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Qore episode 10 had an interview with Criterion Games showing off Big Surf Island, their newest DLC coming to Burnout Paradise in June. It's the first DLC to expand the physical land mass that's playable in the roughly 1.5-year-old smash hit driving game that's now only $20 as a digital download or in stores. That's my hint that you need to buy this game for your PlayStation 3 if you don't already own it. Read more »

It seems like it's earnings season, which in this economy and expensive console generation seems to be turning into a season of red ink. EA spat up a $1.088 billion loss for the year, and THQ is a bit unhappy with a larger than expected fourth quarter loss. Read more »

EA might've hit some slow sales with newer IP's in the past year but they're reaching for great things with The Sims 3. Will Wright's signature franchise has earned them oodles and you'd think that getting the best possible boxed version in everyone's hands to re-energize another wave of expansion sales would be priority one. After all, it worked wonders for The Sims 2.

Building a great PC game doesn't seem to be enough for them. You'd think it would. I mean really, what PC game doesn't show up broken in some nontrivial way? Busted online, crippled authentication, schizophrenic DRM that decides one day you're the owner that deserves to install it and the next you're persona non grata that can't install the game any longer -- all of these things give PC gaming a black eye day in, day out. So EA is not just building a game, but they're building an online store to sell chunks of additional content.

The game will ship with 1000 points to spend in a store, and additional bunches of 1000 are available for USD$10 plus whatever taxes might be involved. Never mind that it's trying to pull one over on the consumer by hiding the actual price of content, forcing them to buy points, and it's reaching towards a nickel-and-diming, microtransaction model, which means we'll see the tiniest things going for small bits of points. It's also going to cut retail out of the add-on pack situation and will probably also make it less likely you'll be able to buy bigger expansions at retail.

Could this also take a bite out of piracy? Perhaps, but I don't expect tighter DRM restrictions to be taken lying down by the kids of the mom and pop gamers that made The Sims such a big hit over the years.

Seen on Shacknews.

Having spent a whole lot of time playing Mercenaries 2, which I picked up for $20 used a month or so ago and which is now being sold new for that price, I can fairly say the game is worth it. It's expecially worth it if you're a fan of open-world sandbox games; if you like earning in-game currency and being able to spend it on meaningful items and vehicles to enhance the experience; and if you like earning PS3 Trophies while you play. (It's also available on the Xbox 360 and has a full set of Achievements too.)

The game really is a next-generation iteration of the Mercenaries franchise that made quite a splash back on the PS2 and Xbox. If you've played that game -- I only did so just over a year ago -- the moment you first jump into a car and hit the road you'll know the same developers did the work on both titles. Read more »

Survival horror was never my thing so I basically ignored the release of Resident Evil 5 last month. Turns out it was at my peril. The game did very well and turns out to be much more of a third-person action title than anything else, a genre I can definitely get behind. Also earning top honors last month on the PlayStation 3 was Street Fighter IV. Read more »