Hands on your buzzers. What two companies partnered during this year's Leipzig Games Convention to bring "key" PlayStation franchises to mobile carriers in the European market? Quickly now. 3..2..1..buzzcrak! The correct answer, had you answered on time, would have been Sony and UK mobile games publisher Player X, though we can forgive your tardiness given that the duo's idea of a pivotal franchise is likely to differ from what you have in mind.

No, rather than whipping Kratos' Blades of Chaos with the number 4 key on your handset, or tapping a put into the cup with the 9 in a miniaturized version of Hot Shots Golf, the companies have announced plans to bring virtual quiz show Buzz! and Reflection's original PlayStation racer Destruction Derby to mobile phones this fall and in early 2009 respectively. True, neither of these inspire us to reach for our phones just yet. However, Sony adds that the deal, a first for Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios with an outsider, will continue to bring PlayStation luminaries to mobile phones in Europe for the next three years. Thanks for playing.

Call us old fashioned, but we're just a little more interested in how EA's next Need For Speed will stack up as a gameplay experience than a Hollywood movie starring Maggie Q. (No offense, miss, er, Q.) So celebutaunts and FMV (okay, HD FMV) aside, the demo of the game we got behind the wheel of is surprisingly ... a racing game with cop chases.

Mind you, it's very pretty, with HDR lighting and a nice healthy framerate to, dare we say, satiate one's need for speed. To that end, one of the three challenge types we played – Highway Battle – was an all-out drag race through heavy freeway traffic, the goal of which being to get far enough to your opponent that they "fail out." It was a rush, and showcased the ease of control EA is aiming for with Undercover's cars (read: we didn't crash nearly as much as we'd expected to), but it was over all too quickly.

To be blunt, after some of the series' most disappointing entries, Need for Speed Undercover has something to prove. Today, EA revealed some of the features of the November release, the opening salvo in the battle to win back our hearts (unless you count the announcement of Maggie Q's involvement ... which we do not.)

You'll be taking down a crime syndicate with Ms. Q (if you're nasty), a story that will be presented with the help of live-action footage (hooray!). From a gameplay perspective, the big draw seems to be the Heroic Driving System, which EA describes as "a unique technology that generates incredible high-performance moves at 180 miles per hour during breathtaking highway battles." ... So, it's an emergency brake?

Maybe it's just our relief from the yucky, Far 2 Fast and Uncom4tably Furious aesthetic that's plagued the series recently, but this new entry sounds like a breath of fresh air. Well, Undercover, it would seem we, much like the Ghostbusters, are ready to believe in you.

The Spy Hunter movie based on the Midway arcade hit that we talked about more than a year ago is hitting the skids, crashing through the guardrail, and plummeting off the cliff that is called "development hell" in Hollywood. Looks like director Paul Anderson (W.S., not Thomas) is being taken off the project, which will spin it out into limbo.

You can also read Latino Review's review of the script right here. They seemed to like it, saying it was better than The Fast and the Furious 3 ... which ain't saying much. In fact, the best thing Spy Hunter has spawned as far as filmed entertainment goes is the Pontiac commercial above. If any of the game sequels had looked like that, we might still be playing them.

Now, we ask you... is this such a bad thing? Sure it had Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson attached to it, and John Woo was supposed to direct it at one point. However, it's had a slew of different writers and now with two director replacements, do we really need a Spy Hunter movie? We hope no one hits "Continue" on the Spy Hunter movie, and that it just dies a merciful death. What say you?

Replacing political and social unrest with "go-anywhere" driving, Codemasters has partnered with French dev Asobo Studios to publish the company's open world-style racer, Fuel, for the Xbox 360, PS3, and PC sometime next year. Asobo's track record isn't likely to relieve you of your socks anytime soon, however. The studio's recent efforts include video game adaptations of Ratatouille, Wall-E and The Mummy, so we're not expecting another GRiD or DiRT just yet.

On top of dynamic weather and dozens of drivable vehicles, Codies boasts that Fuel will feature the "largest environment ever created" in a racing game, and that the game's absurd 5,000 square miles of weather-ravaged terrain will "revolutionize" the genre. There is that old saying about size not mattering as much as how you use it, though clearly this is not the approach being used here.

Developer Black Box's nitro button must be worn down to a nub. The studio announced today that its upcoming Need for Speed sequel, Undercover, will ship this November, pulling up to the starting line well before the 2009 release previously mentioned by EA CEO John Riccitiello.

In development for every platform under the sun (yes, even mobile phones), Need for Speed Undercover will also sport what Black Box describes as "big-budget live-action sequences" starring Balls of Fury and Mission Impossible III actress, Maggie Q, as a federal agent who recruits drivers to take down a criminal syndicate. While recent Need for Speed racers have all but siphoned our tanks of what enthusiasm we once had for the series, those who care can look forward to race with Ms. Q in North America on November 18 and in Europe on November 21.

In what could be the sign of the start of a really interesting paradigm shift in the industry, EA announced that its smash-em-up driving hit Burnout Paradise will be arriving on PSN this fall for $29.99. Those are pretty much all the details available right now, but we can't help but be captivated by the possibilities.

Is this going to be a new trend, offering up titles via PSN that have lost some of their retail luster? Because, honestly, we've braved numerous excursions outside of our living rooms, and anything we can do to keep those to an absolute minimum is truly appreciated.

Oh, and GameStop? This is how it begins.

"V8 Arcade enters its final submission." That's the headline we read this morning over at sister site Xbox 360 Fanboy and were totally excited to pass it along to you guys. That was just moments before we realized that, by and large, a lot of you probably don't realize why that's so rad.

So, for the uninitiated: Vigilante 8 (besides having one of the best titles ever) is a lot like Twisted Metal, only add better physics and subtract the awful hair metal aesthetic. Even that description's a little lackluster, but no matter: It's just been submitted to Microsoft for final approval and you'll be able to play it soon. We hope.

[Via X3F]

You may not be old enough to remember it, but a decade ago when it was first released, Driver felt like a revelation. A game where cars were used for more than racing each other and roadblasting? Unheard of! But there it was, all new and fresh and full of promise, and you'll get to experience the feeling once again on Aug. 14 when the PlayStation title arrives on PSN.

Sadly, you'll also get to experience the "honey why is the controller in the TV?"-level frustration that's been a series hallmark. Here's hoping the game's still good enough to hold up.

Previously known as the "Davis" update, the next major content infusion for Burnout Paradise has been renamed ... and delayed by a month. In a post on the PlayStation Blog, Criterion producer Jeremy Chubb reveals that the update is now going by the designation "Bikes Pack" and will hit in September, not August as originally planned.

When it finally hits, the pack will feature two motorcycles: a street chopper and a racing bike. Criterion has also divulged more details on night racing. It turns out that the time of day will change dynamically, and, along with it, so will the bike challenges available. Special "Midnight Rides" will only be accessible after the sun sets on Paradise City. Not that it will always be sunny during the day or moonlit at night – in yet another surprise announcement, Criterion is implementing a dynamic weather system in this update. The dev says it's "serious about DLC," and given this latest news we're even more inclined to respond: "No, really?"

Saints Row 2 producer Dan Sutton tells CVG that the game isn't coming to the Wii over controversy and graphical concerns. He explains that implementing Wii controls for "chainsaws, satchel charges, stuff like that" in the game might risk the title running into Manhunt 2-style controversy. That's a bad thing? Apparently, SR2's developer, Volition, isn't totally run by the marketing department.

Sutton also explains that SR2 won't be making it to Nintendo's waggle-enriched juggernaut because Volition is "about pushing really good graphics" -- he believes the Wii feels like an older console. Ouch, at least he didn't mention duct tape.

Burnout Paradise finally got its 381 MB update on Xbox 360 today -- no, not that one. While PlayStation 3 owners have been warming up to the "Cagney" content for nearly a month, Xbox 360 players have had to wait out Microsoft's grueling certification process, and then the "final stages of testing." But, Cagney's here now, and still free. Just press A.

Check out Criterion's site for the full list of features. [Note: Obscured text in image above reads, "Without this update you will be unable to play online."]

Criterion's forthcoming "Davis" update for Burnout Paradise will deliver not only an array of two-wheeled vehicles, but a taste of automotive irony. Whereas the series' signature sports cars all spectacularly crumple into balls of mangled metal when they collide with walls, poles and, best of all, other signature sports cars, the bikes won't bend or buckle or break. And neither will the riders, safely disappearing from the game's E10-rated environment whenever they wipe out.

MTV Multiplayer's Stephen Totilo explains that when it comes to Burnout Bikes, it's less about SMASH! and more about ZOOM! -- particularly in the update's speedy new single-player challenges and 8-player online, motorcycle-only events. Players can also expect a day-night cycle, weather effects (no, really!) and yes, wheelies.

We imagine plenty of people will bemoan the absence of bikers smashing their heads open on Burnout Paradise's pavements, but hey, Criterion is still giving us a pretty substantial (also: free) addition. The only drawback we can think of is not having a place to hang our pair o' dice.

After months of teasing us with crummy off-screen snaps of its forthcoming "post-apocalyptic open-world shooter," id Software has evidently heard us shouting "Show us your RAGE!" (in our best Raging Raven impersonation) and caved in. Behold: two nice, high-res screens of the game. Yep, two. But at least they're really purty.

Some on staff are wowed by the textures. Others are happy to see that Sloth from The Goonies is still getting work. Still another faction here at Joystiq HQ is frantically checking Pricewatch in hopes of scoring some good deals on the hardware upgrades they'll need to play this beast at 2 billion x 1 billion resolution on their PCs.