In news that is sure to bring a tear to Sackboys and girls everywhere, Media Molecule has announced that LittleBigPlanet 2 will miss its intended November release date and will instead be released in January 2011.

In an announcement posted on the official Media Molecule website, the team stated: “We are a tight-knit team and we take enormous pride in our work, so to raise the bar we’ve set with the original LittleBigPlanet, a game that has been so embraced by all, we’ve agreed to allow ourselves a bit more time to deliver the experience that our great fans and community deserve. We are truly sorry, but hope you understand that we have to build the best possible game, as it is the foundation of our community.”

It’s a shame LittleBigPlanet 2 will miss the Christmas period, but at least it has a better chance of standing out on its own where it won’t be competing against the herd of big releases. The beta is currently in full swing too, and judging from some of the videos of some new custom levels that have been posted so far, LittleBigPlanet 2 is already looking very promising: check out these renditions of Micro Machines and retro classics for starters.

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Today Microsoft announced (via Major Nelson) that it’s looking for some gamers to test out the beta version of it’s next big Xbox Live update.

What’s included in this update? For starters, there’s a new dashboard, an on demand ESPN service, an updated Netflix application that allows for searching, Zune music, and other various fixes. Read more… »

Things may have calmed down on the PSN Store after last week’s mammoth update, but there is still a satisfying stash of content for everyone to enjoy.

There are certainly a lot of PSN games this week, including Sky Fighter from the makers of Wakeboarding HD and Smash Cars, Sonic Adventure and Deathspank: Thongs of Virtue, not to mention the anticipated Liars and Cheats DLC for Red Dead Redemption.

Hit the jump for a full roundup of this week’s PSN Store update.

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So a Fable III story without any catchy quotes from Peter “I make worlds” Molyneux may seem a little disappointing.  In this case the news is all pure fact and not a work of artistic license.

By all accounts this iteration in the Fable franchise is turning out to be the best of the bunch.  As a long time fan of the series I can’t help but be stupidly excited for it release next month.  This handy list of “Cheevos” might bore some but will delight others as it gives us a sneaking glance in to the content and activities on offer in the title.

Xbox 360 owners will get their hands on Fable III on October 29th.  A PC release is planned, but no firm date has yet been announced.

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This week’s Nintendo Update is brought to you by power outages. They suck.

Also, everyone’s favourite childhood book is getting a Wii-Ware game this week. How exciting! I wonder which book it it will be. Find out more after the jump.

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Right on the cover of NHL 11, EA boasts that its NHL franchise has won “twenty-two sports Game of the Year Awards,” and it’s easy to see why. With each new iteration, EA’s NHL series continues to grow, providing gamers with the most accurate hockey simulation ever made.

This time around, EA’s big addition to the series is a new physics engine which allows for some bone crunching hits as well as broken sticks (which actually affect gameplay). While the new checking system may take NHL veterans some getting used to, it is worth the extra work. It’s hard to explain the primal sense of joy you get when you sprint head long into someone on the boards and see their body flop down against the ice as it would in real life. It truly is a sublime feeling. Along with this major overhaul, EA has also included a new, massive game mode dubbed Hockey Ultimate Team (HUT). Read more… »

I can safely say that Plants vs. Zombies is my favorite “casual” franchise of all time. It’s just so easy to pick up and play for either a few minutes, for a few hours at a time.

Previous iterations of this tower defense title haven’t added anything new outside of a different control scheme, but now Popcap is looking to shake things up with new multiplayer modes in the recent XBLA release. I’m willing to bet you already own a copy of Plants vs. Zombies, so read on to find out if it’s worth shelling out fifteen more dollars of your hard earned cash.

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Once again my good buddy Kevin Miller had some obligations that prevented him from writing this weeks edition of “What are YOU playing.” Don’t fret though, I’m here ready, willing and able to step up and fill in.

So what have I been playing? Today, I’m hoping to play the ‘go out and get some laundry done’ game. For those of you who don’t know, I landed a pretty gnarly job that lets me work in the game industry from home. The down side to this is I’ve become a complete bum. Today I hope to shave for the first time in two or three weeks. I honestly don’t think I’ve done any laundry in that time span either. Read more… »

Today D3Publisher announced that a sequel to the hilariously addictive Xbox 360 budget title Earth Defense Force 2017 will be hitting stores Spring 2011. Dubbed Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon, the third-person shooter will be arriving on the Xbox 360 and PS3.

According to the press release, “Players take on the role of the world’s elite soldiers, who will engage in nonstop bug filled arcade action with over 150 weapons and four upgradeable armor sets.” The game will also feature three player online co-op, as well as a “six-player Survival mode that pits a human squad against a nonstop onslaught of the largest enemies.” Read more… »

UPDATE: Today Sony confirmed that the Ico/Shadow of the Colossus bundle is in fact real and is slated to hit sometime Spring 2011. Confirmed features include: HD resolutions, PlayStation Network trophies,  support for 3D-o-vision, 30fps frame rate, and “extensive re-texturing.” The bundle will also include the European version of Ico, which had a different ending and a co-op mode.

Two days ago I wrote up a news story about a possible Ico/Shadow of the Colossus bundle hitting the PS3 sometime this Spring. Well, today it seems that this rumor has been confirmed… sort of.

According to the Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu, remastered, HD versions of Ico and Shadow of the Colossus will be released in Japan as individual titles, not bundled together. As of right now, no release date has been given for the Japanese releases. Read more… »

With the launch of a certain new motion peripheral in Sony’s arsenal, this week’s PSN Store update is something of a bumper Move special, with no less than nine playable Move demos to appease the early adopters.

Elsewhere, the ongoing rivalry between Fifa and PES has once again been reignited with a set of playable demos for Fifa 11 and PES 2011 for your consumption. Enjoy.

A pretty packed update thanks to the birth of the PlayStation Move, I must say. Hit the jump for a taste of the remaining bulk of this week’s update.

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In the latest blog posted on the SC2 Battlenet site Blizzard have finally acknowledged that they are aware of the cheating plague infesting SC2.

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