Who are these few? PlayStation Plus members, for a start. The rest of the few will be comprised of those who have a voucher from Infamous 2. These folks get access on June 28. Everyone else gets is July 4. Nice to not have to perform weird tasks to get a code, right?

In beta, you’ll get to test out nine different modes, as well as use four different characters. You’ll be able to make it all the way to level 25 and use some boosters, as well.

Here’s a video from IGN so you can get a good look at one of the maps:

It might not be real, but it sure does look good.

Entertainment Weekly reported this morning that Naughty Dog’s Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception will be hitting stores “late next year.”

According to that piece, which included an interview with Naughty Dog creative director Amy Hennig (who we love around these parts), the story will focus on Nathan’s relationship with Sully, his mentor – and the deception from the title may very well concern Drake’s entire identity (ooh, thrilling). They’ll be searching for a lost city in the Arabian Peninsula – so be prepared for sand. Lots of sand.

Because the Uncharted series always keeps at least a little bit of a focus on history (last time, if you recall, we were trying to find Shangri-La), this time we’ll be investigating Lawrence of Arabia. Well, sort of. If you rewind a few years, turns out the Lawrence that we never really got to see Peter O’Toole play was more of an archaeologist. Not nearly as awe-inspiring as attacking desert peoples, but I’ll take it in this instance. (Naughty Dog, according to the EW feature, really liked the idea of building a virtual desert.)

Hennig promised a cinematic experience similar to what we’ve already come to know and love in the last two games, as well as multiplayer and co-op experiences.

A trailer for the game is expected to debut during the VGAs on Dec. 11, and on Monday, Dec. 13, Naughty Dog will be on hand at Late Night with Jimmy Fallon for a nice little preview.

Look at Nathan Fillion, look at this post, look at Nathan Fillion, come back to this post. Nathan is a geek fan favorite as he has starred in Firefly/Serenity and now currently in Castle.

Recently there have been reports that David O Russel has been considering Mark Wahlberg for the role of
Nathan Drake. Mark isn’t a bad actor, but does not seem to fit the role.

He is the perfect Nathan Drake because Nathan is fearless, sarcastic and hilarious all at the same time. While playing through Uncharted 1 and 2, I felt that the character was almost modeled after Nathan Fillion.

Nathan Fillion encourages fans to campaign for him. @NathanFillion.

His tweet is “If ever there was a Twitter campaign, let this be it. Rise, ye Browncoats. Rise, ye Castillions. RISE! http://j.mp/aEGe79 ”

Who am I to resist Nathan’s plea? Here we are @GamingAngels writing about the part. Let’s show our support! Comment and maybe David O Russel will hear the buzz from the Internet.

ESRB:

BUY

When a sequel is released, it travels through one of three roads. One: it can fall far below its predecessor into a void of abysmal proportions. Two: the sequel can play it safe and remain in the realm of decent mediocrity. Or three: hopefully, it can surpass the firstborn to become a gem in its own right. Suffice it to say, Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, falls in the third category. Yes, I’ve jumped on the bandwagon with scores of other reviewers and gamers to give Naughty Dog a huge pat on the back.

To give some perspective, I played through Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune and enjoyed it well enough. It certainly wasn’t my game of the year, but it was fun while the game play lasted. Fast forward to 2009 with the return of Nathan Drake and a slew of new features, leaving me intrigued about what improvements Naughty Dog has made to the growing franchise. While I was genuinely excited about the single player campaign, I was unsure about the multiplayer aspect of the game. I’ll admit it, I was one of many rolling her eyes, wondering why Uncharted 2 was joining a long list of single-player focused games slapping on a multiplayer feature. However, after investing significant hours into both the single and multiplayer modes, I was pleasantly surprised. Enthralled even!

Before I wax on some sweet poetry, let me get critical aspects out of the way. Just like its predecessor, Uncharted 2 suffers from similar weaknesses. If puzzles aren’t your thing, it’s a minor factor. But for gamers who do enjoy solving difficult puzzles, it can be somewhat frustrating to realize that there’s some major hand holding going on. Throughout the game, I never put down the controller in frustration that I couldn’t figure out a particular problem, so there was never that sense of satisfaction at having solved one. Predictable AI movement is another factor; hide behind a crate long enough and it becomes easy to figure out attack patterns. But…

Done with the bitter pill? Let’s move on to a lighter, sweeter note. Naughty Dog kept the Hollywood-esque plotlines, awesome voice acting and funny dialogues. Add in improved shooting mechanics, none of the gimmicky six-axis controls and smoother cover positioning. Now you have yourselves Uncharted 2! And the game definitely holds no punches; from the very beginning, you’re thrown into the adventure. Naughty Dog adds a different dynamic, though, humanizing Nathan instead of smothering us with his snarky comments. From beginning to end, the transition between game play and cut scene is smooth; instead of breaking up the flow of the action, it left me feeling engaged with the story. By the time I finally beat Zoran Lazarević, I was thoroughly amused by the story, clichés and all. Actually, scratch that. I was tickled by the sixth chapter! When the action finally came to a close, I was… satisfied – a content gamer, happy with the polished single campaign.

It doesn’t end there, though. I was a skeptic at first, wondering if the additional modes were going to be any good. Cue dramatic music because my mind was blown away. The co-op campaigns were especially fun. My friends and I strapped Bluetooth headsets and chatted away while strategizing how to take down enemies. We died multiple times and enjoyed it, bless our masochistic hearts! Whether I was pleading for someone to help me as enemies flanked me into a corner, or shot down the opponent daring to hold my buddy in a chokehold, I was having fun. Key word: FUN. I would have loved it to be a four-player co-op, though.

When I tried out competitive multiplayer matches, I noticed that the mechanics played pretty closely with the Call of Duty series, not that that’s necessarily a bad thing. (Maybe that’s where the Infinity Ward shout out comes from?) With each successive match, I gained major moolah which I could then use to buy certain perks. However, for those stepping into competitive matches for the first time, it could be a little discouraging because opponents would have far better weapons, defense features, etc. As many do in the Call of Duty series, you just have to keep playing until you gain enough money to start buying your way into power. No pain (in this case, lots of dying), no gain folks! Now that’s one way to get players to keep investing their time into Uncharted 2!

Naughty Dog has successfully managed to balance and polish both the single player campaign and multiplayer matches, one of few companies able to do so. What that means for us lucky gamers is that there is some major replay value involved. No game will be perfect, but Uncharted 2: Among Thieves comes pretty damn close.