Commander Fury

It’s been four and a half years since Hex’s triumphant arrival on Kickstarter. Since then, we’ve come a long way, but today marks one of our biggest milestones ever — Hex: Card Clash will be launching on PS4! Hex: Card Clash is a trading card game with over 1800 playable cards, weekly cash tournaments, and unique ways to play that would never be possible in in a traditional card game. Battle against your friends and other players from around the world. Jump straight into the action in our new Dueling Pit, where you’ll use one of five different premade decks to play against either AI or player opponents. Once you find a deck you love, we’ll give you a copy to keep! Then you can take it into our deck builder to customize however you want. Aside from the thousands of cards available, you can also tailor your deck by choosing a champion with a unique ability or by strategically upgrading your socketed cards with your choice of over twenty different gems, which each modify your cards in cool ways. Battle on our competitive Ladder to earn prizes and climb from our Bronze Tier all the way to Cosmic. We have two separate ladders to climb; you can either play with your own constructed deck, play in our on-demand drafts and sealed events, or do both and get double the Ladder rewards! If you make it to Cosmic Tier, you’ll battle the best-of-the-best and vie for a spot in our $5000 Cosmic Crown Showdown at the end of the season. Do you have what it takes to be a star? Can’t wait for the next Showdown? Every weekend, Hex holds two $1000 cash prize tournaments for you to compete in. In the Hex Bash, you’ll bring your own deck, while in the Hex Clash, you will have a limited pool of cards to build from. Win or lose, you get to keep the cards to add to your collection! Hex is ever evolving. We continue to release new cards every few months, which means our gameplay is always fresh and there are always exciting new strategies to pursue. We are thrilled to take this next step onto PS4 and share Hex with all of you. See you on the battlefield! View the full article

To the Life is Strange: Before the Storm community: Hello! My name is Zak Garriss. I’m the lead writer on Before the Storm, but I speak for the whole writing team when I say how incredibly excited we are to share Awake, our first episode, with you. It’s coming out today! Looking back at the journey it’s been writing this story, I’m so thankful. Thankful to Dontnod for crafting such an amazing world in Life is Strange, full of dark and lovely characters. Thankful to Square Enix for caring so much about this franchise and the community that loves it. Most of all, thankful to you, the fans, for your passion. It’s because of you that we’re returning to Arcadia Bay in Before the Storm. When we first imagined what kind of a story we would tell, we considered nearly every character from the original game. Time and again, though, it was Chloe who stood out to us. She’s such a bundle of contradictions, like all of us maybe. Anger and love. Ferocity and fear. Strength and sadness, all rolled into one. In some ways, telling Chloe’s story has been telling all of our stories. It’s a story about loss and grief, about the things in life that break us. And it’s a story about the people who come along and make us stronger in the broken places. A story everyone can resonate with, I think. Here are a few examples from a video we’ve created of real people sharing with their own best friends how grateful they are to have them in their lives. In the end, every writer on the team spilled blood on this game, pouring our hearts and pasts into the crafting of Chloe’s own. So thank you, from of all us, for giving Before the Storm a chance. We hope you love it as much as we’ve loved making it. See you around. Jon, Felice, Mallory, Alex, Ross, and Zak View the full article

Hi y’all! For the last several years, I’ve been working with Tamas Kemenczy & Ben Babbitt on “Kentucky Route Zero,” a magical realist adventure game about a secret highway in the caves beneath Kentucky. We’re happy to tell you that, as part of a collaboration with Annapurna Interactive, Kentucky Route Zero will also be available on PlayStation 4. Our release date philosophy has always been “when it’s done,” but we’re looking at early 2018. We started working on Kentucky Route Zero almost seven years ago, thinking it was going to be a relatively short sort of exploratory, non-violent game set in Mammoth Cave, in Kentucky. The project grew into something a lot larger in scope: a story that links together dozens of fully-realized characters and the places (some mundane and some surreal) where they live and work — a contemporary tragedy about debt, family, capitalism, and the electronic ghosts of abandoned futures. As it grew in scope, we decided to release Kentucky Route Zero episodically, which gave us some space to really develop each of the game’s five acts and let them grow into their own through the creative process. The episodic format also gave us a way to keep our heads above water while keeping a manageable pace of work for such a small studio (only three of us!) developing a game full of detailed stories and hidden rabbit holes. In between episodes, we released standalone “interludes,” short games that offered different mechanics and perspectives, and some more background on the world of Kentucky Route Zero. For “Kentucky Route Zero: TV Edition,” we’re collecting all five acts and all of the interludes together, so the game on PlayStation will be complete from the day it’s released. We’re adding localization in French, Italian, German, Spanish, Japanese, and Korean for the first time. Finally, we’re doing some tuning and accessibility work to help the game look and play its best on TVs — adjustable font sizes, brightness options, stuff like that. The game already plays great with a DualShock 4 controller. Releasing a version of the game tuned for TVs is especially meaningful for us — we love TVs. I won’t spoil anything now, but television plays an important role in the story and world of Kentucky Route Zero. It has also played an important role in our lives — the early video artists we studied in school (and still study!) who were entranced by broadcasts and live video feedback — and even earlier late night sessions flipping channels and fiddling with antennas, ears pressed against static, listening for ghosts. Whether you can relate to these particular memories or not, we’re sure you have some vital connection to your TV, and we hope you’ll explore it with us when Kentucky Route Zero comes to PlayStation 4 next year. Maybe, like music critic Ian Penman wrote, TV “has made us all ghosts.” View the full article

Greetings PlayStation Nation and welcome to another PlayStation Plus update, this time for September 2017. This month is all about action, featuring inFamous: Second Son and Strike Vector Ex. inFamous: Second Son is a fresh, open-world action-adventure story in the popular inFamous series. Set years after the initial installments, you’ll play as Delsin Rowe who unexpectedly discovers his own superhuman powers and must choose how to use them in a world where superhumans are now feared. Next up is Strike Vector Ex, a competitive first-person aerial combat game. Choose a ship and get your blood pumping in one of the many game modes. Strike Vector EX is designed with new console-based controls and upgraded with new features and modes for PS4. Full Lineup inFamous: Second Son, PS4 Strike Vector Ex, PS4 Monster Jam Battlegrounds, PS3 Hustle Kings, PS3 Hue, PS Vita (Cross Buy with PS4) Sky Force Anniversary, PS Vita (Cross Buy with PS4 & PS3) Here’s a bonus for PlayStation VR owners: PS Plus members in the US and Canada will also get RIGS Mechanized Combat League as a free bonus game from September 5 through November 7. RIGS is a first-person arena-based shooter developed from the ground up for PS VR. Set in the year 2065, it immerses players in an intense, all-action future sport that mixes elements from different athletic fields like combat sports, motorsports, basketball and football. For those of you who don’t have PlayStation VR yet, we just announced a new PS VR bundle that includes PlayStation Camera for $399 USD (MSRP) / $499 CAD (MSRP). Also, the existing PlayStation VR Worlds bundle (PS VR headset, PS Camera, two PlayStation Move motion controllers and PlayStation VR Worlds) is getting a lower price of $449 USD (MSRP) / $579 CAD (MSRP). With more than 100 games available, it’s never been a better time own PS VR. Also this month, PlayStation Plus members will be able to play Dead by Daylight from September 15 through 18 for free. Afterwards, members can save 30% on the game with an exclusive discount until September 22. In the free-to-play realm, starting September 19 members can grab a Neverwinter Plus pack in celebration of their newest update: Tomb of Annihilation. The pack includes VIP time, a panther companion, and more. The Neverwinter Plus pack is available until October 16. As a reminder, That’s You! is available as a free download (as is the Companion App, which you’ll need to download to your device to play) for all PlayStation Plus members through October 23, so if you haven’t checked out the game yet, now is your chance. And there you have it! See you next month. *PlayStation 4 system, PlayStation VR, and PlayStation Camera are required to experience VR functionality. View the full article

Hi everyone. Today sees the launch of Art of Fighting Anthology on PlayStation Store. It’s a compilation that includes Art of Fighting, Art of Fighting 2 and Art of Fighting 3: The Path of the Warrior. Not familiar with the series? Art of Fighting is an important part of fighting game history as it introduced a variety of systems that have gone on to become staples of the genre, such as Desperation Moves, the Spirit Gauge, special pre-battle intros and much more. To mark the game’s release, we sat down with Nobuyuki Kuroki who worked on Art of Fighting 2 and Art of Fighting 3: The Path of the Warrior, and Youichiro Soeda who worked mainly on Art of Fighting 2, to get an idea of what development was like behind the scenes. How was the Art of Fighting style born? Soeda: From the marketing side, we wanted to show the characters as big as possible on screen. In the early development prototype, this was so extreme that characters were only visible from their knees to upper body as they got closer on the screen. Over development we obviously scaled this down to be more manageable. However, we still accomplished our goal of having some of the biggest and most detailed sprites among the fighting games of that generation. We also set out to make the game as innovative as possible, which ended up meaning we introduced a lot of brand-new systems that have now become staples of the fighting game genre. This includes aspects such as taunts (which worked to decrease the opponent’s spirit gauge), the inclusion of Desperation Attacks (hidden commands!), graphical scaling, and in-game battle damage. Quite a few innovative features for the first game in a series! What kinds of changes were made from Art of Fighting to Art of Fighting 2 in terms of the gameplay? Soeda: Art of Fighting 2 was focused most on the classic competitive aspect of fighting games. More characters were made playable that time around. Kuroki and I did not expect that even Yuri Sakazaki would appear in the game as the playable character since the story of Art of Fighting focused on a rescue mission for Yuri carried out by Ryo Sakazaki and Robert Garcia. This was unique to us because with games like KOF the story is always based around some martial arts tournament being held. In the end, Yuri went on to become a very popular character with fans and she still is to this day. Kuroki: Regarding young Geese as the boss in the Art of Fighting 2, the design was largely influenced by the Fatal Fury animation released around that time. I worked on the design with another designer during my second year at SNK. What was the development situation around Art of Fighting 3? Kuroki: For Art of Fighting 3 the plan was to use both motion capture tech and 2D animation style graphics. Some of the staff went to the US and worked on motion capture for about a month. We obviously needed to put other key parts of development on hold until we received the motion data. Most of them could not be rendered directly from the motion captured data and the designers ended up with a lot more work than they expected. For this process, in a lot of ways it ended up taking almost 10 times as long to accomplish compared to what we estimated. Creating sprite graphics is very time intensive. In my case, I can create a dot image in a day, but on the flip side I can probably draw 10 detailed illustrations in a day. This situation was a result of us trying to create a more sophisticated system over the previous two games. What would you like to do if you have an opportunity to do something for Art of Fighting in the future? Kuroki: An Art of Fighting reboot would be one of my dream projects. I used to play Art of Fighting after finishing school almost every day. Art of Fighting was one of the biggest reasons why I decided to work at SNK. To a lot of us, Art of Fighting 1 was an action game at heart and I think a reboot could be a great chance to emphasise those aspects. I think Art of Fighting could branch out from being just a pure fighting game. Who is your favourite character? Kuroki: I love all of the characters in Art of Fighting 1. If I had to choose, it would be Ryo. I always chose him when I used to play Art of Fighting in the arcades. Soeda: Totally agree. I also will take Ryo if I can only choose one character. View the full article

Hey there! This is Judith from NIS America, and I’m here to bring you some exciting news about the most epic action RPG of 2017… Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana! Those of you who have been anticipating the demo can finally dive into the Isle of Seiren today on PS4. While I’m sure there are many Ys fans (like myself) who are super excited about this news, there must also be some newcomers to this 30-year running franchise. In a nutshell, the series revolves around the adventures of Adol Christin, a brave, red-headed adventurer who has some pretty awful luck with ships. In Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana, Adol awakens on a cursed island known as the Isle of Seiren after surviving a disaster at sea. Here, he works to find his fellow shipwrecked passengers in order to escape the accursed isle. In the midst of this, he begins to dream of a mysterious blue-haired maiden named Dana. What secrets does this cursed isle hold? Who is Dana? Well, you gotta play the game to find out! One of the most notable qualities of the entire Ys franchise is the blazing fast action! Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana refines the series tradition with some new features and can be enjoyed by Ys veterans and novices alike. Battles are intense, and players must keep on their toes by constantly switching between characters in the moment in order to defeat monsters with corresponding weaknesses. Strategy meets action and speed in this game, so if anyone thought you could button-mash your way through, I’ve got news for you… And what better way to celebrate the arrival of Ys VIII than with a playable demo? Players can get a taste of the action-packed gameplay and see the lush graphics of the PS4 version. In this demo, Adol and two fellow castaways named Laxia and Sahad find themselves on a beautiful yet secluded part of the isle and must search for other survivors of the shipwreck. Along the way, they’ll meet some characters (Anyone remember the man who breaks walls?) that appear in the main game, but have no fear, there are no spoilers! Veteran Ys fans and newcomers alike will appreciate the expansiveness of Ys VIII. With more than 60 hours of gameplay, this is the biggest Ys adventure yet. There’s also cool, free DLC for the PS4 version of the game to aid Adol in his adventure. Those who preorder the game digitally will also receive a theme, seven avatars, and a digital soundtrack. What’s more, there will be limited-time free DLC featuring some new threads for Adol, including one that screams nostalgia! For more information about the game, be sure to check out the official website. Strap on your adventurer’s gear and get ready for the biggest action RPG adventure of 2017. Download the demo and play it today, and get ready for the full game which launches September 12 on PS4 and PS Vita! View the full article

Hot on the heels of season 3 of the Netflix original series DreamWorks Voltron: Legendary Defender, we’re proud to present a new cinematic, episodic VR experience called Dreamworks Voltron VR Chronicles. Developed by Digital Domain, in collaboration with Universal Brand Development, this unique adventure puts the user in the role of the Blue Paladin, Lance, as you’re placed at the center of a massive conflict between the Voltron force and the Galra Emperor, Zarkon. Episode 1: Seeds of Corruption When Lance discovers the remains of a lost alien race deep within enemy space, he releases an unstoppable force that threatens to corrupt the Paladins’ control over both their Lions and Voltron. Jumping into the heart of the adventure, you must overcome the corrupt force and relentless threat of Zarkon as you struggle to solve the ancient mystery and fight your way to victory. Fans of the show will be thrilled to know that each of the TV show’s voice actors have lent their amazing voice talents to the experience. We were also excited to involve the showrunners who provided some of their writing expertise and thorough knowledge of the Voltron universe. It’s been Digital Domain’s plan to ensure that DreamWorks Voltron VR Chronicles is as authentic as it gets. Once you get your hands on the experience, we hope you feel the love and the insane amount of hours we’ve put into creating this cinematic VR adventure! The cinematics in this episode feature a visual style reminiscent of the animated TV series but presented for the first time in fully immersive 360° VR! The use of VR technology allows for more dynamic storytelling and incredible in-your-face action sequences. The experience will also feature moments of interactivity where the user takes control of Lance’s actions. These interactive moments include several highly engaging puzzles as well as exciting missions where the user pilots the Blue Lion, battling Galra forces with an array of highly advanced weapon systems. Developed by Digital Domain, a leading creator of in-house original content, visual effects and immersive experiences, DreamWorks Voltron VR Chronicles will be available for purchase at PlayStation Store starting September 26. All of us at Digital Domain look forward to you getting your hands on this VR experience! We absolutely, positively cannot wait to hear what you think. For those of you who simply cannot wait, pre-order it exclusively at PlayStation Store today! View the full article

Hello everyone, I’m Simon Harris, an Executive Producer at Supermassive Games. I’m hugely excited today to share some updates on our upcoming PSVR games The Inpatient and Bravo Team. These are two very different games but they share our passion for immersion and innovation. VR is something we are very excited about at Supermassive Games. We’ve taken a lot of the learnings from our previous PS VR titles – Until Dawn: Rush of Blood and Tumble VR – into The Inpatient and Bravo Team and can’t wait for you to play them. The good news is you won’t need to wait long – we’re delighted to announce that Bravo Team will be launching on December 5, 2017 and The Inpatient on November 21, 2017. Bravo Team for PlayStation VR That’s not all. We’ve got a new trailer for The Inpatient that we are excited to premiere here! The focus of the trailer is on the story of the game. As you explore Blackwood Sanatorium you’ll start to piece together the rich backstory. Certain objects you find will trigger vivid flashbacks, helping you to discover your past and the circumstances which brought you there. You’ll also get to meet the staff and patients, each with their own agendas and motivations which may or may not be immediately clear. We hope you enjoy the trailer and can’t wait for you to play The Inpatient and Bravo Team soon. As you may remember from our E3 announcement, The Inpatient is a horror game with psychological elements. Set in the Blackwood Sanatorium from Until Dawn, the game transports you back to the 1950’s when the facility was in its bustling prime. You take on the role of a patient with no knowledge of who you are or how you got to be there. Choice and consequence are integral to the gameplay. As you investigate the Blackwood Sanatorium in an effort to recall lost memories and discover who you are, your decisions and actions will determine the fate of people that you meet. The Inpatient for PlayStation VR You’ll get to influence and shape how the story unfolds as you witness the horrific events of the sanatorium’s final days. Our other upcoming PSVR game is Bravo Team. This is a first-person cover based shooter built for teamwork – both in single-player and two-player online co-op. Set in a fictional modern-day Eastern European city, Bravo Team puts you into an intense firefight that will test both your shooting and tactical combat skills. We were inspired by action movies set in warzones, so think intense combat, quick thinking and constant communication. While the game is fully compatible with the standard DualShock 4 or Move controllers, we have really enjoyed exploring the immersive opportunities of the PS VR Aim controller. For example you can raise the Aim to view through the iron sight or hold above your head to blind fire. View the full article

My name is Roman Hladik and early on, I was caught up in “the life.” I cut my teeth with Tommy Angelo in Lost Heaven. (I worked on the art direction for the characters in the first Mafia game). I went along with Vito’s moves in Empire Bay (I was the art director for Mafia II) …and stuck by him down in New Bordeaux (art director on Mafia III). I’ve been working on the Mafia franchise since the very beginning. If you told me that I’d be looking back at a game I worked on over 15 years ago, I wouldn’t believe you. And if you said that I’d work on the same franchise for that long? I’d say you’re nuts. But that’s exactly what happened. And right now, I’m going tell you a little bit about how we got here. It was just after the fall of the Iron Curtain in Czechoslovakia, and I had convinced my parents to buy a Commodore 64. I discovered the magical world of computer games and drawing software. Just trust me, trying to draw by using a joystick is a fairly demanding discipline. After working on – and playing – games in high school, I eventually joined Illusion Softworks to work on a new project. At the very beginning, there were just five of us – game development teams were not much bigger back then. We started to develop a fantasy RPG game, but after a gaming tradeshow, we decided to change direction. We put our heads together again. We’d been thinking about the games we play ourselves and how to combine all these different game mechanics. If we’re being honest, our mission became designing the game that we wanted to play. Our inspirations were classic gangster movies and we tried to capture that atmosphere in a video game. If I recall correctly, the player was originally supposed to be a policeman, but when Daniel Vávra got in charge of script, he flipped the roles and it clicked with everyone. There was no looking back. We had our plan. That was the beginning of Mafia. None of us realized how big that challenge would be back then. The development for the first game took almost five years while the team grew to nearly 40 people. Since we were so close to the game, we didn’t know what to expect when it shipped– but we obviously hoped people would like what we made. The reaction of players and critics who loved the original Mafia game made it all worthwhile. It was a game with a strong story and film-like atmosphere, which was a bit unusual in 2002. After the success of the first game, we knew we wanted to work on a sequel. So Daniel was already working on the script of the second Mafia game. We thought: “We just launched this great game, the sequel should be a piece of cake, right?” Well, a console generation jump was coming, so we made a decision to develop the game further on an internal engine that we had created for another Illusion Softworks game and prepare for a new generation of hardware. The only things we had to go on: the script, several concept images and a new gaming engine we were still building. At the time, we were learning how to work with shaders and what to do with the new hardware coming. Of course, new technologies mean an increased demand on the quality. At the peak of development, the Mafia II team had nearly 200 people at two studios in Prague and Brno. The work on Mafia II was more intense for me, because on the original Mafia, I was responsible for the characters. In the sequel, I was in charge of art direction for the whole game. The team’s goal: give players an intense and authentic experience, and I’d like to think we did just that. Again, we created a story – and a game – that we were all proud of at launch. We took a small break then threw ourselves into the third Mafia game. We had the same conviction as at the beginning of the second Mafia game to increase the quality. Our need to improve quality coincided with another console cycle change (funny how history repeats itself!). So we decided to switch to newer hardware again (planning for Mafia III to appear on the PS4). Nested in the authentic New Bordeaux environment, we had a new vision – to provide a raw, less romantic view of the American underworld. Just like the two previous installments, the third is based on a very strong story and, moreover, offers a larger, more open world than the previous titles. If you’ve never had the chance to play Mafia II, it’s available to stream via PS Now. And, of course, Mafia III just completed its season pass DLC so you can get the full New Bordeaux experience on the PS4. I’d love to hear about your experiences in Empire Bay and New Bordeaux! And for those of you who have been with us and played our games, I wanted to take this opportunity to say thank you. I am grateful to everyone who has allowed me to take part in an amazing series and, above all, to my parents for not having hesitated and investing 28 years ago in a Commodore 64. View the full article

Almost 20 years since its first release in North America, the beloved Hot Shots franchise returns tomorrow with the launch of Everybody’s Golf, boasting more challenges, character customization options, and game modes than ever before. Clap Hanz and JAPAN Studio are super excited to launch Everybody’s Golf for the PS4 system, and we wanted to give you a few tips to get you ready to take on the friends you meet on the course! Practice Range Before you jump into an online Turf War battle* and play for bragging rights with your buddies, we recommend you hop into Solo Stroke mode. In Solo Stroke play, you’ll be able to play all of the courses without pestering friends trying to distract you from sinking your birdie putt! Take your time, study the greens on each hole, perfect your backspin, approach shots and master the franchise’s three-click shot mechanic so when you hop into the game’s more challenging multiplayer modes, you’ll have a leg up on the competition. And don’t forget: we’ve upped the ante this time around when it comes to putting. Previous games in the series only required you to click twice on the controller during putting, but Clap Hanz wanted to raise the stakes and intensity, so now you’ll need to click three times to putt. Make sure you get some practice so you don’t fold under the pressure! Character and Equipment Upgrades Once you’re feeling more comfortable with your shot repertoire, we suggest you move on to Tournament mode* so you can upgrade your equipment and boost your character’s attributes. As you progress through Challenges in this game mode, you will face rival characters and earn handsome rewards like better clubs, upgraded balls, more outfits, cheery spectators… everything you need to improve your game. And don’t miss out on Lucky Time! Lucky Time are side quests that occur randomly in Open Course mode and by completing these quests, you’ll be rewarded with even more goodies! Outside the Tee-Box Activities With an open world that players are free to explore at their leisure, you’ll connect with up to 50 players when you play online*. And if you hadn’t already heard, Everybody’s Golf has plenty of fun activities that you can participate in when you need a break from the links. You’ll unlock Fishing and Golf Carts as you improve your skill level and beat rival characters while progressing through the five available Open Courses. Once you’ve unlocked Fishing and Golf Carts, you can pick up your fishing gear at the counter by the pond and golf carts will magically appear by pressing the triangle button while walking the course. Treasure Hunting events, however, are randomly placed throughout Open Courses and all coins collected can be used at the shop! Fashion Envy? While Everybody’s Golf characters are customizable from head to toe, we’ve created a tool so you can copy character designs from those avatars you meet on the course when you play online*. So, if you happen to meet some friends and you just have to have their look, try the Avatar Copy feature by selecting the options button on your DS4 to see a list of players in your course. Find a character you want to copy, and simply chose Copy Character. You can copy any character so long as the player has enabled the Copy Character option. We’re grateful to our beloved fans who’ve stuck with us for 20 years now and we invite a new audience of PS4 system owners to give Everybody’s Golf a shot! Looking forward to seeing you all on the course! *Some online modes require PS Plus membership. View the full article

This week we’re excited to launch Sparc onto PlayStation VR. It’s a project that has evolved from early prototyping, so we thought we give the PSVR community a bit of insight into the origin of Sparc. “VR Labs” Our small studio is based in Atlanta, part of CCP Games, creators of the long-running space MMO EVE Online. Originally formed to be a virtual reality research & development team (called “VR Labs” internally), our task was to explore the rapidly developing world of virtual reality, and to start learning what it meant to create compelling interactive multiplayer experiences in virtual space. In our early days, we were working with a Frankenstein’s monster of hardware, hacked together with code, extension cables, and many rolls of gaffer’s tape. We created a VR prototypes for spinning virtual EVE ships, kicking over stacks of blocks, and throwing fireballs at targets. From that early exploration, we knew we wanted to make an experience centered around player-to-player interaction in virtual space. And when we put two players in the same virtual room and let them throw stuff at each other, it got really interesting. “Project Arena” Every Spring, CCP holds Fanfest, an event in Reykjavik, Iceland, where EVE Online players meet for several days of panels, parties, pub crawls and more. As part of that event, CCP likes to show off a bit of what the rest of the company is up to, so we were asked to bring several of our VR prototypes to EVE Fanfest 2016. One of those early VR prototypes was an experience that we called “Project Arena”, and it wound up really grabbing people’s attention at Fanfest. We had many people queue up multiple times to play over and over and we saw some great matches play out between the competitors. Even in that early incarnation, players were having a lot of fun, and we could see the potential for something special and exciting. That excitement, coupled with an overwhelming response to our early “mixed reality” test video , led us to the decision to make Project Arena into a real product. Creating a Virtual Sport We liked the social dynamics of a 1v1 sport, but instead of translating a real-world sport into a VR version, we decided to try to make a sport for VR, a virtual sport, one only possible in a virtual world. We’ve been calling it a “vSport”, and we approach our design decisions from the perspective of designing an actual sport. While we’ve tried to have some fun and funky character customization options, your avatar in the game is meant to be a representation of you, not some fictional character. We think of your VR gear as your sports equipment, just like you’d need a tennis racquet or a baseball glove. If you get tired from playing a particularly intense game, we have Courtside, where you can take a step back and just watch others play for a bit while you recharge. Sparc is Here Sparc is finally here, and we’d love for you to try it out. Join us online in the game for a friendly match, then join us in the Sparc forums to tell us about your experience. We are listening and looking forward to your feedback and tales of glory. See you Courtside! View the full article

We have some exciting news for those of you that haven’t picked up PlayStation VR yet. Across the U.S. and Canada, we’re launching a new bundle that includes the PlayStation VR headset and PlayStation Camera for $399 USD (MSRP) / $499 CAD (MSRP). This essentially gives you the PlayStation Camera at no extra charge, and will be the core PS VR bundle moving forward. What’s more, the existing PlayStation VR Worlds bundle (PS VR headset, PS Camera, two PlayStation Move motion controllers and PlayStation VR Worlds) will be available at a new lower price of $449 USD (MSRP) / $579 CAD (MSRP) – so you can get started with an all-in PS VR package at an even greater value. Both bundles will start arriving at retailers on September 1, so check with your local retailers for availability. This is a great time to jump into the PlayStation VR experience, with a huge lineup of over 100 games, including recent favorites like Arizona Sunshine, SUPERHOT VR, Tiny Trax, Fantastic Contraption and Dino Frontier. If you’re new to PS VR, don’t miss out on marquee titles like Farpoint, Batman: Arkham VR, Star Trek: Bridge Crew and Resident Evil 7 biohazard. The PS VR games portfolio keeps growing, so visit this page to keep up with all the new releases. Also, if you’re brave enough to be transported into an unnerving world full of dangerous aliens, the Farpoint PS VR Aim Controller Bundle is now back in stock. On the horizon, we’ve got a great lineup of games, including The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim VR, Doom VFR, Sparc, Bravo Team and The Inpatient. The system itself also continues to evolve, as we just announced that the latest PS4 system software update 5.00 will include some enhancements for PS VR like 5.1ch and 7.1ch virtual surround sound in Cinematic Mode. We hope you get a chance to pick up a PS VR system and step into amazing virtual worlds. View the full article

We promised you wouldn’t have to wait an eternity, and now your patience will be rewarded. Pillars of Eternity, the award-winning RPG that brings classic style and design to modern gaming platforms, is available tomorrow on PS4. Every element of Obsidian’s masterpiece has been adapted to a controller-friendly interface — and we do mean every element, because Pillars of Eternity is a game with a lot to take in. From the epic story to the countless character creation options, there is enough to explore in Pillars of Eternity to keep you enthralled for… we don’t want to overuse the word “eternity,” but it’s a very long time. Still, a game of this scale and scope might seem daunting at first glance, so in the interest of helping new players explore the game for the first time, we wanted to give you some pointers for building your first character. Don’t worry; we’ll keep this spoiler-free. For starters, if you’re an RPG veteran, Pillars of Eternity was designed to recapture the spirit of games built on the Infinity Engine — titles like Baldur’s Gate and Planescape: Torment. If you’re familiar with those, then you’ll have a head start on the game mechanics here. But if not, don’t worry, we’ll get you caught up. The game uses a real-time-with-pause combat system, which means there’s plenty of time to strategize; you can stop the fight at any time to reposition your party members and issue new commands. Clever coordination of attacks and abilities will be needed to survive the many hostile creatures of Eora, and playing to the strengths of your characters can make the difference between a clean victory and limping away with your health at dangerous levels. As to what those strengths are, that’s up to you; the character creation system is one of the most impressive parts of Pillars of Eternity, offering plenty to choose from. Classes, races, and even personal history choices will affect how characters react to you, opening up different conversation options and quest choices throughout the game. You can choose from six races, each with two to three sub-race options, 11 classes, seven cultural origins, 17 backgrounds, and more options along the way. If you pick a Ranger, for example, you’ll even need to select one of six potential animal companions. No matter what you select, however, you’ll need to carefully assign your six Attributes: Might, Constitution, Dexterity, Perception, Intellect, and Resolve. Pillars of Eternity is designed so that players won’t get into trouble for assigning their stats “wrong” — every build is viable if you find its strengths, and your stats will work for you in new and interesting ways. The Barbarian, for example, can obviously benefit from a high Might stat which will boost her attack damage… but did you know that a high Intellect stat will boost the radius of her area-of-effect attacks? There are too many individual cases to list, but the core things to keep in mind are: Might boosts damage, but also the effects of healing. Constitution is vital for having both short-term endurance and long-term health. Dexterity makes your action speed increase in combat, and is helpful for sleight-of-hand in character interactions. Perception not only makes your attacks accurate, but helps you interrupt foes. Intellect can boost the area and duration of spells and mundane attacks. Resolve is one of the most frequent tests of your ability in non-combat situations. Of course, there’s no better way to explore your options in Pillars of Eternity than to sample them for yourself. We hope you enjoy this incredible experience with us, and that your journey is unforgettable — whether it’s your first, or one of many. See you tomorrow! View the full article

Good news! This Wednesday at 10:00am Pacific Time, I’ll be sitting down with the team at Sledgehammer Games to get an exclusive preview of the second weekend of the Call of Duty: WWII Multiplayer Beta. We’ll be streaming live on Twitch, YouTube, and Facebook. We’ll start by reviewing the takeaways from the beta’s first weekend, which kicked off this Thursday on PS4 and will wrap up on Monday. In our Wednesday livestream, Sledgehammer will discuss community feedback and key learnings that will roll into the final multiplayer experience, due out on November 3. Then we’ll look ahead to learn what’s in store for the second phase of the beta, opening this coming weekend, including a preview of new content and other updates. And we’ll address some community topics as well — be sure to leave your questions in the comments below! See you Wednesday! View the full article

One of the longest-running series in PlayStation history makes its debut on PS4 next week! Grab your clubs and hit the course with Everybody’s Golf on August 29. Known as the “Hot Shots Golf” series in the United States, Everybody’s Golf continues the franchise’s formula of fun and approachable gameplay. Create an (adorable) avatar and travel to beautiful locales to compete solo or alongside friends. Everybody’s Golf is rife with mini-games, too, including fishing, cart riding, and more. For a full list of new games coming to PlayStation, read on! And enjoy The Drop. New Releases: Week of August 29, 2017 Absolver PS4 — Digital Absolver is an online multiplayer combat experience where players are placed behind the mask of a Prospect. Prospects will wander forsaken lands, encountering others to learn new combat skills, acquire weapons and armor, and engage in solo duels and intense three-on-three battles. Art of Fighting Anthology (PS2) PS4 — Digital (Out 8/30) Contains the Art of Fighting trilogy! Experience a piece of fighting game history with these games that redefined what it meant to be a fighter. Many mechanics introduced in this series have gone on to become staples of the genre. Dead Alliance PS4 — Digital, Retail Dead Alliance is a fast-paced, multiplayer first-person zombie shooter set in a post-apocalyptic world, where former military bases have been turned into the only remaining city-states. Build your squad and take strategic control of bases across maps infested with zombies. Detention PS4 — Digital (Out 8/31) Detention is an unique atmospheric horror game heavily influenced by Taiwanese/East Asian culture, religious elements, and mythology. Venture into a school beset by hostile supernatural events to uncover stories behind the haunted place. Everybody’s Golf PS4 — Digital, Retail Everybody’s Golf is a new game for PS4! Anybody can play golf with basically only three button clicks. Now you can experience golf with a variety of character customizations, fishing, and carting across the courses. Factotum 90 PS4, PS Vita — Digital You’re in deep space and something’s collided with the ship. Main power is offline and you’re trapped. It’s lucky you have access to this terminal. It’s a little old but with these two robots and some clever thinking you might be able to get power back online and save the day. Fishing Planet PS4 — Digital Fishing Planet is a unique and highly realistic online first-person multiplayer fishing simulator developed by avid fishing enthusiasts for anglers to bring you the full thrill of actual angling! Grim Legends 2: Song of the Dark Swan PS4 — Digital When a mysterious illness befalls the queen of the Eagle Kingdom, a famous healer is summoned to Eagle Castle to examine her. Last Day of June PS4 — Digital (Out 8/31) Join Carl and June on what begins as a magical outing to their favorite spot, and try to unlock the sequence of events that could save the day — and June’s life — in this cinematic experience that will compel you to ask yourself: “What would I do to save the one I love?” Life is Strange: Before the Storm (Episode 1) PS4 — Digital (Out 8/31) Life is Strange: Before the Storm features Chloe Price, a 16 year-old rebel who forms an unlikely friendship with Rachel Amber, a beautiful and popular girl destined for success. When Rachel’s world is turned upside down by a family secret it takes their new-found alliance to give each other the strength to overcome their demons. The Lost Bear PS VR — Digital (Out 8/31) Immerse yourself in the hand-drawn world of The Lost Bear, help Walnut on her journey home through a mysterious land corrupted by the toy stealing Snatcher. The Metronomicon: Slay the Dance Floor PS4 — Digital Save the World from Magical Party Crashers! Packing in a full-fledged story mode with a colorful cast of musically-empowered heroes and villains, The Metronomicon sees you take control a party of eight new masters of the “rhythmic combat arts” to wage musical warfare against a multitude of dance-mongering fiends. Obduction PS4 — Digital A new sci-fi adventure from Cyan, the creators of Myst. Abducted far across the universe, you find yourself on a broken alien landscape with odd pieces of Earth. Explore, uncover, solve, and find a way to make it home. Pillars of Eternity: Complete Edition PS4 — Digital, Retail Pillars of Eternity, the ultimate role-playing experiences comes to PS4! Created by and for role-playing fans by Obsidian Entertainment and adapted by Paradox Arctic — together bringing Pillars’ fantastical world, tactical combat, and unforgettable story to you. Redout PS4 — Digital, Retail Redout is pure anti-gravity racing, a tribute to the classic arcade racing monsters. It’s designed to be an uncompromising, fast, tough, and satisfying driving experience, soaked in the vertigo that stands at the core of the genre. Resident Evil Revelations PS4 — Digital, Retail The story is set at a time before the Kijuju and Lanshiang bioterror incidents when the BSAA was still a young organization. Join Jill Valentine aboard a ghost ship in the Mediterranean Sea searching for her old partner, Chris Redfield. Rock of Ages 2: Bigger & Boulder PS4 — Digital (Out 8/28) The greatest rock-racing, tower defense, art history game is back! Like the title says, Bigger and Boulder cranks up the surrealism and gameplay with chaotic two-on-two multiplayer, new time periods, and improved graphics, physics, and destructibility. Sneaky Bears PS VR — Digital The world is under attack… by evil teddy bears. Led by the evil mastermind bear Frank, they have seized control of a toy factory in which they are building an evil teddy bear army to take over the world. Armed with only your motion-controlled weapons, it is up to you to stop them and rescue the innocent panda teddy bears that Frank and his minions have taken hostage. Sparc PS VR — Digital Sparc is a vSport — a unique physical sport only possible in virtual reality, in which players compete in fast-paced, full-body VR gameplay and connect in an online community. Still Time PS4, PS Vita — Digital Still Time is a 2D puzzle platformer about time travel and temporal physics. As the protagonists discover their powers, you will learn how to control the flow of time. Surf World Series PS4 — Digital Take to the waves in Surf World Series. Experience the thrill of killer tricks and monster waves at five legendary surfing destinations. Warriors All-Stars PS4 — Digital, Retail A battle of heroes where everyone is the lead! The very first all-stars title for Koei Tecmo! For the first time in Warriors series, flashy action combines both the traits of the original series and new exciting elements such as “Musou Rush”, open scenarios and multiple endings! White Day: A Labyrinth Named School PS4 — Digital Prepare yourself for the scariest game of the year! When a good deed goes awry you and your fellow students are locked inside school at night, hunted by a killer janitor and haunted by the troubled souls of the dead. Can you remain hidden and uncover the school’s dark secrets to survive? Windjammers PS4, PS Vita — Digital The most entertaining sports game ever made returns on PS4 with brand-new features! Windjammers is a fast-paced head-to-head arcade game where two players face off on a court, and throw discs at the opponent’s goal zone to score points. X-Morph: Defense PS4 — Digital (Out 8/30) Unique fusion of a top-down shooter and tower-defense strategy. You are the invader! Use destructive weapons or lead you enemies into a maze of towers. Strategize in the build mode by carefully selecting various types of alien towers or throw yourself right into the heat of the battle. Yakuza Kiwami PS4 — Digital, Retail 10 years ago, Kazuma Kiryu took the fall for a crime he didn’t commit to save his best friend. Expelled from his yakuza family, Kiryu is released from prison to a city he no longer recognizes. Chaos erupts when 10 billion yen vanishes from the Tojo Clan vault, and with Kiryu caught in the middle, he finds everything points to a young, mysterious girl named Haruka. Together, they must survive to find the answers they both seek. A$AP Mob – Cozy Tapes Vol. 2 Ramin Djawadi – Game of Thrones: Season 7 Soundtrack Queens of the Stone Age – Villians Wonder Woman (2017) (plus Bonus features) Wonder Woman + Suicide Squad Extended Cut + Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice Ultimate Edition + Man of Steel Bundle Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie Animal Kingdom- August 29 at 9/8c (TNT) You Can Do Better- August 29 at 10:30/9:30c (truTV) Misfit Garage- August 30 at 9/8c (Discovery) The information above is subject to change without notice. View the full article

Our faithful readers can tell you that Fridays mean you have a 1-in-4 chance of a flash sale. Well today’s your lucky Friday. PlayStation Store’s Deals Under $10 Flash Sale starts right now! So fluff up those couch cushions and saddle up for a weekend in. Save on more than 200 titles, including Darksiders II Deathinitive Edition, Resident Evil 4, and Overcooked: Gourmet Edition. When those thumbs need a break, we’ve got 150+ movies to choose from as well. Scoop up Kong: Skull Island, Fist Fight, Creed and more – all for under 10 bucks. Well, all except the Rocky Heavyweight Collection; that’s $13.99. But six classics for that price? Had to throw it in there. Check out the full lineup below, then head over to PS Store through the weekend. Our Deals Under $10 Flash Sale ends Monday, August 28 at 8 am PST. Games Platform Title Sale Price Original Price PS4 ACE BANANA (VR) $4.49 $14.99 PS4 ADAM’S VENTURE: ORIGINS – DELUXE EDITION $6.44 $42.99 PS4 ADVENTURES OF PIP $5.99 $14.99 PS4 AGATHA CHRISTIE – THE ABC MURDERS $8.99 $29.99 PS4 AMONG THE SLEEP $5.99 $14.99 PS4 ANOMALY 2 $1.49 $14.99 PS4 APOTHEON $3.74 $14.99 PS4 ARAGAMI $7.99 $19.99 PS4 BATTLE WORLDS: KRONOS $4.99 $19.99 PS4 BATTLESHIP $5.99 $14.99 PS4 BIG BUCK HUNTER ARCADE $6.99 $19.99 PS4 BLUE ESTATE – THE GAME $3.24 $12.99 PS4 BOGGLE $3.99 $9.99 PS4 BOUND BY FLAME $5.99 $19.99 PS4 BRICK BREAKER $2.99 $9.99 PS4 BROKEN SWORD 5 – THE SERPENT’S CURSE $6.24 $24.99 PS4 CABELA’S AFRICAN ADVENTURES $9.59 $39.99 PS4 CAPCOM DLC PACK $5.99 $11.99 PS4 CARNIVAL GAMES VR $9.99 $19.99 PS4 CATLATERAL DAMAGE $3.99 $9.99 PS4 CHIVALRY: MEDIEVAL WARFARE $7.99 $19.99 PS4 CHIVALRY: MEDIEVAL WARFARE ULTIMATE EDITION $9.89 $29.99 PS4 CLAIRE $5.09 $14.99 PS4 CRYPT OF THE NECRODANCER $2.99 $14.99 PS4 DARIUSBURST CHRONICLE SAVIOURS $9.59 $59.99 PS4 DARIUSBURST CHRONICLE SAVIOURS – EIGHTING DLC PACK $5.99 $11.99 PS4 DARIUSBURST CHRONICLE SAVIOURS : CAVE DLC PACK $5.99 $11.99 PS4 DARIUSBURST CHRONICLE SAVIOURS: SEGA DLC PACK $5.99 $11.99 PS4 DARIUSBURST CHRONICLE SAVIOURS: TAITO DLC PACK $5.99 $11.99 PS4 DARKSIDERS II DEATHINITIVE EDITION $5.99 $14.99 PS4 DEAD RISING $7.99 $19.99 PS4 DEADLIGHT: DIRECTOR’S CUT $4.49 $14.99 PS4 DOODLE GOD DOODLE DEVIL & DOODLE KINGDOM $5.99 $14.99 PS4 DUCATI – 90TH ANNIVERSARY GAME $9.99 $39.99 PS4 DUKE NUKEM 3D: 20TH ANNIVERSARY WORLD TOUR $5.99 $19.99 PS4 DUNGEON PUNKS $4.49 $14.99 PS4 DYING : REBORN STANDARD $7.99 $19.99 PS4 DYING : REBORN VR (VR) $3.99 $9.99 PS4 DYING: REBORN ULTIMATE BUNDLE $9.99 $24.99 PS4 EVOLVE DIGITAL DELUXE EDITION $7.19 $39.99 PS4 FORMA.8 $5.99 $9.99 PS4 FOUR SIDED FANTASY $2.49 $9.99 PS4 FURI $7.99 $19.99 PS4 GOAT SIMULATOR: THE PAYDAY BUNDLE $4.89 $13.99 PS4 GUNS GORE AND CANNOLI $3.99 $9.99 PS4 GUNSCAPE $0.99 $19.99 PS4 HANDBALL 16 $8.99 $29.99 PS4 HONOR AND DUTY: ARCADE EDITION $1.95 $6.99 PS4 IRON SEA $2.79 $6.99 PS4 IRONCAST $5.24 $14.99 PS4 JOTUN: VALHALLA EDITION $5.99 $14.99 PS4 JUST CAUSE 3: AIR LAND & SEA EXPANSION PASS $9.99 $24.99 PS4 KING’S QUEST COMPLETE COLLECTION $9.89 $29.99 PS4 LORDS OF THE FALLEN $3.99 $19.99 PS4 LORDS OF THE FALLEN COMPLETE EDITION $5.99 $29.99 PS4 LOVERS IN A DANGEROUS SPACETIME $5.99 $14.99 PS4 MAHJONG $2.99 $9.99 PS4 MCDROID $1.99 $7.99 PS4 MEDIEVAL DEFENDERS $2.79 $6.99 PS4 MINECRAFT: STORY MODE – ADVENTURE PASS $3.99 $9.99 PS4 MINECRAFT: STORY MODE – SEASON PASS $7.99 $19.99 PS4 MONSTER JAM: CRUSH IT! $5.99 $19.99 PS4 MORDHEIM: CITY OF THE DAMNED $9.99 $39.99 PS4 MOTO RACER 4 $9.99 $39.99 PS4 MOTORCYCLE CLUB $3.99 $19.99 PS4 MURDERED: SOUL SUSPECT $4.99 $19.99 PS4 MXGP2 – THE OFFICIAL MOTOCROSS VIDEOGAME $9.99 $49.99 PS4 N.E.R.O.: NOTHING EVER REMAINS OBSCURE $6.99 $19.99 PS4 NBA 2KVR EXPERIENCE (VR) $2.99 $14.99 PS4 NO TIME TO EXPLAIN $3.74 $14.99 PS4 OASIS GAMES HORROR VR BUNDLE $5.99 $19.99 PS4 OASIS GAMES SHOOTER VR BUNDLE $7.49 $24.99 PS4 ONE WAY TRIP $4.49 $14.99 PS4 OVERCOOKED $6.79 $16.99 PS4 OVERCOOKED HOLIDAY BUNDLE $7.99 $19.99 PS4 OVERCOOKED: GOURMET EDITION $7.99 $19.99 PS4 PIXEL GEAR (VR) $3.29 $10.99 PS4 PRIMAL CARNAGE: EXTINCTION $7.99 $19.99 PS4 PURE HOLD’EM WORLD POKER CHAMPIONSHIP $6.99 $19.99 PS4 PURE POOL $5.99 $19.99 PS4 PUZZLE SHOWDOWN 4K $3.99 $9.99 PS4 RESIDENT EVIL 4 $9.99 $19.99 PS4 REUS $6.99 $19.99 PS4 RISK $3.74 $14.99 PS4 RISK URBAN ASSAULT $5.99 $14.99 PS4 ROGUE LEGACY $4.24 $16.99 PS4 ROLLERCOASTER DREAMS (VR) $5.99 $19.99 PS4 SEBASTIEN LOEB RALLY EVO $8.99 $59.99 PS4 SCRABBLE $3.74 $14.99 PS4 SHADWEN $4.24 $16.99 PS4 SIEGECRAFT COMMANDER $2.99 $19.99 PS4 SIRALIM $3.99 $9.99 PS4 SIRALIM 2 $5.99 $14.99 PS4 SLEEPING DOGS: DEFINITIVE EDITION $7.49 $29.99 PS4 SOLITAIRE $2.99 $9.99 PS4 STARDUST VANGUARDS $0.99 $9.99 PS4 STEAMWORLD DIG $2.49 $9.99 PS4 STEAMWORLD HEIST $5.99 $14.99 PS4 STIKBOLD! $2.99 $9.99 PS4 STORIES: THE PATH OF DESTINIES $3.74 $14.99 PS4 SWORD COAST LEGENDS $4.49 $14.99 PS4 TALISMAN DIGITAL EDITION $8.99 $29.99 PS4 TETHERED (VR) $9.99 $24.99 PS4 THE BRIDGE $1.99 $9.99 PS4 THE CASTLE GAME $3.74 $14.99 PS4 THE DWARVES $9.99 $39.99 PS4 THE FINAL STATION $5.99 $14.99 PS4 THE LIGHT AND DARK BUNDLE $6.89 $22.99 PS4 THE TECHNOMANCER $9.99 $39.99 PS4 THIS WAR OF MINE: THE LITTLE ONES $7.49 $29.99 PS4 TIME MACHINE VR (VR) $9.89 $29.99 PS4 TINA’S TOY FACTORY $0.98 $2.99 PS4 TINY TROOPERS JOINT OPS COMPLETE BUNDLE $2.39 $7.99 PS4 TOUR DE FRANCE 2014 SEASON 2014 $3.49 $9.99 PS4 TOWER OF GUNS $3.74 $14.99 PS4 TRINE 2: COMPLETE STORY $2.99 $19.99 PS4 TRINE 3: THE ARTIFACTS OF POWER $5.49 $21.99 PS4 TRINE BUNDLE $5.99 $29.99 PS4 TRINE ENCHANTED EDITION $3.74 $14.99 PS4 TRINE TRILOGY $8.99 $29.99 PS4 TRIVIAL PURSUIT LIVE! $3.74 $14.99 PS4 TUMBLESTONE $9.99 $24.99 PS4 UNEARTHING MARS (VR) $5.99 $14.99 PS4 UNO $3.99 $9.99 PS4 VALENTINO ROSSI THE GAME US $9.99 $49.99 PS4 VERDUN $4.99 $19.99 PS4 WEEPING DOLL (VR) $2.99 $9.99 PS4 WHEELS OF AURELIA $3.99 $9.99 PS4 YESTERDAY ORIGINS $9.99 $39.99 PS4 YONDER: THE CLOUD CATCHER CHRONICLES $7.99 $19.99 PS4 ZIGGURAT $3.74 $14.99 PS4 ZOTRIX $2.99 $9.99 PS3 ADAM’S VENTURE CHRONICLES $1.49 $14.99 PS3 ALIEN RAGE $1.49 $14.99 PS3 ALTER ECHO (PS2 CLASSIC) $3.99 $9.99 PS3 BIOSHOCK $4.99 $9.99 PS3 BIOSHOCK 2 $4.99 $9.99 PS3 BIOSHOCK INFINITE DIGITAL PREORDER $4.99 $19.99 PS3 BOMBERMAN ULTRA TRIAL $4.99 $9.99 PS3 BOUND BY FLAME $5.99 $19.99 PS3 CABELA’S AFRICAN ADVENTURES $9.89 $29.99 PS3 CABELA’S BIG GAME HUNTER PRO HUNTS $4.99 $19.99 PS3 CASTLEVANIA CHRONICLES (PSONE CLASSIC) $2.99 $5.99 PS3 CASTLEVANIA: SOTN (PSONE CLASSIC) $4.99 $9.99 PS3 CHIVALRY: MEDIEVAL WARFARE $4.94 $14.99 PS3 DE BLOB: 2 $3.74 $14.99 PS3 DEAD ISLAND GAME OF THE YEAR $5.99 $19.99 PS3 DEAD ISLAND RIPTIDE – COMPLETE EDITION $4.99 $19.99 PS3 DRAKENGARD 3 $9.99 $19.99 PS3 ELEVATOR ACTION DELUXE $4.99 $9.99 PS3 ENEMY FRONT $3.99 $39.99 PS3 FARMING SIMULATOR 15 $7.49 $29.99 PS3 FINAL FANTASY XIII-2 $7.49 $14.99 PS3 GRADIUS V (PS2 CLASSIC) $4.99 $9.99 PS3 HUNTER’S TROPHY 2 – AMERICA $2.99 $9.99 PS3 HUNTER’S TROPHY 2 – AUSTRALIA $2.99 $9.99 PS3 KANE & LYNCH 2: DOG DAYS $3.74 $14.99 PS3 KANE & LYNCH: DEAD MEN $3.74 $14.99 PS3 KING’S QUEST COMPLETE COLLECTION $9.89 $29.99 PS3 LE TOUR DE FRANCE – SEASON 2014 $3.49 $9.99 PS3 LEGACY OF KAIN: SOUL REAVER (PSONE CLASSIC) $1.49 $5.99 PS3 LIGHTNING RETURNS: FINAL FANTASY XIII $9.99 $19.99 PS3 MAMOROKUN CURSE! 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$5.99 $14.99 PSP BLAZBLUE: CONTINUUM SHIFT II $2.99 $9.99 PSP BLAZING SOULS ACCELATE $2.39 $7.99 PSP BOMBERMAN ’94 $2.99 $5.99 PSP CARNAGE HEART EXA $7.99 $19.99 PSP CHAMELEON $1.19 $3.99 PSP CHO ANIKI ZERO $2.39 $5.99 PSP DISSIDIA FINAL FANTASY $7.49 $14.99 PSP DISSIDIA 012[DUODECIM] FINAL FANTASY $7.49 $14.99 PSP END OF SERENITY $5.99 $14.99 PSP GLADIATOR BEGINS $3.19 $7.99 PSP GUILTY GEAR XX ACCENT CORE PLUS $2.99 $9.99 PSP HAKUOKI: DEMON OF THE FLEETING BLOSSOM $2.99 $9.99 PSP HAKUOKI: WARRIORS OF THE SHINSENGUMI $3.19 $7.99 PSP HARVEST MOON: BOY + GIRL $5.99 $14.99 PSP HARVEST MOON: HERO OF LEAF VALLEY $7.99 $19.99 PSP INNOCENT LIFE: A FUTURISTIC HARVEST MOON $5.99 $14.99 PSP JIKANDIA: THE TIMELESS LAND $2.99 $9.99 PSP LORD OF ARCANA $7.49 $14.99 PSP MIMANA IYAR CHRONICLE $2.99 $9.99 PSP MYSTIC CHRONICLES $5.99 $14.99 PSP RAGNAROK TACTICS $3.19 $7.99 PSP REEL FISHING: THE GREAT OUTDOORS $5.99 $14.99 PSP THEXDER NEO $2.49 $4.99 PSP WARRIORS OF THE LOST EMPIRE $1.79 $5.99 Movies Title SD Sale Price SD Original Price HD Sale Price HD Original Price 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY $5.99 $9.99 $5.99 $12.99 22 JUMP STREET $8.99 $9.99 $8.99 $12.99 300 (2006) $8.99 $9.99 $8.99 $12.99 5TH QUARTER $6.99 $9.99 $6.99 $9.99 A FAMILY MAN $6.99 $9.99 $8.99 $12.99 A WAR $8.99 $9.99 $8.99 $12.99 ABDUCTION $6.99 $7.99 $6.99 $9.99 AFTER THE REALITY $8.99 $9.99 $8.99 $12.99 AMAZING SPIDER-MAN, THE $8.99 $9.99 $8.99 $12.99 AMERICAN HISTORY X $5.99 $9.99 $5.99 $12.99 AMERICAN PSYCHO $6.99 $7.99 $6.99 $9.99 ANGRY BIRDS MOVIE, THE $9.99 $12.99 $9.99 $14.99 ANOTHER EVIL $4.99 $14.99 $5.99 $19.99 ART SCHOOL CONFIDENTIAL $6.99 $12.99 $6.99 $12.99 AUSTIN POWERS IN GOLDMEMBER (2002) $8.99 $9.99 $8.99 $12.99 AUSTIN POWERS: INTERNATIONAL MAN OF MYST $8.99 $9.99 $8.99 $12.99 AUSTIN POWERS: THE SPY WHO SHAGGED ME $6.99 $9.99 $6.99 $12.99 AVANTI $6.99 $12.99 $6.99 $12.99 BAD BOYS (1995) $8.99 $9.99 $8.99 $12.99 BAREFOOT CONTESSA $6.99 $14.99 $6.99 $14.99 BERLIN SYNDROME $6.99 $9.99 $8.99 $12.99 BIG $6.99 $14.99 $6.99 $14.99 BILLY LYNN’S LONG HALFTIME WALK $8.99 $14.99 $8.99 $14.99 BOOK THIEF, THE $7.99 $14.99 $7.99 $14.99 BOYHOOD $7.99 $12.99 $9.99 $12.99 BRIMSTONE $8.99 $9.99 $8.99 $9.99 BROKEN CITY $6.99 $14.99 $6.99 $14.99 CAMPAIGN, THE (2012) $8.99 $9.99 $8.99 $12.99 CAPTAIN FANTASTIC $8.99 $9.99 $8.99 $12.99 CATFIGHT $4.99 $9.99 $5.99 $12.99 CHAPPIE $8.99 $9.99 $8.99 $12.99 CHIPS $9.99 $14.99 $9.99 $14.99 CLUELESS $7.99 $9.99 $9.99 $17.99 CRASH $7.99 $7.99 $7.99 $9.99 CRAZY STUPID LOVE (2011) $8.99 $9.99 $8.99 $12.99 CREED $4.99 $14.99 $4.99 $14.99 DANNY SAYS $8.99 $12.99 $8.99 $14.99 DARK BLUE $6.99 $14.99 x x DEATHGASM $4.99 $9.99 $5.99 $12.99 DEPARTED, THE (2006) $8.99 $9.99 $8.99 $12.99 DR. DOLITTLE (1998) $7.99 $14.99 $7.99 $14.99 DR. 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Puhuhu! This is Judith from NIS America, here to let everyone know that the long-awaited Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony demo is now available for free at PlayStation Store! The demo gives you a special chapter not found in the main game as well as a taste of Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony’s new features! Moreover, the game is now available for digital preorder at PS Store, and those who preorder digitally will receive a free theme! Returning veterans of the Danganronpa franchise and newcomers alike will love what the third installment has to offer. The game once again begins with students – known as Ultimates for their special talents – waking up in a strange academy, unsure of how they got there. After meeting the headmaster, Monokuma (Danganronpa’s beloved sadistic robot bear mascot), they learn that they must participate in a killing game in order to escape. But it doesn’t just end there! After a victim is discovered, all of the Ultimates must deduce who the killer is in a deadly “Class Trial.” If the culprit is caught, the rest of the students are safe and the killer is punished. However, if the killer gets away with murder, then the rest of the students must face severe consequences while the killer escapes! As the protagonist, Kaede Akamatsu (the “Ultimate Pianist”) must navigate these Class Trials, where she and the other Ultimates will debate each other’s innocence and solve puzzles in the form of mini-games to successfully find who is behind the chaos. New to Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony are Lie Bullets and Mass Panic Debates. Sometimes, in order to reach the truth and keep the debate from going in the wrong direction, Kaede must lie to the other Ultimates. To do this, she can convert her Truth Bullets into Lie Bullets and use them to commit perjury. Similar to Truth Bullets, Lie Bullets will counter another Ultimate’s testimony during a Class Trial. Truth and lies will meet to make a story that’s even more intense than its predecessors! Are you a good liar? Well, play the game and find out! Now, let’s talk about the demo for a bit. As you might have already guessed, the demo will showcase some all-new experiences and does not contain any spoilers for the main game, so players can rest easy and give it a go. You’ll meet a couple of familiar faces from the outset (who missed Makoto and Hajime!? I sure did) and get a taste of the new gameplay that makes Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony the most exciting installment of the series. Download the demo now to get some hands-on experience with Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony before September 26! I highly recommend playing the demo before jumping into the main game, because it’ll give you double the dose of Danganronpa fun, and some rewards for the full game, too! See you soon… Puhuhu! View the full article

Starfighter Assault is Criterion’s contribution to this November’s Star Wars Battlefront II, the multi-studio collaboration that is EA’s return to a galaxy far, far away. The Guilford-based studio’s heritage is rich in racing franchises (Burnout, Need for Speed), and it is applying that discipline – a fine splice of arcade thrills, missile-like speed and perfect handling – to the saga in the form of starfighter-exclusive clashes. Battlefront’s been here before obviously: the original’s Fighter Squadron stuck players to the skies above (and in the case of Cloud City, around) iconic locations. But Criterion’s looking beyond the clouds to the stars for its settings and Battlefront’s Walker Assault for its structure. 24 players, split into two teams, battling for victory across three evolving objectives and a host of side missions in one action-packed match. Where and when Starfighter Assault is set The mode’s debut trailer, released last weekend, teases settings and familiar craft, and reinforces that the game’s multiplayer covers the entirety of the cinematic saga to date. While the recent Assault on Theed reveal took inspiration from the prequels, the first taste of the Starfighter Assault mode is full fat original trilogy: Rebellion vs. Empire. That’s not to say it’s all entirely familiar. The setting is an Imperial shipyard that circles Fondor, a planet located in the Colonies region. Somewhere that, until now, was only mentioned in tie-in novels. The shipyard doubles as the backdrop to an important story beat in Battlefront II’s single player campaign; in Starfighter Assault, we enter the fray just as the Rebellion jump in to take down a docked Star Destroyer. Where the mission sits in the saga’s canon is unknown. Could it be that, with the story-driven single player being set just after the Battle of Endor, that much like like Battlefont’s Battle of Jakku, it’s part of one of the last conflicts of the Galactic Civil War (which reached a climax, but seemingly not a conclusion, in Return of the Jedi)? Either way, this plays out like any of the classic battles you’ve seen on the big screen. The Rebellion comes out of hyperspace on the edges of the station, and the Empire scramble to intercept, two large-scale Imperial Light Cruisers emerging from the station’s shadow, flanked by player-piloted TIE battalions. And in a storm of laser fire, ion cannons and blazing thrusters, the two sides clash. The mode’s mission structure Rebels have three objectives that need to be completed in order. First, destroy the cruisers and the Imperial defences to gain entry into the heart of the base. Second, knock out the base’s shield generators so you can start your approach on the docked Star Destroyer. Lastly, take out the power couplings holding the starship in place to short out its shields, giving you a 30 second window to unload on its underside reactor core. Playing as Imperials? Well, orders are simple: destroy the rebel scum. Okay, there’s more to it than that. As X-wings, A-wings and Y-wings split and divide to objectives – more quickly completed if done as a part of a squadron (or Flight, as it’s known) consisting of fellow players and AI and pre-selected when entering the match – the Empire has options for retaliation. Down enough Rebel reinforcements to zero, visualised as on-screen percentage bar, and you can stop the assault cold, regardless of which Phase you’re in. TIE fighters, Interceptors and Bombers can target incoming (AI-controlled) Y-Wing bombing squadrons or aim for two Rebel Corvettes that soon jump in. These give the defenders – including me for a time – a home field advantage, letting me play Imperial bullseye on ship-shaped dartboards the size of asteroids. Flying like the best pilot in the galaxy Criterion made me feel in total control of my chosen ride in Burnout irrespective to the fact that I was breaking the sound barrier. Here too I don’t need to be a Jedi to perform manoeuvres that’d make Poe Dameron jealous. The map’s crawling with tiny spaces that can be used to dodge laser fire and feel like a piloting badass. The base’s shield generators are placed in a narrow tunnel, but along which there are multiple exhausts that look out into space. If you’ve got the skills (I eventually have) you can weave in and out of them (I do). It’s awesome. In one of the last matches in my hour’s play session, I run a pursuing TIE Fighter a spirited chase for several minutes out of and into these tiny ports and under docking clamps while piloting the Millennium Falcon. Han would have been proud. It’s thrilling stuff, and all the more awesome because I’m the one creating the set piece. My only regret is not capturing the pursuit; it’s my most dazzling display of piloting since I started playing Battlefront. But you believe me, right? Weapons of choice Every ship’s got three abilities in addition to its primary weapon. One on L1, another on R1, and the third activated by tapping both. Examples include astromech repairs and proton torpedoes. Yet in a ten-strong ship line-up, including Hero ships such as Darth Maul’s Scimitar and Poe Dameron’s Black One (continuity be damned), it’s – surprisingly – the humble TIE Fighter’s Laser Barrage that thrills the most. A joint button press, a brief sound of mechanical parts reconfiguring and then the sweet burst of ultra-fast, ultra-powerful twin lasers unloading. A big part of why I end up grinning from ear to ear every time I do this? Audio. That angry staccato of Imperial might in the ears is authentically Star Wars. And that’s indicative of the mode as a whole: Criterion has applied its technical prowess to an experience that’s as authentic as blue milk, lightsabers and farmboys dreaming of starfighters. Phase 2’s trench run on the docking base is is reminiscent of Jedi’s climactic Death Star assault and Rogue One’s Rebel fleet rescue. Light Cruiser takedowns are a nod to Sith’s opening space battle. It’s a ‘best of’ some of the saga’s most memorable moments. And this is only one map. Criterion’s taken the wheels off its arcade racing heritage but kept the high-octane thrill for 360 degree space combat. Its work on Battlefront’s Rogue One: X-Wing VR Mission already suggested the studio understood what made the furthest-flung galaxy in science fiction so iconic. Starfighter Assault only cements the fact the studio is on equal standing in Battlefront II’s creation alongside EA DICE and Motive Studios. To steal a line from another cinematic classic: where Criterion’s taking us, we don’t need roads. View the full article

One of the greatest RPGs of all time, Secret of Mana, is coming back to life in 3D! Secret of Mana will come to PS4 and PS Vita digitally, on February 15, 2018 worldwide. Secret of Mana holds a special place in many hearts here in the office, so we could not be more excited for new fans to experience the time-honored classic for the first time, and for existing fans to dive back into the fun fantasy adventure that they know and love. “I’ve heard of Secret of Mana, but I never played it and I’m just used to more modern graphics.” The above is basically the gist of conversations I have had with most of my gamer friends, and could possibly describe how many of you feel about the game. We’re here to fix that! Here’s what you should know about the remake: The game will faithfully adapt the beloved story and top-down gameplay while adopting modern 3D graphics and controls. Meaning that the game has been fully rebuilt from the ground up, but still remains true to the whimsical gameplay of the original. In this new remake, you can expect the great game all your friends have been saying you missed out on, reborn. After playing the original, watching this trailer hits me right in the nostalgic feels… EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. So, if you’re like me and played the classic version, but wonder what new things you can look forward to outside of the completely revamped 3D graphics and updated gameplay: VOICED CHARACTERS: That’s right, you heard Randi in the trailer and you’ll finally get to hear Randi, Primm, Popoi and many other characters talk and express themselves throughout their adventure! To add to that, the game will have language options which will allow players to experience the game using Japanese voices and/or subtitles. A NEWLY ARRANGED SOUNDTRACK: We’re excited for you to hear a beautiful, newly arranged soundtrack that pays tribute to the original. LOCAL MULTIPLAYER: Yes! Sit down with two of your friends (up to three players) to experience the adventure together. To give you the lowdown on the story: Secret of Mana revolves around a courageous young man named Randi. I think Randi will successfully make headbands cool again (some may argue they were always cool, and I would agree.) Anyway… Randi inadvertently discovers the Mana Sword, a weapon of great power, and finds out that he can harness the great power of Mana. He then embarks on a quest to defeat the evil forces attempting to control Mana, and is joined by a tenacious and caring noblewoman named Primm, and a mischievous yet kind sprite named Popoi. Together, the trio take on a treacherous empire in attempts to bring balance to the world. “If I love the series and want something a little extra to make my experience that much better, what is there?” You are in LUCK sir and or madam. If you pre-order the game on PSN you’ll receive: Individual PSN Avatars for Randi, Primm, and Popoi as an instant reward DLC Costumes at launch on February 15 “Moogle Suit” for Randi, Primm, Popoi “Tiger Two-Piece” for Primm “Tiger Suit” for Randi and Popoi Look how adorable those costumes are! I wonder why the Tiger Suit makes Popoi look so grumpy… For those who want to preorder on PSN, you can click here. Preorders will go live at 1:30am PDT! If you’re excited and can’t wait to get your hands on the game, we’re happy to announce that Secret of Mana will be playable at PAX West from September 1-4 at both the Square Enix booth and the PlayStation booth! As a fan, Secret of Mana is a personal favorite of mine, and I’m honored to be bringing the title to the west. I sincerely hope that all current and potential fans are as excited as I am and will love the game. As we lead up to release, be sure to keep up to date with all of the new Secret of Mana content through our official Square Enix channels! View the full article

Our own Gillen McAllister from PlayStation.Blog EU speaks to one of the minds behind Star Wars Battlefront II and the recently detailed Starfighter Assault mode. Plus, Ryan discusses his new-found love for Agents of Mayhem, and Sid (for some reason) decided to engrave his iPad. All this and more. Enjoy the show! Subscribe via iTunes, Spotify, Google or RSS, or download here Stuff We Talked About Star Wars Battlefront II Destiny 2 Agents of Mayhem Portal Knights iPad Engravings Recent Episodes Episode 260: Spit-take Episode 259: SUPERNOTEWORTHY Episode 258: The One That Got Away The Cast Sid Shuman – Director of Social Media, SIEA Ryan Clements – Sr. Social Media Specialist, SIEA Zac Minor – Sr. Social Media Manager, SIEA Send us questions and tips! blogcast@sony.com Leave us a voicemail! (650) 288-6706 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.] View the full article

Hi, everyone! Justin at PlayStation.Blog invited me to help celebrate the upcoming PS4 release of Cyan’s game Obduction by doing a question-and-answer session with Rand Miller, CEO and lead designer of the game. I have been playing Rand’s games since the 1990s, and Myst and Riven were both huge influences on The Witness. I felt like this was a good opportunity to ask some serious design questions, so here goes! The Witness Jonathan Blow: One very obvious trend, looking at the series of games from Myst through Obduction, has been the advancement of technology. Today’s consoles are insane supercomputers compared to the machines people played Myst on, back in the day. There are some obvious benefits, like the fact that you can walk around the world of Obduction in full realtime 3D, whereas the original Myst was a series of 2D images. I’m interested in how this affected puzzle design. The advantage of something like Myst is that you can curate each individual image very closely — you know exactly where the player is standing and what she’s looking at, and if you want to make some important clue more obvious, it’s clear how to do that. When building things to be explored in full 3D, it’s a much less-concrete discipline because you don’t exactly know where the player is coming from. How do you deal with that? Does it affect the basic design of the puzzles in some way, or is the difference more down to the way specific details are authored? This isn’t Cyan’s first realtime 3D game; both Uru and Myst 5 were 3D, but I would describe those as occurring in the earlier days of 3D when it was at least a little daring to make a 3D puzzle adventure game. How have things changed between those games and now? Obduction Rand Miller: The nature of exploration/adventure games is that you want the player to feel like they have complete freedom, but at the same time provide some kind of path guidance that insures that the player gets the story/information they need. I think we’ve learned as we’ve transitioned to realtime 3D that the path guidance that we might have previously achieved on a “per frame” basis, we now have to do on a different scale. I’ll give some specific examples. Early in Riven there was a gate that was locked. It wasn’t immediately evident, but the player could slide under the gate. We placed a dagger in the ground under the gate to draw the player’s attention to that lower area. Further, if the player clicked on the dagger the player’s point of view changed to a view of the gate from a much lower perspective – a view that seemed to suggest that they might be able to crawl under the gate. That example precisely illustrates how, by having control of the view we could move the player forward in subtle ways. But that doesn’t work for realtime 3D. Obduction has an example of how that idea has to change in realtime 3D. At the beginning of the game the player can only move forward through a canyon. At one point in the canyon a recorded message directs the player to a house with a white picket fence. At this point the canyon is almost gone, and the player has a choice to visit the house with the white picket fence or explore in various other directions. But we also built in a “pinch point” before the player can move on to another section. Approaching this pinch point triggers a rather large insect-like creature to fly out of a mine, across the prairie, and onto the roof of the house with the white picket fence. The idea being that if the player has chosen to ignore the house, we’d like to remind them that it was something that they were instructed to inspect. It’s a much larger and more dynamic hint to entice the player in a particular direction, but it serves the same purpose that the dagger serves in Riven. I must say that as much as I love realtime 3D it seems like it is always more awkward lining up with devices for interaction with them. Watching players get to the correct angle and the right distance can be cringe inducing – a little left, step back, too far, strafe right a bit, etc. It makes me think back fondly on the Myst 2D images where we control the exact position for optimal interaction. Did you have any of that frustration watching early players of The Witness? Interestingly, I feel like VR throws more challenges into this discussion – looking around is so natural and effortless, having the player look in a particular direction for a short time can feel like keeping the attention of a three year old. It’ll be interesting to see how our design evolves to embrace this. The Witness Jon: We didn’t have too many early players; I tend not to playtest very much! We had a bunch of players come and try the game at PSX 2015, but by then the game was mostly done being designed. Our game had the advantage that our main puzzles are discrete panels located at obvious places in the world, and we auto-position people to interact with most of these if they start to interact while in the neighborhood. But that solution wouldn’t work for most adventure games, because part of the reason it works is because you know exactly what is going to happen — in a puzzle more integrated with the environment, even if you knew it was going to auto-adjust your position, not knowing exactly where you would end up would lead to lots of frustrating moments by itself. Do you find that you change your puzzle designs much to make them less-interactively-awkward? I imagine there’s a limited extent to which puzzles can be adjusted, but beyond that they would break or just lose a great deal of their aesthetic appeal. Obduction Rand: There are definitely some puzzles that we feel more secure about – and are less likely to fiddle with. But we try to start behind-the-back testing early because players tend to do things that catch us off guard and require adjustments to friction, interface, and story delivery. And yes, we have only so much plasticity in how the puzzles can be adjusted because of the interwoven story/environment – it’s an interesting constraint that can be frustrating, but mostly just involves making sure our problem solving considers all the angles. The subtle clue solutions are the most fun for me – just a little tweak that has the perfect psychological effect – a flash of light on the other side of the world, a small 440 volt sign, a license plate on a desk, using consistent colors, etc. I love when those work to fix little issues, and even if they don’t work for everyone, they make the experience more about paying attention then just trying to get into our (the designers’) heads. The Witness Jon: The core gameplay conceit of Obduction (well, I think of it as the core) is really cool. I don’t want to say what it is, because I don’t want to spoil for readers this moment in the game when you first encounter this idea and start to understand how it works. But it’s interesting to me how many of the puzzles of the game are based on this idea, and on how the player can interact with it in different ways. Many of the puzzles are tied together by this consistency — as the player, I am building an understanding of how this thing works, and I get to be delighted each time I get to use this thing in a new way. Did you set out to design a game unified by a central puzzle concept, or did it work the other way around, where this idea started as something smaller, and then you realized how many different ways it could come into play? Thinking back to Myst V, that game had a bit of a similar thing, with the writing on the slate being the core of the game; do you see these things as playing similar roles? Obduction Rand: This is fun to discuss, because I think it’s similar to my impression of how you designed The Witness. We started with the simple idea of the puzzle mechanic — just a bare bones core — that we thought was interesting. As we continued to design the various worlds and levels we began to see different ways that the mechanic could be used. Interestingly, in our particular style of game, trying to balance that puzzle mechanic with the story and environment dampens our ability to continue the process and see how many more variations of that simple play mechanic might arise. Playing The Witness I get the distinct impression that you started with the smaller idea for the mechanic as well and extrapolated into amazing (and surprising) variations. The core gameplay mechanic in adventure or puzzle (or whatever you call them) games is always interesting to me. Seems like many indie studios are generally not feeling obliged to start with a tried and true mechanic (FPS, racing, sports, etc.), instead opting to try new mechanics and friction to see where they go. That path is, of course, more risky, but has the potential to surprise players with great “ah ha” moments. Obduction | Image Gallery Jon: One reason Witness took so long was just that I was doing a bunch of “design research” to chase down all the possibilities for those puzzles, yeah. But also, I know exactly what you’re talking about when you say that there’s an interplay between the puzzles and the story+environment that can make it hard to go beyond a certain point. In our case, I kept letting story be secondary so that the puzzles could be whatever they wanted to be — and even then, it took a great deal of work coming up with environments that somehow enabled these puzzles to exist. But since Cyan games are much more story-oriented, the tradeoffs are pretty different. Obduction Rand: This is one reason it was a nice change for me to play The Witness – the mindset is different. I was able to focus my attention on the puzzle clues and variations, with story elements adding flavor. I enjoyed Firewatch for a similar reason – I could focus on the story, and the puzzle elements added flavor. I really do enjoy our game design niche of balancing story, friction, and environment – as in Obduction, but after a few years of development it’s fun to play the alternatives. Jon: I think fans of Cyan’s games appreciate both the stories and the puzzles, so your particular mix is definitely working. In bringing Obduction to PS4, what kind of stuff did you tweak? Any major gameplay changes, or interactivity that was rearranged to suit the gamepad as the primary controller? Rand: We had a huge focus on optimization – reducing the footprint, keeping the quality high, and increasing performance. We were able to provide a really graphically rich experience – which was very important to us. As for interface changes, the primary one was being able to play with just the gamepad – no keyboard required. And then there are the bits and pieces I can’t really mention yet. PlayStation.Blog extends our thanks to Jon and Rand for taking the time for this Q&A. You can buy Jon’s latest game, The Witness, at PlayStation Store now, and you can pre-order Obduction for PS4 here ahead of its August 29 launch. View the full article

Since we first went hands-on with Destiny 2 back in May, I’ve felt confident that Bungie would deliver on much of what we expect from a sequel. The opening campaign mission was a roller coaster, handily dwarfing any of the first game’s main quests. The changes to the Crucible — from player counts to game modes and on-screen indicators — seemed smart and provided nuanced improvements to an already strong PVP system. But what about everything else? What about the connective tissue? Well, after heading up to Bellevue and spending a few hours with Destiny 2’s European Dead Zone, one of the sequel’s four main hub areas, I’m happy to report that it feels like a totally new game. If each of the locales in the original Destiny was a yacht, the European Dead Zone felt like a cruise ship: massive, and filled with new activities, hidden areas, and narrative clues. In a word, it felt alive. Here’s what’s new: MAP …there’s a map! Accessible via your Ghost at any time, the new map is your guide to the planet you’re on, and the worlds beyond. It gives you a geographical overview of the region, and can help guide you to nearby events, quests, and areas of interest. It may seem like a subtle tweak, but it — in conjunction with all of the new activities in each zone — dramatically reduces the amount of time between the last activity you did and the next destination for your fireteam. In short: it makes it significantly easier to find something fun to do. The best part? Ongoing Public Events and upcoming Public Events are displayed right on the map. Tag ’em as a waypoint, and hop on your Sparrow. You can safely discard your homemade event timer algorithm. ADVENTURES Adventures are totally new to Destiny 2, and represent some of the beefiest content in the European Dead Zone. The Bungie story team described them thusly: “If the campaign is a novel, Adventures are short stories.” Based on the handful that I played through, that rings true. Adventures are essentially side missions that you can pick up while exploring the world. They contain scripted elements, familiar characters, voice over, and story elements that feel comparable to some of the main campaign missions in the first Destiny, but generally don’t reach the bombastic levels of Destiny 2’s campaign — based on the propulsive first mission we played in the beta. Instead of focusing on Destiny 2’s main story arc, they tell smaller stories that reveal more about the world you’re on and the characters you’ve met. Speaking of which… DEVRIM KAY, WARDEN OF THE EDZ Devrim Kay is the main NPC of the European Dead Zone, and he serves as the main guide for many of the Adventures you’ll embark upon there. Stationed at the top of a church tower with his trusty sniper rifle, he packs a salty Western European growl that immediately endeared me to his character, and made me eager to learn about his past and his relationship to the rest of the game’s cast. He also acts as somewhat of a faction boss for the EDZ, collecting EDZ Tokens as well as various resources stashed throughout the world in exchange for his faction’s reputation points. Collect enough and he’ll eventually hand over his own special blend of legendary engram, containing custom weapons and gear that feel right in line with his personal aesthetic of post-apocalyptic athleisure. The most important thing about Devrim: I never felt like I needed to talk to him to figure out what to do next; the map would do that for me. I only visited him when it was time to cash in. THE LOST SECTORS, AND REGIONAL CHESTS While Public Events and Adventures can be trackable waypoints, Destiny 2’s map also contains some more elusive activities: Lost Sectors and Regional Chests. Indicated by small, non-trackable, and often-times enigmatic icons, Lost Sectors and Regional chests encourage players to poke around and explore corners they might not have otherwise. Regional Chests are what they sound like: specially identified crates that are hidden out of sight, usually containing EDZ tokens and various loot, and that often require the player to platform and traverse environments most would miss. They’re reminiscent of the original Destiny’s Golden Chests, but their rewards aren’t limited to early game loot. Instead, you’ll get rewarded with EDZ tokens and faction bonuses. Lost Sectors were maybe my favorite part of the EDZ. These are hidden, labyrinthian areas that require players to cave-dive and explore complex drainage systems or cave networks before they come across a large group of enemies, and more importantly: a really large loot cache. That cache can only be opened by defeating a named elite enemy guarding the area, and retrieving that sector’s cache codes. Find the sector, defeat the boss, grab the cache codes, and the loot is yours. Dance on. PUBLIC EVENTS, AND A SHOT AT HEROIC PUBLIC EVENTS Okay, so public events are obviously not new to Destiny 2. But in many ways, they manage to feel fresh and distinctive from the many I played through (over and over) in the first game. I previously mentioned how the map displays exactly where and when public events are happening, but now every public event has secret objectives — finding and completing these unlocks a Heroic version of the public event. Complete that, and you’ve got yourself a massive experience boost, and a shot at some epic loot. The criteria for these hidden objectives is never messaged to the player. Instead, you’ll need to experiment and explore for yourself. I don’t want to spoil anything here, but let’s just say that Guardians who triumphed over the original Destiny’s heroic raids may have a few ideas about how to get started. With less than two weeks until launch, any doubts about Destiny 2 have been assuaged. The game still has superb core mechanics with perfectly honed controls and a gun feel that — in my opinion – is top of class, but now the world feels alive in ways the first game only aspired to. If the European Dead Zone is indicative of the rest of the game’s zones, Destiny 2 is going to have a whole lot more to do. And I can’t wait to dive in. If you have any questions about my time in the Dead Zone, leave a comment below and I’ll do my best to answer. Happy hunting, Guardians! View the full article

Education was always a really big part of my life growing up, and its importance was reinforced in more than one way. Getting an education meant getting a chance at a better life, and my parents reinforced this belief through example. They labored day and night to ensure their children, especially their daughters, stayed in school and they also encouraged us to give back to the community. We launched Girls Make Games, a summer camp for teaching girls game development and offering them a home to express their shared love of playing and creating video games, and often the only place for some of the girls to feel like they’re not the only one. Team Invenio, Grand Prize winners of Girls Make Games Demo Day We just wrapped up our 4th and biggest summer season. There were camps all over the country vying for a spot in Demo Day, an event that marks the culmination of GMG’s summer program. Demo Day brought the top five teams from across the country together at PlayStation’s headquarters in San Mateo, California, to present their demos to a panel of industry leaders: Shawn Layden, President of Sony Interactive Entertainment America and Chairman of Sony Interactive Entertainment Worldwide Studios; AJ Mendez, New York Times Bestselling Author and former wrestling champion; Maria Essig, Business Development with Google VR/AR; Tim Schafer, founder and CEO of Double Fine Productions; and Katie Stone Perez, Principal Program Management Lead for Xbox. While at Demo Day each team would present and compete for the Grand Prize – having their game developed professionally and published! This year’s Grand Prize winning team? Team Invenio with their original game, Find Me. In this artistically impressive game, a shadow gets separated from the person it belongs to and, through a series of puzzles and platform levels, begins the journey through a haunting cityscape to find its home alongside its human where it feels safe and home. After the inspiring events of Demo Day, I got the chance to speak with Team Invenio about their original game, Find Me, and what it was like being surrounded by girls with a passion for games. How was it collaborating with your team on Find Me? We all worked so well together and had such a good time doing it. Everyone was so hardworking too, whenever we got frustrated with something we would laugh about it for a little while and then get back to work.” -Audrey “We each had a role to fulfill, whether it was art, music, or level design, and we were all able to work together to make the game.” -Katie “All of my teammates were really supportive and nice. They all had great ideas and they listened to my ideas. They were all really fun but when we needed to work they worked really hard and were very encouraging. I really enjoyed working with them.” -Maeve What inspired you to create Find Me? “We came up with the idea after receiving a writing prompt in our camp journal, which was ‘Create a game where nobody dies.’ That’s where the idea for the shadows came from! “The whole team really liked that idea so we built off of it from there. Light is really interesting and there’s a lot you can do with it so it wasn’t hard. Then we started to figure out what the themes of our game were going to be as it was coming together, the main themes being loss of self, and the importance of things that go unnoticed.” -Team Invenio What did you enjoy the most about your experience with Girls Make Games? “I learned so much this year. I got to learn how to use Unity, the process of game design and things like game flow and metrics. I loved creating the world of the game and I loved designing the puzzles and mysteries in it. I also had such a great time working with the team, they’re the best.” -Audrey Three years ago when I founded Girls Make Games I couldn’t have imagined spending an afternoon at PlayStation inspiring young girls to enter the field of game design by showcasing their own original games, and yet that’s exactly what we did and it’s just the beginning. We will continue to provide girls a welcomed home to further their passion for gaming, inspire the next generation of great game designers, and show the world that girls make games! View the full article

The Call of Duty: WWII Private Multiplayer Beta is nearly here on PS4, and we’ve got all the intel you need to get in on the action when it deploys August 25. SLEDGEHAMMER SPEAKS Last week, Sledgehammer Games released a special message to let everyone know what to expect from the Private Multiplayer Beta, which is just a small part of the full multiplayer mode, and to thank everyone for taking part as this will help hone the final experience when the full game launches on November 3. “We love the active dialog we have with the Call of Duty community, and value the exchange of ideas and constructive feedback we have with fans. Your feedback will help us finalize features, optimize gameplay balance, and refine the remaining development roadmap to launch. So please explore, rank up, and have fun. Share as much feedback as you can – everything helps. The development team will be playing non-stop, and we’ll be monitoring performance and collecting valuable data around the clock.” HOW TO GET INTO THE PRIVATE MULTIPLAYER BETA To gain access to the Call of Duty: WWII Private Multiplayer Beta, you need to pre-order the game at a participating retailer. Head over to www.callofduty.com/beta for more details. If you pre-order from the PlayStation Store, you can pre-load now to jump right into the action once the Beta starts on Aug 25 @ 10AM PT. PRIVATE MULTIPLAYER BETA DATES The Private Multiplayer Beta will be split into two weekends for PlayStation 4 players: Weekend 1 starts at 10am Pacific / 5pm GMT on August 25 and will last until August 28 at 10am Pacific / 5pm GMT. Weekend 2 starts on 10am Pacific / 5pm GMT on September 1, and will last until September 4 at 10am Pacific / 5pm GMT. PRIVATE MULTIPLAYER BETA COMBAT PACK Beta Players will also receive the Private Multiplayer Beta Combat Pack when the game launches on November 3. The pack includes a specially-themed Private Multiplayer Beta Helmet, Calling Card, and Emblem. Wear them with pride in multiplayer after launch and show the world that you were there from the start. DIVISIONS PACK Also, players who pre-order the game at select retailers will receive the Divisions Pack. This pack includes five Premium Gear Sets inspired by the five Divisions in Call of Duty: WWII multiplayer. Infantry Division riflemen are always in the thick of it with finely-tuned rifles and impeccable marksmanship. Well-equipped with incendiary rounds and tactical grenades, the Expeditionary Division’s shotguns literally pack heat. Airborne Division paratroopers endure extreme physical conditioning to outmaneuver opponents with their submachine guns. Focused on stealth and target identification, Mountain Division snipers generate constant fear in the enemy and strike when least expected. Armored Division soldiers are the best supplied in battle and hold down positions with their explosives and light machine guns. MULTIPLAYER DETAILS Now that you know how you can customize your player experience when the game launches, what will you be playing in the Private Multiplayer Beta? There’s a lot happening in the Private Multiplayer Beta starting this weekend. Let’s dive right in! MAPS Players will experience a variety of iconic WWII locations throughout Europe, including a brand-new map that hasn’t been seen before. Ardennes Forest: Battle through the frigid snow-covered forest of the Ardennes during the Battle of the Bulge, the brutal final major offensive effort by the German army to punch through the Allied front lines. Engagements are fast and deadly in the dangerous, frozen woodland ruins. Stay alert in this medium size map fortified with emplaced MG42 machine guns waiting to annihilate enemy combatants. Gibraltar: Battle through the fortified bastion and steep cliffs of Gibraltar, built as a strategic defense of the Mediterranean Sea and a major refueling and supply station for the Allied forces during WWII. Prepare for multilevel combat engagements and treacherous terrain in one of the most densely guarded and fought over places in Europe. Don’t neglect the lower lane, and use the defense batteries there to pick off flankers. Pointe du Hoc: Fight through a fortified network of German bunker complexes atop the cliffs at Pointe du Hoc, an important strategic target overlooking the beaches of Normandy. Engage in fast-paced, close-quarters combat in the trenches, or flank the enemy in a brutal fight to lock down the nearby farmhouse and bunkers for control of key access routes to the bluff. WAR MODE Additionally, players will be able to take part in Call of Duty: WWII’s War Mode. This is an all-new game mode where players must work as a team to defeat the enemy. Allied and Axis forces clash in team-driven assault and defend missions for key strategic objectives. Fight for control of a war-torn French village west of St. Lo, an important operation in the Allied push onward and out of the beachhead at Normandy. Allied and Axis forces battle for control of a strategic manor to secure a forward operating position. Bridge construction, ammo depot demolition and tank escorts are key strategic tasks in this do-or-die mission to dominate the enemy. Choose your equipment wisely – every decision can mean the difference between victory and defeat in this narrative-driven, objective-based multiplayer experience – a first for Call of Duty. It should be clear by now that this Private Multiplayer Beta is busting at the seams. Be sure to follow Sledgehammer Games on Twitter for the latest updates, and you can leave feedback for the team there, or on the r/WWII subreddit. Every bit of information helps! It’s two days until the Private Multiplayer Beta begins on PS4, and we look forward to joining you on the field of battle. For more intel about Call of Duty: WWII, visit CallofDuty.com/WWII and follow @CallofDuty and @SHGames on Twitter. View the full article

Just before E3, PlayStation.Blog turned the big 1-0! To celebrate, the Blog team got together and decided to throw our first-ever PlayStation Store sale! Members of the PlayStation.Blog team hand-picked each and every one of the games below; they represent some of our all-time favorites. If you’re a longtime listener to PlayStation Blogcast, you shouldn’t see many surprises. ^_^ Better yet, we arranged for a healthy 33% discount on every title listed here, for the next two weeks. Special thanks to all the publishers and developers, and, of course, our friends at PlayStation.Store, for making this possible! Important! To save on the titles below, add selections to your PS Store cart and enter this 10-digit discount code at checkout: ELR6CKF4P9 Thanks for reading PlayStation.Blog – hope you enjoy our picks! PlayStation.Blog 10th Anniversary Sale Axiom Verge Battlezone Darkest Dungeon Firewatch Flower Hohokum Journey N Plus Plus (N++) Ratchet & Clank Risk of Rain Rogue Legacy SOMA The Last Of Us Remastered The Unfinished Swan Transistor Redeem code for 33% off one total cart purchase of selected items. Code must be redeemed and purchase completed before September 5, 11:59PM PT. While supplies last. Full terms and conditions here: playstation.com/psblog10th View the full article