NewsSpots: Heavenly Sword, Nitrobike, NASCAR 08, Overlord

Heavenly Sword swings with 10GB of sound
One undisputed advantage Sony's PlayStation 3 has over its competitors is the built-in Blu-ray player media format, which is capable of significantly more storage space than standard DVD discs. And while rumors continue to circulate that developers of cross-platform games have been hard-pressed to fully take advantage of that space, at least one Sony exclusive seems to be lathering on the extra touches in spades. In an interview with Develop Magazine, Ninja Theory's Tom Colvin and Sony Europe's Garry Taylor revealed that the anticipated action adventure Heavenly Sword contains more than 10GB of sound data--which is bigger than most games in their entirety. The game will reportedly feature approximately three and a half hours of music as well as more than 4,500 lines of spoken dialogue.

Nitrobike boosts to November
During the hemorrhaging of news at this year's E3 Media and Business Summit, Ubisoft revealed that its newest arcade-style racer Nitrobike would be coming exclusively to Nintendo's Wii later this year. Earlier this week, the France-based publisher updated the game's release window, from a broad "holiday season" approximation to a more narrow "November" street date. From the makers of Excitebike 64, Nitrobike features rocket-propelled motorcycles over various courses. The game also includes both single-player and online play.

EA Crafts NASCAR 08 tourney
As noted in GameSpot's review of the game, NASCAR 08 doesn't have much company on the retail circuit. With no rivals hitting the ignition switch for the game, EA is creating its own competition with its recently announced EA Sports Craftsman Challenge. Taking place in 11 different cities spanning the US over the next six months, players compete in NASCAR 08 on the Xbox 360. Registered participants can compete at either select Sears or Kmart retail locations, or online from their own home. The grand prize winner will receive $10,000. For more on the contest or to register, head over to EA's official tournament site.

Overlord 360 goes split-screen
Triumph Studio's despotic action adventure will be getting a free download on the Xbox Live Marketplace, which will "soon be available," reveals Codemasters. The new content will let gamers go head-to-head in a new split-screen multiplayer mode for the 360 on all existing multiplayer maps. Overlord was released in June on the 360 and PC, and allowed gamers to play the despot by commanding a small army of malicious minions.