Valve's VP of Marketing, Doug Lombardi has revealed to TVG that the developer is looking at providing cross-game play between the original Left 4 Dead and its incoming sequel.

Such a feature, which would allow players of the original Left 4 Dead to play alongside other users running Left 4 Dead 2, is one of the demands made by the now 37,000 member strong Left 4 Dead 2 boycott group on Steam.

"That's something that we're trying to work out the details of right now," Lombardi said of the cross-game play feature. "So nothing specific to say today, but we understand that it's a very valid thing to be working on and looking at."

On the MOD front, Lombardi revealed that Valve is building Left 4 Dead 2 with the aim of allowing MODs to be easily transferable between L4D1 and L4D2:

"With the MOD stuff, if you're making stuff for Left 4 Dead it will work in Left 4 Dead 2 with very minor amounts of work to bring it over. So we feel we've made good steps on that side and now we're looking at how we manage that for folks who buy the first game and sequel."

Check out our full interview with Valve's Doug Lombardi for more details.

We already know that there will be at least two new zombie bosses in Left 4 Dead 2 (The Charger and Wandering Witch), but Valve has now revealed to TVG that there may be as many as four new bosses in the final game.

"There's only been a small bit of Left 4 Dead 2 that's been unveiled," Valve's VP of Marketing, Doug Lombardi told TVG at an event in London yesterday. "We've only shown one of the new boss monsters, there's going to be at least three, we're working on a fourth that may or may not make it in time for launch."

It sounds like Valve really takes its time when developing these bosses then, which is good to hear. Thanks to our hands on time with the game yesterday, we can at least vouch for the fact that the new Charger boss is a bit of a handful.

Speaking to TVG at an event in London yesterday, Valve's VP of Marketing, Doug Lombardi revealed that Left 4 Dead 2 is currently receiving pre-orders at twice the pace of its predecessor.

"When you look at all those things," Lombardi said of the new features that Valve is cramming into Left 4 Dead 2, "to us anyway it looked like a sequel and that seems to be resonating with a lot of people, whether it's the E3 judges, the retailers, or the people who are pre-ordering the game right now to the point where it's double the pace of the original Left 4 Dead with the same pre-order promotions in place for early access to the demo and 10% off."

Stay tuned for more details on Valve's plans for its Left 4 Dead sequel in a TVG Q&A with Doug Lombardi that will be posted later today.

Seemingly not content with the LED wand it unveiled at this year's E3, Sony now appears to be ramping-up patents for motion sensing PlayStation Eye tech that can detect a variety of common, household objects.

According to the documentation posted on Siliconera, players will be able to interact with the PlayStation Eye in ways that "include items such as coffee mugs, drinking glasses, books, bottles, etc."

Diagrams in the patent show a large, U-shaped object being used to play baseball, tennis, driving, golf, bowling, snooker/pool, and lightsaber games. Surely it's only a matter of time before you'll be playing Eye Pet with an actual cat...

In an insightful interview with Develop, Epic Games' Cliff Bleszinski has revealed why we're seeing so many bald space marines in this generation and hinted towards a future style change for the Gears of War series.

When commenting about the technology of this generation, Bleszinski states that although the hardware can handle metal, stone and dramatic lighting with ease, it's much tougher to create eloquent details such as translucency and hair.

"... in this generation the translucent effects are very hard to pull off. That's why everybody sees a lot of these bald characters and wonder why games feature so many fucking space marines. Well, the tech is good at showing off amour and it's not that good at doing hair. That's why we have bald space marines."

When talking about the influence Gears of War and Unreal Tournament 3 has had on other titles powered by Unreal Engine 3, Bleszinski claims that he has no regrets over the deluge of samey looking titles, before expressing a desire to change things slightly for Gears of War 3.

"Actually if you look at Gears of War 2 we actually tried to get away from it a little bit by doing things like letting the colours breathe and come through a little bit more.

Stylistically though, I'd love to play in a different field in the near future in regards to what your typical expectation of a Gears of War game actually is."

Although we've got high expectations for Slightly Mad Studios attempt at injecting a little more realism into the Need for Speed series, the thought of Criterion getting their hands on the venerable series seems like a match made in heaven.

In a recent Twitter update, Criterion's Alex Ward has begun the teasing by claiming:

"'Red lining it all the way and making it pay' - a return to the original 3DO version of The Need for Speed."

Previously, EA has described Criterion's efforts on the next Need for Speed as "revolutionary", so we're expecting a lot, certainly much more than the drivel that was last year's Need for Speed: Undercover.

GTA IV is set to gain more episodes according to an analyst working for Kaufman Bros. Equity Research.

Speaking to GamesIndustry.biz, Todd Mitchell suggests that Raockstar Games will release two new GTA IV episodes in fiscal 2010, following the release of The Lost & Damned and the forthcoming The Ballad of Gay Tony.  Although both of these are exclusive to the Xbox 360, the report makes no mention as to whether Rockstar Games will follow a similar strategy.

"I would expect that there would be two more pieces of downloadable content for GTA IV, that's what has been indicated to me, although formats are unsure. It's been indicated to me to me that would be the case," Mitchell told GI.biz.

Further still, Mitchell claims that GTA V will follow in the 2011 fiscal year, despite the series creator Rockstar North recently confirming work on the PS3 exclusive, Agent.  In addition, Mitchell also suggests that the series could make a swansong on the ageing PS2, but suggests this is the most doubtful and doesn't clarify whether this would be a new title or a port of GTA: Chinatown Wars.

"Of the three, I'm least confident in saying for sure there will be a new GTA for PlayStation 2, but the track record shows that PSP titles have been repositioned [on PS2]," said Mitchell.

Beyond an outstanding piece of artwork and the suggestion that it could feature MotionPlus features, we don't know a great deal about the next Legend of Zelda title currently in development under the watchful eye of Shigeru Miyamoto.

There has been some suggestion that the game could be significantly different to previous titles, given the fact that this would be the first title specifically developed for Wii.

However the latest issue of Nintendo Power features a snippet from Miyamoto-san that suggests it won't differ too drastically from the standard format.

"I don't think it's going to be that radically different," claimed Miyamoto-san.

Probably a good thing, seeing that the original blueprint has been enough to keep gamers happy since Ocarina of Time brought the series into 3D, though we're hoping that Miyamoto-san won't be resting on the series laurels.

Blizzard Entertainment has recently registered trademarks for Cataclysm.  There's a suggestion that this could be anything from a forthcoming World of Warcraft expansion, the next-gen MMO, or Blizzard's other as-of-yet announced title.

BlizzPlanet which noticed the patent has plenty of speculation on the trademark, suggesting that it could be linked to the Sundering, an event that shaped the world of Azeroth 10,000 years ago - or perhaps the new title for Blizzard's online multiplayer service.

It seems as though Capcom may be making a return to the series that brought us clashing samurais, demons, and Jean Reno.  A teaser website that appeared last week flashes up 1560, 1573, 1582 and 1600 - striking through the first three dates.

Onimusha fans won't need reminding that these are the periods in which previous Onimusha titles were set, hinting that an announcement for a new title in the series is on the cards.

[update]

Capcom has lifted the lid and revealed that the mytsery title is in fact Sengoku Basara 3/Devil Kings 3.  Who'd have thought the timelines would have been so similar.

Online retailer ShopTo has stated openly that Activision has issued a £107.99 RRP for DJ Hero in the UK, which will include the game itself as well as its much-talked-about turntable peripheral.

Eurogamer has the scoop from ShopTo, although the retailer has taken the decision to reduce its pricing to £94.85 for the bundle. The only other UK retailer to register a price-tag for the product so far has been HMV, which is apparently "going with its own price on this" at £99.99.

In the US, GameStop is currently listing a $119.99 price tag for the DJ Hero bundle, which weighs in at around £73 at current exchange rates. Nonetheless, electronics and game products are usually significantly cheaper across the pond than they are here.

Microsoft has revealed that Xbox Live Silver members will only be able to access Last.fm on a trial basis when it's launched on Xbox Live, which will provide users with a mere three hours of air-time per month.

It was announced at E3 last month that Last.fm (a service that streams an extensive library of music to its users based on their preferences) will be coming to Xbox Live, although now it appears that Microsoft is reserving the service's full functionality for Gold members only.

"Silver users will be able access what we're considering a trial period of three hours a month, which comes with video advertising," Xbox Live General Manager, Christina DeRosa, told Joystiq. "Gold users will have unlimited ad-supported access, so they can use it 24 hours a day. There will also be a premium offering on a subscription basis from Last.fm, that will be commercial free and will also have more sophisticated personalization features, like Loved Tracks."

We can certainly see this policy annoying Silver members who could just as easily access Last.fm from a PC, entirely free of charge, and without the three hour limit. So why isn't this possible on an Xbox 360 as well? Let us know your thoughts in the comments board below...

Further to rumours which surfaced at the beginning of the week suggesting that the PS3 Slim could arrive this autumn, further hearsay emanating from Japan is now indicating that the PS3 Slim is set to ship in the region this month.

UDN.com is reporting that Taiwanese manufacturers Pegatron and Foxconn are producing the PS3 Slim consoles, and notes that the system is being released in July to meet the summer demand in Japan.

These manufacturers have made products for Sony in the past, which adds some weight to the rumour. We're still quite sceptical at this stage though, particularly because we'd expect to have received an official word on the console's existence from Sony by now if it was due to ship in Japan this month.

The article goes on to suggest that the PS3's new motion sensing technology, demoed at E3, is due to arrive next Spring.

There's been a considerable amount of coverage since the death of Michael Jackson was confirmed late last week.  Beyond securing the top slots in charts across the world, it seems some are quick to cash in on the death of the superstar - some a little more tastelessly then others.

A promotion for the forthcoming free-to-play shooter Battlefield: Heroes allows players to purchase the 'Smooth Suit' and 'Thuggin Outfit' as costumes in the game.  It doesn't take a Jackson fanatic to realise where the influences for these come from.

Tasteless promotion or homage to the musical genius?  All we want to know is how quickly after Jackson's death was confirmed did EA's artists set to work on the skins, and whether or not Thriller-themed zombie skins will follow.

EA's decision to introduce critically acclaimed yet commercially weak titles based around new IPs last year is well documented; the simple fact is neither Mirror's Edge or Dead Space sold as well as EA originally expected.

In an interview with Gamasutra, EA's Game Label president Frank Gibeau has revealed the lessons that the world's second largest publisher has learnt from the exercise and pledged support to continue the faith behind quality.

When asked whether they launched too many original titles during the 2008 period, Gibeau responded:

"I'm not the kind of guy who ever looks back. I look back long enough to learn a few things and then apply them going forward. I think in the spirit of your question, I think we launched too many new IPs all at once in Q3."

Gibeau stresses that more significance is placed on the title in terms of polishing and playtesting than ever before, suggesting that blockbuster titles that achieve a 75% rating just can't make a profit any longer. 

"Dead Space is one of those titles that has a lot of polish built into it, and a lot of the games we're doing right now like, you know, Mass Effect 2 and Dragon Age, and Need for Speed Shift, is two months polish time.

Last year's Need for Speed finished and went into test, and that was it. There was no time in the schedule because of the way that the studios have been set up. So we had to break the cycle and start to give some very careful consideration."

When asked how many new IPs EA intends to launch per year, Gibeau reveals that "two to three" is the likely number, including titles created under the EA Partners brand.  Last year the publisher launched Spore, Mirror's Edge, Dead Space, Facebreaker, Battlefield: Bad Company, Left 4 Dead and Army of Two.

Finally when asked about the difficulties that third-party publishers continue to face with Wii, Gibeua admitted that bringing core experiences such as the forthcoming Dead Space: Extraction are a "calculated risk". 

Gibeau claims that Nintendo's dominance creates a difficult ecosystem, adding that Microsoft has absolutely "nailed it" in terms of first and third-party success with the Xbox 360.

Let's admit it PS2 emulation is something that you'll probably never use, but at the same time there's still a desire to have it.  If Sony hadn't have introduced backwards compatibility in the first place and originally mocking fun of Microsoft's efforts with the 360, we probably would never have bothered.

Still it's been a number of years since Sony decided to strip away the PS2 hardware featured in the original PS3 models as a cost-cutting measure, and yet the feature is still one of the most desired from PS3 owners and potential adopters.  Thankfully, it appears that backwards compatibility could finally be on the way if a recent patent application is anything to go by, spotted by Silconera.

A patent that TVG has discovered, which appears to be different from that sourced by Siliconera, is dated from 2007, suggesting Sony has been working on this for a considerable amount of time.

Of course, software emulation is nothing new, but it does typically bring a high overhead, particularly when you're dealing with such specialised hardware such as the PS2's Emotion Engine.

Further details from the patent, however, reveal the difficulties that Sony face when trying to emulate the PS2's 128-bit CPU on something as radically different as the PS3's CELL processor.

"If the host system is based on larger sized registers, this is not a problem as it is relatively straightforward to emulate 128-bit registers with a processor having larger-sized registers. However, if the PlayStation(r)2 is emulated by a cell-processor based host system (such as the PlaySta- tion(r)3), a problem arises."

"The cell processors are a type of parallel processor. The basic configuration of a cell processor includes a "Power Processor Element" ("PPE") (sometimes called "Processing Element", or "PE"), and multiple "Synergistic Processing Elements" ("SPE"). The PPEs and SPEs are linked together by an internal high speed bus dubbed "Element Interconnect Bus" ("EIB")."

"Cell processors are designed to be scalable for use in applications ranging from the hand held devices to main frame computers. The PPE is the main processor for emulation the PS2 EE. Unfortunately, the PPE uses 64-bit registers, which are smaller than the 128-bit EE CPU registers. [0010] Thus, there is a need in the art, for emulating a target system on a host system having smaller sized registers than the target system."

The details contained within the patent appear to be the solution to the problem.  So, although it's not exactly official confirmation that backwards compatibility is on the horizon, it does at least clarify why it hasn't appeared so far and suggests Sony is attempting to find the answer.

Following claims from the BBC presenter Jonathan Ross that he'll be voicing yokels in Fable III, further confirmation of the title has appeared, only this time from a particularly strange source.

A Weddings and Celebrations article on The New York Times reveals that Amy E. Gilbert and Joshua Samuels Atkins have recently married, the latter of which is listed as lead game designer on Fable III.

TVG checked out the credits to Fable II and discovered that a Josh Atkins served as Senior Design Director for Microsoft Game Studios on the game.

Halo 3: ODST is set to offer a more open experience then its tightly driven, linear predecessors, according to comments made to the Seattle Times by Bungie writer and creative director, Joseph Staten.

The Seattle Times claims that the single player campaign begins in a dark and most empty city, which players can freely explore.  Those wanting to just jump straight into the action can jump to sites that trigger flashbacks, which provides classic Halo styled action, but there will be clues to discover to solve the mystery running behind the game.

"We're doing a lot of pretty neat things in terms of mixing it up, introducing some non-linearity, some free exploration," Staten said. "This is also a mystery story so there's a lot more clue-finding and mystery-solving than you would normally find in a game of this kind - nothing that strays too far from the fun 'Halo' experience, but we definitely decided to take a little bit of risk and have some fun with this one."

Moving on, the article provides the suggestion that Halo: Reach could feature compatibility with Microsoft's motion-sensing Project Natal.

"I absolutely think 'Reach' could be enabled with it," Bungie president Harold Ryan claimed.

According to The Seattle Times, Bungie received an early look at Project Natal before its unveiling at E3 and seems to be pretty enthusiastic about the device.

Citing a reliable inside source, who has traditionally been on the ball when it comes to such rumours, Ars Technica has reported details on the price cuts planned for both the Xbox 360 and PlayStation3 later in the year.

Suggesting that stocks of the 80GB PS3 are running low, Ars Technica's source claims that the 160GB will become increasingly evident in the next few weeks.  Dependant on the sell-through rate, Ars Technica alleges that this will lead to Sony's next step, launching the PS3 Slim and introducing a price drop during the autumn. 

Moving onto the Xbox 360, the article suggests that the Pro model will be phased out in July or August.  As a result the Elite will become the de-facto high-end system following a further price cut in September.

No specific details on how big the price cuts will be or the 1TB HDD that Microsoft is rumoured to be planning.

BioWare's heavily rumoured Mass Effect DLC announcement has been put on the backburner, following the studio's decision to tease about it last week.

In a Twitter post, the studio claimed:

"Due to circumstances beyond my control (me being stupid on timing), any news of more ME1 DLC will have to wait. Sorry folks. - Evil Chris"

Details on the second DLC are hard to come by, with the only speculative information suggesting that it will help to bridge the gap between Mass Effect and the forthcoming sequel.

Speaking on its official forums, developer Obsidian has announced that it is no longer working on SEGA's Aliens RPG project. The game's future had previously been put into doubt following a long delay at the start of the year.

"Rumors have circled around a bit regarding the fate of the Aliens role playing game that Obsidian and SEGA had been working on," explained The Guildmaster (Administrator on the Obsidian forums). "Unfortunately, it is true that we are no longer working on the game, and we wanted to finally announce that officially to everyone who has been following its development."

We've contacted SEGA to find out whether the game has been cancelled entirely, or whether the publisher is looking to move the project on to another developer, and will update you as more information is made available.

The next Hitman game is set for release in 2010 according to reports revealing that a sequel to the 2007 Hitman film is in the works at 20th Century Fox.

This news comes from Variety, which reports that Eidos is planning to release Hitman 5 in "late 2010". Meanwhile, a script for a Hitman 2 film is currently being penned by Kyle Ward (who's also writing the Kane & Lynch film).

According to the reports, Ward will be looking to borrow story elements from Hitman 5 for the upcoming film, which will see Agent 47 fall on tough times before he rebuilds himself to become the world's most elite assassin once again.

In earth-shattering news, Zenimax Media - the parent group of Bethesda - today confirmed that it has acquired id Software.  Forming a development super house that is virtually unrivalled, the Zenimax group now controls legendary franchises such as Doom, Quake, Elder Scrolls, Fallout, Wolfenstein and RAGE.  id Software will continue business as normal, with John Carmack assuming control of the studio.

Todd Hollenshead, CEO of id Software, commented on the transaction: "This was a unique opportunity to team with a smart, sophisticated publisher like Bethesda Softworks where the interests of the studio and the publisher will be fully aligned in the development and marketing of our titles. In addition, we will now have financial and business resources to support the future growth of id Software, a huge advantage which will result in more and even better games for our fans."

"This puts id Software in a wonderful position going forward," said John Carmack, who will continue to serve in his current role as Technical Director. "We will now be able to grow and extend all of our franchises under one roof, leveraging our capabilities across multiple teams while enabling forward looking research to be done in the service of all of them. We will be bigger and stronger, as we recruit the best talent to help us build the landmark games of the future. As trite as it may be for me to say that I am extremely pleased and excited about this deal, I am."

Robert Altman, the founder, Chairman & CEO of ZeniMax Media stated, "We, along with many others, consider id Software to be among the finest game studios in the world, with extraordinary design, artistic and technical capabilities. They have demonstrated, repeatedly, that rare ability to create franchise properties that are critical and commercial successes. Our intention is to make sure id Software will continue to do what they do best - make AAA games. Our role will be to provide publisher support through Bethesda Softworks and give id Software the resources it needs to grow and expand."

Emphasising the realism of the Gran Turismo series, Citroen showcased its concept car driving around the (real) streets of London in scenes that strangely mirror the virtual world of Gran Turismo 5.  It seems the Gran Turismo series has always strived for realism, but now the real world is beginning to mimic the video game series.

GTbyCITROEN marks a collaboration between the French car manufacturer and Polyphony Digital.  Although the Japanese game studio is no stranger to working with car manufacturers in the past, having shared knowledge on numerous Nissan models, the production process with Citroen marks a step further than anything they've previously offered. 

The resulting GTbyCITROEN was reportedly first conceived back in 2003, as a result of Citroen's Japanese designer, Takumi Yamamoto, being a close childhood friend of Polyphony's Kazunori Yamauchi. 

If you missed it on the streets of London, the GTbyCITROEN will be making an appearance at the Greenwood Festival of Speed between July 3rd and 5th. 

Although, if you've got a spare £1 million TVG has heard rumours that suggest the concept car could be developed into a limited run production model.  Strangely enough that would match the 1 million credits needed to purchase the car in GT5 Prologue!

Ordinarily we wouldn't bother with an article about screenshots, but we'll make an exception because they're from Max Payne 3 and we all love a bit of Max Payne.

As you can see for yourselves, Payne is definitely looking older, balder, and definitely more slob-like then ever before. 

We're slightly concerned by the lack of a film noire feel to the game; certainly it seems Rockstar Vancouver are heading in a completely different direction with the third title, sun-drenched skies replacing the dark skylines of New York City.

Give us a trench coat and a constipated face any day of the week.  But what do we know?  We're sure that Rockstar will deliver a third-person shooter that is worthy of the series heritage and provide something that stands out from the crowded genre.

Will the streets of Sao Paulo drag Payne into a Valkyr addiction?  We're not entirely sure, but we're hoping to check out the game shortly.  In the meantime make sure to check out the other screens in the gallery.

[update]

Information provided by Rockstar following the screenshots has revealed a few extra details on the eagerly awaited return of Payne.  Despite the theme and style change, Rockstar assures us that the third title will share many of its predecessors trademarks: a focus on story and character-driven action, dual-wield weapons, Bullet-Time, an addiction to painkillers, and Max's ever-present internal monologue (woot). 

Further still, Max Payne 3 will continue Rockstar's preferred hybrid of technologies, based around the RAGE engine and featuring NaturalMotion's Euphoria middleware.

Rockstar also provided a few background details on Brazil and Sao Paulo, listing the most common cause of death amongst the youth as murder; the fact that Sao Paulo's young gangs are amongst the most violent in the world  - the most dangerous is apparently the Primerio Comando da Capital whose nefarious activities include organized prison breaks, prison riots, drug trafficking, highway robberies, kidnappings and Help The Aged since 1993. 

There's also one gun for every 75 people in the country, which by our calculations means there's 2,549,890 guns in Brazil - an ideal setting for Max Payne then!