The Week in Gaming Mar 16-22, 2008

The Week in Gaming Mar 16-22, 2008

Navneet Prakash, Mar 22, 2008 1502 hrs IST

Here's all the juice, the goss... from the world of gaming this week. Enjoy!

An exciting week this -- for gamers -- more so fans of PS3. Here's looking at some of the highlights.

Sony announced their MGS 4 Steel PS3 -- a stunner of a PS3 -- that'll go on sale in June; along with a copy of MGS 4, and enough attitude to put Puff Daddy to shame. And, the special limited edition PS3 will also bundle Sony's new Dual Shock 3 controller. We think this one's a must for every true-blue MGS fan -- never mind the obscene price tag (approx $540). Let's hope it'll be available in India though.

Ubisoft announced buying brand Tom Clancy; the author of the same name is world-renowned for his many espionage thrillers, but the brand is even bigger. Ubisoft is aware of this, and plans to milk some serious moolah out of it. As per terms of the deal, Ubisoft now has all rights "on a perpetual basis and free of all related future royalty payments to make or license Tom Clancy-branded video games and ancillary products including related books, movies, and merchandising products." So get ready for a windfall of Ubisoft games under brand Tom Clancy. Looks like it's already started.

There's more from Sony (are they on Prozac or something?): the company has announced on their official PS3 blog that a new firmware update -- v 2.20 for the PS3 -- is due in 'a few days'. The implications, if anything, are huge. The update will enable PS3 to support Blu-ray Disc Profile 2.0 aka BD-Live. Gamers can then connect to the Internet while playing discs supporting BD-Live to obtain additional content, special features, and so on. Features will vary from disc to disc, keeping BD discs fresh with new content; in some cases even exclusive content that can be accessed only by the owner of BD-Live enabled discs. Courtesy also the firmware update, gamers will be able to copy PS3 music and photos on to their PSPs; play DivX and WMV format files that are over 2GB; start playing DVDs or BDs from the point at which they were previously stopped using the 'resume play' feature; use their PSP as remote control to play back music files on the PS3 without turning on the TV; etc. etc.