Everyone here at VooFoo is proud that you can now play Hustle Kings on PlayStation Vita. Once you’ve got your PS Vita all unwrapped, head to the PlayStation Store and you’ll find Hustle Kings there for a superb £6.49. If you have pre-ordered a PS Vita then you can redeem your discount voucher to get Hustle Kings for just £1.49!

And if that wasn’t tempting enough, you’ll also get the PS3 version for free! That is a flabbergasting deal right there. The two versions are very different so you’re almost getting two games for the price of one.

We have spent a lot of time and effort making Hustle Kings on PS Vita as great as possible. There are a lot of improvements from the PS3 version of Hustle Kings, along with a lot of entirely new content just for PS Vita.

We wanted to take full advantage of the Vita’s unique inputs, and we think we’ve done so with a selection of control methods to cater for everyone from novice players right up to all you Hustle Kings pros. If you want to bask in the PS Vita’s touchscreen glory then it’s really straightforward to play Hustle Kings using touch. Or if you are more into thumbsticks and buttons then you can do that too just as easily.

To limber you up for this new Vita experience, we’ve made an entirely new Training Mode that will teach you everything from aiming and breaking off to swerves and cue ball control. We have also completely re-designed Career, which now has eight unique pool crews to hustle against on your path earning HKC (Hustle Kings Credits) and becoming a certified Hustle King.

There is a range of ways to play multiplayer matches. You can play either Head to Head or Multiplayer with up to 8 players, including Cross-Play against players on both PS Vita and PlayStation 3.

You can test the online multiplayer waters in Practice lobbies where your ranking and HKC are not affected. Once you’ve got a taste for playing online, try your luck in Ranked lobbies to improve your online ranking without risking any HKC. And for those of you wanting to prove your hustling skills, Hustle lobbies are where you can put your HKC on the line.

Also, exclusive to Hustle Kings on PS Vita, is our selection of online Bonus Challenges. These are unique score-based games that will test your speed, precision and stamina. Upload your scores to online leaderboards to prove to your friends and the world that you are the ultimate Hustle King.

And on top of all that, there’s Message Play which lets you play a game via messages. If you’ve got five minutes to burn while you wait for a train, start a Message Play game, take your shot and message it to a friend. When he’s got a few minutes free, he can take his shot and then message you to let you know it’s your turn. You can take your shot whenever you like and have multiple games active to make sure you’ve always got someone to play against.

We hope you all have great fun playing Hustle Kings on Vita. To keep up to date with Hustle Kings and our other projects, follow us on twitter @VooFoo and check out our website at www.voofoostudios.com. We are always keen to hear your reaction to our games and welcome your feedback. Now go get hustling!

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The day is approaching for you to finally get your hands on PlayStation Vita. As we’ve discussed in several previous Blog posts, the connection between PS Vita and PS3 is one of the most compelling features that sets gaming on PS Vita apart. Because we want all of you early PS Vita owners to check out the cross-platform gameplay experience, we’re offering content on both platforms for one price with the following launch titles: MotorStorm RC, Hustle Kings, Top Darts and DLC for WipEout 2048. Our friends at Capcom are also allowing you to share DLC across platforms for no additional cost with Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3.

Here’s how it works:

• When you buy MotorStorm RC you will be able to play it on PS3 and PS Vita at no additional cost.
• When you buy Hustle Kings and/or Top Darts for PS Vita, you will get the PS3 versions for free. If you already own these games on PS3, you’ll be able to download the PS Vita version for free.
• If you purchase WipEout 2048 and you already own WipEout HD and the HD Fury DLC on PS3, you will be able to download them for free when they launch on PS Vita later this spring.
• DLC purchased for the PS3 version of Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 can be used on the PS Vita version for free (and vice versa).

As we’ve noted previously, WipEout 2048 owners on PS Vita will be able to race against WipEout HD owners on PS3 across four tracks beginning at launch, which is separate from this promotional pricing. Hustle Kings also offers turn-based multiplayer pool between PS Vita and PS3 at launch. And Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 offers the “Ultimate Controller,” an exclusive configuration in which you can use PS Vita as a controller to play the PS3 version of the game, complete with touchscreen special move selection. All of this cross-play functionality is among the unique, new ways to play that we are ushering in with PS Vita.

Let us know which games you are most excited about in the comments.

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Since NGP, or next generation portable gaming system, was announced back in January, I know you have been itching to find out more about the hardware and the games we’re going to be able to play and how they make use of the innovative new controls.

Now, we are finally able to lift the lid on some of the NGP titles currently in development. I also managed to grab interviews with some of the developers at an event held in London recently, where journalists got their hands around all of the games listed below.

Without further ado, here are the games:

Uncharted: Golden Abyss

Nathan Drake’s first portable adventure is developed by Bend Studio, the team behind the acclaimed Resistance Retribution on PSP. It promises to retain the crucial elements of the Uncharted titles – adventure, thrilling action and top-notch storytelling – and the familiar control scheme, while also introducing innovative options such as touch and tilt controls. Check out my interview with John Garvin, Creative Director at Bend Studio.

(more…)

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Roland Fauster, manager of the German PlayStation.Blog, recently spoke to VooFoo Studios‘ Technology Director, Mark Williams, about his work on the excellent PS3 pool game, Hustle Kings.

Programming is maths and, in Hustle Kings, you’ve had to calculate friction, respect natural laws of spin and momentum, and have all these balls clashing with each other in chaotic order. Who explained the physics and to you, Stephen Hawking?

Haha, well yes, you are right: programming is maths. Unfortunately, they don’t teach you the equations for moving balls around a pool table in school. However, for most things a bit of imagination and intuition can help to combine several basic rules of maths and physics to do things that actually look quite clever.

For the really difficult stuff, we have to rely on other people’s work and, luckily for us, one guy by the name of Wayland Marlow spent years researching exactly how billiard balls react with one another and with the table. We use his research extensively in Hustle Kings to get the motion of the balls as close to real life as possible.

Are you aiming to simulate reality or to gain the most entertaining gaming experience?

I think it’s always very important to concentrate on the gaming experience first and foremost. There is no point in having a realistic game if it is no fun to play. Of course, much of the time, realism and fun complement one another.

Sometimes, you have to stray away from reality for the purposes of the game – after all, why make a game when you can do exactly the same things in real life? As an obvious example, we provide the option to use an aiming assistant in Hustle Kings, showing the path of the ball – it’s far from realistic but really helps beginners get into the game and makes it much more accessible to a wider audience.

Does Hustle Kings only appeal to cue sport enthusiasts or does it have wider appeal?

The popularity of pool and snooker has created a market for games like Hustle Kings, and I do feel that our audience is even wider than that. Hustle Kings is very ‘pick up and play’ so appeals to the most casual of gamers, and it is very accessible, allowing even novice pool players to get into the game quickly.

At the same time, the realistic physics and competitive AI provide for an enjoyable and challenging experience for the more hardcore gamers, as well as pro pool and snooker players. From the outset, we wanted to ensure we could offer something to everyone and I think we’ve achieved that.

Why did you decide to release Hustle Kings via PlayStation Store and does it have the scope to become a full Blu-ray Disc release?

We never felt there was ever any need for Hustle Kings to be a full-priced game. If you take the DLC into account, there is a huge amount on offer there: plenty of game modes, including all of the popular pool variants; snooker; trickshots; bonus games; and several high quality pool halls.

If we did a full priced game, we wouldn’t be able to offer much more, but it would cost more. The reason Hustle Kings is cheaper than a full priced game is not because there is less of a game there, but simply because we don’t have the overheads of packaging and distribution to contend with – I do strongly believe that for this reason, digital distribution is the way of the future.

Every project has a beginning and an end. How long do you think will you continue to support the community with DLC and Patches?

We have always listened to the community for feedback, and will continue to do so. We intend to support Hustle Kings with additional content, DLC, patches and so on for as long as there is demand for it. There are active Hustle Kings forums on our website, where we welcome suggestions. We have many more ideas to enhance Hustle Kings, so watch this space.

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Hey everyone, I’m excited to be losing my PlayStation blog virginity and, luckily, I get to do it with a pretty awesome Hustle Kings update!

When PlayStation Move was first publicly announced, we noticed that many of you suggested that Hustle Kings would be a game to make the most of this new control method.

It was a sentiment everyone on the team agreed with and, even as we started the development process, we could see from early tests that it would elevate the virtual pool experience to a whole new level. PlayStation Move enables you to take shots using a real-life cueing action that feels natural and fun. There have been some heated hustle matches in the office recently, resulting in some very amusing forfeits. Suffice to say, the added realism Move provides is immense and we can’t wait to hear what you all think.

To continue our assault on your senses, I’m delighted to say that Hustle Kings now supports stereoscopic 3D and, while the visuals of the game have often been praised, 3D has taken the graphics and sense of immersion to a whole new level. It feels like you can reach out and pick up a ball! When combined with the PlayStation Move, the experience is pretty incredible.

Since launching Hustle Kings several months ago, we have been astounded by the ongoing support that we’ve received from the PlayStation community. After carefully listening to your feedback we have worked hard to provide tweaks and improvements, along with some very cool new game content. Here’s a quick list of the goodies we have coming up for you:

• PlayStation Move support
• Stereoscopic 3D support
• UK 6FT table (with smaller, accurate balls)
• Carom billiards (incredibly tactical)
• Hardcore trickshot pack
• Two US 8-Ball ball sets
• Six UK Black Ball ball sets
• Two very snazzy cues
• Funky Hustle kings related PSN icons

As a closing note, I’d just like to say a big thanks from myself and the rest of the team – Hustle Kings wouldn’t be the game it is without your contributions and feedback. Feel free to let us know what you think by e-mail, or just keep up to date with VooFoo and Hustle Kings via our blog and Twitter page!

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