Today’s the day all our amazing PlayStation 3 fans can get their hands on Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Vietnam. This expansion pack to Battlefield: Bad Company 2 adds new maps, weapons, vehicles and trophies, all set to a two hour soundtrack of period-typical songs, making for one dynamic tour of duty.

Along with all of this great content comes a challenge to you, our PS3 audience, directly from Battlefield developer DICE called The Battle for Hastings. This challenge asks players to complete 69 million support actions within Battlefield: Bad Company 2 and Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Vietnam, which will unlock the fifth map to be found in the expansion, Operation Hastings.

Get ready to do your part in The Battle for Hastings and download Battlefield: Bad Company 2 for the PS3 today! And while you’re at it, take advantage of our newly dropped prices on Onslaught (now $4.99), Shortcut Kit ($14.99), and in case you haven’t picked up the variety of free multiplayer maps through our VIP Pass, you can now pick that up for just $9.99.

Dead Space 2 Demo Infests PSN Today

by Jay Frechette, Community Manager, Visceral Games

Hello Dead Space fans! Today the single player demo for Dead Space 2 is available on the PlayStation Store! We can’t wait for you guys to play it and wanted to share a couple details of what to expect.

In the Dead Space 2 demo, you will take engineer Isaac Clarke on a terrifying adventure through the Church of Unitology, what appears to be a sanctuary quickly turns dangerous and deadly, during the Necromorph outbreak on the Sprawl. You’ll have access to a variety of new tools, including the new Javelin gun that has an electrifying secondary attack, the updated stasis recharge mechanic and enhanced telekinesis ability. Don’t forget to stop at the Store to change into the advanced suit, equipped with jets that will allow Isaac full 360-degree control in zero-g space! We hope you enjoy it and pick up Dead Space 2 when it’s released on 1/25/2011.

Need for Speed Hot Pursuit: Super Sports Pack hits PSN today

by Spenser Norrish, Community Coordinator, EA

One of the fastest street legal race cars ever manufactured has joined the pursuit! The GUMPERT Apollo S—as well as the equally awesome Porsche 911 GT2 RS and Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Super Sport—is now available in Need For Speed Hot Pursuit via the Super Sports Pack. This DLC (available for $6.99) also brings 13 new events and 11 new Trophies into the fray.

Mass Effect 2 PS3 demo arrives today on PSN

by Jarrett Lee

Today marks the first time PlayStation 3 gamers will be able to experience the Mass Effect universe. The demo for Mass Effect 2 has arrived, allowing players to experiment with character creation (which will you chose: play as the iconic John Shepard or your own customized Commander Shepard?), play through the opening levels of the game, and even jump to an area further into the game to try out some of the more intense combat areas and see the kinds of amazing locations that can be visited throughout the story.

Mass Effect 2 for the PS3 is the most advanced Unreal Engine game shipped to date, and makes full use of the PS3’s hardware to bring this BioWare-created universe to life in spectacular detail. In fact, it was built on the same engine being used to build the recently announced Mass Effect 3! Here’s your chance to see it for yourself – and don’t forget that after the holiday the full game arrives on PS3 January 18th – including six hours of bonus missions, and an interactive digital comic designed by BioWare and Dark Horse Comics to introduce new players to the franchise. The digital comic allows players to make key choices about their back-story that will be reflected during their game.

And that’s not all!

Starting today, EA is happy to offer you the following add-ons for some of your favorite games at a lower price!

• Dante’s Inferno – Trials of St. Lucia, $4.99
• Burnout Paradise add-on content
• Big Surf Island, $6.99
• Legendary Cars Collection, $4.99
• Cops & Robbers, $4.99
• Boost Specials Collection, $4.99
• Party Pack, $4.99
• Toy Collection, $6.99
• Toy Car Collection 1, $4.99
• Toy Car Collection 2, $4.99

More Battlefield goodness than you can shake an RPG at.

You get a ton of stuff in Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Ultimate Edition, with Onslaught Mode, Limited Edition Unlocks and the full version of Battlefield 1943 — DICE’s PSN WWII shooter from the summer of 2009, now making its first appearance in retail stores.

As you may or may not remember, when Battlefield 1943 first launched, DICE ran the Coral Sea Challenge. As soon as the gamers on PS3 reached 43 million kills collectively, a fourth map would unlock. For a latecomer to the party, it’s still a blast to soar through the skies on the Coral Sea bonus map, even though I missed out on contributing in the challenge.

Back to the beautiful Pacific in Battlefield 1943.

Back then, it took the PS3 gamers only eight days to reach the 43 million kill limit! Which got me wondering: What has happened since then in the Battlefield universe, numbers-wise? So I dove into the official PS3 stats for Bad Company 2 (released only six months ago) and came back with the following impressive figures:

Total body count: 2,551,119,430
Total time played (hours): 61,391,471 (that’s 7,000 years!)
Total dog tags taken: 76,712,440
Number of deaths by defibrillator: 828,069

Turns out a medic can use his tools for more offensive duties than reviving his comrades! Of course, by the time you read this, these numbers will have increased even further. So make sure to stop by and check out the global stats, as well as your individual, detailed battle records.

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Ultimate Edition is out now for $59.95. If you want to get the skinny on everything happening in the Battlefield community, stay tuned on Twitter @OfficalBFBC2 and battlefield.com.

Oh, and as always, remember to keep your squad tight.

Onslaught is co-op in the sense that you get to play with a squad of up to four soldiers against endless waves of A.I. enemies. Endless until you take the base flags, that is. The people who are actually doing the Onslaught are you — the players.

Atacama Desert is a real favorite among Battlefield players. In Onslaught, this huge, vehicle-heavy map is ravaged by minor sandstorms that give it a limited visibility.

This makes Onslaught approachable on two totally different levels. First, it is the perfect place for newcomers to hone their squad tactics without having to face human opposition. On easy or normal difficulty, this should be very manageable by a team of four soldiers playing together. As long as one of you stays alive at all times, the others can keep spawning in.

For the elite squads out there, crank up the difficulty to hardcore and see how quickly you can clear the maps — then compare your best times on the global, Onslaught-specific leaderboards for bragging rights.

The enemies keep attacking as long as you don’t capture a base and advance. Prepare for the fight of your life on Hardcore difficulty!

I played a bunch of matches on Atacama Desert on the hardcore setting today. After 20 or so epic fails, the junior product manager here at Dice and I hooked up with two more soldiers and swept through Atacama’s three bases in 13 minutes. By no means even close to the fastest time in the world, but a nice first attempt to try and crush in the days to come. Two of the guys in our squad today finished up on Atacama in just seven minutes. See if you can beat that.

Oh, and I caught executive producer Patrick Bach in the corridors earlier today. I asked him to give our readers on the PlayStation.Blog some inside info on how to succeed in Onslaught mode:

Keep your squad tight and make sure to experiment with a mix of different kits. It’s all about finding the right weapon for the job. You wouldn’t try and blow up a tank with a sniper rifle — even though you CAN headshot people with the repair tool, actually.

Solid advice. For more on what is happening at Dice and with Battlefield: Bad Company 2 in particular, stay tuned on our blog. Hope to see you guys online, and do let us know what you think of Onslaught!

Speaking of highly-requested content, we’ll be partying like its 1968 in Central Plaza come this Thursday when Big Daddy and Big Sister costumes (along with some other BioShock 2 virtual items) are released in PlayStation Home. We’ve snagged a few pics to give you a taste of what to expect when you add these creepy items to your collection (fun fact: Mr. Magnus Keynes – Home’s resident business guru – is too scared by BioShock 2 to even review these new items whereas our very own CydoniaX regularly schools the rest of the team in multiplayer mode and is sporting the Big Sister armor as I type).

In other news, Sodium will be receiving an update this week which will result in faster loading, new objectives being doled out by VICKIE (with new rewards, of course), and a new interactive map. As with all things in PlayStation Home, these updates come at the request of our loyal community members who regularly contribute great ideas on the official PlayStation Home Sodium forum. So, please, keep the good thoughts coming!

Ever since we released the new and improved Gamer’s Lounge last week, our nightly Featured Game parties have been hopping. And while you can always count on at least one official event being staged every single day in PlayStation Home (like this upcoming Saturday night’s Battlefield: Bad Company 2 game launching party), you can also bet that we’ll regularly break the mold and offer additional, 100% exclusive giveaways complete with the best prizes we can get our hands on. Starting this Friday, April 23rd and running to next Friday, April 30th, we’ll be giving away Wireless Keypads to 10 lucky contestants who participate in our Wireless Keypad sweepstakes. Want to learn how you can enter to win? Read the official Rules and Regulations, tacked on below for your convenience.

See you in Home!

The following promotion is intended for viewing in the 50 United States and the District of Columbia (“D.C.”) only and shall only be construed and evaluated according to United States law. Do not enter this sweepstakes if you are not a legal resident of, and located in the 50 United States or District of Columbia at the time of entry.

PLAYSTATION®HOME WIRELESS KEYPAD SWEEPSTAKES
OFFICIAL RULES
Void outside the 50 United States and D.C. and where prohibited.

1. ELIGIBILITY. The PlayStation®Home Wireless KeyPad Sweepstakes (“Promotion”) is open only to legal residents of the fifty United States and the D.C. who are 13 years of age or older at the time of entry and hold a PlayStation Network account in good standing as determined by Sponsor. Employees of the Sponsor and its parent, subsidiaries and affiliated companies and their immediate families are not eligible to participate in this Promotion.

2. SPONSOR. Sony Computer Entertainment America LLC, 919 E. Hillsdale Blvd., Foster City, CA 94404.

3. TIMING. Promotion begins April 23, 2010 at 12:00pm (noon) PST and ends April 30, 2010 at 12:00pm (noon) PST.

4. HOW TO ENTER. No purchase necessary. Internet access, a valid PlayStation®Network account, a PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system with a copy of PlayStation®Home installed on your system required. Log into your PlayStation Network account and launch PlayStation Home application The following question will be posted on a billboard in one of the core Home spaces: How would owning a wireless keypad improve your PlayStation®3 experience? To enter, send an e-mail to HomeContests@playstation.sony.com. Enter “Keypad” in the subject line and in the body of the email include your PSN ID and your answer to the question. To be valid, entries must be received no later than April 30, 2010 at 11:59pm PST.

2. PRIZES. Each prize winner will receive one (1) Wireless Keypad compatible with the PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system (ARV $49.00). Sponsor reserves the right to substitute prize of equal value if prize is unavailable. Prizes are non-transferable and no substitutions allowed.

3. WINNER SELECTION. Ten (10) prize winners will be selected following the Promotion Period. Winners will be determined by a single random drawing of all valid entries received by Sponsor, whose decisions are final. Selection will be held on or about May 1, 2010. Sponsor will send a notification email to each winner’s registered PSN e-mail address. If any winner does not respond to Sponsor’s notification email within 7 days of the date of the notification email, he/she will be disqualified and a new winner will be selected based on the original selection criteria. Winners may be required to sign and return an Affidavit of Eligibility and Release (“Affidavit”) within seven (7) days of the date indicated on the correspondence sent by Sponsor. Failure to execute and return Affidavit within the stated time period will result in forfeiture of prize and an alternate winner will be selected. If a winning entrant is a minor, then Sponsor will award the prize to that winning entrant’s parent or legal guardian. If the potential winning entrant is a minor, then the Affidavit must be signed by potential winner’s parent or legal guardian and returned within the stated time period or prize may be forfeited and an alternate winner will be selected. Please allow four to six weeks for receipt of prizes.

4. ODDS OF WINNING. The odds of winning depend on number of valid entries received.

5. ENTRY CONDITIONS AND RELEASE. Limit one entry per person and e-mail address. Subsequent entries will be disqualified. Sponsor is not responsible for lost, late, mutilated, illegible, incomplete or misdirected entries. Sponsor is not responsible for technical, hardware or software failures of any kind, lost or unavailable network connections or failed, incomplete, garbled or delayed computer transmissions which may limit an entrant’s ability to participate in the Promotion. Sponsor reserves the right in its sole discretion to cancel or suspend this Promotion should virus, bugs or other causes corrupt the administration, security or proper play of this Promotion. Entries not satisfying these Official Rules will be automatically disqualified. Return of any prize/prize notification as undeliverable will result in disqualification and an alternate winner will be selected. Sponsor’s decisions are final and binding in all matters related to the Promotion. Potential winners must comply with the Official Rules’ terms and conditions, and receipt of prizes is contingent upon fulfilling all requirements.

6. PUBLICITY. By attempting to enter, entering or accepting a Promotion prize, an entrant or prize winner agrees to the use of their statements, name and/or likenesses for purposes of advertising, trade, or promotion without further compensation, unless prohibited by law.

7. LIMITATIONS OF LIABILITY. By attempting to enter, entering or accepting a Promotion prize, an entrant or prize winner agrees to release Sponsor and its parent, subsidiaries, agencies, divisions and affiliates from liability, claims or actions or any kind for injuries, damages or losses to persons and property that may be sustained in connection with the receipt, ownership or use of the prize or while preparing for, participating in or traveling to or from the Promotion or any Promotion or prize-related activity. Neither the Sponsor nor its parent, affiliates, subsidiaries, agencies, divisions or related companies are responsible for any damages, taxes or expenses that winners might incur as a result of this Promotion or receipt of prize.

8. WINNER LIST. To obtain names of winners, send a stamped, self-addressed envelope to Wireless Key Pad Sweepstakes, Attention: PS Home-Annabelle Garcia, 4th Floor, 919 E. Hillsdale Blvd., Foster City, CA 94404. Prize winners’ name request will be fulfilled within four weeks. Request a copy of the winner list must be received by May 15, 2010.

9. COLLECTION OF INFORMATION. Sponsor will collect information in connection with the Promotion in accordance with Sponsor’s privacy policy, available at http://www.us.playstation.com/Support/PrivacyPolicy.

10. RESTRICTIONS. Void where prohibited or restricted by law.

Today DICE is very excited to release the Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Multiplayer Demo on the PlayStation Store. Before getting into some details about the demo the team at DICE wanted to thank SCEA for helping us get the demo out a week early for North America. So, thank you to all those at SCEA that helped make this happen, you guys seriously rock!

The PS3 community has played a special role in the pending success of BFBC2, so thanks to all the participants we had in the beta last November. From that beta, more than 130 gameplay changes were made and almost all of them made it into this demo. As a gift for your support in the beta, all participants will be awarded another point in the BF Veteran rank that will apply to special perks in the final game.

In the demo you’ll be playing the “Rush” game mode on a very snowy map set in Port Valdez of Alaska with the US defending Russian attacks. As an attacker, you start the map as the Russian Army parachuting from the back of Russian An-124 variants, pushing your way through four bases defended by the US Army to win the battle. Both teams will have plenty of vehicles to man from ATVs, tanks, jeeps, and helicopters for an insane dose of Battlefield tactical vehicle-based warfare like no other. Now go enjoy the demo! :-)

Special thanks to the God of War III team for providing an early look at this incredible game.

Also this month, Qore‘s Audrey Cleo reports from Japan on the latest game in the Yakuza series. She takes us through Yakuza 3‘s authentic environments and intriguing characters to find out if the baddest gangster in Tokyo’s underworld has a soft side.

While in Toyko, she also takes us on a whirlwind tour of the gadget and geek paradise of Akihabara, famous for its selection of electronics, computers, manga and anime, to discover the most interesting items to be found.

These days, first-person shooters set in a warzone are ubiquitous, so how can one game distinguish itself from another? Qore visited the producer of Battlefield: Bad Company 2 to walk us through the game’s multiplayer component. Strap on your helmet — you’re in for a wild ride!

RPGs are making a big splash on the PS3 this year, with titles such as White Knight Chronicles and Final Fantasy XIII. Star Ocean developer tri-Ace is getting into the action with Resonance of Fate. Qore brings you a hands-on look at this gorgeous new futuristic JRPG.

With 2010 shaping up to be a huge year for the PS3, we asked the editors at PlayStation: The Official Magazine to give us their picks of the titles and trends we should be looking out for in the months to come. And, as always, Qore gives you a peek at the latest and greatest Blu-ray movie releases coming your way.

All subscribers and purchasers can also download exclusive Yakuza 3 and Battlefield: Bad Company 2 PS3 themes this month.

Look for Episode 21 today.

To elaborate on a few things – you can follow the Official Battlefield Bad Company 2 Twitter here, and one of those sites giving out beta codes is… this one.

We’ll be giving out beta vouchers starting Thursday afternoon (PST) via our Twitter and Facebook accounts. So start following!

My name is Marcus “Noken” Johansson and I’m one of the guys working at the DICE Video Crew in Stockholm, Sweden.

We got some really cool stuff to show you from the upcoming Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Beta map, Arica Harbor, but it isn’t just a new trailer. It’s actually something a little different. Usually when we create movies there’s a lot of intense action which is always good, but this time we wanted to try something we haven’t done before.

The idea was to find action-filled moments and then capture them while the game was paused. This way the viewer can focus more on details and maybe imagine how he or she would play in that specific situation.

After showing a short test version to the team I got the green light to make the trailer. But how do you capture this kind of stuff? Well, what I like the most about Battlefield: Bad Company 2 is that we can show actual gameplay, so instead of staging scenes, I’ve been working with material recorded during our daily studio play tests.

After we’re done with our daily tests, we can replay the rounds over and over until we find the scenes we’re looking for. This way people can be sure that the game trailer they’re looking at represents the game they will get to play when it’s out.

So I flew around the level with my free cam, looking for some infantry fighting, some tank battles and of course some really cool destruction. After I was done capturing and editing, the sound team added the sound and music to set the mood and tone of the movie.

Render, ship it!

What you see below is the result and I’m really happy with what we created, and I hope you are too.

See you on the battlefield!

Noken

I’m Gordon Van Dyke and I’m the Associate Producer for Battlefield: Bad Company 2 here at EA’s DICE studio in Stockholm.

Today we’re excited to announce that our forthcoming multiplayer beta is coming exclusively to PS3, so you’ll have a chance to experience all the action, destruction and vehicular warfare ahead of our full release in March 2010.

Starting on November 19, the beta will feature the huge ‘Arica Harbour’ map where up to 24 players compete to secure valuable crates in the ‘Rush’ game mode as the action moves across a variety of different locations. From an initial vehicle assault on a military outpost the war winds through streets of a deserted town to an intense final fire-fight in an industrial harbour.

Check out our announcement video here.

For a preview on the beta itself click here.

Getting access to the beta will differ from country to country, but here are a few specific ways of getting hold of a key:

• We’ll be holding a special limited giveaway right here on the PlayStation Blog (details TBA)
• Pre-ordering the game at participating retailer
• Checking out selected gaming sites such as IGN or GameSpot in North America.

That’s it for now…although if you have any questions then let me know. Be sure to check back here tomorrow when we have a brand Battlefield: Bad Company 2 new trailer.