First I want to start this article thanking SCEE and Jem for letting us participate in this blog.

So last week, I mentioned on Twitter that we were having a fan day in Montreal and I got tons of private messages about it!

So now is the time to unveil all the details about that event. Basically, we decided a while ago to welcome a few fans into our studio, a couple of weeks before the launch of the game, and give them the opportunity to see where we are creating Assassin’s Creed 2, but also introduce them to the people behind the game!

I had to say that our team was excited to meet fans, and we had a few surprises waiting for them. You are probably wondering who these fans are, and I have to say that it’s quite a mix of nationalities and profiles. We had the chance to gather people from UK, France, Italy, Canada and even Austria, to name a few. Among them were gamers, active forums members, blog writers, editors and lucky sweepstakes winners.

The first time we met was the day before the event, where we all went to a restaurant together. The evening was really cool with tons of questions and discussion about the game, our schedule, but also gaming in general. However, their main request was “who is the mysterious key speaker we’ll meet during the event?” Well even though they tried hard to corrupt me, I remained silent!

On Friday morning, I walked to the hotel to meet our fans and video staff. Yes, we had cameras during the event, and I mean lots of them! You’ll see why later on.

So, we met in the Hotel lobby and then we took taxis to go to the Ubisoft Montreal studio. We started the day with a studio tour, which is always exciting for everyone. They loved our video studio, especially the audio recording department, where they got to play with swords! Then we showed them how we create all the cool assets and videos you guys see on Internet. We also had a surprise for them, our Dev Diary #6 was just finished the day before and they were treated to a world premiere in our studio! But that was only the beginning…

We then went down to the Assassin’s Creed 2 floor, where we had prepared a huge room full of HDTVs and Playstation 3. After watching a couple of videos and trailers, we welcomed our main guest: Sébastien Puel, Producer for AC2!

He was kind enough to spend more than an hour answering a staggering number of questions (and that’s exactly where the cameras became important, you should be able to see a video done with SONY on this blog and on the PSN). And then Sébastien took a couple of hours to do some one-on-one interviews with all the fans, with the help of Benoit Lambert, our Game Director, and Francois Roughol, one of our main Game Designers.

After this really interesting round of Q&A, we let our fans play the game for 3-5 hours and about one hour on Assassin’s Creed PSP depending on their schedules, and if you want to know what other gamers thinks of the game just click on the following links!

• www.incgamers.com
• www.consolemonster.com

Once again, I want to thank SONY and our fans for attending, it was a blast and we enjoyed welcoming you in Montreal!

Atmon

Rate: (Average: 4.43 out of 5)

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The time has come, folks! The countdown’s over – we wait no more!

As promised, the FINAL FANTASY XIII developer team put together a special message to celebrate with you the history of the series and reveal new details of its latest – and long awaited – chapter.

But I won’t say more and leave the stage to the game Producer himself, who wanted to write a few lines for the occasion, exclusively for the PlayStation blog.

Enjoy – and let us know what you think about it!
(more…)

Rate: (Average: 4.36 out of 5)

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While at EA’s UK title showcase last week, I spotted a familiar face. Pandemic Studio’s Tom French was showing off the studio’s latest title, The Saboteur. I thought he might like to introduce the game to the PlayStation community, so I brought him out of the dark game cave to sit for while and chat about it.

The game has a Valkyria Chronicles meets Grand Theft Auto feel to it, what with its reimagining of World War II Europe and free roaming gameplay. I’ll let Tom do the rest of the talking, so check out the full interview below.

Rate: (Average: 3.67 out of 5)

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Ever since we released Comet Crash for PS3 on PSN, we’ve been receiving a stream of email from fans requesting new features. We’re excited to satisfy a bunch of these requests in a content patch that’s available right now. The update introduces new levels, new maps, new Battle settings and a new difficulty mode. The fresh additions showcase the best of what Comet Crash has to offer, while making sure fans have plenty to keep them warm during the holidays.

Check out this gameplay footage of the Kreios Resurgence:

The 1.03 update adds the following features:

• ‘Expert’ difficulty setting for seasoned Comet Crash players. You’ll see a surge in enemy attacks that will put your skills to the test.
• 4 new Resurgence levels–one unlocked at the end of each comet during the Campaign. Resurgence levels may require completely new strategies. Beware…no hints!
• 4 new Battle maps to mix up your games a bit.
• Battle timer setting. After the timer runs out, all mobile units generate at 8x the normal rate which should bring games to an exciting finish!
• Thorium setting to tweak available resources in Battle mode.

In Comet Crash, players must use everything at their disposal, including defenses bristling with high-tech weaponry, to stop the rush of enemies from destroying their base. Unlike traditional tower defense games, players must then rally their own forces and launch offensive strikes against the alien threat, using a number of different mobile units, such as the nimble Scout or specialized Thief, which can turn enemy units into powerful allies.

Featuring a robust Campaign Mode with 28 challenging and puzzle-like stages, as well as various multiplayer and co-op modes, Comet Crash offers a gripping combination of strategy and action.

For more information on Comet Crash, please visit: http://www.cometcrash.com/

Happy holidays!

Rate: (Average: 4.55 out of 5)

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Hi everyone! I’m Antonio “Papero” Marfuggi from SQUARE ENIX’s Brand Team.

Just dropping you a couple of lines to let you know something big (and with “big” I mean “BIG”!) is coming up about FINAL FANTASY XIII.

In just a few days, on Friday 13th November (we choose our numbers carefully!), you’ll see a very special announcement from the game’s development team, introduced to you on this very blog by the words of Yoshinori Kitase – FINAL FANTASY XIII’s Producer.

So join the countdown on the game’s official site and of course keep following the PlayStation blog for more news.

See you in a couple of days!

Rate: (Average: 4.37 out of 5)

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