Warhawk flies into the US

Foster City (CA) - The game that Sony hopes can fully unleash the online power of the Playstation 3, Warhawk, is now available in stores and on the console’s digital download store.

Warhawk is an aerial combat game that marks Sony’s biggest online gaming push to date. It has no single-player mode and highly promotes the online multiplayer component. There is, however, an offline multiplayer mode as well.

Up to four players can share one screen, in both offline and online play. Battles can contain a maximum of 32 players. A complete online feature set complements the game, with leaderboards, team creation, and a full slate of statistics.

It’s the first PS3 game to be offered both as a Blu-ray Disc title and as a download from the console’s Playstation Network service. The BD version comes packed with a free Bluetooth headset and additional bonus video.

Though originally planned for a simultaneous release with the US and Europe, the Euro version has been delayed two days because, according to the semi-official Playstation blog Three Speech, weekly updates to the Playstation Network can only occur on Thursdays.

Priced at around $40, the Playstation Network version the most expensive game offered on any of the consoles’ digital download services. The retail Blu-ray Disc package has a list price of around $60.