The March 8th edition of PULSE, hosted by Christina Lee, is available for download in HD with the PlayStation Store update later today. In this edition, MLB 11 The Show leads off featuring their slick new analog controls. Christina also congratulates the winners of PlayStation Network’s Gamers’ Choice Awards. Watch for details on special discounts on the award winners as part of PlayStation Network’s Spring Fever event. Plus, the usual round up of new games and add-ons including PixelJunk Shooter 2 and, if you’ve been off the grid for a week, Call of Duty: Black Ops First Strike: Pack 1.

So, watch PULSE right here or download in HD to your PS3 after today’s PlayStation Store update.

We’ve rented out a building on the corner of 2nd and Trinity, and we’re converting it to the PlayStation Lounge for SXSW Interactive. We’ll be bringing a lot of unreleased games to show to media during the day. But why let them have all the fun?

So, because sources tell me that things are, indeed, bigger in Texas – we’re holding not one, but two meetups this weekend!

So don’t make any plans for this Friday or Sunday evening, as we’re dying to give you a chance to play Ratchet & Clank All 4 One & Resistance 3, and SOCOM 4, respectively. We’ll also be bringing some great prizes to give out. Attendance is free, as are the refreshments, and you *don’t* need a SXSW badge to join us.

Here’s everything you need to know:

When:
Friday, March 11th 5-8pm (Ratchet & Clank All 4 One and Resistance 3)
Sunday, March 13th 4-7pm (SOCOM 4)

Where:
PlayStation Lounge
333 East 2nd St, Austin, TX 78701

Who:
You, as long as you’re 18 or older. Bring your ID!

RSVP here (must be 18+) for Ratchet & Clank All 4 One / Resistance 3 and RSVP here for SOCOM 4; you’re welcome to attend both.

We expect big things from our first Texas meetup, and we hope to see you there!
Holler below with any questions.

As you probably know, March 1st marks the release date of Q-Games’ delightfully addictive PSN physics smorgasbord PixelJunk Shooter 2. We’re going to celebrate this momentous occasion the only way we know how: with a gigantic PlayStation community meetup and gaming session starring PixelJunk Shooter 2 and Patapon 3! (Protip: Quick, RSVP!)

If you’re in the San Francisco Bay Area on Monday, February 28th, come say hi! We’ll have open gameplay for PixelJunk Shooter 2 AND Patapon 3, and Ariel from Q-Games will be meeting and greeting fans at the event — you might know her from the PixelJunk Radio podcast. We’ll also be holding a PixelJunk Shooter 2 Online Battle tournament with fabulous prizes…but you’ll have to show up to see what they are!

Oh, and one more thing: The first 100 gamers to arrive at Mighty on February 28th will get a free copy of PixelJunk Shooter 2, just for being awesome. Mighty can hold hundreds of people, though, so don’t feel discouraged — though you will need to be 21 or older. Here are the full details:

Location: Mighty, 119 Utah St, San Francisco, CA 94103
Date: Monday, February 28th, 2011
Time: 6:30pm to 9:30pm
Note: You must be at least 21 years old — ID *will* be checked!
RSVP: Sign up to the event on our Facebook Page

Hope to see you there.

The lounge provided a great opportunity to give players and their families a chance to relax, get some food and drink, and play some of the latest PlayStation 3 games including MLB 11 The Show, inFAMOUS 2, Killzone 3,MotorStorm: Apocalypse, Gran Turismo 5, NBA 2K11, Buzz! Quiz World, and Sports Champions. To up the ante, we provided players with a one of a kind gift bag that included an NBA All-Star LA themed PS3 painted in blue or red, a pair of Nike Air Force 1 kicks, and a Nike travel bag to carry everything. To make each item a bit more personalized, we brought back the laser etching machine which allowed us to customize the PS3s, sneaks, and bags with a logo or name of their choice.

Can you guess who this PS3 was lasered for?

Ok, I know T.O. isn’t a hoopster, but he stopped by so we hooked him up…

In addition to the players, we also had a few celebs attend the lounge—not a surprise since we were in LA. Actor Liam Hemsworth, most recently know for his role in the 2010 movie The Last Song opposite Miley Cyrus, dropped by to check out the latest PS3 games and took a liking to the PlayStation Move sharp shooter, as you can see here…

Some of the current and former NBA (and NFL) players who stopped by the lounge included:

• Rajon Rondo (Boston Celtics)
• Paul Pierce (Boston Celtics)
• John Wall (Washington Wizards)
• Joe Johnson (Atlanta Hawks)
• Russell Westbrook (Oklahoma City Thunder)
• Eric Gordon (Los Angeles Clippers)
• DeMarcus Cousins (Sacramento Kings)
• Tyreke Evans (Sacramento Kings)
• Wesley Johnson (Minnesota Timberwolves)
• Dikembe Mutombo (Former NBA center)
• Ryan Hollins (Cleveland Cavaliers)
• Wesley Matthews (Portland Trail Blazers)
• Greg Monroe (Detroit Pistons)
• JaVale McGee (Washington Wizards)
• Terrell Owens (Cincinnati Bengals)
• Eric Bledsoe (Los Angeles Clippers)
• Da’Quan Bowers (Clemson DE, #1 NFL Draft prospect)
• Kenyon Martin (Denver Nuggets)
• Shelden Williams (New York Knicks)

You can see all the pictures of the players on Flickr, but for I’ll leave you with one last shot of the custom sneakers we gave out—pretty cool!!

Now we didn’t forget about you: our loyal, if slightly less famous fans. Stay tuned to the Blog in the coming weeks for an opportunity to win an NBA All-Star PS3 prize package!

Available for download in HD with the PlayStation Store update today, PULSE 2/22 Edition brings you the latest on what’s happening on the network. In this edition, we celebrate today’s release of Killzone 3 and show off the demo for MLB 11 The Show, which features a rematch of the 2010 World Series teams, the San Francisco Giants and the Texas Rangers.

Plus, a look at Telltale’s Back to the Future: The Game, and we share the nominees of the first ever PlayStation Network Gamers’ Choice Awards. The New Video Releases section includes Robert Downey, Jr., and Zach Galifinakis in Due Date along with a look at the behind-the-scenes making of the 2011 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition, in case you missed it last week. So, watch PULSE right here or download in HD to your PS3 after today’s PlayStation Store update.

Fatalities are back and better than ever in the new Mortal Kombat! Ever since 1992’s Mortal Kombat, fatalities have gotten a HUGE fan reaction. The new game’s fatalities are the most lethal, elaborate, and quite simply the best we have ever made. We are sure that the fans are going to love what we have come up with in the new Mortal Kombat.

Ed Boon and the rest of the MK team knew that returning to a Mature game rating – PLUS the tremendous graphic improvement and new technologies we now have access to – would let us take fatalities to an unsurpassed level of unimaginable brutality. Additionally, we wanted to make sure there were a ton of fatalities for all of the iconic warriors in the game (with two fatalities, minimum, for every character) as well as fatalities for some of the dynamic environments. There is a looot of content for players to uncover – and we finally had plenty of time to build it all!

The fatality development process is extremely collaborative. In the past, we didn’t start designing and implementing fatalities until the majority of the game was finished. But with this game, the team began working on fatalities early in the development cycle in order to have the maximum amount of time to come up with ideas and polish them. Fatalities are born in the dark recesses of the designer’s minds – each fatality always starts with a general idea from [Mortal Kombat co-creator] Ed Boon and the designers. They basically lock themselves in a room for hours and lay out all of their ideas. Once the meeting begins, one brave soul is the first to share a sick and twisted way for the player to finish off their opponent, and the process begins.

Inspiration can come from anywhere – gruesome murder news stories, old horror movies, and actual nightmares have spawned more than a few of our most disturbing fatalities. There is a usually a lot of “You know what would be cool…” and “What if…” The designers pantomime many of the motions for that fatality and the reaction of the other team members in the room determine whether a fatality is good enough for inclusion in the game. Ideas with the strongest team reactions are the ones we all build on and polish into a final concept. Ed then goes on to storyboard each fatality for the motion-capture session.

The motion-capture sessions are a dynamic experience involving two people that act out each fatality over and over until they perfectly capture the movements needed to make the fatality look as realistic and awe-inspiring as possible. From there, our magicians in the animation and cinematics groups add the look, feel and special effects that take the fatalities from a motion-captured wire frame to a graphically intense piece of in-game content.

As a team, we review each step of the process many times in order to make sure each element looks as impactful as possible. Once the fatality meets our quality requirements, we pass it along to our audio group so that they can take the piece to the next level and create horrifying sounds to add the final touch of atmosphere to the piece. Finally, it is given back to the designers who embed the fatalities in the game in preparation for players around the world.

Fatalities are truly one of the most collaborative development efforts and are a great reflection of the vast amount of talent we have working on the game. We want to ensure that fans get the Mortal Kombat they have been waiting for come April 19th. I wish I could show you some examples of our new fatalities, but because we’re bound by certain advertising guidelines we are only able to show them after you pre-order at GameStop. Once you pre-order, you will be emailed a code that you can enter that into a widget in order to view some of the great fatalities in the final game. You can see more details here.

The PULSE 2/8 edition releases later today with the PlayStation Store update. This quick video showcase about what’s happening on the network features the Killzone 3 multiplayer open beta (in case you haven’t joined the fun yet!), a look at the retro-inspired Tales from Space: About a Blob, and the swingin’ Bionic Commando: Rearmed 2. Christina Lee also summarizes some very timely pre-order offers now available for MotorStorm Apocalypse (including super cool carbon edition vehicles) and MLB 11 The Show (hint: free MLB.tv!). She’s also presents the Top Ten January game downloads, new video releases, and with entertainment awards season in full swing, a Top Ten list of movies inspired by this year’s Academy Awards nominees.

Watch PULSE right here or download to your PS3 to enjoy in HD after today’s PlayStation Store update.

That said, Killzone 3 comes pretty gosh darn close to perfection.

We should know, because we played the heck out of it for our March cover story: a 10-page feature that includes our hard-hitting, in-depth review along with exclusive tactics straight from developer Guerrilla Games for dominating the excellent multiplayer. We even got to dig deep into the ‘Zone to uncover some of Guerrilla’s thinking behind the latest chapter in their sharp shooter.

It’s a great read, if I do say so myself, written by our very own Roger Burchill. To quote our esteemed managing editor: “Killzone 3 takes a blade, jams it into a Helghast’s eye socket, and twists it.” You’ll have to pick up the issue to find out what else Roger said, but even for those who’ve already pre-ordered the game, it’s got some great insight into why Killzone 3 is an improvement over its excellent predecessor, along with all kinds of tasty tidbits on the game that you won’t find anywhere else.

It’s a great issue overall, with lots of other incredible coverage, including a massive hands-on with MotorStorm: Apocalypse; an epic feature pitting the next wave of Marvel and DC-based games against each other; our top 10 overlooked PS3 classics; massive reviews of Marvel vs. Capcom 3 and (my personal fave) Tactics Ogre; and updates on everything from Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim to UNCHARTED 3. The issue is on newsstands Feb. 15, and should be reaching subscriber mailboxes any day now. Enjoy!

As most of you know, the Sundance Film Festival is the premiere showcase for independent films. At the PlayStation Green Room, Sundance attendees were able to get their hands on AAA titles such as Killzone 3, inFAMOUS 2, and MLB 11: The Show, to name a few. We had a number of your favorite stars come by and found some unlikely fanboys/girls among them. Terrence Howard, Susan Sarandon, Jeremy Piven, Rob Lowe, Zooey Deschanel and more were spotted at the PlayStation Green Room. We even had a chance to meet Kratos himself – Brandon Molale, who did the motion capture for Kratos in the original God of War. We thought we’d share a few pics, so be sure to check them out below — and see more pics on our Flickr account.

Is there a Doctor in the house? Jesse Williams (“Grey’s Anatomy”) played Killzone 3 like a pro using the PlayStation Move sharp shooter.

Terrence Howard (“Iron Man”) checking out MLB 11: The Show in stereoscopic 3D.

Susan Sarandon (“Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps”) at the PlayStation Green Room

Bobby Cannavale (“Win Win”) tries out the Killzone 3 and PlayStation Move sharp shooter

Actor Brandon Molale (“True Blood”), and Abby, at the PlayStation Green Room

With NGP, new PlayStation Move experiences, stereoscopic 3D games, and a slew of AAA titles coming this year, we’re sure to be on the road again soon. We love hearing from all of you so feel free to stop by and say hello if we’re in your area!

February is a strange month for magazines. Most February issues are shipped in December and come out in January, which puts them smack on the border of two years. Naturally, that means it’s a time for PTOM to look back and ahead all at once—a dizzying proposition, to be sure.

But that doesn’t mean it ain’t an exciting time. 2010 was a phenomenal year for the PS3, something we celebrate in our Game of the Year feature. While our big winner might not surprise (hint: it’s an epic adventure of godly proportions), our other picks will surely delight. Each editor nominated his four favorite games, many of which will be great reminders of the stellar year that was. We also picked our top PSP and PSN game—and while our PSP nod makes perfect sense, our PSN choice (which also, ahem, makes perfect sense) is another big surprise.

Looking ahead, our cover story is a ten-page expose on what’s sure to be one of the biggest games of early 2011. We got to dig deeper than anyone else into L.A. Noire’s cinematic landscape, experiencing an exclusive case and chatting with the minds behind Rockstar’s ambitious game. The technology alone is impressive enough, using a proprietary scanning system to capture facial expressions the player is then supposed to “read” as part of the game. (It’s a detective story, so interrogation plays a key role.) That’s nifty enough, but it’s the ambition behind the storytelling and the world-building that really captured my attention. It’s an inelegant comparison, perhaps, but L.A. Noire is poised to be this year’s Heavy Rain in terms of its ambition and promise. I can’t wait to play it!

We also look ahead with a six-page exclusive on Shadows of the Damned, the quirky new horror title from Resident Evil creator Shinji Mikami. And for those committed to keeping their New Year’s resolutions, we’ve got a guide to the top exercise games. All that, plus our final verdicts on LittleBigPlanet 2, Mass Effect 2, and Dead Space 2. Enjoy!