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Considering the extent to which Farmville has enraptured the hearts and minds of 95 percent of the Facebook-using populace, we’re not surprised that Natsume has decided to bring yet another installment in the Harvest Moon franchise to the States. According to Siliconera, American store shelves will play host to Harvest Moon: Hero of Leaf Valley for the PSP in April.

The game will task you with staving off the expansion of The Funland Corporation’s chain of amusement parks into your home town of Leaf Valley. You’ll do so in the most logical manner imaginable: By repeatedly performing various agricultural chores. Yeah, that’ll show ‘em!

The Disgaea series of strategy-role-playing games continues to expand its horizons. Nippon Ichi Software America today confirmed that it will be introducing the franchise to a new genre this May, when it releases a localized version of the “adventure novel” PSP game Disgaea Infinite in North America.

In Disgaea Infinite, players will take on the role of a Prinny, a demonic penguin-like servant in the thrall of original series protagonist Laharl. When an assassination attempt on Laharl is foiled, the young demon lord orders the player to uncover who is responsible. As the Prinny, players can use a magical clock to inhabit other characters’ minds and piece together the assassination puzzle in the process.

40 perfect scores. 2 million units. One pop culture phenomenon. BioWare™ announced today that Mass Effect™ 2 has sold-in over two million units worldwide in its first week of release. Lauded for its intense shooter gameplay and deep, hand-crafted story, Mass Effect 2 has earned an average review score of 96 — making it the second highest rated game of all time on the Xbox 360® platform.

Get Mass Effect 2 now!

Samuel Lassoff, an attorney in Philadelphia, is taking Microsoft to court over claims that the Xbox 360’s currency system – Microsoft Points – exists to “unjustly enrich” the console manufacturer.

The basis of Lassoff’s complaint will no doubt also the basis of many of your complaints over the system. Namely, that prices are engineered so that you buy more points than you need, but the leftover points aren’t enough to buy something else.

He alleges that this practice amounts to a “fraudulent handling” of his account, the end result being the attorney is now filing a class action suit against Microsoft.

Good luck buddy…

Several readers have sent word that George Hotz (a.k.a. geohot), the hacker best known for unlocking Apple’s iPhone, says he has now hacked the PlayStation 3. From his blog post:

“I have read/write access to the entire system memory, and HV level access to the processor. In other words, I have hacked the PS3. The rest is just software. And reversing. I have a lot of reversing ahead of me, as I now have dumps of LV0 and LV1. I’ve also dumped the NAND without removing it or a modchip. 3 years, 2 months, 11 days…that’s a pretty secure system. … As far as the exploit goes, I’m not revealing it yet. The theory isn’t really patchable, but they can make implementations much harder. Also, for obvious reasons I can’t post dumps. I’m hoping to find the decryption keys and post them, but they may be embedded in hardware. Hopefully keys are setup like the iPhone’s KBAG.”

Mega-sized press release announces May 18th launch for Lost Planet 2 (simultaneous PC release unconfirmed), and an April 27th launch for Super Street Fighter IV.

According to a report from Japanese publication Nikkei Net, Nintendo’s New Super Mario Bros. Wii has now sold 10 million copies worldwide. The game needed only 45 days to pass the already impressive sales numbers of Super Mario Galaxy.

One of the biggest points of contention with Xbox Live’s Games on Demand has always been the arguably steep price of many of the titles on the service. The digital releases of older games have often caught flack for price tags that, in some instances, nearly doubled those of their retail counterparts.

The complaints have apparently not gone unheard; Xbox Live’s Larry Hryb announced on his Major Nelson blog that a number of Games on Demand titles are getting price reductions today. Included among them: Bioshock, Saints Row, Prey, MX vs. ATV Untamed, and Civilization Revolution — all of which are dropping from $29.99 to just $19.99.

The first details of Fantasy Earth Zero are in, a new subscription-free MMORPG from Square Enix and Gamepot that’s scheduled to launch in the first quarter of this year. The fantasy-themed game will focus on PvPvE (yes, “Player vs. Player vs. Environment”) and will entail what they are calling a “Hyper-Active Battle System.” There’s a trailer from the game on GameTrailers, and from what has been told, the Hyper-Active Battle System is described as-so: “From 5v5 up to 50v50 player-versus-player (PvP) action in multiple battlegrounds, Fantasy Earth Zero is more akin to an action game than a traditional RPG. It’s an experience that puts the control of a multiple nation war directly into the player’s hands. Fast-paced action where players dodge, attack and use their skill and resources to win battles and change the tide of war.”

Continuing to support its Xbox 360-exclusive racer, developer Turn 10 today brought ten more cars into Forza Motosport 3 with the downloadable “AutoWeek Car Show Pack.”

The 2009 Lotus 2-Eleven and 2010 BMW Motorsport M6 Coupe
Of the new cars, one–the 2009 Lotus 2-Eleven–is available as a free download, while the remaining nine are only available after purchasing the 400 MS Point / $5 add-on.

The AutoWeek Car Show Pack includes:
■2009 Audi RS 6
■2010 Ford Shelby GT500
■2009 Lotus 2-Eleven
■2010 Aston Martin One-77
■2010 Porsche Boxster S
■2009 Audi R8 LMS Show Car
■2010 Pagani Zonda R
■2010 Saleen S5S Raptor
■2010 BMW Motorsport M6 Coupe
■2010 Chevrolet Corvette Grand Sport