Publisher Aksys tells Siliconera that Battle Fantasia will release on PSN "next week." It's yet to be confirmed whether the PSN update will occur on Tuesday or Thursday next week (considering the holiday), but our money's on Tuesday. There's currently no details on pricing for the fighter, however.

Bringing to a close the BioShock 2 "Artist Series" over at the Cult of Rapture website is the image seen above, dubbed "Subject Delta." Painted by Julie Bell and Boris Vallejo, the piece epitomizes the little we know about the upcoming game, with Splicers looking more gruesome than ever and a flood of ocean water just moments from washing everything away. Oh, and dear Little Sister, please stop staring right through us. That's just creepy.

Check out the wallpaper-sized version, right here.

Click to "super" sizeCody isn't the brightest of the Street Fighter bunch, is it? The Final Fight star made his first appearance in the series in Street Fighter Alpha 3, having just escaped from prison. Apparently, he hasn't figured out how to remove his manacles (nor has he changed out of his incriminating garb) in the several years between the events of Street Fighter Alpha 3 and Street Fighter II, nor in the time between Street Fighter II and Super Street Fighter IV, which is where these new screens originate.

Sure, the other characters are all wearing the same outfits from years ago (except for Chun Li), but those can all be reasonably believed to be choices. Maybe Dan wears other stuff when he's off the job, and changes into his pink gi. But it's extremely hard to believe that Cody would voluntarily don his prison uniform and shackles again, which suggests that he can't remove them. This is also the guy who picks up a rock and throws it as one of his special moves.

One of these box arts is not like the others. Yep, you'll notice that the Xbox 360 version of Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing has two added bonuses: Banjo and Kazooie. At first, we were quick to dismiss the image as nothing more than a fan mock-up. However, TSSZ discovered that all of these box arts can be seen on Sega's server (Xbox 360, PS3 and Wii).

If the addition of Banjo and Kazooie to Sega's kart racer sounds familiar, it's because it was part of a Sega leak earlier this year that contemplated this exact partnership. Revisiting the supposedly leaked Sega document reveals a number of bullet points that have already come true: the PS3 price drop, Alpha Protocol's delay and Yakuza's localization. The addition of Banjo & Kazooie to the Sonic racer is a nice bonus; however, should other aspects of the Sega document come true, it could mean PS2 and Dreamcast games are coming to PSN.

[Thanks Tristan!]

Life With PlayStation, Sony's updated Folding@Home app just got a cool new expansion today. With update 1.20, cancer-stopping PS3 owners will be able to watch streaming full-screen game trailers while the PS3 chugs away, unfolding proteins. The experience is rather sleek and videos load almost instantly, taking advantage of the same streaming player that "What's New" and the PlayStation Store both use.

It appears the content is automatically gathered from the PlayStation Store, and it allows you to watch all the available content in a single continuous stream. While we don't see this feature being used too often, it's perfect for those GameStop employees that want to have video looping on their PS3 kiosks.

[Thanks, marcus]

Being the stylish, fashion-way-forward gal she is, Bayonetta (of, um, Bayonetta) likes to accessorize. Sometimes she gets tired of having guns for shoes and hair that can take the form of giant demons, so she politely barrows steals weapons from her enemies, to use against ... her enemies.

In this short-but-sweet clip from next month's Platinum Games action spectacle, we get to watch her do just that -- nabbing a giant mace (not of the "spray into a mugger's eyes" type) and use a very long, forcefully procured spear to pole-dance-kick the hell out of heavenly foes. Best of all, the clip is narrated by a velvety-voiced English woman who sounds just like Bayonetta, if she were real. Which she's not -- so please, stop calling Sega asking for her number. Yes, we're onto you.

"You'll never make anything of your life just sitting around playing video games!"

You've heard this tired speech from your mom and dad so many times you could recite it from memory, but you can't help but smile whenever they repeat it. Because deep down in your heart, you know that as one of the 300,000-plus people playing the Battlefield: Bad Company 2 beta, you've helped rack up 1.01 million headshots, destroyed 380,000 houses and been responsible for more than 45 million kills. That, friends, is something real.

So next time your parents hassle you about some benign chore, just hold your head up high and say, "Sorry I didn't lock the wheels on the baby's walker, Mom and Dad. I was a little busy making a difference."

Though the Modern Warfare 2 community is uncovering some unsavory hidden aspects of the game for their own benefit, the kind folks from Defend The House have labored to uncover some of the game's harmless (but awesome) unadvertised features. For instance, did you know throwing knives are still lethal after bouncing? Also, you can survive a forty-foot fall with the help of a few well-placed mattresses. That's news to us!

Check out all these revelations in the first episode of Modern Warfare 2 Mythbusters, which we've posted after the jump. Oh, one last thing -- we will not rest until we kill someone by blowing up a nearby fire hydrant. Do you hear us? It is our life's new purpose.

Continued →

According to a tweet by comic publisher IDW, we won't just read comics on the PSP, we'll hear them as well. At least we'll hear people talking about them. "Editing more audio tracks from @Templesmith (Ben Templesmith) for Wormwood on the PSP," one tweet noted. A subsequent message clarified the nature of the audio: "Recording more @Templesmith commentaries tonight."

The official PlayStation Digital Comics Twitter account (yes, we're sourcing another tweet) pointed out the note, saying "I'm so pleased IDW are taking advantage of the optional audio sound track(s) available to publishers." We agree -- it's nice to know that the PSP Digital Comics service will add something to the medium beyond a different interface.

[Via QTE Gamers]

It seems Sony is attempting to drum up interest in Team Ico's upcoming, Griffin-infused adventure, The Last Guardian, by showcasing its earlier opus to poor, unenlightened folks who missed it the first time around. The opus in question is Shadow of the Colossus, which, according to a Team ICO fan site, has been listed by a number of Japanese retailers to be reprinted and sold on February 4. Sadly, it didn't get the God of War Collection treatment -- the game's still on its original platform, the PlayStation 2.

If you were the speculatin' type, you might think that The Last Guardian would be released not too much later than this reprint, ensuring that the warm, Team ICO-esque feeling would still be fresh in everyone's minds. We're more the wait-and-see types, so we plan on waiting and, shortly after that, seeing.

[Via CVG]

For the past few months, Rockstar has been teasing us with gorgeous in-game trailers for its upcoming open-world Wild West action game Red Dead Redemption. Well, today the teasing stops. The developer has thrown open the corral gates and let loose a trailer with actual gameplay -- and we think you'd have to agree it looks pretty amazing.

More than just a bunch of quick cuts between brief action clips, it's fully narrated, describing the goals of the dev team at Rockstar San Diego and backing them up with in-game footage. Besides just talking up how open the open-world is, it goes into aspects such as the ability to play like a hero or outlaw -- do you bring your bounty back alive or dead? -- and also shows quick glimpses of a variety of cool-looking gameplay, from the old "try to stab the table between your fingers without cutting yourself" to dragging a guy behind your horse on a rope. But, mostly, it just looks so damn cool.

We'll stop with the talking so you can commence with the watching. Giddyup!