A title like that doesn’t write itself very often, so I’m happy to take advantage. The new Rocketmen expansion pack, It Came From Uranus, is now available on the PlayStation Store. You’ll also now find two new Hot Shots Golf characters, each of which cost $.99, and are small enough that I reckon they’re already on the Blu-ray disc you hold in your hands.
Rounding out the DLC scene is this week’s installment of Rock Band tracks and 21 new Karaoke Revolution: American Idol tracks.
While Nintendo might be trying to get the indie developer crowd’s attention, mainstream developers have been taking advantage of WiiWare, too. Next Gen spoke with a few developers to see what they thought of the young platform and how it stacks up with the competition.
Why did you choose to develop the game for WiiWare rather than Xbox Live Arcade or PlayStation Network?
David Braben, founder of Frontier: It was the way that you control the wind that was important and the control of the Wii was absolutely defined by that. We didn’t immediately think, ‘ah yes, it’s a WiiWare game,’ but we did think ‘oh, it’s a Wii game.’ There are games that use two Wii controls, where you have button combinations across the Wiimote and the Nunchuck, and that’s something that feels quite uncomfortable in my opinion. Then there are games that use the Wiimote purely as a pointer and don’t use the Nunchuck at all, but what we’re doing is subtly different in the sense that you’ve got one character controlled by the Wiimote, which is the wind, and the other where you’re directly controlling the character talking, and so it feels very natural to have the two controllers separated.
From a development point of view WiiWare is great. It means we can take bigger risks, we can experiment with new control mechanisms at less financial and commercial risk and I think that’s a fantastic thing.
Dave Grossman, Telltale Games design director: I do think that the Wii lends itself in particular to the kind of idea based gameplay that we do although ultimately I think we’d like it to be on all of the downloadable channels. The interface is meant to be very, very simple. You don’t need tons and tons of buttons but if you have something you can just point with that’s just great, so it was kind of an easier mindset for us to be on the Wii then perhaps on the other platforms, but obviously our games are meant to be simple and have a broad appeal and would probably be good on any of the downloadable channels.
Bill Swartz, Mastiff: The Wiimote was the killer, period. Does Xbox have a Wiimote? Honestly, we wanted to do a Wii game, we wanted to do a WiiWare game, that was really very much in the front of our minds, and we wanted to do something with a license attached. Tony Hawk was already taken. No seriously, I really didn’t want to go out there and just make up some random sport by myself, you know, let’s do a Marble Madness rip-off because no one’s done one for six months. That was really what we didn’t want to do. We wanted to do something with a license attached but the last thing I wanted to do was try to be a mini EA or a mini Activision or a mini Ubisoft because we’d get creamed. So we were looking for a sort of minor but cool license that had some value that would let us use the controls in a unique way and ideally something that hadn’t been done before. No one has done an eating game - well, at least an eating game like ours, and it has the advantage because it is so hand to mouth and that is a really neat way to use a Wii control.
I wonder what would happen if the 360 really did get its own Wiimote rip off. You can see more about what they had to say over at Next Gen.
The PlayStation Store has gotten a great update this week with three solid demos, new music for both Guitar Hero IIIand Rock Band, the expansion pack to PixelJunk, PixelJunk Monsters Encore ($5.99), and Rocketmen: Axis of Evil ($9.99). In addition to all that, there’s a number of trailers for games and movies, including an Iron Man trailer and one for WipEout HD and Mercenaries 2.
8bit Games has released a trailer for its upcoming PlayStation Network title Elefunk.The game is a side scrolling platformer with puzzle elements. Basically your elephant herd has been kidnapped and you have to help your elephant lead them back home. The title reminds me a lot of Lemmings or The Incredible Machine; both fun and somewhat challenging games.
Check out the gameplay examples in this trailer featured on FileFront:
The long awaited MC Escher-inspired puzzle-platformer, echochrome, is set to release tomorrow on the PlayStation Store tomorrow for both PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable. Each version features 56 unique levels and will cost $9.99.
We’ve written our fair share about it, and if you checked out 1UP’s recent preview and import video review (above), you should know that this game is a must-buy for owners of either of Sony’s systems.
I’m glad the game ended up being a downloadable game versus retail, as there’s simply no way that the game could have been priced at $10 in stores. And at this price, it’s not going to be too expensive to pick up both versions of the game.
So who else will be getting the game tomorrow, and for what system(s)?
High Moon Studios has announced that the demo for Bourne Conspiracy will be available on Xbox Live May 19th. Business boss Meelad Sadat also told Eurogamer that the PS3 demo will be available on PSN May 22nd.
The Bourne Conspiracy Video is based on Robert Ludlum’s books. Although Matt Damon plays Jason Bourne in the movies, he won’t be voicing the main character in the game. Both he and his mother, Nancy Carlsson-Paige, have issues with children being exposed to violence and video games.
Children aren’t getting the opportunity to cultivate their imaginations, and their creative thought process, like they need and society needs for them to develop.
Check out GamePolitics for that story. Although it might throw some fans of the movies that identify Matt Damon with Bourne; the Jason Bourne of the video game will more closely resemble Robert Ludlum’s characterization from his novels.
COD4 fans that have been waiting download the Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare Map pack for the PS3 don’t have much longer to go. The map pack finally hits PlayStation Network Thursday, April 24 for both North America and Europe.
You’ll want to download those map and get familiarized with them fast. To celebrate, Sony is sponsoring a PS3 Variety Map Pack Double XP Weekend Extravaganza. Players in NA and EU will earn Double XP all weekend starting 12:01 AM GMT on Friday, April 25 to 11:59 PM PDT on Sunday, April 27. They’ll also have the opportunity to “Play with the Devs” Friday, April 25th. The Infinity Ward team are up for the challenge and will be playing online on Friday, April 25 from 11AM to 2PM PDT and from 5 PM to 8 PM PDT.
Supposedly, Sony is in negotiations with movie studios to bring movies to the PSN this summer according to the LA Times. The service would be comparable to XBL Video Marketplace and apparently Tim Schaaff is pushing the project.Industry analyst Hurt Scherf (Park’s Associates) states that this is a war that Sony must win over Microsoft as it is crucial to the service’s survival.
“They’ve got to get a win in the digital, and I’d say on the electronic delivery side of the business. That’s where the future is. They’ve got to establish a toehold in that space.”
Sony has yet to comment on a movie service, but Peter Dille, senior VP of marketing for SCEA had this to say on Inside PlayStation blog last week:
“Many of you have been hearing rumblings about a video service that will allow you to download full-length TV shows and movies via PlayStation Network for North America. While I don’t have any new announcements here for the PlayStation Nation, it’s already been confirmed that we’ll be offering a video service for PS3 in a way that separates the service from others you’ve seen or used.
“Ultimately the goal of the PlayStation Network service will be to break through the overwhelming clutter of digital media to give you the TV, movies and gaming content you want. More on this very soon…”
Of course Ross Honey, senior director of Microsoft’s media and entertainment group, team had to comment on this as well, because that is just the nature the Microsoft beast:
“It isn’t easy to do this. There is a lot of work to be done in just making this work and getting that movie up in high quality. We’ve had over a year’s experience on how to do this, so we can focus on innovating as opposed to working out the kinks.”
Microsoft has made a deal to bring rental movies via XBL to users from both Paramount and Warner Bros movie studios.
It’s been two weeks now since there’s been a real update to the PlayStation Store, so much of what’s been released today is catching up for missing out on the past few weeks – Rock Band songs, videos, and a UEFA Euro 2008 demo.
Of course, the big news is that Gran Turismo 5 Prologue has been released. I’ve spent some time today playing it, and I think it’ll be a fine holdover for diehard Gran Turismo fans.
The new Warhawk Broken Mirror pack is also now available for $8, as well as a bundle with both the Broken Mirror and Omega Dawn DLC packs.
Finally. It seemed like this day would never come, but you can finally head to the PlayStation Store and – right now – download Gran Turismo 5 Prologue for $40. As of this moment, PSN seems to be handling the load well enough; the download is going fairly quickly for me considering it’s 1.9GB. If it manages to hold up for the rest of the day, I think that’d be a pretty big knock on Xbox Live for it struggling when a major download is released. It’s a win-win for Sony fanboys.
Earlier this week, two developers from Polyphony Digital participated in a chat with members of the PlayStation forums. While they didn’t go into much detail on any of the subjects thanks to time restraints, they did reveal hit upon a lot of key points – like the omission of all movies from the PSN version of the game. They can all be downloaded from the PlayStation Store, though, with the exception of “Beyond the Apex” which is the one difference between the Blu-ray and PSN versions of the game in terms of content.
You can check out the full transcript of the chat here.
Sony senior VP Peter Dille knows we want more from PlayStation Network. It’s a great service considering its age and the fact that it’s free, but in an “Inside PlayStation Network” post on PlayStation.Blog, Dille outlined (with varying levels of detail) the plan to continue improving PSN.
In addition to the new PlayStation Store, which officially reopened yesterday, Dille explained that the key points to making PSN a success are the PlayStation community, free online gaming, digital media download services, and original content.
Interestingly, he harped on one specific point that I happened to also go on about in today’s story on the new XBLA releases. He said, “One of the most critical elements to PLAYSTATION Network that we’ve focused on since day one is delivering quality games. We’ve always stressed quality over quantity (in other words, fewer arcade remakes and more original content) as well as games that show off PS3’s tech, and games like Everyday Shooter, Super Stardust HD and PixelJunk Monsters are proving that you can get a great experience for $10, or roughly the cost of a movie ticket.”
As for the PlayStation Network’s attempt to topple the Xbox Live Video Marketplace, Dille didn’t have any specific announcement to make, but he did say “it’s already been confirmed that we’ll be offering a video service for PS3 in a way that separates the service from others you’ve seen or used. Ultimately the goal of the PLAYSTATION Network service will be to break through the overwhelming clutter of digital media to give you the TV, movies and gaming content you want. More on this very soon …”
In-game XMB is still scheduled to be released this year, along with “other community-related services.” That includes the launch of Home, and he also suggested a system like Xbox Live achievements could be in the works. We had previously heard of this being a feature in Home, but that it wouldn’t be a mandatory feature for games to include achievements. Hopefully Sony will reconsider that particular point.
Dille also confirmed that PlayStation Network cards are “rolling out” to retailers, so there will be denominations of $20 and $50 popping up in stores very soon.
All in all, it sounds like PSN will be continuing to make some solid improvements this year. It remains to be seen how Sony’s download service would separate itself from other services or how well Home will come together. If the PlayStation Store is any indication, though, PSN certainly has a bright future.
In case you didn’t happen to notice yesterday, new firmware is now available for the PlayStation 3 which allows you to access the brand-spanking new PlayStation Store. I can say from firsthand experience that the new Store is much, much nicer than the previous iteration. (Although it would’ve been difficult to take a step backward from that mess.) There are broken images here and there, and the mainpage is simply taunting you as it says Gran Turismo 5 Prologue is coming soon, but overall I think you’ll all agree that it’s a much better shopping experience.
For whatever reason, Sony decided to release two juicy pieces of DLC out of the bag yesterday instead of waiting for the usual Thursday update. First is the free Lair “Dragons and Control” pack, which includes the much-needed analog stick control update, rumble support, and two new dragons. The other piece of DLC is an add-on to Super Stardust HD. It costs $4.99, but take my word on this one: it is absolutely positively worth it. Stardust was a really good game already, but with this new add-on content I have no problem saying that it’s significantly better than Geometry Wars. I never thought I’d say that about anything other than Geometry Wars 2. The add-on will give you several new game modes and a retro soundtrack that you should definitely check out.
Check back tomorrow for what should be a monster update for content on the PlayStation Store.
With the PlayStation Store’s redesign set to launch later this week, you can expect to see the PlayStation Network go offline for around 13 hours tomorrow. The downtime is currently scheduled to begin at 8AM PST and last until 11PM PST, but with these sorts of things who knows if it’ll last a few hours extra or less. However, the only thing expected to actually be down is the PlayStation Store itself, so you should still be able to play online and access your friends list.
Once the new Store is ready to open, you’ll need to first download the new firmware update that will be made available later this week. When you’re in, you’ll be able to download the Metal Gear Online beta (provided you have a key), as well as Gran Turismo 5 Prologue. The firmware update will also bring DTS-HD Master Audio, so there’s plenty to be looking forward to this week for PlayStation 3 owners.
As a proponent of digital distribution, I love what Sony has done in terms of pushing large, retail-style games out through the PlayStation Store. Xbox Live Arcade is a great service, but with a cap on size limits, there’s no chance that you’re ever going to see something like Warhawk available on the Xbox Live Marketplace. PSN, on the other hand, has a multitude of full size games that go well beyond the scope of old school ports and small indie games like Everyday Shooter.
This movement begs the question: are discs and physical media doomed as a format for deliver games? Steam has become the definitive place to purchase games for many PC gamers (myself included), so what’s to stop consoles from following the trend? Michael Donahoe explored this possibility and took a look at how the three respective platform holders are handling digital distribution.
Downloadable games are really clicking this generation. It’s easy to see why, too — it’s the lazy way to play. Hell, all you have to do is hop online, push a button, and boom, you’re minutes away from getting your game on. Right now, all three of the major consoles are vying for your virtual bucks. Each one offers easy-to-play classics and smaller titles designed to quickly kill time. Of course, not all of these attractive appetizers will fill your gaming belly like a meaty retail game. Or at least that’s the case now, though Sony might be changing the way the menu is written with upcoming main-course titles like Gran Turismo 5: Prologue and SOCOM: Confrontation.
Those excited for the new PlayStation Store that will be releasing next week can get a peek at what’s to come in the above video walkthrough, courtesy of PlayStation.Blog. The video takes you through the different categories you’ll find in the main menu of the Store, as well as how items are indicated as being in your cart or already purchased. It also makes a mention of this being a native PlayStation 3 application rather than something internet-based, so that should make for a much smoother experience.
One of the new features is the ability to watch a preview video or view screenshots of a game without ever having to leave and head to the XMB. That’s a great addition, but I hope Sony will eventually get more demo or trial versions of the downloadable games available on the Store. I know that feature has bother introduced me to some games I wouldn’t have otherwise bought and also saved me money on Xbox Live Arcade, so hopefully we’ll see an abundance of demos in the future.
If you’ve heard the rumors that the PlayStation Store would become region locked following its redesign, you needn’t worry – Sony has promised this isn’t the case. Currently, if you sign up for a PlayStation Network account and aren’t entirely honest about your current location, you’ll find yourself able to access a foreign PlayStation Store, thereby granting you access to great things like Gran Turismo 5 Prologue earlier than you otherwise would. Not that I’m endorsing going out and doing it right now, or anything. Definitely not at all.
Naturally, the suspicious was that this new PlayStation Store update would patch up this loophole, but that’s not the case. According to Eurogamer, SCEA has stated that “no changes to the store will be made as part of this revamp relating to region locking.”
I’m actually surprised Sony hasn’t patched this yet – not that I’m complaining. Hit the thumbnails below to see some new screenshots of the redesigned PlayStation Store.
Mr. Gran Turismo, series creator Kazunori Yamauchi, said vehicle damage was coming “very, very soon” and at least I just assumed he meant it would be coming with the full version of Gran Turismo 5 next year. Turns out it’ll be even sooner than that – Gran Turismo 5 Prologue isn’t even out worldwide yet, and there’s a “major update” planned for later this year that will add, among other things, vehicle damage.
In an interview with CVG, Yamauchi said the update will also enhance Prologue’s online modes and will add “community building features,” whatever those might be.
Those sound like some nice additions, but it really furthers the theory that Gran Turismo 5 Prologue really is an incomplete game. Assuming those additions are free, though, GT5 Prologue should be a fine holdover for the real GT5.
The mind-bending puzzle game Echochrome has finally gotten a (loose) release date for its US release: early May. That pegs it in around a month or so, but the really good news is that it’ll cost $10 on either the PSP or PS3, with the latter featuring the better feature set.
PlayStation 3 owners will find a mode that allows them to create their own levels and share them with friends over PSN, while PSP owners will only be able to do so over Ad Hoc. There’s no online support for the PSP version, which is a bit disappointing, but it will offer unique levels not found in the PS3 version – until some player designs them on PS3, of course.
If you haven’t already, download the PSP demo and give the game a try.via PSP Fanboy
The PlayStation Store is getting revamped, and rather than take it offline temporarily, Sony will allow you to continue to access the store while changes are made. The only caveat to the previously announced redesign is that there won’t be any content added to the store for the next two weeks. Bummer.
But, on the bright side, when the Store reemerges on the other side, you’ll find (among other stuff) Gran Turismo 5 Prologue staring you in the face. And if you’re anything like me, you already know you won’t be able to resist.
Once the new redesign is complete, a firmware download will be released that you’ll have to download before you get to downloadin’.
We’ll have more on the changes in the coming days, courtesy of PlayStation.Blog.
You might see Gran Turismo 5 Prologue as a glorified demo, as many do, but if you want any new Gran Turismo action it’s going to be your only option for at least another year. As Eurogamer points out, associate producer Chris Hinojosa-Miranda replied to a comment on PlayStation.Blog claiming that Gran Turismo 5 is “still about a year away.”
On the bright side, series creator Kazunori Yamauchi has revealed that we should expect vehicle deformation in his games “very, very soon.” It’s about time.
“We really, really want to put damage onto our vehicles,” he told GamerTV. “We’ve had a lot of discussions with the manufacturers and, although at the beginning they hated the idea of deformation, now they’re slowly coming around to it.
“We’ve still got a few to convince, but we will. Expect deformation in the very near future: very, very soon.”
Yamauchi is well known for his unapologetic obsession with perfection, so I’d expect the wait on vehicle deformation in the Gran Turismo series to be worth it.
