Fans. They're never happy with anything, are they? Sega announces Sonic the Hedghog 4, a 2D retro experience that people have been clamoring for since the move to 3D, and people still manage to find things to complain about. Some of the complaints I already addressed, but by far the most controversial issue seems to be the fact that Sonic himself doesn't look old school enough. 

Internet justice to the rescue! Fans have set up a petition (470 sigs and counting) in a bid to make Sega change the current Sonic design to something more reminiscent of the Genesis era. Apparently, people aren't fans of the sleeker modern Hedgehog, and want the old pot-bellied guy back on their screens. Sega's bound to ignore the outcry, but it never hurts to try I suppose. 

As possibly the biggest (or only) Sonic fan on Destructoid's staff, I personally have never had an issue with Sonic's current look. I might be in the minority, but I've always kind of liked the way he looks these days, and I don't think character design has ever been the guy's biggest problem. Still, if people are determined to find things to whine about before we've seen more than a teaser trailer, I guess this is as good a subject as any. 

Bring the classic Sonic to Sonic the Hedgehog 4 [GoPetition via GoNintendo]

Annoying Internet memes have a new flavor of fear. A2M's conceptually brilliant Naughty Bear has a brand new trailer, and this week our fine furry friend has shown exactly what happens when Peanut Butter Jelly Time meets a baseball bat. It's short, it's to the point, and it does very little to stop us being pumped for this game. 

Even if this game sucks, it'll deserve a play for the idea alone. We need more sociopathic teddy bears in games, and I'm glad A2M is representing. I really hope this game turns out as brilliantly as I imagine it to be.

What's the downloadable content situation for Battlefield: Bad Company 2? Speaking to Worthplaying, senior producer Patrick Bach gave some solid information on the matter.

"We see the game as the first step to a longer experience. We have an in-game store where you get free content or you can buy new content to the game, so it's a very integral part of the game that we will have a long post-launch campaign."

"I think people will be thrilled to see what's in that already," says Bach. "On day one, you will get some really cool stuff." Interesting. Not that I'm against free content at launch, but if this is going to be a hot new trend to prevent used game sales, we need to up the ante in terms of hard drive accessibility.

Why yes, I am still rocking a 20 GB hard drive for my Xbox 360. I can't let them win. I don't exactly know who "they" are, but letting them beat me is the worst thing I could possibly do.

'Battlefield: Bad Company 2' (ALL) Developer Interview [Worthplaying via Blue's News]

While the jump from Assassin's Creed to its sequel brought about a whole new set of faces and places, don't expect the same for the follow up.

In its third quarter financial conference call today, Ubisoft revealed that the Ubisoft Montreal-developed title would not only star Ezio, but would take place in Rome. There, the assassin will continue his quest to destroy the Templar Order, this time at its source.

The title, which is said to feature an important multilayer component, could ship anytime between holiday 2010 or March 2011.

Personally, I find it a bit disappointing that Ubisoft isn't taking the Assassin's Creed story line in a such a direction that would introduce gamers to new assassin's and a completely different change of scenery. It's incredibly likely that Ubisoft will reveal more at E3, so until then, I'll continue to be excited for the follow up to one of my favorite games of 2009.

Because the 2004 Xbox title Greg Hastings Tournament Paintball needed a sequel, it's getting one this year, thanks to Majesco.

The publisher has announced that Greg Hastings Paintball 2 will be hitting Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Wii this September. The game features both single and multiplayer gameplay modes and events based in real-life paintball fields. The game also has a new feature called the "Cheat Meter," which lets you wipe off pain splatters before getting caught. Is that something people do?

Also on tap is downloadable content, because once you get a taste of Greg Hastings Paintball 2, you're going to want more. The game is being developed by Super X Studios who have previously developed a photo safari title for the PC, as well as an outer space screen saver.

If we were to guess, we'd say that Square Enix's and Eidos' Deus Ex 3 has a name now -- Deus Ex: Human Revolution.

It's a safe bet, considering that Square Enix filed a trademark for that name in Europe. And then in North America. Human Revolution it is, then.

Deus Ex 3 was announced as a PC only title, but rumors and speculation point to the it making its ways to consoles as well. 

Have You Heard Of Deus Ex: Human Revolution? [Siliconera]

Ah, Level 5. I like those guys. I'd like them to make more games. Less portable ones would be nice. Oh, and U.S. releases would be fantastic. You know. Just whatever. If you're listening.

They are working on some Wii and PlayStation 3 games, though. Akihiro Hino, Level 5's president, said that his company has some PS3 and Wii titles in development at a company meeting. Of course, no names of titles were given. We'll have to wait until later this year. Maybe they'll have something at the 2010 Tokyo Game Show to put in their inexplicably large show floor booth.

We know that a sequel to White Knight Chronicles is coming to the PS3. Other than that, it's anyone's guess.

Speaking of White Knight Chronicles, I'm currently playing it for a Destructoid review. I didn't love it at first, but it has grown on me. Nothing fancy, but I'm enjoying it. Look for our review soon.

Level 5 Developing Unannounced PlayStation 3 And Wii Titles [Siliconera]

Surprise! PixelJunk Shooter 2 is happening! Actually, we kind of knew about it already. Q-Games' Dylan Cuthbert has been mighty talkative lately, and he's only just beginning to discuss the sequel to last year's most fluid-filled game in-depth.

"We still have a ton of ideas on the drawing board and the engine has lots of potential we want to use before moving onto our next idea," Cuthbert told G4. "It would be a waste not to use it to try out more stuff."

"We managed to put in all the ship 'suits' that we thought up this time around, but there will be a number of new suits to make use of some of the brand new ideas for fluid gimmicks you may or may not see sometime soon."

Sounds good to me. I feel like PixelJunk Shooter could have been fleshed out more, and a sequel would be able to fairly easily expand on what is an all-around neat concept for a dual-joystick shooter.

Here Are A Few Details On PixelJunk Shooter 2 [G4TV]

When it comes to downloadable content and Dante's Inferno, Visceral and Electronic Arts aren't messing around. In fact, according to a slip that shipped inside the retail game box, they've got it planned through at least through April.

February
Soul Packs
Poet Costume
Animated Feature Film Costume

March
Prequel Level

April
New In-Game Abilities
Trials of St. Lucia

The prequel level refers to the "Dark Forest," which PlayStation 3 owners can get for free (via a redeemable code found inside the game box). According to the description, it "includes a new costume, relic, and prequel level featuring two new enemies, an expanded storyline, and more than 30 minutes of new gameplay!"

"Trials of St. Lucia" is the biggie, though -- a full challenge mode expansion that will allow players to not only design their own challenges, but to fight through them with a second player who will control a second player, the female St. Lucia. Created levels can also be shared and download.

Dante's Inferno is out today, and if you're curious as to how it is, be sure to check out our review.

A few weeks ago, we told you about how Square Enix president Yoichi Wada claimed that Final Fantasy XIII may be the "last of this type of game." We weren't entirely sure what we meant by that, and it seems that we're not the only ones. Even high ranking Square Enix developers, like producer Yoshinori Kitase, and director Motomu Toriyama, are befuddled. 

"We don’t know exactly what he meant by that," answers the pair on the official PlayStation Blog. "We don’t really know what he meant by this style of game. If you consider that during Final Fantasy XIII’s development, at peak time the team consisted of over 300 people. It was a huge team, plus it took a several long years to get the game finished. So, if Mr Wada meant that we would never make another Final Fantasy title with the similar number of people, taking as long as FF XIII did, we would agree.

"Obviously in the future we want to be much more efficient. Having worked on XIII, we feel that we have got much better at making good games for high definition consoles. In the future our teams will be smaller and more effectively run. We suspect that is what Mr Wada meant by his statement."

That's certainly a crowd-pleasing answer, but it's certainly not what I think of when someone says "style of game." That would imply the way the game plays, looks and feels, as opposed to the way it was developed. I like a good JRPG, so I hope Kitase and Toriyama are correct. It would certainly be nice for Wada to clarify his statements though, especially if his own staff are confused.

An Interview With Final Fantasy XIII’s Kitase And Toriyama [PS Blog]

Little known fact: the General Knoxx of "The Secret Armory of General Knoxx," the upcoming third Borderlands DLC expansion, is a real person. Well, real enough to have a Twitter account at least.

"okay. so my secretary signed me up for this thing.apparently i have to be careful about how many words i type or it won't send the entire me," he writes before running out of characters in his introductory Tweet.

If you're wondering what the deal with the lower-case is, Knoxx explains that "no one capitalizes in the future," and that his "tweets time travel." Knoxx has also already taken a picture of himself in a mirror with his "cellular ear ringer," and has begun talking sh*t to fellow Twitter users.

"watch your step boy. i lost my eye in a fight with myself," he threatens to one. "ps. i won."

Rumor has it that General Knoxx just may be delivering some actual (useful?) information on the upcoming DLC, so he's probably worth following his "tweetergrams."

While it's true that about 100 million people watch the Super Bowl every year, soccer is easily the world's most beloved and most watched sport. Madden might be tops in America, but EA Sports' FIFA series far outstrips it in overall sales -- because people outside of this country buy it. The latest iteration in the franchise was FIFA 10, which launched in early October everywhere except for North America.

In the four months since its release, FIFA 10 has sold an astounding 9.7 million copies worldwide across all platforms. Let me break that down for you: on average, that comes out to more than 75,000 sales per day. That's a hell of a lot of folks in their living rooms yelling "GOOOOOOOAAAAAALLLLLLL!"

FIFA 10 received high praise from critics -- it holds Metascores of 91 and 90 on PS3 and 360, respectively. And obviously, that has translated into a boatload of units moved, so while EA might be conservative in their forecasts for the rest of their 2010 fiscal year, they've at least got something to be ecstatic about.

With all the talk about Sonic 4, it's easy to forget that Konami is gearing its own downloadable retro reboot with Rocket Knight. Of course, that's also partially thanks to the fact that Konami's barely mentioned the bloody thing since its announcement. 

Fortunately, we've been given a healthy reminder today thanks to some new art assets that have dropped. It's not much to go on, but it's certainly something at the very least. Make sure you check out the pictures. Or don't, if you don't want to. We're not really telling you what to do.

This latest trailer explains the close combat in Aliens vs. Predator. Ironically, the video only tells you the Xbox 360 controls, which already has a control layout in the demo. The demo that really needs help with the controls, the PC version, has been left high and dry. You're just going to have to guess the keys for that one. 

Anyway, if you've been getting hacked to pieces too many times, this video will show you how to deal with a close encounter. It's all about the block button. Yes, we didn't know there was one either until someone outside of the demo pointed it out to us. 

People are starting to get the hang of counters and blocking in the demo, which is starting to annoy me as it's getting harder to win matches. I don't like being challenged, least of all by smartass Predators who think they're cool just because they look like insectoid Bob Marleys.