You probably ended up with a copy of Sports Champions if you purchased a PlayStation Move, either because it was bundled or because you're required to own at least one sports minigame collection per motion controller (it's the law).

Today, Sony revealed a followup to its obligatory sports game, due this fall. Sports Champions 2 includes skiing, boxing, tennis, golf, bowling, and "a fully updated Archery experience." Sony also promises tweaks like simpler calibration, more opportunities to customize your avatar, and multiple user profiles.

The new "Party Play" mode lets users set playlists of matches, then compete for score. "You can create your own match playlist, see photos and voices from each player during the game, and draw something humiliating (or nice!) on the hapless loser," says producer Jeremy Ray. He probably means in the game. You always had the option of drawing on your friends.

The additional content in the PC version of Dark Souls will be released as DLC for the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions "this winter," IGN reports. The expansion, called "Artorias of the Abyss," will cost $15 through the consoles' respective marketplaces.

There's also good news for those planning to buy the PC "Prepare to Die Edition" in August. Namco Bandai informed IGN that the game will be released not just on Games for Windows Live, but on Steam as well, negating the need for any further petitioning.
[Thanks, Logan!]

Dead Space 3's imminently expected official announcement has received its latest harbinger in the form of a set of screenshots making their way through the internet. The screens hint at co-op gameplay for the latest installment in the blue-spine tingling thriller series.

Playing into the authenticity of the screens is that they appear to feature Earthgov Sergeant John Carver, recently introduced in the "Dead Space Graphic Novel Short."

EA's E3 press conference is scheduled for 1PM Pacific on Monday, June 4. Don't be surprised if necromorphs are featured prominently at some point during the presentation.
[Thanks to everyone who sent these]

Team17's Worms: Reloaded for PC will be free to play this weekend on Steam, with the game also discounted during the promotion. Worms: Reloaded will be free to download from Thursday, May 31, from 10AM until Sunday at 1PM Pacific. The regularly priced $20 game will also be 66 percent off from Thursday until Monday at 10AM.

The very British Team17 will also have its iOS and Mac titles on sale for Her Majesty's diamond jubilee. The discounts cover Worms, Worms 2: Armageddon and Worms Crazy Golf on iOS for $.99. The Mac App Store will have Worms Special Edition and Worms Crazy Golf for $3.99. May it rain holy hand grenades!

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Just Cause developer Avalanche Studios is working on yet another open-world action game, Eurogamer reports. Avalanche Studios is hiring for multiple projects on both current consoles and the next generation – even two games based on film and comic properties – due in 2013 and 2014. One game we knew about: Project Mamba.

Of course, the first thing that comes to mind is Just Cause 3 – Square Enix has picked up some curious domains on top of publishing the first two Just Cause games, and Avalanche has publicly said it would love to continue working on the franchise. With multiple projects in the works, one of them could be a sequel to 2010's outing.

Amazingly, Zipper Interactive servers for SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs have continued to be active since the game's original debut on the PlayStation 2 in 2002, meaning that crazy people dedicated fans with online adapter-equipped PS2s have been able to keep playing for nearly 10 years. Now though, since Zipper Interactive doesn't exist anymore and everything, the servers for four PS2 SOCOM games and four PSP SOCOM titles will be taken offline at the end of August.

PlayStation 2 SOCOMs I, II, and III (as well as SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Combined Assault) will be going dark, as will the PSP various SOCOM titles, Fireteam Bravo (I, II and III) and SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Tactical Strke.

If this outage affects your regular gaming routine, we offer our most sincere condolences. Also, we'd like to point out that many thousands of games have been released since 2002, some of which you might enjoy. Perhaps this will be a good opportunity to go check some of 'em out?

No Doubt is officially allowed to sue Activision over its use of band members' avatars in Band Hero – again. Seriously, we've written this piece, like, three times already. This story is bananas.

Sorry.

No Doubt, the rock band led by singer Gwen Stefani, sued Activision in 2009, claiming it was used to create a "virtual karaoke circus act;" No Doubt says it only signed off on having its likeness portrayed singing its own songs, but the band is unlockable to play through the game's complete catalog.

A Superior Court judge has denied Activision's attempt to dismiss claims from the case, including fraud, violation of publicity rights and breach of contract, and it is expected to (finally) go to trial later this year. Activision says it has a video recording of No Doubt being told about the unlockable features and it is looking forward to presenting its defense.

Yeah, so about that whole launch thing – Jeremy McGrath is pulling up to the starting line a lot later than expected. Jeremy McGrath's Offroad will launch on Xbox Live Arcade and PSN on June 27, for 800 MS Points ($10).

Jeremy McGrath's Offroad is developed by 2XL Games and being published by Reverb. 2XL has a lineage rooted in motorcross and offroad racing games, like Baja: Edge of Control.

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For those among us that have no Xbox Live Gold subscription and would like to see how the other half lives, Microsoft will be temporarily granting Gold-level access to all internet-connected Xboxen this weekend, from Friday, June 1 through Sunday, June 3.

Amazon Instant Video, IGN, Manga and MUZU.TV apps will also be accessible, and while Amazon's prerequisite ancillary Amazon Prime subscription will be required to make use of its "free" streaming catalogue, users will still be able to use it to buy or rent movies/shows for Xbox-enabled viewing over the weekend.

Quantic Dream has been flirting with the title Infraworld, since 2006, when it was first reported as a canceled game, to 2010 when it made an appearance in Heavy Rain, to last year's US trademark filing from Sony Computer Entertainment Europe.

This year, a Quantic Dream title due out in 2013 has made an appearance in the biography of French actress Priscilla Liaud, and a studio concept artist has listed Infraworld and another oft-rumored title, Fiv5, in his LinkedIn profile (since removed).

With E3 next week, Quantic Dream may be in the perfect position to take its Infraworld flirtation to the next level: eye contact and straightforward sentences. Our hearts are all a-flutter just thinking about it.

A new trailer for Jet Set Radio features the remix of Rob Zombie's "Dragula" featured in the US-exclusive levels from the Dreamcast game, indicating that Sega has acquired the rights to more music for the HD re-release than previously announced. Whether that's good news depends on the balance of your desire for a more accurate version versus your desire to never hear "Dragula" again.

The end of the trailer exhorts us to "Stay Tuned" for more music news. This can only be good, unless it refers to the removal of every song but "Dragula."

WWE '13 has an official spring off the ropes date of October 30. THQ reiterated the title would launch this year in a recent investor call and accidentally flipped the switch last week on the game's trailer.

The financially troubled publisher has six games launching this fiscal year (ending March 2013). Darksiders 2 is set for August 14, Saints Row's Enter the Dominatrix is in September, WWE '13 slams October and Company of Heroes 2, Metro: Last Light and South Park in 2013.

Sony may be prepping a new and improved version of PlayStation Plus for E3 – one that PS Vita owners will be able to sign up for. Sources close to Eurogamer have said it will be one of the surprises announced during Sony's E3 press conference.

The new version will supposedly offer free top-tier titles to subscribers in addition to PS Vita functionality. PS Vita users will also get platform-specific perks, apparently – exclusive games, DLC and cloud functionality. Sony's press conference kicks off on Monday, June 4 at 9pm ET.

Zen Studios is just as busy as can be, it seems. In addition to the upcoming Kickbeat, the studio is also bringing CastleStorm to Xbox Live Arcade and other unannounced platforms. Promising a mix of real-time strategy, tower defense and destruction gameplay, CastleStorm lets players take up the roles of either knights or vikings as they fight to destroy each others' castles.

The game bears some resemblance to Ronimo's Swords & Soldiers, and has players sending out various troops, building their castles and using spells. Castlestorm is slated to be released this year. Check out the first trailer above and some screens in the gallery below.

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Sony's plans for its PlayStation 3 successor were once to build a download-only console devoid of an optical drive, according to "people familiar with the matter," as reported by the Wall Street Journal. That is no longer the case, however, as Sony's internal machinations decided that internet connections the world over are too inconsistent to sufficiently support a console incompatible with traditional physical media. Relying entirely on some future version of the PlayStation Network for distribution could potentially cripple the console in countries with less developed networking infrastructure.

It's also possible that Sony has learned a valuable lesson from its first foray into download-only gaming, the monumentally unsuccessful PSP Go. The Go's inability to play previously purchased UMD games, coupled with the fact that new releases hit the device weeks after they hit retail and that the system itself was more expensive than the comparatively more functional PSP-3000 spelled doom for the handheld.

The next PlayStation, in whatever form it ends up taking, is supposedly set to launch in 2013 with components built by AMD, according to the Wall Street Journal's sources. We've reached out to Sony for comment.

Crysis 2 is back on Steam after being yanked in June because "an agreement with another download service" violated Steam's terms of service. The new, improved Crysis 2 is subtitled the "Maximum Edition" and it includes all the content in the limited edition, plus the Retaliation and Decimation DLC packs, all for $40.

Those who snagged Crysis 2 on Steam before it was pulled can get Maximum Edition for half off through June 12 at 10 a.m. PST. EA's other pulled or unreleased titles on Steam – namely Mass Effect 3 and Battlefield 3 – are still absent.

The new version, by including all the DLC, sidesteps the restrictions that kept the game off in the first place.

[Thanks, Steven!]

Finally, the Vita followup to the best game of 2009 is coming stateside. New Little King's Story, a new game based on the Wii action/strategy game, will be released as a download this summer by Konami.

Featuring a less cutesy art style and a new storyline (and lacking the hand of creator Yoshiro Kimura), New Little King's Story sees King Corobo trying to reclaim his lost lands from the Demon King. Players will recruit and grow their Royal Guard from their own kingdom, and then basically throw all those people at enemies.

We might admit to being a bit ... cautious ... about the new art style and loss of Kimura's guidance, but at least with this announcement, we'll have the opportunity to judge for ourselves.

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Warner Bros. has announced a new Spy Hunter game for the 3DS and PlayStation Vita. It's in development at TT Fusion, which was previously Embryonic Studios, a smattering of key staff from Gizmondo – who made the Gizmondo – and Warthog, a UK studio who has done a lot of licensed titles. TT Games snatched up the studio in 2006 before being bought by Warner Bros. a year later.

This Spy Hunter reboot will be available this fall, and ... well, it's Spy Hunter. You drive a transforming car to take down evil dudes. This latest installment adds an aerial support drone and will let users customize the Interceptor (the official ride of spies everywhere) through tech and weapon upgrades. The car is also red now, which seems like the worst color for a spy car but that's just our two cents.

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NBA 2K13 will launch on the Wii U "within the launch window," sometime in the holiday season, 2K Sports announced today. NBA 2K13 is also coming to PS3, Xbox 360, PSP, Wii and PC on October 2 in North America and October 5 worldwide.

Pre-orders for PS3 and Xbox 360 will receive NBA All-Stars-themed downloadable content, set in Houston, where players can stage their own All-Stars games and compete in three All-Stars events with current and classic players. Presented with all-new intuitive controls by Sprite, the NBA All-Stars' No. 1 athletic supporter!

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