The Economic Times reports that Sony is preparing to launch a new "slimer, sleeker and more suave" version of the PlayStation 2 in the Indian and European markets by Diwali – the festival of light – scheduled for October 28 this year. In addition to the new Slimer™ look, ET reports "there will be no more external AC adapters" and the price will remain the same, Rs 6,990 ($162).

If you're wondering why Sony keeps pushing the PS2, we'd be quick to point out that it keeps selling. A Sony rep might tell you that it feels the "PS2 has the potential to penetrate further into the Indian and Russian markets" because "console gaming is in its nascent stage in India." Maybe true, Mr. Sony rep, but not so nascent as to be unable to enjoy the PS3! The same ET report also announces that Sony will be launching the PlayStation Network in India by the end of the fiscal year.

News from the MGS we haven't heard from in a while now, with Microsoft Game Studios Europe explaining why simultaneous releases on the Xbox 360 and PC don't always make business sense. Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz, Peter Zetterberg, business development manager for MGS Europe, described such releases as the equivalent of placing a bullet in the foot.

"On a global scale the Windows Vista business is as important as our Xbox 360 business. But in Germany for example, we want more gamers to buy our Xbox 360," Zetterberg said. "If we launch a game that is on 360 and PC simultaneously, we basically shoot ourselves in the foot by allowing the German market to choose to play the PC version – because they are more likely to buy that than spend their money on the Xbox 360."

Though the absence of immediate consumer choice is always regrettable, the sharing of exclusives between two platforms will inevitably put the least popular one at a disadvantage. After all, why would you purchase an Xbox 360 if the game you want would work just fine, if not better, on your Vista PC? Microsoft isn't just leaving the PC with leftovers, though, as Zetterberg adds that the publisher is always looking to tweak its business model to allow for a "multitude" of independent titles "under an MGS flag." Kinda like PC Live Arcade ... hey, whatever happened to that?

Capcom has announced that Epic's Unreal Engine will be providing the stunning and inevitably shiny visuals for another of its upcoming titles, a new project being developed somewhere in Europe. Keiji Inafune, Mega Managing corporate officer for Capcom, described the technology as "a perfect fit" for the unnamed title, deeming it capable of "ensuring a high-quality game experience." We rather like those.

The developers will also benefit from having "thorough knowledge" of Unreal Engine 3, though if they encounter any problems, they should send an e-mail to the folks working on Capcom's Unreal-powered jetpack-em-up, Dark Void.

Well, this is certainly interesting. Though Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots has been getting positively glowing reviews from many UK outlets, there seems to be an undercurrent of ... dissatisfaction among many in the reviewing community. Completely unsurprisingly, it seems that most of the high-90s/100s reviewers are hyperbolically positive. (They've been saving up their good writing all year!) Regardless, it seems that general consensus is that fans of the series are going to have a ball. Read on:

• IGN (99/100): "If you've ever loved any one of the Metal Gear games, or any moments from the series, there will come a moment when MGS 4 will send your spirits soaring. If you've loved them all, well then there'll be many, many more. It's a masterpiece."

• PSM3 UK (95/100): "Will you enjoy it? Yes, definitely, but while most hardcore fans will adore it, a tiny minority may be left slightly deflated by the weight of their expectations, despite the game's unarguable quality."

• Edge Magazine (80/100): "MGS4 is not the game it could have been; nor is it the game it would have been had the series grown with the benefit of hindsight; nor is it the game it should have been if you believed that early trailer. But it is faithful to its fans, its premise and its heart, delivering an experience that is, in so many ways, without equal."

Square Enix is releasing a Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII PSP bundle for Europe to coincide with its June 20 release. The bundle includes a PSP Slim with the above art and a copy of the game for 189,90 Euros (US $293.43). According to Amazon France, if you bought a PSP Slim (169,20 Euros) and Crisis Core (36,99 Euros) separately, it'd cost you 20,70 Euros (US $32) more, so it's definitely a good deal to pick up the bundle (assuming, of course, you don't already have a PSP).

Fun fact: When the title finally reaches Europe, it will have been over 9 months since the Japanese launch and 3 months since the North American debut.

Well, apparently there were some minor caveats to Square Enix's trumpeted "worldwide release" for Infinite Undiscovery on September 2. You see, by "worldwide," the publisher actually meant "Americawide," but since this could likely be interpreted as some sort of critique against the continent's expanding obesity problem, it was better to just pretend that September 2, September 5 and September 11 all sort of vaguely fall in the same calender square.

As announced at a recent press conference in Japan (via 1UP's liveblog), these are the slightly staggered ship dates for tri-Ace's Xbox 360 RPG:

• North America: Sept. 2
• Europe: Sept. 5
• Japan: Sept. 11

Though we like to tease, we're very impressed that Square Enix, known for excruciating localization delays between releases, is stepping up its global game.

With the amount of hype, advertising, positive reviews and media attention Grand Theft Auto IV has received over the past few months, we wholly expected it to remain on top of the software sales charts until our video game consoles grew sentient and attempted to purge humanity from the planet. Strangely enough, a dark horse recently overtook Rockstar's well-received crime drama in many European territories -- a horse mounted by a brawny, rippling Cimmerian.

Yes, Funcom's decapitation-rich MMORPG Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures recently outsold GTA IV in a number of European locations, including Germany and Sweden. Since Rockstar's latest opus is still selling like freshly baked hotcakes in North America, we can't help but wonder if GTA's themes of living the American dream and hooker brutalization got lost in translation as the title crossed the Atlantic -- or whether Age of Conan's musclebound mascot reminds German gamers of a certain pop culture icon who is quite revered in their country.

News flash: Europeans love Solid Snake. We'll bet you're surprised to read that, so we'll wait until you've regained consciousness to move on ... Okay, good. CVG is reporting via the ever-reliable NeoGAF forums (we think it's this thread, although that's unconfirmed) that the following scores have been given to Metal Gear Solid 4:

• PlayStation Official Magazine (UK): 10/10
  
• PlayStation Official Magazine (US): 10/10
  
• PlayStation Official Magazine (Italy): 10/10
  
• PlayStation Official Magazine (Dutch): 9.6/10
  
• Level (Sweden): 10/10
  
• Joypad (France): 19/20
  
• Jeuxvideo Magazine (France): 18/20 [Update: Jeuxvideo has told us that it's MGS4 issue isn't even finished yet!]
  

As of this writing, the only confirmed score is the POM UK via Metacritic. And though we wouldn't be surprised if these ended up being the review scores (or pretty close to them) – the MGS brand has been known to rake in high numbers – it's just a forum rumor for now.

Gallery: Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of The Patriots

Hopefully, people have been brushing up on their non-English. This week's Rock Band Weekly brings us the songs packaged with the European release of Rock Band. We've known for a while these tracks were coming as DLC, and Harmonix has seen fit to do it the week of Rock Band's European release. Also, all DLC available in North America should be available in Europe beginning May 20.

Individual songs

• "Beetlebum" - Blur (Cover, 160 MS Points / $2)
• "Hier Kommt Alex" - Die Toten Hosen (160 MS Points / $2)
• "Countdown to Insanity" - H-BlockX (160 MS Points / $2)
• "Perfekte Welle" - Juli (160 MS Points / $2)
• "Manu Chao" - Les Wampas (160 MS Points / $2)
• "Hysteria" - Muse (160 MS Points / $2)
• "Rock N Roll Star" - Oasis (160 MS Points / $2)
• "New Wave" - Pleymo (160 MS Points / $2)
• "Monsoon" - Tokio Hotel (160 MS Points / $2)

Le sigh, videos for all of next week's tracks can be found after the break. The DLC will be available next Tuesday and Thursday for Xbox 360 and PS3 respectively.

The image above is not the complete ad from Sony's European ad agency, TBWA\Wien, but we have placed the full monty (literally) after the break. When viewer's eyes wander south they will not be greeted by a penis, but by a well manicured thumb where a penis should be, which, believe it or not, is actually a thousand times more frightening.

Ads of the World posted this Austrian PS3 ad which continues to make us scratch our heads as to why Sony only fired TBWA from doing its American ads. As this blogger has received about 10 IMs in the last twenty minutes asking if I've seen the Sony Europe ad yet, one could say the piece is doing its job. Whether its doing the right job is a whole other debate.

[Via GayGamer, PS3 Fanboy]

There's a little bit of confusion regarding next Tuesday's WiiWare launch in Europe and what games will be available. Although Next-Gen reports that eight titles will be available at launch, Eurogamer found out from Nintendo that eight titles have been announced, but "not all eight titles will be immediately available from the May 20th launch date." Apparently the wording in the press release was a little tricky.

The European pricing for the games also didn't accompany Nintendo's press release. Eurogamer is guessing that the pricing (in Wii Points) will be the same as they are in the US and Japan. We've placed the launch list after the break. We'll update if Nintendo decides to clarify the situation.

While confirming Home will "definitely be coming out in Autumn," SCEE president David Reeves said that "maybe we were too ambitious with the non-gaming applications within Home, getting sponsors and stuff like that." In an interview with CVG, Reeves continued to say, "In that sense we were deserting gamers. So, we're concentrating on the gaming by launching games in Home."

The closed beta for Home is still ongoing. Earlier today, EA Sports president (and former Xbox executive) Peter Moore said he was interested in the service but "disappointed" by its delays. Home producer Daniel Hill told our friends at PS3 Fanboy that game spaces will be shown later this month.

Officials at Capcom have announced that company exec Mark Beaumont has been handed the reigns as the publisher and developer's new chief operating officer for both North America and Europe. The promotion, which was effective as of April 1, is the second in as many years for Beaumont, who first joined the company in 2005 before being elevated to the position of executive VP and officer two years later.

Beaumont has more than 25 years of industry service to his credit dating back to the original incarnation of Atari. In his new role, the exec's responsibilities will include "growing and managing" Capcom's eye for Western development and licensing. It's a role that's likely to keep the man up to his eyeballs in paperwork given company exec's recent prediction that Capcom could "acquire a western studio in the next two years."

Ubisoft has expanded its reach once more, this time establishing another Eastern European studio in Kiev, Ukraine. According to a GameDaily report, the studio is currently working with Ubisoft Bucharest on the PC version of the previously announced Tom Clancy's HAWX.

Wasting little time, Ubisoft has staffed up the studio with a "core team of 12 developers," led by Blazing Angels: Secret Missions of WWII dev Vitalii Blazheiev. The studio is expected to eventually employ 50 people over the next 12 months, with more than 800 working for the company's numerous Eastern European studios by 2009. Clearly Ubisoft has found something special in the region that it can't ignore. Germknödel perhaps?

European gamers that feel naked without a mic in their hand can use the other to pat themselves on the back, as Sony just dropped word that its SingStar franchise has sold through 12 million copies in the PAL region, with some 5 million of these going out the door between last April and March 2008.

In addition, with the SingStore finally gaining traction, Sony also announced that PAL gamers have downloaded a million tracks in the four months since the store opened. Also impressive is that the store's 140,000 registered users, together with members of the game's official website, have recorded and shared 20,000 videos of players belting out tunes from the comfort of their living rooms -- public embarrassment that has been watched some 2.5 million times.

The SingStar series first got players in Europe singing off-tune renditions of "Careless Whisper" and "Like a Virgin" in 2004, and has since spawned numerous sequels, including last December's SingStar for the PlayStation 3 and the soon-to-be released Volume 2. Now, with SingStar for the PS3 finally getting a release in North America on May 20, it will be interesting to see how enthusiasm on this side of the Atlantic for the game measures up.