As you may have seen from last week’s Inside SCEE blog post, I’ve been getting to know some of my colleagues from different departments. It seemed like a good time to also get to know our loyal community through more than the comments so allow me to introduce ‘Pleased to Meet You’, where I interview PlayStation fans that have done something particularly cool.

Nehta first came to my attention when a colleague sent a link to her website featuring art inspired by PlayStation characters. She has asked me to point out that the site is currently on hold as she rebuilds it but you can check her blog which features some excellent comic strips, si tu parles français.

How long have you been practising art?

I started very young actually. A few years ago I discovered some drawings that I did when I was five, and I must admit that I really like them. One of my favourites is a drawing of a kind of rocket illustrated with a “BOOM” which could refer, in a premonitory way, to Crash Team Racing.

What do you see in the world that inspires you to create something from nothing?

The concept of motion and how to create it with lines. That’s why I’ve been interested in car design for a long time.

I’m very sensitive to feelings too, like anger, sadness, peace, happiness… and I really like to express these feelings in my characters’ eyes.

What is it particularly about games that inspires you?

I like imagination in a video game and the different dimensions that it offers. Clothes, colours and eyes are very important for me. For example, even if God of War is extremely violent, it really inspires me, but it’s not the only one; I could mention Final Fantasy and Uncharted too.

You’re work is very varied, with sketches, sculptures, cartoons and more. Is there a style or medium that you particularly love?

I really like the style and sense of motion in some American comics. I particularly enjoy Michael Turner’s Lara Croft drawings and I’ve copied them before developing my own style.

Video game sketches are also very interesting because, even when they are not finishes, they can already give you clues about the clothes, the time, the technology or even the psychology.

I’m really impressed by landscape representations: the person who is watching can imagine a lot of things such as temperature, wind… I should practice more on this specific topic, actually!

You seem to like drawing characters and I LOVE your ModNation Ezio! What makes a really strong game character?

Strong characters are created by past experiences.

The story of the hero can be sad or happy and each action has to match with the objectives fixed by this. That’s why I’m not a huge fan of secondary quests in games in general…

Have you ever thought of designing your own game characters?

Oh yes!

Where would you like to take your art? Do you pursue it for a career or just for pleasure?

That would be my dream! If I ever get the opportunity to do it, I will not hesitate, and would be even better in the videogame industry. Even if I don’t have any degrees related to video games, I’m very motivated. For the moment I’m just drawing for the pleasure, but it helps me to improve to be a professional later.

How does it feel sharing your work with the wider gaming community?

Sometimes I feel a little afraid, but I’m happy to offer my creations to a large audience. I really think that I’m still learning and I’m sure that there are a lot of other community members who can give me tips.

What makes you most happy?

The feeling that I’m improving from one drawing to another.

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I announced a few weeks ago the next version of the PlayStation Official App. We have since then discovered an issue with the PSN sign in the current version (1.05). I want to thank all the users who took the time to report this problem and I apologise for the inconvenience this has caused you all.

I’m happy to say that we have now released the new version (1.1) and the problem with PSN has been resolved.

What’s New In Version 1.1:

In My PSN:

• Sort your PlayStation Network friends by online status and filter them by presence.
• Search for PlayStation Network friends.
• View specific trophy details and compare them against your PlayStation Network friends.

In News & Blog:

• View comments and rate PlayStation.Blog posts.
• Write comments on posts in both portrait and landscape mode.

In Share & Discuss:

• View updates from PlayStation on Facebook, and Like, Share and comment on updates.
• View updates from PlayStation on Twitter, with the ability to Follow, Retweet and Reply.
• View and share videos from PlayStation on YouTube.

The application is available for Android handsets with Android version 1.6 and above (We do not support Android handsets with smaller screens including Xperia 10 mini) and iPhone.

You can update to the latest version directly from your handsets or use the QR codes below to go straight to the download page:

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Last week we had some good Weekend Debating around which game developers you would like to work with and what kind of game you would like to make. You put a lot of thought into it and 15 of you won a voucher code for Gatling Gears (be sure to check last week’s post as some of you still haven’t claimed them, like those lottery winners you hear about who still have the lucky ticket in a jug on top of the TV).

This week, I have 15 codes for monster mash ‘em up Eat Them! and a new topic for you to wrap your fingertips around.

How do you define ‘good’ game AI?

Let me elaborate: since the dawn of gaming we have needed something to play against, whether that’s rival racers or multicoloured ghosts. They are programmed to provide challenge to the player and this is a very simple way of describing what we call ‘AI’. Like all other aspects of gaming, it has become more sophisticated and now has to compete against the ultimate benchmark — real people playing against you online. Or does it?

Post your thoughts over the weekend and our independent judge will pick her fave 15 on Monday morning. I’ll let you know in the comments if you’re in luck and send the voucher codes via private message on the official PlayStation forums. For those of you that have never been to our forums, you just need to log in once using your PSN ID to enable private messaging.

Away you go!

Terms and conditions.

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Lots of exciting new things going on on MUBI this week!

To begin with: Melbourne.  This terrific Australian city hosts one of the world’s finest international film festivals.  And guess what?  We’re bringing some of their best films to your PS3.  Starting Saturday, July 23, we’ll be showing free films from the festival, each one showing on MUBI a day after it screens in Melbourne.  The lineup is exciting and as usual the availability of individual titles varies from country to country, so be sure to check back each day to see what’s added.  The partnership ends August 7, so watch what you can during these festive two weeks.

Oh, and you want to know what the heck that image above is?  It’s one of the films from Melbourne that will play worldwide on MUBI.  One of the Tiger Award winners at this year’s Rotterdam film festival, Sergio Caballero’s Spanish feature Finisterrae is so bizarre and inexplicable, I’ll leave it to the  festival to describe it:

“Two Russian ghosts take a ‘spiritual’ journey through the north of Spain, hunting a great oracle who will offer them the chance to be reborn. Through snow-covered fields, forests of plastic ears and flocks of reindeer, the ghosts—one carrying a windsock, the other on horseback (or wheelchair)—trek ever closer to their goal. First-time filmmaker Sergio Caballero (co-director of the beloved Barcelona music and art festival, Sonar) blends high art and low comedy in this quirky modern-day fable inspired by Philippe Garrel’s La Cicatrice intérieure.”

We have additional exciting news coming out of Australia, this time only for Australian and New Zealand audiences.  If you’re coming from those countries, be sure to head to MUBI on Wednesday, July 20, as we’re releasing the hit festival fashion documentary Yves Saint Laurent – L’amour Fou (Pierre Thoretton, UK/France) a day before it comes out on DVD there.  Yves Saint Laurent built one of fashion’s most celebrated empires, and this moving documentary chronicles his rise, his lifelong partnership with Pierre Bergé and their decision to auction off a lifetime of precious art and objects.  Additional bonus exclusive for MUBI PS3 users: we’re showing an hour of extra footage about Yves Saint Laurent exclusively through August 7.

Here are some more recent highlights now playing on the platform:

Carcasses (Denis Côté, Canada)

By most accounts this utterly unique documentary is the best film yet by up and coming Canadian auteur Côté.  “The most audacious Canadian feature in many a moon, Denis Cote’s fourth effort attains a rare state of Herzogian weirdness,” says Jason Anderson of Eye Weekly. “Opening as a quasi-doc portrait of Jean-Paul Colmor, the affable proprietor of an enormous junkyard in the backwoods of Quebec, Carcasses then shifts into a more flagrantly mythic mode as Colmor’s metal-strewn kingdom is invaded by teen marauders. That the latter group is played by actors with Down’s syndrome may cause some consternation but the proceedings’ air of quiet awe and spirit of playfulness make Carcasses something rare and wondrous.”

Available in: France, Germany, Italy, Spain, UK, Austria, Portugal, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Switzerland, Australia, New Zealand

The Pillow Book (Peter Greenaway, UK)

Peter Greenaway’s films “work by combining images, words, quotations and sexual situations,” says Roger Ebert in his 3 and a half star review.  “His…film ‘The Pillow Book,’ starring Vivian Wu (from ‘The Last Emperor’), is a seductive and elegant story that combines a millennium of Japanese art and fetishes with the story of a neurotic modern woman who tells a lover: “Treat me like the pages of a book.”  If that’s not enough to entice you, the New York Times calls the film “rapturously perverse” and finds Greenaway “at his most atypically seductive, creating a spellbinding web of cruel elegance and intricate gamesmanship, exploring the exotic, haunting beauty of the bizarre.”

Available in: Portugal

The Fall of the Louse of Usher (Ken Russell, UK)

“The ultimate ‘home movie’?”, asks Darrell Buxton. “Shot in the director’s back garden over a six-month period on an infinitesimal budget, The Fall of the Louse of Usher ought to have disciples of one-time ‘enfant terrible’ Ken Russell salivating, producers flinging open their chequebooks and showering the great man with millions, and the arts world in general besieging parliament and demanding that Ken be given a life peerage. What will really happen is that this camcorder masterpiece will be ignored by most, and dismissed as trash by 90 per cent of those who do manage to see it. If you’ve got the slightest interest in movie mavericks, outrageous visual style, Edgar Allan Poe, or fighting against adversity, I urge you to seek out…Usher wherever you can.”

Available in: UK, Ireland, France, Germany, Austria, Spain, Italy, Portgual, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland

Cries and Whispers (Ingmar Bergman, Sweden)

This film is “the first Bergman film to knock me flat,” wrote Darren Hughes in 2001. “I watched it again the other night, still mesmerized by it all, and still unable to adequately explain its power. The greatest compliment I can give Cries and Whispers is that it is a profoundly religious film, by which I mean that it is deeply concerned, first and foremost, with the struggles of the human condition in light of the presence — or, in Bergman’s case, the absence — of God. That it approaches this subject with such grace and honesty makes it a masterpiece.”

Available in: Italy

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We’re just a few short months away from the release of the ICO & Shadow of the Colossus Collection for PlayStation 3. As mentioned in the original announcement, this new collection features two of the most highly acclaimed video games of all time, now with full 1080p HD and stereoscopic 3D support, 7.1 surround sound, and full PSN Trophy support.

As if that wasn’t enough reason to pick up this collection in September, I’m happy to announce that the disc will also come with some amazing bonus content. Packed in every new copy of the game will be a voucher for two XMB Dynamic Themes, one for ICO and one for Shadow of the Colossus. In addition, on the disc itself will be a ton of exclusive video content from ICO, Shadow of the Colossus, and The Last Guardian that fans won’t want to miss. We’re busy finalizing the videos as we speak, and will have more details to share next month.

Don’t forget to pre-order your copy before it hits stores on 28th September 2011!

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