The first bit of Uncharted 2: Among Thieves DLC is live and available -- but don’t bother digging around in the couch for that wallet. It’s free.

As promised earlier this week, the Naughty Dog crew rolled out a new multiplayer map dubbed “The Fort,” as part of a free update to the core game at some point within the recent past. The map itself, according to an official developer blog post, is a “throwback map” created from a chapter in the original Uncharted. 

An epic video of the spacious map is available above.

In addition to this, two new stat-tracking features have been added to the multiplayer menu: leaderboards and the Player Card. Both of which should come in handy if you find yourself caring about that whole K/D thing or how many times you wished people would just stop camping during a given match.

Instead of being stupid and thanking the gods for my family this Thanksgiving, I decided to give props to Nolan North. After all, dude did a voice for almost every videogame I’ve played the last few months -- Dragon Age: Origins, Halo: ODST, Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2, Shadow Complex, and of course, Uncharted 2. I should, I believe, be thankful for a guy that delivers as much as he does.

Speaking of delivering and Nolan North, the man behind Nathan Drake’s smooth vocals is now offering something other than his voice: a prediction that Uncharted 3 is going to happen.

According to CVG, North tells Official PlayStation Magazine that it would be irresponsible -- much like thanking the gods for your family -- for Naughty Dog not to do another Uncharted title. “Well, I know we’re going to be assured a third one,” he said. “That would just be financially irresponsible, not to do a third one.”

Spoiler alert: North might be on to something here. We’ll check in with Naughty Dog and see if they’re interested in continuing the series. We'll let you know how that goes.

Believe it or not, Media Molecule is still supporting LittleBigPlanet. And it’s not just through costumes and other forms of PDLC -- the studio is releasing updates on a frequent basis, ensuring that the stellar game remains as such. For example, take a gander at the latest update set to go live November 30th. Dubbed "Leerdammer," the patch adds online level creation functionality (with up to three others) as well as profile tweaks that should give users more saved space to mess around with. If that wasn't enough, they're tweaking the network stuff in the game to give users better matchmaking results. Rad.

A big list of all the new things that came with update 1.21 is available at the official LBP blog. It has cute text and bubbly visuals to go along with it, if you’re into that kind of thing. If you’re a pictures-in-motion kind of person instead, give the above MM-produced video a good look. It reveals all.

"Dead to Rights is all about extreme visceral combat," says Dead to Rights: Retribution character art manager Dan Calvert in this latest developer diary, "it's all about action, adrenaline. We have awesome violence."

The game is so violent, in fact, that the team says it had to tone down the look and feel of the characters because of it. While they initially went for a photo realistic look, they found that the game was so violent that it actually made people uncomfortable. Because of that, they went with a more stylized look for in-game character models.

The team also goes on about the design choices made for the game's dog, Shadow. You'd think they just sat around and said "Let's make a bad ass wolf dog thing that gnaws people's faces off." But it's a bit more complicated than that, as things usually are. There's more details in the video if my "bad ass wolf dog thing that gnaws people's face off" explanation isn't good enough for you.

Dead to Rights: Retribution ships for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in 2010.

Back at PAX, developer Bioware was keen on the PS3, believing their work on Dragon Age: Origins with Edge of Reality gave them the ability to develop for the PS3 in-house. In a conversation with Jostiq, co-founder Greg Zeschuk said the oh-so-hard-to-develop-for-console was a key platform, and the developer had plans to continue to support it.

“We have quite a few people working in-house as well. So yeah, absolutely,” Bioware co-founder Greg Zeschuk told Joystiq in a PAX interview, referring to being able to do PS3 development in-house.

“We think it’s one of the key platforms, obviously, so we're definitely going to be doing PS3. You know, I can't say anything about Mass Effect in that regard but you know, I can definitely say Dragon Age and other things we do will definitely be on PS3.”

He added that it was “great” getting the PS3-development experience from creating Dragon Age, and he thinks Bioware is “at the position where future PS3 stuff will be really solid.”

Flash forward: Cool stuff. I haven’t heard much about the PS3 version of Dragon Age, but I’m guessing the lack of significant Internet outrage means it was a successful project. I assume you guys are up for more Bioware on your PS3s, right? Lord knows I've been waiting for PSN version of Baldur's Gate. (... And Mass Effect.)

[via 1UP]

[Update: Dates are important, by the way. Hit the break to see what I had to remove because my skull was too focused on the gym and not enough on, you know, work. Grumble. Grumble.]

Today, Activision Blizzard announced that its Call of Duty franchise has surpased $3 billion in retail sales, taking into account internal numbers, as well as independent tracking sources. 

Keeping this number in mind, and the fact that the games in the franchise have sold more than 55 million units worldwide, expect one or more Call of Duty games a year until the end of time. Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick is pleased.

"Call of Duty has become one of the greatest entertainment franchises of all time," he's quoted as saying in a press release. "If you consider the number of hours our audiences are engaged in playing Call of Duty, it is likely to be one of the most viewed entertainment experiences in modern history."

The games are good, and apparently people like them. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 launched earlier this month, setting records with its five-day sales hitting approximately $550 million. 

If tentative plans hold together, expect the first bit of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 DLC -- an Xbox 360 timed exclusive -- to hit at some point in Spring 2010.

Infinity Ward’s community man, Robert Bowling, tweeted as much on November 25th: “DLC is planned for the wonderfully vague timeframe of Spring,” Bowling said in reply to a fan. He added, “I’ll let you know when we know it’ll be done.”

The tweet shores up a previous report of a Spring 2010 launch date, which was brought to us courtesy of a promotional pack of MW2-themed Monster Energy drinks. Yes. Energy drinks with previously unannounced release windows printed on them. God bless, America.

[via CVG]

This week's Friday update to the official Super Street Fighter IV website features a new trailer, (which we've already shown you), and gives the recently revealed new characters their own profile pages. Adon, Cody and Guy now join the rest of the fighters with bios avilable under the site's character section, and you can get a look at their stats and a listen at what to expect their Japanese voices to sound like.

Nakky has also updated her blog, albeit with little more than a celebration of the new characters. She does, however, show us the full, uncropped screenshot she teased us with last week, and it turns out Cody was the one giving Chun-Li a hard time.

Hit the gallery for a look at that, along with new screens featuring all three characters. There's also a better shot of Guy fending off Ibuki's kunai, as was teased in the latest issue of Famitsu. Hopefully it won't be much longer before we get to see the ninja girl who threw it.

People have been playing Aliens vs. Predator. People who are not me. This is clearly not right, but what is right is the fact that it looks bloody fabulous. This brand new trailer shows off the multiplayer aspect of the game, and briefly details a mode where eight marines get to hunt down a single Predator.

I'm simply stunned by the graphics hanging off this thing. The original screens looked like bullshots more than anything else, but the actual video footage seems to show no quality difference whatsoever. This is going to be one of 2010's early jawdropping visual treats, methinks.

Now Sega, let's do something about this whole "me not playing it yet" situation.

Unless Capcom pulls some crazy-stupid move between now and February 23, Lost Planet 2 is going to be one of next year's most enjoyable co-op games. The development studio hasn't exactly been known to do a silly thing like that, so I think we're mostly in the clear here.

Without warning, a massive amount of boss-centric screenshots have been tossed our way on this day of feasting. One's named Red Eye, while the other baddie goes by Akrid X. I'll let you figure out which one is which.

Recognizing some of the many images as being previously used, I tried to filter through the mess and only upload ones I thought were relatively new, or at the very least, looked pretty effing cool.

The fact that you fight the worm-looking fellow on a moving train has me thinking we aren't even close to figuring out most of Lost Planet 2's numerous surprises yet.

I thought long and hard about a Thanksgiving-related pun to use in this header, but in the end I couldn't find anything to fit in the title box. Thus, I shall try to put the puns in here.

So, chipmaker IBM is looked like it was planning to take the axe to Cell, the processing technology behind the PlayStation 3 console, which some opposition fanboys have called a "turkey". Unfortunately, I doubt they call it that because they think it to be fat and stuffed with deliciousness.

Ars Technica relayed details from an interview with David Turek, IBM's Vice-President of Deep Computing (cool name for a department, that), who said that the company would not be developing the next generation of Cell processor. It seemed to be more a business decision than an actual technological one, as Ars Technica's article had many big words implying that Cell is apparently quite good. Good as gravy. Eh? Eh?! Apparently all those dev diaries talking about how great the Cell is for making Uncharted 2 and Killzone and whatnot weren't completely bunk.

"But what about PlayStation?!" yell many fanboys. Not to worry. Sony reps indicated the announcements have nothing to do with the fate of the black Blu-ray behemoth, and IBM confirmed that they would continue to make chips for as long as needed. Plus, some of the core concepts behind Cell will make their way into the next generation of chips.

Besides, it's hardly time to be thinking of the next hardware cycle. The fowl in the console cockfight have a lot of battle left in them.

But hey, it's Thanksgiving, so you might be too smashed/satisfied/asleep to be reading this. Have a great clip I dug up to celebrate/lament the end of Cell.

[Update: It seems that Cell development as a whole will NOT be stopped after all, as the cycle being halted was only one part of the Cell line, a line which did NOT include the type used in the PS3. Thanks to Narishma for the clarification!]

Looks like Super Street Fighter IV doesn’t have the exclusive on the reappearance of Final Fight characters Cody and Guy. Speaking to IGN this afternoon, Capcom revealed Final Fight: Double Impact, an Xbox LIVE and PSN download set to hit this April.

As far as we can tell, this is something of a re-release of Final Fight with a few rocktastic additions, the foremost of which is the inclusion of Magic Sword within the lone download. Cool still is the planned addition of HD visuals and drop-in online co-op. Good luck getting your hands on Haggar, though. I call dibs.

No pricing information or a firm release date were announced, but we're sure we'll hear about this after this Thanksgiving thing in the US blows over.

Oh, Black Friday. The biggest purchase I’ve ever made on this day where Americans kill each other for a shot at a low-priced television is a five-pound jug of GNC Pro Performance 100% Whey Protein. It wasn’t on sale, mind you. I just needed to get some globular protein in my body. But I realize this grand Friday is a big deal to a lot of consumers, and it should be an even bigger one this year to someone looking for a PS3 deal.

The official PS blog just did a post reminding all of us about the various cost-effective Black Friday PS3 bundles. At the top of that list, we see an Amazon 120 GB bundle that includes a copy of inFAMOUS and Killzone 2 for $299. A little further down, there’s a mention of a GameStop 120 GB bundle that includes the God of War Collection and LBP for the same price.

In fact, all the bundles listed are $299. But they all offer a different mix of games, with Sucker Punch’s inFAMOUS being the most common of those.

If you’re into this Black Friday thing and need a PS3, it’s not a bad idea to hit the PS blog for the mad knowledge they're dishing out. If you don't want said knowledge, well, just sit back and watch this Super Mario video. Dude plays a Queen song with Super Mario Twins. F'ing gold.

Yes, what you are reading is there will be an announcement ... of an announcement. That's the kind of thing that happens in the videogame industry, and that's the kind of thing you're going to have to read. Dead Space 2 is one of the worst kept secrets in development right now. We all know it's happening, we even know multiplayer may be involved. Electronic Arts won't open its mouth.

It seems that EA's silence will be broken on December 22, as confirmed by Xbox 360 World magazine. The mag has a big teaser for its next issue that features Dead Space protagonist Isaac next to a big number two (dirty boy). A splash of teasing text reads: "One of 2010's biggest sequels. Next issue."

So yeah, a game we all knew was coming has had its official announcement officially announced to the surprise of nobody. I am aware of how ludicrous this is.