On November 26th, deep in the forests (or whatever) of the Netherlands, developer Guerrilla will be partying it up, celebrating the Dutch release of Killzone. We bring this up because all of you are invited to party with the studio. Sort of.

According to a recent official PS blog post, Guerilla will be hosting a “Killzone 2 retro tournament” between November 27th and 30th with only two (DLC) maps in the rotation: Beach Head and Southern Hills. In addition to this, the crew is throwing a Double XP weekend thing between those dates.

If you don’t have the DLC, it’s no big deal; Guerrilla plans to slash the price of two bits of content. As of today, Flash & Thunder should be listed at $2.99 while the Map Pack Bundle is to be $9.99. Neat.

There’s more to this celebration, including some retro commentaries, so do check out the PS blog post for more information if you’re down in Killzone. While you do that, we’ll be practicing for this weekend. Anyone remember how to throw grenades?

A few weeks ago, we ran a rumor that said Killzone 3 was in development for a 2010 release. Now the rumor has gained more ground with a Guerrilla's animation director allegedly confirming the game and stating that it could indeed be ready by next year.

Jan-Bart Van Beek is quoted as saying that Killzone 3 is in the works right now and they're currently looking at a 2011 release date, with a 2010 launch entirely possible. Beek says that Sony is not pressuring the team for a 2010 release, so it's a case of the game being ready when it's ready, I guess.

I asked game director Sebastian Downie about the latest rumor and it has been denied, officially. According to Downie, something was "lost a little in translation" and the TV show producers made assumptions about what was Van Beek actually said. Guerrilla's official stance is that Killzone 3 has not been announced, so we are to assume it's not happening.

Until that stance changes, we have no choice but to say all talk of the game is speculation and rumor. Of course, only an idiot could not believe that Killzone 3 is in development. We all know it's happening, but the real question is this: 2010 or 2011?

The Official PlayStation Magazine has dropped a huge rumorbomb on the astonished heads of PS3 fans, naming Killzone 3 as one of its "secret games of 2010." According to the magazine, a sequel to Guerrilla's excellent first-person-shooter is already "deep in development," and should be ready for next year.

The magazine also alleges that Resistance 3 is on the cards in 2010, and that Treyarch has recently mentioned development of a Call of Duty: World at War sequel, continuing Treyarch's commitment to copying everything Infinity Ward ever does, ever.  

Going back to Killzone 3, I would say that a sequel so soon is very plausible indeed. While Killzone 2 took almost half a decade to develop, now that Guerrilla has an engine and a full multiplayer structure, it should take a reduced effort to bash out a follow-up. Killzone 2 is still my top shooter of the year so far, so I'd be more than happy to start plugging the Helghast with bullets once again. How about you?

Despite being in abysmal condition at launch (and for many weeks after), SOCOM Confrontation has managed to stay popular with PlayStation 3 owners. Speaking with Joystiq this morning in New York, SCEA senior producer Mark Rogers said that the game has the most simultaneously connected users on PlayStation Network. Meaning that the title has beaten even the mighty Killzone 2 in terms of PSN players.

Rogers believes Confrontation is still bumpin’ because of the community, who have proven to be as a resilient bunch, constantly downloading patches and updating the once-crippled simulation shooter.

In a better bit of news, there’s a good chance that the Confrontation player base are all Bluetooth headset-carrying members of the PSN community. Voice chat is good guys; use it more often ... whenever you get around to playing a different game.

Another round of Killzone 2 DLC, another round of Jimpressions. This is the third (and perhaps final, for a while) map pack for Killzone 2, Napalm & Cordite. Featuring two new maps and two new guns to pick up and dispense death with, this new map promises to be more action packed than the last two.

So, how do these new maps fare? How have the new weapons affected play? Why are spawn grenades so effing worthless now? All this and more, as I provide my first Jimpressions of the Napalm & Cordite map pack.

To celebrate the launch of Napalm & Cordite, Guerrilla Games has revealed that this weekend shall reward Killzone 2 players with Double XP. That should definitely help me get to that ridiculous final rank.

"This weekend from Friday at 17:30 GMT till Monday morning at 09:00, any games created will give extra XP points to let you guys rank up quicker and unlock those Badges and climb up the Leaderboard," confirms Seb Downie on the PlayStation Blog. "That way you get more buck for your bang, more meat on your sandwich, more points for your prizes, more sauce on your fries, more … okay I think you get it.

"A Win will earn you a 2.5 multiplier and a Loss will still grant you the normal multiplier for a Win: 1.5. This applies only to individual points, not Clan Valor and will be available in all regions during this time."

I need to check out Napalm & Cordite this weekend for the usual Jimpressions, so this is a nice little bonus incentive. Hopefully I'll see some of you chaps there. I'll be the Tactician in the back, shooting enemy turrets so I can repair them myself and selfishly hoard points.

With Killzone 2's third DLC map pack, Napalm & Cordite, heading to the PSN today, Guerrilla Games producer Seb Downie has revealed that his team plans to back away from the game, claiming his they need some time to "reflect." Fully understandable, considering this must have been the studio's biggest focus for the past five or six years, and they've still been supporting it since launch. I'd be sick of the game as well.

"Right now we’re going to take a step back from Killzone 2," Downie explains. "We’ve been working non-stop since the disc version was released on patches, DLC and http://www.killzone.com updates, so need some time to reflect on what is actually out there."

We don't know how long this break will be, and whether or not this means that Killzone 2 will no longer be getting any DLC, but if it means these guys can get to work on a new game, I won't begrudge them a well-earned rest. Still, I was hoping that KZ2 would get more than just a few new maps, so that's a shame.

Either way, I'll be checking out Napalm & Cordite at some point today. Remember, Sony's offering a "buy two, get one free" deal -- download all three map packs, and pay $11.99. Not too shabby a deal for those yet to purchase the prior maps.

I love Killzone 2. It's still my most played game this year, and even though I've gone off it since the recent updates, I still duck in there to kick arse now and then. Luckily, there's still plenty of Killzone fun to come on the PS3, with Guerrilla confirming that it won't be waiting for a successor console to appear. 

"PlayStation 3 has a very long life ahead still, and we're certainly not done developing for this platform. We still see enough opportunities to get better and pushing the platform even further," says senior producer Steven ter Heide. 

Guerrilla couldn't comment on future projects, but ter Heide does state that the team is looking into new online modes for Killzone 2, which could prove quite interesting indeed. He also adds that there will never be a "true" party system for KZ2 due to the unfortunate way the game is set up. Something to fix in Killzone 3, perchance.

[Source: TheGamerAccess]

This morning it was suggested that new Killzone 2 DLC was on the way, bringing new maps and guns to the multiplayer table. Now Guerrilla, by way of the PlayStation Blog, has confirmed it. The third map pack has been christened "Napalm & Cordite" and allows players to wield the flamethrower and boltgun. Sweet.

As well as the DLC, another patch is coming as well. This includes a few tasty new updates, such as higher Bodycount values, double-point events, and a handful of exploit fixes. Looks like a pretty good update, and you can view the full details after the jump. 

Enjoy the screenshots of the brand new maps, about which there will be more information next week.

It looks like the next update for Killzone 2 has been revealed via the gift of PS3 Trophies, as new awards for an unannnounced batch of downloadable content have made their way into the clammy hands of Internet gamers. Two new maps will also be joined by two new weapons, if the list of Trophies is indeed real.

The maps will be known as "Suljeva Cliffside" and "Arctower Landing", while two powerful guns from the single-player mode, the Boltgun and the Flamethrower, are scheduled to make an appearance. Toasty. 

It's unclear how the Flamethrower and Boltgun will appear, but my guess is that they'll be pickups on the new maps, rather than weapons that you can equip and take anywhere. The guns are simply way too powerful to be included as part of a character class, so I'd imagine you'll have to prize them from someone's cold, dead hands on the battlefield before getting some use out of the things. 

We'll have to see how it goes. It's good to see Guerilla continuing to support the game, though, even if it seems that most online users aren't bothering with the new content.

Well I'll be a monkey's uncle. A PS3 bundle that doesn't suck? According to the above photographic evidence sent in to Kotaku by a Best Buy employee and subsequently confirmed by several others, that's what we're looking at. Not only is it real, it's set to go on sale as early as next Sunday.

The package includes an 80 GB PS3, accompanied by copies of both Metal Gear Solid 4 and Killzone 2, all under the standard 80 GB price tag of $399. Let me rephrase that: An 80 GB PS3 at standard price, along with what are arguably two of the best games in its current library for free. I don't even have anything snarky to say about it; that's just a sweet-ass deal and I can't believe it exists. Maybe I'll pick one up for my new nephew, who happens to be a monkey.

Once again, Guerrilla Games has brought forth a fresh fistful of DLC for Killzone 2, providing us with two more maps in which to throw our grenades and spam our rocket launchers. The "Flash & Thunder" map pack takes a pair of popular maps from the original Killzone, graphically updates them, and expands them to create two fresh experience for KZ2 fans.

How are the new maps, and are they worth $5.99 of your hard-earned cash? I've given both maps -- Beach Head and Hilltop, a run through, and am now sharing my first Jimpressions of the environments with you, the loyal Destructoid community. Read on for more. 

Killzone 2 is getting yet another shot in the arm today with the Flash & Thunder Map Pack. Available for download on PSN for $5.99, the pack contains two maps from the original Killzone, freshly updated and given a Helghan lick of paint. I was kind of hoping the maps would still be set on Vekta, but they've been transported to the home planet of the Helghast with a darker, murkier look.

"The original maps took place on Vekta, so we transported them to Helghan's desolate battlegrounds," says senior level designer Stuart Billinghurst. "We modified the basic layouts of the maps somewhat, based on accumulated player feedback. The layouts will still be instantly familiar to anyone who played the originals, but the flow of combat has been vastly improved.

"MP-11 Beach Head is very much a tug-of-war, with two factions constantly trying to advance the front line in the other direction. MP-12 Southern Hills has a classic Capture The Flag-style layout with large open areas and mirrored bases, but the nuclear blast adds an element of unpredictability. In terms of player numbers, both maps are ideally suited for 8-24 players. This isn't a hard limit, though - they can still be played with 32 participants for some frantic fun."

I'll take any excuse to fire up Killzone 2 again, so I'll be there. Check out Destructoid soon for some Jimpressions of the new maps.

PlayStation Home has finally become somewhat relevant to me, with Guerrilla announcing that Killzone 2 content is coming to the service. Something tells me it still won't be enough to make me fire up the poor man's Second Life, despite my Killzone 2 fanboy status.

Home fans will be able to acquire the throne room of Helghast dictator Scolar Visari, complete with all sorts of Helghan furniture. It'll be coming to the European Home in June, with pricing details to come. It's also scheduled for North America, but so far there is no news on when it'll come. 

I will not buy this stuff.