Boxed Up Briefs

Sonic Rivals returns on PSP

Backbone Entertainment's PSP action racing game Sonic Rivals will be seeing a sequel on the same system. The game will feature an added single-player free play mode, a new local wireless head-to-head battle mode using PSP's game sharing feature, new characters, and more. Publisher Sega plans to ship Sonic Rivals 2 this fall.

Extrteme bull riding game in the works

Publisher Crave Entertainment plans to bring professional bull riding, and all of the "bone-crunching excitement" and "edge-of-your-seat suspense" involved with what today's announcement calls "the fastest growing sport in America," to unspecified game systems in fall 2008. Crave has teamed up with Professional Bull Riders, Inc. on the project. No developer has been announced.

"The sport of bull riding has gained tremendous momentum over the past few years, attracting a huge international audience as well as heavy duty corporate sponsors," said Crave president Rob Dyer.

Stranglehold to feature Xbox 360, PS3 collector's editions

Midway today announced that it will offer the Xbox 360 version of its upcoming John Woo Presents Stranglehold in a collector's edition package consisting of a development documentary, deleted cutscenes, and video spotlights on the game's artwork and sound design. The set will be available for $69.99, a $10 markup over the standard edition's price point, when the game ships in August.

Today's announcement follows last month's news that the PlayStation 3 version of the game will have its own collector's edition. Notably, that $69.99 package will include John Woo's classic action film Hard Boiled along with the game on one Blu-ray Disc. It will mark the first time the film is available in high definition.

More Guitar Hero II content next month

More tracks for the Xbox 360 version of Harmonix's Guitar Hero II will be released in July, according to a representative of publisher RedOctane on the game's official forums. No details regarding the nature of the content was divulved.

So far, all downloadable tracks for the game have been drawn from the original Guitar Hero (PS2). Released in April, they are available in packs of three for 500 Microsoft Points ($6.25) per pack.