It's official: Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots has been given a perfect review score by Japanese publication Famitsu. This means that Hideo Kojima's latest offering is only the eighth game to receive that accolade, joining the likes of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and Final Fantasy XII atop the electronic entertainment tower. See the scan after the jump.

(Editor's note: With all the events happening around the gaming industry this week, we've been churning out news reels like cuh. ray. zee.)

Busy, busy week, folks! Both Sony and Microsoft held their Gamer's Day events this week and we've got a lot of updates from both! We've also got the skinny on the recently launched WiiWare service, and what's this? Guitar Hero has... drums? Time to get the ball rolling, head over to the full article!

In the latest issue of the UK Official PlayStation Magazine (the same one that gave Metal Gear Solid 4 a solid 10 rating), they dished out some rumors that, if true, hint at good times ahead. They have rumors of an Assassin's Creed movie in the works, a Cloverfield game, and even the setting for the Uncharted sequel. Check them all out and more in the full article.

If you're having sleepless nights thinking about when Grand Theft Auto IV (PS3, Xbox 360) and Street Fighter 4 will be hitting the PlayStation 3, then we have some good news to help tide you over. According to an article posted on the Official PlayStation Magazine, it stated that Grand Theft Auto, Grand Theft Auto 2, and Street Fighter Alpha may soon be making an appearance as downloads on the PlayStation Network. Check out the full article for more details on this juicy tidbit.

News has been sparse regarding Metal Gear Online since the announcement that the game and Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots would be integrated into a package deal - that is, until now.

Konami has revealed more tasty features we can expect to play around with. Metal Gear Online will purportedly include various gameplay modes. Find out what those features are after the jump!

We just got word that former gaming magazine editor John Davison has just opened up a new gaming website for parents. This particular website reportedly aims to be the "video games guide for parents" and was established due to the alleged proliferation of violent titles.

John Davison is not at all a stranger to the video game industry. He used to be the editor of magazines EGM as well as the Official PlayStation Magazine for U.S. Check the full story by clicking the "read more" link below.

The results are in: chosen as this year's Ultimate Game of the Year in the Annual Golden Joystick Awards is (dun dun dun) Gears of War! Gears of War also won the All-Nighter Award, Editor's Choice Award and is the Xbox Game of the Year.

Other winners of the 25th Annual Golden Joystick Awards are the Nintendo Wii, which won Innovation of the Year, World of Warcraft: Burning Crusade as the Online Game of the Year, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess as the Nintendo Game of the Year, and God of War II as the PlayStation Game of the Year.

Here are the other winners of the Golden Joystick Awards:

• Girls' Choice Game of the Year 2007: Guitar Hero II
• Family Game of the Year 2007: Wii Sports
• Handheld Game of the Year 2007: Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories
• Mobile Game of the Year 2007: Final Fantasy
• Soundtrack of the Year 2007: Guitar Hero II
• Developer of the Year 2007: Codemasters
• The Total Film One to Watch 2007: Assassin's Creed
• Retailer of the Year 2007: Game
• Publisher of the Year 2007: Nintendo
• PC Game of the Year 2007: The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar

Here's to another year of great games!

It's been a while since Team ICO's Shadow of the Colossus gave Sony PlayStation 2 owners a unique experience brought about by topnotch game design and spectacular art, which was the spiritual sequel to another stand out title called ICO. We're among those who are patiently waiting for either of these two to get a sequel, but some fans took a step forward and squeezed out info from the UK Official PlayStation Magazine. There hasn't been any confirmation (concrete or otherwise), but it does seem like Team ICO is working on a sequel.

Fan group Team ICO Gamers sent out a query to OPM UK about any info pertaining to Team ICO's activities, and received an interesting reply. Here it is, verbatim:

We asked Sony boss Kaz Hirai what was going on with Team ICO a couple of months back. As he was pleading ignorance, one of the other execs present blurted out. "I'm pretty sure they're doing the sequel." Our fearless reporter immediately asked. "What, the sequel to ICO or Shadow of the Colossus?" Then the room filled with knockout gas...

Not much, eh? We did hear about Team ICO developing a new title for the PS3, but there were no details about the mysterious project. When they talk about a sequel, we can only guess that the game will be set in the same world as ICO and Shadow of the Colossus. Whether we'll be seeing the horned kid or the wanderer, we're hoping to learn more about the world Team ICO has always kept under tight wraps.

Future US, Inc. has struck a deal with Sony Computer Entertainment America to publish the official sounding new publication: PlayStation: The Official Magazine. Future US already publishes numerous special interest magazines, including the Official Xbox Magazine, PC Gamer and Nintendo Power so readers needn't worry if they're up to the task of managing a gaming mag.

Future US will be overseeing the editorial and advertising sales for the magazine and their first issue will be the Holiday 2007 edition that will be released in late November. The company already had a long standing relationship with Sony prior to the arrangement: its parent company, Future plc, already publishes the Official Sony PlayStation Magazine for the UK.

To top off Future US's credentials with the gaming industry, we must remember that they also published the official show magazine for the E for All Expo last month. Rob Smith, the former editor-in-chief of PSM-Independent PlayStation Magazine, will be taking over the same position in Playstation: The Official Magazine. The magazine will start their circulation with 300,000 copies and will be delivering 13 issues per year.

The rumor mill is in full production today, and it's churning out a fresh supply for Sony Computer Entertainment Japan's upcoming puzzle game designed to play with your mind, Echochrome (PSP, PS3). It seems that the game, which is all about how angles and perspectives can change the in-game world drastically, may have no less than three sequels in the pipeline.

This juicy tidbit comes from a page of the Official PlayStation Magazine, in the PlayStation Network section. In that section lies a mini-article talking about Echochrome, and how Sony Japan has mysteriously patented the titles Echoblack, Echosepia and Echowhite. See a pattern forming there? Curious, no?

Either way, this bodes only good tidings for those of us with PSPs in our pockets and PS3s in our living rooms. After all, Echochrome is sandbox fun at its finest - more of it would simply be icing on the cake.