Hello everyone, its Penrose Tackie here Gran Turismo, European Brand Manager.

Following the groundbreaking success of the GT Academy last year and as part of our activities around the forthcoming launch of Gran Turismo 5, I am delighted to officially unveil GT Academy 2010.

On 17th December exclusively via the PlayStation store, we will be launching the GT Academy 2010 Time Trial. The time trial will be the only way into this year’s Academy, and if you’ve got what it takes it could be the start of a life-changing journey.

Last year the GT Academy programme unearthed a real driving talent in the form of Lucas Ordonez from Spain, who after winning the GT Academy went on to drive for the Nissan PlayStation race team and take an astonishing second place in the GT4 Championship – all in his first season!

This time around the Academy is even bigger and better, and competition is bound to be pretty fierce – perhaps best of all though for Gran Turismo fans, it will be the first opportunity to get a hands-on taster as to what Yamauchi-san and his Polyphony team have been carefully crafting and polishing at their Tokyo base.

Qualify in the top twenty within your country and you will be invited to a national final event, where you will pit your wits against the best Gran Turismo drivers in the country. If you make it from there only then will you join the elite 20 that will be taken into the GT Academy 2010.





Only the two best drivers will make it out of this 5 day test of nerve and skill. From there will follow an intensive driver training schedule from which we will select our one GT Academy ace.

The time trial features the stunning Nissan 370Z in two guises. Firstly a blisteringly fast, race-tuned monster and secondly an only slightly less fearsome non-tuned version.

The 370Z is the most recent of the new range of cars wearing the famous ‘Z’ brand revived by Japanese manufacturer Nissan. The car has been specially chosen for its challenging but hugely entertaining rear-wheel drive dynamics and the time trial should allow GT novices and veterans alike to get a real idea of what its like to get to grips with this sensational car



To enter the Academy racers will have to post their best overall leaderboard times negotiating a specially created section of a new Gran Turismo 5 circuit. This best time will be a composite of two separate runs – one with the tuned vehicle and the other with the non-tuned version.

You will have the opportunity to keep refining your overall best time from the launch of the demo right up until the close of this time trial stage at 24.00 CET on 24th January 2010.

To give a flavour of what the GT Academy is all about, check out this trailer.

The GT Academy will run in the following countries:

UK
Ireland
France
Switzerland
Italy
Germany
Austria
Denmark
Norway
Finland
Sweden
Spain
Portugal
Netherlands
Belgium
Australia
New Zealand
However gamers in countries not mentioned on the list need not fear as there will be a special Gran Turismo 5 Time Trial Challenge for them to get to grips with it, too.

If you want to keep up to date with what’s happening with GT5 and the GT Academy 2010 keep checking back on the PlayStation.Blog and also check out the following links.

www.gran-turismo.com
www.facebook.com/GTAcademy
www.twitter.com/GTAcademy

GT fans get ready to start your engines!

http://blog.eu.playstation.com/2009/...

A solitary screenshot, a Facebook page and the title D-Day have been associated with dormant videogame character Duke Nukem, leading some to speculate that he's due for a return.

Duke Nukem's Facebook page ( http://is.gd/5bhS4 ), spotted by Shacknews, was updated last week with the words "Duke Nukem doesn't stay down for long" and then a "D-Day preview pic". The screen shows a black-clad and helmeted gunman, looking nothing like Duke Nukem, shooting at an out-of-focus monster.

That's all we have to go on. There's speculation that this might be a new game, Gearbox's Duke Begins, or even Duke Nukem Forever, which was announced in 1997, but was finally pronounced missing presumed canned when developer 3D Realms floundered earlier this year - amid rumours it was a marketing scam and never intended for release.

Forever is the subject of a legal dispute between the studio and publisher Take-Two, although 3D Realms, true to form, claims it's still operational and working on the game.

Is this latest appearance a genuine rebirth or yet another attempt to spin things out? Who knows. Read our Forever feature from earlier in the year for the lowdown on this tangled saga.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/du...

Howdy.

For the full list of content you know what to do, scroll down for the rundown. This week (and every week from now on actually) I’ll be mentioning a few bits of content I think may be of particular interest to you. It’s obvious that there are various pockets of different users visiting the store, and it’s our job to try and make sure there’s a good mixture of content available, so whilst there won’t always be something for everyone every week, I think we’re offering a very diverse range of content to suit most people’s tastes.

Anyway, onto the content; this week we see the Bayonetta demo released to our collective shores, and it’s garnering high praise from various sources (I had to double check when I saw the 10 score given by Edge – as it’s such a rare occurrence these days) so this seems to be definitely worth checking out, especially for fans of games such as Devil May Cry.

For the sports fans among you, in particular fans of the ‘sweet science’, there are additional boxers, and modes released for Fight Night Round 4 – Hopkins, Holyfield and Liston are great additions to the roster (but personally I’d especially love to see David Haye added at some point too) J

For anybody who finds Veteran difficulty on Modern Warfare 2 far too easy, then you would have probably checked out Operation Flashpoint already and the additional pack Dragon Rising Skirmish releases today adding extra multiplayer maps and FTE missions to test your skills further.

Finally a quick mention of our latest batch of Special Offers, we have five PS3 titles and five PSP titles at reduced prices for two weeks, then from the 17th of December we will have a glut of promotions in celebration of Christmas. Full details below…

PlayStation Store via PS3
Special Offers
(from 3rd December until the 17th of December)

Killzone 2 – Flash and Thunder Pack (was – £4.79/€5.99 now – £2.39/€2.99)
Killzone 2 – Map Pack Bundle (was – £9.99/€12.99 now – £7.99/€9.99)
SOCOM Confrontation (was – £19.99/€29.99 now – £14.99/€19.99)
The Last Guy (was – £6.29/€7.99 now – £3.99/€4.99)
Dark Mist (was – £6.29/€7.99 now – £3.99/€4.99)
Killzone Liberation (PSP) (was – £14.99/€19.99 now – £7.99/€9.99)
MediEvil Resurrection (PSP) (was – £14.99/€19.99 now – £7.99/€9.99)
Gangs of London (PSP) (was – £14.99/€19.99 now – £7.99/€9.99)
Need for Speed: Most Wanted 5-1-0 (PSP) (was – £15.99/€19.99 now – £11.99/€14.99)
Need for Speed: ProStreet (PSP) (was – £15.99/€19.99 now – £11.99/€14.99)
Demo (free)
Bayonetta Demo Rating: PEGI 16
Availability: Not available in Germany

Topatoi Demo Rating: PEGI 7
Availability: All locales

PSone (emulated for PS3 and PSP)
Peter Pan: Adventures in Neverland (£3.99/€4.99) Rating: PEGI 3
Availability: Not available in Portugal and Russia

Add-On Game Content
Fight Night Round 4
Champions Pack II – Bernard Hopkins (£1.59/€1.99)
Champions Pack II – Evander Holyfield (£1.59/€1.99)
Champions Pack II – Sonny Liston (£1.59/€1.99)
Champions Pack II – Old School Rules (£3.19/€3.99)
Champions Pack II – Ring Rivalries (£1.59/€1.99)
Champions Pack II Bundle (contains all packs above) (£7.99/€9.99)
Rating: PEGI 16
Availability: All locales

Operation Flashpoint – Dragon Rising Skirmish Pack (£3.19/€3.99) Rating: PEGI 18
Availability: All locales

Need for Speed: Shift – Team Racing (free) Rating: PEGI 3
Availability: All locales

LittleBigPlanet
Assassin’s Creed® II Ezio Auditore Costume (£1.59/€1.99)
Santa Hat and Beard Costume (free)
Santa Coat and Boots Costume (free)
Festive Goodies Level Kit (£2.39/€2.99)
Rating: PEGI 7
Availability: All locales

Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 – Juggernaut Playable Character Teaser (compatibility pack) (free) Rating: PEGI 16
Availability: Not available in Czec