The Digital Vine - 5/27/10

It's Thursday! You know what that means? One more day until TGIF, and yet another trip through gaming news via "The Digital Vine!"

Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Chad Ochocinco has made an interesting offer to Treyarch's Community Manager Josh Olin. He's willing to cough up an entire season worth of home game tickets (an estimated $3000 value) in exchange for an advanced copy of "Call of Duty: Black Ops." Olin responded with an offer for Ochocinco to visit the Treyarch studio's and get an early taste of the game behind closed doors. No word on whether or not he accepted the offer. In an amusing side note, Chad also petitioned Infinity Ward's Robert Bowling which obviously didn't yield any results.

President of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Andrew House has revealed that plans are in motion for a premium version of the Playstation Network. House assured fans that the current free version of PSN will remain unchanged. No details yet on pricing or what the premium version will offer. Cross-game chat seems like a good place to start.

Mark Hammill has just revealed that he will no longer portray famous Batman villain The Joker following his work on Batman: Arkham Asylum 2. Hammill's words were a bit cryptic stating, "this will be my last, there's no question about that." The actor made famous by depicting Luke Skywalker in the original Star Wars trilogy, went on to lend his voice to the fan favorite villain for over twelve years.

Trailer Madness!

Spike TV recently held their annual Videogame Awards and as is tradition, several new trailers premiered throughout the evening. 2010 is poised to deliver a multitude of AAA titles following a generally light 2009 line up.

Spec Ops: The Line



This one came out of left field. Yager is a mostly unknown developer with only a handful of budget titles under their belt. The team has apparently gone under revisions and the company is ready to release what they hope will be their first stand out release. Judging from the premiere trailer, Spec Ops: The Line is going to be one to watch in the coming months. The game takes place in a sand storm stricken Dubai as elite Delta Force Operators are sent to rescue a missing U.S. Army team behind enemy lines. The trailer features superb graphics and exciting pitched battles among ultra modern architecture bathing in a sea of sand.

Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands



Speaking of sand, the next installment in the Prince of Persia franchise has been announced. As is all too common with initial reveals, the debut trailer doesn't show a single frame of gameplay. It has since been confirmed by the develoment team that the game is not related to the film in any way. Altough, it's worth noting that The Prince is dressed an awful lot like Jake Gyllenhaal as seen in the film's trailer. It also appears the ability to rewind time will make a return. Forgotten Sands looks to be bridge the gap between The Sands of Time and Warrior Within.

Batman: Arkham Asylum 2



Surprise! Here we have yet another trailer omitting any semblance of gameplay. Rocksteady crafted a unique and original masterpiece the first time around and with the Joker spilling chaos in to the streets of Gotham, I can hardly wait to get a peak. However, the trailer serves its purpose; to confirm the inevitable and have us squirming for more.