Hey everyone! The team at DICE is super excited to get Battlefield 3 into the hands of our PS3 fans. And, if initial reactions are anything to go by, you are equally excited….
Don’t forget: you will be able to purchase, download and play the upcoming expansion pack Battleifeld 3: Back to Karkand one week early exclusively on PS3. And hey, don’t miss your chance for everlasting fame and glory – or at least being included in the in-game credits for Back to Karkand. All you have to do to be in the running is to enter our Name it and Claim it! Challenge and submit your suggestion for our new control point on the redesigned Gulf of Oman map. But don’t wait – the challenge closes on October 28th!
But today is all about the launch of the base game. Before I leave you, I just wanted to let you know what Trophies are lying in wait for the skilled and dedicated gamers we know you are. And with that, I hope you enjoy the game. Looking forward to hear from you, here or on Battlelog! (more…)
Hi again. I’m back to talk about the latest great JRPG coming to you from Ghostlight, Persona 2: Innocent Sin, which will be released on the 4th November 2011 as a Collector’s Edition for €49.99/£39.99.
For those of you who don’t already know, Persona 2: Innocent Sin is an enhanced PSP remake of the classic PSOne game (which sadly never made it to these shores) and is the prequel to the fantastic Persona 3 Portable. Amongst its many additions and improvements, the remake features a new user interface, new character portraits, an extra difficulty level and the ability to switch between the original soundtrack and a brand new soundtrack. Like the other games in the Persona series, it uses compelling storytelling and a fantastic soundtrack to create a dark twisted atmosphere, where nothing is quite as it seems.
Persona 2: Innocent Sin is set in Sumaru City, which is suffering under a curse that causes any rumour that’s heard by enough people to come true.
One rumour that has spread across the city is regarding the existence of “Joker”, a mysterious being who grants the wishes of anyone who dials their own mobile phone number. Anyone who fails to tell Joker their wish, either because they lack one or refuse to tell, has their “ideal energy” stolen, reducing them to ambition-less shells called Shadow Selves.
The game also allows you to take advantage of this curse, and any rumour that you craft may inexplicably come true. In addition to this, Persona 2: Innocent Sin features a system where the player can choose either to fight or negotiate with (most) demons and even forge contracts with them.
Working on Persona 2: Innocent Sin has been really fascinating from the perspective of a Persona fan that initially discovered the series on PlayStation 2. Persona 2: Innocent Sin is an awesome game, featuring not only brilliantly executed traditional JRPG mechanics, but also the aforementioned ‘rumours’ system which still feels fresh and innovative today.
“First off, I know that many of you have been asking about the status of PAYDAY: The Heist on here and via twitter. This game is published by SOE and I have been emailing them daily to try and get this information for you. At the time of writing, I don’t have a confirmed release date for the game but I have made SOE aware of the need for clarification and as soon as they lock down their date, we’ll post the news here on PlayStation.Blog.
In other news, I’m torn in two this weekend between playing Arkham City and binge-reading Haruki Murakami’s 1Q84. Our Weekend Debate was about heroes and Murakami is undoubtedly mine. On the subject of books, I had a discussion with a friend the other night about how many films are based on novels and yet so few games. I’ve always thought that Blindness by José Saramago (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blindness_(novel)) would make for an interesting take on the zombie game genre. What are your suggestions?
Weekend Essentials – Plunge into the madness of Arkham City, head out on an intergalactic adventure and get your party started on PlayStation this weekend.
Developer spotlight: Rocksteady Studios – With the stunning Batman: Arkham City swooping down on PlayStation 3, developer Rocksteady Studios reveals what lies beneath the cape…
PS Vita release date announced – The countdown begins as Sony Computer Entertainment Europe confirms when you’ll be able to get your hands on the ultimate handheld entertainment system.
Demo Guide: DanceStar Party – Get down with this free demo from PlayStation Store as we count down to the release of DanceStar Party on PS3.
inFAMOUS: Festival of Blood will be available on the PlayStation Store in just a few days. Before you can get your hands on the game, we had Billy Harper (Animation Director) and Ken Schramm (Marketing Director) pack their bags for a whirlwind three-day tour spanning 5,668 miles, two coasts, three cities, and over 20 interviews with press from North America and beyond. It was an amazing couple days of sharing the latest adventure in the inFAMOUS universe.
We have been pretty quiet about Festival of Blood, not really sharing anything since we teased you with a clip revealing Bloody Mary at PAX. Since then we have been hard at work crafting this next adventure, adding in all the last details, and finishing touches on this standalone game to make it the perfect purchase right in time for Halloween. This Press Tour allowed us to pull the curtain back and give one big preview before the game comes out next week. Billy and Ken covered tons of the new features in Festival of Blood, some of which we will cover here.
With a totally new story in Festival of Blood of course we had to give Cole a totally new set of powers. One power that fans have always wanted in an inFAMOUS game has been the ability to fly, and with Festival of Blood we thought it was time to give Cole the chance to spread his wings. Bat wings that is… With a new power called Shadow Swarm. While Shadow Swarm allows you to experience New Marais, in a whole new way, it does come at the expense of the innocent people walking around in the night as you must feed upon them to fuel your flight.
Speaking of Pyre Night, all of New Marais celebrates this hallowed night by shrouding the entire city with banners, fireworks, and pedestrians dressing up in the streets. Look the of Pyre Night comes from the City Team taking the summer dreaming up the spooky street party that with surprises around every corner. The abandoned subway lines of New Marais now converted to macabre, underground Catacomb. Stepping into these dark corridors leaves anyone unsettled, even more so when you find out that Bloody Mary’s minions have been crawling around them for years.
UGC is a big part of the inFAMOUS universe and we haven’t forgotten this feature with Festival of Blood. Over the last couple months we have been listening to your feedback and playing all the missions we can from the community and the one thing we have been seeing is the desire to create strong narrative missions. To help users tell their stories we are happy to add the new 2D Cut Scene Tool with Festival of Blood that allows you to create comic book inspired cut scenes in your missions. You now can create intro sequences, provide key story details mid-mission, or end your mission with a bang. Along with the 2D Cut Scene Tool, Festival of Blood brings a whole new set of gory assets to the UGC universe and you can now design missions with as many fiends and harpies as you want.
If you haven’t had a chance to read some of the previews we have them all listed below:
Be ready to download inFAMOUS: Festival of Blood on the PlayStation Store on Wednesday, October 26th across PAL for €9.99/£7.99. Play it with the classic Dualshock or try it out with PlayStation Move.
Boy, do I have some exciting news to share with all of our Warhawk fans today, but first, let me serve you all some delicious hors d’oeuvres de internets!
We were so happy with the response to Starhawk at PAX that the SCEA marketing machine leveled-up, cast Videozzaga and summoned a quick video of our Santa Monica sr. producer Harvard Bonin talking with people at the show in Seattle after they got hands-on with Starhawk!
Not only was it great to see people loving Starhawk at PAX, the team and I love seeing coverage and buzz about the game start to pick up speed. And with our announcement last week that early access keys for the Starhawk Public Beta will be included in Uncharted 3, well… things are now moving forward at ludicrous speed! It was great to read all the comments, tweets and Facebook posts from players who are just now getting introduced to Starhawk’s gameplay and universe and the LightBox Interactive team and I can’t wait to see all of you online in early 2012!
Purchasers of Uncharted 3 in Europe will be able to access the public beta in early 2012. Codes will be sent via email so make sure to keep an eye on the blog for further timing details.
But Dylan, you ask, what about now? Did you forget about us? What about all of the die-hard Warhawk fans who waited patiently for Starhawk to emerge from the shadowy nether regions of game development?
Five words: Private. Beta. Starting. In. November!
Let me explain.
Normally before a team releases a Public Beta for a game, the dev team goes through a phase known as the closed beta or “Private Beta.” This is when the dev team works very closely with a small group of colleagues from the publisher, quality assurance (QA) team, or very close friends to make sure things are solid, the gameplay is tuned, big bugs are squashed, etc. It’s all about a tight feedback loop and close interaction with the developer.
And we want the team here at LightBox Interactive to have that close communication with our Warhawk fans! Even as I write this blog post I’m still blown away that SCEA has approved this!
Ok, let’s break it down:
We’re going to be starting the Private Beta in November and we’ll be sending a bunch of our Warhawk players (European players too!!) special email invites with Starhawk Private Beta keys. We’re going to be letting players into the Private Beta in waves so we can manage the server load, watch the game balance analytics, etc. The order in which players are granted access is a dark art known only to Sith-IT-Managers and Gywn, Lord of Cinder. But, suffice it to say it’s a mix of your rank/level in Warhawk, your involvement in the Warhawk community, and a few other magical parameters.
So keep checking your email like a Hawk!
Like what I did there?
SCEA has setup a secure forum where all the Warhawk players that are granted access into the Starhawk Private Beta will be able to talk directly with me, and some of our other team members here at LightBox Interactive. We’ll be posting our special PlayStation Network handles so you know when you’re playing with one of us online and we’ll be on VOIP in-game so you can talk directly to us if you want to!
We’re really looking for lots of feedback to help make sure Starhawk is as solid and tuned as possible. So we’ll be actively requesting comments on tuning changes and other game updates that we’ll be making to Starhawk throughout the Private Beta.
And this is a *key* part of the process because we are going to be validating our SkillScore player ranking system as well as weapon and Build & Battle game balance. Our new Hot-Fix system lets us really keep up with the demands of the community so we’ll be trying to push updates almost every day.
We’ll be going into more details on which features will be included in the Private Beta in the coming weeks, but for now, I hope our Warhawk player community is as excited about this opportunity as we are!!!
And for all the Warhawk players that are going to be helping us play Starhawk during the Private Beta, we have a special “gift” planned for all of you when Starhawk is officially released. Oh the
anticipation… THE ANTICIPATION!!!!! :-0
*deep breath*
Ok…what’s next? Oh yeah…
And lastly, no blog post would be complete without my obligatory mention of our website, www.StarhawkTheGame.com—so keep tabs on it because SCEA will be updating it with all the latest as things really start to get rolling for Starhawk!
Obsession Confessions: PS VitaThu, 23 Feb 2012 10:06:00 +0000
What games and apps are you looking forward to on PlayStation Vita? Find out what the PlayStation Community is itching to play.
Game OnMon, 20 Feb 2012 12:30:00 +0000
Can't get enough of PlayStation Vita? We've got the perfect way to satisfy your craving as the revolutionary portable system launches this week.
Ask a question about PS Vita games and winThu, 16 Feb 2012 14:00:00 +0000
Put your questions to Shuhei Yoshida, president of SCE Worldwide Studios and win a copy of MotorStorm RC.
Augmented reality on PS VitaMon, 30 Jan 2012 14:44:00 +0000
Bring the world into play with PlayStation Vita and dramatically change the world around you using augmented reality...
The features of PlayStation VitaMon, 30 Jan 2012 10:00:00 +0000
Take a look at the revolutionary features of PlayStation Vita that will change the way you play on the go.
PS Vita launches in Australia todayThu, 23 Feb 2012 00:58:00 +0000
Following a launch event held on Sydney Harbour this week, headlined by Empire of the Sun DJs, the highly anticipated PlayStation®Vita officially launches in stores nationally today.
Jak and Daxter: The story so farTue, 21 Feb 2012 13:44:00 +0000
With the brilliant PS3 adventure The Jak and Daxter Trilogy available to buy in shops and on PlayStation Store in March, it's time to get up to speed on their escapades.
Game OnMon, 20 Feb 2012 12:30:00 +0000
Can't get enough of PlayStation Vita? We've got the perfect way to satisfy your craving as the revolutionary portable system launches this week.
The features of PlayStation VitaMon, 30 Jan 2012 10:00:00 +0000
Take a look at the revolutionary features of PlayStation Vita that will change the way you play on the go.
Jak and Daxter: The story so farTue, 21 Feb 2012 13:44:00 +0000
With the brilliant PS3 adventure The Jak and Daxter Trilogy available to buy in shops and on PlayStation Store in March, it's time to get up to speed on their escapades.
Trophy Cabinet: Battlefield 3Tue, 21 Feb 2012 12:00:00 +0000
Lock, load and fill up that trophy list with a little help from the PlayStation Community.
Discover cross-play in WipEoutTue, 21 Feb 2012 10:00:00 +0000
The way you challenge your friends online will never be the same again - Studio Liverpool's senior designer Karl Jones explains why.
Game OnMon, 20 Feb 2012 12:30:00 +0000
Can't get enough of PlayStation Vita? We've got the perfect way to satisfy your craving as the revolutionary portable system launches this week.
The features of PlayStation VitaMon, 30 Jan 2012 10:00:00 +0000
Take a look at the revolutionary features of PlayStation Vita that will change the way you play on the go.
Download six sensational PS Vita demosWed, 22 Feb 2012 11:46:00 +0000
Check out six great PS Vita demos that you can download from PlayStation Store without paying a penny.
Top Tips: The Jak and Daxter TrilogyTue, 21 Feb 2012 14:29:00 +0000
Having trouble with the epic PlayStation 3 action adventure, The Jak and Daxter Trilogy? Never fear – a certain wisecracking Ottsel is on hand...
Game OnMon, 20 Feb 2012 12:30:00 +0000
Can't get enough of PlayStation Vita? We've got the perfect way to satisfy your craving as the revolutionary portable system launches this week.
Augmented reality on PS VitaMon, 30 Jan 2012 14:44:00 +0000
Bring the world into play with PlayStation Vita and dramatically change the world around you using augmented reality...
The features of PlayStation VitaMon, 30 Jan 2012 10:00:00 +0000
Take a look at the revolutionary features of PlayStation Vita that will change the way you play on the go.
Killzone 3: Know your enemySat, 18 Feb 2012 09:00:00 +0000
Use the Know Your Enemy Facebook App to sort friend from foe before meeting them on the deadly battlefields of Killzone 3.
Weekend Essentials 113Fri, 17 Feb 2012 12:00:00 +0000
Step inside the Octagon on PS3 this weekend, download the Mass Effect 3 demo from PlayStation Store and prepare for the coming of PlayStation Vita.
Weekend Essentials 112Fri, 10 Feb 2012 12:00:00 +0000
Unlock the secrets of Amalur, take a trip to Gotham City and discover a town plagued by nightmares in Catherine this weekend on PlayStation.
Top Tips: Gotham City ImpostorsWed, 08 Feb 2012 16:30:00 +0000
Become the perfect phoney in Batman's home town with these handy hints from Monolith, developer of Gotham City Impostors.
Weekend Essentials 111Fri, 03 Feb 2012 14:42:00 +0000
The FINAL FANTASY and SOUL CALIBUR series return to PS3 this weekend, whilst a brand new edition of our Level Up quiz celebrates the upcoming launch of PS Vita.
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