Hi everyone! I’m Mitsuo Hirakawa and I work as a Producer at Sony Europe’s XDev Studios on our newly announced games Invizimals: The Alliance (PS Vita) and Invizimals: The Lost Kingdom (PS3). We are super-excited to announce these brand new titles because we have been working in secrecy for some time and now finally we can tell the whole world what we’ve been up to! Eagle-eyed gamers may have recognised the Invizimals from the previous games released on PSP.

We have two great dev teams working on these games. First, we have the multi-award-winning studio Novarama Technology from Barcelona, Spain. World pioneers in the use of Augmented Reality for games, and developers of the original Invizimals Trilogy on PSP, they have been secretly working on Invizimals: The Alliance for PS Vita. It’s an all-new augmented reality adventure where hunters worldwide will, for the first time, unleash the power of PS Vita and use it to hunt, battle and collect like never before.

For Invizimals: The Lost Kingdom on PS3, we have drafted in a BAFTA-winning team, Magenta Software from Liverpool, UK, who are known for high quality family games. At XDev we are really excited about the action adventure single player gameplay experience Magenta has developed exclusively for PS3.

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The moment you’ve been waiting for has finally arrived! Tomorrow evening we’re giving you the opportunity to get a mob together and pelt SCEE employees with rocks, chairs, trash cans, explosives, grand pianos and whatever else you can get your hands on. Come get some!

Between 5.00pm and 7.00pm GMT on Thursday 15th November, myself, Jawad from the Store team and the fearsome Yappadog from Marketing will be taking on all-comers at When Vikings Attack! – the bonkers action title that’s just emerged from our XDev studio, via developer Clever Beans.

If you haven’t had the chance to check the game out yet, it’s a multiplayer-focussed romp that sees you defending your precious homeland against gangs of Viking marauders by gathering a crew of your own and pelting the enemy with any projectile you can find. It’s a simple concept, but fiendishly addictive and, in the Blog team’s humble opinion, one of the funniest games we’ve played all year. See the trailer below for a closer look.
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It’s an incredibly exciting time to be a budding developer in the UK and with the imminent launch of PlayStation Mobile small development teams and even bedroom coders can create great games for the platform.

It’s with the arrival of PSM and our continued commitment to finding and nurturing new development talent that, in conjunction with Creative England and Birmingham Science Park, we have established PlayStation Pioneers. The initiative will give smaller developers the opportunity to win £25,000 for a games concept and the opportunity to work alongside Sony Computer Entertainment Worldwide Studios Europe External Development Studio (XDev).

With the PlayStation Mobile development studio freely downloadable, taking part in PlayStation Pioneers could not be easier and this is a great opportunity for smaller developer’s with little or even no PlayStation experience to make a great new game for PlayStation. It is equally a great opportunity for XDev to meet passionate and talented teams within the UK and for us to hear all about your great ideas!
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Have you ever wondered how smart the games industry is? Well, a couple of weeks ago at gamescom 2012, hundreds of people, including gamers, developers, press and publishers, competed to outsmart one another in Smart As…, Sony’s brand new socially networked game for PlayStation Vita.

With personal, professional and national pride to play for, the stakes were high. But, having the home advantage, it was Germany who (unsurprisingly) came out as the smartest nation.

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Hello PlayStation Nation! We have some exciting Smart As… news to share.

We are delighted to confirm that John Cleese, the inspirational English actor, comedian, writer and film producer is injecting his unique personality and sophisticated sense of humour into the game as the voice of Smart As….

Best known for his hilarious antics as a member of the Monty Python comedy troupe and his unforgettable performance in Fawlty Towers, it’s great to be able to confirm the comedy legend’s participation in the game.

His instantly recognisable voice and distinctive style deliver intelligent and witty narration during the game, always encouraging – and sometimes goading – you to improve every time you play.

Regardless of how smart you are, John’s creative and comedic dialogue will keep you hooked as you play to improve your Brain Power and pursue your goal to outsmart the world.

Coming soon for PS Vita, Smart As… is a social brain-training experience that will put your brain to the test in 20 unique, engaging, tactile puzzle games and location based challenges proving exactly how smart you really are.

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