If you live in the Netherlands then you’ve just lost a possible place to buy a PSPgo when it’s released in October. Eurogamer reports that the Dutch retailer Nedgame – the country’s largest specialist games retailer – are refusing to stock and sell Sony’s new product.

There are a number of reasons why this is happening, one of them being that Nedgame believes that the PSPgo is too expensive priced at €249.99, and they certainly have a point as it’s €80 more than the PSP-3000 that is currently on the market. Apparently the cost isn’t justified, with the smaller screen being one example of why it isn’t worth the asking price. However, this is not the main reason for the ‘boycott’.

The lack of a UMD drive on the PSPgo is putting retailers like Nedgame off selling the product. Retailers make the most profit off software, and not hardware, when it comes to games; so this means that they’re about to lose out on the majority of the profit from a section of the video game market (plus the pre-owned market, which is a huge slice of income for retailers such as the American Gamestop), and with Nedgame being a specialist retailer they’ll be even more worried as the video game market moves ever closer to full digital distribution.

Of course, retailers have tried to gain from digital distribution by selling downloadable games through their website, or selling, for example, Xbox Live points cards in-store. However, the PSPgo is different in that Sony is effectively creating a monopoly on the software for the console by making them only available on the Playstation Store; which, in my mind, is pretty bad from a consumer viewpoint. No competition means that Sony can price however they want, but I suppose you do get the added bonus of all your games being easily accessible from one PSN account.

Eurogamer Holland says that other Dutch retailers are starting to grumble too, and it probably won’t be long before retailers in other countries start to have their say (apparently Spanish retailers are considering following suit). At least you can be sure that your local supermarket will be selling them come launch day, but have we really go to the point where specialist game retailers don’t really matter anymore? I know I haven’t bought a game in one for ages, unless it was off their website, largely because the prices are more expensive than the Internet.

Personally I’m just going to keep my old PSP and use SD cards to store downloadable games, just like I did with Final Fantasy VII a few months back.

Rockstar announced today that the second downloadable episode for Grand Theft Auto IV - “The Ballad of Gay Tony” - will release worldwide on the Xbox 360 on 29th October.

The downloadable content will sell for 1600 Microsoft points, which is around £13. If you don’t want to download it, or you haven’t played the previous episode “The Lost and Damned“, Rockstar is releasing both episodes on a disc packaged as Grand Theft Auto: Episodes From Liberty City.

As I mentioned previously the DLC will concentrate on the “glitzy high-end night life” of Liberty City. That doesn’t mean you’ll be the dancing the night away as you will be doing all the dirty work for Tony “Gay Tony” Prince.

I STILL haven’t played “The Lost and Damned“, but let me tell you a short story surrounding that. I recently bought 2100 Microsoft Points so I could buy Fallout 3’s “Broken Steel“. After buying that I went to look at how much I had left so I could possibly buy “The Lost and Damned“, since I already had some from a previous purchase. I had 1550 points, and the content was 1600, which was highly annoying. It seems that Microsoft structures the point system in a way in which you have to buy another big chunk just so you can get 50 extra points.

I wish they would just use real money like PSN, but of course that would mean that Microsoft couldn’t easily overcharge us.

(Image source: Kotaku)

Related posts:

• GTA: IV’s Next DLC - The Ballad of Gay Tony

The Playstation 3’s LittleBigPlanet amassed an impressive 1 million user created levels this week, showing us again that users love to create their own content. They also love to play this content, as those million-plus levels have been played a total of 244 million times.

Media Molecule, developers of the game, state that a level has been published every 21 seconds since last year’s launch. That’s nearly five years worth of content if you’re thinking about playing each and every level. It’s also a jump of 400,000 since March.

To celebrate their achievement Media Molecule have released a video (which you can see above) showing off just a few of the levels that make up that giant number. The blog posting on the news also tells players to come back on the 18th of August for some more news. However, before the date you will be able to download a ‘History Pack’ come 13th August. The pack contains Sackboys in the guise of various people from history; Boudica, Countess of Lovelace, Genghis Khan, Mozart plus a number of stickers and decorations. There will also be another bit of DLC that includes sound effects and a new level kit.

Of course, not all of those million-plus levels are worth playing. There are probably a fair number of duds in there, but there are also a lot of cleverly and tenderly crafted levels in there for you to enjoy. There’s plenty of bang for your buck!

Why not pick up your very own Sackboy while you’re at it?

LittleBigPlanet Community Reaches One Million Creations - Playstation Blog

Related posts:

• Sackboy is the law!
• LittleBigPlanet Now Has Over 600,000 User-Created Levels.

Speaking to Bethesda’s Jeff Gardiner MTV Multiplayer was curious as to whether or not the level cap in the upcoming Fallout 3 DLC ‘Mothership Zeta’ would again be raised. ‘Broken Steel’, one of the previous DLC releases, raised the level cap from 20 to 30 due to player demand; but would this be happening again, or is there no actual need for it?

“I know from the outside this seems like a fairly simple proposition, but doing this could unbalance the game in a variety of ways.” - MTV Multiplayer

Gardiner says that the game was meant to be played with a variety of different character set-ups, so if someone really wanted to continue their Fallout 3 experience they should think about starting from scratch and creating a new character. However, he does say that future games may change their approach.

When I hit level 20 I immediately downloaded ‘Broken Steel’ (I had periods where I wouldn’t play Fallout 3 for a long while, which explains why I was only reaching level 20 after ‘Broken Steel’ was released) so I would continue gaining experience from the tonnes of things I still had to do in the Capital Wasteland. When you reach 30, however, there’s no real need to continue gaining experience because you’re pretty much set to overcome any challenge the game throws at you. I don’t believe another increased cap would add anything to the game, because it’s all about the experience of new content than being allocated a two number level that has ceased to mean anything. I’d rather just enjoy the new quests, stories and characters than worry about where my experience is going. It just doesn’t really matter like it did when I first stepped out of Vault 101 as a relative n00b.

Fallout 3 is more than a level cap, it is one of the best experiences I’ve had in a video game. I loved the setting and the stories, so ‘Mothership Zeta’ just means more of what I love regardless of whether or not I gain another level

‘Mothership Zeta’ is set for release 3 August on PC and Xbox 360.

BioWare have continued to dodge an official announcement regarding the next piece of Mass Effect DLC, and unfortunately this still remains the case. Lets recap for a second; Bioware let slip that more DLC was on the way through their Twitter account late last month, saying that further details were imminent. Shortly after that we were told we would have to wait for more information, and now we’re getting teased a little bit more.

BioWare head Ray Muzyka has told IGN that the DLC will emerge soon and is “fun” to play. So basically he stated the obvious of what fans are expecting, because we wouldn’t want to play it if it wasn’t fun, would we?

“We haven’t announced it formally yet but I think you can expect something in the next little while,” he said. “Probably some kind of announcement about [the ME DLC]. It’s pretty cool. I’ve been playing what we’re working on there and fans will find it fun.” - IGN

It has been over a year since the only piece of Mass Effect DLC, “Bring Down the Sky”, was released. I was a little disappointed at the DLC, and I felt that it didn’t delve deeper into the background of Mass Effect’s fascinating universe like I wanted it to. Plus, it didn’t help that you had to control that god awful Mako vehicle for part of the DLC.

Hopefully the upcoming DLC will have a little more substance, but we won’t actually know if it will be worth the money until we hear some more information about it. At least it will help plug the hole in my heart that continues to exist until Mass Effect 2 is released.

LucasArts, creators of classic games such as the Monkey Island series and Full Throttle (which gave me an excuse to post the glorious gif above), believes that the increase in developers using digital distribution to release games has also increased consumer interest in retro games.

Craig Derrick, producer on the upcoming download only Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition, told Destructoid that LucasArts decided to update the title due to fan demand, and also because making new IP is “very difficult”.

“We’re experiencing a remarkable increase in retro gaming and nostalgia thanks in part to the digital distribution of games on Xbox Live Arcade, PSN, Wiiware, Steam and iTunes, he said. “We’re seeing that gamers are looking for new experiences, even if they’re found in classic games.

“The age range of the average gamer has significantly broadened and people are open now more than ever to different types of game genres.” - Destructoid

The beauty of releasing old games on any digital distribution platform means that not only those that grew up playing them can relive the good old days, but it also means that quality games are exposed to a new generation. Some gamers may like hunting down dusty copies of old games, but I just prefer easy access on modern platforms. That doesn’t mean I think they should be updated though, and to be honest I prefer the original visuals in Secret of Monkey Island rather than the new HD update on PC and Xbox Live Arcade (thankfully you can switch between the two). However, there are other options available such as the excellent Good Old Games website. Not only does GoG provide a large stable of classic games, but it’s also extremely cheap to boot!

Secret of Monkey Island: Special Edition lands 7 July on PC and Xbox Live.

The guys at Media Molecule have been flooding PSN with new LittleBigPlanet content as of late (such as these Monsters, Norse Mythology and Rag Doll Kung Fu costume packs), but anyone who doesn’t want some time in the cubes needs to know that nothing beats the law. The law sometimes goes by another name, and that name is Judge Dredd.

Yes, Media Molecule have conquered the seemingly impossible task of making Judge Dredd and some of his 2000AD compatriots cute in the form of loveable Sackboys. Joining Judge Dredd’s trademark frown are Judge Anderson, Johnny Alpha, Hammerstein and Rogue Trooper. The pack also features a set of stickers, which in total sets you back £4.79 (although each character can be bought individually at £1.59 each, but Judge Dredd and Judge Anderson are counted together) and should be available on the UK PSN Store right now.

Since I don’t own a PS3 I can only sadly admire this from afar, but at least I can be content in the knowledge that the worlds of 2000AD are being highlighted to the masses. Sure, most people know who Judge Dredd is (unfortunately most people outside of the UK will know the character based off Stallone’s awful interpretation of him) but other characters such as Johnny Alpha aren’t as widely known.

You can check out more images of the DLC on Media Molecule’s Flickr feed.

 

While we all knew that Rockstar had another downloadable Grand Theft Auto IV episode in the works the popular opinion was that Microsoft would announce it at their press conference at the upcoming E3. Instead Rockstar chose yesterday to announce their next episode, which is titled The Ballad of Gay Tony.

Moving away from The Lost and Damned’s seedy biker gang The Ballad of Gay Tony focuses on the glitzy “high-end night life” of Liberty City. You will play the role of Luis Lopez, who does the dirty work for the impresario Tony “Gay Tony” Prince.

Rockstar says that “players will struggle with the competing loyalties of family and friends, and with the uncertainty about who is real and who is fake in a world in which everyone has a price.”

The next episode is slated for an autumn release and will be priced at 1600 Microsoft points through Xbox Live.

I have yet to play The Lost and Damned, but that’s mainly due to sheer laziness because Xbox Live doesn’t accept my credit card so I have to buy those points cards through Amazon (I’ve come across a few instant-by-email sites but I’m yet to try them, apart from one that I use for my monthly subscriptions).

Unfortunately you won’t be getting any extra use out of your copy of Unreal Tournament 3 just yet, as the expansion pack I brought word of last month has been delayed.

The original plan was to give players extra levels, weapons, game modes and more from tomorrow on both PC and PS3. Epic has said that the pack won’t arrive until 19th March, two weeks from the original release date. Steve Polge posted an explanation on the developer’s official forums.

“Unfortunately, due to circumstances out of our control, the certification process for the PS3 patch and DLC has taken much longer than we expected. As a result, we have been forced to push back the release date for the PS3 version to 3/19.

The PC patch contains updates that will improve mods cooked for PS3, so we’ll be taking advantage of this extra time to work with mod authors to make sure the best mods for UT3 are cooked with the latest patch” - Epic

I suppose it’s not that much of a wait, but for eager UT fans looking to fresh content it’s just another two weeks of boredom. At least it’s free!

Come 12th March Midnight Club: Los Angeles, which received generally favourable reviews, will get a pretty substantial update. Rockstar’s downloadable South Central (an iconic district in LA) content will hit both Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 for free, with an extra premium pack costing $9.99 (which should be around £6.80, but I bet we end up paying more) or 800 Microsoft points.

The free portion of the content - which was accidentally leaked back in December - will add a new area to the game’s already large map that includes new online races. The premium pack adds 9 new vehicles, 26 races, 12 battle maps, 10 delivery missions and more. Vehicles include the ‘2008 Range Rover Supercharged’ and the ‘1970 Chevy Chevelle’.

Sounds worth the price to me!