As if two new Metal Gear titles at E3 weren’t enough, Sony’s now bringing the undisputed champ of the Metal Gear Series to PlayStation Network. Starting today, you can grab the PS1 classic, Metal Gear Solid, for $9.99. You can even get it for your PSP!

As usual, there’s a lot of other stuff in the update. Some of it is interesting, like Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter for the PSP. Some of it is mindless, like Qore (Seriously, does anyone actually watch that?).

You can also choose the demo for EA Sports’ NCAA Football 10, as well as the usual weekly song downloads for Rock Band and Guitar Hero. Rock Band gets Spinal Tap this week, something guaranteed to make people my age smile with nostalgia.

If you want to see a full list of what’s available this week, it’s available after the break.

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Today is GameTap Thursday, like most Thursdays here at Gaming Today, and just look what the folks over there have in store for you:

• Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory: Yes, Sam Fisher is once again out to save the world in this third installment in the stealth-action series. Against the background of rising tensions in the East, protagonist Sam Fisher (Michael Ironside) is once again called into action, utilizing brand new stealth mechanics and close-quarter combat techniques to diffuse the situation before it’s too late. And with major graphical and lighting improvements, Splinter Cell looks better than ever.

• Ocean Express: This puzzle game from Strategy First has you working on the docks so to speak. There’s ships to load and money to be made! But filling those big barges is more complicated than it sounds, and only the most efficient shippers can possibly hope to earn a profit. You’ll start with just one barge and grow your shipping empire, one crate at a time.

Added to the ever growing roster of free games this week is none other than the illustrious Lara Croft in Tomb Raider: Anniversary which will be free-to-play for an entire week. Should you not be interested in this game or if you already own it, take heart because they have 143 other free games to play which is enough to keep even the most hardcore gamer busy for more days than one would care to mention.

The full list of free games can be seen after the jump or you can head on over to GameTap yourself and see what hoops you have to jump through to become a gold member. Personally I recommend doing a few summersaults and maybe a back-flip with a full twist. Okay, I am kidding, all you have to do is register and you will be guided through the process from there. If you are strapped for cash and just want the freebies, you still have to register.

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Ubisoft has has sent out the word that Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X will feature photo realistic satellite images thanks to GeoEye. GeoEye’s IKONOS satellite system will provide the high-resolution imagery to create incredibly realistic flights through 16 international territories including Rio de Janeiro, Cape Canaveral and the Middle East.

“High-resolution satellite imaging is moving from the black world of intelligence to the white world of commerce and Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X will bring that reality to gamers,” said Mark Brender, vice president, corporate communications and marketing at GeoEye. “With video game graphics becoming more realistic, the use of high-quality photographic ground textures in H.A.W.X adds true photo-realism to the air combat experience.”

It seems that the 3D imagery of Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X will assuredly be spectacular. Lets hope that control and camera issues can keep up with the graphics.

All the votes are tallied for the Game Critics Awards: Best of E3 2008. Fallout 3 took two wins out of the three nominations it received including Best of Show. LittleBigPlanet was the only other game to win two categories and took Best Console Game. Here’s the official Game Critics Awards Winner’s Circle for 2008:

Best of Show
Fallout 3
(Bethesda Softworks for PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360)

Best Original Game
Mirror’s Edge
(DICE/Electronic Arts for PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 36)

Best Console Game
LittleBigPlanet
(Media Molecule/Sony Computer Entertainment for PlayStation 3)

Best PC Game
Spore
(Maxis/EA)

Best Handheld Game
Resistance: Retribution
(Bend Studio/Sony Computer Entertainment for PSP)

Best Hardware/Peripheral
Rock Band 2 Ion “Drum Rocker” Set
(ION Audio/MTV Games for Xbox 360)

Best Action Game
Gears of War 2
(Epic Games/Microsoft Game Studios for Xbox 360)

Best Action/Adventure Game
Dead Space
(EA Redwood Shores/EA for PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360)

Best Role Playing Game
Fallout 3
(Bethesda Softworks for PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360)

Best Racing Game
Pure
(Black Rock/Disney Interactive Studios for PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360)

Best Sports Game
Madden NFL 09
(Tiburon/EA for All Systems)

Best Fighting Game
Street Fighter IV
(Capcom for Arcade)

Best Strategy Game
Tom Clancy’s EndWar
(Ubisoft Shanghai/Ubisoft for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360)

Best Social/Casual/Puzzle
LittleBigPlanet
(Media Molecule/Sony Computer Entertainment for PlayStation 3)

Best Online Multiplayer
Left 4 Dead
(Valve/EAP for PC, Xbox 360)

Interestingly enough only one of the winning games, Madden NFL 09 will make it to the Nintendo Wii or the DS. Far be it from me to suggest that it could have anything to do with Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata’s declaration that E3 is no longer the appropriate venue for core games.

If you were waiting to get your hands on Tom Clancy’s first foray into the flight combat world, you may have to wait a little longer. Ubisoft has now confirmed that the game has been delayed until early next year. Originally, the game was set to release in September, but apparently Ubisoft wants to keep that title inside a little longer. Unfortunately, they didn’t specify why they chose to delay the game. Guess you’ll just have to keep playing Ace Combat 6 for a few more months.

Via CVG

It’s Thursday, so PS3-owning Rainbow Six fans needn’t wait any longer: the Vegas 2 Gift Pack DLC has finally arrived. PC and Xbox 360 owners have had it for almost a week, but when you’re talking about playing the same exact maps you’re already used to — only at night — there’s really no wait that’s too long. That might not be entirely true, but as I said before, at least it’s free.

Rock Band’s weekly track release includes four songs from Rush and Red Hot Chili Peppers, which is also the number of new demos that have been released: Siren: Blood Curse, Monster Madness: Grave Danger, WALL-E and The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian are all available in demo form on the PlayStation Store.

And there’s all sorts of trailers for you to check out, including one for the Super Stardust HD add-on which I’ve been raving about ever since it was released. Now you can see what I’ve been talking about.

Hit the break to check out the full list of content.

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Ubisoft has unveiled a new developer diary for Tom Clancy’s HAWX, the upcoming flight game bearing the author’s expensive name. In this new video, the developers talk about about how the gameplay is focused on realism, while giving the player some assistance if needed. You’re given some help from the computer with maneuvering and targeting and such, but you can turn all that off for a more realistic experience if you want. From the looks of things, HAWX may be giving the Ace Combat series a run for its money when it’s released.

The Ubidays event in Paris is officially over, and instead of bombarding you with post after post of screens, we decided to release them in parts so that you would not have to visit a game site that is nothing but screenshots. While it is indeed true that events like Ubidays and the forthcoming E3 tend to produce tons of media, it gets a little tiring to just look at pretty pictures all day long, thus these bulky posts.Therefore, here is the third and final installment in our Ubidays Screenshot Extravaganza. We hope you enjoyed it.

Prince of Persia: Prodigy

Tom Clancy’s EndWar

Far Cry 2

The private beta for Tom Clancy’s EndWar is beginning soon, and if you would like to get in on it you can go on over to the official website and apply – that is, if you are currently an Xbox Live “Gold” member. If not, you are out of luck.

The Private Beta will take place for 3 weeks in June and July, and will be available in English only. The Beta will feature 3 maps and be playable exclusively online in 1v1 and 2v2 matches. The Beta will be available for Xbox 360, and you will need to be an Xbox Live Gold Member, with a broadband internet connection, and 3 GB of free space on your Xbox 360 Hard Drive.

The version will be in a Test state and you will likely encounter some bugs and crashes. Your contribution will be very important and will help us to produce a better and more polished final product. Your participation in this Beta will be strictly confidential, and you will not be allowed to share your experiences playing EndWar anywhere outside of this website.

Those with a PS3 may not be able to get in on this particular beta, but the consolation prize is pretty neat. Apparently, the PS3 version of EndWar will support hand gesture commands when using the PlayStation Eye camera peripheral and also be able to move the map around as well. This is not the case with the Xbox 360 and its Vision Cam, the reason is because it lacks a stand unlike the PlayStation Eye. However, it must also be noted that this feature is not guaranteed for the final game, since the developers are working on “feature parity” for each version. They are still hopeful that it will make the cut, but that will be announced at a later date.

EndWar definitely sounds like a game that will either change the industry and the way games are made or just be a complete flash in the pan. My hopes are for the former because it does sound extremely immersive and just plain cool. Hopefully soon, one of us will be able to get our hands on it and let you know one way or the other.

To apply for the beta click here.

Tom Clancy’s EndWar will have a demo released for the game according to a recent post over on CVG.

Ubisoft confirmed this during Ubidays and said that the EndWar demo will hit Xbox Live and PSN in plenty of time before the release later this year. The demo will precede the two closed betas which will help Ubisoft confirm proper balance for the game.

According to content director Julian Geright:

“The balance of these games is the win or lose of the games. We’ve balanced it fairly well, but we’re doing two different beta tests – one limited and one much much bigger, and then a demo where we’re going to be able to balance on the results. We’re doing a playtest with professional gamers to make sure there are as few exploits as possible before launch.”

One would think that tweaking the game would already be finished come launch, but this is apparently not the case. Considering the fact that EndWar is not only voice-commanded strategy game but also a game with a persistent world, the developers plan to continue said balancing after launch a la World of Warcraft.

Geright continued:

“We’re going to balancing even post-launch. It’s an important thing for a strategy game to remain fun. They have those small imperfections that people latch on to, and then you change them.”

Check back with us often as a release date for the demo is announced.

Via: CVG