The trailer shows off the “epic scale” of the upcoming highly anticipated PS3 beat ‘em up. You can check out the very first screenshots here.

The very first screenshots for God of War 3 have been released, showing off Kratos, the enemies and some of the environments. Looks damn good!

The PS3-exclusive title does not have a release date now, though it is believed that it will burst into stores late this year. You can view the new “Epic Scale” trailer here.

Variety reports that Activision Blizzard has threatened to sue EA for publishing Brutal Legend, Double Fine’s upcoming heavy metal-themed action-adventure game.

The site’s sources claim that Activision Blizzard sees EA’s claims to pick up publishing rights as invalid due to a belief that it was still engaged in negotiations regarding the title.

The game has quite a publishing history – it was originally set to be published by Vivendi, which merged with Activision to form Activision Blizzard last year. Following the merger, the new company said that it would not publish quite a few titles, including Brutal Legend, Ghostbusters and 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand, all of which have found new homes.

It is being speculated that Activision is seeking a cash payment for the publishing rights.

Namco Bandai sends word that Soul Calibur 4 has sold a total of 2.2 million copies since its release in July 2008. The game reportedly shipped over 2 million copies one week after its July 31 release.

The publisher also reported a profit of $99.7 million for its third quarter ending December 31. This profit was largely raised by the sales of the fighting sequel, with some help from Dragon Ball Z Burst Limit’s 730,000 sales.

Soul Calibur 4 is available on PS3 and Xbox 360.

Microsoft’s closure of Ensemble Studios – home to the Age of Empires franchise – was one of the more surprising developments in the last couple of months. Time doesn’t stand still for anyone – other than the ones who stayed behind at Microsoft to support Halo Wars, studio veterans have formed a new studio.

Ensemble Studios co-founder Tony Goodman has formed Robot Entertainment. This comes from Gamasutra and LinkedIn profiles. It hasn’t been revealed what type of projects the studio will tackle, but many former Ensemble employees have joined the studio, so I’d expect nothing but quality RTS games from them.

In an official question and answer session, Blizzard thoroughly outlined dual talent specialization, an update that is coming soon to World of Warcraft.

To be included in the next patch, dual talent speccing will allow players to easily switch between two different talent specs, glyph and hotbar setups. Level 80 characters will be able to gain the ability by paying a one-time training fee.

Once gained, the talent specs can be switched at any Lexicons of Power. These lexicons will be available in major in-game cities; inscribers will be able to create an item that summons one.

“We will be launching the feature with just two specs, but depending on how we feel it works out, we might consider additional specs in the future,” said Warcraft senior designer Greg Street.

Some new screenshots from Star Wars: The Old Republic have been released, showing the homeworld of classic Star Wars character Jabba the Hutt.

It appears that the recently announced delay to the Japanese debut of Dragon Quest IX might impact the highly anticipated Final Fantasy XIII.

"There is a possibility that [the] Dragon Quest IX delay could affect Final Fantasy XIII," said Square Enix head Yoichi Wada.

The shift of DQIX from March to July has left the publisher without a major release for the rest of its fiscal year, which ends March 31. This delay was one of many reasons why the company lowered its profit forecast by nearly 63%.

Final Fantasy XIII is expected out in Japan by the end of this year on the PS3. North America and Europe will see Xbox 360 versions as well, though they aren’t expected before April 2010.

Bizarre publicity stunts are nothing new in the games industry, but this is quite different: Warner Bros. is advertising F.E.A.R. 2 Project Origin on black cats prowling around London.

Branded a ‘cat-vertising campaign’, the specially trained cats sport FEAR 2 cat clothing, and roam the streets of London. Warner hopes that the creepy cats will capture the attention of superstitious passersby, and since it was Friday the 13^th…

“Every day people are bombarded with so many advertising messages that it can be easy to miss them,” said a WB spokesperson. “With our research telling us that Brits are actively looking out for signs of bad luck this Friday, it makes perfect sense to try and capture their attention that way.”

You can find more pictures on Electric Pig.

Following Midway’s chapter 11 filing for bankruptcy protection, Kotaku reports a rumor that the rights to Wheelman, the action-driving game starring Vin Diesel, has shifted to Ubisoft.

While it hasn’t been officially confirmed, the game’s listing on GameFly has been updated to show UBisoft as the publisher and “TBD” as the release date. Kotaku additionally notes that the game might be integrated in the Driver franchise, as Ubisoft has the rights to the series, and since the concept of the game fits in so well with the series.

An official statement from Midway is yet to come.

Finally moving on to making non-game movies, universally derided movie director Uwe Boll is looking to raise a $18.5 million budget for Blackout by soliciting fan donations.

In exchange for $49, you will become “co-producers” of the film and will receive a copy of the movie on DVD once it’s done. There will also be a raffle where you might win cash prizes.

So, can the man be trusted with our money?

Sony’s not doing so well in North America, as the latest data from NPD shows that the year-on-year decline in sales of the PS3 is 24.5% in January. The console sold 269,000 units in January 2008, compared to last month’s results of 203,200 units.

However, during this same period, Microsoft saw sales grow more than 25%, from 230,000 units to 309,000 units this year. Nintendo saw the biggest increase – from 274,000 to 676,000 units.

The PSP also saw a 25% decline, while the PS2, which can be counted as dead, saw a 62% decline with sales of 101,200 units.

Marking the addition of awesome metal to Rock Band’s setlist, Harmonix and MTV Games today announced that three new tracks from White Zombie and Turbonegro are headed our way next week.

“More Human than Human” and “Black Sunshine” from White Zombie will be released. This is Rob Zombie’s band before he went solo. In addition, “Wasted Again” from Norwegian punk band Turbonegro will be available too.

To be available starting Tuesday on Xbox Live and Thursday on PlayStation Store, the songs will cost $1.99 (160 Microsoft points) per track.

Activision sends word that legendary lead vocalist and bassist for Motorhead, Lemmy, will be featured as a playable character in Guitar Hero: Metallica this spring.

His in-game likeness will rock and shred his way to the stage alongside Metallica or by himself. The band’s song “Ace of Spades” is featured in the game as a playable track.

The game is due out next month on PS3, Xbox 360, Wii and PS2.

Whoever said the PSP is dead? Sony today announced that it has sold a total of 50 million units since the console’s launch. This sales figure is worldwide and includes sales for all models and revisions.

The PSP was launched back in December 2004 in Japan, March 2005 in North America, May 2005 in Asia and September 2005 across Europe. It features a 4.3 inch wide-screen LCD screen, memory card support, Wi-fi and more. The console has gone through a couple of revisions that has seen it shed weight, gain a better display and the ability to make VoIP calls through Skype, among other things.

However, it has been suffering from a case of software drought since its release. Many big-name games have been released for the platform, though it is superseded by the popularity of the DS. Sony aims to correct the situation this year, promising that it has many games in store for the PSP.