OK, cards on the table: today is something of a slow news day and a couple of posts have slipped, meaning I don’t have much to bring you here on PlayStation.Blog. It has just been one of those days.
I couldn’t possibly leave you bereft of PlayStation content to read so here’s a round-up of other blogs that I like, both first and third party (feel free to suggest more).
And while I have your attention, I can reveal that my regular feature, The Friday Debate, is going to receive a free patch in the next few weeks that will enable a competition feature, in which the most insightful comments will win a PSN game of my choosing (which means it will be great). Problem is, I’ve been doing them every week for quite a while and I’m getting low on topics. Make some suggestions of what you want to discuss here in the comments and I’ll put a list together.
Those clever brains behind UNCHARTED, Jak & Daxter and Crash Bandicoot support their fans with an active blog that combines updates from the development of UNCHARTED 3: Drake’s Deception with the latest community events in UNCHARTED 2′s multiplayer and retrospectives on their past work. Their six-parter on the creation of Crash is a fascinating read.
With Resistance 3 and Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One in development, it’s amazing that anyone at Insomniac Games ever gets any sleep. However, they still find time to interact with their dedicated community via their blog, forums, podcasts and the ever-popular Full Moon Show. I really like their recent post, which is kind of like a PowerPoint presentation on their COO’s favourite games – an idea that I wish I would have come up with first!
Keeping a consistent stream of news coming every single day can be a challenge (as this post attests) and I particularly like the way that they highlight fan art from around the web, like this incredible Street Fighter piece.
It isn’t so much a blog, but I check in here once in a while for goals.
Rockstar Games Newswire
Rockstar has provided some of the most talked about PlayStation games from way back in the PS one days, and their releases are always big events in the industry. It can be difficult to get the right balance between marketing and community fun, and the Newswire does a good job. While you’re there, check out this beautiful Red Dead Redemption PS3.
47 CommentsAdd Yours
1
Posted on 22 February, 2011 at 2:52 pm by Labreya
I’ve got a topic of discussion for you.
“What genre is overdone?”
Will it be zombie games? Sandbox titles? FPS games?
everyone has a type of game that when they see a new one they think “Again? What is this?!!” so maybe it’s time to find out what they are and why people feel that way.
Posted on 22 February, 2011 at 2:56 pm by James Gallagher
That is a good one – added to the list. It’s not really a genre but I’d vote for games that have nothing to do with zombies, but find a way to include them anyway.
2
Posted on 22 February, 2011 at 3:01 pm by Labreya
Well then it could be gameing cliches. That’d easily cover shoehorned zombies.
Remember after Max Payne was out, and EVERY third person shooter had bullet time?
3
Posted on 22 February, 2011 at 3:19 pm by orton131
An interesting read James, thanks also thanks for the links to the other blogs, added to my favourites, now you just need to answer my 50 odd PSN msgs LOL.
Posted on 22 February, 2011 at 3:34 pm by James Gallagher
Thanks… make that the 500 or so messages that I get from everyone! To answer one of them, I will be getting Bulletstorm but I’m not sure if I’ll jump into it straight away now that the Killzone servers are live…
4
Posted on 22 February, 2011 at 3:23 pm by KAP
Zombie games…. waaaaay over done.
5
Posted on 22 February, 2011 at 3:25 pm by AKGermany
“Where and and how long do people play on handheld devices?”
“What kind of games(depth vs. small app) do they want on those platforms?”
would be two interesting discussions.
The handheld gaming market is pretty diverse after the smartphones hit, and with Sony launching the NGP sometime down the road, it’s a releveant topic.
Posted on 22 February, 2011 at 3:34 pm by James Gallagher
That is an interesting idea – added to the list.
6
Posted on 22 February, 2011 at 3:25 pm by Evil_Dr_Z
How about ‘classic’ games that should be remade/remastered/re-imagined? or even just ones that we all enjoyed to no end?
When I say classic I mean 16bit or earlier.
‘Cos I’m old.
7
Posted on 22 February, 2011 at 3:37 pm by russdude13
What about, ‘NGP, Xperia Play, or Both?’
Or, ‘What games are you looking forward to most in 2011?’
The list would include games such as, Uncharted 3, Motorstorm Apocalypse, inFAMOUS 2, Killzone 3, Resistance 3, etc. (Sorry if I’ve missed any big ones)
8
Posted on 22 February, 2011 at 3:37 pm by soidut
How about the best jokes found in games!!
9
Posted on 22 February, 2011 at 3:39 pm by Carl-G
Here is a question you could ask -
‘Do you want PS2 playback to come back to the PS3′
10
Posted on 22 February, 2011 at 3:41 pm by Carl-G
@9(i.e me) i forgot to say – YES i do! ! !
11
Posted on 22 February, 2011 at 3:47 pm by Skookie30
yesterday was a slow news day as well is this gonna be the norm i think it quite repetitive. :/
Posted on 22 February, 2011 at 3:59 pm by James Gallagher
It happens from time to time and there’s stuff going on behind the scenes that is quite dull but keeping people busy nonetheless. This is a very active blog so it’s more noticeable when we have a quiet day or two.
12
Posted on 22 February, 2011 at 3:56 pm by Thirsty-Duck
Hello, James.
I have a quick question, When is the store updating? Been waiting for the New Vegas DLC for quite a while.
Posted on 22 February, 2011 at 4:01 pm by James Gallagher
Usual time on Wednesday, as far as I know.
13
Posted on 22 February, 2011 at 3:59 pm by Opt1mus76
Some suggestions for friday debates -
Most frustrating game? Not the hardest but which one has left players fuming because of obscure puzzles or poor game design/controls.
Also which games, even after 100% complete, have gamers still returned to (excluding multiplayer modes) for either one particular level or just for sheer joy?
Classic games that were left open for a sequel but never got one?
Retro games that need HD remake? Which ones and why? What made them good enough to deserve a remake? Forgotten classics perhaps?
Posted on 22 February, 2011 at 4:03 pm by James Gallagher
Some great ones there – I particularly like the ‘games that should have had a sequel’. I’d probably go with Canis Canem Edit – they should make ‘The University Years’.
14
Posted on 22 February, 2011 at 4:06 pm by almighty-slayer
http://www.iwaggle3d.com/ is a brilliant blog (sort of) about Move, with techy things and brilliant game videos with commentary. He’s brilliant at what he does
Also James, i look forward to keeping my promise about showing you how to play Killzone 3
Haha
Posted on 22 February, 2011 at 4:10 pm by James Gallagher
Ah yes, I know this one, mainly because it launched around the same time as Move and whoever runs it was trying to ‘outreply’ me by answering questions on the blog. I’m not complaining – he knew more than me!
Yes, luckily for you I’m away this weekend, so you’ve got some time to practice for the pain.
15
Posted on 22 February, 2011 at 4:16 pm by Thirsty-Duck
Thanks James, That cleared it up for me.
16
Posted on 22 February, 2011 at 4:16 pm by almighty-slayer
Yeah, he’s a poster at NeoGaf, he seems to know pretty much everything there is to know about Move!
Fighting talk that is, James. You’ll be the one in pain when the game is over
17
Posted on 22 February, 2011 at 4:19 pm by rymanb
Nice post, James.
A couple of Friday debate ideas:
- Should developers rely on patching to remove bugs from games (or should the release of a game be delayed instead)?
- Will downloadable media ever take over from physical media?
- Online gaming – do the single player portions of games with online multiplayer components suffer?
18
Posted on 22 February, 2011 at 4:23 pm by hjm50
Off Topic slightly
Is there going to be information on the SOCOM beta this week? As it’s next month
Posted on 22 February, 2011 at 4:34 pm by James Gallagher
I’m chasing but nothing yet.
19
Posted on 22 February, 2011 at 4:43 pm by dgnfly
@Skookie30
the norm for SCEE is if everybody’s great we suck!!!
@James gallagher
this website is full off repeats. we see the same game so many times it’s becoming boring 2 even go and comment look at what U.S is doing like i said make some more blog about unknown games the mortal kombat one was a nice suprise but that’s about it
o ya and this made laugh ,This is a very active blog,
ya when the complaints start rolling in
20
Posted on 22 February, 2011 at 4:46 pm by JolipinatorJG
We have to wait another day for the store to update? I thought it was on Tuesdays now.
Posted on 22 February, 2011 at 4:49 pm by James Gallagher
Nope, not sure where you heard that one.
21
Posted on 22 February, 2011 at 4:50 pm by CassyChan
This is why you’re the best blogger at SCEE James, even when there’s nothing to blog you’ll blog that there’s nothing to blog about!
I love the Friday Debates, here a few fairly generic suggestions anyway:
What’s that one (or more) game that really made you want to get a PS3?
Favourite, least favourite, most loved and feared game characters?
Favourite game of each PlayStation console?
Linear versus non-linear (in terms of freedom gameplay and player choice/actions affecting story)?
Favourite developers?
Posted on 22 February, 2011 at 4:59 pm by James Gallagher
Wow, thanks! This is really helping me out – I LOVE the linear/open-world one. I think that would generate some interesting comments. BTW, I just heard from legal and I should be good to kick these comps off in the next 2/3 weeks. That means free games for you and no more weekends for me!
22
Posted on 22 February, 2011 at 4:51 pm by JolipinatorJG
Mine used to update on Thursdays, then people started telling me it was Tuesday, and I followed when MAG released a DLC on a Tuesday. I never heard anything about a Wednesday.
Posted on 22 February, 2011 at 5:00 pm by James Gallagher
I’m with you. There are some extremely rare cases when we will do a special publish for something like DLC for a big title. 99.9% of the time though, the updates are on Wednesdays.
23
Posted on 22 February, 2011 at 4:53 pm by almighty-slayer
It used to be thursday, but it was changed to wednesday. The US update was changed to Tuesday though, maybe you’re thinking of that
24
Posted on 22 February, 2011 at 5:00 pm by JolipinatorJG
Well then, any estimate as to what time of day it will update tomorrow?
Posted on 22 February, 2011 at 5:01 pm by James Gallagher
It’s usually between 3 and 4pm GMT.
25
Posted on 22 February, 2011 at 5:02 pm by JolipinatorJG
Thanks. I’ll sleep it off, and be cheery by then.
26
Posted on 22 February, 2011 at 6:15 pm by HazelAM
with regards to blogs, i don’t usually follow individual dev’s blogs, i just visit more general gaming sites to find news, http://www.thesixthaxis.com is one of my favourites, i’ll have that fiver now nofi if you’re reading.
the gaming news sites usually do a better job of gathering information than i would anyway.
and now a couple of ideas for friday debates.
has gaming affected your life? did you meet friends and/or partners through gaming?
if you could join one developer and make a game with them, who would it be, and what would the game be like.
if you could pick one literary character, any genre, to base a game around, who would it be?
hamlet? peter pan? paul atreides? alex?
Posted on 23 February, 2011 at 4:18 pm by James Gallagher
Ace ideas! I’m definitely going to use these, possibly this week. You just took me back to when I was little and I decided I was going to make my fortune designing a Roy of the Rovers game. Alas, it got me nowhere. If I were to choose a literary character now, it would be K from The Castle, by Franz Kafka, and it would be a bit like Myst.
27
Posted on 22 February, 2011 at 6:24 pm by KC-alpha-14
How about which console is better. Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3.
Actually second thoughts, best not start a flame war.
28
Posted on 22 February, 2011 at 8:14 pm by enormhi
Suggestion for the blog: What about a Q&A with developers on Killzone 3 from Guerrilla Games?
29
Posted on 22 February, 2011 at 9:09 pm by Dante_Zero
a few idea’s as subjects for friday debate.
- what future features would we like to see on ps3
- first gaming memories when you first got you ps3
- what movie franchises would make great episodic games
- what psone classics would make great net gen reboots
- idea’s to improve blog
- gaming ethic’s ie is boosting wrong?
- interviews with Sony R&D
- where do you read the blog post
- 2011 what games are you getting?
- deabte ps plus 6 months on
- whats you gaming blonde moment?
- gaming stereo types
- communitys thoughts on Sonys advertisement
- State EU gaming scence
- music in games
- a debate of gaming journalism
- favorite blog posts since blog launched
- favorite developers
- are games art?
- comunity favorites from around the web.
just a few idea’s
30
Posted on 22 February, 2011 at 9:10 pm by Dante_Zero
think there a few typo’s in my last post. sorry in advance
31
Posted on 22 February, 2011 at 11:14 pm by Project2insanity
Few possible debates:
Can an awesome soundtrack make a mediocre game great?
Are smarter people smarter gamers?
Pythagoras was a jerk. Discuss.
32
Posted on 23 February, 2011 at 12:38 am by KylieDog
If I suggest a real topic like ‘why do SCEE let publishers rip off Euro people with horrible pricing difference to the US ( accounting for VAT even)’ would it actually be put for discussion, or just looking for suggestions where ‘yeah that looks cool’ is an answer?
Tomb Raider games $6 in US. £8 here, we pay over double the US, SCEE do not care…
33
Posted on 23 February, 2011 at 7:06 am by Lamkers
Any news about Playstation App (Iphone) for Poland and other countries?
34
Posted on 23 February, 2011 at 7:44 am by MobileTone
not forgetting :// threespeech . co . cc of course
35
Posted on 23 February, 2011 at 8:37 am by Dante_Zero
also an idea for the blog. james has to complete a weekly gaming challenge set by the comunity cime up with two idea’s a week and the blog watchers vote on one of the idea’s which james has to carry out.
36
Posted on 23 February, 2011 at 8:40 am by JonnyPauz
discussion idea
do you think that sony should steam live events like game launches, comps, e3 etc???
37
Posted on 23 February, 2011 at 8:55 am by obiadekanobi1980
hpw about
why do sony treat uk ps3 users like trash by charging more for the games and then giving us the game a week later than the US killzone 3 im looking at you???
oh sorry james i know you dont answer serious questions u blog guys are more like politcians than our freinds
but serious now ive posted and asked this on every blog post and it feels like your dodging the question plus its always the awsome games that we get later than others it makes me sick to see my US buddys on my list playing killzone 3 for a cheaper price and i cant even buy it on the same day for shame bet this post dosent get answerd
38
Posted on 23 February, 2011 at 10:03 am by fleinn
“Make some suggestions of what you want to discuss here in the comments and I’ll put a list together.”
..sure, James. Thought I’ll have to be brief, thanks to the character limit.
1. Why am I not playing Xenogears on my ps3 and psp right now? And why is Sony preventing me from buying it on the NA store, even though my credit card has money on it? Money that presumably Sony wants?
2. How come Tales of Graces never make it to the EU region.
3. How come we’ve no idea of any sort of release window for most titles, unless we periodically and specifically look for it? I’m not three years old, Gallagher, I am not impressed when someone dangles a toy in front of my face, telling me that I “can perhaps have it, but not just yet”. Instead, it makes me resent Sony as a whole.
4. Where are the features and behind the scenes content that ONLY YOU OUT OF THE ENTIRE FRAAKKING PRESS HAS ACCESS TO, YOU &%¤#¤¤%&!!!!!
5. When are you going to hire some actual writing talent?
39
Posted on 23 February, 2011 at 12:32 pm by gr0undp0und
James – I will add my question that has now been ignored three times
What happened to the site where we could request games and apps for plus members as well as PSN?
Also, I completed a questionnaire from Playstation about 18 months ago asking what bundle deals we would like to see for PSN and that included cross game chat, insurance and others. Where is any of that? None of it was implemented.
Honest, if I don’t get a response to this (again), you guys proved you are really lousy reps of Sony and should work for Treyarch!
40
Posted on 23 February, 2011 at 12:34 pm by gr0undp0und
Oh, and are you related to Josh Olin (Twitter @jd_2020)? You seem to respond just as much as him too
41
Posted on 23 February, 2011 at 12:35 pm by gr0undp0und
Any news on when the crappy Android app is being updated? Do your engineers read the feedback pages?
You see James – there seems to be more negativity aimed towards you guys, because you don’t respond!
42
Posted on 23 February, 2011 at 1:33 pm by gbh08
why dont we have a debate about the 3.56 firmware update that corrupted legitimate users hard drives and left them with bricks, and how sony failed to help or talk about it publicly, and how there tech support lie and give false infos, or how sony are sueing the small guy and contridicting itself between the two court cases or how out of touch sony is with what consumers want, or how there trying to gather infos about users who commented on certain youtube videos! or about how bad and disgusting sony look right now! or about how many of us are ever going to buy a sony product ever again…
i never thought id say anything like this…. but sony really need to take a leaf out of microsofts book
all worthy of a good chin wag id say
blogs\sites i read, meh, joystiq, eurogamer, gametrailers, yea i should get out more
43
Posted on 23 February, 2011 at 4:52 pm by CassyChan
Cheers for the reply James, looking forward to the upcoming debates!
44
Posted on 23 February, 2011 at 11:23 pm by gr0undp0und
Great post GBH!
45
Posted on 24 February, 2011 at 1:15 am by R3XMUND1
Hi James G,
Just a quick question, I bought the Move SharpShooter here in EU (Spain) only to find it a little gimped….
No decals,
No scope mount
No Mag markings/grip
I know the colours need to comply with the realistic firearms, but why the loss of features, please help I don’t want to spend even more cash on importing a US version…
Already bought Helghast edition, Move Camera and Move controllers, Nav Controller and another copy of Killzone for my brother….
Is there any way of buying these things as upgrades or something.
Cheers
Z
46
Posted on 24 February, 2011 at 8:59 am by fleinn
Good points, gbh..
The thing that is most annoying about it all, is that – even though Sony spends a princely amount of money on these lawsuits, and in crafting non-applicable user-agreements. They’re not really doing anything to protect the PSN from hackers and cheaters.
I.e., the practical measures do not correspond to the legal force. Or, no matter how many lawyers Sony has – they can’t really help with creating a functional software solution.
47
Posted on 24 February, 2011 at 12:31 pm by Ricky-2008
Cool
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