James Thorpe has swanned off somewhere or other this week so it’s down to me to tell you about the mid-month PlayStation Plus treats that he has arranged for March. Luckily, many of you seem to get the two of us confused so it should be a smooth transition.

Speaking of smooth transitions: from the Prince of PlayStation Plus to the Prince of Persia, from today you can get your hands on an exclusive bundle including The Sands of Time, Warrior Within and The Two Thrones for €29.99/£23.99 – that’s three for the price of two.

The second treat is something I know a lot of you have been waiting for. From today, you will be able to get MAG at 50% discount and the Escalation and Interdiction expansion packs at a 25% discount. MAGnificent.

Finally, a reminder to download the SOCOM: Special Forces beta on 23 March. I’ll be playing it but a small warning if I’m in your squad: I don’t do orders.

The other James will be back on 6 April to introduce next month’s content but feel free to ask me any questions.

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Hey everyone! I just wanted to give a shout out to Ed Boon (http://twitter.com/#!/noobde) and Netherrealm Studios for getting close to wrapping up Mortal Kombat! From what I have seen, I think everyone is going to be really happy once they get their hands on it.

Mortal Kombat had a HUGE influence on me growing up. I remember the first time I saw it in the arcade — I almost crapped myself! I was like, “Look what they did to that guy! I’m out of quarters! When well I be able to play this at home?” Then I learned about Mortal Monday, the official launch day when the arcade game came out on the SNES and Genesis. I was a poor college kid at the time, but I circled the date for two reasons: I couldn’t afford it, so I needed to reserve it a month in advance at the video store; and September 13, 1993 was my 21st birthday! So instead of going to the bar on my 21st, I ended up sitting with my friends playing MK all night long.

Sometimes, life has a strange way of working out. Here I am, 17 years later, having been able to work on the incredible God of War series…and then one day we get approached to include Kratos in the new Mortal Kombat! This was a complete no-brainer. I remember interviewing at PlayStation eight years ago and seeing Kratos in the very early stages of God of War 1 and thinking, “this guy looks like he was pulled straight from MK!” Which to me, was a good thing. One of the things that I always felt separated Mortal Kombat from other fighters was its character design. When you combine this with Kratos’ attitude and tendency for violence, it’s a match made in heaven!

Another thing that made this collaboration a good fit is that our studios have ties with one another. Several of us at Santa Monica used to work at Midway, including Adam Puhl (Lead Combat Design), Bruno Velazquez (Lead Animator), Chris Sutton (Lead Environment), as well as me, so we all knew Ed and had a relationship with members of his team. It was easy for all of us to get on the same page. It also made the decision on our end to work together because we trust them fully and we know that they will deliver on the promise to make this the most complete and authentic Mortal Kombat yet.

So for me personally, this is a really cool story. Mortal Kombat influenced me when I was younger in many ways, and it is still influencing me today. You can see this plainly by looking at God of War III. I was always encouraging the team to push the gore and violence in the kills, and a large part of that was the way MK struck me when I college kid. Its one of those games that changed the industry, and is why I bet a lot of people have the “I remember MK because” stories. It is an honor to be involved with it.

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This is Alexey Menshikov (Beatshapers) and Andriy Sharanevych (TastyPlay). We are excited to introduce StarDrone, a game designed with a perfect blend of high-speed physics and pinball action, with strategic elements of break-out and object collection. From a top-down perspective, you pilot the spacecraft across the galaxy, collecting pieces of Equilibrix in order to restore the balance of the universe and stop the expansion of evil G-Noids. To add to the challenging gameplay, your spacecraft is always in motion and you don’t have any direct control over it, only a grapple-hook which you can use to push and pull your craft into the orbit of specific nodes located all over the game field.

Cause your attackers to crash with rapid speed while collecting gems and power-up enhancements. Overcome perilous hazards and elude zillions of enemies in an effort to complete each stage with a record score. With simple gesture controls and unique, intuitive gameplay mechanics, StarDrone is friendly to beginners, at the same time challenging enough to bring you back for more and more.

The game is created for PlayStation Move motion controller, but it plays well on both the DualShock 3 and PlayStation Move controllers. However, Sony’s motion controller is the more precise method of control, where you are pointing at specific node with an on-screen cursor and pressing the Move button to hook onto it.

With 50+ levels of gameplay (each has own leaderboards with friends filter) and global scoreboards, you can engage in intergalactic battles with people from all over the world, and the 3D-TV support coming via upcoming game update gives StarDrone a level of realism not found in other titles.

StarDrone is available now from the European PlayStation Stores for £6.29. PlayStation Plus subscribers can purchase the game at 50% discount.

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Here are some highlights from new additions to MUBI‘s online cinema:

King Boxer a.k.a. Five Fingers of Death (Jeong Chang-hwa, Hong Kong), pictured above

This iconic kungfu film was an international sensation under the title “Five Fingers of Death,” a popularity continuing through Tarantino using its theme music in Kill Bill. Elegant swordplay à la King Hu (A Touch of Zen) is exchanged for the masculine bone-crunching and blood letting of Chinese fisticuffs. An essential, brutally exciting film in the genre.

Available in: France, Belgium, Switzerland

The Secret in Their Eyes (Juan José Campanella, Argentina)

The Academy Award winner for Best Foreign Language Film of 2009, Campanella’s film centers on Benjamin (Ricardo Darín ), who becomes determined to find the real culprit of an old murder that he believes wasn’t properly solved—a quest that is depicted with a style that effortlessly juggles romance, comedy, suspense and political commentary.

Available in: Portugal

La fidelité (Andrzej Żuławski, France)

The classic 17th century French novel on the rules of romance and society, La princesse de Clèves, is here adapted to include…”dirt bike races, hot sex, and naked hockey players”? Leave it to visionary filmmaker Andrzej Żuławski to find the mania in such a restrained source. The terrific cast includes Sophie Marceau, Pascal Greggory, Guillaume Canet and Michel Subor.

Available in: Norway, Denmark

Wild Grass (Alain Resnais, France)

Flat out my favorite film from 2009 is the new work be Resnais, an auteur famous for his groundbreaking high art films made at the height of the French New Waves, Hiroshima, mon amour and Last Year in Marienbad. But he’s never made a movie as madcap, melancholy and downright bizarre as this one, a borderline uncomfortable tale (from a director who loves Woody Allen and Curb Your Enthusiasm) of an aging man’s fantasy-filled infatuation with an aviatrix. Does she love him? Is he stalking her? Is all this in his mind? Resnais seamlessly weaves between the light and the dark sides of human nature, reveries of the mind and startling realities of fate.

Available in: United Kingdom, Ireland

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Hello all,

You’ll notice a theme this month. For all the big stuff in this issue we’ve been to the studio to see the games in action and interview the developers personally. LA Noire, Dead Island, Battlefield 3 and The Last Guardian – all up close and personal with info direct from the horse’s mouth. So, let’s see what you’re going to get…

This month we played an exclusive level from LA Noire from start to finish. No spoilers but it involved drugs, death and popcorn. The good news is that it’s looking every bit as amazing in the flesh as it does in the trailers. You might be wondering why the cover’s been blanked out a bit? It’s because Detective Phelps has found something a bit nasty…

You probably heard of Dead Island after the shock trailer trended on Twitter. So you’ll definitely want to read our lead news story, as we’ve been out to see it in all its flesh chewing action. Find out what the game looks like in action and what the developer has to say about its zombie in paradise open word FPS.

We also have more new info from Battlefield 3. Once again we’ve been out to see the game in action and interview the devs. The game looks astonishing thanks to a new engine called Frostbite 2 – incredible destruction and a surprising input from EA’s FIFA 11. Yes, really.

Probably one of the most exciting things for me this month is that we had a man out in Japan, visiting Team Ico to talk about its next game. You know, the one with the catbird thing. We saw new gameplay that helps explain just how the whole ‘one boy and his monster’ thing will play out. We also talked to director Fumito Ueda about this and his previous creations, Ico and Shadow of the Colossus.

And, finally, because I like you, here’s a freebie from the previous issue. It’s ten questions with Herman Hulst, managing director of Killzone 3 developer Guerrilla Games. Want to find out what his advice is for breaking into the games industry? Or what he thinks the next big gaming innovation will be? Then read on.

Don’t forget, you can talk to the team directly through our Facebook page. where we’ll feed you all the latest info, pics and videos as we get them. Plus we’ll answer questions and generally hang out on Twitter, too, at Twitter.com/OPM_UK. You can also email us directly at OPM@Futurenet.com.

The issue’s on sale now for £5.99 with a playable demo disk. Or you can save up 35% if you subscribe.

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