Wanako's Assault Heroes would have been one of our most cherished bits of Xbox Live Arcade entertainment had one key element -- online gameplay -- not been so broken so as to only be recognizable by its dental records. Even so, we are forgiving sorts, and when news came down that the developer planned to try its hands at the game once more with a sequel this spring, we figured why not. If He-Man and ABC After School Specials taught us one thing, it's that everyone deserves a second chance.

via joystiq.com

Rockstar unloaded a mess of new information and time-wasters onto the Grand Theft Auto IV website today. Most notable are full details of two out of the four major subsets of the game's definitely-not-tacked-on multiplayer component, Team and Race, while the Co-op and Competitive breakdowns are promised to be "coming soon." (Aw heck, the game'll be here in just 18 days ... We say, let that hype wave come crashing down already!) Here's the skinny so far:

Team modes

Team Deathmatch - "Rub out" other teams and loot opposing players' dead bodies for money. The team with most cash at the end wins.

Team Mafiya Work - Work as a team to complete "Mafiya" contracts before time expires; missions include: escorting wanted men, picking up MacGuffins and stealing cars. Teams must "scupper" opposing crew's work too, as it's the team with the most cash at the end of the round that wins.

via joystiq.com

After initially seeing EA's explanation about its pay-to-play DLC weaponry in Battlefield: Bad Company on MTV's Multiplayer, it was time for a nice walk around the block to inhale some crisp spring air and exhale some vexation before sitting down to write about it. The publisher states that five of the DLC weapons in its upcoming FPS will be "free," and the other five will be bundled with the game's "Gold Edition." For gamers who don't want to buy the "Gold Edition," the weapons will be available to purchase through PSN and XBM -- no prices are currently attached to the weapons.

EA states that the pay-to-play weaponry in B:BC will not unbalance the game and that "more weapons offer players more choices but do not create an advantage/disadvantage for players who do not opt to buy new item." Wait, what? Paying extra money for weapons other players don't have doesn't change the game experience? We had hoped EA had given up on its dubious microtransactions, but we're sure consumers will vote using their wallets if they agree with EA's tactic.

via joystiq.com

Creators of online casual gaming network Mytopia say that they have bridged the casual gaming gap that exists between MySpace, Facebook and other social networks.

Instead of relying on social network-specific gaming sites, Mytopia, which launches today, allows users to access and play casual games from sites such as Facebook, MySpace and Bebo, as well as Apple Dashboard Widgets, iGoogle Gadgets, Microsoft Vista Toolbar Widgets and Yahoo! Widgets, or directly from Mytopia.com.

To access Mytopia's games, users log into, for example, Facebook, and gain access to Mytopia's initial eight games, including Chess, Backgammon, Sudoku, Dominoes, Bingo, Spades, Hearts and Video Poker. More games will be added monthly. Mytopia allows social network users to connect with the Mytopia games community across other networks as well.

via next-gen.biz

As huge fans of Nintendo, we often find ourselves being their harshest critics. One of the problems we've always had with the company was its lack of devotion to a competitive online arena, where gamers could do comparable things online with their Wii that the Xbox 360 and PS3 can do.

Why do we bring all of this up? Well, the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions of the game will have the online play and it's missing from Nintendo platforms because of "time and development resource constraints." We just wonder what kind of constraints would allow them to include it into the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions and not in the Wii version? Hey, we're willing to wait a little longer so long as what we're getting is a complete product and not the table scraps left from the other versions of Sega Superstars Tennis.

via nintendowiifanboy.com

Twelve players might be a nice round number for straight-out races, but we've still been waiting patiently to see how many online opponents Nintendo will allow us in Mario Kart Wii's version of the classic battle modes. Jeux France reports that eight players will be able to duke it out in the game's battle modes.

To arrive at the magic number yourself, check out the radar in the lower-right of the above picture. Eight icons are clearly visible, making for ample amounts of balloons to burst, and stars to steal. We're sad that twelve-player support isn't possible in the battle mode, but we'll definitely take what we can get.

via joystiq.com

If you purchased an Australian copy of Medal of Honor Heroes 2 for Wii, you may be surprised to find the game devoid of the much-touted online multiplayer. That surprise is likely exacerbated by the mention of online multiplayer both in the game's instruction manual and the official Australian web site. (As of this writing, mentions to multiplayer on the site have been removed.)

Looking to retain some, erm, honor in the situation, publisher Electronic Arts is offering a refund. Said the company (via IGN), "We made an error in the documentation and marketing materials. We are very sorry to have caused confusion for our customers. We will provide a refund to anyone in Australia who wishes to return the game to EA because of the lack of online functionality."

via joystiq.com

Sega Superstars Tennis' joyful habit of meshing together franchises such as Jet Set Radio, Samba de Amigo, Space Channel 5, and OutRun has already left us smitten with the game, even though it's just tennis.

Indeed, our extreme fondness for the title meant it only hurt more to hear that this celebration of Sega awesomeness would not have online play in the Wii version. The sad news was casually revealed in an IGN preview of the title, though we had our suspicions back when the game was announced. We'd gladly exchange the one noteworthy perk of the Wii version -- multiple control schemes -- for a chance to face down fellow Beat fans from other continents.

via nintendowiifanboy.com

Valve announced today that its Steam digital distribution system has exceeded 15 million users, a feat that is most definitely worthy of cake.

In addition, an official press release states that Valve has seen 158% sales growth over the last holiday season, putting the company in a pretty good place coming into 2008. Steam's rapid growth is likely due in part to the critical success of Portal, as well as the ever-expanding offerings available through the download service.

via joystiq.com

The Virtual World News site took the time to pick through an earnings call from the house of Mouse, and found that Disney had a ton to talk about when it came to Virtual Worlds. From comments made during the call by company President Robert Iger, their purchase of Club Penguin last summer and the launch of Pirates of the Caribbean Online was just Disney clearing its throat. In addition to an online world based on the film "Cars", the company plans to spend some $100 million on virtual worlds in the coming years.

via massively.com

If you're still enjoying the high-speed online thrills of the Burnout Paradise demo you'd better make the most of it because today's the last day it'll work online.

To free up some bandwidth on its inevitably busy online servers, EA is clearing out the cheap-skate gamers by shutting down the online part of the demo tomorrow.

"In order to enable the best possible experience for gamers who have purchased Burnout Paradise, we will be switching multiplayer off this Friday 1st February," confirms EA. "We hope you enjoyed it."

Although unspecified, it's safe to assume this applies to both PSN and Xbox Live versions.

via gamesradar.com

Sony's Playstation Home virtual world has undergone a few cosmetic changes since we last took a look at it. At the IMAGINA 08 event in Monaco, a session led by Sony Computer Entertainment Europe introduced the changes, which were largely the result of user feedback culled from the beta version.

Rather than entering the world via an enclosed lobby, the Playstation Home experience will now begin in a large outdoor space. Entrances to areas like the Theatre and Bowling Alley have been redesigned to be more easily spotted, and the Theatre's screening rooms have been moved closer together, as testers were complaining about the long walks.

via joystiq.com

These days, if you don't keep your head down, a rumor about Cryptic Studios is bound to hit you in the face. In fact, quite a few of them probably already have at this point. It all started with a letter to the community. After that plural hit, it wasn't just Marvel Universe Online that people were chattering about, but upcoming "projects" from Cryptic Studios as well...

via massively.com

According to WarCry's sources at P2 Entertainment, yesterday was the last day at work for the members of the Star Trek Online development team. We already heard that some of the team went over to Cryptic Studios for job interviews, but we didn't hear what they might be working on. It might be STO if Cryptic are the ones who purchased the license and content from P2...

via massively.com

Put another checkmark in the evidence column for Star Trek Online not going to Cryptic Studios. Trekmovie.com reports that while Cryptic was in talks with Perpetual, they very likely were only trying to pick up new talent for their work on Marvel Universe Online, not looking to pick up a whole new license...

via massively.com