Before 2012 rushes upon us we wanted to take a moment to say Happy Holidays from everyone here at the Naughty Dog kennel!

As you can see from our holiday card we’ve welcomed Joel and Ellie from The Last of Us into our cast of characters to play among with Drake, Sully, Elena, Chloe, and our UNCHARTED personalities. The year has brought about tremendous change as Naughty Dog has grown into a two team studio for the first time in our 17 year history. This shift is terrifically exciting as it signals an expanded talent pool in which we can share ideas, know-how, and techniques. As future projects evolve, we will continue to strive to maintain our high Naughty Dog standards and always endeavor to do whatever it takes to raise the bar for gaming.
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The SCEE office has closed for the year but I’m popping on to wish our readers all the best wishes of the season and a very Happy New Year. While we may not be here, there’s still plenty of reason to check the blog over the next week: we’ve called in the help of our developer friends so look forward to posts from Media Molecule, Sucker Punch, Liverpool Studios and more. If you miss me and want to see me complaining about how much I’ve had to eat and/or drink, I’m @Jallagher on Twitter.

Christmas seems to be the time to look back and take stock so here are some of my highlights of 2011 on PlayStation.Blog.

In numbers…

We’ve published 982 blog posts that have generated a total of 64,337 comments from you guys and 7,992 replies from us. We’ve uploaded 3,877 images to Flickr and you’ve managed clock up a huge 6.2 Million video views on YouTube.

My favourite blog post

It’s difficult to remember all of them, let alone pick one, and the most obvious choices would be a big news piece like the Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception announcement, a particularly enjoyable interview like this one with Ken Levine, or something as unforgettable as our treasure hunt in the Jordanian desert.

However, I think my absolute favourite is a piece called ‘Games That Are Worth More Than Your Car’ by a guy called Sjoerd who I found through his site, PlaystationCollecting.com. While we often get preoccupied with news on here, it’s also important to try and keep our ‘blog’ roots. I really enjoy reaching out to fan sites and it’s something I’m going to do in a more meaningful way in 2012. The work these guys do is a big compliment to us and we appreciate it.

Favourite comment

Let’s not dwell too much on April’s bad memories but it did provide my favourite comment of the year. With PSN down, the only thing still allowing people to comment was the cookie on their browser. As those cookies expired, comments declined until there was only one person left…

Favourite screenshot

I’m a fan of succinct use of words and when I first received this screen (in preparation for announcing Uncharted 3) its file name was ‘Drake Looking’. I challenge anyone to describe it so perfectly in just two words.

Favourite video

It has to be this trip of a lifetime.

***

Have a wonderful break, whatever you’re doing. Thanks for supporting us in 2011 and I’ll look forward to seeing you again next year. Be good to each other.

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Here is your recap:

• In Pictures: PlayStation Vita Launches In Japan – PlayStation Vita launched in Japan! I was there and here is the entire morning as seen through the lens of my camera.
• ModNation Racers: Road Trip – Recipe For Fun… Big, Bad, Weapons! – b(cool weapons + explosions) + w(great racing + track design) * y(MNR’s “Secret Sauce”) = !(freaking fun kart racing)
• Dropsuits In DUST 514 – How do you build a better warrior?
• First Video: Shinobido 2: Revenge Of Zen For PS Vita – NAMCO BANDAI Games bringing Acquire’s epic assassin tale of vengeance and betrayal to PS Vita on DAY ONE!
• Shuhei Yoshida Interview: The Present And Future Of PS Vita – Shuhei Yoshida talks about what PS Vita is set to deliver in spades: great games!
• Try The Music Unlimited Premium Package Free For 60 Days – Good elves at Sony Entertainment Network prepared a special treat to ease you through the busy festive season.
• ‘Heads-Up’ Game Store Update 21st December 2011 – It’s CHRISTMAS!!…. (almost) Here’s some great content for you to enjoy!
• Gran Turismo 5 DLC Pack 2 Out Now – All new content is now ready and available for your gaming pleasure!
• Starhawk Private Beta To Close January 3, 2012 – It’s been a wild, wild ride and it’s great that participants took time out of their schedule to help test Starhawk.
• PlayStation Home: That’s a Wrap for 2011 – Spend your holidays basking in the sun on the deck of your private yacht in PS Home!
• MUBI Update: 22 December 2011 – “One of the things I love most about cinema is how susceptible it is to mood.” — Danny Kasman
• PlayStation Store Festive Sale – To celebrate the festive season, PS Store brings you some outstanding offers on over 100 titles for the Festive Sale!
• Watch FIFA On PS Vita In Action – EA’s first foray onto the PlayStation Vita is a strong one.
• PlayStation Vita AR Cards Bundled Free At Launch – We hope your PS Vita anticipation levels are building nicely…
• Access Episode 14 – Soon Santa drops gaming goodies down your chimney… rewind and review the year gone by with a special festive edition of Access TV!
• PS Vita Rooms – Full Schedule – Here’s a really, really sweet schedule of events for you to get involved with!
• Five Things We Learned At The Japan PS Vita Launch – Five things that you may not know about the PS Vita.

• 10 of the Best: Christmas Blu-ray Discs
• Top Tips: TEKKEN Hybrid
• Sonic Generations preview
• Weekend Essentials 106

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As you may have seen from the photo story posted earlier in the week, I attended the Japanese launch of PlayStation Vita. It wasn’t all gaming and bento boxes: I used the time to catch up with as many senior colleagues and game developers as I could. You can look forward to full interviews in the run up to 22 February but, in the meantime, here are five things that I didn’t know about PS Vita before, but do now.

What’s included in the box

*Bear in mind that this is a Japanese model and the actual contents may vary, such as the European model also including six AR Play Cards.
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Well, you’re lucky. I was going to insert a video of me singing Christmas songs on SingStar into this blog post by way of wishing you a merry Christmas, but my boss thought it would detract from the message. Your ears (and windows) are saved! Merry Christmas though – I hope you have an excellent one whatever you’re getting up to.

On to the point, earlier this month I teased you with the announcement that the PlayStation Vita Rooms are coming to select cities in the UK, giving you the chance to get intimate with the portable gaming beast-machine that is PS Vita.

Since then we’ve put together a really, really sweet schedule of events for you to get involved with. Aside from fiddling with PS Vita and an awesome array of games to your heart’s content, we’re also throwing ace competitions, opportunities to meet developers, PlayStation Access community nights, the FIFA Interactive World Cup Live Qualifiers and live performances from artists such as Bashy into the mix.
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