Dolphy racing in the Hudson Gate space has proven quite popular since the space was released. We are therefore very pleased to announce that the space will be updated this week with a new course! Does your Dolphy have the right mix of stamina, speed and agility to master the new course or will you need to spend some time retraining your racing Dolphy?

Following on from the recent opening of their own store, LucasArts are back this week with a new collection of costumes sourced from Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2 including Jumptrooper, General Kota, Terror Trooper and Starkiller (with Dual Lightsabres!). Lockwood update their store inventory with a hand-held black rose, and Codeglue release a terrifying new item of furniture: a Guillotine! Alternatively, drop into the nDreams store and pick up the Black Party Robe – great for matching with their scythe!

Heavy Water release the first of their new Heavy Pets range this week, just in time for Halloween. Pick up the bell tower, tombstone or flaming brazier (or all of them in a discount bundle) from Furniture, place them in your personal space then watch as spooky creatures emerge and explore your space.

This weekend is Halloween, which is our own MusterBuster’s favourite holiday (for obvious reasons!). If you aren’t out partying this Halloween, why not drop into Home Square and see if you can earn a treat from our favourite pumpkin-person. Details on the forum . We’re also adding a stage to the centre of Home Square this week, surrounding the tree. Perfect place to show off your monster costumes, and perhaps mash together your own hideous dance routine with the help of friends (bonus points for incorporating well choreographed emotes and recording your dance on video!).

The folks from Adult Swim , who have been providing us with hours of Robot Chicken content for the Theatre for over a year now, have been in touch and wanted me to pass along a message from them. The full message is on the official PlayStation Home forum, however here’s an excerpt:

“So, after hours of deliberation over what shade of yellow is best for our Robot Chicken Silhouette t-shirt, forging our nerd’s glasses in virtual plastic and spending many, many days looking at what our items look like on electric people of varying degrees of size (don’t pretend you haven’t had fun with that too) we’re pleased to announce that we’re now selling t-shirts, tank tops and masks in the Shopping Centre”.

Audi have also been dropping messages in my inbox:

“50,000 aspiring musicians later and after over 130,000 tinkles on the ivories it’s time to say goodbye to the Audi Bösendorfer Piano. In one weeks time (Thursday 4th November) the piano will be leaving the Audi Home Terminal, so if you’re still chasing that elusive piano for your apartment or a bit more formal wear for a night out get in there now. Or if you fancy one last triumphant classical medley now’s the time. But don’t worry, there are plenty more new events and games planned before the end of the year. So watch this space for further announcements”.

Finally, please note that there will be PSN maintenance Thursday afternoon and evening. PlayStation Home will be closed for part of this maintenance. Please check for details and updates on this maintenance in the PSN forum.

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Hello everyone! The trick or tricking season is upon us, and here is a ghoulish comic update to entertain you and your zombie friends.

We have Deadpool (2008) comics for you! Yes. Deadpool is one of Marvel’s most famous anti-hero, a disfigured and mentally unstable mercenary – who loves breaking the fourth wall and talking to his readers. This ongoing series is penned by Daniel Way of Wolverine and Incredible Hulk fame, and illustrated by X-Men expert Paco Medina. Issues #1 to #7 are all available today.

Y: The Last Man returns with three new issues this week, #11 to issue #13. Yorick Brown is the last man on earth… but is he the last man in the solar system? Could the answer be in the International Space Station? Yorick’s terrifying pursuers don’t care, and chaos ensues as the women around him risk all to keep him alive. If you are not following this series yet, make sure you give it a try – #1 is FREE so no excuse!

No less stressful is IDW’s 5 Days to Die, this week reaching issue #3. Ray Cisara is a tough cop who has survived a terrible car accident… for now: his brain injury leaves him five days to live. Should he stay to protect his daughter whose life is put on the line by the crash? Or should he track down the person who nearly wiped his family? The cruel dilemma and its consequences unfold in this fast-paced action mini-series. Read and bite your nails!

Finally, here are a few topical recommendations for your Halloween week-end. Do you like slightly undead detectives and noir humour? IDW’s macabre and very funny Wormwood: Gentleman Corpse and Dead, She Said are for you. More of a zombie invasion fan? Check out the acclaimed Marvel Zombies and Marvel Zombies 2, as well as Chris Ryall and Ashley Wood’s beautifully creepy Zombies vs Robots and Zombies vs Robots Aventure. More undead mysteries can be found in Victorian Undead and in the fascinating story of Aleister Arcane. And of course let’s not forget Vampire Hunter D, Castlevania and the numerous Silent Hill comics we have in the store, amongst others.

Here is the full list of new comics for today: (more…)

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Hello there, beautiful PlayStation.Blog fans!

My name is Ed Fear and I’m the PR Manager at Curve Studios, an independent developer based in London. I’d like to take a moment of your time to introduce you to Explodemon, an awesome action-platformer coming to the PlayStation Network this Winter 2010.

I think the best way of telling you about Explodemon is with a suitably bombastic trailer, so take a look at this:

If that’s piqued your interest, hooray! If it didn’t pique your interest then, well, shame on you. Watch it again until it does.

Let me set the scene: the nefarious Vortex have mounted a surprise invasion on the planet Nibia, destroying its entire Guardian defence force in the process. Only one hope remains: the malfunctioning prototype Guardian Explodemon, locked in stasis after a, shall we say, ‘devastating’ activation experiment.

As his name suggests, Explodemon’s problem is that he’s ‘prone’ to exploding. It turns out that, surprisingly, Explodemon’s explosivity (so totally a word) will come in useful for fighting back the Vortex onslaught, navigating around the environment, and solving tricky physics-based puzzles.

Featuring 12 huge levels of pulse-pounding platforming, a deep control system, devastatingly up-close-and-personal combat, upgradable special abilities, comic-book style cut-scenes and a story that’ll make you giggle, cry, or simply sigh with indifference, Explodemon isn’t your average game. No way. It’s above average, at least. No, wait – so way above average that it’s pure awesome. That’s more like it.

We’ve been working on Explodemon for almost five years now, in some capacity or another, so we’re immeasurably excited to actually get it out to people before the end of the year.

If you’re thinking ‘Five years?’ then, well, that’s understandable. It’s a very long and dramatic story, featuring MYSTERIOUS BENEFACTORS! LAST-MINUTE DEAL BREAKDOWNS! HIDDEN USURPERS! and BOUNCY CASTLES! – well, okay, not the last one (I can dream). But it ultimately culminates in us deciding to follow our instincts and venture into the brave new world of self-publishing. But you look a little fidgety, and I don’t want to go on too much, so let’s save that for another blog post. Or possible movie rights.

Considering that I’ve just sold Explodemon to you so well, you’re gagging to have a go, right? (Yes. You are.) Well, you’re in luck – Curve Studios will be out in force to show off Explodemon to the world at the MCM Expo, from October 29th to 31st at the ExCeL Centre in London. We’ll also be giving away goodies and even copies of the game, so make sure you pop on by and say hello!

I hope you’ve enjoyed this little introduction to Explodemon, and that you’re suitably excited for what I can personally guarantee is the most EXPLOSIVE game to launch on PSN this Winter. If you’ve got any questions or comments, post them below – I’ll be skulking below in the comments section like a lonely man at a house party, gripping his drink and staring intently at his shoes, desperate for a snippet of conversation to latch on to.

P.S. Oh! I almost forgot! Make sure you follow us on Twitter @curvestudios to keep up-to-date on all the latest information and get exclusive screenshots not seen anywhere else. There are free copies of the game up for grabs too!

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Welcome one and all to another EU PlayStation Store ‘Heads-Up’ blog update. Mr Kebby may have left the building, but I will strive to continue his good work and keep on improving the Store as much as we can. If the next two years of upgrades and changes are in any way as welcome and successful as the improvements that happened under Mike’s care, then we’ll be in good shape.

Enough about Mike anyway… he’s undoubtedly sat at home in his pants playing Fallout New Vegas, but I have to talk about what we’ve got for you this week.

You’ve probably already downloaded Undead Nightmare, and if not then you really should – the chance to play another brand-new chunk of story from the sublime Red Dead Redemption should be reason enough, even without the promise of hordes of zombies to run down in your little red wagon. Don’t forget, if you’ve been holding out on grabbing all the Red Dead DLC, then the perfect chance has arrived in the shape of the Undead Collection, which also includes the ‘Liars and Cheats’ and ‘Legends and Killers’ packs at a cut down price.

No fewer than four demos for you this week – of course we have Time Crisis: Razing Storm for you Move owners, as well as NFS: Hot Pursuit, FOTNS: Ken’s Rage and the intriguing and quite charming Majin and the Forsaken Kingdom.

Continuing the zombie theme we’ve got the Sports Fan Skill Pack for Dead Rising 2 up for grabs – it’s a good one too, wearing the costume means your run speed really increases, which helps you dodge those nasty infected and for a bit of extra crowd control ability, try holding an American Football.

For your handhelds this week we’ve got Lunar: Silver Star Harmony, a really great RPG from Game Arts. Hopefully we’ll see more of these kinds of games on the Store soon.

And Pro Evolution Soccer makes a triumphant return to PSP this week with PES 2011. I should point out that you won’t be able to get this today – mainland Europe can snag it from tomorrow, UK bods will see it hit the Store on Friday and it’ll be next Friday (5th November) before you can grab it in Australia or New Zealand.

Anyways, I hope we’ve got something to please you this week and if not, odds are there’ll be something for you next week when it’s going to be crazy busy on the Store. I’ll be around for comments for chunks of the afternoon so if I don’t reply to you right away, check back a bit later on.

Bye for now!
(more…)

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Multiplayer Improvements!

Last week, we wrapped up the Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood closed beta. For the duration of the beta we received tons of great feedback from the community. Today, we’re happy to share with you a list of some of the improvements you’ll see in the final version of Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood when it ships in November. This list is by no means complete, but it should give you a good idea of what to expect from the multiplayer mode in the full game. Once again, we’d like to give a big “Thank You” to all who participated in the beta and helped make it a success!

Improvements / Fixes:

• Improved Matchmaking
• Improved Voice Chat
• Improved Lock Mechanism
• Improved Stun
• Improved Climbing Control
• Improved Sound
• Improved Kill Cams
• Improved Scoring Display
• Improved End Game Screen
• Improved Rematch

Added Features:

• New Group Lobby System
• Teammate Indicators in Alliance Mode
• Pursuer Proximity Sound
• Gun and Firecrackers Crowd Reaction
• Player Levels in Player List
• Team Score in Menus

Exotic Gameplay Q&A – Marc Alexis Cote, CP Level Design

Q: What is exotic gameplay?
A: What we call exotic gameplay is a sequence in the game that differs significantly from the rest and is usually a unique moment. An example of exotic gameplay that fans of Assassin’s Creed 2 will recall is Leonardo’s Flying Machine.

Q: Why have exotic gameplay in a game like Assassin’s Creed?
A: When you play a game like Assassin’s Creed that has more than 20 hours of content, it is beneficial to have segments where you do something completely different. These moments change the pace of the game and are used to give the player a really intense experience.

Q: What are the different ways a mission can be exotic?
A: Each exotic mission will take you to a different location in Italy and also be different from a visual perspective. The audio mix is also slightly more intense and more present to emphasize that you are doing something different. The exotic missions will therefore provide variety to all your senses.

Q: How did the exotic gameplay segments come to focus on Leonardo’s War Machines?
A: We wanted the exotic gameplay segments to be intense, packed with action and we wanted them to allow the player to feel powerful. Teaming-up with Leonardo’s genius creativity seemed like a perfect match for our intentions. In many ways, Leonardo was almost 4 to 5 centuries ahead of his time. The concept of a Tank seems very obvious to us living in the 21st century, but to actually come up with the idea when nothing comparable exists is nothing short of pure genius. Leonardo was also a popular character in AC2 and we wanted to give him a role of importance.

Q: What are the main challenges of designing and producing exotic gameplay segments?
A: When designing a War Machine for an exotic segment, we always have to keep in mind that it will be in the hands of players for a maximum of 5 to 10 minutes. Our first goal is to have a machine that players can have an instant feel for how it works. The goal here is to have a machine that is intuitive and is fun within the first few seconds of getting in it. We must also walk a fine line so that the player does not feel that he is in a completely different game.

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