REMINDER: The Lab - M - 32 Hammers Only

Welcome back to final “The Lab” weekend in April!

I’m sure everyone has been carefully reviewing all the UNCHARTED 3: Drake’s Deception multiplayer details we revealed earlier this week and – I hope – you are all looking forward to getting some hands on when the beta hits on June 28, 2011. However, that’s still a couple of months away – and our episode of “The Lab” this weekend can take care of that online multiplayer itch.

“The Lab” is a special, limited-time playlist for UNCHARTED 2: Among Thieves multiplayer that is active every other weekend. “The Lab” playlist features one or more custom-tuned gametype variations chosen by our game designers to test potential new settings, try out alternate gametypes in a real-world setting or just mix things up for the sake of variety.

“The Lab” is open from Friday, April 22, at 10:00 AM PDT (what time is that in my city?) through Monday, April 25, at 10:00 AM PDT (what time is that in my city?).

We last ran the M – 32 Hammers Only episode of “The Lab” in November 2010. We had a lot of fun with it and it sure sounded like many of you liked it quite a bit as well! In this episode of “The Lab,” all players are armed with only an M - 32 Hammer, which all but guarantees that each match will be full of explosions and knockdowns – of course, unless you’ve slotted in the Sure Foot booster.

It's been a while since we last ran a Double or Triple or more cash weekend, so we're also really happy to let you know that we'll be running Triple Cash throughout the entirety of "The Lab" this weekend! Please note that we'll be removing the Chain Reaction gametype from the All Competitive Modes during this "The Lab" and Triple Cash combo weekend.

The maps available during this weekend of “The Lab” are:

• The Plaza
• The Sanctuary
• The Temple
• The Village

We’ll be opening a brand new M – 32 Hammers discussion thread on the Naughty Dog community forums at about the same time “The Lab” starts this weekend. Be sure to leave your thoughts after you’ve had a chance to play a few rounds!

As I'm sure many of you are aware, the PlayStation Network is currently experiencing an extended outage which may affect the start of "The Lab" and Triple Cash weekend. Check back on the PlayStation.Blog (view the EU PlayStation.Blog here) and the @PlayStation Twitter account for updates on the outage.