Gaming Roundup: StarCraft II Beta, PoP Game

Another week has passed and its time again to take a quick look at the gaming news that hogged headlines last week

All the games promised in late 2009 are slowly showing up progress in form of screenshots, updates and announcements. The Gaming week has been full of surprises and anticipations -- however this time, what steals the show is Blizzard's long awaited StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty's closed beta. Sony on the other hand enlightened us with the next level of gaming expected in next year or so.
Here's a snapshot of gaming buzz that caught our attention this week:

StarCraft II Closed Beta Begins
Finally, the long wait is over, at least for few people. World of Warcraft MMORPG game publisher Blizzard Entertainment's long awaited real-time strategy StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty game's closed beta has finally gone live. Last May, Blizzard had opened up beta test sign-ups for Battle.net account holders. If you wish to take part in this closed beta, create a Battle.net account -- but first ensure that you meet StarCraft II's minimum system requirements. Don't waste time and head to Battle.net website to get yourself a closed beta entry. Go rush!

PS3 to get 3D Video in 3.20 Firmware
Just when talking about 3D-stereoscopic gaming and 3D Blu-ray movies was buzzing the web, new images of about PS 3 firmware 3.20 showing 3D Video output swarmed the blogs and news sites. Apparently, this 3.20 firmware update is now with the PlayStation 3 developers and no official confirmation date of firmware's arrival has been flagged. Let's hope that this firmware gets debugged and rolls out soon with 3D HDTVs. Some wishful thinking is required here.

Street Fighter IV for iPhone Soon
Do you think button mashing with Street Fighter IV would be fun on the move? No sorry, you prolly wont get any buttons but you can surely tap a lot. Capcom will bring the classic action game Street Fighter for Apple iPhone and iPod Touch next month. Rejoiced? Yes, but like others, we too are wondering about the controls that will this game employ. The game will have virtual pad and direction buttons recreated on the touchscreen.

Prince of Persia: Forgetten Sands Due in May
Two months back, details about the new Prince of Persia game showed up on the web. Jordan Mechner created new title is called Prince of Persia: Forgotten Sands and returns to the Prince of Persia: Sands of Time story line. This game would be available for PC, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, Nintendo Wii as well as DS platforms in May this year. For multi-media stuff related to the game, stay tuned to its official website.

Epic Mickey may come on Xbox 360, PS3
Disney is prepping a paint-stroke gameplay centered Epic Mickey game. Developed by Junction Point, this game was touted to be Nintendo Wii exclusive. At the recent DICE 2010 event, Disney Interactive Media Group head Steve Wardsworth and his colleague Graham Hopper hinted that Epic Mickey may go on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in the future, as reported by GamaSutra. Mickey Mouse plays the protagonist in the game and as obvious, Wiimote would be used to the maximum all the way. Since "the key mechanic [in the game] is an ink and paint mechanic", it seemed "completely intuitive to people" to play the title using a Wiimote, noted Hopper during an interview. Just like Wiimote is used in Dead Space's hardcore gameplay, in Epic Mickey, paint-stroke intuitiveness has been focused upon. Nintendo Wii has a larger audience for playing semi-casual and easy-to-play style of games.

New Medal of Honor screenshots arrive
Modern-day reboot of Medal of Honor series, dubbed simply as Medal of Honor has new screenshots to tease their loyal fans and many other gamers. Electronic Arts' Los Angeles studios have been developing this War action game for multiple platforms. In a recent release, EA had noted that the game will arrive in July-Sept. this year for PC, consoles and handheld. Medal of Honor is a big bet from EA since two of its studios were utilized for developing single player (EA Los Angeles) and multi-player (EA DICE) experiences. Certainly it's one of the awaited games of this year. Take a look at the screenshots released by EA themselves. Gaming Roundup: StarCraft II Beta, PoP game.