Commander Fury

Hello, PlayStation fans. No stranger to thriving in the wild, Aloy — as you know well from Horizon Zero Dawn and the upcoming Horizon Forbidden West — is soon joining the fray of Fortnite’s Primal Season. As Aloy arrives as the latest member of the Gaming Legends series, we’re making the occasion extra special with a new tournament and Limited Time Mode. Read on for the Aloy items that will be entering the Fortnite Item Shop, as well as info about the Aloy Cup and the Limited Time Mode “Team Up! Aloy & Lara.” Introducing the Horizon Zero Dawn Bundle Outcaster, seeker, and champion, Aloy enters the fray alongside familiar mementos of her Horizon Zero Dawn adventure. In addition to the Aloy Outfit, all these items will be available for purchase in the Item Shop starting April 15, 2021. Though Blaze may not be a crafting resource on the Island, you can still use it for show via the Blaze Canister Back Bling. Also, glide into battle with the Glinthawk Glider and strike objects with the Aloy’s Spear Pickaxe. Using the Heart-rizon Emote, express yourself with the Focus effect, and inspired by the Shield-Weaver armor, adorn your weapons and vehicles with the Shield-Weaver Wrap. All items in the Horizon Zero Dawn Bundle will be available individually, but the Bundle includes the Aloy the Skywatcher Loading Screen as an added bonus. Additionally, anyone who owns the Aloy Outfit and plays Fortnite on their PlayStation 5 will unlock the Ice Hunter Aloy Style, based on the Banuk Ice Hunter outfit from Horizon Zero Dawn. Compete in the Aloy Cup for a chance to unlock the Horizon Zero Dawn Bundle early Fitting for the Primal Season, bows are more prominent than ever on the Island. One of Aloy’s main weapons in Horizon, demonstrate your bow precision in the upcoming Aloy Cup, available only on PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4. This Duos tournament happens April 14, and the top performing teams in each region will unlock the Horizon Zero Dawn Bundle before it enters the Item Shop. In the Aloy Cup, you and your Duos partner will compete to be the last team standing, but the twist is that you’ll get bonus points for eliminations with a bow. Players are able to compete in 10 matches in their region’s three-hour time window, and the specific timing for each region can be found in the Compete tab in-game. Full rules are available at the Fortnite website. Two gaming legends join forces in the “Team Up! Aloy & Lara” limited time mode When Fortnite’s current Season began, gaming icon Lara Croft was one of the varied veterans of the wild to join the primal fight. Starting April 16, fellow members of the Gaming Legends series Aloy and Lara are assembling for a new Limited Time Mode: Team Up! Aloy & Lara. Players will automatically be outfitted as either Aloy or Lara in this Duos mode, with their teammate being outfitted as the other. At your disposal will only be the bow for Aloy and Dual Pistols for Lara — keep an eye out for wildlife and master your crafting skills to upgrade your weapons. Team Up! Aloy & Lara will run from 6AM PT / 9 AM ET on April 16 to 6AM PT / 9 AM ET on April 18. Good times on the horizon In both this Season and future ones, we look forward to seeing your adventures on the Island with Aloy. As with Kratos, we’re delighted to have such an esteemed gaming icon join the Fortnite roster. From Angie Smets, Studio Director & Executive Producer at Guerrilla: “We’re thrilled that Epic has invited Aloy to play! As a fast, agile hunter and a proven competitor, we know she’ll make an amazing addition to the Fortnite universe. Moreover, Epic has done an exceptional job with Aloy’s kit, including her outfit and spear, staying true to her likeness in Horizon Zero Dawn. Even better, they’ve included fun and authentic extras like her Glinthawk glider, Blaze Canister backbling, and Shield Weaver wrap. There’s even a special emote which Horizon fans are sure to love. Special thanks to all the devs at Epic for making this exciting collaboration happen. We can’t wait to see Aloy glide into battle.” Set your focus on Island victory like never before. http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/PSBlog/~4/pRX--WYtlmUView the full article

The first major system software update for the PS5 console is rolling out globally tomorrow, and it’s packed with new features and improvements. Our team is passionate about enhancing your experience on PlayStation in every possible way, so here’s a glimpse at what’s coming for PS5, PS4, and PlayStation App: PS5 Storage Expansion and Management Store PS5 Games on Compatible External USB Drives.* With this feature, you can now transfer your PS5 games to USB extended storage from your console’s internal storage. It’s a great way to extend the storage capabilities of your PS5 console, and you can seamlessly copy your PS5 games back to the console’s internal storage when you’re ready to play. It is faster to reinstall PS5 games from USB extended storage than to re-download or copy them from a disc. Because PS5 games are designed to take advantage of the console’s ultra high-speed SSD, PS5 titles can’t be played from USB extended storage. PS5 titles also cannot be directly downloaded to USB extended storage. However, games that you transfer or copy back to internal storage will automatically update when applicable. In addition, you can select which game modes you want to install (such as campaign or multiplayer) for select titles that support the option. For tips on using USB extended storage on PS5, including storage device requirements, please visit: https://www.playstation.com/en-us/support/hardware/ps5-extended-storage/. As previously announced, the PS5 console will support storage expansion via M.2 drives in the future. We’re currently working on this feature and will keep you posted with any updates on PlayStation Blog. New Social Features for PS4 and PS5 Consoles Cross-generation Share Play. PS4 and PS5 players can now Share Play together while chatting in parties. This means PS5 console users can let their friends on PS4 consoles view their game screen, or even try out the PS5 games through Share Play, and vice versa. Options include the ability to share your screen with a friend, pass your controller virtually to a friend, or pass a second controller virtually to play co-op games together. Request to Join Game Session. A selection of your friends’ joinable game sessions will now appear on both PS5 and PS4 consoles, allowing for more gameplay opportunities together. The “Request to Join” option also serves as a shortcut to sending a game invite, reducing the time it takes for you to get into games with friends. Through the Privacy Settings menu, you can modify who can interact with you through parties, games and messages. Enhanced Control and Personalization Options for PS5 Consoles Improved Game Base. The Game Base menu has been improved for quicker access to important content and features. You can now easily switch between Parties and Friends to start chatting with your existing parties or see what each of your online friends is up to. In addition, you can turn notifications on or off for each of the parties you’re in. Disable Game Chat or Adjust Players’ Volume. You can now quickly disable in-game chat, which turns off your mic audio and the voice audio of other players. Additionally, you can easily adjust the individual voice chat volume of other players in the same chat so you don’t have to ask your friends to lower or increase their mic volume each time. Game Update Pre-download. Once it’s enabled by developers, title updates for games will pre-download to your console if the “automatic updates” setting is enabled and your console is on or in rest mode. This will let you start playing the latest version of a game immediately after the update’s release. Customize Game Library. With the ability to search your library or hide games from view, it’s now easier to find content and personalize your view of your game library. Screen Zoom. You can now adjust the magnification of the screen to suit your preference from the Settings menu. New Trophy Settings and Stats Screen. The level of trophies that results in automatic capture of a screenshot or video clip can now be customized — so you can now choose to only capture and save images/videos of moments when you earn higher-grade trophies, like Gold or Platinum. We’re also introducing a new player Trophy Stats screen, where you can check out the summary of your trophy level and status at a glance. Image cropped to showcase new Trophy Stats screen New Features for PlayStation App We’re also introducing a myriad of new features for PlayStation App to make it easier than ever to connect with your console experience remotely. Recently, we introduced the ability to save products in a wishlist, get notifications when your friends are online, and change your console online status. In the coming weeks, we’ll be rolling out even more, including the ability to join a multiplayer session on PS5 from the app, manage your PS5 console storage, compare trophy collections with friends, and sort and filter products shown in the PlayStation Store. You can download PlayStation App for free from Google Play and the App Store. We’re only scratching the surface of the many updates and improvements we’ve made across PS5, PS4, and PS App, so check them out and let us know what you think! *For external USB drive compatibility requirements, visit: https://www.playstation.com/en-us/support/hardware/ps5-extended-storage/. http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/PSBlog/~4/LdHFGq-OQMwView the full article

Greetings, everyone! Matt “Bayohne” Hilton here from the Final Fantasy XIV community team, and I’m excited to bring you more details about the PS5 version of FFXIV launching into open beta tomorrow. The PS5 version of FFXIV brings many new enhancements to the game that make use of the console’s power and features, so we wanted to give you an introduction as to what you can expect. If you hadn’t caught the first showcase of the PS5 version, check out the reveal trailer below. Play Video There is even more coming with the PS5 version, and we enlisted the help of Final Fantasy XIV Lead Project Manager Shoichi Matsuzawa to dive into the details and what to expect. An open beta without limits We’ve mentioned the start of our open beta a few times, but what exactly does this mean? Most importantly, this open beta doesn’t mean limiting what you can play. Even if you haven’t played FFXIV on the PS4 yet, this is still the perfect time for those of you with a PS5 to hop in. Shoichi Matsuzawa: “During the open beta period, players who own the PS4 version of FFXIV can experience all of the same content, but on PlayStation 5. The Worlds (or game servers) that you’ll connect to are the same ones that players on PS4 and other platforms play on, and there are no restrictions from a functionality perspective for open beta participants. We are launching into an open beta as a precaution, since there is a massive amount of existing content in FFXIV. If we do not see any critical issues, we plan to transition straight into official service.” Matsuzawa: “If you are starting FFXIV fresh, the Free Trial version will also be available during the open beta on PS5—you can play A Realm Reborn and the first expansion pack, Heavensward, up to level 60. Worry not—your character, progress and everything else will carry over to the full version. The full version for the PlayStation 5 will be available after the conclusion of the open beta, so we would encourage new players who start on the free trial to consider switching over to the full product version.” Enjoy Eorzea in 4k The PS5 version will make FFXIV look better than ever before with new display options and improved frame rates. Here are some of the specifics: Matsuzawa: “We will offer three rendering resolutions to choose from in the PS5 version: 4K (2160p) / WQHD (1440p) / Full HD (1080p), which will then be scaled to match your TV’s output. I wouldn’t want to make sweeping generalizations since there are so many different types of content in FFXIV, but in general, WQHD (1440p) and Full HD (1080p) should run at around 60 FPS during normal gameplay, and even in 4K (2160p) you should see frame rates around 40 FPS—significantly higher than the PS4 version. Of course, there are some instances where you have a few dozen (to a few hundred!) players gathering in certain areas, which places a heavy load on rendering, but even then I believe you can still achieve around a stable 30 FPS.” A crisp and clean UI In addition to new resolution options, we’ve also updated the in-game menus and UI so your inventory, Armoury chest, and action bars look stunning as well! Matsuzawa: “Final Fantasy XIV’s UI was originally intended for a 720p display, so we worked to up-res those original images for the PS5 version. Naturally, going through each and every item, equipment, and ability icon by hand would have been impossible to achieve in a short amount of time, so we incorporated a few tricks to find ways to be efficient; for example, we utilized AI tools to boost the resolution and tweaked any parts of the icons that needed it by hand. Aside from the UI elements, things like the font has a higher resolution now as well, so overall these elements will look a lot smoother.” Get where you want to go faster I’m fairly certain this might be one upgrade a lot of our players are excited about! Utilizing the PS5’s SSD will allow you to teleport between areas quicker than ever before. Matsuzawa: “I’m sure if you took a look at our PS5 trailer you’ll have noticed, but load times are now faster for both logging in and traveling between areas using teleport. We actually did some code refactoring on the log-in processes etc. as well, so to tell you the truth, the load times on the PS4 version are slightly improved, too.” Making the best MMO controller experience even better FFXIV has had full controller support since we’ve launched, and we’re not stopping now. We’ve added some additions to make playing with the new DualSense controller an even better experience than before. Matsuzawa: “We were working down to the wire to get this in, but we were able implement some features for the DualSense wireless controller. First, we implemented haptic feedback for a number of actions to deepen our players’ immersion further: this includes [introducing unique haptic feedback to things like] the footsteps of various mounts, actions for Disciples of the Land and Hand, and more. When it came to battle content, we deliberately kept the feedback to a minimum—for example, when a player uses a limit break—as we did not want to interfere with players’ concentration during a fight. We would love to hear player feedback regarding this, as we can take that into consideration as we make future adjustments. When it comes to adaptive triggers, there aren’t too many areas within the game’s systems to which this feature would apply, but we did integrate it into smaller-scale content where we could, such as quests where you enter an FPS-type mode to complete certain objectives.” An immersive sound experience We’ve talked a lot about visuals so far, but let’s not forget about the amazing work of the FFXIV sound team! The team has brought some additional features utilizing 3D audio as well. Matsuzawa: “We are utilizing 3D audio output for the PS5 version of FFXIV. Since our initial launch, ambient sounds in FFXIV were assigned different parameters, such as audible range, but with the implementation of the 3D audio feature on the PS5, these settings can be fully leveraged. For example, whenever you change the position of the camera, the location of the surrounding ambient sound will shift accordingly, bringing you a more immersive experience. I would recommend trying it out with headsets that support 3D audio.” Even more to look forward to The PS5 open beta is bringing a lot to the table in terms of upgrades, but we aren’t stopping there—the team is looking to add even more in the future. Matsuzawa: “We are thinking of eventually upgrading in-game textures in phases and are starting initial preparations for that update. However, we do need to keep in mind that other platforms, including the PlayStation 4 version, are still in service. Since FFXIV is an MMO, we need to place some emphasis on being able to simultaneously render player characters and their equipment, while still ensuring everything works smoothly. We do need to take care when planning major updates like this and start with testing and verifying it all works well. Plus, assets that we created nearly ten years ago didn’t factor in the possibility of being displayed at the high resolutions available to us today, so we have to think about how to revise quite a massive amount of assets efficiently. We also are looking at adding additional Trophies to FFXIV on a regular basis, given that the Trophy system is now more flexible in that regard. Things are in progress, but we’d appreciate your patience for future updates regarding this.” We hope you’re as excited as we are for all of these features coming with the PS5 version. Tomorrow’s release of Patch 5.5 also marks the start of the open beta, and all current PS4 users can upgrade to the PS5 version at no additional cost. If you’re new to FFXIV, you can download the Free Trial on PS5 now in readiness for it going live tomorrow, so you can experience all of these new features as you try out the game. That’s it for now, and we hope that you’ll enjoy Patch 5.5 and the PS5 version—see you in game! http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/PSBlog/~4/DTENTDMQtl0View the full article

Hello again, tamers, and welcome back to the Archipelago. The wait is over, and the eagerly awaited island of Cipanku opens its doors tomorrow for all tamers to discover and enjoy. In case you missed it, Temtem is a colorful creature-collecting MMO where you’ll explore the Airborne Archipelago alongside your Temtem squad. From tomorrow onwards, you’ll have one more island to discover. Oh! We’ll also be implementing Activity Cards for all in-game quests — we can’t wait to see what you think. The rise of digital Temtem Cipanku is an Electric/Digital themed island, where tradition and technology converge and meld together. Cipanku is the first island to house Digital Temtem, a rare Temtem type that humans created in the Nanto laboratories. Digital Tems come with their own new and exclusive Traits and Techniques; they’re the first type to be weak to themselves. Digital Tems are strong against Mental, Melee and Digital types, and are weak to Water, Electric and Digital types. They’re also resistant to the Toxic type. Notable Digital Tems you might already have registered in your Tempedia include Oree, Zaobian and the Digital variant of Koish. We’ve also leaked a new Digital tem called Molgu, and a couple of Electric Tems like Raignet and the Sparzy line. Catch a mythical Temtem together Cipanku also brings with it one of the most significant features in the game’s history. Mythical Temtem. And the way to reach them, Lairs. Lairs are a group activity, ranging from three to five players (having five is strongly recommended), where you and your teammates will be able to progress through your own paths to get a chance at capturing the Mythical Temtem. In Lairs, even though each player receives a different randomly generated path, all resources are shared and resource management is the true key to success in reaching the Mythical. To prove your skills as a tamer, instead of traversing the Lair with your usual squad you must form your Temtem team and inventory during the Lair, and think strategically about when and what to bring along with you. Fast travel across the Islands The technology advancement in Cipanku will allow you to unlock one of the most requested features so far: teleportation. By completing a side quest in the city of Neoedo, you’ll unlock a nifty teleport system that, in exchange for a fee, will let you travel instantly from many different hotspots across the Archipelago. Teleports to any Narwhal airport are free, though. Top tips for success in Cipanku For this update, we recommend having your team leveled up to at least level 50, but as usual, the higher the better! For team suggestions, Mudrid and Grumper are valuable allies, and a Nessla with Electric Synthesize should carry you far, too. You can find these in Tucma, Kisiwa and Deniz, respectively. On Lairs, keep in mind that they can be re-done as many times as needed until you complete, but they’re challenging. Do your best to save the key resources to unlock the Mythical battle, or it will all be for naught. We really hope you enjoy Cipanku, and the first update of Temtem on PlayStation 5. Temtem up. http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/PSBlog/~4/d68gaNl-ZjMView the full article

Email us at PSPodcast@sony.com! Subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google or RSS, or download here Hey y’all! This week we sit down with composer Bobby Krlic, who shares the creative process behind crafting Returnal’s soundtrack. Stuff We Talked About Mass Effect Legendary Edition Oddworld: Soulstorm Returnal (interview begins at 21:20) Outer Wilds The Witness Disco Elysium – The Final Cut Games that made us see things differently in the real world The Cast Sid Shuman – Senior Director of Content Communications, SIE Tim Turi – Senior Content Communications Specialist, SIE Kristen Zitani – Senior Content Communications Specialist, SIE Thanks to Cory Schmitz for our beautiful logo and Dormilón for our rad theme song and show music. [Editor’s note: PSN game release dates are subject to change without notice. Game details are gathered from press releases from their individual publishers and/or ESRB rating descriptions.] http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/PSBlog/~4/cDpWf8thv08View the full article

Last week, we asked you to step into the sun or create moments centered around golden views using #PSshare #PSBlog. From sundripped scenery to garishly gold ensembles, here are this week’s golden highlights: The sun burns down on the deserted world of Journey, shared by Herp_Derp23. An ornate figure stands against a golden backdrop in this Mortal Shell share by m_nt_13. Leaves fall against the golden sunset of Ghost of Tsushima, shared by Chris25551. The golden get-ups catch the eye in Yakuza Kiwami 2 shared by oscar_smile. Sefwick shared a golden reflective moment from Gran Turismo Sport. Jesse pauses against a golden wall in the halls of Control, shared by jmsan5. Search #PSshare #PSBlog on Twitter or Instagram to see more entries to this week’s theme. Want to be featured in the next Share of the Week? THEME: Moonlight SUBMIT BY: Wednesday 9 AM PT on April 14 Next week, we’re spending time under the moonlight. Share your best moments glowing under the moon’s gaze from the game of your choice using #PSshare #PSBlog for a chance to be featured. Want to share more of your epic photo mode moments? U.S. players can enter the Red Bull Capture Point competition* for the chance to win some thrilling prizes. See full details at redbull.com/capturepoint. *Red Bull Capture Point Official Contest Rules: THIS IS A SKILL CONTEST. MUST HAVE ACCESS TO PS4/5 CONSOLE, PLAYSTATION™NETWORK, TWITTER® ACCOUNT, AND THE PARTICIPATING GAME(S). Starts February 1, 2021, ends May 21, 2021. Open to legal US residents, 18+. To enter, capture in-game image and share on Twitter with #RedBullCapturePoint and #contest. All entries must be submitted by May 2, 2021. Limit: 18 entries per person. For prize categories, judging information, restrictions, and Official Rules: redbull.com/capturepoint. Sponsor: Red Bull North America, Inc., 1740 Stewart St., Santa Monica, CA 90404. http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/PSBlog/~4/B8EI-xxmuTwView the full article

We’re only a few weeks away from Returnal’s release. But today you can get a taste of what awaits on Atropos in the form of the game’s first track, named – aptly enough, considering the circumstances that bring Selene to the alien planet – Crash. It as well as the rest of the soundtrack is the creation of Bobby Krlic. The British musician has a multitude of high-profile credits in his career to date. Alongside performing under stage name The Haxan Cloak, Krlic also composed the soundtrack of 2019 cinematic horror Midsommar. In Returnal, Krlic renders a bristling, malevolent soundscape that pairs perfectly with the weaponized planet and the tenacious ASTRA scout who finds herself trapped in the dark heart of a cosmic mystery. On April 30, the Returnal album will be released alongside the game as part of the Digital Deluxe Edition, and will come to streaming platforms on May 7. But rather than simply replicating the game’s score, the album features a unique set of mixes created especially for the format by Krlic. You can listen to The Crash below (and from various other sources here), and afterwards read our interview with the composer as he details the creative process behind that track and the rest of the game’s music. If you prefer your interviews fed straight into your ears, the chat will also appear in the latest PlayStation Podcast, going live later today. When did you come on board the project? To the best of my memory, I think Sony reached out to me in around July 2019. I started writing demos as soon as August, September, after those initial conversations. What was the elevator pitch of what this game would be, or the soundscape they were looking for? There was a deck that was sent. You know; a brief description of the narrative, and then some renderings of characters, levels and that kind of thing. We didn’t get deep into the weeds. It was more giving an overview and seeing if there was, you know, some common interests there. Were those demos in the right ballpark, and you refined from there? Yeah. We had a good two months of back and forth. Just sending things and discussing those and extrapolating elements from them, quickly finding which things didn’t [and which did] from both of us, it was about, you know, trying to carve out space, trying to do a kind of sci-fi horror that hopefully hasn’t really been done before. Horror is something that you have experience in, but creating a wholly unique alien world? What’s your starting point for creating this whole new soundscape? I’ll try and do the same thing with, with most scoring projects. Gather as many materials as I can, ask for as much information as people are willing to give me and then, you know, just kind of soak myself in that. Just create without thinking about anything too specific, really, just really try and get in the zone of what the world is. Try and place myself there if I can, and then you know, just press record and play everything for a long time until things seem to be conjuring up the same feeling that I’m getting from the materials. Play Video Do you build those themes around the world itself? I mean, is it hooked around characters, creatures? Or is it more around the moment to moment action? There’s a certain way which the music is constructed within the game. There’s a main bed or a theme for each environment, and then [we] extrapolate out of different combat music, or music for different shifts in that environment, when you’re in different places. It gets bigger or smaller. But I think, for me, it’s always important to first and foremost think in a macro way, you know, to always remember the world that we’re in, and then come into it in a micro way, focus individually for each biome. With scoring film, you’ve set moments within every scene. You know what the beats are, what the rhythm is, from start to finish. But within a game, that can change depending on what the player is doing. So what challenges does that give you in creating the score? In some ways, it’s a challenge. But I think in other ways I found that something I really loved leaning into, in the sense that you really just try to tap into an emotion and to articulate that emotion in the best possible way. You can elongate it, you can suspend it because the player has the autonomy to, to do that they could, they could live in that moment for way longer than you’ve ever imagined. So it’s about like, Okay, how do I grab that? And how do I kind of freeze it? But how do I also kind of keep it undulating and oscillating, moving and engaging? So yeah,the thing really is tapping into what the key emotion is, going in with a magnifying glass and figuring out how to keep it moving and not have it be still, which I found really, really awesome. What are those key emotions for you, both in the soundtrack and in the game? This is really about one person’s determination to get to the bottom of this – I don’t want to give too much away – this mystery that’s surrounding her. There’s so many different things to speak to. There’s determination. There’s sadness, confusion. An ever lingering threat and horror that never really subsides through the game. It’s figuring out how to then have all these things complement each other and theoretically have them be a bit like a liquid jigsaw; everything tessellating together but also keep moving along. While it is a fast paced shooter the music is never really empowering. It still continues that theme of ever-threatening, lingering dread. Would you think that’s a fair assessment? Yeah, I think it’s fair. It’s all about Selene’s character. She’s clearly exceptionally strong, emotionally and physically. She doesn’t particularly need much empowerment through the music. I mean, her empowerment comes from her actions, her narrative. The fact is, she’s not going to stop until she gets these answers that she needs. So I felt it more important to accent the threat that surrounds her. In some ways, yes, it’s terrifying, but in some ways that also magnifies that strength as well. This planet does not give up and she doesn’t give up. Play Video Did you create a theme for Selene? Yeah. So I don’t want to say too much about this, because it’s… it would be a huge spoiler. I will say that there is something that happens at the end of the game, and is a particular harmonic progression there. That was the main thing that we focused on, really when we first started making the music for it. And that, in some way, shape or form is present through every other piece of music that’s in the game. And it should be a kind of eureka moment for the end. You mentioned earlier on about getting a baseline for this world. Do you experiment and play around with the same instruments for every project? Are you testing new techniques or new instruments? There’s a few staple things, but with each project I try and always have something new, something different to play around with. With this one, I ended up building a pretty big, custom modular synth rack. I put this all together just for the game. And then, working with some software developers, we worked on some custom samplers so I would be making my own sounds, then also putting them in custom software, with custom effects and plugins and stuff. So yeah, it’s really kind of, it’s really bespoke. Did you have “build huge synth rack” on the wishlist coming into this project? It’s good to find an excuse [laughs]. It may have been a quarter of that size to begin with. It’s been really exciting, you know, to use things in a way that they’re probably not supposed to be used. And, you know, I think we’ve made some really, really cool sounds that I haven’t heard in video games before. But that’s what interests you creatively, right? Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, definitely. You often wonder why you pick the career path that you pick. And I think, you know, one of the exciting things about doing this is to have a clear voice and an ongoing musical conversation. And this project, while it’s uniquely you still, it’s very unique in itself? Yeah. And that was really, really important to me. You know, it’s always important with everything I do, but for this specifically as well. I want this to hopefully be surprising and engaging for people. Play Video I need to talk about the album. There will be an album release, but it’s not just the tracks from the game itself, it’s your own – is interpretation too strong a word? How about you explain it, rather than me trying to. I’m fairly particular about the way that I deal with soundtrack releases for anything. And with this one, there was so much music that was written. For me, when I’m going to release something, my focus is always on making the most engaging listen possible. When we’re dealing with something that’s a soundtrack, I want to ensure that whatever narrative is in the source material comes through in the soundtrack. There’s so much narrative material to draw from in the game. There’s certain themes I wanted to approach again. For me to pick the pieces of music that signify this journey that Selene is going on, and then use pieces of audio from the game. I want people to listen to the soundtrack, to not necessarily even have to play the game to get the same experience: the mystery, the journey, the payoff. It was taking as many elements as I could and weaving them together in a different way to how they appear in the game to make it as – hopefully – equally an engaging sonic experience. The Crash is the lead track that’s being released ahead of the full album. Can you touch upon the creative process behind that? It’s not one of the most subdued tracks, but definitely not as intense as some of the other ones. For me, it felt like it really sums up the atmosphere of the game. You know, it sums up the narrative, it sums up the characters of Selene and the planet pretty succinctly. It also uses the breadth tonally of everything involved in Returnal: this custom granular processing, the strings, woodwinds, drum machines, distortions… everything that’s present in Returnal is somewhere to be found in that track. So it felt like a no brainer for me that would be kind of a lead – in inverted commas – single. You’ve released albums, done music collaborations. Was working on video game soundtracks something you’d wanted to work on? Yeah. I’ve always been a fan of video games and I think particularly video game music. I guess the first instance of that would have been when Quake came out. And then you know, realising that you could put the CD into the player and you get the soundtrack that Trent Reznor did. I loved Nine Inch Nails at the time. That soundtrack felt insane to me. Like, I still don’t think anybody’s made a video game soundtrack like that. That felt really exciting to me, you know, and it still does. I think this is one of the most exciting mediums right now. Looking back on Returnal, how do you feel it stands next to the rest of your work? That’s an interesting question. It’s funny, I’m not particularly a retrospective kind of person. It’s not often actually that I go back and listen to things. I’ve actually gone back and listened to [this soundtrack] purely in a narcissistic way.. And I think, you know, it’s music that I’ve been wanting to make for a really long time. It’s music that I haven’t found an application for in other schools: what I’ve done is music that I haven’t made purely for myself. And building things, custom synths, using a theme, then breaking that theme down to its DNA and reassembling it… there’s so many musical elements to this that I’ve just found really stimulating, I think, yeah, it made something that – for me – sounds really fresh to my ears, in terms of my catalogue. And you know, it’s kept me interested and excited and engaged the whole way along, which is great. So that’s all you can really hope for when you take on a project. Play Video http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/PSBlog/~4/mmhACWpRtdUView the full article

And just like that, Spring 2021 is upon us! No surprise to see consistent hits like Black Ops Cold War, GTA V, Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales, FIFA 21, and NBA 2K21 atop the charts, but we’re also excited to see titles like It Takes Two and Disco Elysium – The Final Cut make their debuts. Here are your most downloaded games of March 2021: PS5 Games US / Canada Europe 1 Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War FIFA 21 2 Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War 3 NBA 2K21 It Takes Two 4 It Takes Two Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege 5 Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales 6 Assassin’s Creed Valhalla Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time 7 Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time Assassin’s Creed Valhalla 8 Demon’s Souls WRC 9 FIA World Rally Championship 9 FIFA 21 Mortal Kombat 11 10 Watch Dogs: Legion Demon’s Souls 11 Mortal Kombat 11 Disco Elysium – The Final Cut 12 Madden NFL 21 Watch Dogs: Legion 13 Disco Elysium – The Final Cut NBA 2K21 14 Hitman 3 Hitman 3 15 Sackboy: A Big Adventure Sackboy: A Big Adventure 16 Dead by Daylight: Special Edition Immortals Fenyx Rising 17 Immortals Fenyx Rising Mortal Shell: Enhanced Edition 18 Yakuza: Like a Dragon Borderlands 3 19 Godfall Dead by Daylight: Special Edition 20 Borderlands 3 vYakuza: Like a Dragon PS4 Games US / Canada Europe 1 Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War Minecraft 2 Minecraft Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War 3 Grand Theft Auto V Grand Theft Auto V 4 NBA 2K21 Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege 5 Little Nightmares FIFA 21 6 The Forest Little Nightmares 7 Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege NBA 2K21 8 Call of Duty: Modern Warfare The Forest 9 Friday the 13th: The Game The Crew 2 10 Need for Speed Heat Battlefield V 11 Little Nightmares II Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout 12 MLB The Show 20 Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 13 Red Dead Redemption 2 Guilty Gear Xrd Rev.2 14 Ghost of Tsushima A Way Out 15 Gang Beasts Need for Speed Heat 16 Shotgun Farmers Friday the 13th: The Game 17 The Crew 2 Need for Speed 18 Assassin’s Creed Valhalla Gran Turismo Sport 19 Watch Dogs: Legion Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition 20 Mortal Kombat 11 Gang Beasts PS VR Games US / Canada Europe 1 Beat Saber Beat Saber 2 Job Simulator Job Simulator 3 Superhot VR Superhot VR 4 Swordsman VR Astro Bot Rescue Mission 5 The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners Blood & Truth 6 Gorn Swordsman VR 7 Rick and Morty: Virtual Rick-ality Doom 3: VR Edition 8 The Walking Dead Onslaught The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners 9 Vader Immortal: A Star Wars VR Series Marvel’s Iron Man VR 10 Doom 3: VR Edition Gorn Free to Play (PS5 + PS4) US / Canada Europe 1 Fortnite Fortnite 2 Call of Duty: Warzone Rocket League 3 Rocket League Call of Duty: Warzone 4 Apex Legends Apex Legends 5 Destiny 2 Destiny 2 6 Genshin Impact Genshin Impact 7 Vigor Brawlhalla 8 Rec Room Rec Room 9 Brawlhalla World of Tanks 10 Rogue Company War Thunder http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/PSBlog/~4/n-dm-EsM5n8View the full article

Get ready for a vibrant adventure in Shibuya this summer: Neo: The World Ends with You is coming to PS4 on July 27, 2021! This marks the first time The World Ends with You series comes to PlayStation, but is the perfect time for newcomers and fans alike to jump in and explore the dazzling streets of Tokyo. Neo: The World Ends with You is the long-awaited follow-up to the RPG classic The World Ends with You. The story takes place in Shibuya, Tokyo. You may recognize some of the landmarks, but the city itself is depicted with an anime-style artistic touch unlike anything you’ve seen before. It is there you must attempt to uncover the mysteries behind the sinister Reapers’ Game, a life-or-death battle for survival in which you are forced to take part. Perhaps Some Familiar Sites if You have Visited Shibuya in Tokyo Take a look at a new trailer, which will give you a deeper look at the sights, sounds, and culture of the bustling city, characters you’ll meet along the way, and what the fast-paced battles and gameplay look like. Play Video We love that music! The composer for The World Ends with You, Takeharu Ishimoto, is back to bring you even more amped-up tracks. Fans of the original might also recognize a few remixes of previous tracks from the original game. Introducing the ‘Wicked Twisters’ Rindo One of the newest Players in the Reapers’ Game, Rindo is a high schooler to whom searching for info on his phone is second nature. He prefers to go with the flow, and although he doesn’t go out of his way to interact with others, he won’t turn them away if they come to him first. Thrust into the Game without even realizing it, he now serves as the de facto leader of the Wicked Twisters. Fret Rindo’s happy-go-lucky classmate and fellow Player in the Reapers’ Game, Fret boasts the ability to get along with just about anyone. While he styles himself as a natural conversationalist, he prefers to keep things light, subconsciously avoiding subjects that are too serious. He enjoys walking around town with his buddy “Rindude.” Nagi Another Player in the Reapers’ Game, Nagi is a college student whose youthful appearance leads others to mistake her for a middle schooler. She is deeply passionate about her pastimes, devoting all of her time and energy to her favorite games. Highly perceptive, she is acutely aware of others’ emotions, and shows disdain toward those she deems superficial and disingenuous. Minamimoto A fellow Player in the Reapers’ Game, Minamimoto puts his impressive psychic powers to use when he saves Rindo and the gang from a tight spot early on, then forces himself onto their team. He calculates every possible future using his own unique formulas and acts in accordance with the values he discovers, but he remains a mystery to all around him. He seems to have his sights set on something greater than Rindo and the gang. Scan the city and take down the Noise in battle As you and your band of allies explore Shibuya and compete in the Reaper’s Game, you’ll be fighting against the Noise in battle. Rindo can visualize these enemies through scanning, one of the fundamental psych abilities available in the game. Scanning also reveals what the people of Shibuya have on their minds. You might stumble upon some important pieces of information, so be sure to scan often. Scan your surroundings to read peoples’ thoughts or search for noise to fight In combat, you can control multiple party members as you fight foes in flashy action battles. Each teammate can equip one pin at a time—press the corresponding button to unleash the psych contained therein. Simple controls keep combat moving, but with over 300 pins that let you attack the Noise, heal your team, or boost your allies’ abilities, you can create a nearly limitless combination of psychs to fit your gameplay style. Whether you’ve not picked up the original game yet, or have been eagerly awaiting this next installment, Neo: The World Ends with You will immerse you in a manga-inspired version of Shibuya as you team up with unlikely allies and investigate the mysteries of the city and the deadly Reapers’ game—all to an electrifying soundtrack. Stay tuned for more on Neo: The World Ends with You, launching on PS4 July 27. http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/PSBlog/~4/neUKvf8UfRwView the full article

Hello everyone! I’m Hasan Kahraman from Blue Box Game Studios based in The Netherlands. The team and I are working on our new title, coming exclusively to PS5 this year and I can’t wait to show off some gameplay footage from the game in action. However, since the game is at an early development stage, I wanted to announce the game today and show off a little announcement teaser we made. Abandoned is a cinematic, first-person horror survival shooter set in a highly detailed open world environment and favours a realistic approach to survival. Play Video The story The story is centered around Jason Longfield, who wakes up in a strange forest. Abandoned and not remembering how he got there, Jason soon finds out that he was kidnapped and brought there for a dark purpose. Fighting for his survival, his main goal is escape. Realistic character interaction We want to deliver a uniquely personal gameplay experience, one that feels realistic. Every event has an influence on your character. If Jason is out of breath after sprinting (or is afraid), his firing accuracy will suffer. Unlike action shooter titles, firing weapons in Abandoned will be realistically slow. You will need to be tactical in order to survive. The development Our studio is focused on crafting a cinematic style, first-person story. This is no fast-paced shooter in which you just run, aim and shoot. Abandoned requires you to hide and plan every shot before pulling the trigger. We want you to be nervous come each and every enemy encounter. To be aware that a wrong move can be the deciding factor between surviving a combat scenario or not. Immersion through the DualSense wireless controller and 3D audio We wanted to emphasise realism through user immersion. This would not be possible without the DualSense wireless controller. Players will feel each and every interaction during gameplay – such as being struck by a bullet. Pulling the trigger on a loaded or unloaded gun will feel different. Equally 3D audio will help shape your decisions and tactics, using the accurate positioning of gunshots out in the wilds to help decide your next move. The power of PS5 Our team is still unravelling the power of PS5 but we’ve made amazing progress so far. The console allows us to process high quality motion capture, all running at 60 FPS and rendered at a native 4K resolution. We#re making sure the environmental quality is as close to the real thing as possible. In all, the result is realistic graphics, smooth character animations and minimal loading screens. Announcement teaser and release window While we don’t want to go through the full gameplay details just yet – a full gameplay video will be available soon! We couldn’t wait to give a glimpse of what to expect, so we hope you enjoy this sneak preview. Abandoned will be available exclusively on PS5 Q4 2021. http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/PSBlog/~4/DbZTnx34yp0View the full article

Curse of the Dead Gods released on PlayStation 4 last month, and all of us here at Passtech Games have been glued to our screens watching all your amazing footage, feedback, and reactions. As thankful as we are for the response, we’re equally excited to show you new things. Today, we’re doing a deep dive into how we crafted the Curse of the Dead Cells Update, a collaboration between us and Dead Cells’ developers, Motion Twin and Evil Empire. Death in Curse is the gift that keeps on giving, and in this new update, we’re excited to deliver new ways for you to reach your unique fate. To that end, we’ve added new weapons, originally from Dead Cells, the Cursed Chest, and the Prisoner’s head skin for McCallister, Curse of the Dead Gods’ main character. From a game design perspective it was a very interesting challenge because it meant taking elements of two similar but also different games and mashing them together. This also goes for the artistic direction, where Dead Cells has a somewhat cartoony, comedic vibe, which isn’t present in Curse. In Dead Cells for example, the Cursed Chest speaks to the player, pleading them to open it. This didn’t work as well for Curse, so we changed it to something we believe is true to both worlds – slightly less comedic, but still somewhat alien and quirky. We were also aware that some players don’t like crossovers, since it can pull them out of the world. That’s why we wanted to keep the content lore-friendly and fit the general vibe of Curse as well. Each new item and mechanic introduced in this update fits into our universe. Deciding which weapons to take from Dead Cells was a fun process. We started with a rather long list of badass Dead Cells weapons and then filtered it down until we had only the most iconic ones that also made the most sense for Curse: The Broadsword, the Cursed Sword, and the Explosive Crossbow. The crossbow is an entirely new weapon in Curse, which made it even more alluring to us. The Cursed Sword was a must, for obvious reasons. In Curse, we called these weapons the Broadsword of the Knight, the Sword of Conjunctivius, and the Crossbow of the Condemned. Both swords have the same effect as in Dead Cells. The Sword of Conjunctivius (see screenshot below) is a real devil – get hit once, and you’re toast. On the other hand, it’s very powerful. If that doesn’t fit Curse’s penchant for tempting players to their own doom, we don’t know what does! We took some liberties with the Cursed Chest. In Curse, there used to be two ways to get a cursed item (weapon or relic): get one at a starting altar or buy one at a sanctuary. Now, the Cursed Chest from Dead Cells gives you a third way. In Dead Cells, when you open a cursed chest, you are inflicted with a curse that lasts until you kill a certain number of enemies. We reinvented this mechanic to fit into Curse: to unlock the chest you have to kill a certain number of enemies in the room without getting hit. Fail, and the chest goes poof. Rather than simply give you a cursed item, the Cursed Chest presents you with a choice of three items, one of which is always cursed. We hope you all enjoyed this insight into how we brought a slice of Dead Cells into our own Curse of the Dead Gods. It was a pleasure to work with Motion Twin and Evil Empire, and we cannot wait to see how the update will be received by you, the players! Curse of the Dead Gods is available now for PlayStation 4. Its free update Curse of the Dead Cells will be available on April 14. http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/PSBlog/~4/Jg5yvCePVQcView the full article

Hey there PlayStation Nation! We hope that everyone has been enjoying Dan, the new V-Shift mechanic, and the major Battle Balance updates that came with the kickoff of Season 5. We are thankful for all your support with the new content so far. Now we’re back with the Street Fighter V Spring Update to give you the scoop on Rose, Oro, and a special look at the fourth character, Akira. Let’s dive into what was revealed during the Street Fighter V Spring Update. For the full picture, check out the Spring Update video below: Play Video Oro, the wandering hermit, appears in SFV Making his return from Street Fighter III, Oro is coming equipped with his classic moveset along with a handful of new ones. He even retains his one-armed combat style. However, unlike SFIII where he sealed one of his arms, here he is holding his new turtle pet during combat. While Oro is not playable in SFV quite yet, he’s not a stranger to the rest of the cast, having appeared multiple times in other characters’ stories already: He has appeared in Menat’s story, as well as Dhalsim’s Here’s a deeper look into Oro’s moves and what he’s bringing to the ring. One of Oro’s classic moves, the leap attack, will avoid the opponent’s low attacks and lead to a counter hit when timed correctly. He is also able to perform his patented double jump, which gives him a breadth of offensive and defensive opportunities whether it’s shortening the gap from the opponent or changing his landing point. A hop, skip, and a double jump Oro has a new move called Tsuranekeashi. This kick move is used to help keep opponents at bay but can also be used in combos. The EX version can allow for some follow-up attacks. A quick leg swing puts the hurt on opponents Oro’s V-Skill I is called Onibi. This move has Oro throwing out a smaller version of his SFIII projectile Super Art Yagyou Dama, which will bounce off the floor at different angles. This gives Oro a chance to put more pressure on his opponent. It’s a bit slow to come out, but has several hits of projectile damage so it can blow through opponents’ fireballs. His V-Skill II is a new move called Minomushi, where he makes a small hop. By inputting a punch or kick after this move, Oro can follow up with additional moves. V-Skill I – Onibi V-Skill II – Minomushi Oro’s V-Trigger I is called Manrikitan. This gives him access to his Kishinriki command throw which snags opponents and slams them repeatedly into the ground. This command grab can be used in combos, on the ground, and in the air. Use Kishinriki on the ground or in the air Oro’s V-Trigger II is his popular returning move, Tengu Stone. Oro summons several rocks and objects that hover above him to use as follow ups to his normal attacks. Special items sometimes get pulled in that have different effects on opponents. Did Oro summon Blanka-chan?! BZZZZT! Oro is looking to make a powerful impact on Street Fighter V when he releases this Summer. Rose makes her destined return to SFV on April 19 Rose, the soul-powered fortune teller, returns with her tarot cards in tow and some new moves to change the future of Street Fighter V. As we revealed with the SFV Winter Update, Rose is back with a handful of new powerful moves at her disposal. Let’s break down her moves a bit further. Rose’s V-Skill I is Soul Fortune. This move allows Rose to pull out a tarot card to either buff herself or debuff her opponents. Each card has a different color and has a different effect on Rose or her opponent. You can tell which card she has in her possession at the bottom of the screen next to her V-Gauge bar. The white card, The Magician, will increase Rose’s V-Gauge when used. Hold down the command buttons and she will hold the card up and continuously gain V-Gauge. Be careful though: she is vulnerable during this state. The red card, The Chariot, will increase Rose’s attack damage, making all moves hit a bit harder than before. The Magician fills her V-Gauge The Chariot increases her damage With her debuff cards, Rose throws them at her opponent. These cards count as a single hit projectile and they will also apply the debuff even if the opponent is blocking. The green card, The Tower, will decrease her opponent’s damage output. The purple Death card increases the amount of chip damage and gray life that Rose will inflict on her foe. The Tower lowers opponent’s damage Death increases chip and gray life taken This new V-Skill adds a whole new depth of play to Rose. Do you go on the offense and buff yourself, or play defensively and hinder your opponent’s offensive capabilities? V-Trigger I, Soul Dimension, is a 2-bar V-Trigger that allows Rose to teleport to one of three spots on the screen: Back side of the screen, right behind her opponent, and mid-air behind her opponent. The teleport can be cancelled off of most of her special moves on the ground and in the air. Use this V-Trigger to mix up and confuse your opponents as well as extend combos. Now you see her… Now you don’t Rose’s V-Skill II, Soul Satellite, makes a return from Street Fighter IV. When activated, Rose summons an orb that will circle around her. Hit V-Skill again to summon a second orb. Each orb can either hit once or negate a single projectile hit. Use this V-Skill to put more pressure on opponents. Two orbs are better than one Since the move has become a V-Skill, Rose can use it at no cost. However, she is a bit slower to summon the orbs compared to SFIV, so make sure to only use it at an opportune moment away from your opponents. Soul Illusion is another returning move, this time from the Street Fighter Alpha series. This 2-bar V-Trigger summons a mirrored image that follows Rose and performs the same attack after she does. Activate Soul Illusion And go combo crazy This V-Trigger opens a lot of combo opportunities. This also increases the damage of her Soul Spark projectiles. One thing to note is that if you use the same normal move twice in the same combo, the opponent will be sent airborne. Rose is looking to be pretty dynamic in her playstyles, allowing for a frantic offensive style or a more classic defensive style. “What’s the meaning of fate? You shall know.” During Rose’s victory screen, she throws a tarot card as the results display. This tarot card will change each match. How many different cards does Rose have up her sleeve? Find out on April 19 when Rose releases in SFV. Here comes a new challenger: Akira Kazama is ready to school her opponents It wouldn’t be a SFV update without a little surprise. The development team snuck in some work-in-progress footage of SFV newcomer Akira Kazama. Play Video Akira looks to be retaining some of her Rival Schools style in SFV. Also Akira’s older brother Daigo will be making an appearance too. Is this…? “Nii-san!” We look forward to revealing more about Rival Schools veteran Akira in the near future. New Costumes for Vega, Seth, and Juri Coming alongside Rose’s release are these new Professional style costumes for Vega, Seth, and Juri. These costumes will be available on April 19 as part of the Season 5 Premium Pass or can be purchased in-store individually for $3.99 each. Season 5 Character and Premium Pass Speaking of Premium Pass, the Season 5 Character and Premium passes are available now. Check out what’s included with each one: We hope you all enjoyed taking a deeper dive into Rose and Oro as well as the little teaser of Akira we were able to show off. Look forward to more as we will have additional info soon on Oro, Akira, and that fifth mystery character. And don’t forget, the future is set with Rose releasing on April 19. Thanks again for all of your continued support. http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/PSBlog/~4/SKQqj6bQ2l8View the full article

The next episode for DC Universe Online is World of Flashpoint, launching April 15, 2021. Explore events surrounding one of the most legendary DC storylines, Flashpoint, and its time-twisted versions of your favorite DC characters. It will be up to you and your allies to set the timeline right! World of Flashpoint In this expansion, Flashpoint Batman (Thomas Wayne, Bruce Wayne’s father), Emperor Aquaman, Flashpoint Wonder Woman, and more are desperately fighting in a falling world. Atlantis and Themyscira are at war. A violent Batman embraces his darker side, seeking vengeance for his family while protecting a somehow-even-more-crime-riddled Flashpoint Gotham City. In addition to engaging with these new characters, you will also earn villainous gear based on Heat Wave, a boss you’ll fight in the episode, and Doomsday, who you’ll face in the open world. Heat Wave Doomsday World of Flashpoint is inspired by the events of DC’s Flashpoint storyline. However, this episode represents only a small slice of that entire epic. Your Super Hero or Super-Villain will experience the realities of this timeline and witness some of the most essential moments and challenges while striving to set things right. Want to know more? We drew inspiration from the below DC comics, and highly recommend them all as you prepare for launch on April 15. Flashpoint #1 – #5 Flashpoint: Batman – Knight of Vengeance #1 – #3 Flashpoint: Wonder Woman and the Furies #1 – #3 Welcome to DC Universe Online New to the game? In DC Universe Online, you create your own unique Super Hero or Super-Villain in the legendary DC universe. Fight alongside hundreds of iconic DC characters like Superman, Wonder Woman, and Batman as well as thousands of other players. Level up your powers, master movement modes like flight, learn powerful attacks, and swoop into skillful action combat using a variety of weapons, gadgets, and artifacts. Drawing on comic book storylines from the entire history of DC, your adventures are vast, varied, and always growing. World of Flashpoint is our 40th episode, with no end in sight. World of Flashpoint is free Ready to play? Unlike other episodes, World of Flashpoint is free to everyone, permanently. Play with your friends without barriers. The episode also has event-level versions of the content that every player level 15+ can participate in. You don’t need to be end-game, elite, or a master to jump into World of Flashpoint. If you’re looking to get started or get ready for the episode, most players can reach level 15 in a weekend. And luckily, you have just over a week and one full weekend until World of Flashpoint launches on April 15, 2021. We’ll see you there. http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/PSBlog/~4/Iuf_AdXgkZoView the full article

You’ve heard this before, but it bears repeating: every single video game launch is a minor miracle. So many decisions have to be made. So much content has to be completed. So many variables have to fall perfectly into place. For massive triple-A titles like Borderlands 3, releasing a final product requires years of dedication and perseverance. Increasingly, though, launch is not the end – it’s only the beginning. While Borderlands 3 is not technically a “live service” game, we have treated it as such to make sure that each week it’s a better game than it was the week before. To keep this looter shooter alive and thriving, we have relied on the passion and determination of our incredible development teams, who’ve kept development happening against the backdrop of a pandemic that fundamentally changed the way we needed to work. Later this week, more than 18 months since the base game launched on PlayStation 4, we plan to release the Director’s Cut add-on for Borderlands 3 on April 8, introducing a brand new raid boss, a series of murder mystery missions, new daily and weekly challenges via Vault Cards, and a cache of never-before-seen, behind the scenes content, not to mention new Legendary gear and cosmetic items. To mark the occasion, we wanted to look back at everything we’ve released since launch and pull back the curtain on what it takes to keep a triple-A game feeling fresh. Broadly speaking, we’ve been guided by three major goals since launch. First, to continue to polish and improve the game by addressing reported performance issues. Second, to strive to maintain a balanced experience so that build diversity could flourish at the end-game. And finally, to deliver a variety of new content, whether free or as part of a paid campaign DLC, at a consistent cadence. That first goal is the most straightforward of the three. Nearly every single week since launch (up to and including this week), we’ve released a hotfix to adjust the content that’s already available. We’ve also added numerous quality of life improvements, such as more backpack and bank space, expanded ammo storage, and performance and UI improvements. In effort to be transparent, update notes are always available on borderlands.com. Yes, a few updates saw us remove power from over-performing gear or skills, but far more often, we buffed gear and characters. We made all of these changes with the goal of improving the long-term health of the Borderlands 3 experience. We always want that experience to feel both challenging and rewarding. From the beginning, this has been our guiding light when approaching the adjustments we’ve made to the balance of the game. While these weekly updates often stem from our own internal play-testing and the direction of our live team, they just as often result from fan feedback. Have you ever wondered, “Do developers actually read their games’ subreddits?” Well, the answer is: yes, of course! We read all those critiques, as we know those comments come from the most passionate members of our community. Those weekly adjustments keep us plenty busy, but the real work – and the real joy of Borderlands 3 – comes from that third goal: releasing a variety of new content. And when I say variety, I really, really mean it. In the first year after launch, we released four story-driven campaign add-ons that ranged from a cosmic horror rom-com to a gritty western tale to a space casino super heist to a journey into the broken psyche of a psycho. After that, we released the Designer’s Cut add-on, which added entirely new spin of the Borderlands formula with Arms Race, plus a new skill tree for each of our four Vault Hunters. And that was just the paid content. In addition, we released a huge number of free additions, again leaning into the variety that a game like Borderlands 3 makes possible. We overhauled the end game loop with Mayhem Mode 2.0; we challenged high-level players with the intense and original Takedowns; and we gave the entire community new reasons to play together with rewarding seasonal events like Revenge of the Cartels and Bloody Harvest. We even gave players a way to contribute to real-world scientific research with Borderlands Science, a game within the game that helps map the human gut biome (we were all pretty proud of that one). Maybe our biggest free addition, though, was the PlayStation 5 upgrade that launched last November, right alongside the console itself. If you own a PlayStation 5 and a copy of Borderlands 3 for PS4, you can download the next-gen upgrade for free, enabling frame rates of up to 60 frames per second in 4K resolution during single-player and online co-op. The upgrade also adds local split-screen co-op for up to four players and support for some of the PS5’s unique immersive capabilities like Adaptive Triggers, Game Help, and Spoiler Block. To us, building towards this moment felt like launching the game all over again, but it was well worth the effort. So what does all of this take? Where do ideas come from? How do decisions get made and content created? These are big questions, but the answers are ultimately pretty simple: it takes dedication and hard work. Ideas come from everywhere. For the campaign DLCs, the entire Borderlands team was asked to pitch any idea they liked. The ones that sparked the most enthusiasm were ultimately selected and created. Other times, it might be just a simple conversation between a couple developers – that’s exactly how Arms Race originally came to be. Then of course the community has become a huge part of the development process; features like the upcoming anointment re-roll machine are a direct result of our community’s input. In a lot of ways, we feel extremely lucky. The massive scope and flexible tone of Borderlands 3 have allowed us to explore all kinds of ideas, including plenty that probably would have been deemed too outlandish for other triple-A titles. Whether it’s a narrative premise or a new gameplay hook, we’ve always been able to make our ideas work within the context of the universe. That freedom has been crucial not only to maintaining our own passion for the game internally but also for keeping the experience fresh and engaging for the community. If you’re part of that community now or have been at any point in the past: thank you. We are so grateful you’ve come on this journey with us and given all of our ideas a chance. We’ve also got a new content add-on, Director’s Cut, dropping April 8, as well as more in-game events scheduled through the remainder of the year. (Just remember you need to own a copy of the base game in order to play our content add-ons.) We’re not stopping now, so there’s never been a better time to jump. See you out there, Vault Hunters! http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/PSBlog/~4/WchBt7BNphoView the full article

Ever since we announced Mass Effect Legendary Edition on N7 Day and revealed a first look at it earlier this year, your passion and excitement have blown us away. Today, we’d like to give you more details on what you can expect to see in this remaster. You’ll find the latest information on the Legendary Edition, from gameplay tuning to rebalancing and more. Next week, we’ll provide an additional look at the remastering process with a strong focus on the visual changes across the trilogy. Let’s get into it. Here’s what this post contains, in order: Combat Tuning (Mass Effect) Additional Gameplay Improvements (All) The Mako (Mass Effect) Unifying & Modernizing the Trilogy (All) Galaxy at War Rebalancing (Mass Effect 3) “I don’t need luck—I have ammo.” Combat tuning Combat in the Mass Effect trilogy has evolved across the series, with each game’s experience being different. We wanted to make the experience better across the board, but we didn’t want to unnecessarily change what our fans have come to love about each game. That proved a unique challenge, as the first game is quite different from the second and third in terms of gameplay and combat. Mass Effect was heavily influenced by traditional RPG mechanics, like the randomness of a dice roll and pen-and-paper stat building. As a result, weapons in Mass Effect often felt less accurate and reliable than the gunplay in Mass Effect 2 and 3. We heard the consistent feedback that it was pretty frustrating to take a few shots with an assault rifle and suddenly have the reticle enlarge to span a large portion of the screen, so we looked at tuning the mechanics to provide better handling without outright scrapping the spirit of the original games. In the first Mass Effect, accuracy (including reticle bloom and weapon sway) has been tuned across all weapons to allow players to maintain more consistent firepower while still managing their shots/overheat meter. We’ve also improved the aiming down sights (ADS) camera view to be tighter on combat so that ADS is more accurate (like the second and third games), and we’ve improved the aim assist to provide better precision. These small behind-the-scenes changes collectively make combat much “snappier,” putting more control into the player’s hands. Abilities have also been rebalanced in the first game. For example, the “Immunity” ability now grants a powerful defensive buff that lasts a brief period of time instead of being a small buff that lasts indefinitely. The following overview lists gameplay changes we made specifically to the first Mass Effect, with the goal of bringing it a bit more in line with the rest of the trilogy: Shepard can now sprint out of combat Melee attacks are now mapped to a button press rather than automatically occurring based on proximity to an enemy Weapon accuracy and handling has been significantly improved Reticle bloom is more controlled Weapon sway removed from sniper rifles Aiming down sights/”tight aim” camera view has been improved Improved aim assist for target acquisition All relevant enemies now take headshot damage in the first game Previously some did not, including humanoid enemies Ammo mods (Anti-Organic, Anti-Synthetic, etc.) can now drop throughout the whole game Previously, these stopped dropping at higher player levels They are now also available to purchase from merchants All weapons can be used by any class without penalty Specializations (the ability to train/upgrade certain weapons) are still class-specific Weapons cool down much faster Medi-gel usage has been improved Base cooldown reduced Levelling benefits increased Increased Liara’s bonus to cooldowns Inventory management improvements Items can now be flagged as “Junk” All Junk items can be converted into Omni-gel or sold to merchants at once Inventory and stores now have sorting functionality Some abilities have been rebalanced Weapon powers (i.e., those that are unlocked on each weapon type’s skill tree) have been improved: Effectiveness/strength is increased (duration reduced in some cases) Heat now resets on power activation “If this is a war, I’ll need an army…or a really good team.” Additional gameplay improvements Beyond general gunplay changes, we’ve made some specific changes to encounters, enemies, and how you engage in combat. We found a few opportunities to bring the first game in line with the second and third games, and we also found some systems across the whole trilogy that needed a tune up. Without spoiling too much for new players, one example is the boss encounter on Noveria. The boss room has been slightly reworked, keeping it very familiar but making it less cramped. You’ll also be much less prone to being thrown around by biotic abilities. Other targeted combat updates we’ve made include: Squadmates can now be commanded independently of each other in the first Mass Effect, the same way you can command them individually in Mass Effect 2 and 3 Some boss fights and enemies in the first game have been tweaked to be fairer for players but still challenging Cover has been improved across the trilogy Additional cover added to some encounters Entering and exiting cover is now more reliable XP has been rebalanced in the first game (details below) Ammo drops have been rebalanced in Mass Effect 2 (details below) With combat comes XP. XP gained during the first game has been rebalanced for better consistency, especially towards the game’s end. Players who complete most aspects of the game should be able to more reliably get to higher levels on a single playthrough rather than needing to play through a second time to do so. Additionally, there is no longer a level cap on a first playthrough. As a final gunplay change, we also tweaked ammunition in Mass Effect 2. We found that ammo was spawning too scarcely in the original game, so we’ve increased the drop rate for ammo in ME2, particularly when using a sniper rifle since that had a reduced ammo drop rate in the original release. “It’s got heart, you know?” The Mako But of course, we’ve got to talk about the (in)famous M-35 Mako. This legendary vehicle from the first Mass Effect has been “calibrated” to perform better than ever. In the original game, the physics tuning for the Mako made it feel too light and bouncy, even at times becoming uncontrollable, but it’s now a much smoother ride while still being “loveable” like before. (Yes, you can still drive off cliffs to your heart’s content). Its functionally has also been improved with faster shield recharging and new thrusters added to the rear, allowing for a speed boost when you’re inevitably trying to scale up the side of a near-vertical cliff. (We all do it.) This boost’s recharge is independent from the jump jets on the vehicle’s underside, so you can use both at once or separately. These are the calibrations you can expect to experience when driving the Mako: Improved handlingPhysics tuning improved to feel “weightier” and slide around less Improved camera controls Resolved issues preventing the Mako from accurately aiming at lower angles Shields recharge faster New thrusters added for a speed boostIts cooldown is separate from the jump jets’ The XP penalty while in the Mako has been removed Touching lava no longer results in an instant Mission Failure and instead deals damage over time “Well, what about Shepard?” Unifying & modernizing the trilogy For the Legendary Edition, our goal was to tune up the trilogy and make it more consistent from game to game while honoring the things that made each unique. For example, we’ve unified Shepard’s customization options in the character creator and even added some new options, like additional skin tones and hairstyles. You can use the same character creator code (seen bottom-left in the image below) across all three games, meaning your Shepard can now have a consistent appearance across the trilogy, or you can choose to change their appearance at the start of each title. Customization options and character appearances have also been improved with updated textures and hair models. We’ve also added the Mass Effect: Genesis comics by Dark Horse into the base experience before Mass Effect 2 and 3 as an optional experience so players can make choices from previous games no matter where they choose to start. Of course, the Legendary Edition includes a variety of additional enhancements. Here are some of the things you can look forward to: New unified launcher for all three games Includes trilogy-wide settings for subtitles and languages Saves are still unique to each game and can be managed independently of each other Updated character creator options, as mentioned aboveFemShep from Mass Effect 3 is the new default female option in all three games (the original FemShep design is still available as a preset option) Trophies across the trilogy have been updated New trophies have been added to the trilogy Progress for some now carries over across all three games (e.g. Kill 250 enemies across all games)Trophies that were streamlined into one and made redundant were removed A number of trophies have had their objectives/descriptions and/or names updated Integrated weapons and armor DLC packs Weapons and armor DLC packs are now integrated naturally into the game; they’re obtainable via research or by purchasing them from merchants as you progress through the game, rather than being immediately unlocked from the start. This ensures overall balance and progression across ME2 and ME3 Recon Hood (ME2) and Cerberus Ajax Armor (ME3) are available at the start of each game Additional gameplay & Quality of life improvements Audio is remixed and enhanced across all games Hundreds of legacy bugs from the original releases are fixed “Consider yourself reinstated, Commander.” Galaxy at War rebalancing As Commander Shepard, you’re tasked with the hardest mission of all: defeating the Reapers and saving the galaxy from annihilation. This comes to a head in Mass Effect 3 when the galaxy unites, but your choices from across the trilogy lead you there and determine who fights at your side. The Galaxy at War feature puts you in the heart of the Reaper War from the Normandy’s Combat Information Center, which has been rebalanced in the Legendary Edition. For example, Galactic Readiness is no longer impacted by external factors that aren’t part of the collection, like multiplayer or the old companion app for ME3. However, that doesn’t necessarily mean defeating the Reapers will be easy. The more content you complete across the entire trilogy, the more likely you’ll be prepared for the final fights in its conclusion. If you only play Mass Effect 3, you’ll have to do just about every option available in the game to be eligible for an ending that doesn’t result in massive galactic losses. Playing the first two games and carrying over your progress is the most reliable way to get good results in the final hours of the Reaper War. For comparison, if you previously played ME3 with the Extended Cut (which included Galactic Readiness rebalancing), fully preparing for the final fight will be more difficult to achieve in the Legendary Edition. And on that note: the Extended Cut ending is now the game’s default finale. However, readying your intergalactic armies will be made a bit easier by a number of critical bug fixes and backend improvements made to the Paragon-Renegade system in ME2; we resolved some legacy issues that inhibited accurate reputation stats from being displayed and outright prevented certain dialogue options from being selectable when they should have been. Because of this, key moments that have been notoriously difficult to achieve in ME2 (and impacted ME3) can now be completed more reliably, leading to better results in the story’s final act. “You know, for old time’s sake.” Getting to go back to the roots of the Mass Effect franchise—our roots, as a team now celebrating our 25th anniversary—has been an incredibly nostalgic and emotional experience for us, and we’re sure a lot of you will feel similarly when you get to play Legendary Edition! We’ve heard from so many of you that you want a way to play the original trilogy today, either for the first time or the…well, let’s just say “again.” We don’t need to keep count. Returning to where it all began, as members of our team revisited the work they did over a decade ago, has been a bit surreal, but it felt like the right thing to do; a passion project from us to thank you for the many years of incredible support. (And maybe to help tide you over until the next game, too!) There’s more to come, including a deeper dive into the visual changes we’ve made, so stay tuned for that! Also, thanks for requesting this so much that you practically willed it into existence! It’s meant a lot. From all of us on the Mass Effect team: “Good luck, Commander.” http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/PSBlog/~4/R2iR7OQDOS0View the full article

If you love cute robots make sure you don’t miss The Colonists when it comes to PlayStation 4 on May 4. You’ll need to help the bots build their dream home by automating a whole city to meet their needs. Think of city builders and you probably visualise gray tower blocks and industrial cranes. But The Colonists has a much friendlier face in the form of a grinning robot. The hard-working bots are the stars of the game so we hope you fall in love with them as much as we have. Play Video Each bot is defined by the specific job they have to fulfil within their community. We want to introduce you to a few of them as by learning what each bot does you will understand the basics of how The Colonists works. Carrybot First up is Carrybot. This energetic bot’s job is to carry resources along roads to the various buildings. This means you’ll need to consider the layout of your roads and where you place buildings in relation to them in order to maximise this bot’s productivity. That said, if Carrybots do run out of items to transport they’ll just start dancing on the spot. They clearly have a lot of energy and know how to use it to have a good time. You’ve got to admire that! Farmbot Where do Carrybots get all of that energy? You can thank Farmbot for that. These bots till the soil and grow crops in it that go towards feeding the entire city. If there are no Farmbots then there’s no energy to power your bots. It’s that simple. You’ll notice that Farmbot is fit for its job by taking the shape of a plough. There’s no better design for cutting lines in the ground, tending the orchard to make apple juice, and growing wheat for baking bread. Farmbot always looks happy to be outside in the fields. It’s not a bad life. Treebot and Lumberbot At the start of the game you’ll be relying on wood to construct your basic buildings. That’s why you’ll need Lumberbot, who you send out into the woods to cut trees down and bring back logs for your supply. It’s easy work when you have a buzzsaw for a hand. But you can’t keep chopping trees down and expect the wood to keep coming. You’ll need to plant more trees with Treebot so that you’ll have more wood later on in the game.Treebot can grow a variety of plants, including pine trees, palm trees, and even cacti! Look after nature and in return it will look after you. Smithbot and Smeltbot Later in the game you’ll be able to graduate beyond wood and start using stone and metal in your construction projects. Once you’ve mined ores you’ll be able to bring them to the first of these burly bots, Smeltbot, who will use a furnace to turn ore into metal. It’s then the turn of Smithbot to take that metal and bash it into a shape that you can work with. Don’t they look great with their aprons on? You’ll be able to greatly expand your settlement with the refined metals you’ll get from this pair, acquiring new bots and accessing even better resources. Captainbot Ahoy! It’s Captainbot. This seafaring bot happily sets sail in its boat in search of new lands for you to harvest. This will become necessary as you progress and start needing rarer resources that can only be found overseas. Not only will Captainbot discover new land, it will also bring back any materials found over there for you to use in your settlement. You can tell Captainbot loves its job by how much it’s committed to the look. Impressive hat! These are just some of the bots you’ll meet in The Colonists. There are plenty more to discover, including those that go fishing, research new technology, and defend your base from attacking bots. The Colonists is designed to be welcoming to newcomers to the genre with friendly tutorials and beginning stages that ease you in. But later on the complexity increases and fans of games like Factorio will find the familiar appeal of pursuing productivity zen. http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/PSBlog/~4/vM75DstCdckView the full article

Oddworld: Soulstorm is not a remake in the traditional sense. Remakes are very popular right now and we have seen several wonderful games in that vein recently. Soulstorm differs in that it builds on what we originally wanted to do 22 years ago. Back then, we weren’t afforded the time to execute our vision for the second game in Abe’s five-part quintology. We had just successfully released Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee (a.k.a. Oddworld: New ‘n’ Tasty), the first game in Abe’s quintology, and we were asked to deliver a sequel to it within nine months. We had to chop and cut down what we wanted to do to get it done. That meant Abe’s Exoddus was a wildly different story and experience than what we initially intended in the grand dream of the overarching five-game quintology. Soulstorm is our grand dream come true. It is a new game. It is our attempt to make the deeper and more conceptually unsettling second episode in the story of Abe that we originally intended all those years ago. The story takes place after the events of Oddworld: New ‘n’ Tasty, when Abe follows his destiny to save his fellow Mudokons from corporate oppression. Soulstorm also features new gameplay mechanics including a scavenging and crafting system, where Abe can make versatile items like mines that knock enemy guards unconscious. Our partners at Sony, Microids, and Unity helped us tremendously along the way and we would not be here without them. Most importantly, if not for fans of our games, Soulstorm would never have happened. Thank you for your continued support all these years. Tomorrow is the day our original vision for the second game in Abe’s five-part quintology, when Oddworld: Soulstorm launches. Let’s dive into things you should know before you embark on Abe’s next adventure. PlayStation Plus The digital version of the game releases April 6 on PS5 and PS4. The PS5 version will be free for PlayStation Plus members during April. Also, if you purchase the PS4 digital version, you can upgrade to the PS5 digital version at no additional cost.* The physical retail versions of the game will be in stores on July 6. If you purchase the physical retail PS4 version, you will get the PS5 digital version at no cost. Save your followers, they’re important There are nearly 1,400 Mudokons that you can save in Oddworld: Soulstorm. How you decide to play is up to you, but keep in mind there are multiple endings in the game, and we recommend you try to save at least 80% of the Mudokons in each level (more info below). There is strength in numbers with followers being a plus multiplier for Abe. In New ‘n’ Tasty, Mudokons followed you or stayed put. They were beasts of burden you led through deadly obstacle courses in the hopes they’d be rescued. Your followers gave you no real support or power of scale; they just made your job harder. In Soulstorm, it’s more than just saving all those Mudokons for a better Quarmic score and narrative outcome. Players will be able to harness the power of numbers to solve their way out of more difficult situations that could be impossible for Abe to take on alone. This also gives the player an ability to place these more capable (and potentially lethal) followers around a level to lie in wait as active agents that can offer protection. We wanted an ability for the player to position followers like guards and have defensive and offensive capabilities. Multiple Endings Endings! Soulstorm has 15 core levels, with two additional levels at the end of the game if you are good at saving Mudokons (making 17 levels total). There are four types of endings in the game. At the end of each individual level, you receive a Quarma score based on the number of Mudokons you save. You must save at least 80% of the Mudokons in a level to achieve a good score, but technically you don’t have to save any to progress through the game’s 15 core levels. But this 80% score is vital if you want to unlock levels 16 and 17. Here is the breakdown: Worst Ending – Save 80% of the Mudokons in 6 levels, or fewer. Bad Ending – Save 80% of Mudokons in 7 to 11 levels. Prepare for an explosive cinematic. Good Ending – Save 80% of Mudokons in 12 or more levels. This unlocks an additional cinematic and access to levels 16 and 17. Final Ending – Save 80% of Mudokons in all 17 levels. Sit back and enjoy the “newspaper cinematic.” Level Select & Quarma Score Once you finish the game, you unlock Level Select. This mode allows you to replay any level you want, as much as you want. It allows you to replay levels to improve your Quarma score and earn more badges. More importantly, if you didn’t unlock the ending you wanted, you can replay the levels to try to save more Mudokons. But like all Oddworld games, you should expect a challenge. In Level Select if you die, don’t worry, you will respawn at the nearest check point. But there are no save points. You must play the entire level all the way through to earn your new Quarma score and badges. At the end of each level, you are given a Quarma score. This score is based on the number of Mudokons you save vs. those that died or were missed, as well as earned badges. The more Mudokons you save, the higher your Quarma score. You can upload your scores to the leaderboards to see where you rank against other Soulstorm players. PS5 & PS4 Experience We set out to ensure that PS5 and PS4 players enjoyed a nearly identical core gameplay experience. You’ll see the same number of NPCs on the screen (sometimes 100s) with explosions and high-octane action. To achieve this, the PS4 runs at 30 frames per second whereas the PS5 runs at 60 frames per second. Another unique aspect to PS5 is the DualSense wireless controller, which brings new functions that we felt would further increase the player’s emotional connection to the characters. For example, in times of danger you’ll feel the palpitations of Abe’s heartbeat increase with haptics and experience resistance from the adaptive triggers. Oddworld: Soulstorm also taps into PS5’s Game Help*. Oddworld has a reputation for creating challenging games, and Soulstorm is no different. Game Help is there to help you when you can’t quite figure it out and need a little assistance. Players can get hints, tips, and walkthrough videos without needing to leave the game. These hints can be accessed for the specific area of the game they are playing (using the PS5’s Activity Cards), so they don’t have to spend time searching the internet or risk seeing spoilers. We are excited to finally bring Oddworld: Soulstorm to players on April 6. We hope you enjoy it. We wish you and your loved ones health, good fortune, and happiness. Stay Odd! *Upgrade to the digital PS5™ version of the game at no additional cost. To upgrade eligible PS4™ disc copies, players need a PS5 console with a disc drive. PlayStation.com/help **Active PS Plus membership required. http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/PSBlog/~4/zkkckVTzrzkView the full article

Hey there! We at HypeTrain Digital are incredibly happy to present you with the fruit of our glorious labor – Breathedge, an awesome space survival adventure with humorous flair, which launches on PS4 tomorrow, April 6! Stepping out into space isn’t nearly predictable as it would seem. Breathedge has many life-threatening hazards, including but not limited to suffocation, freezing, burning, getting beat up and/or shot, dying of hunger and thirst, electrocution and so much more. That’s why we’ve decided to provide you with a helping hand (on a stick!) and guide you during your first voyages outside. Get better gear The civilization is built with tools. Too bad the tools you create don’t match the blueprints at all. But don’t worry, comrade, they still get the job done. Venture outside your shuttle and start touching things. Somehow, your suit’s onboard AI will figure out how to make something useful with what you find. It could be anything – metal, paint, an old back scratcher, batteries, even stale shawarma may come in handy. Get yourself a new oxygen tank, a booster, and a flashlight – ta-daaa, exploration is now a whole lot more enjoyable. Don’t skimp on exploring around your starting area – all the good stuff is scattered around there somewhere. Pay extra attention to floating shipping containers – these often have some goodies that you would have to craft or harvest elsewhere. Take advantage of the environment Flex your ingenuity. Do things that make sense, and things that really don’t. It all works out! When feeling cold, look for a warm place. Need to connect two broken wires together?…throw a corpse between them! Chased after by a bad police robot? Short-circuit it with your own bodily fluids. The list goes on. Keep an eye out for harvestable materials, too. Plastic and wiring, predictably, stick out from wrecked hulls (mainly from the walls). Raw materials such as aluminum, alkali, or ice – can be found etched in floating rock mass. Prepare for long journeys You are stranded deep in outer space, in a sea of debris and junk. Your next objective can be quite far away. Explore your surroundings steadily and plot your course around places with oxygen pockets, or bring oxygen out of your own pocket. Oxygen candles and oxygen stations will help you get an extra breath or two on your way forward. Of course, if that doesn’t seem like a good idea, then… Build transport There’s only so much distance you can cover with the help of your suit’s engine. You can build your own station and call it home (that’s for starters), and what’s more, you can build vehicles too. Ride forward atop a vacuum cleaner, with the imaginary wind in your beard, and traverse space at ludicrous speeds. Don’t forget to fuel up, and hint-hint, one operational (but damaged) vehicle can be found in a dark place somewhere during Chapter 2… Keep your inventory clean You are what you eat, and your hero will have a hard time being a complete kleptomaniac in an ocean of space junk. Try to be rational on what to bring with you to your next waypoint, and conserve some space for the stuff you may come across while you’re getting there. Rest assured, you’re surrounded by all sorts of goodies, so chances are, a return trip may not even be necessary. That’s it. We hope these tips will help you during your first voyages into outer space and on your journey forward. Breathedge and its story await you. http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/PSBlog/~4/RRU2GlKMHY4View the full article

April’s PlayStation Now lineup is a titanic team up featuring Marvel’s Avengers, Borderlands 3, and The Long Dark. Save the world, shoot up a galaxy, or survive an icy wilderness: take your pick from tomorrow when the games launch into the service. Let’s take a closer look at each in turn. Marvel’s Avengers Play Video Marvel’s Avengers is an epic, third-person, action-adventure game that combines an original, cinematic story with single-player and co-operative gameplay. In a future with Super Heroes outlawed, a young Kamala Khan must reassemble the Avengers to stop AIM. Marvel’s Avengers continues the epic journey with new Heroes and new narrative delivered on an ongoing basis, for the definitive Avengers gaming experience. Assemble into a team of up to four players online, master extraordinary abilities, customize a growing roster of Heroes, and defend the Earth from escalating threats. ● Marvel’s Avengers is available until Monday July 5, 2021. Borderlands 3 Play Video The original shooter-looter returns, packing bazillions of guns and a mayhem-fueled adventure! Blast through new worlds and enemies as one of four new Vault Hunters, each with deep skill trees, abilities, and customization. Play solo or with friends to take on insane enemies, score loads of loot and save your home from the most ruthless cult leaders in the galaxy. Play with anyone at any time online or in split-screen co-op, regardless of your level or mission progress. ● Borderlands 3 is available until Wednesday September 29, 2021. The Long Dark Play Video The Long Dark is a thoughtful, exploration-survival experience that challenges solo players to think for themselves as they explore an expansive frozen wilderness in the aftermath of a geomagnetic disaster. There are no zombies — only you, the cold, and all the threats Mother Nature can muster. PlayStation Now Trial If you haven’t tried PlayStation Now yet, now’s the perfect time to give it a spin with the seven-day free trial* for PS4 and PS5. The trial is available starting Wednesday, April 7 and is open to anyone who is currently not subscribed to PlayStation Now. That gives you access to stream hundreds of PS4, PS3 and PS2 games on demand… including the new additions above that join the lineup on Tuesday, April 6! *7 day trial begins from the time the trial is activated. Austria, Belgium, , Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, The Netherlands, UK, USA: at the end of your 7-day trial, your PlayStation Now subscription will automatically roll into a paid-for ongoing subscription with a recurring monthly subscription fee (+app tax) which will be taken automatically each month. Full Terms: play.st/PSNowTerms. **Certain games featured on PlayStation Now may be made available in the library on a limited-time basis only. http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/PSBlog/~4/gMDlMKSzDYMView the full article

As we enter our fourth year of the FIA Certified Gran Turismo Championships I am no less excited than I was back in 2018. Last year was a fantastic season of racing and we eventually saw a dominant display from Japanese racer Takuma Miyazono that saw him become Nations Cup Champion as well as being part of Team Subaru, alongside Mikail Hizal (TUR) and Daniel Solis (USA), who won the Manufacturer Series. Due to the effect of Covid-19, we are missing the atmosphere of our live World Tours and the opportunity to meet our wonderful competitors directly, but we’re lucky that we can still test new ideas and continue to grow the FIA Gran Turismo Championships even in this online only environment. We’re excited by the new format for the series this year and, with new developments in our broadcast production integrating new technologies, we are certain that we can show everyone even more exciting racing action. While we are looking forward to getting back to meeting up with competitors and audiences in person, we feel it is right to keep the Championships purely online in 2021. I wish the best of luck to all of the fantastic competitors who will participate within the competition. The FIA Gran Turismo Championships will start on Wednesday, April 21 – so if you want to enter then make sure you sign up in Sports Mode on GT Sport – you can find the full terms and conditions here. Details of the different stages and all of our new broadcasts can be seen below. As a reminder, the Championship comprises a ‘Nations Cup’, where drivers compete for their country, and a ‘Manufacturer Series’, where they compete for one of the manufacturers featured in-game, each has a slightly different structure. For anyone interested, make sure you follow us on our social channels and check out gran-turismo.com to be sure not to miss any of the action and get full details on how to participate, and watch the 2021 Season. No doubt we will see some breath-taking, high-level racing again this year in both the Nations Cup and Manufacturer Series. ONLINE STAGE 1 – runs from April 21 and concludes on June 26. Competitors from around the world will race online over 10 rounds of the Manufacturer Series (taking place on Wednesdays) and 10 rounds of the Nations Cup (on Saturdays). ‘WORLD SERIES’ 1 & 2 – this period will also see the global top 16 Nations Cup and top 12 Manufacturer Series competitors (initially selected from the 2020 World Finals) taking part in two new ‘World Series’ events that will be broadcast on Sunday, June 6, and Sunday, July 11, respectively. ‘WORLD SERIES SHOWDOWN’ – The end of Online Stage 1 gives a chance to its best 16 Nations Cup competitors to challenge for a place in the World Series and World Finals against the 16 elite players who contested the first two World Series events. At the same time, team duties will return for the Manufacturer Series with 12 teams of three racers contesting their ‘Showdown’ with World Finals points at stake. The Manufacturer Series World Series Showdown will be broadcast on Saturday, August 21 and the Nations Cup on Sunday, August 22. ONLINE STAGE 2 – Running from July 7 until September 25 a further 10 rounds each for the Nations Cup and Manufacturer Series provide a chance for competitors to win their place in December’s World Finals. ‘WORLD SERIES’ 3 & 4 – A new-look elite group of players will contest two more race events set to be broadcast on 3 October and 14 November. WORLD FINALS – Three days of World Finals will be broadcast on Friday 3, Saturday 4 and Sunday 5 December. Friday features the support series, Toyota Gazoo Racing GT Cup. Saturday’s Manufacturer Series final will again see 12 manufacturer teams of three drivers contesting a series of races. Sunday’s finale will be the Nations Cup World Final with the 16 established World Series competitors challenged by 16 new racers who have won their place in Online Stage 2. http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/PSBlog/~4/OCc4sg-X6AUView the full article

Email us at PSPodcast@sony.com! Subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google or RSS, or download here Welcome back! This week the team shares thoughts on the immersive feel of Doom 3: VR Edition, and the perfectly paced co-op variety of It Takes Two. Stuff We Talked About Oddworld: Soulstorm Destruction AllStars Virginia Superhot A Plague Tale: Innocence Moss Doom 3: VR Edition It Takes Two The Cast Tim Turi – Senior Content Communications Specialist, SIE Kristen Zitani – Content Communications Specialist, SIE Brett Elston – Manager, Content Communications, SIE Thanks to Cory Schmitz for our beautiful logo and Dormilón for our rad theme song and show music. [Editor’s note: PSN game release dates are subject to change without notice. Game details are gathered from press releases from their individual publishers and/or ESRB rating descriptions.] http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/PSBlog/~4/Pw-yfPrQsTkView the full article

We are excited to announce a new partnership with the NBA 2K League that makes PS5 the official console of the NBA 2K League. Starting this month and into the league’s fourth season tipping off this May, you will see all 23 NBA 2K League teams and 138 players in the league compete on PS5 during games and events. And the partnership doesn’t stop there! The multiyear deal with the NBA 2K League will also give you, our global community of fans, the opportunity to take part in online fan tournaments hosted by us throughout the year, featuring NBA 2K League‑related prizing. We are happy to announce that the first online fan tournament is taking place just next week! Starting now, PS5 players based in the United States can sign up to net a spot in an online Three for All Showdown Qualifier tournament, taking place on Monday, April 5 – Tuesday, April 6*. The winner of our online qualifier tournament will go on to compete in a 3-on-3 team with influencers Troydan and PoorBoySin in the second annual NBA 2KL Three for All Showdown competition from Friday, April 9 – Saturday, April 10 at 5:00pm Pacific Time / 8:00pm Eastern Time on the NBA 2K League’s Twitch and YouTube channels. This is a super exciting opportunity to be a part of the NBA 2KL Three for All Showdown event, which will feature NBA 2K League players, fans, WNBA players, and social media influencers, all competing in NBA 2K21’s “The City” game mode for a share of a $25,000 USD prize pool! Whilst the PlayStation Three for All Showdown Qualifier online tournament is for PS5 players in the United States only, we have a lot of NBA 2K21 online tournaments coming to PS4 and PS5 very soon which will be open to our community of fans in regions all around the world. We can’t wait to share more on this soon! You can also expect to see us collaborating with NBA 2K League on an exclusive custom content series that will run during NBA 2K League broadcasts and on the league’s social and digital channels: Twitter (NBA2KLeague), Instagram (nba2kleague), Facebook (NBA 2K League), TikTok (nba2kleague), Twitch (NBA2KLeague), YouTube (NBA 2K League) and NBA2KLeague.com. Are you excited about our new partnership with NBA 2K League? Let us know in the comments! *PS Plus membership required. Must be 16+ and resident of US. [4/2-4/10]. VOID WHERE PROHIBITED. See full rules here. http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/PSBlog/~4/uYa8LIWPaG4View the full article

Last week, we asked you to focus in on the detailed expressions of various heroes in the game of your choice using #PSshare #PSBlog. From furiously furrowed brows to smiling faces, here are this week’s expressive highlights: Kratos flashes a ferocious face in combat in God of War, shared by GameonFocus. Ellie makes funny faces in the mirror in The Last of Us Part II, shared by rahlredd. Venti from Genshin Impact has sparkling smile, shared by 00ezo. Aloy gies a curious shrug in this share by NeoFulcrum. Amicia’s face scrunches with emotion has she hugs her brother Hugo in A Plague Tale: Innocence shared by laviescobar1. Sora chases butterflies with a delighted grin in this share by TurningtheKey. Search #PSshare #PSBlog on Twitter or Instagram to see more entries to this week’s theme. Want to be featured in the next Share of the Week? THEME: Golden SUBMIT BY: Wednesday 9 AM PT on April 7 Next week, we’re seeing gold. Whether it’s gleaming treasures or sunlit landscapes, share golden moments in the game of your choice using #PSshare #PSBlog for a chance to be featured. Want to share more of your epic photo mode moments? U.S. players can enter the Red Bull Capture Point competition* for the chance to win some thrilling prizes. See full details at redbull.com/capturepoint. *Red Bull Capture Point Official Contest Rules: THIS IS A SKILL CONTEST. MUST HAVE ACCESS TO PS4/5 CONSOLE, PLAYSTATION™NETWORK, TWITTER® ACCOUNT, AND THE PARTICIPATING GAME(S). Starts February 1, 2021, ends May 21, 2021. Open to legal US residents, 18+. To enter, capture in-game image and share on Twitter with #RedBullCapturePoint and #contest. All entries must be submitted by May 2, 2021. Limit: 18 entries per person. For prize categories, judging information, restrictions, and Official Rules: redbull.com/capturepoint. Sponsor: Red Bull North America, Inc., 1740 Stewart St., Santa Monica, CA 90404. http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/PSBlog/~4/hncTMQdj0Z4View the full article

It’s no joke, the month of March has come to a close and the Players’ Choice polls are open for you to vote for your favorite new release of the past month! From daring indie darlings to bombastic PS VR adventures, crafty co-ops and everything in between, let us know which release made the biggest impression on you. We’ll keep the polls open until Sunday night at 11:59pm Pacific, so be sure to cast your vote before then. Then show your favorite release some love in the comments! How does it work? At the end of every month, PlayStation.Blog will open a poll where you can vote for the best new game released that month. Soon thereafter, we’ll close the polls, tally your votes, and announce the winner at PlayStation.Blog. PlayStation Store will also showcase some top Players’ Choice winners throughout the year. What is the voting criteria? That’s up to you! If you were only able to recommend one new release to a friend that month, which would it be? In keeping with our long tradition in the Game of the Year Awards, remastered or re-released games won’t qualify. Ambitious, larger-scale rebuilds and remakes like Shadow of the Colossus and Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy will. How are nominees decided? The PlayStation.Blog and PlayStation Store editorial teams will gather a list of that month’s most noteworthy releases and use it to seed the poll. Write-in votes will be accepted. http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/PSBlog/~4/JUVyQlIc0PEView the full article

Returnal launches on April 30. This PS5 exclusive is the result of four years of meticulous crafting by Housemarque, the Finnish studio known for the twitch-based thrills of the likes of Super Stardust, Nex Machina, and acclaimed PS4 launch title Resogun. Returnal takes the DNA of that illustrious arcade heritage – tight controls, compact gameplay loops – and splices it with compelling character drama and a cosmic mystery in the dark, uncharted heart of deep space. The result is a third-person sci-fi action thriller and the team’s biggest, most ambitious project to date. Ever since last year’s first reveal, you know some of what to expect. Housemarque has touched upon Returnal’s combat; teased its story. (If you haven’t kept up to date, don’t worry: we recap below). Now, after spending several hours with a near-complete version of the game, we have a better sense of how these and more come together. And, in addition, how Housemarque is leveraging the PlayStation 5’s features for an impressive next-gen debut. A broadcast signal of unknown origins draws Selene, a Greek-American ASTRA deep space scout to an unmapped world. Her arrival onto Atropos is a violent one: an explosive accident mid-orbit sends her ship Helios spiralling into a crash landing. This sequence is an excellent early showcase for what the studio’s got in store for us with the DualSense controller’s haptic feedback: every metal-crunching impact is mimicked on the controller. When a flaming Helios roars across the width of your TV screen, you feel that fatal flyby through your hands. With her ship downed but her suit’s systems still active and tracking the broadcast, Selene sets off, armed with only a sidearm and a scientist’s tenaciousness. Between the signal’s origin and her are multiple biomes, each a labyrinth of interconnected areas. In each location remnants of an ancient civilisation and highly aggressive creatures await. Selene must adapt artifacts from the former to survive the latter. And when she fails to do so, two inevitabilities: you resurrect at the site of the crash, and this weaponised world has reshaped itself around you. A great example of DualSense controller’s adaptive triggers at work: L2 will lock halfway when pulled for a zoomed in Focus Aim (this also highlights enemy weak spots in red). Pull fully down to activate your weapon’s alt-fire mode. You can monitor alt-fire cooldown with your HUD and keep an ear out for a specific audio ping that plays when recharge is complete. But there’s a cool detail that’s DualSense controller specific: If you keep the trigger pulled after discharge, you’ll feel a low-level vibration that’ll steadily increase in intensity, matching the weapon’s alt-fire recharge cycle. The procedural generation and roguelike nature of Returnal are both gameplay and story hook. Each cycle will reorder every biome’s areas and their contents. Variations that paired with the game’s brooding, bristling score make exploration ever-dangerous, even as you grow proficient in navigating through this world as Selene. Let’s talk about her. The ASTRA scout isn’t a trigger-happy supersoldier. Thoughtful rather than cavalier, she has a scientist’s mind and an explorer’s tenacity. She’s also human. That steadfast persona slow unravels, sold convincingly by Jane Perry’s grounded vocal performance. Uncertainty slowly creeps into the edges of her analytical monologues, while recovered audio logs – voice recordings of another self (is it future, or is it past?) that tease upcoming encounters – unsettle with their increasing erraticness. In the field, Selene’s nimble. Dash-dodges to leap across chasms, avoid – even pass through – enemy projectiles. A coloured HUD radial around the character marks direction and proximity of attacks. She can mantle. Early unlocks of a blade and hookshot open up melee and faster traversal options. The hookshot’s generous reach on marked grapple points zip you across wide areas. Within any cycle, dealing damage but avoiding it yourself builds Adrenaline, a mechanic that stacks up to five levels, each tier unlocking an enhancement: increases to weapon damage, vision (enemies marked by a red circle), strengthening your melee attack and more. Get hit once and everything resets. It’s a great incentive to stay sharp and promotes high-level play. Weapons recharge rather than reload; during that time a trigger tap right to instantly recharge and earn a damage bonus (Overload). Mess up and your weapon jams. Every weapon has an alt-fire mode and an additional unlockable ability once you’ve downed enough enemies. Both are pulled from a large pool of possible attacks, leading to an extensive range of potential weapon builds. At the bottom left corner of your on-screen HUD are suit integrity (health) and weapon proficiency bars. Integrity can be replenished or extended with collectables. Your weapon proficiency bar dictates the power level of the next found weapon, be it an enemy drop or unlocked chest. That too can be increased through items collected. Weapons range from familiar analogues (pistol, rifle) to otherworldly types (the Spitmaw Blaster fires a corrosive fluid that eats away at enemy health over time). The audio on these things packs a punch: blasts echo across valley floors and reverberate in tight quarters. Fun fact: Those reverberations are in real time, using a mix of 3D audio and ray casting, dynamically changing based on your position. Built on top of all that are multiple, interconnecting game systems that spice up every cycle. Artifacts give you buffs for the duration of your current run (deal 10% more damage to a low health target, or use slo-mo when in alt-fire mode, for example). Consumables are one-off activations (healing shot, shields). Parasites, living, scuttling entities that’ll latch onto your suit if picked up, best example the gamble of Returnal’s modifiers, always pairing reward with risk. One may increase the stats of the weapons you find next, but your melee damage is reduced by half. A specific alien device can remove all parasites but costs Oblities, the planet’s version of currency dropped by enemies on death and unearthed from rocks that glow a tell-tale yellow. You’re forever outnumbered, but quick reactions and core feedback loops make for satisfying combat encounters. There’s a vibrant diversity to the alien species intent on killing you as soon as you enter an area. Multi-tentacled quadrupeds, leaping biped juggernauts, squid-like flyers, armoured lurkers… their ferocity and attack patterns are scaled such that with quick wits and reactions they’re survivalable, regardless of which combination or number you face. Many fire projectile cascades. There’s an echo here of bullet hells, but brightly coloured as they are, you’re never caught unawares. I have to speak to the game’s 3D audio design, which, if you’re wearing a compatible headset, lets you better pinpoint enemy placement around you. While wearing the Pulse 3D Wireless headset for PS5 on one cycle, I registered the sound of an enemy approaching from the rear. I whirled round, freezing my aim exactly where it was spawning, taking it out before it could pounce. All that is arcade pedigree shining through. Controls are tight. You’ll never question your combat options or traversal abilities, be it repositioning in arenas packed with enemies or exploring. Returnal offers daily challenges for which there are online leaderboards. Selectable from the Helios wreck, these will give you a set of conditions to meet and a specific weapon. You have one life to make your mark on the global ranking. (You don’t need PlayStation Plus to take part in these.) While you’re never far from a firefight, Returnal is as much an explorative platformer as it is a shooter. You’re not ploughing through a set number of small arena-style kill boxes in quick succession. Level design is hugely varied and you have breathing room to explore. For the majority of your playtime, a good two-thirds of the screen real estate is dedicated to the world around you. Yes, that’s also to best assess threat placement during combat, but it also captures the colossal scale of the alien civilisation. Smaller touches outside combat sell the atmosphere. The indistinct call of wildlife in the far distance; writhing grass that’s one of the planet’s non-aggressive lifeforms; the dirt smears that gradually accumulate on Selene’s suit; the steady patter of rainfall felt through the DualSense controller’s haptic feedback. Doorways open to claustrophobic alleys, multi-floor structures, tiny caves, partially-destroyed bridges. Hidden catacombs and side rooms are rife. Traps, interactive alien devices – and the items needed to access them – are nestled here and there (such as Fabricators, which generate items, or the Reconstructor, a one-time resurrection machine you’ll return to on death, keeping you in the current cycle with loadout intact). Unreachable spots will taunt you until you’ve found and incorporated the right alien tech to access in future cycles. You’re given a general compass direction to your central goal, but you’re otherwise free to explore as much or as little as you like. Further exploration and backtracking will help you upgrade equipment, unlock sealed sections and delve into the lore of the long-dead civilisation. Alternatively, focus on combat and stack the odds increasingly against you. It’s your choice. Your mini-map (which, like most of the HUD, can be hidden if you customise it so) marks different doorways: golden path, side rooms, mini-boss challenges. Icons also denote collectables. Retrieving those can be a puzzle. Note: HUD customisation includes colour-blind options, letting you switch the colouring of loot drops. Every biome is visually distinct, with its own challenges and creatures (though once encountered, ultra-tough ‘Elite’ versions of enemies will start to bleed into other locales). Progression is non-linear. Each biome has a main ‘boss’, but once overcome, you’re not locked to facing it down on subsequent cycles. Stumble into the right area, and you can travel straight to another biome. Here’s your PS5 console’s SSD at work: passing through a portal into another part of Atropos seems as fast as walking through a door. Resurrections are also quick: a few seconds of flashback and you reawaken at the crash site. Explorative platformer, action shooter, roguelike, psychological horror. Returnal splices these disparate strands together with elegance. And there’s so much more to talk about. But like most things, they’re best experienced first hand. And you’ve not long to wait: 29 more days until you crash land on Atropos and attempt to break the cycle yourself. http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/PSBlog/~4/2G5oHDaUxggView the full article