It’s ‘Heads-Up’date time, and in space, no-one can hear you scream… or indeed squeak in fright like a five-year old as a crazy person leaps out at you from behind a bulkhead, while you feverishly try to shoot them in the soft and fleshy parts before they start caving your head in with what can only be described as a ‘laser pick-axe’.

Yes, the mighty Dead Space 2 launches this week, bringing with it a new standard in survival horror, but let’s not forget that the PS3 version takes it up a notch with the inclusion of Dead Space: Extraction, the semi on-rails shooter prequel to Dead Space and one of the best Nintendo Wii games of 2009. Re-mastered in HD, Move compatible (but also supports the Dual Shock) and complete with co-op, this is a game no Dead Space fan should be without – for the time being, new copies of Dead Space 2 will have Extraction included in the box, but for all you thrifty second-hand purchasers or those who wait to get Dead Space 2 and miss out on the Limited Edition, you can always snag Extraction direct from the Store.

What else is on offer this week? Well, this update is small but perfectly formed and we have a little bit of everything.

We’ve got the demo for BulletStorm, the surprisingly awesome new shooter from Epic Games – the demo gives you a chance to run through one level and attempt to get the best score possible – online leaderboards are implemented too.

PSP get two new RPGs in the form of Spectral Souls II, strategy RPGing at its finest and another edition to the excellent Ys series – Ys: The Oath of Felghana, (which is a remake of the original Ys III for all those who are keeping score).

We continue the admittedly somewhat bizarre trend of bringing you the PSone Tomb Raider series in reverse, with the inclusion of Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation to our classics range – watch out for that PSone themed blog post I promised you on Monday, 31st January.

We’ve got a couple of new minis too, this time with a puzzle flavour, plus lots of themes, videos and other bits and pieces too – make sure you check them out when the Store updates.

Housekeeping time -

• MAG is now definitely back up on the Store, so if you’ve been waiting to grab it you can do so at your leisure.
• The GTA bundle from the January Sale Offers will be up today, there have been some technical issues, but it will be available at the offer price for an extended amount of time to make up for the delay.
• If you’ve been waiting for the Plus full-game trial for Mass Effect 2, that too is coming as fast as we can make it happen but in the mean-time you can check out the demo, which also offers around an hour of play from the beginning of the game.

Finally, there’s a massive ‘Thank You’ from me for the fantastic response to the New Year Sales. You guys bought a record number of games in the Festive Sale and the January Sale is already shaping up to be just as popular. More support from you means even better sales, more often in the future and you really have all been great, so a sincere thank you again.

What’s next? You better keep your eye on the blog on Monday. Oh, and I don’t think it’s an exaggeration when I say February is going to be mind-blasting.

See you in the comments.
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The Dead Space 2 team and I are super stoked that Dead Space 2 is almost out; we have been anxiously awaiting to hear what gamers think of what we have been working on. The PS3 Limited Edition version of Dead Space 2 is crazy — it not only includes Dead Space 2, but it also has Dead Space Extraction. That means you can get your MOVE ON with Dead Space Extraction, and you can play it solo or in co-op as well.

Making Dead Space 2 has been a blast, getting to see everyone’s speculation on what the game was going to be about, if we lost our minds and cut out the horror, or if we were making some sort of ninja-puzzle-adventure game. Now is the time to see what the final version Dead Space 2 is all about.

From my perspective, the team did a fantastic job. This is the game I’m most proud of being a part of. The game feels better, looks better, has bigger moments, and even includes multiplayer for the first time. I really hope you like it!

Head out now to your local game store and get a copy of the Collector’s Edition — if you can still find it — or the Limited Edition and start dismembering Necromorphs today. If you want to keep up on the game and maybe get your multiplayer, follow me on Twitter: @leveluptime.

Thanks again.

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Are you a fan of quizzes? Is your knowledge of the DC Universe second to none? If the answer to either of these is yes (or even a maybe) then we have something for you. Introducing the DC Universe Online: Legend’s Quiz.

Over weeks on Facebook, you have the opportunity to prove your legendary status and (for those eligible – see below) the chance to win exclusive in-game items, PlayStation Home masks and an awesome Batman figurine designed by none other than Jim Lee himself.

We’ll even give you the chance to ask your friends for help on some of the questions; you can’t say fairer than that.

To become the next DC quiz legend and win these great prizes you need to be 18+, but you can still play the quiz for fun if you’re not and register your high score on the leaderboard.

Good luck!

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It may sound clichéd, but wow, time really flies! It’s hard to believe that it has already been a full year since our massive 256-person PlayStation 3-exclusive shooter, MAG, was released all over the globe. To celebrate our one-year birthday, we’re unveiling a handful of promotions as a thank you to our fans throughout the week.

First up, starting Wednesday, January 26 at 12am Pacific Time, we’re changing all in-game queue and “Happy Hour” bonuses to 256% until Sunday, January 30 at 11:59pm. If you’ve been meaning to level up to grab our various “level 60″ trophies, our promotional time period is a great time to go for it!

Speaking of January 26, all day from 10am-5pm Pacific Time, members of the Zipper Interactive QA team (our best players!) will be online and playing MAG throughout the day. If you’ve never participated in our “Play MAG with Zipper” events, they’re great fun and offer you the perfect opportunity to show us your skills.

Our third and final promotion is a special “Faction Neutral” switch for the Domination and Acquisition modes. For the first time ever in MAG “Live,” our two biggest game types will switch from being PMC-specific to being open for defense by any of our three factions. Like our 256% XP bonus, this mode switch will be in operation from January 26 at 12am Pacific to January 30 at 11:59pm.

But this isn’t all we’re doing to wish MAG a happy birthday. We’ll also be posting some additional posts throughout the week, including a breakdown of MAG statistics and numbers on Thursday and a special “Five Things You Never Knew About MAG” article on Friday morning. It should be fun.

As always, everyone here at Zipper Interactive wants you to know how much we appreciate all the support and feedback you have given us over the last year and we hope you’ve enjoyed playing the game as much as we’ve enjoyed making and improving it. Thank you very much!

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We’ve had some cracking feedback about Top Darts since it was launched in late December, everybody appears to be really enjoying the game. One clever chap (Todd Parsons, take a bow) asked if we had a template available which would allow him to see how the picture board is mapped so he could create custom board art. We hadn’t, but it wasn’t difficult to create and it’s such a good idea we’ve decided to share it with everybody – simply download the template files from [Link 1] and [Link 2].

1. To position your custom artwork using the template provided, you will need an image editing program such as GIMP or Adobe Photoshop and a basic knowledge of the program
2. Download the template file to your computer
3. Open the template png in your image editing program
4. Create a new layer for your artwork under the template layer
5. Use the template layer to align your artwork as you want it displayed on the dartboard in-game
6. For best results, do not resize the canvas – keep the image size set to 640 x 480 pixels
7. Hide the template layer and then save the file in png or jpeg format onto your computer
8. Create a folder on your USB drive called “picture” and copy the new file into it
9. Eject the USB drive and plug it into a spare USB port on your PS3
10. In the PS3 XMB menu, open the USB drive in the “Photo” menu
11. Your artwork should be displayed as a thumbnail in the menu. Scroll to the correct image if there are multiple images in the folder
12. Copy the image to the PS3 by bringing up the options using the Triangle button and selecting “copy” from the list
13. Now start Top Darts
14. In the main menu, select “Games” and in the Game Setup Screen switch to the “Load Photo” board type
15. When prompted, select the dated folder with the image in and then select the image
16. The image will load under a preview board template
17. Select “Tick” to continue and configure your game type. (Select “Cross” to return to the folder and load another)
18. Complete the “Game Setup” and the “Player Setup” screens to see your image loaded onto the dartboard in-game
19. Invite friends and family round for some top quality fun and to admire your artistic skills

If you make a piece of art that you’re particularly proud of, why not share it on the Official PlayStation Forums so other people can take a look?

Thanks for all your feedback emails we really do appreciate them; please keep them rolling in.

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