What's that, Chris Cashman, host of Xbox Live's 1 vs 100? Oh yeah, "skill-based prizes" start next week, July 10, specifically. Great! Unfortunately, though, what we heard from Mr. Cashman during tonight's game of 1 vs 100 wasn't all good news.

He continued, saying that while the prizes will start next week "for the mob," the game will be staying in beta. Guess that means this isn't part of the first "season" of prizes? We're not so sure, but we are sure of this -- given the whole fireworks thing going on this weekend, we're probably not going to hear more news on the subject until at least Monday.

Update: Near the end of the episode, Cashman also seemed to mention that "the one" would also be eligible for "skill-based prizes." We're currently following up with Microsoft about getting more concrete information about the prizes, the new sweepstakes announced last night and how long the show plans to stay in beta. We'll be sure to update as soon as we hear back.

After deftly dodging questions like, "How many polygons are there in Nathan's eyebrow?" and "Can I give Elena an accent in my fanfic?" Naughty Dog co-president Evan Wells confirmed a new Uncharted 2: Among Thieves demo in an online Q&A held yesterday, courtesy of the PlayStation Blog. "Yes, we're going to have another multiplayer demo before the game hits shelves," Wells said. "The exact timing isn't finalized yet, but it should be available to an even wider group this time, so if you missed the last one I don't think you'll have any problem getting in this one."

We're hoping that by "even wider group," he's referring to everyone who can't wait to play the frantically anticipated action-adventure (which is everyone) and failed to gain entry into the recent beta. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves is currently scheduled for release this Fall -- a more exact date will be announced "very soon," Wells teased.

Joystiq tipsters -- and Xbox.com regulars -- have noticed a strange Beta 2009 icon appearing on some Xbox 360 'Played Games' profiles. While speculation (or hopes and dreams) was that the icon was related to something important, sources tell Joystiq that Microsoft is internally testing Avatar awards. Sorry, no megatons here.

From what we've been told, the test is an executable built for Beta users to play with the awards program before it launches. Avatar awards are triggered by in-game achievements: when a player unlocks an award -- clothing was the only specific award mentioned -- it is made available in the Avatar customization menu of the NXE. Select Xbox 360 users are already sporting fancy new threads, which are presumably related to this beta test.

Avatar awards were one of the many new features coming to the NXE revealed at E3 2009 -- including the smart evil idea of charging users for the real "cool" stuff.

Being El Presidente of a South American country is an exclusive club. With that in mind, Kalypso Media is currently taking applications for players interested in Tropico 3's closed PC beta. Despite what you've been led to believe in recent years, a beta is not a demo, and your job is to actually help test the game and report bugs.

Those interested in helping make the banana republic simulator the best it can be, can head on over to the Haemimont Games website and fill out an application. The actual testing begins July 13. Tropico 3 is expected to start a revolution on PC and Xbox 360 this September.

Naughty Dog just gave us 300 Uncharted 2 multiplayer codes to give out (zowie, thanks guys!), and we're going to be randomly dropping them in groups of 30 throughout the day. If you snag one, pop it into your PS3 right away ... there are only two weeks left in the beta! But that's still plenty of time to plunder and "accidentally" kill your own team with grenades.

Stay tuned to the Joystiq Twitterfeed for more info. We're not going to be doing a Da Vinci Code treasure hunt for these suckers, but they won't be right here on the front page either. Watch shortly for the first batch, and keep your PS3 opened to the PlayStation Store where you can redeem the codes. Good luck!

Update: We've confirmed via Naughty Dog that these codes are good for the US and Canada only, unfortunately. Sorry about that! It's out of our hands, unfortunately.

Naughty Dog recently released a patch for the multiplayer beta of Uncharted 2, and we contacted them to get more information on the changes, especially to the grenades. If only these had been made before our team matches, we might not have dealt out so much death to our teammates.

Naughty Dog's Multiplayer Designer Justin Richmond got back to us with some answers:

Was player feedback the reason for the tweaks? Or was it internal?

A little of both. We LOVE getting feedback on the forums, and appreciate everybody taking the time to post about what they like and dislike. The data from the players themselves is invaluable.

Almost everything we patched for was stuff that was broken in code that we could address in a short amount of time. We did raise the score limits in the game pre-patch due to overwhelming player response. We have been looking at the forums constantly and are aware of all of the issues that people have with the game. Already, changes have been made based on feedback from the beta that are NOT in the patch however, and we will continue to do so as we hear from the players on the forums.

What specifically was changed about the grenades? Made more powerful? Less powerful? Can you still teamkill with them?

Players will still take team damage from grenades as they did before, but accidentally grenade killing your whole team in the first seconds of a game are being fixed for the full game. We are also tweaking the "kick" system.

We've been spending the past few nights teamkilling Plundering, Deathmatching and Co-opping in the Uncharted 2 multiplayer beta, and it's been extremely fun. Right now the game is limited to custom parties of 5, but at launch it will support parties of 10, so you can take two teams of friends head to head in Plunder and Deathmatch, while Co-op supports 2 or 3 players.

So what did we think about it? Head beyond the break to see the writeup and to watch video from our sessions, and to see the list of what we liked and what we didn't like. Naughty Dog is asking for feedback on the beta, so maybe they'll be able to tweak some things before launch. However the "fun" knob was definitely turned up to 11, so we weren't complaining (much). Except when we got pwned.

Naughty Dog co-president Evan Wells has confirmed that the multiplayer beta for Uncharted 2: Among Thieves begins late tonight / early tomorrow morning -- midnight June 3, to be exact. The beta is open to Qore subscribers and those who who purchased inFamous (which, if you haven't, our review says you should!).

The beta includes two playlists, co-op and competitive, which sounds just like what we got our hands on -- and had a hard time getting them off of -- last month. We wish everyone luck in getting past the saloon in co-op. It's kinda tough.

For those of you with stockpiles of canned goods and automatic weapons in an underground bunker, patiently waiting for a) the zombie apocalypse or b) a Canadian invasion we have goo ... well, we have news. You can prepare for both occurrences on your Xbox 360 by alternating between Left 4 Dead and the 1 vs 100 beta!

Wait, let us explain ...

You see, the 1 vs 100 beta has heretofore been limited to The Great Nation of Canada but, beginning June 1st (read: the day of Microsoft's press conference next Monday!), that beta will be expanded to include the US as well. You see where we're going with this: While we can't guarantee you'll be matching wits with Canadians every game, we think you'll agree that the mere potential of a mental mano-a-mano (-a-mano-a-mano-a ...) with real live Canadians presents a thrill you probably haven't experienced since firing that first round into a cardboard cutout of zombie Celine Dion.

If you decided to sit comfortably next to your computer tonight, with a nice glass of wine waiting on 1 vs 100 US Beta information, go to bed. According to the 1 vs 100 Twitter account (verified as official by Major Nelson and in an email from Microsoft PR), the promise of news regarding a US beta for the Xbox Live Primetime game has been put on hold.

A tweet earlier today doled out the bad news: "A few more things need to be in place before we can share the good news w/you." While the update promises news on the horizon for US players, as of now, the 1 vs 100 beta is reserved solely for those lucky Canadians.

When asked for comment, the nearest American available, editor Alexander Sliwinski said, "Apparently free health care isn't enough for you people."

It's been a while since we've been able to talk about Huxley, and now it seems the MMOFPS thing has not been taken out back and shot dead. Indeed, the closed beta for the game is getting into full swing, and players are able to sign up for participation.

But, before you get all excited, know that you can't play the game yet; Huxley's teaser site is only accepting entries at this point in time. You can merely sign up to maybe play it in the future.

[Thanks, Paul!]

Here's another way to get into the upcoming Uncharted 2 multiplayer beta. If you're on the fence about inFamous and don't want to pick it up, all you have the option of becoming a Qore subscriber. New and existing subscribers will receive an e-mail voucher granting access to the multiplayer trial on June 3rd. However, you must subscribe by May 15th to receive the invitation.

Episode 12 of Sony's e-magazine features previews of Ghostbusters and Batman: Arkham Asylum. In addition, the episode will also include a bonus inFamous theme that "evolves over time." Check out a preview after the break.

Looks as though Sony's "electrifying announcement" may have been leaked a bit early. A Best Buy pre-order box features this promo for an Uncharted 2 "Multiplayer Beta Voucher," as revealed by Kotaku. From what we can garner from the box, purchasing inFamous will give players an early preview of Uncharted 2's online mode. This would be a rather smart move on Sony's part, leveraging one of its biggest franchises to promote a new IP.

Oh, and multiplayer in Uncharted 2??? That sounds pretty rad, too. Guess we'll find out all the details when embargoes end on Monday.

[Thanks, tmacairjordan87!]

Update: Looks like they're out of codes now. Hope you got in!

Didn't have cake yesterday? Don't worry, here's another chance to enter the Fat Princess beta. If you're one of the first 1600 people to register at USA Today, you'll be delivered a poppin' fresh code right to your e-mail. Yum! You'll want to hurry up because if you're reading this right now, that means thousands of other people are as well. GO!

[Thanks, Hugo!]

Hurry and rush to a bakery! The first 250 people to take a picture of themselves eating cake will be eligible to gain access into the Fat Princess beta. To enter, simply snap a shot and upload it to PlayStation's Facebook fan page. This beta is a real beta -- not a glorified demo -- so you'll have to submit feedback and play it like a beta tester should.

Now, if you'll excuse us, we have to stop by the grocery to pick up some Devil's Food.

[Via PlayStation.Blog]