Commander Fury

God of War is almost here! By now, you’ve watched the videos, read the hands-on articles, and pored through the message boards. Now, why not hear directly from the man himself?

Series veteran and creative director Cory Barlog joined me for a special PlayStation Blogcast episode. Listen to the whole conversation below, and check out some choice excerpts from the entire 20+ minute conversation.

PSB: First of all, kudos. And I gotta say, this game is kinda not what I expected. Are you hearing that a lot?

Cory Barlog: Yes. And honestly, that was the response we were hoping to elicit. We wanted, as developers, to flex our imaginations, our brains a little bit more. We wanted to expand this world, we wanted to see what would happen by changing little things, and how they would cascade into larger changes.

PSB: I noticed a lot of little homages. They’re everywhere. Opening chests… shimmying across ledges… wall climbing… all these hallmarks, the things I associate as the mechanical foundation of God of War, I’m still seeing them reflected in this game. Was that a conscious decision?

CB: Oh yeah. I’m a lunatic when it comes to that stuff. There are secrets and references hidden everywhere. And I mean literally everywhere: We’re talking about physical packaging, menus, load screens when you hit the Options button, and stuff like that….

That’s one of the things I hope for a long time after, people saying “Did you know…?” I think that’s awesome. That’s the fun part about making games. There is a lot of complexity, but that complexity allows us to hide things that are really interesting and some that are really deep cut.

PSB: This is a Kratos we have not seen…. [in past games] he was cruel, not really sympathetic. Tell me how you took this character who might have been a little bit two-dimensional and showed us a side of him we’ve never seen.

CB: Yeah. Honestly, that is my favorite challenge we took on for this. As hard as it is to create a brand-new character….it’s harder to take a character everyone thinks they know and show a side of him that they don’t know. To show a sense of growth, and change.

I think that’s very difficult. From a dramatic standpoint, that is an excellent challenge. He is part villain, part good guy.

As we developed through the later games we realized, too late I think, that hey, we’re not really growing with this. Going into this game, it was very deliberate. I said, “I really want to see what it would look like for a character like this to change.”

It didn’t necessarily need to be a tectonic shift that suddenly rotates the poles of the Earth. It is more about small moves that show this kind of dimensionality, these sort of smaller, subtler moments…

Which makes people scared too. “Kratos? Subtler moments? That sounds insane!” But it is possible. It’s just hard to explain to people, but then when you show them, [they say] “Oh, I totally get this.”

PSB: You’re seeing this wiser Kratos, kind of a powerful thing if you know the character. But I also like this sense that Kratos recognizes himself a bit in Atreus, and it concerns him. This anger is a really interesting element for me.

CB: Yeah… honestly, that is such a weird splash of cold water to the face of a new parent, when you see the worst parts of you coming out in your kid. Oh, man. That just takes my breath away.

When I see that in my son… I’m super neurotic, right? Sometimes I have a tremendously difficult time with patience. I’m probably a giant pain in the ass to work with…. I’m demanding at times, and very focused, and at times closed off.

And I see that in my son, and it breaks my heart. And these are very minor things when you compare who Kratos is, and when he starts seeing the roots of what ruined his life manifesting in his kid. And he doesn’t understand or know how to fix that! Because none of us do. I don’t know how to fix that!

It is not an easy path. I think that struggle, that constant failure, is so interesting to watch, right?

Stay tuned to PlayStation.Blog for more God of War coverage leading up to launch on April 20.

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“Look, Kratos needed to change.”

Creative director Cory Barlog has a deep history with God of War. He served as art director on the original 2005 game, then as creative director for its acclaimed sequel. He even wrote Ghost of Sparta, the well-regarded PSP game developed by Ready At Dawn.

Living with Kratos for so many years gave Barlog a deep perspective on the character and his motivations. “We intentionally made him loathed, an antihero. Now we’re trying to make him a character you care about.”

But how? Barlog knew fans wouldn’t buy into a sudden tonal shift for the character. “It’s hard to believe somebody who’s a bad guy suddenly wants to change. You need a reason.”

That reason, Barlog reckoned, was family. By tasking Kratos with responsibility for another life, a more nuanced, sympathetic character could gradually emerge — thus multiplying the dramatic potential.

Enter Atreus, Kratos’s son and in-game companion. “Atreus is the mirror that shines on Kratos that makes him realize that he needs to change…. Atreus will pull the humanity out. Kratos will be shown his own humanity, and he’ll figure out how to embrace it.”

Barlog was adamant that Atreus always be a benefit to the player, never a detriment. “It is not an escort mission. You never have to take care of him.”

Crafting an effective companion took an enormous group effort, and plenty of research. “We looked at everything,” Gameplay Engineering Lead Jeet Shroff explained. “For me personally, Elizabeth [Bioshock Infinite] and Ellie [The Last of Us] stood out as areas of inspiration.”

“We were cautious about what it would mean to introduce a companion character to a game of this scale,” Shroff elaborated. “Atreus will never steal a kill from you… he will always complement what you are doing.”

Barlog is fully aware that some players may view Atreus with skepticism. “There are times when [kids] can be a little annoying. Then they start to endear themselves to you.”

“Players in the playtests… they come in saying they hate children, this kid is such an annoyance, I don’t want him.”

“Halfway through, they say ‘he’s alright.’ All the way at end, they say ‘I really wanted to hate this kid, but he’s my favorite character in the game.’”

Indeed, based on my recent hands-on time with the game, Kratos’s son Atreus stood out as one of the game’s best new elements. His quips and arrows land with equal impact, and he never comes off as a burden or a chore. He points out secrets, proactively disables enemies, and remarks on the changing battlefield conditions.

And, tellingly, he seems to have the same anger management issues as dear old dad.

“There’s this fantastic arc that they go on that’s paralleling so many of our own lives,” Barlog teased. “Our own relationships with our children, or our parents. It’s so universal.”

I expect the relationship between Kratos and Atreus to be a key highlight when the final game finally lands on PS4 April 20.

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Hello PlayStation fans,

My name is Étienne Carrier, technical artist at Ubisoft Montréal. Far Cry 5 will be available in a few days and I can’t wait for everyone to start exploring the beautiful world the team has created. With Far Cry 5, the team deployed state-of-the-art tech to recreate the magnificence of our fictional world of Hope County, Montana.

The sheer size of this world was quite a challenge for us. We needed solutions to fill up these large open spaces beautifully, quickly and with the flexibility to support numerous iterations. At the same time, we also needed to allow fine tuning of smaller locations to deliver tight gameplay experiences. Filling up empty space is easy, but filling it up so it looks natural was an even bigger challenge.

Therefore, in order to reproduce the richness, variation and complexity of Mother Nature we saw in Montana, we developed a sophisticated procedural pipeline using Houdini and Houdini Engine. These tools are typically used in the cinema industry to create complex visual effects, but we harnessed them to push the boundaries to the next level.

In nature, everything is tied together. Mountains will funnel the rainfall into streams, rivers and lakes, which in turn erode the land and affect the surrounding vegetation. That’s why we built an ecosystem of procedural tools to generate freshwater networks, cliffs and vegetation.

When observing Montana’s distinct features, we were able to quickly identify some key visual aspects we needed to replicate. Large grasslands thrive on exposed hills, while Ponderosa forests creep through valleys. On the northern side of mountains, forests are spread thicker where the soil humidity is protected from direct sunlight.

Each species of vegetation has its own reason for growing at any specific location. The conditions have to be just right, and then several species will fight for the ground where they can grow and thrive.

The new biomes procedural system we developed simulates all of these phenomena and more. Our system allowed us to build biome recipes that react to the physical features of the land to ensure coherence throughout the world. It also gave us natural-looking vegetation patterns that can fluctuate with all the chaos that Mother Nature can muster.

We wanted to reach a degree of realism never before seen for the Far Cry franchise, so we spent time on every detail, including reflecting the terrain humidity through the grasses and orienting grass assets on a wind vector map.

Those familiar with the Far Cry franchise will remember that some plants are used as crafting ingredients. For Far Cry 5, we generated these plants through the new sophisticated vegetation system. Each species of plant can be found in its own specific type of environment.

So when you dive into Far Cry 5, take the time to observe the environment where you pick up a particular type of crafting plant.

The new world generation systems helped us deliver amazing results, but we’ve only barely scratched the surface. Hope County is beautiful and wild and we can’t wait for you to check out Far Cry 5 on March 27.

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This year we’ve made a number of significant changes in MLB The Show 18 that we’re excited for you to get your hands on later tonight! Starting at 8PM PT, we’ll be streaming from live.playstation.com and counting down the minutes until the game is available from the PlayStation Store!

In case you haven’t see all the latest news on the improvements and changes for this year, here’s a quick summary:

Road to the Show

• New Archetypes and Attribute Caps – Create more believable players and they reflect the various types of players currently found in baseball. Each will have their own suggested primary positions, and there are specific ones for infield, outfield, and pitchers.
• New Two Part Progression – Road to the Show character progression is controlled by two parts: on field performance and Focus Training choices.
  • On Field Performance – Every on the field action you make will feed into your player’s attributes and you will be able to track these gains, both during the game, as they happen, and at the end of the game, on the Base Gains screen.
  • Focus Training choices – presents a quick choice experience where you choose from short list of options to specifically focus and train your player, in order to improve. You will choose the training exercise that suits your needs and then improve the specified attributes.

Franchise Mode

• New Front Office Phases – We’ve broken Franchise mode down into 19 unique phases that contextualize the important moments general manager’s experience in a typical MLB season to help guide your franchise to success.
• New Retro Mode – New this year, play at any time with your franchise team in Retro Mode, bringing simplified gameplay controls and a retro presentation package to recreate that nostalgic feeling from past baseball video games.
• Critical Situations – As the season progresses, you’re prompted to join in on intense gameplay moments that occur during different games.
• Player Lock – Play as a single player on your team and experience the game from their perspective.
• Quick Manage – A text-based simulation that unfolds based on your decisions and input. You also have the option to jump in and out of the action at any time.
• Manage Full game – For our most hardcore fans that enjoy managing a team. You have the ability to jump in game as the manager and make every management decision for your team.

Diamond Dynasty

• New Flexible Program System – Pick your missions and play through small programs to advance to larger programs to acquire highly coveted players like Babe Ruth from his heyday.
• Immortal Legends – We blew the roof off of the attribute system to support these Immortals in Diamond Dynasty. The cap on attributes now extends beyond 99, meaning the Ryan Express and the Great Bambino will command an unprecedented level of respect

New Legends including Babe Ruth

• Earn new legends like Babe Ruth in Diamond Dynasty or take them out for a couple of swings in Franchise or Exhibition mode.

New Batting Stance Creator

• Batting Stance Creator will allow you the opportunity to tweak and adjust that perfect batting stance to reflect your personal style. We even exposed the values, so you can share these with other people. All of these adjustments to provide a deeper level of customization and uniqueness to created players.

As things start to heat up for baseball, check out the top 10 players of each position and their corresponding overall rating in MLB The Show 18 below!

Don’t miss out on First Pitch weekend, starting on March 23 and giving early access (up to 4 days) to those who pre-order from participating retailer. You can also stay up to date on all things MLB The Show 18 by following us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

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Attention all hunters! The fearsome Deviljho has been sighted in the New World, and we need you to gear up, investigate and control the inevitable damage.

With the version 2.00 update for Monster Hunter: World now available, hunters around the globe will be required to exercise extra caution while exploring the New World. The Deviljho, known for its extremely powerful jaws and relentless pursuit of prey, will start roaming all of the environments of the New World, during expedition and quests ranked 6 and 7 Stars. Make sure to pack plenty of Nulberries and Adamant Seeds.

Hunters brave enough to track down this terrifying tyrant will have a chance to take on a Special Assignment called “The Food Chain Dominator.” Those that defy the status quo and come out on top will be handsomely rewarded with materials to craft powerful weapons and armor.

The version 2.00 update also introduces the handy Dragonproof Mantle (which will be quite handy against Deviljho) as well as some game system changes and a number of weapon balance updates; you can read the full list on the Monster Hunter: World official website.

This title update is just the beginning. From April 6th until April 19th, we’ll be hosting the first of our seasonal events in Monster Hunter: World—more details coming soon here at PlayStation.Blog!—and we have more of these big updates planned for the near future alongside our schedule of weekly event quests. The New World is about to get a lot more dangerous.

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Many extraordinary stories have already been told about androids, whether it be in literature, film or television. But after having worked on Kara’s short video, I knew that the story I wanted to tell was different.

My first decision was to take the androids’, rather than the humans’, point of view. Instead of the wicked AI who wants to destroy good humanity, I preferred a different angle: my story would talk about humanity on the decline: selfish, dependent on technology, concerned only with comfort. Opposed to this: a new, intelligent species that we created, which discovers the world, feels emotions and asks only to live.

I wrote this story with the personal conviction that it was not only a story, but a vision of the future: how will we react when machines we’ve created become more intelligent than us and show signs of consciousness? Moreover, is consciousness only a question of computing power or is it something else?

Rather than a single, grand narrative, I chose to tell the story of three androids, three characters who discover their emotions and must choose their destiny.

I have been working on “multi-character” storytelling for several years (since Fahrenheit in 2005, even though Nomad Soul in 1999 already allowed control of dozens of different characters). It is a complex and exciting form of writing: it allows the player to stand in the shoes of several protagonists at the same time, to tell independent stories that meet, collide, intermingle, and above all tell the central narrative in a unique way.

This approach, originating in literature (Geoffrey Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales, for example), popularized nowadays by many TV series, works in my opinion particularly well in an interactive experience: the player passes quickly from character to character, between different contexts and scenes, discovering the story from several points of view, enriching his experience.

We pushed this idea as far as we could, having three different composers (one per character) with radically different musical styles, three different moods, three different cinematographies, so that the player has a sense of playing three different games as they move from one character to another.

Through the player’s decisions and the intersecting destinies of these three characters, the player tells their own story. Every decision is important because it may impact not only the fate of one character, but also that of the other two, or even change the course of events for the wider world.

The destinies of Connor, Kara and Markus will be in your hands on May 25th. It will be up to you to tell their story.

CONNOR – RK800

Connor is a prototype, named the RK800, created by CyberLife. His initial goal is to assist human detectives in their investigations by offering them technological assistance. He is also equipped with a social module specially developed to create the “ideal partner”, capable of integrating into any team. He is also equipped with special features, such as a real-time molecular analyzer and a sophisticated simulator that can reconstruct past events. He is exceptionally intelligent, cold and determined, ready to do anything to succeed in his mission.

When the first cases of androids with abnormal behavior are reported, CyberLife offers to send this prototype to assist Detroit police. Connor has already undergone field tests involving androids, but this is his first investigation.

Connor is sent to join Lieutenant Hank Anderson, a grizzled, alcoholic detective who hates androids. Connor will need to make use of his “psychology” module to earn the respect of his partner and discover the truth about deviants.

MARKUS – RK200

Markus is an android who belongs to celebrated painter Carl Manfred, an old man who has lost the use of his legs. If at first Markus was only a machine in Carl’s eyes, a paternal affection has gradually developed. Carl treats Markus as if he were human, teaches him to paint, exposes him to literature and music; develops the android’s spirit a little each day.

Eventually Carl comes to think of Markus like a son, much to the dissatisfaction of Carl’s biological son, Leo.

Markus’ journey will take him from caregiver in the service of an old man to leading the historic android revolution. But to lead a revolution will be much more difficult than anything Markus can imagine: he must contend with the factitious disagreements of his people, face insoluble dilemmas, moral choices and sacrifice.

He must choose a path between violence and pacifism, between a closed fist and an outstretched hand. Through his choices, Markus will write the history of his people and lead them to freedom… or destruction.

KARA – AX400

Kara is an AX400 domestic assistant model created by CyberLife. The AX400 is a common model, designed to take care of the housework and look after young children. They can speak 300 different languages, cook more than 9000 dishes, help children with their homework and play with them.

Kara is owned by a former unemployed taxi driver, called Todd Williams, a strange and unpredictable character. He is the father of a little girl named Alice, with whom Kara is tasked with taking care of.

Under harsh circumstances, they quickly learn that they are not safe with Todd. Both will run away and struggle to find a path to freedom.

Becoming fugitives, they will discover a disjointed world falling apart and understand the strange feeling that unites them. They will journey from encounter to encounter, confronting violence and hatred but also the empathy of those who keep hope.

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God of War is GOLD, baby!!!

Going gold is an important milestone for a game. In fact, it is one of the ‘big two’ really. You have getting ‘greenlit’, which kicks off the real development of your title, and ‘going gold’ as the two most important milestones in a game’s development cycle. The latter is the rite of passage that lets the team — and, more importantly, the world — know that the game’s development is pretty much complete. All that remains is the manufacturing and shipping part of the process.

Going gold means so much more to me with this game. It has been a long and exhausting journey filled with laughs, arguments, and a healthy dose of fear – with a side of doubt. This was the scariest, most wonderful thing I have ever done and I can honestly say it would never have been possible without the full-throated support of Sony and the tireless work of the incredible team at Santa Monica Studio. We have been through a lot together and I would not change a thing. You are the best damn team a director could ever hope for and I am thankful beyond words for every ounce of passion and pride you put into this game.

Because this story is about fathers and sons, I wanted to thank my father, James Barlog, a source of inspiration and a great writer, who instilled within me the drive to create and the fortitude to survive the difficulties that come with that vocation.

April 20 is fast approaching and I speak for the entire team here when I say we truly cannot wait for all of you to get your hands on this game.

Thank you to everyone for your support of an industry that allows me to prolong my childhood indefinitely and make a living telling people stories.

— Cory Barlog

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Grab a friend. You’ll need all the help you can get to spring from prison in co-op adventure A Way Out, our on PS4 on March 23.

Take on the role of one of two prisoners and work together to make a daring escape that will take you on an unpredictable and emotional adventure. Play locally or invite a friend to play online (even if they haven’t purchased the game).

For a full list of games coming to PlayStation next week, read on. And enjoy The Drop!

A prison spree co-op adventure from director of Brothers – A Tale of Two Sons.

Ark Park is a virtual reality adventure, allowing players to get up close and personal with dinosaurs and their immersive primal environments.

Amid the French and Indian War, a fearless young member of the Assassin Brotherhood undergoes a dark transformation and follow his own creed in this remastered entry in the Assassin’s Creed franchise.

Join a battle mech peacekeeping force to protect the people of Earth and Mars, with over 100 mech-customisation possibilities and an enthralling horde mode.

Abandon all fear in this gripping sequel to the action game based on the worldwide hit anime series ‘Attack on Titan.’

Audio Beats brings classic rhythm games to PS VR in the form of a futuristic drumming kit.

Take on the zombie apocalypse in this open-world 1-4 Player couch co-op game.

Save the world of Umbra, a harsh planet that stopped spinning thousands of cycles ago, from an ancient cult in this adventure RPG.

Board an elevator to a series of adventurous puzzles that will keep you guessing.

Work to protect a set of magical moon stones from dark forces in this FPS game designed for VR.

Join in the search for Long John Silver’s buried treasure in this pirate spin on classic Mahjong.

Avoid hidden bombs in this modern twist on the classic Minesweeper-style puzzle game.

NeuroVoider is a twin-stick shooter RPG set in a cyber futuristic world about brains shooting around evil robots with nuclear rocket launchers to defeat the master NeuroVoider.

Re-enter the animated world of Ni no Kuni in the sequel to the role-playing masterpiece developed by LEVEL-5.

Take on a precision vertical action game set in a mysterious neon world. You must get into the flow of the pumping, atmospheric soundtrack, as enemies and traps move along with the rhythm.

Start a whole new ballgame in R.B.I. 18, with all-new Franchise Mode, Home Run Derby Mode, brand new detailed player models, hundreds of new animations, high fidelity MLB ballparks, and more.

Ancient Titans have escaped their eternal prison, wreaking havoc upon the earth. The gods seek a hero who can turn the tide in an epic struggle that will determine the fate of both men and gods in this action RPG.

This sci-fi platformer with top-down shoot ’em-up gameplay takes players to a galaxy ruled by the evil Vokh, aliens who believe they have a divine right to rule the universe. Free enslaved races and stop the Vokh before they can discover and invade Earth.

You’re just an eyeball trying to find your friends in this experimental adventure, where each level is a wildly different gaming style.

Let Battle commence! Coming exclusively to PS4, World of Warriors lets you summon the greatest warriors in history to do battle across the Wildlands.

Tomb Raider – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

Stone Temple Pilots – Stone Temple Pilots

PRhyme – PRhyme 2

Insidious: The Last Key (plus Bonus Features)

The Greatest Showman

Don’t miss the series premiere of Krypton, Wednesday, March 21st at 10/9 c on SYFY

The information above is subject to change without notice.

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Last week, we sent you to India’s Western Ghats to create stunning shares from Uncharted: The Lost Legacy. While you helped Chloe and Nadine search for the Golden Tusk of Ganesh, you shared your best shots with us using the hashtags #PS4Share and #PSBlog. After looking through a treasure trove of submissions, here are this week’s highlights.

@DeliRicia captured this lush landscape while Chloe swung into action.

Speaking of lush landscapes, @glenlee_92 caught this colorful action shot of our protagonists on the move.

We loved the use of color and negative space in this minimalist shot from @ReinaDeErebor.

@onlyps4gamer shared this quiet moment of wonder from Chloe and Nadine.

Search #PS4Share and #PSBlog on Twitter or Instagram to see more stunning entries to this week’s theme.

Theme: Portraits
Share by: 9am Pacific on Wednesday, March 21

Want to be featured in the next Share of the Week? This time, we’re broadening the theme while bringing things in a bit closer. Share portraits taken from the game of your choice to #PS4share and #PSBlog for a chance to be featured next week.

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With Yakuza 6: The Song of Life launching next month, we wanted to celebrate everything that is awesome in the series with the “Essence of Art” exhibit. At Gallery Nucleus in Los Angeles county from March 17th – April 1st, we’ve gathered a collection of artwork from the series and stunning tribute art from fans and Sega staff, all showing their love for the game. The first 200 people to buy something Yakuza-related on-site will receive an exclusive a pin of everyone’s favorite Onomichi mascot, Ono Michio-kun!

You don’t want to miss out on opening night (March 17th) as we have a jam-packed schedule. For starters, we have special guests attending including the Producer & Head of the Ryu ga Gotoku Studio in Japan, Daisuke Sato. The person who designed all the tattoos for the game, including the fierce dragon on Kiryu’s back, Horitomo, will also be in attendance. Horitomo’s original tattoo artwork will be publicly displayed for the first time at the gallery AND he’ll also be showing off his skills with a live drawing demonstration. Both Sato-san and Horitomo will be participating in a Q&A and autograph session with fans.

Select art prints will be available for purchase as well as exclusive merchandise including these Yakuza 6: The Song of Life t-shirts (while supplies last). Both the launch and premium editions of Yakuza 6: The Song of Life will be available for pre-purchase at the gallery. All attendees who purchased a copy at the show will receive their collector’s art book signed by both Horitimo and Sato-san.

There are more surprises in-store that we can’t reveal here just yet, including a “special” announcement. If you’re in the Los Angeles area, be sure to check out the Yakuza 6: The Song of Life “Essence of Art” exhibit starting March 17th. Can’t make it on opening night? We’ll be streaming the event on Twitch! Hollie Bennett from PlayStation Access (one of the biggest Yakuza fans out there) will be hosting, so come join us on Sega’s Twitch channel Saturday evening!

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Roll call, PlayStation Nation!

Randy here from Bandai Namco. Today, I’m thrilled to share that everyone’s favorite little witches will be enchanting players this Spring, as Little Witch Academia: Chamber of Time releases on PS4 May 15th, 2018! Based on the popular anime series Little Witch Academia, join Atsuko Kagari and her friends in an all-new original story, as they work together to solve a mysterious occurrence at Luna Nova Witch Academy in this side-scrolling action adventure RPG. For those of you unfamiliar with the series or need a refresher, let me drop some knowledge.

Class is in Session!

Little Witch Academia is an anime series created by famed anime studio, Trigger, known for their work on Kill la Kill. The series follows Atsuko Kagari a.k.a Akko, an ordinary girl who enrolls into Luna Nova Academy after seeing a famous witch, Shiny Chariot, in action at a magic festival. From then on, it becomes her mission to enroll in the same school Shiny Chariot attended and become a great witch just like her. Here you follow her journey from ordinary girl to witch, making a variety of friends and going on adventures along the way. The series is currently streaming on the Netflix app on your PS4s in case you’d like to do your homework.

Assignment Time!

Now that you have some background, let’s talk about what you’ll be embarking on in Chamber of Time. As Luna Nova quickly approaches summer break, our loveable Akko finds herself getting in trouble (as usual). She ends up getting sentenced to clean the school’s library by teacher, Anne Finnelan.

Upon putting a book away, she unlocks a strange chamber concealed behind one of the bookshelves and decides to investigate. The hidden chamber reveals a lounge that leads into a dungeon! After escaping the dungeon, a weird occurrence happens where the day repeats itself over and over again. It’s up to Akko and her friends to solve the mystery and get things back to normal so they can finally start their vacation.

You’ll build a party of three witches, choosing from fan favorites like Akko, Lotte, Sucy, Diana, and a few others as you explore dungeons and battle your way through various bosses. Then, you’ll earn points and unlock new spells that you can use to customize each character, including Shiny Arc!

If that’s not enough excitement for you, we have a real treat for the fans.

Don’t be Tardy!

For fans of the series, one of the coolest features of this game is that it allows you to explore the halls of Luna Nova Academy! Watch as characters and areas from the series come to life! Walk, run, and sneak your way through classrooms, halls, and various areas with Akko.

Unlock game events as you visit teachers, talk to students, and eavesdrop on conversations! Live the life of a student and immersive yourself in the craft. Once you’re done with classes, we have some extracurricular activities and rewards for you!

Come Aboard!

Exclusively for our PlayStation fans, we have a special treat for you! When you pre-order Little Witch Academia: Chamber of Time not only will you receive the beautiful Chamber of Time PS4 Theme, but you’ll also receive the Magic Knight Grand Charion mini-game.

Jump onto the Grand Charion ship and shoot your way to the end where your magic ship transforms into a giant robot! Hone your skills and earn your high score!

See you in class!

We can’t wait for you to get enchanted with Little Witch Academia: Chamber of Time on May 15th! Until then, in the words of Shiny Chariot “Just believe in yourself, that’s your magic.”

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Hello! We’re awfully excited about virtual reality here at PlayStation headquarters, especially with recent releases like The Inpatient, Moss, and Sprint Vector proving that VR can deliver a wide range of immersive experiences across various genres.

With that in mind, we’ve compiled a list of more than 30 games that are currently targeting a PlayStation VR release during spring 2018.

Of course, it’s always possible that some of these titles could shift forward or back and end up launching outside of this timeframe, but the list below is what we’ve got on deck as of today.

We’ve plucked out a few of our most anticipated ones and highlighted them in the list, but we’d love to hear which ones you’re looking forward to… chime in below!

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You’re Invited to the FUT Birthday Party!

It’s time to celebrate nine years of FIFA Ultimate Team! For this special FUT Birthday celebration, look for a wide variety of events including the return of the FUT Birthday squad, End of an Era and FUT Birthday player SBCs, and much more.

This year’s FUT Birthday squad is made up of players that dominated at different positions in previous versions of FUT, all of which will be available in packs as special player items for the entire event. These new items open up fresh and inventive ways of FUT squad-building, thanks to position changes and upgraded ratings.

You’ll discover all kinds of Squad Building Challenges (SBCs) available during FUT Birthday, including the next End of an Era SBC celebrating a top player that retired from professional football in the past year.

Speaking of retired stars, get ready to beef up your FUT squad with the next batch of Prime ICONS in FIFA 18, which will be released during the Birthday event. Not only available in packs, these items can also be obtained by completing SBCs.

Even St. Patrick’s Day is included in this year’s massive celebrations! Get in on the Luck of the Irish with Weekly Objectives that reward special Irish player items with upgraded ratings that can be used to complete certain FUT Birthday SBCs.

As you dig into the festivities, you‘ll find SBCs that are repeatable over the course of the event, as well as Daily Birthday Wish SBCs that offer high value rewards. Themed Objectives that reward in-game kits and other club items that you can show off during FUT matches are also going to be available.

The FUT Birthday celebration might be jam-packed, but some SBCs and other events won’t last long — don’t miss any of it by logging into FUT every day starting today at 11am Pacific!

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Among The Crew 2’s extensive car, bike, boat, and plane line-up, the Harley-Davidson Iron 883 2017 stands out as much more than just another sweet ride. Developer Ubisoft Ivory Tower has been working closely with the legendary bike manufacturer to deliver a unique experience that’s faithful down to the last pixel. Vehicle Designer Frederic Marchetti and Vehicle Physics Designer Sylvain Branchu know the Iron 883’s every detail, and have shared five things their re-creation adds to The Crew 2.

A chance to (virtually) test drive one of Harley-Davidson’s most popular motorcycles

Frederic Marchetti: The Iron 883 is one of Harley-Davidson’s most popular motorcycles worldwide, with its characteristic blacked-out, stripped down style. Like with all of our licensed vehicles, re-creating the Iron 883 took meticulous work from our design team to make sure the in-game version of the bike is 100% faithful to the original. We’ve had a very tight relationship with the Harley-Davidson team from the get-go; they shared the bike’s technical specs with us, and stayed in touch throughout the whole modeling process.

Checking out official Harley-Davidson parts for customization

FM: One of Harley-Davidson’s core specificities is customization, and it was crucial for us to do it justice. First, we’ve created a large selection of official custom parts from the Harley-Davidson catalog, and worked very closely with the manufacturer’s team to get them right. Players will be able to take their pick from the original model’s exhausts, seats, and rims, not to mention all of the 2017 Iron 883 official paint colors. So they will get a good idea of things they could add to the bike in real life!

Discovering The Crew 2 exclusive custom parts

FM: One of the things we really enjoy about working with Harley-Davidson is that they constantly push us to come up with our own creations and ideas for customization. This is what we did with the Iron 883, and I have to say we’re all very proud of the result. Players will have access to exclusive parts that we’ve made specifically for this model in The Crew 2. My favorite is this badass skull-shaped headlight. Of course, the fact that we’re designing these custom parts for a game opens up a lot of opportunities. For example, we went crazy on the design of the exhausts, using shapes and materials that wouldn’t work in real life.

It’s ideal ride for navigating traffic

Sylvain Branchu: The Iron 883 is swift and easy to handle, which makes it a very versatile ride. We’ve translated this to the bike’s in-game physics by tuning more than 200 parameters, and conducting tests in all kinds of locations and weather conditions. As a result, it gives players an edge when negotiating urban environments and taking on our most daring street racing challenges.

The best way to take a road trip across America

SB: When you say Harley-Davidson, the first thing that comes to mind for a lot of people is the classic American road trip on iconic cruisers. Although the Iron 883’s style is clearly not that old-school, it’s definitely powerful enough to take you on a long journey. We obviously had to make sure that was part of the bike’s characteristics in The Crew 2, so that players can use it to cross our gigantic open-world version of the United States – that’s basically every rider’s dream!

PlayStation owners can hit the road on the Harley-Davidson Iron 883 2017 when The Crew 2 arrives June 29 on PlayStation 4.

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Ready to save the world just in time for dinner? 60-second adventure Minit will hit PlayStation 4 on April 3! Jan Willem Nijman, Jukio Kallio, Dominik Johann and I started working on Minit over a year ago, wanting to make a big adventure with a tiny twist.

The main gameplay mechanic in Minit is based around a horrible curse from a mysterious sword washed up on the shore. Picking that up was a bad idea! This curse gives you exactly one minute each time you venture out from your home, after which the clock ticks down and drops you dead right where you stand. But you’ll be surprised: through confident action and clever planning, a lot can be accomplished in just sixty seconds.

A huge quest, and only so little time, but there are a few elements working in your favor. Any items gathered during a run will be yours forever, regardless of how many times the clock runs out. Find a heart? Gain more health. Find sneakers? Faster running. Drink coffee? You can… get stronger and push boxes?! Anything you find will give you new abilities, and they all stick with you until the end of time, literally.

While you keep restarting from your home, there are other comfortable abodes out there. Once discovered, you can start your next run from any one of them, opening up new adventures in every direction.

Minit is filled with unique puzzles that aren’t simply about finding the fastest route from A to B. Hopefully players will enjoy this 60-second world as much as we’ve enjoyed creating it, with its extremely slow-talking NPC, mysterious crocodile shopkeepers, and endless empty desert definitely not hiding a secret temple.

The launch of Minit on April 3 is right around the corner, and we can’t wait to see what you think!

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Hey PlayStation fans, it’s Sascha and Jens here from Radiation Blue! We are happy today to show off our latest trailer for our debut title Genesis: Alpha One. In case you don’t know much about it allow us to provide a few more details.

Genesis: Alpha One is a revolutionary mix of roguelike, FPS, base building and survival that puts you in the role of an interstellar pioneer.

As the Captain of a Genesis starship, you journey into uncharted space on the ultimate mission: find new homes for humanity’s DNA and save the species from extinction. To do this you will need to build and manage your spaceship, discover planets and harvest resources from them, clone new crew members, and create new lifeforms to populate new worlds… and of course defend yourself from terrifying alien infestations on your ship! Nobody said saving humanity would be easy.

We are really excited to share with you today that while exploring the universe you will not be confined to the starship that you call home, but will be able to take your harvester down to planets that you discover on your travels.

When you touch down on these previously undiscovered planets your trusty crew of clones will set about mining for resources that you need to expand your ship. You can either help them out or explore for artifacts, new weapons, blueprints and transmissions all of which will help you in your quest. You may also have to defend yourself and your crew from any hostile alien life forms that populate the planet. Be careful not to take back any unwanted passengers back to your starship!

We would love to hear what you think about Genesis, and we look forward to showing you more about the game between now and launch later this year!

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Hey everybody, Matt Schaeffer here. Designer on MLB the Show. For those of you not familiar with Franchise mode in the Show 18, here is a quick rundown of everything you’re missing out on.

Managing Your Team

Franchise mode begins with taking control of a MLB organization with the intent of building and managing a brand new dynasty for the baseball history books. This mode gives you the ability to manage your team as much as you desire, including setting your lineups/rotations, drafting future talent, managing staff, and other general manager tasks.

Front Office Phases

As a GM of a MLB team, you need to focus on making the right decisions at the right times. This year, we’ve broken Franchise mode down into 19 unique phases that contextualize the important moments general managers experience in a typical MLB season to help guide your franchise to success.

• To help with this, each phase is labeled on the home page and calendar screen to remind you of your current phase, the upcoming phase, and when the next phase begins.
• Each phase contains a list of important tasks that are relevant to that time of the year., so you’ll no longer find yourself unsure of what to do next.
• Not interested in dealing with a specific task? Simply press square to switch it from manual to auto.

Phases also deliver you dynamic content and visuals throughout the season to help you make informed decisions that impact your team. For example, you can easily see:

• The result of your last game and who played well.
• Your next opponent, starting pitchers, and how they are performing this year.
• How your team stacks up per position compared to other teams.
• Your star players who are going to be free agents in the offseason.

This is just some of the content we’re now able to deliver at appropriate moments throughout the season, instead of requiring you to find it on your own.

Phases also allow for navigation that is quicker and more intuitive than ever. Even if you decide to never leave the home page in Franchise mode, you can still make all the decisions necessary to manage your team to the World Series.

Playing With Your Team

After you’ve had a healthy dose of management tasks, it’s time to hit the field. In The Show 18, there are many ways to experience Franchise mode games, each of which offer varying completion times to fit your schedule.

• Play Full Game: Roughly 45 minutes. This is the full 9-inning game experience. You take full control of your players and all in-game management decisions.
• Critical Situations: Roughly 10 minutes. As the season progresses, you’re prompted to join in on intense gameplay moments that occur during different games.
• Player Lock: Roughly 10 minutes. Play as a single player on your team and experience the game from their perspective.
• Quick Manage: Roughly 5 minutes. A text-based simulation that unfolds based on your decisions and input. You also have the option to jump in and out of the action at any time.
• Manage Full game: Roughly 45 minutes. For our most hardcore fans that enjoy managing a team. You have the ability to jump in game as the manager and make every management decision for your team.
• New Retro Mode: Roughly 30 minutes. New this year, play at any time with your franchise team in Retro mode. Retro mode features simplified gameplay controls and a retro presentation package to recreate that nostalgic feeling from past baseball video games.

Now that you are familiar with what franchise mode has to offer, join us for a more in depth look at all things Franchise on our Twitch stream at 2PM PT today.

Don’t miss out on First Pitch weekend, starting on March 23 and giving early access (up to 4 days) to those who pre-order from participating retailer. You can also stay up to date on all things MLB The Show 18 by following us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

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Start your engines. The beloved action racer returns with Burnout Paradise Remastered on PS4.

Race through bustling city streets and winding mountain roads, serving up stunts and destruction in equal measure. Burnout Paradise Remastered includes the eight main DLC packs and more than 100 playable vehicles. Play solo or with friends and see how much chaos you can leave in the rearview mirror.

For a full list of games coming to PlayStation next week, read on. And enjoy The Drop!

Follow the threads in a grim psychological thriller and discover the darkness at the heart of Kanto’s newly built 25th Ward.

Discovering the philosopher’s stone turned the wise and kind alchemist into a power hungry, selfish tyrant. The task of stopping him falls upon you, the former apprentice of the alchemist.

Samurai Punk presents The American Dream, a satirical virtual reality trip to a “brighter” future.

Armello is a grim fairy-tale board game come to life. Full of swashbuckling adventure combining deep, tactical card play, rich tabletop strategy, and RPG elements.

Embark on an epic action-adventure to save the Kingdom of Avantia from ruin. Based on the best-selling fantasy novels, Beast Quest comes to console for the first time ever, with a rich, progressive storyline, vibrant settings, and an excess of compelling challenges.

Welcome back to Paradise City! Make action your middle name as you rule the streets in Burnout Paradise Remastered.

The Council is an episodic game like no other. Delivering a fresh take on the narrative adventure, your choices and character growth truly matter.

After the murder of his best fighter by the hands of Tray Sorrow, leader of the Sons of Subversion. Coach Marcus Luz becomes discredited in life and in the fighting world.

The popular stylish action games Devil May Cry, Devil May Cry 2, and Devil May Cry 3 Special Edition return in one collection!

Enter a virtual world of cyber-landscapes and unravel the mystery behind its creation!

This is a story about a girl who allies with the warriors of the Shinsengumi, who are struggling to uphold their faith in an era of rapid social change in Japan, and the fate of those who sought to resist that change.

The Long Reach takes place in New Hampshire, in the fictional town of Baervox. The game draws its inspiration from Lone Survivor and The Cave and all the classical adventures (except that The Long Reach is set in the present day).

Zaki & Mia stole all the mail and spread it all over the world! Help Maria bring it back!

NeuroVoider is a twin-stick shooter RPG set in a cyber futuristic world about brains shooting around evil robots with nuclear rocket launchers.

Go global and expand your farming empire across four continents! Try your hand at all aspects of modern farming, such as animal husbandry, orchards, greenhouses, field cultivation, and green energy.

You are Amelia Cross, a stranded archaeologist who has mysteriously awoken among the sand swept ruins of an ancient alien landscape. Together with the distant help of another survivor, Commander Emma Sutcliffe, you must traverse and manipulate the structure of this forgotten world to find a way back home.

London, 1964. An ancient ruby is stolen from the British Museum. At the crime scene: a raven feather. Is somebody trying to follow in the footsteps of The Raven, the legendary master thief who disappeared years before?

Surviving Mars challenges you to colonize Mars and survive the process. Use drones to prepare for human colonists. Create habitable living areas in grand domes, make discoveries, and build a new society.

On the eve of Nikola Tesla’s greatest invention, his laboratory is burned down by the inhuman minions of the horror author H.P. Lovecraft. A showdown of epic proportions begins!

Zeus Quests Remastered is a silly point and click adventure game with light-hearted humor. It combines Greek mythology with sci-fi in a twisted way!

Logic – Bobby Tarantino II

Jimi Hendrix – Both Sides of the Sky

Judas Priest – Firepower

March Madness is coming March 13 on TBS, CBS, TNT, truTV & ncaa.com/MML. Watch every game live starting 3/13 @ 6p ET on truTV through PS Vue.

The information above is subject to change without notice.

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Greetings gamers! We’re kicking off March the best way we know how… with a flash sale! This month, PlayStation Store has rounded up major discounts on a bunch of big name titles – with savings up to 60 percent.

Starting today, we’ve got super deals on blockbuster games like Diablo III: Eternal Collection, Dark Souls III, Assassin’s Creed The Ezio Collection, and more! And don’t forget to check out our video lineup on-console to save big on movies like Spider-Man: Homecoming and War for the Planet of the Apes

See below for the full roster, then hurry up and March on down to PlayStation Store- this Flash Sale ends 3/12 at 8 a.m. PT.

Note: All pricing is for U.S. only and subject to change.

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Last week you set out into the gorgeous Egyptian wilds of Assassin’s Creed Origins. Our Share of the Week this time around takes a slightly different turn with Gran Turismo Sport. Let’s celebrate the long-running racing series with some fantastic shots that you shared using the hashtags #PS4share and #PSBlog.

Let’s see highlights from your amazing work!

@matzulmatfor composed a beautiful, backlit image to start our week off.

@madammad_fadaag captured the tense isolation of a quiet city street.

@Philt43_Yewone emphasized the contrast between land and air to great effect.

This up-close detail shot from @thatslifegaming seems like the perfect way to close out our feature!

Search #PS4Share and #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? Better pack for an adventure!

Theme: Uncharted: The Lost Legacy
Share by: 9:00 AM Pacific on Wednesday, March 14

While exploring alongside Chloe and Nadine this weekend don’t forget to use #PS4share and #PSBlog for a chance to be featured next week.

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Since its recent PlayStation Plus release, the streets of Yharnam have seen a sizable income of new Hunters, making it the perfect time to hunt together! Want a Hunter to help you with a particular boss or clear out a tough area? Here’s a quick guide on how to play online in Bloodborne.

Insight

The Insight system is the Lovecraftian mechanic at the very core of Bloodborne. This stat represents the amount of inhuman knowledge you have acquired by exploring the world and defeating bosses. Accumulating Insight points will lead you on your path towards the eldritch truth, seeing the unspeakable, and a lot more.

When it comes to playing online, Insight is also the main currency you’ll need. For the cost of one insight, you can summon players to your world to assist you in the hunt, and you won’t be able to play online until you get your first bit of Insight.

For this, however, you have a few options. The easiest way to get Insight early on in the game is to encounter a boss for the first time or consume Madman’s Knowledge, which you’ll find scattered across Yharnam or as a drop from certain enemies.

Getting help from others (the Beckoning Bell)

Once you have you have some Insight, you’re (almost) good to go. The item you need to summon help in Bloodborne is the Beckoning Bell.

After you’ve obtained your first point of Insight, you’ll buy the Beckoning Bell from the Messengers in the Hunter’s Dream.

Ringing this Beckoning Bell while playing online will grant you the ability to summon helpful players to your world.

Once rung, the bell will open your world and connect you to players who have offered to assist and that are within range of your in-game level and position. A good tip to find helpful players is to use the bell either at the beginning of a level or just before a boss room.

You can have two guests summoned in your world at once. When you play online, enemy health bars will adjust to reflect the extra Hunters in the mix, but co-op has a lot of benefits – for example, other players might distract the boss’s attention, letting you get in behind for some easy attacks.

Online, be wary that opening your world to friendly hunters might also attract unwanted attention from blood-starved Hunters. You will be notified in game if an adversary has invaded your world, so you have a little bit of time to prepare to fight (or to hide).

Helping other players (the Small Resonant Bell)

To be able to help other players, you will need the Small Resonant Bell. This item can be purchased in the Hunter’s Dream from the upper Messenger shop, which will appear once you’ve collected your first Insight.

All you need to do to help other players is ring the Small Resonant Bell and your game will connect to players who are ringing the Beckoning Bell in their world. Once again, a good tip is to use the item before bosses’ rooms or at the beginning of a level. Helping other players and helping them defeat bosses is a great way to gain Insights so you can summon players to your world later on!

Playing with friends

If you want to play with a friend, both the person using the Beckoning bell and the person using the Small Resonant Bell will need to put the same password in the settings under Network. Make sure you are both in the same area and try to stand as close as possible to each other in your respective worlds.

Ending a session (the Silencing Blank)

If for one reason or another you need to put an end to the co-op hunting session, you will need to use the Silencing Blank. You’ll get this item from the same Messenger that gives you the Beckoning Bell. When firing it up, you will end the online session and either return to your world or send the players helping you back to theirs.

Summoning The Old Hunters

After gaining your first point of Insight you’ll find an item known as the ‘Old Hunter Bell’ sitting on the steps of the Hunter’s Workshop, inside the Hunter’s Dream. This special bell can be used to summon the spirits of legendary hunters all around Yharnam and even within the Chalice Dungeons.

The summoning points will appear as small, glowing wells that resonate with a high-pitched chime. Stand over them and press ‘X’ to ring the Old Hunter Bell. Doing this will consume one Insight and summon to your world a friendly NPC hunter who will follow you around that area of the game, helping you to dispatch enemies and – in particular – tough bosses.

Share Play

If Beckoning Bells, Insight and cooperative play are not quite what you had in mind – if you just need to pass the controller to a friend for a moment so they can show you a cool hidden secret or a smart boss strategy, then why not fire-up Share Play?

This unique PlayStation 4 feature allows you to hand to control to a friend via the PlayStation Network and wherever they are in the world, they can take control of the game using their own PS4 as though they were sitting right beside you.

You can continue to chat via parties while you’re using Share Play, meaning you’re free swap strategies or point things out as you go. If, on the other hand, you’d really rather tackle things yourself, you can even simply invite someone to simply spectate and offer hints and tips rather than taking direct control.

#BuddyUpForBloodborne

So now you know how co-op works, what next? Well, you can put a call out to your fellow Hunters across social media, using the hashtag #BuddyUpForBloodborne. You a veteran wanting to guide newcomers through those tougher areas of Yharnam? Offer up your services using the hashtag. Fresh to the game and need help on a boss? Do a social shout out including the hashtag and see if an experienced Hunter’s in the area to lend you their expertise.

Remember, Hunters don’t have to go it alone!

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Hi everyone! I’m happy to announce that Hello Neighbor is finally coming to PlayStation 4 this summer!

I’ve been living in the US for about two years now, and clearly remember the first time I set foot in a typical Seattle suburb–large houses, fairly spaced apart, all capable of hiding something sinister. This was one of the core inspirations for the setting of Hello Neighbor.

Hello Neighbor is a stealth horror game about sneaking into your creepy neighbor’s house. You play against the Neighbor, an AI-powered antagonist who tracks your every move and adapts to your behavior. The game starts off in what seems to be a normal suburban house, where you play as a kid who catches his next door Neighbor hiding something (or someone?) in his basement. Naturally, the most logical thing to do is break in, and see what’s in it. Of course, we don’t recommend actually doing this in your typical Seattle suburb.

The game plays like a stealth horror experience set in a sandbox. You outsmart the AI while solving puzzles and progressing closer to uncover what’s in the basement. Filled with mysteries and Easter eggs, Hello Neighbor has a story split up into three acts. Each act dives deeper into the rabbit hole.

I would also like to take this moment to thank all the content creators and streamers who have explored our mysterious and spooky game. We wouldn’t be where we are today without you and all your fun, innovative, and dedicated efforts, and are super excited to get Hello Neighbor into the hands of PlayStation 4 players and content creators around the world this summer.

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Welcome back! On today’s show we speak to Far Cry 5 Associate Executive Producer Darryl Long on his favorite new additions to the long-running open world. Make sure to stay to the end of the program for a special musical performance by Troy Baker and Ashley Johnson, recorded at PlayStation Experience last year! Enjoy the show!

Email us at blogcast@sony.com!

Subscribe via iTunes, Spotify, Google or RSS, or download here

Stuff We Talked About

• Far Cry 5
• God of War PS4 Bundle
• Nier: Automata
• Horizon Zero Dawn
• How amazing Ashley Johnson and Troy Baker are

Recent Episodes

• 283: Fast-Forward
• 282: Blogcast and Quill
• 281: To Bee, or Not to Bee

The Cast

Sid Shuman – Director of Social Media, SIEA
Ryan Clements – Sr. Social Media Specialist, SIEA

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.]

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The numbers are in for February 2018! Capcom’s excellent (and record-breaking) Monster Hunter: World leads the charge in February’s PS4 chart, followed by NBA Live 18: The One Edition and Bluepoint’s gargantuan rework of Shadow of the Colossus.

Superhot and Job Simulator sit pretty at the top of the PlayStation VR list, Fortnite and Brawlhalla dominate the free-to-play rankings, and the new Secret of Mana remake debuts at #1 for PS Vita.

Note that these rankings are based on number of downloads, not revenue generated. If you missed on out any of these titles, head over to PlayStation Store to pick ’em up. Hit the comments to let us know what you think this month’s charts will look like!

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Hi everyone, this is Steve Merka with Sony San Diego Studios and MLB The Show 18 — let’s talk Road to The Show! This year we have made some pretty big changes in the way you experience the mode, and we think you are going to like them.

No More Micro Transactions

The first change is the removal of micro transactions from progression. We wanted to remove the need to make purchases to progress your player and just focus on the gameplay and more pure experience. So this year, you will no longer be able to purchase Training Points. Instead, you will experience a new way to progress your created player, but I will get into that later. The removal of micro transactions from Road to The Show also means that you will no longer be able to heal injuries through stubs. You will just heal naturally.

New Archetypes and Attribute Caps

Another big change we made was how your player is created. This year, your created player will have an Archetype. We designed Archetypes as a means to create more believable players and they reflect the various types of players currently found in baseball. Each will have their own suggested primary positions, and there are specific ones for infield, outfield, and pitchers.

Every Archetype has a pair strengths and a weakness. Some Archetypes may have big power potential at the sacrifice of speed, while others will be insanely fast, but lack the ability to go deep. For example; a Power Corner Archetype’s strengths are their Arm and Power, and their weakness is Speed.

Lastly, Archetypes will have limitations to how powerful they can be in certain attributes. These are called Attribute Caps and you will need to be raised these during the course of your career if you want to get the most out of your player.

There are two types of Attribute Caps, Current and Max. Current caps are temporary attribute limits that can be raised through selecting the appropriate Focus Training choice, during one of your training sessions. Training choices that feature a teammate are the only way to raise your cap. Be sure not to neglect these opportunities, because once you reach a Current cap, you will not be able to take advantage of any gains until the cap is raised.

Eventually, you will reach an Attribute Cap, which cannot be raised. This is your Max Attribute Cap. Max Caps are the best that your player can be at a particular attribute, through training. But don’t worry, you can use equipment cards to further enhance attributes, even past their Max Caps. Speaking of equipment cards, we have added even more equipment and rituals, to provide so much more variety for your created player. We know how much fun it is to find that right piece of equipment, which balances both looks and bonuses.

Expansion of Pave your Path – Focus Training

We have brought back our narrative experience to help tell the story of what it is like for a mid-to-late round draft pick in the baseball world, with a newer minimal UI. In addition to keeping the strong storytelling presence, this year, we are taking some major steps in one of our favorite modes.

In addition to Archetypes, we changed the way you progress your characters, as you pave your path. We thought about how our previous progression system worked and we asked ourselves, “Does this feel good?”, “Is this how you would progress in the real world of baseball?” and “How do we create a more seamless experience?” After discussions, between ourselves and with professional players, we came to an answer for how player progression should work. Progression is now a two part experience.

On The Field

The first way that you progress and get better is on the field. As we all know, you learn by doing, and your abilities will award you gains to your player’s attributes. We felt like this was a very organic and passive way to progress. You just play the game. Every on the field action you make will feed into your player’s attributes. For example, if you hit a monster bomb off of Chris Sale, with runners in scoring position, then your player would earn gains in their Power vs Left and Batting Clutch attributes. You will be able to track these gains, both during the game, as they happen, and at the end of the game, on the Base Gains screen. The hope is that both you and your player improve together, as you play.

Focus Training Choices

The second way that you will be able to improve your player is through Focus Training Choices. Previously, you had the power to take all accumulated training points and place them wherever you wanted. This year, we removed the hassle of getting into a groove, of playing some of your best games, and then having to spend that growing sum of points to play catch up on lapsed training. Now, you will be presented with a quick choice experience, during the course of your season, where you are presented with a short list of options. These options represent areas you want to specifically focus and train your player, in order to improve. You will choose one from up to four facility themes. Each facility will have their own specific training exercises. You will choose the training exercise that suits your needs and then improve the specified attributes. It is just that simple. This will allow you to choose how your player progresses, while allowing you to get back to playing the game.

When we interviewed players over the past two years to help build Road to the Show, every player we spoke to, mentioned that a big part of their growth came from learning from other players. We wanted to try and reflect that this year in some way. So, as mentioned previously, All Player Archetypes have temporary caps. You will have the opportunity, during a Focus Training session, to choose a teammate to learn from and have them help you push your player’s potential. Managing your Caps is important, because if you neglect them too long, and an attributes caps out, then you will not be able to gain progress in that attribute and will have to wait for another opportunity to train with a teammate.

Customization Improvements

Finally, I want to write about the customization improvements available in Road to The Show. As a team, we have made it one of our biggest priorities to improve the look and appearance of your created player, while offering you more ways to express yourself. We know that this is the starting point, of your Road to The Show experience, and it should offer everything you need to make you or your ideal version of a ball player. This year, we have taken some steps to help make this process a best in class experience.

Improved Skin, Hair, and Heads

Our Art Team has been busy all year to improve the quality of our skin tones and how they look in various lighting conditions. This year, in MLB The Show 18, your player’s skin tone will have an even more natural appearance, and look more realistic. In addition to skin, all of our hair has been re-worked, in order to look and react more like hair. This is for both facial and head. Now fade hairstyles transition better from shaved areas to the grown out parts, while mustache, goatee, and beard fidelity reflects a more realistic look.

Batting Stance Creator

A major addition to the player customization experience is the brand new Batting Stance Creator. Batting Stance Creator will allow you the opportunity to tweak and adjust that perfect batting stance to reflect your personal style. We even exposed the values, so you can share these with other people. All of these adjustments to provide a deeper level of customization and uniqueness to created players. So fine tune as much as you need!

Play Ball

These new changes to Road to The Show are just the next steps in our journey to provide the best single player sports gaming experience possible. We look forward to seeing which archetypes you select, what meaningful career choices you make, the stances you create, and of course, how successful they become in The Show!

This is just an overview of what Road to The Show is about, so be sure to tune into our livestream on Twitch, where we will go into even more detail about this awesome mode. You can also stay up to date on all things MLB The Show 18 by following us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Or learn more about Road to the Show on our Twitch stream at 2PM PT today.

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