Hello and welcome to a new week of updates to the PlayStation Store!

On this fine winter’s week (maybe not for all of you!) we bring to you a smattering of more gaming goodness. Shank 2 comes to the store courtesy of EA. Returning with its comic book aesthetics and side-scrolling brawler gameplay, Shank is back! In fact, IGN have reported it as “One of the best action games in recent memory”!

Malicious also sees an English release on the store. Take control of the Spirit Vessel and battle waves of brutal fighters and colossal enemies to rid the world of the evil force of Malicious. Gain new weapons, build your powers and perform devastating combo attacks as the final showdown between good and evil draws near. PS Plus members will benefit from a 20% reduced cost.

The Simpsons Arcade Game sees release on the store today, too. We know you guys were expecting to see this last week and apologise for the inconvenience however, now you can enjoy it in all its glory. As was also announced, Plus members will receive this as part of this month’s membership. Enjoy!

We also have Mortal Kombat (2011), Top Spin 4 and Mafia II all heading to the digital fun land that is the PlayStation Store. Catherine will also be available on the store from February 10th, in line with the retail release, so keep a look out for that!

For DLC we have more Rock Band tunes, more Dynasty Warriors and the Lightning DLC for Final Fantasy XIII-2. There’s even some Valentine’s Day themed DLC for LittleBigPlanet and Motorstorm. Isn’t that romantic!

Unfortunately there aren’t any avatars this week but hopefully there’ll be some for you avatar lovers next week.

The PSP Power Sale continues this week, with more additions including but not limited to; Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, Worms: Battle Island and the first Persona game…called Persona, believe it or not. Check out the rest of what’s on offer below.

As usual, the complete list of games, DLC and offers follows below.

Have a jolly ol’ time gaming and I shall return next week!

Peace! (more…)

Today is a Wednesday and that means another round of updates for the European PS Store. Let’s all cheer together. Hurrah!

This week we have not one but three ‘Blu-ray Disc to Digital’ titles – Mini Ninjas, Kane & Lynch: Dead Men and Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days.

European users can also join in on the Gotham City Imposters beta. Will you be one of the Batmen or will you side with The Joker team? Whatever you chose, expect some crazy FPS action with an even crazier amount of customisation options. Go crazy, imposters!

This week also sees the release of the new Twisted Metal Beta. Cars? Check. Weapons? Check. Big maps? Check. Combine all that together? Chaotic fun is what you’ll receive. Have a taster of what the new game will offer including 8 playable vehicles with a host of modes – Single player training, single player challenge mode, multiplayer online deathmatch and multiplayer online nuke mode.

The last big demo of the week goes to Syndicate. Syndicate is a re-imagination of the classic 1993 game – a cyber punk FPS set in a dystopian world where large Syndicates rule and Business is War. In the 4-player co-op demo, team-up to take down rival Syndicate Cayman Global as you battle for market dominance and your life.

On the Avatar front I’m also pleased to be able to say the Metal Gear Solid avatars have arrived! The range is based on MGS2, 3 and Peace Walker, coinciding with the HD Collection release this week. Many of you clamoured for them and now they’re here. Enjoy!

Lastly, this week sees the start of the PSP Power Sale, lasting until the end of the month. Full details of content are further below.

Have a great week guys, as I’m sure you will with some big games due out, and I shall be sure to read your comments!

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Update: Sadly, we are now unable to publish The Simpsons Arcade until next week, Wednesday 8 February, and not today as listed. We apologise for getting you excited about playing it too early but, rest assured, it will still be available to PS Plus members at no extra cost for a full four weeks. By way of small compensation, we will extend the 100% discount on Back to the Future: The Game for an additional week, for those who might have missed it last month.

And so by popular demand, we update at the beginning of the month and bring you one of the best months yet for PlayStation Plus.

First of all, we have a brand new PSN title for you at no extra cost, The Simpsons Arcade. The year – 1991. Your task, should you choose to accept it, is to chase down the nefarious Smithers, who has kidnapped Maggie! Play as either Homer, Bart, Marge or Lisa and track him down before it’s “too late”, (too late for what I’m not entirely sure…) and save the day! The Simpsons Arcade will be available until the 29th February, so make sure you grab it in the first 4 weeks of this refresh.

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Update: In response to popular demand we can now confirm that the next PlayStation Plus content update will be on 1 February and not 8 February as we previously reported. Look out for a full update of what’s included on Tuesday.

Hello again, happy people!

This is a fairly quiet week in terms of new games but hopefully some of you will snap up a new batch of avatars ranging from Assassin’s Creed to King of Fighters (oh-Mai-oh-Mai!) We have Duke Nukem Forever as one of our main disc-to-digital titles this week. Step into the shoes of Duke Nukem, the pumped up one-man army who never fails and always gets the ladies.

We also have Rock Band DLC featuring tracks from Hall & Oates, Devin Townsend and more. I’m sure some of you will be rocking out to these until the next batch of DLC. The full list of additions follows below this great wall of text!

This week also concludes the January sale with a special set of games being reduced by up to 50%! To celebrate the upcoming release of Final Fantasy XIII-2 a nice selection of Final Fantasy titles have been slashed! For the complete list please see the Special Offers section. If you haven’t already, be sure to check out the demo of FFXIII-2 available on the store right now!

But wait! If you’re a PS Plus member you can enjoy Final Fantasy Vas part of your subscription from February 8th when the Plus content refreshes – so if you have your eye on FFV and you’re a Plus member, it’ll pay to be patient.

I hope you all take advantage of this sale and enjoy what are some of gaming’s finest. With that said I bid you all a farewell until next week! Happy gaming! (more…)

Hello everybody! Before we start this week’s ‘Heads-Up’ I have an announcement to make, this will be the last time I will write for the PSN Store weekly blog post… However, this leads on to some great news because I am delighted to announce that, as of today, I will be passing on the mighty blog keyboard to the newest member of the PlayStation Store team, Jawad Ashraf. I will still be assisting him with comments but Jawad will have more time dedicated to try and get the answers you want. Jawad, over to you!

Hello everyone! I am delighted to be welcomed on board the team and I hope this can only mean an even better service for you, our customers. Without me rambling too long, let’s get on with this week’s updates.

To kick things off, Arc the Lad (yes, Arc the Lad!) is now on the store for everyone to enjoy, and if you’re a PlayStation Plus member it’ll be free for a whole month. For PS3 we have Splinter Cell Double Agent. You take on the role of Sam Fisher. In order to stop an attack on American soil, you must infiltrate and destroy a vicious terrorist group. As a double agent you decide what you want to do – which side do you fight for?

Uncharted fans will be happy to know we have the Flashback Map Pack released this week. This was part of the Fortune Hunter Club and is now available to non-members. The pack includes the following multiplayer maps – Sanctuary, Fort, Cave and Lost City. Be sure to pick this up!

We also have DLC including more costume packs for Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3. Dress Chun-Li in her Alpha costume (part of the Femme Fatale pack) or Sentinel in his classic rendition (part of the New Age of Heroes pack).

And because Chinese New Year is also upon us, there’s a free costume to obtain for LittleBigPlanet 2 to celebrate. Oh, and this is available for only one week so hurry, hurry, hurry!

To continue with what was started last week, we’ve also got the FAQ at the end of this post for some of last week’s major questions. If we didn’t answer this week then hopefully it’ll be next week, but do keep asking!

If there isn’t anything taking your fancy then hopefully next week will. Look forward to it! Until then, happy gaming!

PlayStation Network New Content

Full Games (PS3)

• Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Double Agent (£15.99/€19.99) Rating: PEGI 18

Availability: All Locales
File Size: 6.5GB

PSOne Classics (PSP/PS3)

• Arc the Lad (£3.99/€4.99) Rating: PEGI 12

Availability: Not available in Norway
File Size: 300MB

• Pandemonium 2 (£3.99/€4.99) Rating: PEGI 12

Availability: All Locales
File Size: 200MB

minis (PS3/PSP)

• Stickman Rescue (£2.49/€2.99) Rating: PEGI 12

Availability: All Locales
File Size: 7MB

• P.O.W – Prisoners of War (£1.99/€2.49) Rating: PEGI 16

Availability: Not available in Germany
File Size: 34MB

Demos (PS3)

• Kingdoms Of Amalur: Reckoning Demo Rating: PEGI 18

Availability: Not available in Germany
File Size: 2.5GB

PlayStation Plus

• Starhawk Beta

Availability: All Locales
File Size: 1.3GB

• Arc the Lad (100% Discount until 15th February 2012) Rating: PEGI 12

Availability: Not available in Norway
File Size: 300MB

• Crazy Taxi (75% off) Rating: PEGI 12

Availability: All Locales
File Size: 220MB

• Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath (30% off) Rating: PEGI 12

Availability: All Locales
File Size: 3.3GB

Add-On Game Content (PS3)

Disney Universe

• Baby Elephant Costume (£0.79/€0.99)
• Bagheera Costume (£0.79/€0.99)
• King Louie Costume (£0.79/€0.99)
• Mowgli Costume (£0.79/€0.99)
• Shere Khan Costume (£0.79/€0.99)

Rating: PEGI 7
Availability: All Locales

Dynasty Warriors 7 Xtreme Legends

• Costume Pack 3 (£0.79/€0.99)
• Excel Stage Pack 2 (£2.39/€2.99)
• New Weapon Pack 2 (£0.79/€0.99)
• Wall Papers 1 (£2.39/€2.99)
• Wall Papers 2 (£2.39/€2.99)
• Wall Papers 3 (£2.39/€2.99)
• Wall Papers 4 (£2.39/€2.99)
• New Weapon Pack 4 (£1.59/€1.99)
• Original Costume Pack 5 (£3.99/€4.99)

Rating: PEGI 16
Availability: Not available in New Zealand

Eyepet

• EyePet & Friends Science Kit (£2.39/€2.99)
  (Includes the following content, also available separately)
• Hazard Suit Costume (£0.79/€0.99)
• Science Stickers (£0.40/€0.49)
• Science Fill Patterns (£0.40/€0.49)
• Science Soft Play Blocks (£1.59/€1.99)

 

• Eyepet – Lucky Dip Vehicles 2 (Free)

Rating: PEGI 3
Availability: All Locales

Gran Turismo 5

• GT5 – Car Pack 3 (£4.79/€5.99)
• GT5 – Speed Test Pack (£3.19/€3.99)

Rating: PEGI 3
Availability: All Locales

• LittleBigPlanet2 – Chinese New Year Costumes (Free)

Rating: PEGI 7
Availability: All Locales

Saints Row The Third

• Cheapyd Pack
• Genkibowl Vii (£4.39/€5.49)

Rating: PEGI 18
Availability: All Locales

Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3

• Femme Fatale Pack (£3.19/€3.99)
• New Age Of Heroes Pack (£3.19/€3.99)
• Villain Pack (£3.19/€3.99)

Rating: PEGI 12
Availability: All Locales

• Uncharted 3 – Flashback Map Pack #1 (£6.49/€7.99) Rating: PEGI 16

Availability: All Locales

• Who Wants To Be A Football Millionaire? (£2.39/€2.99) Rating: PEGI 3

Availability: All Locales

• Worms 2: Armageddon – Mayhem Pack (Free) Rating: PEGI 3

Availability: All Locales

Dynamic Themes (PS3)

Abstract

Hypnotic Flower (£1.59/€1.99)
World at Night Dynamic Theme (£1.59/€1.99)

Nature

• Dynamic Black Spider Theme (£1.59/€1.99)
• Dynamic river and trees theme (£1.59/€1.99)
• Dynamic sea waves beating rocks theme (£1.59/€1.99)
• Dynamic snow night theme (£1.59/€1.99)

Places/Landmarks

• Dynamic Eiffel tower theme two (£1.59/€1.99)
• Dynamic ferris wheel theme (£1.59/€1.99)

Sci-Fi/Fantasy

• Dynamic Dragon Theme 3 (£1.59/€1.99)
• Space Flight (£1.59/€1.99)

Studio Themes (PSP)

Videos (PS3)

• Access 017
• Final Fantasy XIII – “Battle In Valhalla” Trailer
• Tom Clancy’S Rainbow 6 Patriots: Debut Trailer

Permanent Price Drops

• Vibes Mini (Was £3.99/€4.99 – Now £2.49/€2.99) Rating: PEGI 12

Availability: All Locales

• Stellar Attack Mini (Was £3.49/€3.99 – Now £2.49/€2.99) Rating: PEGI 3

Availability: All Locales

• Ace Armstrong Vs The Alien Scumbags Mini (Was £4.99/€4.99 – Now £2.49/€2.99) Rating: PEGI 7

Availability: All Locales

• Fighting Fantasy: Talisman Of Death Mini (Was £3.49/€3.99 – Now £2.49/€2.99) Rating: PEGI 12

Availability: All Locales

• Cubixx HD (Was £6.29/€7.99 – Now £4.99/€6.99) Rating: PEGI 3

Availability: All Locales

Special Offer Selection

For this week’s offers make sure you check out the January Sale post for updates!

FAQ

1. What’s the deal with the Jurassic Park code?
A. We have raised this issue with customer services; details of how to contact them are here.

2. Warhammer 40k DLC.
A We have been told DLC could arrive at the end of January at the earliest (this could easily chage!)

3. Where’s Arc the Lad?
A. That’s on the store right now!

4. When will PS2 Classics be released?
A. We are working to get these out as soon as we can but have no solid date to announce. Rest assured these are coming.

5. When can we expect Resident Evil 2 and 3?
A. We are trying to get these out as a priority but certain issues arise that we cannot control or simply take time to rectify. We’ll do our best to get these out to you!