While GamePro is sharing the goods on Resistance 2 in its latest issue, we know that not everyone is a fan of getting their game news off the rack so we thought we'd share the first couple of screens from the magazine's cover story. Posted by the PlayStation Blog, the shots give us a look at Chimera-occupied Chicago as well as the city's resident boss, a massive 300-foot Leviathan. Honestly, we don't know if we're more excited to collect the Trophy for dropping this baddie, or simply watch him rip through downtown, Cloverfield-style.

Let's not mince words, Insomniac's Resistance 2 is sure to be one of Sony's heaviest hitters during E3 later this month. But if you can't wait for what is sure to be minutes devoted to the Trophy-enabled shooter during Sony's pre-show festivities, you might want to take a peek at what GamePro has in store for its latest issue, which features a fold-out cover of the above art, with war-themed propaganda on the back. Nice!

Among the details promised, the mag will offer a look at the game's campaign, co-op, and competitive multiplayer modes, as well as a gaze skyward at a towering 300-foot tall Chimera that besets Chicago as the game's first end-level nasty. For more, we suggest heading to your favorite magazine rack to pick up the latest issue of GamePro, and let your eyeballs soak up the August issue's 10-page cover story on the upcoming FPS.

PS3 Fanboy brings word that a new slice of Resistance 2 footage has popped up on YouTube after appearing on (then disappearing from) Eurogamer TV. If you want a fresh look at Sony's big FPS for the fall, watch it while it's hot. There's a good chance this instance of the video will get pulled soon as well.

Update: We have removed the embedded YouTube player as a courtesy to Sony. (It's still up on YouTube though!)

Insomniac's push eastward was one of last week's most intriguing items of interest, despite a lack of details concerning what exactly the Ratchet & Clank developer has in store for its new Raleigh, NC studio. However, while we don't know exactly what the Burbank, California-based developer has up its sleeves, we figured if anyone had the scoop it would be current Insomniac art director Chad Dezern and gameplay guru Shaun McCabe, both of whom will be given reigns over the company's eastern arm once it opens in January.

We recently spoke with both execs about the new studio, and we couldn't help but kick off the interview by asking the one nagging question on our mind: Why North Carolina?

"We wanted to expand Insomniac's capabilities while retaining the small team culture in Burbank. Opening up an office in The Triangle lets us do that while also offering an alternative for talented people who want to stay on the East Coast," Dezern answered. "Plus, Shaun and I are from the South and we missed the distant strumming of the banjo."

Raleigh, NC had better stock up on Ambien. GameDaily reports that Burbank, CA based Insomniac Games – creator of Resistance and Ratchet & Clank – plans to have a North Carolina office open for business by January 2009. Insomniac art director Chad Dezern will head the studio, with gameplay lead Shaun McCabe taking on the role of production director. Both Insomniac veterans will head east once development wraps on Resistance 2.

The studio, situated in the same "Research Triangle" area of Raleigh-Durham as Gears of War developer Epic Games (no peeking, guys!) will be home to roughly 30 new Insomniacs working on current and all-new franchises for PS3. In his interview with GameDaily, Insomniac president Ted Price points out that a team of 30 should be just the right size for creating a big-time PS3 title using the company's refined tools and technology. PS3 fans should be (rightfully) excited by the prospect of Insomniac likely bringing another all-new franchise to the system by way of the new studio, as the Burbank home base continues to develop future Ratchet and Resistance installments.

Update: Videos for Resistance 2 and Killzone 2 have been removed at Sony's request. "This was an internal video to show work in progress and was not ready for distribution." We will post new media when it is available.

If you were furiously pounding F5 to follow along with PS3 Fanboy's live coverage of PlayStation Day 2008, you probably felt a little pang of sadness as our man, Jem Alexander, got to see some new footage from Mirror's Edge, Resistance 2 and Killzone 2 while you had to make do with reading his text second-hand.

Now, you can make amends and see the videos directly from the show for yourself. Oh, and you should know that the audio on the Killzone clip seems to become a little crazy at the end, but we're hoping you still get the idea. You can find Resistance Mirror's Edge after the break right here.

We were jazzed to see our tipbox lined with messages heralding the release of this "Exclusive Debut Teaser" for the follow-up to the PS3's inaugural first person shooter, Resistance: Fall of Man. However, we must say that after watching this sneak peek, we're left a bit unsatisfied. Don't get us wrong, the twenty seconds-worth of two in-game cinematics flipped a Pavlovian switch in our brains, leaving us salivating for the further adventures of Nathan Hale, but we were left confused by the last few seconds -- is this a trailer for the game; or for the June 13 episode of GameTrailers TV, and its "World Exclusive Gameplay Premiere" for Resistance 2? You be the judge.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]

In an interview with MTV's Multiplayer, Insomniac Games president Ted Price discusses development at the company going into the PS3 era. He says that Ratchet and Clank Future was the "best production experience" after the "hell" of putting together Resistance, elaborating that working with the new PS3 tech and a genre the company hadn't worked in for 10 years was tough.

Price confesses that Ratchet recently hit the million sold mark globally, but says the game has a "long tail." He also allays fears that Insomniac will become a Ratchet and Resistance mill, "We'll continue to produce new IP, there's no question about that." As for Resistance 2, players can expect deeper storytelling this time around and a better connection with ... boy, what was his name again?

Actually, the last part of the interview is all about Resistance 2. Price reiterates that the 60 player arenas are going to happen and they've been playing them internally, along with the eight-player co-op. Looks like it's going to be showdown between Killzone 2 and Resistance at the end of '08 on PS3.

MTV Multiplayer and Ted Price: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

Worried that game integration with Playstation Home will just be trophies, trailers and t-shirts? Well, so were we, actually. Luckily, Kotaku's learned some interesting details about the Home integration of Warhawk, Uncharted: Drake's Fortune, and Resistance: Fall of Man. Turns out its way cooler than we thought.

Warhawk will reportedly allow up to eight players to meet in a "war room" prior to a match, mapping out strategies on "sand table" replicas of each level. Once they're ready to go, players can jump right into an online Warhawk match from the Home interface. A nice touch, indeed.

Resistance and Uncharted, meanwhile, will give Home users access to full unpopulated levels from the games, allowing players to casually walk through battlefields with their Home avatars. In addition to this killer feature, Resistance will allow players to explore unseen portions of the game, and locate radio transmissions that further explain the storyline. Uncharted will feature a Contra-style 2D shooter that launches from Home. Consider us floored. We can't wait to see these features in action.

Read - How Resistance makes Home really, really cool [Kotaku]
Read - How Uncharted makes Home really, really cool [Kotaku]
Read - How Warhawk makes Home really, really cool [Kotaku]

[Via PS3 Fanboy]

Savior of stingy spenders and bane of box art, the budget lineup, is set to incorporate several PlayStation 3 titles in Japan next month. IGN reports that the official "PlayStation 3 the Best" branding will highlight familiar titles at friendlier prices, with Resistance: Fall of Man, FolksSoul (aka Folklore), Ninja Gaiden Sigma, Gundam: Target in Sight, and Ridge Racer 7 pinching the first pennies -- or, uh, yanking the first yen. The "Best" games will sell for ¥3,800 ($36), which represents a saving of roughly ¥2,200 ($21) for Sony-published games and ¥3,200 ($30) for third-party titles.

On the other side of the ocean, Sony told GamesIndustry.biz that a similar "Platinum" range of budget games would likely arrive in Europe. "We have introduced a Platinum range of best-selling titles for all of our platforms to date, and it is likely that we will do so in the future for PS3," said a spokesman, noting that the timing and lineup had yet to be finalized.

We'll let you know what Sony America has to say about a budget lineup as soon as they accept our collect call.

Read -- "PlayStation 3 the Best" for Japan
Read -- "Platinum" for Europe

A trademark has been filed by Sony Computer Entertainment of America for the name Resistance 2. Although this writer initially assumed SCEA was prepping an educational game on introductory circuitry, the rest of the Joystiq staff quickly reminded him of the well-received Resistance: Fall of Man that launched with the PlayStation 3.

Wow, we did not see this coming -- it's a holiday miracle! Is Sony laying groundwork for a sequel? Do they really think it financially wise to make a sequel to one of the best, most critically-acclaimed titles on the PS3? (Answer: probably.) Perhaps they're just protecting the name before someone else claims the title for Resistance 2: Fall of Hen, which is in fact a sequel to the 2000 film Chicken Run and a direct competitor to the equally punful, and equally fictional, Deers of War. (Answer: No, they're not.)

No formal announcement has been made. According to the game's lore, Chimeran forces have invaded all of Europe, giving developer Insomniac a vast number of prestigious churches to anger.

[Via Trademork, PS3FB]

This week's PSN Thursday update brings the Pain (sorry). The idea behind this $10 PSN downloadable game is to inflict as much pain as possible on your pitiable pixelated counterpart through myriad ill-advised (and physics-based!) scenarios. If you enjoy watching people getting launched from a slingshot into the side of a building, then we know the game for you (and we've also got the number of a great therapist).

Not into the pain thing? There are also new maps for Resistance: Fall of Man, vehicles for Motorstorm, David Bowie Rock Band DLC, and Oblivion's Shivering Isles. For the PSN European update please check out sister-site PS3 Fanboy, US folks can hit up the full update list after the break.

Forgiveness is the Christian way, so it's not too surprising that Manchester Cathedral officials have officially forgiven Sony for their use of the historic church in Resistance: Fall of Man. But the subtext of the public acceptance shows there is still some ill will behind the words.

Despite two apologies from Sony for any offense caused, Cathedral Dean Rev. Rogers Govender could only passive-aggressively tell the BBC that "we do forgive Sony for what they have done, even though they still believe they have done nothing wrong." Govender went on to urge the game industry to follow the "long held traditions of film and television" by "having courtesy, respecting the dignity of your subject, and admitting when mistakes have been made." Such traditions of filmic church respect can be seen in this action-packed church scene from Face/Off and this bloody church shootout from The Killer.

On the plus side, Govender admitted to the BBC that the controversy over the game has caused "an increase in visits from young people and tourists." It might not be the "substantial donation" they were looking for, but we're sure the Church doesn't mind the extra money.

If the headline seems a little familiar, it's because we've been here before. First, the Church of England issued a statement regarding the "offensive" presence of Manchester Cathedral in Sony's Resistance: Fall of Man for the PS3. Sony followed up by issuing an apology, stating that they had no intention of offending, but that the content was staying. Church of England responded by saying that the apology wasn't good enough, and Sony responded to the response of the response by apologizing again.

Now, following the announcement of the nominees for this year's BAFTA Video Game Awards, the Church of England is once again up in arms, this time issuing a statement pleading that the nomination for Resistance: Fall of Man be pulled, claiming that the nomination "is like rubbing salt in the wounds" of the Church.

The spokesman for the Church of England claims that the nomination comes from the game's solid sales, which they believe were increased substantially by the controversy. No word yet of a response from either Sony or BAFTA. Resistance: Fall of Man was only nominated for one award by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts: The PC World Gamers Award, which will be decided by a public vote, and not by a BAFTA panel.

The Pan European Game Information, or PEGI, rating system is currently used for all offline video game releases in the United Kingdom and Europe. Now it's looking to tackle online, too. The PEGI Online has been a project eighteen months in the making. A multi-language website has launched to inform about the new initiative and provide resources to explain online gaming to the not-so-tech savvy parents.

Additionally, a PEGI Online symbol has been created to go on the back of games who adhere to the PEGI Online Safety Code. The code insists that license holders (developers, publishers) use their "best endeavors" to prevent offensive material from proliferating through the online service.

We applaud the clause for a coherent privacy policy, but are cautious toward a call for disallowing all game content not appropriately rated through PEGI, BBFC or German USK from a website. Pending interpretation of the wording and the aptitude of lawmakers regarding technology, that could be applied to user-made content such as Halo 3 replays or entrants in the Unreal Tournament mod competitions. We want a code to protect children, so long as it's not inappropriately used in a detrimental manner.