We've talked up Dante's Inferno and its similarities to God of War before -- and not much has changed in that regard in the game's latest build. So, instead of going deep into the gameplay here, we'll focus on the content we saw in the new level, based on the sin of "Lust." It's quite the hellish journey, especially for the folks at the ESRB.

(Just a warning: despite our best efforts, given the subject matter, some of the content described might be considered NSFW. Read on at your own risk.)

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"Well, you know, I do think Dante would approve of our game. He was a man ahead of his time," supposed a Dante's Inferno developer about Dante Alighieri, author of 14th-century epic poem the Divine Comedy; the first part, Inferno, serving as the game's source material ... in theory.

Sure we've got a new skin and some structural changes, but the biggest change is one you probably won't see. I'll let you in on a secret: We've adopted a litter of kittens to shadow write for us, and then we throw in animated GIFs to give it a human touch. How's that for and ? While the felines formulate, we'll be taking a long overdue gaming break. Here's what we'll be up to. (Stay tuned after the WRUP for a bonus scene.)

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For next week's Rock Band offerings, Harmonix is doling out a quintet of five classic rock songs from the likes of Thin Lizzy, Pat Benatar and The Pretenders. And hey, if you're too young to know who any of these people are, there are a couple of Nikko songs for ya (no relation to Nico of Velvet Underground fame), from the movie Spectacular!

Thin Lizzy 3-Pack (440 / $5.49)

• "Boys are Back in Town (live)" (160 / $2)
• "Cowboy Song (live)" (160 / $2)
• "Jailbreak (live)" (160 / $2)

Individual Songs

• "Hit Me with Your Best Shot" - Pat Benatar (160 / $2)
• "Precious" - The Pretenders (160 / $2)
• "Don't Tell Me" - Nikko (80 / $1)
• "Break My Heart" - Nikko (80 / $1)

Videos for these songs can be found after the break. All tracks are masters and will be available for download next Tuesday and Thursday for Xbox 360 and PS3, respectively.

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Earlier this week we heard about a secret comic book "legend" joining the DC Universe Online development team. The silhouetted individual was supposed to be revealed at New York Comic Con next weekend. Of course, you didn't expect it to remain a secret until then, did you? The latest issue of Wizard magazine (via BigDownload) has let the Black Cat out of the bag: writer Marv Wolfman will be enlisting with previously revealed comic veterans Geoff Jones and Jim Lee and the rest of Sony Online.

The creator of Blade and writer of Crisis on Infinite Earths will be expanding and adding to the narrative already written by Jones, while Lee is handling the art direction. Even though the surprise has apparently been spoiled, you'll still be able to enjoy a brand new playable demo at the convention. Look for the DC Universe Online panel on Saturday, February 7.

Nintendo has dropped a bob-omb of release dates for 2009 (via Videogamer). While mostly vague launch windows -- some of which will still likely be missed -- New Play Control! Pikmin and Mario Tennis will hit Europe February 6 and March 3, respectively, with the US getting both sometime in March. Other notable titles include Pokemon Platinum (March 22 for US, sometime 2009 for Europe) and Punch-Out!! (first half of 2009 for both regions).

Additionally, the Big N said Europeans will be able to welcome the DSi into their homes sometime this spring or summer -- not exactly the most narrow window there, and nothing we haven't already heard since president Satoru Iwata said the portable would be launching worldwide by summer 2009. Check out the the full list for Europe and US after the break.

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What's this, more StarCraft II screenshots? Admittedly, we're a bit powerless to stop ourselves from looking at these 10 or so new images from a Fansite kit that Blizzard discreetly updated (our compatriots say only eight of these are new, but we count two more that we've never seen before).

If you take nothing else from these screens, just remember that zerg rushes still elicit a sensory overload billed directly to your occipital lobe. Latest pics are in the front of the gallery. So Blizzard, how about a public beta soon to feed our addiction?

[Via Big Download]

Earlier today, a rumor circulated across the interwebs, stating that THQ had closed its doors and laid off* all its employees. The origin of the story seems to be a "source" close to N-Europe. We've already heard of "significant business realignments," as well as one analyst's proclamation that the publisher's franchises were slumping, but just this week it hinted at sequels to de Blob -- so what gives?

As it turns out, this is (probably) much ado about nothing. We've got an official statement from the publisher rebuking the story. Said THQ, "Today, we advised our staff of a restructuring of our wireless subsidiary in Europe. That's all that has happened." N-Europe has also updated a retraction to the story. False alarm, folks, go back to your Spongebob games.

* Feel free to substitute with axed, sacked, made redundant, karate chopped, etc.

We've talked about it in the past ad nauseum, but for those who are just now joining us: the Australian Office of Film and Literature Classification (OFLC) doesn't have a rating for video games above MA15+. Thus, if your title is deemed too inappropriate for someone 15 years or older, it's Refused Classification (RC), essentially barring it from sale in the country. Except, it seems, if your game is an MMO.

Our friends at Massively took a look at MMOs in Australia, which -- with few exceptions -- are sold at retail without any rating whatsoever. Developers and publishers claim they've never submitted their titles to the OFLC because they didn't believe it was necessary to do so. That misconception may have come from the board itself, who is said to have given such counsel before it was merged with the Federal Attorney-General's Office. However, the now-assimilated group is saying that MMOs require classification, and selling an unclassified game is a crime. Hit up Massively for more information. This is gonna be a very interesting story to follow.

Another week, another bundle of Rock Band DLC oldies for the Wii, which according to the press release should be available now.

Individual Tracks (200 Wii points apiece)

• "Attack" - 30 Seconds to Mars
  
• "Gimme Three Steps" - Lynrd Skynrd
• "Live Forever" - Oasis
• "Just What I needed" - The Cars
• "Siva" - Smashing Pumpkins
• "Tell Me Baby" - Red Hot Chili Peppers

Fun fact: the Rock Band series has about 559 songs. At this point, Wii owners have access to 212 of them, leaving 347 songs to go. At 6 songs per week -- not counting any future DLC -- we should see Wii owners catch up to everyone else some time before mid-2010.

Much like it did last month, Activision Blizzard has announced three new DLC packs for Guitar Hero World Tour due out in February. Let's hope this remains a dodeca-annual affair.

Acoustic Track Pack (440 / $5.49)

• "Drive" - Incubus (160 / $2)
• "New Slang' - The Shins (160 / $2)
• "Wonderwall (Oasis cover)" - Ryan Adams (160 / $2)

Wings Track Pack (440 / $5.49)

• "Junior's Farm" (160 / $2)
• "Hi Hi Hi" (160 / $2)
• "Jet" (160 / $2)

Bob Seger Track Pack (440 / $5.49)

• "Old Time Rock and Roll" (160 / $2)
• "Her Strut" (160 / $2)
• "Get out of Denver (live)" (160 / $2)

The Acoustic Track Pack is coming Thursday, February 12, followed by Wings and Seger on the two Thursdays after that, respectively, for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Wii. Check out videos for the first trio after the break.

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Nintendo President Satoru Iwata will be putting his oratorical skills to the test, delivering a keynote entitled "Discovering New Development Opportunities" at this year's Game Developers Conference. There are no other details provided, and trying to discern any surprise announcements based on that speech title is pretty much a fruitless endeavor.

Iwata last gave a GDC keynote in 2006, when he showed Brain Age and Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass. Company man Miyamoto gave the 2007 speech and revealed ... the Everybody Votes Channel. As for last year, the House of Mario's presence was limited to a handful of sessions. Get your bingo cards ready, Iwata's keynote is set for Monday, March 25 at 9 a.m. PST (that's noon, Joystiq Standard Time).

When Microsoft said Banjo-Tooie was coming to Xbox Live Arcade in early 2009, we were hoping for something in the first quarter or so. Rare's announcement this week puts the game just beyond that window and into April.

Rare is calling it a "note-perfect migration" with upped graphics and framerate. BT will also feature the ill-fated Stop 'n' Swop, a relic from the Nintendo 64 days allowing items collected in Banjo-Kazooie to materialize in the sequel. No indication on what such items will be or how they'll affect gameplay. As for the cost, mum's the word for now, but our guess is it'll be at or near BK's 1200 ($15) price tag.

The NPD Group has tallied up all of the SKUs for Rock Band 2 and Guitar Hero World Tour -- both multi-instrument packs and separate games -- and found that Activision / Neversoft's rocker came out on top with 3.4 million units sold last year, twice the number achieved by Rock Band 2 (1.7 million).

Though the staggered release dates (especially for Wii) didn't help matters, this hardly indicates a terrible loss for EA's side. The Guitar Hero branding is, after all, a powerful force to be reckoned with. We'd be interested to see how the original Rock Band fared last year, given that it's also competing for living room space alongside the other two. And hey, why not throw in some Rock Revolution sales data? We could use a laugh.

Whereas last year's entries seemed more diverse (with a heavy Java slant), the 2009 Independent Games Festival Mobile finalists are almost entirely composed of iPhone / iPod touch games -- 11 of the 14 contestants, to be exact. The remaining three entries are represented by a Nintendo DS, Java and Flash game.

A trio of games lead the pack with three nominations apiece: Wardive, Edge and Fieldrunners (pictured). We're not anywhere close to calling it "the future of gameplay," but the iPhone's App Store -- not to mention massive install base -- has proven to be a viable and tempting business model for aspiring developers.