The Gamer Access

The new PlayStation store update for Thursday February 4th is up. The highlights for today's update include the Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Demo and the Alien vs. Predator demo. Here is a full list of all the updates as posted on the PlayStation Blog. This one looks like a pretty decent update. Read more for the full list.

This is the launch trailer for SOCOM: U.S. Navy SEALs Fireteam Bravo 3 for the PSP. It's scheduled for release on Feb. 16, but I can't get past the fact that Slant Six ruined Socom for the consoles and this should have been a story mode in Socom: Confrontation. But I tend to hold on to things. You?

Bethesda has announced an Autumn 2010 release for Fallout: New Vegas for the XBOX 360, PlayStation 3, and PC. Fallout: New Vegas will be the latest chapter in the acclaimed Fallout series and will take place in (of course) Vegas. This chapter in the Fallout series is being developed by Obsidian Studios. Below is the first trailer for the game.

Dice and EA have announced that there will be a demo for Battlefield: Bad Company 2 made available later today for the PlayStation 3 via the PlayStation Store. Not to be confused with the beta that was released back in November 2009. The demo features the map "Port Valdez" and focuses on vehicles where up to 24 players compete against each other in the mode called "Rush". Vehicles will include three air vehicles and five land vehicles like tanks, quad vehicles and armored mobile AA vehicles. The demo is available already on the XBOX 360 and PC.

The full game release is still slated for the XBOX 360, Playstation 3 and PC on March 2nd, 2010 and March 4th, 2010 in Europe

For those of you who have purchased Torchlight, or have at least downloaded the last Torchlight Demo, developers Runic have released a 410MB demo via BigDownload. If you have already purchased the full game, the demo is an update for the game to v1.15, but if you have not purchased the full game, this patch is a demo that will give you roughly 2 hours of gameplay and can be unlocked into the full game upon purchase.

Last night at about midnight Pacific time, the MAG servers went down for server maintenance and to prepare for the new patch that released today. I guess it was inevitable. I wake up this morning to take the kids to school and get some work done for the site and low and behold I start getting phone calls and messages about how the new MAG update has completely messed things up. The rumors are saying that you can't get into matches and that the lag that was once nonexistent is now running rampant. I have yet to fire up the game and try for myself but I hope, if the rumors are true, that they fix these problems soon. When MAG is running properly it is a great game. How could they fumble the rock like this when the game has only been out a little over a week? Check back later for updates on the situation.

UPDATE - I played a few matches and talked to people on the different squads and it seems the problems were hit and miss. There may have been problems earlier but they have been fixed now. So if you get on MAG later today don't worry everything is running smoothly.

Numerous news outlets and retailers have been reporting that Splinter Cell: Conviction now has an official release date of April 13th, 2010. This news comes after several delays that the game has had already and now looks to be set in stone. The game will be released on the XBOX 360 and PC.

Jeremy Dunham, Senior Community Manager from Zipper Interactive has revealed today via the MAG Blog, that there will be a patch tomorrow (February 4 2010) to fix a few issues within MAG. Here are some issues that will be addressed:

MAG Patch v1.01a

Graphics

• Resolved issue that caused banding and/or artifacts in the sky

Server

• Server performance enhancements with a focus on reducing lag issues
• Lowered chances of encountering 5:5 errors
• Added additional statistics-focused servers
• Added additional servers for Japan
• Reduces the amount of time after a game finishes before stats post to account

SOURCE

Sega has confirmed through a press release today that there will be a demo available on Xbox Live, PSN, and Steam starting February 4th, 2010. Players will get the chance to see what it is like to play as an Alien, a Predator, and ofcourse the Colonial Marine. The demo will be set on a map called "The Refinery" and will be a team deathmatch mode.

Aliens vs. Predators is developed by Rebellion Games and is slated for a release on February 16 in North America and February 19th in Euprope and will be available on the XBOX 360, PlayStation 3, and PC.