Eric Lempel, the Director of PlayStation Network Operations has just posted a heads up on the PS blog. Hi, everyone, I wanted to give you a quick heads up that a new PSP firmware update, v. 5.03, will be released soon. This update includes a security patch for the PSP’s system software. No further details have been revealed, if they are we will let you know. //

Square-Enix has revealed the first image of the limited edition Final Fantasy VII PS3. Pictured on the left, you’ll see the Final Fantasy VII style PS3. Dubbed ‘Cloud Black’, this PS3 will come individually numbered and packaged with a Blu-ray version of Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Complete. Of course, the real appeal of getting Advent Children Complete on Blu-ray is the Final Fantasy XIII demo. Oddly enough, Advent Children will have the option of English voices, but it’ll lack the option for English subtitles if watching in Japanese. Also, the Final Fantasy XIII...

Warner Bros has confirmed that a single-player demo fro F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin will be available on Xbox Live Marketplace, PC and PSN begining January 22. Developer Monolith claims the sequel sports “second to none” enemy AI, which if you’ve played the first game is actually quite believable. “The F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin demo will offer a glimpse of the action, terror and suspense of the full retail version of the game,” says Warner’s blurb. “Players will maneuver through bloodstained corridors and hallways from several locations in the game, as...

Capcom has confirmed that the Resident Evil 5 demo will be on PSN from Monday, February 2 – over a month before the game’s release on March 13. That’s exactly a week after the demo is due to hit Xbox Live, on Monday, January 26. The demo includes two-player split-screen and two-player online gameplay and single-player with AI help. Unlike the 360 demo, which will only be available to Gold XBL members for the first week (silver as of Feb 2), the PS3 demo will be free for all from day one so get stuck in. Source; CVG Order RE5 at ShopTo – PS3 - 360 – PC //

Speaking this week at a forum on game industry law, Valve’s Jason Holtman said the company views pirates as “underserved customers” and used a win-win anecdote about Russia showing how they deal with them. According to GameDaily, Holtman said all Valve games are released simultaneously in Russia, a market rife with game piracy. The reason: “Because Russians are reading magazines and watching television — they say ‘Man, I want to play that game so bad,’ but the publishers respond ‘you can play that game in six months … maybe.’ ” The narrow,...

Valve has rolled out a hulking PC patch for Left 4 Dead that puts right a host of exploits and further tweaks the acclaimed co-op shooter. The update is applied automatically through Steam. Valve plans to offer the same fix for Xbox 360 “in the coming weeks”. Of the changes (listed below), the “increased chance of getting the Tank or Witch” during Versus game modes scares us, especially as both will now spawn “directly on the escape route”. “Kill” and “explode” client commands have importantly been cheat protected during Versus matches,...

Game director Bruce Straley has given CVG some insight into how Uncharted 2’s AI will make for a much more challenging experience. The game’s new stealth element has inspired Naughty Dog to create some very lifelike enemies. “As a result of expanding our gameplay to account for action-stealth, there are two new behaviours added to enemies, ‘investigate’ and ‘hunt,’” Straley told us. “With ‘investigate’ the enemies have peripheral vision just like humans. When Drake enters this peripheral vision the enemies will look over in the direction...

Activision has told Eurogamer that Guitar Hero: Metallica will be rocking onto European shelves this May. The publisher’s comments come after a internal schedule was supposedly leaked to French website LiveWii, citing the same date. The news is also hot on the heels of US retailer GameStop claiming Guitar Hero: Metallica will be out there on 29th March. Metallica follow Aerosmith as the focus of a spin-off Guitar Hero game, and bring with them full drum/guitar/microphone GHWT support plus fancy sounds for the GHTunes recording studio. In celebration of the bonkers ability of band co-founder...

EA will release a Time Trial DLC pack for DICE’s Mirror’s Edge on January 29. The DLC, which will be available for all three editions of the game (PS3/360/PC), will see you challenged with getting the fastest times on nine races across seven “all-new and totally redesigned” time trial maps. The content will set you back around £6.90, or 800 Microsoft Points. The news comes shortly ahead of the release of the PC version of the game this Friday. Source; CVG //