Patapon 2is releasing in the US soon, andaccording to rumors, you won’t be able to find a copy anywhere … not aphysicalcopy, anyway. Apparently, Sony will be pushing the game as a digital title, so much so that when the game ships to retail, there won’t be a disc in the box. Only a code to download the thing. That’s right, even thoughPatapon 2will be available to buy in stores, you’ll only get a voucher enabling you to download the game....

As someone who has the worst PC on the planet (seriously, it barely runs Notepad), I was more than excited about thenewsthatSam & Max – Season 1would be coming to the Wii. As everyone was enjoying Sam & Max’s newest adventures on their fancy post-1996 computers, I had to sit alone in a dark room with only the amazing memories ofHit the Roadto keep me company. Well, it looks like I will only have to live in the shadow of my loneliness for a few more months!...

The Behemoth has revealed some fresh gameplay footage for its “competitive platformer” title, known only asGame #3. As you can see, it involves bouncing on people’s heads and flapping about with a pair of angel wings. Typical Behemoth weirdness. The gameplay looks a bit slower than previous Behemoth games, but I’m thinking the lack of music at this early stage is simply making methinkit’s slow-paced. I imagine when more bells and whistles have been added, this will look just as chaotic and mad as previous games....

There are zombies on PlayStation 3 owners’ lawns and, thanks to Sony Online Entertainment, they’ll be able to take care of that soon. It’s been announced today that SOE will be publishing PopCap’s popular lawn-defense title,Plants vs. Zombies, for PlayStation Network this February. No word on whether the PSN version will bring extras over the recently released Xbox Live Arcade title, but there’s no need — the game’s awesome as it is....

Sony has offered some snarky commentary on the 3DS, attempting to avoid a direct assault but very clearly letting the world know what it’s talking about. The attack comes by way of Mick Hocking, who expressed no surprise that the system didn’t have a huge launch. “When people see 3D that doesn’t work very well, or content that isn’t very compelling, I think quite naturally they’re not as interested in it,” he said, when asked to comment on the 3DS’ performance....

3D contentisn’t the only gimmick from the eighties that Sony wants to shove down our throats. The company is also busting a nut over Virtual Reality, promising that it will be an utterly amazing endeavor when it makes its return. “Another thing that’s coming back, which I’m very excited about, is the notion of virtual reality,” said Sony 3D team boss Mick Hocking. “So we have our new HMD — our head-mounted display — which we launched at CES this year, and you can see that we can now get back to where we really wanted to get with virtual reality in the ’80s....

Amazon France may have let the Ubisoft cat out of the bag when they listed not just acollection of threeSplinter Cellgamesfor the PS3, but also a collection of thefirst threePrince of Persiagamesas well. The listings were spotted byTheSixthAxisand one of their commentors respectively and show the two collections as landing in November. Of course neither of these collections are confirmed, but a commenter over at The SixthAxis said that he saw the trilogy listed in a pre-order book for whatever game store he works at....

Yes, that’s Batsu fromRival Schoolsat 40 seconds in. I know, I’m jealous too. Due out in Japan this Thursday, Capcom has unveiled the above opening movie for its much-awaitedTatsunoko Vs. Capcom, AKA: the game that liberated me from having to give a sh*t aboutStreet Fighter IV. Take a good look, because sadly, it’s the only way many of us will ever see it. Damn shame.Every moment of this thing strikes the same sweet chord as when Capcom’s fighting all-stars took on SNK or Marvel, and that opens a mixed bag of feelings....

Feeling left out because the newTales of Monkey Islandis coming to Wii and PC, but not to your friendly local XBLA? Fear not. It’s not a matter of if, but when. Telltale’s design director, Dave Grossman, said in a recentEurogamer interviewthat it was a possibility: “We didn’t so much decide not to put it on Xbox Live Arcade as we decided not to put it on XBLA now,” Grossman said. “Normally what we do is PC and one of the other platforms, and we’ve been bouncing back and forth between them … Yeah, I mean I wouldn’t rule it out....

At long last,Trineis available as a PSN download. But is it a quality port? Released in July for the PC, Frozenbyte Interactive planned to launch the PSN version of the game later that month. As is plain, that plan didn’t pan out. In September, Frozenbyte CEO Lauri Hyvarianenpeggedthe discovery of small bugs and a lengthy testing process as the culprits. In a morerecent explanation, developer Joel said a of failed certification submissions to Sony because of the aforementioned small bugs play a role in delay as well....

I’m not talking in the metaphorical, “that’s kinda twisted” sort of way. No, this trailer looks visually dark. I realize that it’s a game about ninja striking silently in the inky blackness of deepest night but, man, it’s really hard to see anything here. I loves me some stealth in my games but, for some reason, Tenchu never really grabbed my attention. I’ve bought several of them and they’ve never felt as polished as some of the other series....

Personally, I’ve played GRIN’s next-genBionic Commandoat no less than three press events. Each time it’s like deja vu, with the playable areas either extremely similar or exactly the same, only with more polish. The playable build Capcom brought along to Tokyo Game Show was no different. I ran into GRIN’s Gunnar Johansson on the show floor and asked him to point out the differences in the new build. Not surprisingly, he pointed out that it’s more polish, mostly in the visual department — more lighting and particle effects, things like that....

ABattlefield Heroes“buyer”? What’s that? It’s someone who not only plays the free-to-playBattlefield Heroes, but also manages to spend real money on microtransactions for the game like a new outfit for their character or an XP widget. Are we clear now? Good! EA analytics manager Rommy Ghalyhas given IGNsome very interesting data about how much players are spending on virtual items: of the people who buy something inBattlefield Heroes, the average amount spent is $20....