scene and the rumble feature for the SIXAXIS), and the deep (gaming philosophy).

Let's focus with the interesting bits, shall we? Anonymous Coward, maynard, and flitty asked him this question - "if someone manages to get homebrew games running on the PS3, will there be firmware updates?... How does this strategy differ your strategy with PSP homebrew?" To that, he says:

I fully support the notion of game development at home using powerful tools available to anyone...It's a vital, crucial aspect of the future growth of our industry and links well to the subtext of my earlier answers. When I started making games on the Commodore 64 in the 1980's...I might share this with a few friends but not for commercial gain at that time. But the process itself was invaluable in helping me learn to program, to design graphics, animations or sounds and was really the way I opened doors to get into the industry.

Now, those industry doors are largely closed by the nature of the video game systems themselves being closed. So, if we can make certain aspects of PS3 open to the independent game development community, we will do our industry a service by providing opportunities for the next generation of creative and technical talent. Now having said all that, we still have to protect the investment and intellectual property rights of the industry so we will always seek the best ways to secure and protect our devices from piracy and unauthorized hacking that damages the business.

Now Sciros posted a very good question - retaining PS3-exclusives. Are they worried that previously exclusive games are going multiplatform? Phil says that their main concern is "to make sure those games (the selection of meaningful PS3 exclusives) are absolutely the best they can be".

As for the first party controller with rumble question asked by SuperCharlie, Mr. Harrison said that it's a little to early to tell since they have just resolved their legal issues with Immersion. And of course, when talking about the PS3, the question about the price drop is unavoidable. To that, he answered with a simple "we have no plans to drop the price".

Check out the personal and deep bits of the Q&A by clicking on our Read link below.