The new D+PAD is up and out there. The cover feature is on God of War: Chains of Olympus with an accompanying review. There are also reviews of Gran Turismo 5 Prologue and Dark Mist, as well as a preview feature on Resistance 2 and a discussion feature on premium downloadable content. it’s highly recommended.

D+PAD

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Attention SingStar fans! We’re currently working on the next UK SingStar title for PS2, and we want
you to decide what’s going to be on it. There are four possible themes to choose from, so which one gets your vote?

1. Boybands Vs Girlbands
2. Diva’s
3. Cheesy Tunes
4. 80’s Vs 90’s

You can cast your vote within the discussion threads at either myspace or facebook.

Or visit SingStar.com to vote in the poll. The chosen title will be released towards the end of this year, so there are only a couple of weeks to make your vote count.

But that’s not the end! After the overall game theme has been selected, Sony then need your help to decide upon a definitive tracklist. So keep your eyes peeled and make sure you have your say!

Calling all lurkers - we know you are out there!!! We were checking out the Three Speech unique user stats the other day - up to a frankly giddy 20,000 a day - and got thinking about how many of you are reading but not posting. It’s great to have you on board, of course, but it’d be better still to have a few more of you offering your opinions. Thus, our Get The Lurkers Typing Campaign starts here - so please use this thread to say hello, if you haven’t to date. It’s going to be a great year and we want you all involved.

A couple of pieces of concept art from Resistance 2 have been released along with the games logo. The two concept sketches are of two different character classes from the co-op mode, Medic and Special Ops. Click through for the second character.

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Here’s a trailer for the new downloadable Eye of Judgment: Biolith Rebellion Set 2 expansion pack that’s being released on 27 March via the PSN. It will be priced at £6.99 in the UK. Check it out…

Yay! A new Warhawk expansion pack has been announced going by the name of Operation: Broken Mirror. The new expansion pack will arrive on the PSN in April at a price of £3.99 and bring with it the new Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC), which comes in two forms, and seven arenas of the new Vaporfield Glacier.

Click through for the official press release and more news on the APC.

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The latest PlayStation 3 firmware update is now live, and ready to be downloaded when you turn on your console. In case you didn’t see the press release last week, the update brings Blu-ray Profile 2.0 (a.k.a. BD-LIVE) support, the ability to play DivX files that are over 2GB, and ‘Resume play’ which will allow you to continue playing a Blu-ray disc or DVD at the point it was last stopped – even if the disc has been removed.

Capcom have announced plans to release new exclusive footage of their upcoming title Resident Evil 5 along with an interview, as part of a special DVD to be included with this Friday’s issue of Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu to celebrate Capcom’s 25th Anniversary. While this doesn’t necessarily mean the footage will be publicly viewable this Friday, it does mean that all the latest juicy details regarding the highly anticipated game will be circulated – so get ready for a barrage of information!

Capcom

We recently had a quick chat with the SingStar development team, and put some of your questions to them. Here’s what they had to say:

- Why isn’t all the SingStar PS2 back catalogue available for download on the store yet?
This is something we’re working on. We have had to re-process all of the tracks for PlayStation 3 and this in turn means we have to start a brand new clearance procedure. We are, however, ready to release them to the store as soon as each track has been cleared for use. As soon as each track is approved we’ll have them in the store as quickly as we can.

- What is the process for getting songs and videos onto the SingStore?
In much the same way as we work to get a song on a disc we start by submitting a wish list to our partners in the record industry. Once we have the appropriate clearances then we can start the SingStar process whereby we transcribe the audio, process the video and design test each song. Our tracks go through the same QA and localisation process as for a disc and then enter our publishing pipeline for the SingStore.

- Why aren’t certain artists on SingStar yet?
We like to think we already have the crème de la crème on SingStar though there are a few artists we’d dearly love to have who haven’t agreed yet. Hopefully we’ll see even more artists come on board in the near future

- Is the licensing process the same for the SingStore as it is for the PS2 version?
Some details are different in the world of online downloads but essentially it’s the same in that we need permission from all the relevant rights holders.

- Can I transfer the songs to my mp3 player. If not, why not?
This would certainly be a great feature! As with the SingStar discs the tracks we license and offer to our users are solely for use in SingStar, they have not been licensed as audio tracks and thus are not sanctioned for use outside of SingStar.

- Why aren’t there more songs from movie soundtracks?
We love soundtracks! Music videos from films often feature the actors and getting permission to use those famous faces is an added complexity. Where we can, we do and hopefully this will get easier in the future.

Head over to http://www.singstargame.com for more SingStar news.

Firmware Update V2.20 has been announced and will now add Blu-ray Disc Profile which offers the ability to take advantage of interactive features, such as downloadable video content, ringtones, games, and more. As the press release says, ‘BD-LIVE promises to offer PS3 users the ultimate interactive film experience.’

The system software update also enables photo and music playlists on a PS3 to be copied to a PSP.

For the official press release click through.

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