To anyone visiting my beloved West Midlands for The Beta Rooms this weekend, have a bostin’ time, as they say just down the road. I’m going to be revisiting inFamous (as a good person) and trying to get a 147 on Hustle Kings. Here’s your recap.

PlayStation.Blog.Europe Weekly Content Recap

• Official PlayStation Community Spotlight - MusterBuster sums up another week on the official PlayStation forums.
• The AU Video Store Is Heating Up - Nino brings our Aussie friends their Video Store update.
• Young Thor Mini Comic - We get a little comic about one of our favourite minis.
• This Week On The SingStore (28 July 2010) - Nina brings more melodic goodness to the SingStore.
• FirstPlay Episode 17 - The latest reviews and features from the FirstPlay team.
• Share your Tastes With Your Facebook Friends - eu.playstation.com gets a load of new features.
• Introducing Earthworm Jim HD - This wriggly classic gets an HD overhaul.
• MAG v1.07 Available Early August - Details of the MAG updates coming your way.
• ‘Heads-Up’ Game Store Update (28th July 2010) - Mike Kebby brings you this week’s downloadable fun.
• minis Round-Up: Three From Bigben Interactive - Three new minis come to PlayStation Store this week.
• Digital Comics Store Update (28th July 2010) - A massive update from the Digital Comics team.
• Scott Pilgrim Vs The World Soundtrack Goes Old School - It’s not just Scott Pilgrim’s visuals that are retro.
• PlayStation Home: Wise Man Update And New Wings! - Alex brings you this week’s PlayStation Home update.
• Win An Exclusive Trip To Gamescom 2010 Plus A VAIO Laptop And Sony Bloggie Camera - Win the chance to join me at the SCEE gamescom press conference.
• Kingdom Hearts Special Edition - Details of the Special Edition for the upcoming PSP blockbuster.
• Introducing Premier Manager – Exclusive PSN Football Management Game - Time to dust off the shell suit.
• inFamous Comic-Con Recap - Jeff Rubenstein brings us a round-up of the inFamous Comic-Con panel.
• “Win Two Tickets To The Expendables Premiere”
• Influence MAG: Leaving Game Affects Win/Loss Record - The MAG developers want your input.
• The Friday Debate – That Belongs in a Museum? - That old chestnut.
• Dead Nation Hands On – Sid Shuman of the US PlayStation Blog gives a detailed account of his time with the zombie shooter.

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New York is one hell of a town. SCEA held a media day there last week and Sid Shuman, resident zombie expert over on the US PlayStation Blog, was there to check out the latest and greatest PlayStation games. I particularly enjoyed his hands-on impressions of Dead Nation and would like to share it with you guys. No love for Shaun of the Dead, Sid?

I’m a pathological fan of zombie movies. Night of the Living Dead. Return of the Living Dead. 28 Days Later, [REC], Dawn of the Dead — I count these films among my all-time favorites.

So I was obviously itching to get my mitts on Dead Nation, the upcoming PSN shooter from the creators of Super Stardust HD. Luckily, I got some extensive play time from last week’s NYC PlayStation media day. Here’s what I learned.

You can upgrade your guns…a lot. Dead Nation’s environments are dotted with fenced-in “safe zones” that give you a chance to catch your breath and buy supplies from a convenient gun shop. In addition to buying health and ammo, you can purchase mods that will enhance your various weapons in different ways, depending on the gun. You can upgrade a wide variety of stats: damage, ammo capacity, firing rate, reload time, and range.

The Shotgun is devastating. The Dead Nation build I played featured three weapons — the Shotgun, SMG, and Rifle — with more to come in the final version. Early on, I decided to pour my money into upgrading the Shotgun’s damage and spread capability. The results were impressive: My buckshot blasts became massive cones of death, ripping through the ghoul hordes like a wet sneeze through a store-brand tissue. Sometimes I swapped to the SMG for its rapid firing rate, or the Rifle for its long-range capabilities. But come Dead Nation’s release date later this fall, I know what my go-to gun will be.

There are many zombie types. After you shake off the initial shock of battling dozens and dozens of zombies, you’ll quickly learn that not every zombie is created equal. You’ll see fast, gangly zombies that rush up close but fall quickly to melee attacks. You’ll see big, tough zombies that take a licking but move more slowly. I even spotted a few zombie cops that wildly fired their service revolvers while they lunged at me.

Mobility = life. Housemarque’s previous game, twinstick PSN shooter Super Stardust HD, is clearly an influence on Dead Nation’s fast-paced gameplay. For example, rapid kills fill up your combo meter, which in turn sends your score into the stratosphere. As in Super Stardust HD, you’ll also realize the importance of staying mobile to avoid incoming enemies — to get cornered is to die. Luckily, you can throw mines and grenades to clear some temporary space, or use the “rush” move to push your way through a line of hungry flesh eaters.

Dead Nation will be released on PSN later this fall. Have any questions about its core gameplay, or zombies in general? Ask away in the comments!

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Naths90 can take credit for suggesting this week’s discussion topic, although it’s such an emotive topic, I have no doubt it would have cropped up at some point. Yes, it’s that old chestnut: can a game be considered art?

To discuss this, we need to open up another can of worms that has divided opinion for centuries: what is art? In its broadest sense, the term can be defined as “A skill at doing a specified thing, typically one acquired through practice” (Oxford English Dictionary, 2005 Ed.). This how we get ‘martial arts’ and ‘the art of war’.

More specifically, OED also lists this definition: “The expression or application of human creative skill and imagination… producing works to be appreciated purely for their beauty or emotional power.”

I’ve always preferred to compare my favourite games to galleries, as opposed to ‘works of art’. They are showcases for the creative powers of many different people, from artists to coders to musicians, and just as a visit to the Guggenheim in New York is as much about seeing that fantastic building as it about viewing its contents, the whole is an experience greater than the sum of its parts.

Over to you – can a good game be considered a work of art? Perhaps more importantly, does it matter either way?

Chew the fat in the comments section and don’t forget to mention any future topics you’d like to debate (thanks Naths90).

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While we do our best to cover the most important events on the gaming calendar, there are some — such as ComicCon — that we just can’t get out to. Luckily, Jeff Rubenstein of the US PlayStation Blog has our communal back and has been blogging furiously. In case you missed it, here’s his handy round-up of the inFAMOUS 2 panel.

Panels are typically the highlights of Comic-Con, but truth be told, they’re a bit of a pain in the arse. You end up waiting in a long line (sometimes for hours), fight for good seats with people who are squatting for the Vampire Chick Lit panel happening like 2 days later in the same room, and endure one or more of the following: difficult lighting/audio issues/off-topic Q&As.

Wouldn’t it be easier if all the good stuff was cut down into, say, 7 minutes and 53 seconds?

In this highlight reel of the inFAMOUS 2 Comic-Con panel, the Sucker Punch team talks about the creation of Cole and the changes he’s gone through since the first inFAMOUS (including his voice), how New Orleans is an influence on inFAMOUS 2’s setting of New Marais, and, the all important question of why Cole can’t climb chain link fences:

And round of applause for IGN’s Greg Miller – huge inFAMOUS fan and panel host extraordinaire. Nice job moderating, Greg.

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We’ve been able to team up with Lionsgate to give one of our UK readers and a friend the chance to attend the premiere of The Expendables in London on 9 August 2010. If you haven’t heard of this movie, it’s basically the action movie equivalent of a fantasy football team. Here’s a description and the trailer.

Return to your action roots this summer as legend of cinema Sylvester Stallone takes you on an explosive adventure of a lifetime with The Expendables. Modern day action heroes Jason Statham and Jet Li join forces with Mickey Rourke alongside timeless heroes Bruce Willis, Dolph Lundgren and Arnold Schwarzenegger to make the cinema a dangerous place to be this August.

Sylvester Stallone, Jason Statham and Dolph Ludgren will be there too and we’ll even throw in a PlayStation 3 for the winner to take home with them. Simply head over to eu.playstation.com and answer a simple question to be in with a chance.

*Just please note that the prize includes tickets only so you will have to be able to get to London on the evening of 9 August. Here are the full terms and conditions.

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