PlayStation Australia today announced mission complete as the courageous Sackboy returned safely from his trip to (near) space. Launched around 50 kilometres outside West Wyalong and sent high into the ‘sackosphere’, the hessian hero has brought back his own incredible bird’s eye view pictures of our own little big planet.

With perfect launch conditions, Sackboy’s meteorological balloon was filled with five cubic metres of helium, expanding to a 30 foot diameter and soaring to 95,000 feet before popping. The launch team made sure they could follow the journey by fitting the flight rigging with GPS and wireless modules, capable of tracking Sackboy up to 32 kilometres.

The journey was captured perfectly using four Sony Action Cams, stitched together on his flight rigging to create a 360 degree panoramic view.

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As the Chimeran virus prepares to unleash its formidable force on PlayStation Vita users later this month, Frank Simon, Senior Managing Producer at Sony Computer America – recently paid Australia a visit to talk all things Resistance: Burning Skies. He took time out of his busy schedule to speak exclusively to us on camera about an exciting new social feature using the PlayStation Vita’s social and location based service, ‘near’.

“With new hardware comes an exciting new scope of uncompromised gameplay capabilities for the first FPS on PlayStation Vita” said Frank. “Taking further advantage of the unique social connectivity of PlayStation Vita, while playing Resistance: Burning Skies in the dynamic new multiplayer mode, ‘near’ will enable players to become infected with the Chimeran virus for multiplayer bonuses – and ‘gift’ these to other PS Vita users”.

Resistance Burning Skies launches across Europe on May 30th and UK June 1st.

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It may be nerd-core, but there’s something very special about witnessing a truckload of PS Vita units being unloaded, unpacked, and prepped for final shipping to retail. Yes, we’re now officially in the final days leading up to the PS Vita launch in Australia, and ladies and gentlemen, the stock has well and truly arrived.

Here’s a rare behind-the-scenes glimpse into the operations of a major games company. As you can see, the PS Vita units arrive in very large quantities. Palettes to be exact, each containing somewhere in the order of 500 PS Vita units per palette. That’s a lot of PS hardware (drool).

Operational staff carefully unpack each of the palettes, separating stock into relevant groups (3G versus WiFi models and so forth). Then begins the arranging of actual orders for each of the major retailers. The same needs to be done for each of the hundreds of cartons containing the various software titles and peripheral accessories that will also be available for PS Vita at launch.

So there you have it. If you’re anxiously waiting to get your hands on a PS Vita on Feb 23rd, rest assured, the delivery trucks are probably on their way to your favourite game stockist this very minute. Now I’m off back to the factory to sniff those freshly opened PS Vita cartons once more!

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Australians launched DanceStar Party in style last week with international megastar ‘Cat Deeley’ visiting the country to host a public dance-off to all those who were keen to ‘give it a go’. The charming presenter of ‘So You Think You Can Dance US‘ helped the PlayStation team to celebrate the new ‘party’ game by greeting fans, hosting the event, and judging the final dance off between finalists. People of all ages took part – gamers and punters alike, with the final four contestants battling it out on the actual DanceStar Party game on stage. The lucky winner of the whole event, 14 year old Bianca Calarco, who heard about the competition on Facebook, impressed the judges with her moves, and will jet off to the US in 2012 to watch So You Think You Can Dance live filming. Bianca also gets to take home a year’s supply of PlayStation games. OK, now that got my attention!

“Today’s search for Australia’s PlayStation DanceStar really captured the true spirit of dance, and that is to just get up on your feet and have loads of fun!” Cat Deeley said. “I see so many talented dancers on the show, but the cool thing is you don’t have to be a pro to play DanceStar Party. In true PlayStation style this game brings you experiences that no other game can – it’s got a killer 40 song track list set to original music video clips, and a whopping 160 choreographed dance routines. Plus, it’s even got the ability to create your own moves – so one thing is for sure, you’ll not only get fit, you’ll also never get bored! It’s going to be a massive hit this Christmas,” she said.

Cat continued: “Using the PlayStation Move motion controller, you can virtually step into the shoes of artists like Basement Jaxx, Usher and Willow Smith and become a dance diva in the comfort of your own living room”.

DanceStar Party is out for PS3 now

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X-Men First Class is the prequel film that blew away audiences around the globe earlier this year – so when 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment invited us to an exclusive media event for their Australian Blu-ray launch of the movie this week, we quickly accepted!
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