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This Week’s Top Stories: April 8 – 13, 2013

Welcome to another instalment in our weekly news digest where the team at PSU Towers picks our favourite slices of gaming gossip from the past seven days. See below for the week’s highlights.

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Tales of Xillia US release date announced

Namco Bandai announced last week that Tales of Xillia, the critically acclaimed 13th main entry of the Tales RPG series, is coming to PlayStation 3’s in North America on August 6.

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Ubisoft Montreal boss calls PS4 a ‘pleasant surprise’

The CEO of Ubisoft Montreal has spoken highly of PlayStation 4’s developer-friendly architecture, describing the next-generation console as a “pleasant surprise.”

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Tomb Raider leads March EU PSN chart

Crystal Dynamics’ celebrated Tomb Raider reboot has running-jumped its way to the top of the EU PlayStation Network charts, Sony has confirmed.

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Rumor: PS4 launch advertising budget around $100 million

Sony has an estimated $100 million advertising budget to play around with when the PlayStation 4 launches.

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PS4 title in development at Level-5

ShopTo reports that the developer behind the White Knight Chronicles franchise is working on a PlayStation 4 project.

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Batman: Arkham Origins, Blackgate announced in new Game Informer

The long-rumored Batman: Arkham Origins has been officially unveiled in the upcoming May edition of Game Informer magazine.

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Tearaway release date and cover art revealed

Media Molecule has unveiled the final cover art and release date for its wildly creative PlayStation Vita platformer, Tearaway.

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Naughty Dog demands female focus testers for The Last of Us, rejected marketing demands to take Ellie off front cover

During an interview with The Escapist, Naughty Dog Creative Director Neil Druckmann shed light on an issue that came up during the testing process of The Last of Us.

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PS4, Xbox 720 won’t ‘cure sick market’ says BioWare co-founder

Dr. Greg Zeschuk, the co-founder of Mass Effect developer BioWare, has cast doubt over the impact that next-generation platforms will have on the flagging console retail market.

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There’s more to PS4 than shooters, says Sony Worldwide Studios boss

Sony is keen to see more than just triple-A shooters available on PlayStation 4, SCE Worldwide Studios boss Shuhei Yoshida has said.

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Quantic Dream’s secret PS4 game could have multiplayer

A job posting by Heavy Rain and Beyond: Two Souls developer Quantic Dream indicates that the French studio is exploring multiplayer for its upcoming, unannounced PlayStation 4 title

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Asda now taking PS4 pre-orders

U.K. supermarket giant Asda is now offering pre-orders for the PlayStation 4.

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PS4 ‘blew me away,’ says AMD graphics architect

John Gustafson, the chief product architect for AMD, is the latest commentator to join in the ever-growing chorus of positive chatter regarding the PlayStation 4.

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Tales of Xillia Collector’s Edition announced, including limited edition figurine

Namco Bandai today announced that a collector’s edition of Tales of Xillia will be available for pre-order.

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Dark Souls 2 will not release on next-gen systems, producer confirms

Speculation that From Software would offer a simultaneous release of Dark Souls 2 on current-gen and next-gen platforms was put to rest today as producer Yui Tanimura said the team has no intention of releasing the game on next-gen systems.

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SEGA remaking Castle of Illusion?

A new teaser trailer released by SEGA has hinted the Japanese publisher may be looking to resurrect the Castle of Illusion series.

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Rumor: PS4 developers have access to 7GB RAM

Developers working on Sony’s PlayStation 4 have access to 7GB RAM out of the massive 8GB available for the next-generation console.

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PS3 Firmware 4.40 the cause of freezing issues, controller problems and broken consoles?

The mandatory PlayStation 3 Firmware update 4.40, which was deployed on March 21, 2013, apparently fixed some stability issues but PSU readers and members of the official PlayStation forums are complaining that it has had the reverse affect and their console hasn’t been the same since.

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Dark Souls sells over 2 million copies

From Software has revealed that Dark Souls has shifted north of 2.3 million copies globally since its launch in 2011.

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