Remember those good old television commercials promoting a weekly "family game night" for you and the rest of the busy busy folks in your house? I sure do, Monopoly, Scrabble...but things kind of lost their touch over the years. Who's got time nowadays to sit down and "unplug" to play with actual games and actual people, when you've got that nice, shiny HDTV staring at you, your 100 closest friends from across the world sending you messages, and a boxful of Hot Pockets fresh out of the microwave?

EA Casual is aiming to make real social interaction with a bit easier by announcing Hasbro Family Game Night for the Nintendo Wii and PlayStation 2. A bit strange that that these are not also getting the XBLA/PSN treatment as well, in my opinion. Hasbro Family Game Night is a collection of classic board games including Battleship, Yahtzee, Boogle, Connect Four, Sorry! and the all new variant, Sorry! Sliders. Along with special host for each game, Mr. Potato Head, players will have the option to create a party where they can tweak everything from the number of players in a game, all the way to the time limit, and even play mini-games; all inside of their very own "digital game room".  Chip Lange, Vice President and General Manager of EA Casual says:

We’re giving families a new way to bond and play together. HASBRO FAMILY GAME NIGHT offers parents and their children a digital party experience full of classic brands they know and love. Between original and new rule settings, an easy-to-play party mode and a customizable game room feature, the variety and choice promise hours of fun family play.

 
Hasbro Family Game Night is currently scheduled for release sometime this Autumn. Full announcement after the jump.

After Phil Harrison, former President of Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios, departed for Atari's parent company Infogrames in February, the house of the PlayStation 3 was left leaderless - more or less. A few months have went by, Phil has led the charge and scooped up Atari, and now SCEWWS have themselves a new President.

Shuhei Yoshida, who was current Senior VP of the U.S. division at Sony Worldwide Studios and a 15-year SCEI veteran, has been officially confirmed to be taking Phil Harrison's place as President starting today, May 16th. Sony Computer Entertainment CEO, Kaz Hirai stated:

SCE WWS has been developing global hit titles, sharing resources and know-how within SCE Group since its foundation, and we will reinforce our software business by further enhancing coordination among the studios under a new leader...Under the leadership of Yoshida, who has proven track record in managing creative talent, SCE WWS will accelerate the software development for the PlayStation 3 and PSP platforms and vigorously expand the gaming market.

Best of luck to Yoshida in his new position, we look forward to your many E3 speeches to come. Now...Home, anyone?

It's PlayStation Network update time, and this week's new batch of content is headlined by some Rocketmen heading to Uranus in an expansion pack, and two new Hot Shots Golf playable characters.

Rock Band, of course, gets its usual weekly track offerings, with two songs being reduced in price for a short time. Karaoke Revolution Presents: American Idol Encore continues to show it's not going anywhere by adding an additional 21 songs, now available for download. Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit has a demo (also available on Xbox LIVE), as well as the previously announced demo for Overlord: Raising Hell. A few wallpapers for echochrome, Overlord and Haze; as well as the trailer for the amazing looking Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm and the demo for the PSP's Secret Agent Clank finish off the week's high profile offerings.

Full list after the jump.

Those sitting on the floor, quietly hiding underneath their Metal Gear Solid cosplay boxes waiting for pre-order details on the most bad-ass of PlayStation 3 models....it's time to come out. Sony and Konami previously confirmed that the "super limited edition"  gunmetal grey Metal Gear Solid 4-emblazoned PS3 would be headed our way, but they have been scant on any purchasing details.

Today it was revealed that the SKU, which is clearly aimed at the most hardcore, non-PS3 owning customer, will only be available for purchase through the Konami website. The new bundle, which comes with the 40GB PS3, a DualShock 3 controller (both in the new color scheme), and the Limited Edition version of Metal Gear Solid 4 will retail for $599.99, and will ship "1-2 days" after the game's release on June 12th. Pre-orders begin on May 19th...so make sure that you emerge from your hiding spot, or deactivate your Octocam before then.

*Note: Contrary to some speculation, this bundle is unrelated to the already confirmed "standard" game/console bundle also arriving on MGS4's release day. 

Are you enjoying the various cornucopia of eclectic musical tunes, the ones that are blasting out of your vehicle of choice as your mow down crowds of pedestrians in Grand Theft Auto IV? Well then, this might just interest you, as you can now extend that enjoyment beyond the game.

Rockstar Games today announced Liberty City Invasion: Music from and Inspired by Grand Theft Auto IV, an original album contaning a collection of sixteen new hip-hop, reggae and R&B tracks produced by The Evil Genius Green Lantern. Eight songs being brand new and inspired by the game, and eight "exclusively crafted" for DJ Green Lantern's GTA IV in-game radio show on "The Beat 102.7". Artists onboard include Busta Rhymes, Wyclef, Fat Joe, Styles P, Fabolous, Mavado, Uncle Murder, Future Green Entertainment’s  Johnny Polygon, Qadir and more. The DJ himself said:

From making mixtapes, to being on the radio, to touring with the biggest artists on the planet, and then for the biggest video game title to solicit me to create exclusive music is something most people could only dream about, it’s like a graduation. Rockstar Games understood what I bring to the table as far as not just presenting music, but creating music.

Liberty City Invasion: Music from and Inspired by Grand Theft Auto IV is scheduled to release through your favorite digital distribution retailer on May 20th, with a TBD date for an actual disc release.

Full announcement and track list rundown after the jump

Following yesterday's reveal of tons of new Resident Evil 5 images, GameTrailers has managed to secure another world-exclusive. On the May 31st edition of GameTrailers TV on SpikeTV, the new trailer for Resident Evil 5 which was confirmed by Famitsu will air, and promises to be nothing short of amazing. Capcom's Chris Kramer teases out the footage by saying:

I’ve personally watched the trailer about a dozen times now, and I’m still seeing new stuff each time I look at it. It’s filled with evil — EEEEEEVILL! — and running and terror and shooting and exploding and horrible critters trying to suck poor Chris Redfield’s face off. More to come! 

The new and "terrifying"  footage will showcase new gameplay, as well as rendered cutscene goodness. Most of it believed to be the in-motion equivalent of the recent magazine scans. All Resident Evil, all badass. Don't miss it, Friday May 31st at 1AM EST/PST. 

Codemasters just shot me an email letting me know that the recently announced PlayStation 3 port of Overlord, titled Raising Hell, has a demo available on the PlayStation Network today. The "enhanced" version of the game includes the online co-op play and split-screen multiplayer that was patched into the initial Xbox 360 version, right on the Blu-ray Disc. As well, the extended development time has yielded improved graphics, an added on-screen mini-map for navigation, and a 7.1 Surround Sound audio system.

In the demo, players don the Overlord’s illustrious armour and embark on a session of serious destruction in the once tranquil area of the Mellow Hills. As the delightfully despotic Overlord, players are supported by the Minions, a raucous horde of impish creatures. The Minions are more than willing to act as instructed, no matter how unpleasant that may be for the unsuspecting populace and, most notably, the local wildlife.

Overlord: Raising Hell is scheduled to ship on June 20th. Full announcement after the jump.

Star Wars The Force Unleashed, LucasArts' first current-gen adventure in the post - Hayden Christensen saga, has been slowly lifting its curtain over the past few months as we've gotten word on a release date and more. The Wii version's Duel Mode has been getting its fair shar of press lately, and the PSP/DS's wi-fi play is sure to notice soon; but the multiplayer component for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions (which was confirmed nearly a year ago), has been on media blackout.

If what a LucasArt's PR rep is saying is true, there's a reason why: it doesn't exist. Speaking to Total Video Games, Adam Khan (great Jedi name, by the way), senior PR manager for LucasArts said that due to the fact that the Wii and handheld versions of The Force Unleashed have some sort of head-to-head offerings, the Euphoria-based Jedi experience on the HD consoles will be missing out.

To be specific, there's no multiplayer in the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions, because there is on the Wii, PSP, and DS. As far as specific reasons are concerned, we don't really like to get into the reasons why we don't do things because I don't think there's really a satisfactory answer that people would really be happy with. So, there isn't multiplayer and that's kind of how it is...

I'm sorry...WHAT? Does that make sense to anyone else? There's no multiplayer on PS3/360 because it exists on the other platforms? That might sound ridiculously stupid to some, and that's because it truly is. I can understand there not being an online component to the game if it's because of the technology (the game uses a combination of Euphoria, Digital Molecular Matter and Havok), but because it just simply wasn't developed out right...even though it's already been announced? Let's hope that this was some misunderstood statement, and clarification arrives soon, or I sense that quite a few sales for The Force Unleashed were just lost. Either that, or LucasArts is really hoping people will buy this game twice.