Joystiq brings word that PopCap games has revealed that the extremely popular Peggle game is coming to the iPhone and iPod touch on May 12, although PopCap is reportedly still figuring out how to price the game. Hopefully not too high.

505 Games and Bohemia Interactive today revealed the release date for the upcoming ArmA 2 – Armed Assault 2, will be released in Europe on June 26. The sequel to the very popular ArmA, has been in development for a long time and will feature several new improvements, including new visuals, more weapons and vehicles as well. The game should be released in the US around the same time as in Europe.

Bethesda has released the 1.5 patch for Fallout 3. The new update is available for the Xbox 360 and PC and includes:

New Features:
New achievements for Broken Steel

Bug Fixes:
Fixed issue with VATS calculations not appearing properly for perks (PC)
Fixed crash related to altered references between master files
LOD objects render properly when loaded from DLC worldspaces
Fixed issue with companion NPCs not loading into cells immediately after player

Ubisoft has announced the sequel to the sequel of Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter, aka Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 3. The game was announced alongside Red Steel 2 — which was pretty much official anyway — and another Shaun White snowboarding game.

Ubisoft also revealed future plans for some of its franchises, in 2010-2011 we can expect nothing less than Assassin’s Creed 2, Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Conviction, Rabbids Go Home, Red Steel 2, Ghost Recon 4 and Anno 1404.

Sony has been tight lipped on the existence of plans to create a UMD-less PSP so far but dribs and drabs of information made it through the cracks and kept the rumors going. The download-only nature of Patapon 2 threw gasoline on the fire, since if Sony is testing the potential for the PSP to adopt a digital distribution scheme it means they’ve got some time and money invested in it.

1Up is coming forward with information from sources directly working on the project. According to their report the new PSP is set to be revealed to the public this year at E3 in June. Several of the rumors about its redesign features are said to be correct, including a sliding screen that slides up to reveal the face buttons and a lack of a UMD slot, but no second analog nubbin. The sources claim that the new PSP will have a subtitle rather than a numerical designation and the existence of ‘Go!’ branded peripherals suggest it might be called the PSP Go!.

The new PSP will be launching in September in Japan, October or November in the USA. Over a hundred PSP titles are planned to be available for download at launch, with two SKU’s available, one with eight gigabytes of flash memory and the other with sixteen.  (Note: the picture above is not an actual image of it, simply a mock-up from 1Up)

I have to admit that when I played Unreal Tournament 3, I was expecting the worst.  I was expecting yet another half-baked, warmed-over pile of leftover sludge in the form of a first person shooter, which are rapidly glutting the market in job lots.  But actually playing Unreal Tournament 3, now available for the Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and PC, became something interesting–it became FUN.

In Unreal Tournament 3, you play as the Ronin, formerly the defenders of the Twin Souls mining colony until said colony was wiped out by an attack from the Necris.  The Necris, just for background, are a subspecies of humanity that genetically modified themselves thanks to the Phayder Corporation as Black Ops forces par excellence.  Anyway, the Necris launched an attack on Twin Souls for reasons that I’m not a hundred percent sure of, and left the Ronin without a home.  They took up residence with the Izanagi Corporation on their home planet, and became a mercenary unit.  Now, they need to curry favor with Izanagi to get the necessary resources and equipment to go hunt up the Necris and get some terminal payback on the homewreckers.

There are actually several OTHER races in the Unreal Tournament universe that will make an appearance in the multiplayer classifications and as ancillary parts of the story, including the Axon and Malcolm and the Thunder Crash team (or Thunder CASH, as Malcolm likes to call them), so you can’t fault this game for a lack of storyline.  It’s got storyline almost in excess, really.  But the gameplay is the important issue here–and surprisingly, the gameplay is actually pretty entertaining.

You’ll engage in a series of different kinds of fights, including straight battles, a duel system, and even a variant of capture the flag in which FlAG is actually an acronym for FieLd Ambient Generator, if I remember it correctly.  That may be the most innovative use for an old retread that I’ve ever seen.  It’s like someone took apart a water heater and made a woodburner stove out of it–this kind of recycling never fails to impress me, because even though it’s nothing new, it’s a completely new use for something old.

The controls are smooth, the arenas are sufficiently open that even I don’t get motion sickness very often, and with selectable difficulty levels you can customize the gameplay to feel like an invincible genius or like a hard-bitten warrior.  Multiplayer is also well-present, and if you want a good party game, you could do a whole lot worse.  Despite the fact that you’ll be essentially playing the same games over and over again–deathmatch, team deathmatch, VEHICLE deathmatic, capture the flag, et al, it’s still surprisingly fun, and it’s actually worth playing the single player version to get properly accustomed to the various maps for multiplayer fun.

There’s a lot to like about Unreal Tournament 3, and in all honesty, I don’t have this much fun with first person shooters often.  For once, I can actually recommend a first person shooter, and that feels both strange and good at the same time.  Hot action, a dash of adventure, and lots of shooter glee combine to make a title that even I can enjoy.

Xeno Arena, which I recently found on Xbox Live community games for the stunningly low price of two hundred Microsoft points, is a top-down shooter that tries its best to be a good game but can’t overcome its many design flaws to be a really good game.

Basically, this one’s all about survival as you plunge into the depths of a random facility that just happens to be infested with aliens.  Along the way into the depths of said facility, you’ll pick up weapons, ammo and health pickups all in the hope of getting steadily deeper in the facility.

Like I said, there’s some serious design flaws here–the graphics are a rolling practical joke played on the player.  For example, actually seeing enemies come at you is surprisingly difficult as they’re rather small.  And distinguishing a weapons pickup from the floor will also prove difficult due to the lack of quality graphics.  And anyone afraid of the gameplay proving repetitive has a lot to be afraid of here–definitely not an irrational fear–as you’ll be moving through random-generated mazes and shooting random tiny monsters until you die.  Die in the game or in real life, whichever comes first.

With horrible graphics and lackluster gameplay, Xeno Arena may be cheap, but it’s still not worth the cost.

With any franchise it’s only a matter of time before some spin-off is made that deviates wildly from what made the series popular. Mortal Kombat has had several adventure focused titles, Resident Evil is soon to see a second rail shooter and Soul Calibur made an effort recently with Soul Calibur Legends. As is so often the case, the game was a bit of a disappointment, so they’re taking it back to basics for their next game.

Namco Bandai has revealed that for the first time you’ll be able to take the epic battles of Soul Calibur with you wherever you go on your PSP. Fully titled Soul Calibur: Broken Destiny the handheld game will feature many of the existing characters as well as some brand new ones, including one named Dampierre. Namco says that although all of the existing gameplay elements from the console version are being brought to the small screen they’re attempting to create a mode that’ll help to teach new players the ins and outs of the series’ fighting system.

The classic Arcade, Story and Survival modes are all included and thus far multiplayer is confirmed for Ad-Hoc wireless, but not for internet wireless. The game is due out this summer.

There’s a big announcement coming. It’s on the horizon, looming like a dark stormy cloud heavy with rain, lightning and the thunderous clap of cool news. Tomorrow there’s going to be some news about “can’t miss content” on the Lionhead community website.

Of course they’re not giving a hint of details today, since the announcement is coming tomorrow and they want endless speculation to abound. I wouldn’t be surprised if Lionhead employees have a pool going on regarding what most people are expecting.

Many of course are thinking this could be simply the announcement of a new content pack, or maybe even several. It’d be impossible to ignore the possibility of this being the official announcement that work has begun on Fable III. A twitter slip-up earlier this year hinted that Lionhead might already be recruiting people for the project. Another possibility exists however in the possibility of spin-off games. The storylines of the first two games were only linked in a subtle fashion, but it’s very obvious that an underlying current of plot is being laid for future games. The considerable amount of content that exists in the world of Albion could be ripe for other adventures beyond what’s happened so far.

To ensure that the graphics requirements are met and to get the most out of the game, Capcom Entertainment are reaching for the skies in the way they have adopted NVIDIA PhysX and APEX technologies to deliver stunning in-game physics effects.

In fact, when it ships in the fall of 2009, Dark Void will have the distinction of being the first game to use dynamic, accurate smoke effects and smoke trails for the game’s innovative jetpack, UFOs, and spaceships, all of which will be hardware-accelerated by GeForce GPUs when played on compatible desktop PCs.

Developed by Airtight Games and Capcom, Dark Void incorporates a unique vertical combat system that allows players to dangle from thousand foot drops as they take cover and drop enemies from above and below, bringing a whole new sense of vulnerability and thrill to gamers. The game’s jetpack allows players to fly with reckless abandon while performing hair-raising stunts, taking the 3D action to a whole new level.

Airtight Games is utilizing both NVIDIA PhysX and APEX technologies to deliver an inspired, interactive experience, complete with a GPU-accelerated particle system that is used extensively for weapons and debris effects.

Dark Void will be released in the fall of 2009 for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and the PC, which will feature numerous GPU-accelerated PhysX effects for a truly immersive game experience.

(Source) Press