Electronic Arts announced today that the upcoming Skate 2 demo will hit Xbox Live Marketplace on January 8th and the PlayStation Network on January 15, 2009.

The demo introduces players to the city of New San Vanelona where they can skate with style and individuality via access to the enhanced character customization tools. Gamers will get a first glimpse of the deep single-player story and exciting challenges in all-new locations. The Skate 2 demo will also feature two of the game’s online Party Play modes: Thrasher’s Hall of Meat and Spot Battle.

The 50 Cent: Blood on the Sand image gallery has been updated with 5 new screenshots.

Global President of 2K Christoph Hartmann told MCV that the Bioshock series has the potential to have five sequels, referring it to Star Wars, but promises that the publisher won't use the franchise as a "cash cow".

"Some of the mega-franchises we talk about only lasted ten years because companies took five years to ship a game. Look at Duke Nukem. It's been a great franchise for 20 years, because it seems like it’s been in development for 20 years." Hartmann said.

The UK consumer lavished GBP 1.9bn on videogame sales in '08, that's 23% more than the previous year.

We Brits splurged another GBP 1.422bn through console hardware sales, with the ELSPA saying videogames are "increasingly bringing families together" with casual family games.

Guerrilla Games has Sony executives all giddy with sales forecasts for the upcoming PS3 exclusive shooter, expecting Killzone 2 to make a killing.

A Sony rep admitted they've "invested heavily" in the title and it "would be a lie" to say otherwise. Killzone 2 is without a doubt a hugely anticipated PS3 title for 2009.

Ubisoft's natural disaster videogame 'I Am Alive' gets its first real info shoved in our faces thanks to GamesTM's latest issue.

Its goal is to turn our "everyday life upside down" and mess with "social values and rules" we've come to accept. Discreet survival seems emphasised as fights are "rarely" rewarded.

According to an Ars Technica article, JPRG Magna Carta: Crimson Stigma is in development for the Xbox 360, the sequel to PS2's Tears of Blood.

Atlus is expected to publish the game in the West where JRPGs are arriving with increased frequency. No price, release date or game details have yet been disclosed.

Square Enix today announced that Nippon Ichi Software’s Disgaea 3: Absence of Justice will be released across PAL territories on 20th February 2009 exclusively for the PlayStation 3.

Welcome to the twisted world of the Nether Institute, Evil Academy where good is bad and bad is good. In this school a good student is somebody that excels in delinquent activities such as skipping classes or not doing their homework, whereas a bad student arrives to school early and does their homework on time.

Financial oblivion has been beaten back with a stick until February for Midway, two investor groups are expecting cheques in the post for $75 million each.

One group has been convinced to wait until this February 19th, which is a bit of drag considering they originally had till 2025/26 to pay up. No news on the other group yet.

Once again Forza 3 has been the victim of media spillage onto this global network well call the Internet, in the form of 'menu poster' designs this time.

Last summer Intellisponse kind of also 'accidentally' leaked details on Forza 3, as well as a whole load of other E3 line-ups. Microsoft isn't commenting on the validity of this media.