Of course, it would be a shame to leave this occasion unmarked –- and I’m not talking about the champagne and strange Dutch snacks we’ll undoubtedly be having at the studio. We also want to celebrate it with you, the fans. After all, the Killzone brand wouldn’t be where it is today without your support. So here’s what we have in store for you over the next few days:

Looking back at Killzone 1
Later this week on Killzone.com, Seb “Motherh” Downie and I are going to play through the first Killzone game for you. We’ll be commenting on our favorite sections and wallowing in beer-induced nostalgia.

Killzone 2 retro tournament
This weekend (November 27-30) Guerrilla will host a Killzone 2 retro tournament, using only the Beach Head and Southern Hills maps from the second DLC pack. And there’s more to be gained than valor alone, because…

Double XP Weekend returns
…the tournament will take place during a Double XP Weekend! Just like last time, any game created in the weekend of November 27-30 will yield extra XP to help you boost your ranking.

Killzone 1 and 2 side-by-side
Finally, Killzone.com editor Victor Zuylen will compare various features of Killzone 2 with its predecessor next week, illustrating exactly how far we’ve come since the first Killzone game was released.

And starting today, Killzone 2 DLC goes on sale on the PlayStation Store — Flash & Thunder is now $2.99 and the Map Pack Bundle is down to $9.99 — until December 10. I hope you’ll join us in celebrating the fifth anniversary of Killzone! In the meantime, I’m going to put on my Top Hits of 2004 album and try to remember how I partied five years ago. Eric out.

In a continuing effort to provide support for Killzone 2 Online, and to show you day-1 fans of Killzone that we mean business, we are very happy to announce the upcoming 1.24 patch. This patch is the biggest one yet, and addresses a large number of reported issues, exploits and bugs – but it also adds new functionality to the game for you to enjoy! I would like to highlight the fact that we are adding 3 new ranks to the game, reached at 5000, 10000 and 100000 points respectively. These ranks do not give any rewards but it allows the real hardcore players to show off their hard work to everyone in-game! Other highlights include a new 17-24 player search game filter, enlarged HUD radar distance and a much requested “Join Clan Member” tab in the join game screen. The patch also allows you to play against the next batch of contenders: Japan, who will be able to buy their copies of Killzone 2 on the 23rd of April and will be joining the community online.

Allow me to clarify on these new features a little: The new ranks we’ve added are basically a reward to all the players out there that have massive amounts of points, and we hope that it inspires other players to keep on playing. The 17-24 player filter was a direct request from the community because a lot of people think the ‘sweet spot’ of the multiplayer levels is around 24 players instead of 32 and are creating custom games accordingly. The Join Clan Member tab was also a direct community request, allowing players to join clan members when they are playing regular non-clan related games.

There has been a lot of discussion on the forums about the lack of a ‘party system’ in Killzone 2 and rest assured, we are working hard on creating features that will make it easier for you to play with your friends online. These features include being able to join the same faction of a friend already in-game directly from the join game menus, manually being able to switch faction during gameplay and making existing squads consistent over multiple rounds; no more need to create a new squad every single round. These features will be coming to a patch near you soon!

To read more details about the 1.24 patch specifics, please visit the Killzone 2 FAQ section.

We hope this patch shows how dedicated we are to the game, and that it will allow you to enjoy Killzone 2 Online just that little bit more! Of course, we will continuously keep looking for more bug and exploit fixes, as well as keep an eye out for other additions we can add to the game. So please keep reporting on the forums! And last but definitely not least, a big thank you from the entire Killzone 2 team to all the Killzone players out there for their continuing support!

Keep on fraggin’!

P.S.: I almost forgot to mention: The patch also adds DLC support! … So you know what that means… ;)