PlayStation.Blog.Europe Weekly Content Recap

Let’s start the year off as we mean to go on, shall we? We’ve barely digested our turkey and are still nursing a bit of a headache from New Year’s and yet we’ve brought you some interesting stuff this week. Both the boxart for GT5 and the release date for Heavy Rain have now been revealed and you’ve the chance to win one of ten awesome custom Darksiders PS3s. Not a bad start to what should be a great year for PlayStation fans.

• MAG Open Beta Now Live — Start the year with a bang. The MAG beta has been opened to everyone. You’ve still got the weekend to play.
• Dark Void Demo Available This Week — The Dark Void demo is now available on the PSN Store. Check it out!
• PlayStation Home Update: The London Pub, Complete with Darts Board — Feel even more at home in Home with the London Pub. (Unless you’re not a Londoner, in which case it might feel kind of exotic!)
• Rock Band 2 PS3 Software Update — Harmonix are patching Rock Band 2 with some awesome free updates, including wireless SingStar mic support.
• Alien Zombie Death Coming Soon To PSN — Another PS mini title is headed to the PSN Store soon.
• GT5 Cover Announcement — Want to see the GT5 cover art? You’re in luck.
• make.believe: GT Academy – The Game Is Just The Start… — Shown at CES, this video shows Lucas Ordonez’s journey to become the 2009 GT Academy winner.
• ‘Heads-Up’ PlayStation Store Update (7th January 2010) — This week’s PSN Store update.
• CES: 3D Games And Movies Coming To PS3 In 2010 — A summary of the gaming related announcements made during Sony’s CES press conference.
• Digital Comics Store Update (7th January 2010) — A list of the newest comics now available via the Digital Comics service.
• Win A Custom PS3 In Our Darksiders Competition — Darksiders is awesome and so is this custom PS3. THQ is giving away ten of these amazing prizes.
• Heavy Rain Approaching! — We announce the release date for Heavy Rain. Not long now!
• New Year – New Exclusive! — VidZone starts the year off on a high with a new exclusive.

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Hi everyone – Alex Pavey here, with some great news about Heavy Rain to start off the new year! The eagle-eyed amongst you will have noticed that the US release date has been confirmed today as the 23rd February – and although there are still some final tests and checks to be completed, I wanted to let you all know that you can expect to see Heavy Rain on-shelves across PAL regions during the same week – Wednesday 24th February for mainland Europe, and Friday 26th February in the UK and Ireland.

There are a range of pre-order programs going on – these vary across each country, but will offer you a chance to get hold of either the Heavy Rain Special Edition, or specific bonus items DLC including “Heavy Rain: Chronicle One – The Taxidermist”. Look out for more details on country-specific pre-order plans soon.

Heavy Rain is the highly anticipated PS3 exclusive developed by Quantic Dream – an emotional thriller where your choices can have dramatic consequences. There’ll be plenty more interesting news to come on Heavy Rain as we approach launch, so keep your eyes open…!

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Happy new year everyone, what better way to kick off 2010 than with the coming of the apocalypse! This week Darksiders has arrived on PlayStation 3 and to celebrate we’ve got a prize for you to win.

Remember that custom Darksiders PlayStation 3 I showed you before Christmas? The one that looked like this…

Well, you can win it! Just 10 of these limited edition consoles have been made, each one numbered and featuring art by Joe Mad. Head over to PlayStation.com to enter the competition. Along with the custom console you’ll also win a copy of the game for PlayStation 3 with a ‘Book of War’ case… Which you won’t find in stores

Competition only open to UK & Ireland.

Darksiders is out now, check out the launch trailer…

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Alright? How is everyone? Broken your new year’s resolutions yet?… Thought so!

Well we haven’t… Ours was to continue the exclusives and features we give to our loyal Vidzonians (Don’t tell me that isn’t a word… There is enough of you out there now to make it a word).

So without further ado… Let’s do it.

We’ve got live footage of The Temper Trap playing at Koko Club in London with a set that includes the brilliant hit single ‘Sweet Disposition’.

We’ve also got their video for the brand new single ‘Fader’ and to celebrate the success of the debut album ‘Conditions’ we’ll be giving the VidZone application a bit of a makeover in Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, UK, France, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg for the Aussie wonders.

They’re also touring Europe from late February through to May so head over to their website for more details, then you can catch them live in person not only on VidZone!

Also…

Check out new playlists including exciting Hot New Videos to get your teeth into and…wait for it…Yes that’s right you demanded it so we’ve delivered a new METAL playlist with videos from Children of Bodom, Cannibal Corpse, Mudvayne, and The Black Dahlia Murder to name a few.

Keep your eyes peeled for a recommended playlist coming not long after, complete with as much metal as we can cram in and the newly refurbished Metal genre category.

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Hello and happy new year! Firstly a huge thanks from the Comics team for making the launch of the Digital Comics Store a huge success. We’re thrilled at all the feedback you’ve given; thankfully it’s almost all positive. We do read it all so please keep it coming.

If you have yet to try Digital Comics, please give it a go. There are currently 14 free comics for you to sample.

On to this week’s releases. I know a lot of you have been asking for it so you’ll be happy to know that we are releasing Marvel’s epic Civil War #1 – #7. Find out what happens after the Superhuman Registration Act is passed and whether Spider-Man will finally reveal his true identity to the public. Other Marvel highlights include The Avengers and Daredevil.

We also start a new story arc of Wormwood: Gentlemen Corpse called “It only Hurts When I Pee.” As with the previous issues, this includes audio commentary from the creator Ben Templesmith. A highly recommended purchase at only 79p.

I can’t detail all 40 comics so here is the complete list:

• The Avengers (1998) #56 – #67 — Marvel (£1.19) 9+
• Locke and Key: Welcome to Lovecraft #2 — IDW (£0.79) 17+
• Nanover: Game Day #2 — IDW (£0.79) 9+
• Paranormal Activity: The Search for Katie IDW (£0.79) 12+
• Star Trek: Countdown #1 – #4 — IDW (£0.79) 12+
• Transformers: All Hail Megatron #8 — IDW (£1.19) 12+
• Wormwood: Gentlemen Corpse #5: It Only Hurts When I Pee IDW (£0.79) 17+
• Doubleduck — Disney (£1.19) 3+
• Fethry Duck and the Ghost Writer — Disney (£0.79) 3+
• Mickey Mouse in “War of the Worlds” — Disney (£1.19)
• Superduck: Robber Against His Will — Disney (£0.79) 3+
• X-Mickey: The Day of the Forget-Me-Rats — Disney (£1.19) 3+
• 2000AD — Prog #1661 (£1.19) 15+
• Civil War (2006) #1 – #7 — Marvel (£1.19) 12+
• Daredevil (1998) #81-#86 — Marvel (£1.19) 12+

So there you have it, I hope there is something in there for you this week. If you are new to comics and are unsure where to start head on over to the comics forum, there are already a number of threads full of recommendations. Don’t forget that you can also browse the entire catalogue at the Digital Comics website and even link directly through to the product page on MediaGo once you’ve found one you like.

Until next week… (or in the comments below)

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