With PS Vita’s launch week in full effect, we wanted to give PlayStation.Blog readers just one more slice of Shinobido 2: Revenge of Zen. Have any of you elite assassins picked up both PS Vita and this stealth-action game?

My good friend from Acquire, Hiroshi Watanabe, wanted to share his experiences in developing Shinobido 2 for PS Vita. Fans are important to us and to this industry; even Mr. Watanabe started out as a student and was a BIG fan of the first Shinobido game for PS2. In his role as programmer, Watanabe put a lot of work into making the gameplay pop — and with the new trailer, and the game now out in the wild, you can see for yourself.

Check out our trailer and screens in the update below. Oh, and newfound PS Vita owners: let us know what you think of Acquire’s latest (and bloodiest!) adventure!

Hello. I’m Hiroshi Watanabe, a programmer for Shinobido 2: Revenge of Zen. Like some of the other development team members, I was also once just a student who spent my fair share of playtime on the Shinobido series. I was already a huge fan when the PS2 game Shinobido: Way of the Ninja launched. So you can imagine my excitement when I got to join the development team for the game’s newest iteration on a new handheld console, PS Vita.

Anyway, as fans of the previous Shinobido titles know, I believe that the one of the most attractive features of the series is the “Harakiri engine.” It immediately responds to the situation between the three daimyo (warlords), allowing for a variety of stories, and of course missions. And let’s not forget the game’s fast-paced action. Without a doubt, the newly added “Fukurou” and “Zankoku” definitely make this game special.

Shinobido 2‘s many various objects in the game are actually what make the game stand out so much from other stealth titles — and I personally prepared them! These interactive objects provide extra spice to the world of feudal Japan, and mean that swordplay is not the only way to dispatch your enemies. The interactive objects provide new strategies, whether it’s making a pile of logs collapse on an enemy, you throwing a bucket to create a distracting sound, slashing right through sliding doors, throwing tiny Buddha statues at an enemy’s head, or detonating stacks of buckets using explosives. Of course, it was no small feat creating and adjusting so many objects.

Now that Shinobido 2: Revenge of Zen is officially out in North America and Europe, we couldn’t be happier to finally have fans (just like I was and still am) getting their hands on the final product.

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It’s a fantastic day at Fun Bits Interactive as we and our good friends at SCEA Santa Monica Studio celebrate the official launch of PS Vita with Escape Plan on the PlayStation Network.

Exclusive to the powerful and touch-tastic Vita, gamers can interact and experience the irreverent dark humor of Escape Plan with tactile swipes, slaps, pokes and reach-around taps. Part of the fun of Escape Plan is taking a moment to figure out all the new ways to interact with the game, as well as exploring the new interfaces of the Vita hardware…all without splatting our hapless heroes all over the place. Never before have players been able to reach into a game from the front and back of a mobile device like this, and have it feel totally intuitive, natural and establish a real connection with the characters.

Right from the start you can tap characters to get their attention, give them a little slap to get them moving, manipulate dangerous hazards back and forth in the world, glide your hand along the back of the Vita and see your finger leave a ghost trail in the air. Use carefully placed knocks to distract minions, herd and poke sheep around as unwilling little test subjects, and orchestrate all of your carefully placed gestures to guide Lil & Laarg through the bizarre labyrinth of twisted puzzles rooms.

Our eager excitement to get Escape Plan in your hands is peaking, so grab your Vita, hurry to the PSN, download the game, pop your headphones on (we truly love the music and sound effects) and help Lil & Laarg escape…or die trying.

Escape Plan is available now on PSN for £9.99/€12.99.

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MotorStorm RC has very humble beginnings. It started out as a simple concept we were playing around with during lunch times; a pet project to challenge each other to set the fastest times, originally using post-its on the wall as a low-fi leaderboard!

Through a lot of love, care and attention RC has been transformed into the most exciting and addictive racing game we’ve ever created and it gives me great pleasure to finally be able to share that experience with you all — MotorStorm RC is available now for both PlayStation Vita and PlayStation 3 from the European PlayStation Store, and if you pay once you get both.

See how much fun it is for yourself by picking up the free trial on the PlayStation Store, and check out the extremely rare vehicles while you’re there, if that sort of thing takes your fancy.

See how much fun it is for yourself by picking up the free trial, and take a look at our MotorStorm RC launch trailer:

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Welcome to our first Storify post, where I’m going to curate all of the chatter and excitement about today’s PlayStation Vita launch. If you’re grabbing your console today then remember to share your first impressions, photos and unboxing videos via the Twitter hashtag #gotmyvita. This Storify will be updated throughout the day so refresh your browser to see the latest entries.

 

Click here to view this on Storify and to subscribe to PlayStation.Blog EU, and be sure to keep your pictures, videos and first impressions coming vita the Twitter hashtag #gotmyvita.

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Today is an incredibly important day in PlayStation history and one that I am incredibly proud to be part of. Following years of hard work, PlayStation Vita arrives as the most powerful and versatile hand-held gaming machine on the planet.

Our goal was to develop a console that challenged gamers, with new functionality and ways of playing that were previously unimaginable. I hope you agree that PS Vita surpasses that goal; offering an unparalleled gameplay experience that blurs the lines between reality and interactive entertainment.

Its potential could only be realised by ensuring that PS Vita launched with an equally impressive day one software lineup. We are again incredibly proud of the rich gaming content available today; it’s the best launch lineup we’ve ever had in the company’s history. This has only been possible due to the world class development teams we work with and their involvement with PS Vita from the very beginning. It is the mix of new and familiar, from WipEout 2048 and Uncharted: Golden Abyss to Unit 13 and Reality Fighters, using so many of the system’s unique features that we believe will both challenge and excite.

Launch is a tremendously exciting time for everyone, but the hard work isn’t over. We are all committed and working harder than ever to ensure the PS Vita experience is always as rich as possible, with the very best games and the very best functionality.

For those of you who have queued to get your hands on your very own PS Vita today we hope you enjoy the experience and we look forward to hearing your reviews.

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