Sega has today announced that the latest instalment in the critically acclaimed Virtua Tennis series is currently in development for PlayStation 3, featuring full PlayStation Move compatibility and 3D technology. Developed in Japan by the original Virtua Tennis Team, Virtua Tennis 4, releasing in 2011, promises a more immersive, true-to-life tennis experience than ever before.

Virtua Tennis with the PlayStation Move is about much more than just hitting the ball. It’s about the angle of the racket, the spin and speed of the ball and the power of the shot. The advanced motion sensors of the PlayStation Move precisely track both the fast and subtle movements of the controller, allowing for pinpoint accurate shots as players improve their racket skills. Virtua Tennis 4 will also support 3D technology delivering unprecedented realism to the tennis experience.

Fans can look forward to a whole host of additional features and the full player line-up being revealed in the coming months prior to the game’s release some time in 2011, exclusively on the Sony PlayStation 3.

Namco Bandai has today confirmed that Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 2 will be released on PS3 on October 15th 2010. Prior to that, a playable demo will be available for download on the PlayStation Network across Europe and PAL regions from August 25th. On what has turned out to be an exciting news day for Naruto fans, Namco Bandai also revealed that a special Collector’s edition of the game will also be available on October 15th alongside the standard version. Included in this extra special package will be an individually numbered Laser Cell artwork featuring an original illustration of “Hokage-Naruto” drawn by Masashi Kishimoto, the creator of Naruto, to mark the 10th anniversary of the series’ first appearance in Shonen Jump magazine. Also included in the package is the original soundtrack on a separate CD, and a DLC card giving players instant access to the playable character Minato, who is otherwise only available as the very last unlockable character in-game. The entire Collector’s Edition package will come in a specially designed retail box.

505 Games and NaturalMotion Games has announced today that the Greathouse update for their Backbreaker football game is now available for download from the PSN.  The update introduces brand new features, gameplay enhancements and many important tweaks, all designed to enrich the player’s Backbreaker experience, including the following, according to 505 games:

Brand new replay system with the addition of seven fully functional cameras, including free flight mode and a cinematic ‘ball-lock’ option.

An additional 110+ plays adding up to twice the number of offensive and defensive plays, including an additional nine formations.

Improved Quarterback camera view and passing game.

A user-catch system, giving the player a much greater level of control over the on-field action.

Comprehensive review of the penalty rulings following an analysis of reported errors.

Backbreaker is the world’s first truly live sports title, with its revolutionary in-game animation system based on NaturalMotion Games’ “euphoria” engine ensuring that no two tackles will ever be the same.

Activision has announced today that it’s bringing an all-new James Bond adventure to the PS3, starring supa-dupa fly Brit soul singer Joss Stone as the latest Bond girl. James Bond 007: Blood Stone, to give it its full title, is an original Bond experience from legendary screenwriter Bruce Feirstein. As well as featuring in the game, Grammy and BRIT Award winner Joss will create original music for the soundtrack, including an exclusive song called I’ll Take It All, written and performed by herself and Dave Stewart of the Eurythmics.

The game is a third-person action adventure, where players get to unravel an international conspiracy across exotic locales, including full-throttle driving action on land and at sea, as well as getting to play with lots of the famed James Bond gadgets along the way. The action includes cover-based firefights and lethal hand-to-hand combat, and spans the globe, visiting such exotic locations as Athens, Istanbul, Monaco and Bangkok. Current James Bond Daniel Craig and Judi Dench, who plays M, both feature in the game alongside Joss Stone.

If multiplayer modes are what you’re looking for in a game, then Blood Stone certainly aims to deliver on that front as well, with several robust 16-person multiplayer modes that require skill, teamwork and strategy as player compete in matches between spies and mercenaries.

No release date has been revealed so far, so PS3-owning Bond fanatics will just have to content themselves with the first set of screenshots for now.

Capcom has today announced that the release date of Dead Rising 2 has been pushed back to September 28^th 2010 in North America, and October 1^st in Europe. The sequel to the 1.5 million-plus selling Dead Rising, is one of the most hotly anticipated games of the year, and looks set to take the franchise to a new level of zombie killing fun, with tens of thousands of zombies to slaughter , the all-new gambling paradise of Fortune City to explore, plus a whole host of new in-game object to turn into deadly zombie-bashing weapons. The game also adds a new twist of combination weapons, which hero Chuck Greene can put together using two unassuming household objects. For example, an innocent water gun and a can of gasoline when put together will metamorphose into a deadly flamethrower, and a garden rake combined with a car battery can be combined to create an electrified zombie prod.

New hero Chuck Green is a former motocross champion who arrives at Fortune City, American’s latest adult playground, to participate in the zombie game show, Terror is Reality, a gruesome test of strength and agility through excessive and imaginative zombie splattering.

During Chuck’s stay in Fortune City, a zombie outbreak occurs and Chuck must survive the onslaught of the undead for 72 hours. Pitted against bosses and psychos, not to mention tens of thousands of zombies and a ticking clock, while potentially rescuing other survivors, players must also unravel the greater conspiracy behind the outbreak.

Another inspired plot twist designed to ramp up the intensity even further is the fact that Chuck has to be constantly searching for Zombrex, a drug that will stop his infected daughter Katey from turning into a zombie.

Konami has announced today that their flagship footie game, Pro Evolution Soccer, is about to undergo the most radical revamp in its history. The PES games have always been renowned among football purists for having the best control and realism, but Konami says that PES 2011 will reinvigorate the series with the most advanced gameplay additions, control options, and animations, in order to meet the evolution of real-life football. Central to its total freedom of play, the game introduces a power bar for each player that enables the user to determine the exact strength and placement of every pass and shot. Balls can now be kicked absolutely anywhere with utter precision, including long balls into space, short passes to feet, and intricate one-twos enabling you to dictate play and control the tempo of a match.

PES 2011 will also feature new AI routines designed to place every move and decision in the player’s hands. Assisted AI will no longer intervene during matches, users will now need to sense and react to threats, and passes will not now automatically reach the nearest player. Instead, all-new routines will enable complete control of the player and their chosen actions in every respect. Here’s Jon Murphy, European PES Team Leader for Konami Digital Entertainment, talking about PES 2011:

“It was time for PES to transform, and PES 2011represents the most ambitious redesign in the series’ history. We’ve continued to work closely with the fans to pinpoint what it is about football that PES didn’t do. Total freedom was the priority and all-new animation a must. PES 2011 does both – indeed, they are directly linked to each other – and while the new game is recognisably PES at its heart, it is also the most radically improved version ever.”

PES 2011 will be released for PlayStation 3 in the Autumn.

If you’re a BlazBlue fan who’s been looking forward to BlazBlue: Continuum Shift on PS3, there’s both good and bad news today from publisher Aksys Games. The bad news is that the game has slipped back to Fall from its original Summer release slot. The good news is that Aksys and Mad Catz have teamed up to produce a very limited-edition BlazBlue: Continuum Shift Tournament Edition arcade joystick. The joystick can be ordered here, and it’s worth noting that there will only be 1500 numbered joysticks made, so it’s quite the collector’s item, although pretty pricey at $199.99.

For your money, you get a Japanese-style joystick and buttons, multi-speed turbo, and officially licensed artwork portraying characters from the game. The joystick uses the exact Sanwa joystick and 30mm buttons found in arcade machines, as well as realistic spacing and an eight-button layout. It seems like Mad Catz has thought of everything when designing the stick, as they’ve even included a 13 ft USB cable with internal cable storage.

As for the delayed game itself, it’s the sequel to BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger, which was recently a top-4 finalist in the VGA Awards. Inheriting all the main features of the first game, Continuum Shift features new characters Tsubaki, ?-12 and Hazama, who will join the veterans of the previous game, who themselves will all have additional moves in the new game. The sequel also includes new modes such as Beginner Mode and Tutorial Mode. Here’s what Gail Salamanca, Marketing Director of Aksys Games, had to say about the game:

“If you’re not on the hype train this time, you’re missing out on the latest, greatest 2D game from Arc. GET HYPE, CHOO CHOO”.

Yes, she really did say that!

The wait is finally over! Capcom announced today that Super Street Fighter IV has been released for PS3 in North America (coming April 30th in Europe). The follow-up to one of Metacritics’s highest-rated games of 2009, Super Street Fighter IV features 10 new characters, new Ultra Combos, new stages, the return of Bonus Stages, and beefed-up online modes (including the free Tournament Mode DLC after launch), all for $39.99.

Super Street Fighter IV features all 25 characters from Street Fighter IV, such as Ryu, Ken, Crimson Viper, Abel, El Fuerte, and Rufus, while adding 10 characters new to the world of Street Fighter IV. The new roster includes classic combatants from previous Street Fighter games including Dudley, Ibuki, Makoto, Guy, Cody, T. Hawk, Dee Jay and Adon, as well as all-new characters to the series, such as the mysterious and deadly Korean fighter Juri and the OTT oil wrestler Hakan.

The game adds new Ultra Combos for all characters, and advancements to the online matchmaking and online gameplay introduced in Street Fighter IV, including new Team Battle, Replay Channel, and Endless Battle modes. This will be followed by the all-new Tournament Mode, available as a free download in June 2010, which will determine the best players in the world as Street Fighters compete online for unique Championship Titles.

According to Formula One test driver and Codemasters’ in-house F1 expert and consultant Anthony Davidson, the much-anticipated new official Formula One game will offer “the most authentic experience possible.” Speaking in the new developer diary video which has just been released by Codemasters today, and which can be viewed here, Davidson explains the “twitchy” way in which Formula One cars handle, and how this is translated into authentic gameplay. His experience, combined with real-world data and feedback from the teams, drivers and tyre manufacturers, is enabling the F1 2010 team to convey the feeling of being an F1 racing driver as accurately as possible.

Just like in real life, aerodynamics plays a vital role in racing, and players will feel how cars can corner at extremely high speeds yet perform very differently at lower speeds. Here’s Stephen Hood, Chief Games Designer, talking about how Codemasters has opted to focus on simulation authenticity when it comes to car handling:

“The preference has always been to go down the simulation path. You can make a realistic sim easier to play for somebody but it’s very difficult to take an arcade handling system and make that appeal to people who prefer simulation handling.”

Codemasters has also released some stunning new screenshots today for us all to feast our eyes on! F1 2010 will be available this September for the PlayStation 3.

Electronic Arts has today announced that New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees has been chosen by fans to be featured on the cover of Madden NFL 11, which is due out on PS3 on Tuesday, August 10^th. The fans voted via an online poll, with Brees beating the likes of Minnesota Vikings defensive end Jared Allen and Indianapolis Colts wide receiver Reggie Wayne.

Drew Brees was named Super Bowl XLIV MVP after leading the New Orleans Saints to their first ever Super Bowl title. Following a career-threatening injury during his last season with the San Diego Chargers, Brees joined the New Orleans Saints in 2005, less than a year after Hurricane Katrina. Since then, he has helped rebuild the city and the football team, through his successes on the field and contributions to the community off the field. Here’s what he had to say about being chosen as the Madden NFL 11 cover star:

“The Madden NFL franchise holds a special place in popular culture and the cover is a coveted position for players all over the league. I’m honoured to be the first cover athlete chosen by Madden NFL fans and it’s a great way to cap off an amazing year for the Saints and the city of New Orleans.”