We’re excited to introduce a new PlayStation Network event: PLAY. PLAY is a brand-new annual program, where we’re bringing you four of the season’s hottest PlayStation Network action titles. With every purchase of a PLAY title in PlayStation Store throughout the duration of the program (which ends on 20 September 2011), you’ll receive a separate piece of DLC for each game, plus a new theme with every pre-order (pre-orders will be available for a limited period prior to release of the game, see details below). If these incentives aren’t enough, if you purchase all four PLAY titles in PlayStation Store by 20 September 2011, you’ll get a PSN voucher code for PayDay: The Heist as a bonus gift. And, PlayStation Plus subscribers will get an automatic 20% off every purchase of a PLAY title if they purchase them by 20 September 2011.

Pre-orders will be available for all four PLAY titles starting next week on August 10 in PlayStation Store. Remember, in order to qualify to receive PayDay: The Heist as a bonus gift, your purchases must be made by September 20, 2011.

Participating countries only. Age restrictions and other terms and conditions apply. Full details will be available on eu.playstation.com/legal from 10 August 2011.PlayStation Network PLAY is going to be an annual program.

Here is the 2011 line-up:

August 24: The PLAY program kicks off with Capcom’s highly-anticipated Street Fighter III Third Strike Online Edition, available to pre-order until 18 August, 2011. This action-fighting title features 20 playable characters, HD graphics, more than 200 pieces of unlockable content, more than 100 trials and more than 100 challenges When Street Fighter III Third Strike Online Edition is purchased through PLAY, purchasers will be able to unlock GILL, the self-proclaimed god, without having to beat the game with every character, as day-one DLC. All pre-orders will also receive a Capcom-produced theme. Street Fighter III Third Strike Online Edition will be €14.99 and is rated PEGI 12+.

August 31: Hothead Studios’ The Baconing will be available to pre-order until 25 August 2011. This action-RPG title is the third in the popular DeathSpank series. Attempt to defeat the Anti-Spank and his army of Cyborques, before they cast an evil shadow over Spanktopia. Discover exciting new worlds and battle hordes of enemies as you search to unlock the secret within the Fires of Bacon. When The Baconing is purchased through PLAY, purchasers will receive an additional co-op character, Roesha – One Bad Mutha. All pre-orders will also receive a static theme, exclusive to PLAY. The Baconing will be €12.99 and is rated PEGI 12+.

September 7: Majesco Entertainment‘s BloodRayne: Betrayal will be available to pre-order until 1 September 2011. This 2D side-scrolling platformer features 15 bloodthirsty levels where Rayne attempts to infiltrate a treacherous castle, take out a fiendish horde and stop an evil vampire massacre. When BloodRayne: Betrayal is purchased through PLAY, purchasers will receive a BloodRayne: Betrayal virtual item for their PlayStation Home avatar and an exclusive dynamic theme. In addition, all pre-orders will also receive a static theme exclusive to PLAY. BloodRayne: Betrayal will be €12.99 and is rated PEGI 16+.

September 14: The SEGA title Renegade Ops will be available to pre-order until 8 September 2011.This top-down, driving shooter from SEGA features a huge variety of vehicles, guns and endless enemies. The game features Sandbox-style missions, so there are many different ways to play. When Renegade Ops is purchased through PLAY, purchasers will receive a Vehicle & Character Pack with two new vehicles and special weapons. All pre-orders will also receive a static theme, exclusive to PLAY. Renegade Ops will be €12.99 and is rated PEGI 12+.

Bonus gift: PayDay: The Heist. This gritty, first-person shooter from Sony Online Entertainment lets players take on the role of a hardened career criminal executing intense, dynamic heists in constant pursuit of the next “big score.” A PSN voucher code for PayDay: The Heist will be provided to buyers of all four PLAY titles as a bonus gift if they make their purchases by 20 September 2011. The game releases on 5 October 2011. The game can also be pre-ordered separately from 21 September 2 2011 until 29 September 2011, and all pre-orders will receive a static theme.

What gamer doesn’t want to get more action? Get ready because PlayStation Network PLAY pre-orders start next Wednesday, August 10.

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We’re back from Comic-Con International 2011 and we’ve barely survived this year’s awesome, and awesomely busy, show!

One of the our personal highlights from Comic-Con was being able to be in front of over 400 fans and talk about Uncharted 3 during our panel on Friday, July 22. Moderated by USA Today’s Mike Snider, the panel was called “Developing Interactive Entertainment: The Performance Capture Techniques of the UNCHARTED Franchise and Today’s Film Industry” and it gave Amy Hennig, Taylor Kurosaki, Josh Scherr, Nolan North, Emily Rose and Richard McGonagle the perfect setting to discuss everything that goes into creating the industry-leading cinematics in the Uncharted series. The panel also gave our fans their first look at a brand new cinematic scene, and some behind the scenes footage of the cast, that we prepared especially for Comic-Con.

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Sony Corporation issued the following press release today:

J.K. Rowling announces Pottermore
www.pottermore.com

J.K. Rowling today, Thursday 23rd June, answered mounting speculation about the nature of her new project and announced Pottermore, a unique and free-to-use website which builds an exciting online experience around the reading of her hugely successful Harry Potter books, and is partnered by Sony.

The announcement today was heralded by the revealing of the website’s name via an online search for its letters, and a ‘coming soon’ holding page which received over a million visits within 36 hours of launching.

For this groundbreaking collaborative project, J.K. Rowling has written extensive new material about the characters, places and objects in the much-loved stories, which will inform, inspire and entertain readers as they journey through the storylines of the books. Pottermore will later incorporate an online shop where people can purchase exclusively the long-awaited Harry Potter eBooks, in partnership with her publishers worldwide, and is ultimately intended to become an online reading experience, extending the relevance of Harry Potter to new generations of readers, while still appealing to existing fans. As the Pottermore Shop develops, it is intended that it should include further products designed specifically for Harry Potter fans, offering a potential outlet for Sony products and services related to Pottermore. In keeping with Harry Potter’s international appeal, the site will launch in English, French, Italian, German and Spanish, with more languages to follow.

In the new website, which launches in Beta on 31st July, the storylines will be brought to life with sumptuous newly-commissioned illustrations and interactive ‘Moments’ through which you can navigate, starting with the first book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s (Sorcerer’s) Stone. On entering, you choose a magic username and begin your experience. As you move through the chapters, you can read and share exclusive writing from J.K. Rowling, and, just as Harry joins Hogwarts, so can you. You visit Diagon Alley, get sorted into a house, and cast spells and mix potions to help your house compete for the House Cup.

At a press conference at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, Rowling revealed some key features of the website. In an announcement which will thrill fans, she described how she hasbrought to life both the Sorting Hat and Ollivanders experiences from her books for the first time on Pottermore, by revealing the questions asked by the Sorting Hat – which places newcomers into their Hogwarts houses according to their characteristics – and the magic behind the Wand Chooser – which finds the right wand for each user from over 33,000 possible combinations. She also revealed glimpses of the new information she has provided on some of the best-loved characters.

J.K. Rowling’s announcement on YouTube and sony.com today revealed that Pottermore (along with the Pottermore Shop) will be open to all users in October 2011. From today, 23rd June, fans can submit their email addresses on Pottermore.com in order to be contacted by the site following the opening of registration on 31st July, Harry’s birthday. Also on that date, an online challenge will be launched, whereby the first million people to complete their registration will gain early entry into the website, and help put final touches to the experience.

J.K. Rowling commented, “I wanted to give something back to the fans that have followed Harry so devotedly over the years, and to bring the stories to a new digital generation. I hope fans and those new to Harry will have as much fun helping to shape Pottermore as I have. To add to my input into the website, everyone will be able to join in by submitting their own comments, drawings and other content in a safe and friendly environment – Pottermore has been designed as a place to share the stories with your friends as you journey through the site.”

Pottermore has been made possible with the support and partnership of Sony.

Sir Howard Stringer, Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President of Sony Corporation, commented: “Sony’s association with J.K. Rowling’s Pottermore brings together one of the world’s most innovative brands with the most successful book series in history, in a pioneering partnership that will help shape the future of story-telling. We are proud to be a part of it, both at this momentous announcement, and as we collaborate on its development over the coming years.”

On Sony’s partnership of Pottermore, J.K. Rowling commented: “As I think people know, I am very protective of Harry and have always been very selective with any new initiatives, but I am totally committed to making this partnership with Sony and this wonderful new website a success. There are many companies I could have worked with on this ultimate digital expression of Harry Potter’s universe, but it is Sony’s unique philosophy of creativity in harmony with technology that made them my first choice. The spirit behind Sony’s make.believe philosophy is one that rings true with Pottermore’s own values.”

The detailed creative execution has been led by TH_NK, a leading UK digital agency, under the supervision of J.K. Rowling and the Pottermore management team, in co-operation with Sony. J.K. Rowling’s publishers, Bloomsbury in the UK and Scholastic in the USA, as well as her international publishers worldwide, have been active supporters in the creation of pottermore.com and the Pottermore Shop. Warner Bros, the makers of the hugely successful Harry Potter film franchise, is also one of the partners who have worked to support the launch of Pottermore through a variety of marketing, promotional and other efforts and will continue to collaborate as the project grows.

The storyline of the second book, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, will go live on the site in early 2012. The Pottermore Shop opens when the site opens to all in October, selling complete ranges of the eBooks and digital audiobooks in a selection of languages, exclusively.

Designed for fans of all ages, the website has been created with child safety in mind, employing best practice and compliance with internet codes of practice in the UK, Europe and USA, and elsewhere.

To watch J.K. Rowling’s exciting announcement go to sony.com

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I have just been privileged enough to spend the past week sharing the journey of our 12 GT Academy winners. As you may know, GT Academy is the competition we run in conjunction with Nissan to find the fastest Gran Turismo gamers and see if we can turn one of them into a racing driver.

It turns out that it is possible – as proved by Lucas Ordoñez, the Spanish who won the first Academy in 2008. Lucas went on to race two seasons in the European GT4 Cup before Nissan gave him the chance to race in the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup this year in what’s called an LMP2 car (Le Mans Prototype 2). These are amazing looking cars with some serious power and so the stakes were high.

Well Lucas went to the Le Mans 24 Hour and with his more experienced Signatech Nissan team-mates, Franck Mailleux and Soheil Ayari, they came second in the LMP2 class. From GT gamer to the Le Mans 24 Hour podium in less than three years – incredible.

So, we decided to take the 12 GT Academy finalists – 2 each from Germany, France, Italy, UK and Holland and one each from Spain and Portugal – to watch Lucas’ story unfold and show them what they were fighting for. Le Mans was an incredible experience. Hundreds of thousands of people, an amazing race and an incredible opportunity for the boys.

On Saturday night they had a nation vs. nation endurance kart race that started in daylight and finished in the night, to give it a real Le Mans flavour. The track was right next to part of the circuit so on one side you had the real cars roaring past while our guys raced each other. The French contingent did a really good job on home soil.

After that it was a long, tired journey back to Silverstone. The guys all drove in convoy in six identical red and white Nissan 370Zs. Quite a sight.

On Monday the Academists were woken by some serious looking ex-military men with flash grenades in their dorm at Silverstone. They were then put through some punishing physical tests. It’s called ‘beasting’ in the army and I can see why. The serious side is that you need to be very fit to be a racing driver. The fitter you are the better you will concentrate, especially in 24 hour endurance racing.

Tuesday was a full day in Nissan cars at Silverstone. 370Zs and GT-Rs and they looked really good fun. Contestants recorded a benchmark lap time which was repeated at the end of Wednesday to see who had made the most progress.

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For those who followed PlayStation.Blog last week, you might have seen Jeff, Sid, Rey and I hosting live interviews and demos with the developers and executives behind the biggest games and announcements of E3 2011. This week, we’re uploading those videos to give you an ever so slight idea of what it’s like to travel through time. Now, let’s revisit that heady day of last Thursday when I spoke to Mick Hocking, our resident 3D expert, on what we can expect from the future of stereoscopy and how it will impact gaming, and I ask that ubiquitous question — why don’t we have glasses-free 3D TVs yet?

Stay tuned throughout the following week for more E3 Replays.

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