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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!

In other news, the PlayStation Home Mall will be updated this week with new items for your avatars and personal spaces, including additional Red Dead Redemption items (such as the John Marston outfit), new Irem cowboy and cowgirl items (are you sensing a loose theme to this week yet?), LucasArts items (including Mola Ram items from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom — how sweet is that?!), and even this Minotaur head, for all of you that are participating in the ongoing Top Avatar competition, which is focusing on the Fantasy genre this week (details can be found here).

See you in Home!

As most of you may know, Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City is two complete game experiences as episodes set in Liberty City: The Lost and Damned, and The Ballad of Gay Tony. Both games are included on one disc, and do not require a copy of Grand Theft Auto IV to play (though if you do own GTAIV, you can also purchase and download the episodes digitally via the PlayStation Network).

Here’s just a taste of what you’ll find in Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City:

• New missions and storylines
• New weapons, including a grenade launcher, sawed-off shotgun, and sticky bombs
• Enhanced physics for motorcycles, as well as new vehicles (yes, including a tank)
• New radio, internet, and television content
• New multiplayer modes and locations
• Full PSN Trophy support

Check out this all-new official trailer created in honor of the PlayStation 3 release this week:

Read the first Episodes from Liberty City PlayStation 3 review by IGN PS3 – an Editors’ Choice score of 9.2 out of 10: “The perfect way to close out the Grand Theft Auto IV saga.”

And join us this Friday, April 16th for our first Grand Theft Auto: Episodes from Liberty City PS3 Official Social Club Multiplayer Event on PlayStation Network. Play against Rockstar Games from 4-7 PM Eastern and visit Social Club to watch the live stream and join in the chat. Click here for all the details.

To get the word on all future PS3 events, as well as the latest news, trailers and more for all of our other Sony titles like Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars for PSP, and our upcoming Western epic, Red Dead Redemption – make sure you’re following us at Rockstar Newswire or on our official Twitter and Facebook pages.

Hello all! It’s pleasure for me to introduce this next clip for the PSP and PSPgo fans reading this out there. We know that a lot of fans have been waiting to finally get their hands on Chinatown Wars and we’re thrilled to finally bring an even more refined version of this game to the PSP.

For anyone that hasn’t heard anything about Chinatown Wars yet, I can tell you that it brings a unique, arcade-like approach to the series. We really rethought the way a portable GTA experience could work from the ground up. On the PSP, the game includes some exclusive missions, music, re-optimized controls, and an intense high-resolution graphical overhaul that could only be done on this platform.

Some may still not realize this, but Chinatown Wars is actually the biggest portable GTA we’ve ever done – even bigger than Liberty City Stories or Vice City Stories in terms of polygon counts, lines of code, and especially environmental assets. Altogether, we have something that clearly looks and feels different than the Stories titles in our legacy lineup (both of which are launching on PSN this Thursday) – but the end result is one of our proudest achievements thus far, non-stop, innovative Grand Theft Auto gaming. We can’t wait for everyone to dive into it on the PSP today.

In this clip below, you can get a look at how we’ve chosen to weave the mini-game elements into the broader gameplay without ever forcing players to take their hands off of the system. These gameplay elements feel even more tactile on the analog stick, and it’s an integral component of the game that highlights the graphic novel style we’ve incorporated into the game.

When stealing certain cars, you disassemble the steering wheel column to hotwire the car with the analog stick – and as you can see, it works seamlessly. Whether you’re screwing together a sniper rifle to focus in on a headshots, or directing the fire hose on a fire truck onto a car that’s in flames and about to explode, the controls in the game have been optimized for a much faster experience on the PSP. This is especially true for when players are looking to throw projectiles weapons, either on foot or while driving. You don’t have to stop moving in order to pinpoint a grenade onto the hood of a rival gang’s vehicle. Here you can also see Huang taking on one of the Triad bosses above a construction site in a helicopter. Locking on with the R-button and firing away with an RPG-missile should do the trick. And this is one of those scenarios that I love, an old-school, arcade style boss battle. That’s really the direction we wanted to move in with this entry into the series: Quick, explosive, and precisely designed to work best as a portable gaming experience. It’s really unique, and unlike anything we’ve done on a handheld before.

There’s plenty more I’d love to be able to share with you about this extraordinary game. With all of our past PSP titles from Rockstar Games hitting the PSN storefront this week, along with the launch of Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, I’d love to be able to answer any of the burning questions that many of you might have. As the team said, please feel free to send over any questions you have for me and I’ll be answering as many as I can right here on the PlayStation Blog very soon.

Rich has worked on all of Grand Theft Auto’s PSP iterations thus far, so send along your CTW questions and we’ll get ‘em answered.

Everyone knows to have success in this business you need to look ahead, identifying the talent and titles that are going to give consumers new kinds of gaming experiences that help set the bar for the rest of the industry. Rockstar has a heritage for doing just that. We have had incredible success with the GTA franchise and are happy to continue to offer those titles on our platforms, and even more excited about what’s to come from the current and future relationship between our companies. Rockstar really wanted to make a game that you can truly only do on PS3, harnessing the power of CELL and Blu-ray disc and this deal lets them do just that.. This is really a win-win situation for both companies. As Jack mentioned in the interview with Geoff, this franchise is not LA Noire, but something all new. We agreed with Rockstar and Take-Two Interactive Software that we wouldn’t disclose anything more about the deal or title at this time, so stay tuned, we’ll share more info as soon as we can.