Joystiq [PlayStation]

Airtight Games' upcoming Dark Void is a title on many a gamer's radar, not only because Airtight is comprised of some of the developers responsible for Crimson Skies, one of the original Xbox's gems, but because flying around with a jetpack is really awesome. You don't have to take our word for it, though, as this developer diary does a good job of showing what makes jetpacking around so fun (hint: it's the jetting). Disney, we hope you're taking notes for that inevitable The Rocketeer reboot!

Chances are you've already beaten inFamous by now -- and boy, what an ending! (No spoilers in the comments, please.) We're proud to present you the last half of the inFamous comic, which chronicles events that occur before the game's main adventure. Get insight into John's investigation of the Cole and the Reapers. You'll even find out why there are so many manikins on Zeke's roof. Start from the beginning, or jump to the new content:

• Issue One
• Issue Two
• Issue Three
• Issue Four

Did you know that Ratchet & Clank, like Madden, is an annual franchise -- having only missed the year 2006? The third Ratchet & Clank Future game on PS3 in as many years is coming this fall as A Crack in Time.

A Crack in Time promises to deliver more story than ever before. We'll find out more about Ratchet and the Lombax race thanks to the revelation of Alister Azimuth, another member of what was thought to be an extinct species. We'll finally find out what happened to Clank -- and we'll probably discover how he got that badass staff. See all the major players of the upcoming R&C by browsing our gallery here:

It's not like the previous Guitar Hero boxes set the world on fire, but the recently revealed box art for Guitar Hero 5 is ... well it's definitely different. At least the previous boxes had, you know, guitars on them. As one Joystiq blogger put it, the Guitar Hero 5 art looks more suited to an expansion or a DLC voucher than it does to a full release. Still, we suppose we can appreciate the backstage insider appeal it exudes. Besides, it's not like there are many people left that are unfamiliar with the title at this point.

See the full monty after the break.

Update: It looks like there is a guitar on the box. See if you can find it!

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If you haven't spent all your money buying Street Fighter IV controllers, Namco Bandai has a new arcade stick for you to invest in. The official Tekken 6 Wireless Fight Stick Bundle bundles the upcoming game with an art book and a wireless stick made by HORI. The set will be available at various nationwide retailers, and will cost $150 for either the PS3 or Xbox 360 version.

In addition to revealing the official arcade stick for the game, Namco Bandai also released 33 new screenshots of the game, showcasing some of the new characters featured in Tekken 6. Our favorite character? Well, there's that decapitated robot girl ...

Finally, official details of Penny Arcade's collaboration with Tekken 6 have been revealed. The "Samurai" Pack includes a playable Cardboard Tube Samurai skin for Yoshimitsu and 40 Samurai Battle Banners which can be used to customize the other characters in the game. The DLC pack will be available as a GameStop-exclusive pre-order bonus.

According to Chart Track's UK software sales figures from last week, we know the Barry Pepper-voiced free-roamer, Prototype, has managed to secure the top spot. It wasn't an easy battle, as Radical Entertainment's title had some stiff competition in Terminal Reality's Ghostbusters, which made its debut in the UK last week.

The ghost bustin' reunion was not enough to topple the "go anywhere, kill everything" game, and managed to secure the bronze with a third place showing. It should be noted that this is the all-format charts, and with it being a PS3 exclusive in the territory (Xbox 360 owners do have options, though), third is pretty impressive for a game on just one platform (excluding Wii Fit). As for second place, The Sims 3 dropped down from its cushy throne last week thanks to a 49% decline in sales. Don't feel too bad for the game, though -- it did have the best PC launch in EA's history, you know.

Joshua Tsui, president of Tony Hawk Ride developer Robomodo, told Videogamer.com that gamers concerned about blowing a bunch of money on the package should see it as an investment in a new platform, because the skateboard peripheral that comes with Ride won't be a single-use device.

"It's really important to us that when people buy this package that they understand that, right now we're concentrating on Tony Hawk Ride, but we want to make sure that people have a good return on their investment so there are many games that are planned for this peripheral," Tsui said.

Discussing potential followup games to use the board, Tsui said, "The obvious ones are snowboarding and surfing and such, but there are a lot of games that can be used with this board, and we're really excited to start working on those."

Of course, the real followup games will be called Tony Hawk's Ride 2, Tony Hawk's Ride 3, and Tony Hawk's Ride 4, and each one will have an optional bundle that includes a new board with just enough upgrades to tempt people into repeat purchases. Because, you know, Activision.

The Conduit came into this world with a spark. Sadly, it seems like most of that juice has already drained -- one last plug isn't gonna charge change that. Still, we thought we'd wish the Wii shooter well upon its release this week. It's been a feel-good story, after all, and we're hoping for a truly happy ending, so we can pitch the Hollywood script: It's like half sci-fi alien invasion, half uplifting indie drama. Now, if that ain't Oscar-worthy ...

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Considering the game's been announced for a little over two weeks but is set to drop in 2010, we expect news for Final Fantasy XIV to fly fast and furious in the months leading up to its release. Today, for instance, we've received rumors claiming that the beta process for the game will begin as early as September, spawned by a recently uploaded Help Wanted sign on Square Enix's site which requests the aid of game testers and game masters.

The employment offering doesn't actually mention FFXIV, though -- it only asks that applicants be well versed in FFXI, which led some fans to speculate that most of the FFXI support team will be shifted to XIV. The GM positions are scheduled to start mid-September -- a potential start date for the speculated beta. Also lending credence is the fact that the FFXIV dev team claims to have been working on the game for five years, and wants it to have a longer beta period than XI's, which was only four months.

We're smelling a lot of "if" coming off this rumor, but our sister site Massively (which knows more about MMOs than anyone ever) thinks it carries some weight. We'll adhere to its wise, wise judgment.

UK retail site PLAY has Max Payne 3 all set for an October 30, 2009 bullet-timed released. When Live Playstation followed up with the retail outlet for comment on where it got the date, the site was told the gaming chain was given the information by "the developers of the game."

We followed up with Rockstar Games -- the publisher -- and a representative stated it hasn't announced a release date. In fact, all the rep could do was refer us to the corporate announcement that the game was coming this winter. If things change, we'll be sure to update.

Sony sent out some details on the PlayStation Motion Controller to its developers, according to Kotaku, revealing some information about the device that we didn't know. We regret to inform you, however, that said information does not include a) the real name of the thing, or b) the real shape.

The device will include rumble motors for force feedback, and four of the wands can be tracked simultaneously by the PlayStation Eye camera. Motion-controlled games will also be able to take advantage of face tracking and head tracking. Sony is also investigating the possibility of combining wand and PS3 controller use, with the example of the wand as a sword and the DualShock 3 as a shield.

Wand-controlled games can also use the PlayStation Eye's microphone for voice recognition and voice control. However, all this wizardry comes at a cost: Sony told developers that the "motion-tracking library has some SPU overhead and has an impact on memory as well, although these will be minimized."

Amazon has various 'Gold Box' deals running all day for everyone's favorite shiny, monolithic console. While we talk to the e-tailer in an attempt to get more info, have a look the hints:

• Deal of the Day -- Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare GOTY Edition ($28.98)
  
• 6AM PDT -- X-Men Origins: Wolverine Uncaged Edition ($39.98) - SOLD OUT
  
• 10AM PDT -- HAWX ($39.98) - SOLD OUT
  
• 12PM PDT -- Guitar Hero: Metallica ($39.98) - DONE
  
• 3PM PDT -- Fallout 3 Collector's Edition ($45.98)
  
• 6PM PDT -- "Step into the ring with the Eighth Wonder of the World "

Start guessing!

[Thanks Michael, Blackbeard]

Rockstar has announced that Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, the latest portable offering in the open-ended crime series, will be making the jump from DS to PSP. The game will be available in both UMD and digital download format when it's released in the US and Europe this autumn. Featuring enhanced widescreen graphics, improved lighting and animation and additional story missions, this version of Chinatown Wars "will take full advantage of the power of the PSP system."

No new assets have been released for the PSP version -- in fact, the official website still says it's exclusive to the DS -- but we should see more of this new addition to the ever-growing 2009 PSP lineup soon. See the PSP box art, after the break.

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When we heard Home was pitting Hamsters (Read: Virtual Furries) against Humans in a virtual world dance-off, we were intrigued. Actually, first we re-read our news feed to make sure we weren't hallucinating and then we became intrigued. Last night we decided to log onto Home and find out what all the fuss was about. Like cars slowing past a train wreck, we were unable to look away as dozens of PlayStation 3 users came together for the "ultimate dance-off."

The winning faction has not been officially revealed, but humans appeared to be the clear winner during our multiple login sessions. If you're wondering what the point was: based on which side showed the most support, Home users would receive a different free item. If Hamsters are the decided winner, the PlayStation Home community will receive Viking and Valkyrie helmets. If Humans win, Home users net free Fedoras and Aviator headwear.

It's easy for us to be dismissive of the wacky promotion, but users involved seemed to be enjoying themselves. Seriously. As avatars bumped (also, grinded), users would motivate and compliment each other on their "sick moves" ... it was one of the strangest things we've ever seen on a gaming console. The horrors of a giant hamster "shakin' its money maker" can be viewed above. Fair warning it's 3 minutes and 41 seconds that cannot be unseen, nor is it time you can ever get back.