What do we have here? It seems that the most adrenaline-pumping PSN game from Sony Liverpool will be getting a new set of trophies when the game arrives sometime this year. The folks at TheSixthAxis got the early list of trophies, which appear to be bronze, for the upcoming WipEout HD Fury expansion pack.

This summer, WipEout HD fans will be getting a new expansion pack called Fury. The pack will add 8 new tracks, 13 new ship models, 3 new game modes, and more. To whip up some good ol' fan frenzy, Sony's Liverpool Studio has released some gorgeous new screenshots from the Fury pack. Check 'em out in the full article.

The upcoming Beatles game from Rock Band studio Harmonix will follow the Fab Four through different periods in their career, according to Paul McCartney himself. Sounds like we're in for a wild ride of good music and overgrown moptops.

A new job listing on the SCEE website says that they're looking for a new PSP game engine lead to work on LittleBigPlanet projects. Well that feeds new fuel to the rumor that popped up a few months ago. Are the sackboys going portable?

*UPDATE*
It's a rumor no longer! Media Molecule co-founder Mark Healy reveals plans for a PSP version of the game.

With Fall settling in, you can expect the usual bumper crop harvest of annual sports sims to come our way. One of these titles include Konami's Pro Evolution Soccer 2009, which has been confirmed to be released this October 17 on the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and the PC. Find out more about the upcoming game in our full article.

  

Sony Liverpool Game Director Tony Buckley was recently interviewed regarding WipEout HD and how intricate its relationship is with the Playstation Portable versions of WipEout. For those who don't know yet, WipEout HD is going to be a downloadable title based from the tracks found on the PSP version.

According to the game director, the new title will have eight tracks - six of which were take from WipEout Pure and the remaining two were lifted from Pulse. Buckley added that using the PSP codes was most logical because of certain technical considerations. He explained:

Basically, this helped us get a WipEout on PS3 much faster. The PSP track data made the most sense for several of reasons. Plus, the PS2 game's code wouldn't have been very ideal, and as for the PS1 games, unfortunately most of that code is now lost.

This means that the tracks from the PS3 and PSP builds are basically the same but WipEout HD is, well, in HD. Aside from adding effects and details, Tony Buckley shared that they are currently working on revamping the particle system. The director also mentioned that pricing is still not being discussed as of now.

Despite that, Tony Buckley said that future downloads are being considered as of now. But if the downloadable tracks become too many in the future, they might consider a full Blu-ray release:

We'd like to do more tracks as future downloads, certainly. It's not planned right now, but if we released eight more tracks in the future and packaged them all together, at that point you're looking at enough to perhaps justify a Blu-ray release. Of course we're planning things, but right now the focus is on HD.

In an official announcement made not later than today, Konami Digital Entertainment GmbH revealed that the company's Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 will be featuring none other than Michael Owen, English striker and one of Newcastle United's pride and glory, on both the packaging (UK specific) and the promotional materials for the game.

Together with Cristiano Ronaldo, Owen will be combining image and skill on the UK packshots of Pro Evolution Soccer's latest installment. Barring any critical opinion of his choice for Newcastle over Liverpool, Owen still keeps a reputation level with his 178 league goals, 37 of which were for England.

"Securing Michael Owen is a real coup for Konami. Since he burst on to the scene, he has proven himself an incredible goal-scorer, netting at every level both domestic and international," said Jon Murphy, Team Leader for Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 at Konami.

Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 will be heading to the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Windows PC over DVD, PS2, PSP and Nintendo DS by fall of 2007, featuring Konami's new Teamvision artificial intelligence system for dynamic and real-time play.

 

Brace yourselves PlayStation 3 gamers, for Sony has lined up tons of downloadable games coming to the PlayStation Network soon. During their lengthy conference at the E3 Media & Business Summit, Sony talked about titles soon to be distributed over PSN including that of SCE Liverpool's WipEout HD, Idol Mind's PAIN and even Incognito Entertainment's Warhawk.

In a previously released announcement over press wire, Sony Computer Entertainment America (SCEA) named Bluepoint Games' Blast Factor: Advanced Research, Jon Mak's Everyday Shooter, Yuke's Go! Sports Ski, SCEA San Diego's High Velocity Bowling, Kuju Entertainment's Nucleus, Q Games' PixelJunk Racers and Super Stardust HD, among others, as games soon to be available over PlayStation 3 via the PlayStation Network.

Trailers of PAIN and WipEout HD were provided during the presentation along with some commentary, while PlayStation Home was mentioned for a fleeting five minutes, which included mention of it's fall release to be on target. Evolution Studios' MotorStorm and Ninja Theory's Heavenly Sword had features presented during the conference which were Home-related, showing off Home's ability to launch any PlayStation 3 game and host virtual spaces for Sony titles.

Sony is keeping mum about the rumored WipEout HD title reportedly revealed by WipEout Pulse director Tony Buckley to video game news site 1UP.

According to European gaming news site Eurogamer, a Sony UK representative said that the company can't confirm anything about a WipEout title for the PS3 at this time. The 1UP news piece mentioned that WipEout HD should be "officially announced in August or even earlier at E3".

In the 1UP report, WipEout HD was supposedly going to be a precursor to a Sony Liverpool's WipEout title for the PS3. The Sony Liverpool project is slated for release sometime in 2008. WipEout HD would reportedly feature an online multiplayer mode and possible HD-enabled tracks from WipEout Pulse.

Develop has recently announced the list of finalists nominated to receive awards offered by the Develop Industry Excellence Awards. Set for the region of UK and Europe, the awards will be held during the Develop Conference & Expo to be held this year at Brighton. Again.

 

Top of the nominees list is Realtime Worlds (Crackdown), bagging a whopping seven nominations. Evolution Studios (MotorStorm), Rare (Viva Piñata), SCEE Studio Liverpool (Formula One Championship Edition), and independent developer and publisher Introversion (DEFCON) get three nominations a-piece. Other nominees include GSC Game World (S.T.A.L.K.E.R.) from Russia, EA DICE (Battlefield series) and Avalanche from Sweden, Opera from Norway, and Fishlabs from Germany.

Some of the big names nominated for the 2007 awards night include Eidos Hungary, Ubisoft France development studios, Eden Studios, and Kynogon. The fate of these nominees will be decided by a panel of almost 100 industry experts who choose only excellence over anything else. Stuart Dinsey, publisher of Develop magazine, stated:

In a period which has seen the launch of two home consoles, the continued improvement of Xbox 360 and PC software, and the mobile games market emerge as a genuine creative and commercial alternative to the more traditional games platforms, only the most excellent titles have any chance of standing out from the crowd.

Two other special awards, Development Legend and overall Grand Prix, will be given away in the awards night on July 25 to be honored to individuals, companies, or titles deserving in the eyes of the magazine's editorial staff.