Weekly Recap May 22nd: PSN Premium, Halo Reach Impressions, Backbreaker Demo

There wasn't tons of brain busting, eye erasing news that took place this week within the gaming industry, but there were a few head scratches, and hand-clasping moments for many-a-gamer. Of course, PSN going premium falls into more of the head scratching category while the hand-clasping would definitely go toward the new demo of Backbreaker, the football game that puts hits and body crashes into the hands of physics. If that’s not good enough, you can try on for size some hands-on impressions from the Halo: Reach multiplayer beta, just in case you didn't manage to get in on it, as well as brand new reveal trailers for some popular upcoming games. These stories and more in this May 22nd, 2010 edition of the Blend Games Weekly Recap.

Sunday

KillZone Invades Lot Planet 2 Helghast Screenshots and Trailer Released. The Helghast are looking to take over the Lost Planet, what are you going to do about it?

Ntreev Adds new Dungeon Map to Grand Chase. Brand new dungeon to test your wit and dungeon-crawling skills.

Super Scribblenauts Screenshots Released. A batch of brand new screens featuring the Scribble-licious sequel.

A One-Console Future: The Horror, The Horror. An editorial that takes a look at a future dominated by one, big greedy console.

PSN To Get Premium Service. Now that is shocking news.

VT Tennis Dated For PSP Minis. A mini-tennis alternative for gamers who can’t get enough tennis court action while on the go.

Monday

Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood Pre-order Harlequin Character revealed. And it’s not the Joker’s right-hand gal either.

Splinter Cell Conviction Insurgency Pack DLC Screenshots Release Date. New content is already priced and amped for SC: Conviction

Unreal Engine 3 Powering New Baseball Game And MMORPG. Epic’s move to Korea has opened up all new possibilities, including some brand new MMOs for casual and hardcore gamers alike.

Kung-Fu Live For PSMove Arriving On PS3 This Summer. A motion-based fighting game that will change the way games are played, literally.

Tactical Intervention Entering Closed-beta At The End of May. From the maker of Counter Strike comes a brand new online FPS.

StarCraft II Beta Closing Next Week. Sweet niblets, it looks like RTS fans are about to get a taste of some serious next-gen strategy action.

Dead to Rights Retribution GAC Pack Screenshots Released. Featuring the always popular police-on-police brutality.

ROSE Online Receives A New World, Draconis. For all 800,000 users…I bet it’s more congested than a LA freeway during rush hour.

Tuesday

Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands Launch Trailer. A new Prince of Persia game just in time for the movie.

BlizzCon 2010 Ticket Prices And Dates Announced. If you’re still a Blizz-head then you’ll probably want to grab some tickets for this.

Alan Wake The Signal DLC Release Date Revealed. Find out when the DLC drops from one of those most original games this generation.

UFC Undisputed 2010 Midnight Launch Locations Announced. If you’re willing to tough through the night and lose a little sleep to grab this on day one then you might want to click the link to find out where the launch locations are.

Dragon Age Darkspawn Chronicles Released for Xbox 360 and PC. New DLC for the 360 and PC…read it and weep PS3 owners…read it and weep.

Empire Strikes Back 30th Anniversary Celebrated With Xbox Live Avatars. Grab a new getup for your character with something out of the Star Wars collection.

Mafia II For PC to Feature NVidia’s Stereoscopic 3D And PhysX Clothing. So now the character clothes blow individually while coming out of the screen.

Ghost Recon Future Soldier Delayed to 2011; Beta Delay Possible As Well. Get the scoop on when the beta might be arriving.

Sherwood Dungeon MMO Celebrates Six Years Without Corporate BS. That’s right, a little developer-that-could did the near impossible and is still going strong today.

Transformers War for Cybertron: Mission and Campaign Walkthrough Trailer. Get a glimpse into the missions from both the Autobots and the Decepticons.

Wednesday

Tiger Woods PGA Tour 11 Demo Released on Xbox 360 And PS3. He’s still hot property for EA despite his misdeeds.

Call of Duty Black Ops Uncut Gameplay Reveal Trailer. A complete and uncut rendition of the debut trailer for Call of Duty Black Ops.

World of Warcraft Remote Auction House Launches. World of Warcraft Remote Auction House Launches. Because there’s no better way to keep an addiction persistent than with remote connectivity.

Gears of War 2 Title Update 6 All Fronts Collection Discount On The Way. Given all the glitches and whatnot, it’s only fair a discount land on the DLC.

Dragon Quest IX North American And European Release Dates Announced. Find out when this game drops for the Nintendo Wii.

Halo Reach Beta Extended. They just can’t get enough…the fanboys just can’t get enough.

Dead Space 2, Skate 3 Collide. What kind of collision is this? Try Isaac dropping kick-flips in Skate 3

Avalon Heroes Receives Two New Heroes: Pirates And Ninjas. Let the rumble continue.

FEAR 3 Point Man Trailer For Xbox 360, PC And PS3. There’s nothing like taking point and kicking butt.

Split/Second Races Into Retailers for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC. Highly awaited? Probably not. Worth playing? Most definitely.

Thursday

Persona 3 Portable Trailer. Because Shin Megami just can’t seem to get away from demons and high school.

BlazBlue Calamity Trigger Coming To PC In North America. Fight fans have been holding out for a good game and now they’re about to get one.

Alpha Protocol Trailer Chooses Surkov’s Fate. Yes, the lives of many rests in the choices you make. How novel.

EA Introduces Gamers To 12 New Bulletstorm Screenshots. All kinds of head blasting, gun-totting action is what’s in store.

KalOnline World Championships Start This June. Grab some friends and start blasting down some mobs to nab your chance to compete on the world stage against 219 other countries.

Prima Guides Now On Steam. Got stuck in your favorite game? Need help? Check out the premium Prima Guides on Steam.

Lead and Gold: New Map and Game Mode Added. In addition to the maps and modes, new ways to kick and vote people off teams has also been added.

Splinter Cell Conviction Gets VIKHR Submachine Gun. Simply because stealth is over-rated and nothing beats the suppression fire of a good submachine gun.

Singularity: Amazon Pre-Order Bonus Includes Graphic Novel. Not just any graphic novel, a fully-colored graphic novel penned by industry vets.

Friday

Aion Server Merges: Incoming Patch 1.9 Dated. If you’re still trucking through the winged MMO wonder, then there’s a few things to look out for.

Halo Reach: Beta Impressions. Blend Games’ Editor Pete Haas offers first-hand impressions of his experience with the beta.

Tales of Fantasy Preps For Open Beta With Events And New Content. The developers have heard the cries, pleas and begs of the users and have decided to do something. You’ll have to click the link to find out what that ‘something’ is.

Tales of Pirates 2 Interview: Ship Battles And Customization Detailed. The product manager talks all things pirates in this new interview.

Split/Second: A Slightly Late But Welcomed Game Design Video. Yes, it’s late because the game is already out, but I don’t think anyone will mind too much.

Fable III PC Version And Limited Collector’s Edition Announced. The box art did not lie…there is a PC version in tow.

Red Dead Redemption Multiplayer Patch Fixes Connection, Invisibility Issues on PS3 And Xbox 360. A tall order of patches have arrived for the presumably fun yet uber-glitchy western-shooter.

Saturday

Star Wars The Old Republic Hoth Screenshots And Concept Art. We’ve seen Hoth about hundred times already but here are some new screenshots and concept art for how it will appear in the upcoming MMO.

Rumor Killers: PSP2, Premium PSN, Battlefront 3. More PSN premium talk, this time courtesy of The Game Reviews.

World of Warcraft Female Worgen Screenshots. What the heck is a Worgen and why the heck did they continue to procreate being as ugly as they are?

Mass Effect 2 Patch Now Available. And it fixes all those other little things that may have been a nuances to gamers who pay great attention to detail.

Gears of War 2 Title Update 6 Coming Next Week. A release date is being stamped on the new update for the game.

Backbreaker Demo Lands On Xbox Live. 505 Games’ highly awaited sports title receives an unforeseen demo…and it’s available right now on Xbox Live.

Games That Nobody Play Anymore: Red Dead Revolver. A look at a game unplayed today that was actually played quite a bit in the last generation.

That wraps up this edition of the Weekly Recap here at Blend Games. We part ways this week with gritty new trailer for Kane & Lynch 2, which goes over the new Undercover Cop mode. Enjoy.

Will Usher

Staff Writer at CinemaBlend.