If you’re a PS3 owner you’ll undoubtedly know that due to a series of attacks from a group of hackers the console’s online service, the PlayStation Network, has been down for quite some time. Luckily, Sony has come forth not too long ago to let us know that the PSN will finally be going back up in the near future but that’s evidently not enough for those who suffered from the downtime.

DC Universe Online players will actually be coming away from the downtime better than before as it was just announced today that SOE will be giving players not only a free month of service but the above pictured mask as well. Apparently, the mask is inspired by Batman which is definitely evident upon viewing said mask and I’m sure a lot of you DC Universe players will be happy to add it to your collection.

The Mass Effect franchise has shown us time and time again that BioWare is onto a winning formula. Due to the success that the first two games have seen it’s been known for quite some time that BioWare would be going on to release a third entry into the series appropriately dubbed Mass Effect 3. While we’ve heard a lot about the game thus far it has yet to hit the streets as it’s release date has been slated for  later this year. However, if you have already taken off work in anticipation for the release of Mass Effect 3 you may want to reschedule.

BioWare has just let us know today that they will be delaying the release date of Mass Effect 3 from later this year to Q1 2012. Not that big of a delay but it’s sure to be an annoyance to those highly anticipating the game.

Many say that mobile platforms will eventually get so popular that dedicated mobile consoles such as the Nintendo 3DS and Sony PSP just won’t be able to compete. While we haven’t seen this put into full effect just yet many different mobile software developers are doing what they can to help this along. PopCap is one developer who has many different titles available for the various mobile platforms including Apple’s iOS which powers the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.

One of their more popular games, Plants vs. Zombies, has managed to impress both in terms of gameplay and sales numbers but it doesn’t look as if PopCap is looking to slow up with the game just yet. Just today, PopCap sent out a message via Twitter letting us know that Plants vs. Zombies will be coming to the Android mobile platform at some point in the next couple of months.

Seeing how Android has grown to be one of the most used mobile platforms this is sure to boost sales of the game dramatically. We’ll have to wait and see how things turn on.

Wii sales have been stagnating over the past year or so, despite Nintendo cutting the price to $200. The lack of sales has been attributed to lack of first and third party titles, but that doesn’t stop Nintendo from cutting the price on the Wii once again.

We already knew that retailers were preparing for the price cut, but it’s now official: the Wii, from May 15th, will cost $150 bucks, and will have Mario Kart Wii included, as well as a Wii steering wheel attachment (basically just a piece of plastic). That means that Wii Sports will no longer be included, and will instead be sold separately at $20. The new $150 Wii bundle will be offered in both white and black finish.

A new round of Wii 2 rumors suggest that Nintendo’s next console will only feature 8GB of internal storage, which sounds like a lot, but in fact, it isn’t, considering that DLC these days can go well over 1 GB in size, and full downloadable games are anywhere between 2 to 5 GB in size. The rumors also suggest that Wii 2 will be expandable with SD card slots and USB drives, much like the current Wii is.

Another set of rumors, this time quite surprisingly, state that 1080p isn’t certain to be supported on the Wii 2. This should be a big no-no, as 1080p is standard these days, both on TVs, and the Xbox 360 and PS3. Since the Wii 2 is rumored to be more powerful than the Xbox 360, 1080p shouldn’t be a problem at all for it.

DigitalBattle is today celebrating its 5th anniversary. It’s been a wild ride over the past five years, we’ve covered all sorts of gaming related news, written hundreds of reviews, 16,658 posts, with 28,700 comments left by our users.

We’d like to take this moment and thank all our readers out there, some of which have been with us from day one. Thanks for your support over the years, thanks for visiting the site, and for all your thoughts.

We’ll be continuing our coverage of gaming news. When we started out, this generation consoles, the Xbox 360, PS3 and Wii, just launched, and now, with the upcoming Wii 2, we’re looking forward to covering the next generation consoles and PC games.

Thanks from all of us here at DigitalBattle, and here’s to another 5 years of awesome video games, news, reviews and what ever else comes our way!

When the Conduit was first revealed for the Wii, it didn’t even have a publisher, but managed to get a lot of attention, enough to get a publisher, finish and ship the game. And while the end product wasn’t all that revolutionary — the game suffered from lots of smaller issues — it still sold somewhat well, just around a million copies on the Wii, making it one of the few successful third party shooters on the console.

The sequel, aptly named Conduit 2, plays like many other Wii first person shooters. They really don’t have much in common with shooters on Xbox 360 and PS3, as the pace is significantly slower as you have to aim with the Wiimote. If you’re familiar with that, Conduit 2 won’t be hard to jump into. But even if this is your fist Wii FPS game, it doesn’t take long to learn the basics of the controls. The game starts where Conduit 1 left off, where you play as Michael Ford, who must stop the villain, John Adams (don’t ask us how they came up with these names), from getting hold of some powerful alien technology. There are no major plot twists, no reveals or reversals in this story — it’s as simple and straightforward as it can be. To the point of being boring and predictable.

And while most levels and missions are linear and alike throughout the game, the controls and gameplay is solid. You can tightly customize the Wiimote controls and sensitivity to perfectly suit you, which is a big plus in a game that relies on motion controls. But besides that, there isn’t anything innovating in the game that we didn’t see in the Conduit 1 or other Wii FPS shooters. There were a lot of opportunities to try something new here, but the gameplay in Conduit 2 simply feels like by-the-books remake of the old one.

Visually, Conduit 2 looks great easily one on of the best looking games on the Wii. Not only does it render worlds in beautiful fashion, it excels at showing all the different world on Conduit 2, from jungles, to open sea battles, to tight, interior locations. However, it’s still a Wii game, and even the best visuals on the Wii are ages behind the Xbox 360 and PS3. There are also a few hiccups and framerate issues that tend to kick in when there’s too much action on the screen.

There’s also multiplayer in Conduit 2, and while it’s fun, it doesn’t offer much in terms of longevity compared to other shooters. The split-screen mode is a welcomed addition, since many Wii owners have multiple Wiimotes and nun-chuck controllers. Overall, Conduit 2 follows in the footsteps of the previous game. But a bit too much.

The Good:
Decent gameplay
Great visuals
Good variety in levels

The Bad:
Short single player campaign
Boring story and characters
Uninspiring mission design
Framerate issues

Overall score: 5/10