239w ago - Per Mike Skinner of Team RamRod via PS Blog today:

Hello everyone! Team RamRod is here again this week to introduce some new High Velocity Bowling (HVB) goodness. I know it's gonna be tough to compete with last week's release of the FREE HVB Online Play update in North America, but we have more great news for our fans here in the States.

To all our fans in Europe who are waiting for the online action and new content, please know that we are working as fast as we can to release it to you as well.

Anyone that has played HVB knows that it is filled with an eccentric mix of characters and bowling alleys. Joe and Jill might be your average family playing in a common setting, but it's not everyday you can mix it up on the lanes with a biker who wants to be a Viking.

Most of you know that HVB hasn't had any new faces in the neighborhood for quite a while, so without further delay, I am proud to introduce everyone to our newest bowlers, Foxy Powers and Chastity Falls!

Foxy Powers
Foxy Powers is a retro revolutionary, who hails from Oakland, California. She spends her time challenging one sucker after another in her cool, dark den. Foxy has a powerful shot with a good spin. Downloading Foxy also nets you her special ball, "The Revolution" and her new...

239w ago - According to Shae5O9 from the official PS boards, Sony's PlayStation Home is being promoted as one of the PlayStation Network's features to gamers who are creating new PSN accounts.

Many are hoping that this means Sony will stick to their word and release the PlayStation Home Open BETA soon.

Jack Tretton, SCEA president, recently said that the PlayStation Home Open BETA will launch this November.

However, Kazuo Hirai, president and group chief executive of Sony Computer Entertainment recently said we will see the "Open BETA by the end of this year" which is slightly contradictory.

Needless to say, only time will tell for sure.

239w ago - IGN (linked above) has translated some new details from Famitsu about the Final Fantasy Versus XIII characters 'Noctis Lucis Caelum' and 'Stella Nox Fleuret'.

To quote: The names of the two were revealed at the Tokyo Game Show to be Noctis Lucis Caelum and Stella Nox Fleuret. Stella is described by the magazine as a princess in the Fleuret family.

She and Noctis are shown in the magazine's screens discussing their ability to "see light." This may not sound all that special at first, but in Versus XIII, it's an ability that Noctis suggests keeping quiet about. Stella appears to be more open about the matter, even asking Noctis when he gained the ability.

Wondering what the characters' names mean? Typical for the FNC series, the two names are Latin. The three parts of the hero's name mean "Night, Light, and Sky." The three parts of the heroine's name mean "Star, Darkness, and Sword." Darkness is also the meaning of Stella's country's name.

Director and character designer Tetsuya Nomura shared with the magazine a few additional details on the characters. Nomura feels that the trailer footage (which you probably haven't seen, unless you made it out to the Tokyo Game Show) tells us a lot about the personalities of the two characters.

Stella, for instance, is shown...

239w ago - From Software is known for developing very stylistic games, from Otogi: Myth of Demons to Armored Core for Answer, among others. Their next project is a first-party game from Microsoft called Ninja Blade.

In Ninja Blade, which takes place high atop the skyscrapers of Tokyo, Ken Ogawa and his team of ninjas are deployed to destroy an infected monster horde and stem the spreading disease.

After narrowly escaping betrayal and death, Ogawa is left to fight the daunting battle alone. Armed with an arsenal of specialized ninja weapons, tools and skills, players must fight insurmountable odds to restore peace to Tokyo.

Microsoft has just released three new in-game screens from Ninja Blade, which we've included for your viewing pleasure. Although From Software has never been a graphical slouch, It's obvious that the studio is doing things graphically on Xbox 360 that many developers are hard-pressed to achieve on the PS3.

Check out the rest of the pics linked above!

239w ago - A very interesting (read: "big brother") addition to Sony's new PlayStation 3 Terms of Service has surfaced courtesy of Gizmodo today.

To quote: SCEA reserves the right to monitor and record any online activity and communication throughout PSN and you give SCEA your express consent to monitor and record your activities.

SCEA reserves the right to remove any content and communication from PSN at SCEA's sole discretion without further notice to you.

Any data collected in this way, including the content of your communications, the time and location of your activities, your Online ID and IP address and other related information may be used by us to enforce this Agreement or protect the interests of SCEA, its users, or licensors.