PlayStation.Blog.Europe Weekly Content Recap

E3 may be over, but there’s more than enough fun and games to keep you going for the rest of the year and beyond. We’ve seen the likes of the horrifically excellent Dead Rising 2 lumber into sight, FIFA 11 warm up for kick off during the FIFA World Cup 2010, lots of PSN content… oh, and bizarrely enough, a Horse-boy. But enough of that non-game related horse-play. Onward!

• Xyanide: Resurrection - Classic arcade shooting action blasts on to PlayStation Store.
• E3 Interview: Final Fantasy XIV - James passes by the SquareEnix booth at E3 and has a less than random encounter with the Final Fantasy XIV developer.
• FirstPlay Episode 12 - The latest news and reviews from the FirstPlay team.
• Toad Tuesday! - The lovely Blue Toad Murder Files has a couple special offers for you. A cup of tea and a spot of murder, anyone?
• Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit At E3 - James chats with Criterion Games about the newest edition to the ever racy Need For Speed series.
• LocoRoco Midnight Carnival Pack - More levels, a strategy guide and a brilliant bundle await.
• Warhawk Fallen Star - Can you shine brightly enough in this Expansion Pack tournament?
• Get MAG Interdiction Tomorrow, Double XP This Weekend - The excellent 128 player first person shooter just got a promotion with a massive new game mode.
• Coconut Dodge! - Get your free update for addictive arcade game.
• ‘Heads-Up’ PlayStation Store Update (23rd June 2010) - Mike Kebby’s back for his weekly community catch-up, and this time he’s brought monkeys. Well, Monkey Island, anyway.
• Digital Comics Store Update (23rd June 2010) - More comic genius on your PSP
• DC Comics Explode On To PSP - Entertainment giants DC Comics takes its Digital Comics bow.
• FIFA 11 At E3 - EA makes a well timed run into the box with another potential winner.
• Updated: Prices and Content | PlayStation Plus Explained - More details on the exciting new way to enjoy PlayStation Network.
• Landit Bandit - one of the most novel games to land on PlayStation Store. Great title, too.
• PlayStation Home: Aliens Abducting Cows! - My words couldn’t possibly do this justice. Like The Matrix, this can only be experienced for yourself.
• Be The First To See The Karate Kid With Sony Pictures And See Film First - See Jackie Chan wax lyrical about martial arts at the premier. First! Yes, first!
• VIDZONE UPDATE: Just Loads of Videos! - Not able to get to any festivals or gigs? VidZone has the answer.
• Dead Rising 2 E3 Interview - Capcom talks about the superb looking zombie game which has comedy dripping from every pore. And limb.
• Enslaved: Odyssey to the West Video Interview - James asks a few questions to the developers of this incredible looking action adventure game.

Score:

• 5 Comments
• Share on Twitter
• Share on Facebook

Hi everyone – Alex Pavey here, making sure you’re in the loop on some really exciting news from the world of LittleBigPlanet. I’ll let the words of Mark Valledor over on the US Blog speak for themselves…

Hey, True Believers! Coming soon to the PlayStation Store will be a whole series of official Marvel comic Super Hero and Super Villain costumes for your Sackboys and Sackgirls. Starting July 7th and every other week following, we’ll introduce four different Marvel Costume Packs, each with five different costumes depicting Marvel’s mightiest Super Heroes and most dreaded Super Villains. Starting Monday, Marvel.com will unveil the glorious details for each costume. But for now, here’s the full list to let your imagination run wild…

• Captain America
• Daredevil
• Doctor Octopus
• Elektra
• Ghost Rider
• Green Goblin
• Hulk
• Invisible Woman
• Iron Man
• The Human Torch
• Magneto
• Mystique
• The Punisher
• Rogue
• Spider-Man
• Storm
• The Thing
• Thor
• Venom
• Wolverine

Plus, we’re also unveiling a spectacular Marvel Level Kit, which includes a four levels of adventure against the evil plans of Magneto. And of course, while you play through the levels, you’ll collect a huge assortment of Marvel-themed music , objects , materials , stickers , and a special “Rooftop” background to help you CREATE your own dastardly levels. Stay tuned to more details on the Marvel Level Kit next week. Till then…

Make mine Marvel.

Score:

• 29 Comments
• Share on Twitter
• Share on Facebook

Enslaved: Odyssey to the West is one of the most visually striking games I played at E3. It’s developed by Ninja Theory of Heavenly Sword fame and the story is written by Alex Garland, author of The Beach and the scriptwriter behind 28 Days Later. It also features the acting and directorial talents of Andy Serkis.

It’s one of the games I’m most looking forward to this year so at E3, Jeff Rubenstein was kind enough to stay behind the camera while I spoke to the game’s creative director, Tam Antoniades.

Enslaved: Odyssey to the West will be available on PS3 this Autumn.

Score:

• 11 Comments
• Share on Twitter
• Share on Facebook

Dead Rising 2 is a zombie game with its tongue hanging out of its cheek. You control Chuck Greene, a motorcross champion trapped in a zombie apocalypse in the fictional Fortune City, which is loosely based on Las Vegas. After tearing through a few hundred zombies with a pair of chainsaws attached to a canoe paddle, I lurched over to Capcom’s Mike Schmitt and asked a few questions.

What kind of story is there in Dead Rising 2?

“Chuck is competing in a gameshow called Terror is Reality in order to earn some money and cure his daughter, who has been bitten by a zombie. That’s his main motivation but there’s also a conspiracy against him, with people blaming him for the zombie outbreak at the beginning of the game.”

Given that the story allows for multiple paths and endings, how many unique playthroughs are possible?

“I don’t know the final count but there are multiple endings and we definitely want people to go back and keep playing, because levelling Chuck up opens up new areas and things to do.”

I’ve had some fun here combining weapons; how many combinations are there?

“Again, we haven’t given out an exact number but it’s a lot – dozens and dozens. We want people to search for combo cards and just try putting stuff together at random. Combining weapons is some of the most fun that can be had in the game, as far as we’re concerned, and combination weapons give you double PP, allowing you to level up much quicker.”

What’s your favourite combination?

“My favourite is the Freedom Bear. If you take a jumbo teddy bear and combine it with a machine gun, it turns into a sentry with a Rambo headband that you can place in congested areas, and it will mow down zombies with machine gun fire for what seems like hours.”

Is the co-operative gameplay integrated into the story?

“Your friends can jump into your game at any point and if you want to play co-operatively from start to finish, then you can do that. The host player controls things like saving but whoever jumps in can carry PP and Combo Cards over to their own game. Playing with friends is particularly useful for things like boss fights and it is fun to just mess around.”

Do you also have competitive multiplayer?

“Yes, we have a four player versus mode which plays off the Terror is Reality theme. There are ten different events to play, including one where you’re all riding motorcycles with chainsaws attached to the handlebars and it’s a race to see who can kill the most zombies before the time runs out.”

Finally, what do you want people to feel when they play Dead Rising 2?

“Excitement… the feeling that you want to keep playing because you don’t know what to expect. I really want people to pick up on the humour. A lot of zombie games are so serious but Dead Rising 2 is about the ridiculous predicament Chuck finds himself in and the way that you’re able to humiliate zombies and use anything as a weapon makes it comical.”

Score:

• 8 Comments
• Share on Twitter
• Share on Facebook

Alright loyal VidZone Crew! After a day of sore heads from celebrating our first birthday we have been on a mission to get you a seriously good update of videos, even better than usual I think, I’m biased but… it’s true!

Over the next couple of weeks we have new videos from Lady Gaga, Eminem, Tiffany Page, Scissor Sisters and interviews with Taylor Hawkins, Sean Kingston and Kelly Rowland! We also have new playlists and TV channels including a power ballads playlist chosen by yours truly.

Also, thanks for all of you that have downloaded the Faithless concert from the store, it’s our first Pay per View event and we will hopefully be bringing many more over the coming months for your viewing pleasure. For those of you that missed this, go HERE to find out all about it, then download it hopefully.

(more…)

Score:

• 28 Comments 8 Replies
• Share on Twitter
• Share on Facebook