The team at Insomniac Games in North Carolina has been working hard to wrap up their first game, Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One. It’s a terrific four-player co-op adventure, and we’re really excited to have it in your hands next month. A frequent question we’ve been getting is “how is it when you play alone?” While bringing co-op to Ratchet & Clank has been by far our number one request for the franchise, we know many of you love to sit down and play Ratchet & Clank and enjoy the fantastic worlds, inventive weapons and hilarious storylines on your own time.

I’m here today to talk a little bit more about the single-player experience. Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One is built from the ground-up to be a co-op game, and many of the mechanics are very co-op based. So quickly realized we needed to give you a computer-controller partner to keep the gameplay balanced. In that regard, if you play All 4 One alone as Ratchet, Qwark or Nefarious, you’ll be teamed up with an AI bot playing as Clank. As you traverse the levels, Clank will ride on your back, just like always. When you reach enemies or a section that requires teamwork, Clank will jump off your back and help you out. What if you play as Clank? We’ve got a special surprise in store for you.

Don’t want to take my word for it? Take a look at this video compiled from single-player footage above!

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Hello everyone, Nordcurrent is calling! Almost a year ago we released a Minis called Arcade Essentials. The game was very warmly received by the players, so we decided to produce a sequel with 5 new games. So here it is – a Minis called Arcade Essentials Evolution.

As was the case with its predecessor, Arcade Essentials Evolution is a collection of 5 arcade games, remakes of the classic arcade hits of the 80s that we all know. Each game consists of 50 levels, so there is quite a lot of gameplay time here. We made minimalistic visuals with lots of special effects, so that they would feel like we are in real arcades. To get an idea of how it looks like and plays, please check the trailer:

First game is an enhanced version of a game about asteroids. In the beginning, levels are quite easy, however as you progress further, difficulty increases and new bonuses and asteroids types start to appear. For example, there is a bonus that allows you to fly through the planets destroying them as you move forward. There are indestructible asteroids that you cannot shoot. There are bonuses that make you fly faster and many other cool things.

In the next game called Toader, you need to cross the road safely and reach a safe zone. Once safe zone is reached, you need to jump over the floating islands into the top part of the screen. As usual, there are lots of bonuses that improve your characteristics and help you out.

In this game, you need to shoot the worm that is coming from the top of the screen. Each time you hit it – it divides into 2 parts that run in different directions. If any part of this worm comes to the bottom of the screen – that’s it, it’s a game over.

This game was inspired by brick-shooting games, such as Arkanoid and Breakout. The goal of this game is to destroy all the bricks across 50 levels.
And finally:

A Lunar Parking game, where you have to park your spacecraft on specially designated locations. You are challenged with gravitational forces and inhabitants of the planet that are running around.

And that’s all for today. Thanks for reading this and hope you will enjoy this game!

For more information on our games you can visit our website www.nordcurrent.com or our Facebook page on www.facebook.com/Nordcurrent

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Having just returned from a week away from the web, I’m a little out of the loop when it comes to gaming news. What’s been happening? This weekend I’m finally going to get around to playing Deus Ex, providing I manage to pull myself away from Civilization Revolution. Does anyone have any spoiler-free advice they want to share or do you think I should just wade in and figure it out for myself?

Here’s your recap:

• PlayStation Store Special Offers 7th September 2011 – It’s time for the second part of the PSP Power Sale,and that means… new games!!
• The SingStore Update (7 September 2011): More Take That, Kylie And The Saturdays! – The SingStar stand at Gamescom was mega busy, here are some highlights!
• Dragon’s Dogma: Dragons And Unlimited Freedom… – Check out the forming of game groups to enable the player to engage in combat with up to three followers or “Pawns”.
• The World’s Most Challenging Game Is Coming To PlayStation Store – The Impossible Game is a pure indie game, developed by a small team, quickly found its audience.
• Dead Nation is Expanding – More exciting news for Dead Nation players around the globe! Housemarque’s been hard at work creating a new downloadable expansion called “Road of Devastation”.
• Resistance 3 Survivor Videos – In case you haven’t seen these already, check out the Resistance 3 survivor videos!
• Resistance 3 – Launches Across PAL From Today! – Insomniac Games announces the release of Resistance 3 across Europe!
• ‘Heads-Up’ Game Store And PlayStation Plus Update: 7th September 2011 – Kicking off with the third title in the PLAY promotion – Bloodrayne: Betrayal launched!
• The Biggest PSP Game Comes To PSN – The UK-chart-topping Persona 3 Portable was released on PSN on the 7th of September 2011 for just £27.99 (€34.99)
• PlayStation Home: The Chimera Invade PS Home To Celebrate The Launch Of Resistance 3 – Step into the stark world of Resistance 3, as the Chimeran sweeps PS Home.
• LittleBigPlanet: Weekly Sack-Post! – Back to bring you regular updates from the world of LittleBigPlanet, including news, community updates, major announcements, or just fun insider tid-bits.
• Assassin’s Creed: Revelations Beta Open To All PSN Users Tomorrow – Announing the opening of the Assassin’s Creed Revelations Multiplayer Beta to ALL PSN USERS!!
• PlayStation Network Scheduled Maintenance – PlayStation Network was offline for scheduled maintenance from 17:00 until 19:00 on Thursday 8 September. 2011, BST.
• Hands-On With Rage – When Rage is released this October, it will be the end of a long journey for the game… and the gaming session begins right at the start of the game.
• From Dust Hits PSN September 14th -The wait to experience the award winning strategy game, From Dust, is almost over! It’s coming to the PSN on September 14th.
• VidZone Update: Get A VIP Pass To The Ultimate Festival Only On VidZone! – VidZone is extending the festival season just a little bit by holding their very own month long, rain proof festival!
• Uncharted Stories In The Sand – Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception takes place in the Arabian desert, it provided the perfect backdrop for sand art.
• Resistance 3: Get in the Game Winners Revealed – Get a glimpse at the head-scanning process, and see how they look as their characters in the final game.
• ICO & Shadow Of The Colossus Collection Hit Soon, See Final Box Art – ICO & Shadow of the Colossus Collection is launching on September 27th!
• GT5 Mercedes-Benz Driving Event – Over 7500 Gran Turismo gamers lined up on a virtual starting grid in a unique 3-way simultaneous race!
• The Weekend Debate – What Grinds your Gears? – Is there anything about modern games that really annoys you?

• Weekend Essentials 91 – There’s plenty to keep your PS3 ticking over this weekend, including Resistance 3 and Dead Island.
• Deus Ex: Human Revolution – Get your hands on one of the games of 2011 in our exclusive competition.
• Resistance 3 in PlayStation Home – Jump down the manhole in PlayStation Home and begin the fightback against the Chimera.
• God of War Collection Volume II – Channel your inner Kratos with our demo guide.
• Resistance 3 – Catch Insomniac Games’ Ryan Schneider and Jon Paquette talking about the big guns in our Game Talk feature.

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If there’s one concept that has blossomed since the spread of the Internet it’s the rant. For every thought or idea published on the web there’s a hundred livid responses; it seems that we like nothing more, as a species, than getting something off our chests.

With that in mind:

Is there anything about modern games that really annoys you?

For me, it’s people quitting when I go two-nil up on FIFA. And doors. I’ve lost count of how many doors I’ve been unable to open in all of the games that I’ve played. These are capable characters, with superhuman abilities in some cases, but they can’t open simple, interior doors. The worst are when you can open some doors but, get to another, identical door, you stand there running on the spot. And that’s another thing – if I run at a wall, I hit it and fall to the ground; I can’t defy inertia and start dancing the Running Man. And don’t even get me started on steps and ledges that are impossible to climb despite being just above my knees.

The 15 best comments as decided by our independent judge will receive a voucher code to download the HD Classics versions of God of War and God of War II to help vent that Spartan rage. We’ll send the codes via private message on the official PlayStation forums as usual; just bear in mind that, if you’ve never been to our forums, you’ll need to log on once with your PSN ID to enable private messaging.

Unleash the fury (but keep it polite)!

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Hello Everyone,

This Monday there were nervous, sweaty fingers aplenty poised on any manner of gaming peripherals…the reason? A special Gran Turismo 5 driving event that could possibly be the biggest ever race.

At precisely 15.20 BST on Monday, over 7500 Gran Turismo gamers lined up on a virtual starting grid in a unique 3-way simultaneous race that saw F1 legend David Coulthard put his driving reputation on the line in a real versus virtual driving battle quite unlike any other.

Coulthard’s real-life challenge on the Dunsfold circuit, better known as the Top Gear Test Track, was beamed live via internet to thousands, he was joined at the track by F1 race commentator Martin Brundle who presented the live race action.

(more…)

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