Commander Fury

Hey friends, David OReilly here. I’ve been living in a cave for a while, and I’m back to let you know that Everything is finally here — you can get it on PS4 today! We had a huge response to our announcement last year and have been hard at work ever since. This game has evolved into something I couldn’t have imagined. There were many things which seemed impossible to pull off in the beginning which we managed to do — and we’re really excited about getting it into your hands. As you may know, the game is centered around being things, and creating an experience where you can not just be things in the world, but you can be the world itself. You’re both the foreground and the background. You discover abilities as you progress through the game, and whatever you can do with one thing you can do with everything. So even though what you are is always changing — and each journey through the game is different — the core experience is structured and designed. Everything is narrated by recordings of the great British philosopher Alan Watts. He was an incredible mind and had an extraordinary talent for describing the indescribable. I hope when playing this you’ll find that philosophy isn’t something trapped in books, but something you can experience directly, without using anything but your own imagination. Aside from the core adventure, it’s also a giant sandbox — an interconnected universe which you can explore intuitively as well as design yourself. Just by playing the game you change its level design. Say you travel into a particular galaxy and you keep scaling down until you’re a single atom. You can travel all the way back up to the original galaxy — it all connects to itself. Also, you can transform into anything you’ve already been before. Say you didn’t like trees and wanted to change all the trees into horses; you can do it with the tap of a button. You can change every single object in the universe to horses. This goes even further. You can transform the atoms inside a galaxy into other galaxies, and keep traveling into those, and keep going and going and going. Maybe you don’t have time to do this. Everything has a default 0-Player mode, so if you let go of the controller, it plays automatically. And it’s controlled by rules which you can set. If you want it to do a certain thing more often, you can tell it to. Everything can play itself automatically for weeks at a time. It will get itself really mixed up, and you can come back to it whenever you want. Because of the huge creative potential of these systems, it’s impossible for us to know what’s going to happen when it’s in your hands, so please share any interesting moments from your experience! Everything is a very new kind of game, and it’s something I truly believe games are great at, which is giving us a different way of looking at our own world. Creating this feeling of freedom to move around, explore, talk to things — to really enjoy getting lost. A game where you cannot make a mistake, no matter what you do. Our colossal development team of three people worked really hard on this, and we can’t wait to see what you do with it. Everything is out today; we really hope you enjoy it! View the full article

Stripped down and drenched in carbon fiber, the Hijak Ruston is a lightweight and pint-sized packet of fury. It might not win any safety awards, but the Ruston’s low profile gets you as close to the tarmac as you’re ever going to want to be, so nestle in and brace yourself for some tight turns and even tighter clenches. A unique and elegant addition to the Sports class, the Hijak Ruston is now available in GTA Online at Legendary Motorsport. Stunt Races recently received a big addition with the Special Vehicle Circuit update and we’re expanding the toolbox for the Rockstar community to take things up a few notches. In addition to the Rocket Voltic, Ruiner 2000, and Blazer Aqua becoming available in the Stunt Race Creator, we’re adding a collection of new Props designed to highlight these vehicles’ unique abilities, including Hurdles, Boost Refills, and Explosive Crates. New psychedelic Stunt Tubes will send racers on a trip through alternate dimensions, while destructible walls will leave some serious carnage in your wake as you power your way to victory. View the full article

Troll and I is a mythical adventure game from Maximum Games and Spiral House, out today on PS4. The game explores the themes of friendship and survival, as two unlikely companions are driven from their homes and must battle evil forces both human and otherwise. Troll, the elusive beast never before seen by the human eye, and Otto, an adolescent boy living in peace in the Scandinavian forest, experience an unexpected bond after being ripped from their homeland by trophy hunters. Their perilous journey is driven by their shared longing to return home, their keen wisdom of the wilderness, and their desire to outwit and outmaneuver their rivals. Today we pick the brains of Maximum Games and Spiral House to answer some of the pressing questions from our community. What is the most defining feature of this game? What will players appreciate the most? Kevin Oxland, Spiral House: When we started developing Troll and I, we wondered how difficult it would be to design environments and mechanics that would cater to two controllable characters of vastly different sizes and abilities. This was a challenge, to say the least, and took a lot of trial and error until we eventually established a set of ground rules. The two characters are worlds apart in terms of the way they play, the way they feel, and their function within the game; yet, they ultimately work together as a team. This defines the game and is what gamers will find unique: playing as two vastly different protagonists that share the same goal. The game is set in a 1950’s post-World War II Scandinavia. How does this setting impact the game? Kevin Oxland: We didn’t want modern technology to get in the way, like mobile phones and sophisticated military equipment, etc. Setting the game in the 1950s prevented that from being an issue. We also liked the idea of the world returning to some semblance of peace after the Second World War, yet still struggling to regain normalcy. Where did the concept for the game originate from? Kevin Oxland: The idea of two characters that have very different characteristics yet become best friends fascinated me. I had the idea swirling around for a while and knew it was something we had to go for. We know Troll and Otto are vastly different, but how are they alike? Andrew Nguyen, Maximum Games: They are alike in many ways. Like Otto, Troll is smart and adept, yet has many things to learn. You discover this during your adventure. Both characters have been torn from their home and are struggling to survive away from their comfort zones. They both have a common goal, and a common enemy. It is these elements that bring Troll and Otto together and forge a mighty friendship. Is it possible to play through the game as one character or are you required to switch back and forth? Andrew Nguyen: The game is all about teamwork, so you will be required to switch back and forth to progress through the story. At times, you will need to act as Troll, using his brute strength to pick up a heavy object; at other times, you will need to play as Otto, crafting spears from tree limbs in order to take on advancing enemies. The exception to this, of course, is when playing in local couch co-op mode, where you can complete the game as one character while your friend plays through as the opposite character. What made you decide to offer couch co-op Kevin Oxland: Couch co-op was something we always played in the past and it’s rarely offered in games nowadays. We wanted to bring that back. We also thought it was a feature that suited the game very well, and made sense with the dynamic between Troll and Otto. With split-screen, the social interaction that happens between players is similar to the interaction between Troll and Otto throughout the entire game. How does magic come into play? What magical qualities does Troll possess? Kevin Oxland: We gave Troll qualities that are renowned in Scandinavian mythology. Trolls are believed to be elusive creatures, so we played on that with Invisibility. They have a mighty roar, and they have magical powers, so we combined those aspects to create the following functions: Bellow (Troll will stun enemies in range); Heal (Troll can heal himself when injured); Hide (Troll can make himself invisible for a period of time). What features do you think fans will enjoy the most about Troll and I? Andrew Nguyen: The ability to swap between two very different characters at the press of a button is very cool and feels very intuitive. But one feature that feels satisfying is the ability to squash monster enemies using the Troll’s punch or Stomp. Although later in the game, the enemies get smart and start dodging Troll’s swipes and blows, so the player must adopt a new strategy. Otto’s ability to vary his gameplay is quite rewarding, also. You can fight your way through enemies using melee and ranged weapons, or you can sneak around and take them out using stealth, so the player can use whatever feature and strategy that suits his or her playstyle. View the full article

Hey everyone! This is Judith from NIS America and I’m here to announce that Touhou Genso Wanderer will be available on PS4 and digitally on PS Vita tomorrow! In a previous blog post, my colleague Jordan introduced this game and what to expect from it. As a roguelike with challenging, randomly-generated dungeons, this is a game that I believe all gamers will have a good time playing. I mean, who doesn’t love strategy and crazy dungeons full of Touhou characters? You can soon save the land of Gensokyo with Reimu and her chosen sidekick! So what can you expect on launch day? A lot of things, so get ready! First thing’s first, for those of you who don’t know already, the PS4 edition of Touhou Genso Wanderer will come packaged with an additional game called Touhou Double Focus (on its own disc, too), and PS Vita owners will be able to access both games digitally via PlayStation Store! Double Focus is a 2D platformer that puts the player in control of Aya Shameimaru and Momiji Inubashiri, two girls whose teamwork can kick a lot of butt. Aya and her party have been sucked into the Book World, so you’ll need to navigate through the huge map to get back to the real world, and the challenges you’ll meet along the way will definitely be worth playing. In addition to all of that, Touhou Genso Wanderer will also have some pretty awesome DLC. For the first week of launch, Momiji Inubashiri, the adorable white wolf tengu who is often seen around Aya, will be available as a playable character in Touhou Genso Wanderer. Tackle the dungeons of Gensokyo as Momiji and see her awesome danmaku skills unleashed! This DLC is free for the first week of launch (until March 28), so be sure to get it when it’s out. Beat Touhou Genso Wanderer and want more? Fret not! The Futo Mononobe and the 7 Trials DLC will add an additional story and dungeon into the game on March 28, allowing you to play as Futo and introduces a new partner character named Tojiko. Beating this additional story and dungeon will allow you to unlock Futo as a playable character and Tojiko as a partner in the main game of Touhou Genso Wanderer! And if all of that wasn’t enough, we have one more DLC awaiting you to play! On the same day that Futo Mononobe and the 7 Trials launches, The Bullet Reporter will give you another story and dungeon to dive into, and completing it will unlock Aya as a playable character and allow Momiji to join the partner character roster! Finally, to top it all off, the developers of Touhou Genso Wanderer have created a 100% fan-requested PS4 and PS Vita custom Theme! You can download it for free on launch day and deck out your console with all the Touhou love you can muster. Whew. That was a lot of Touhou. Did you get all that? With all the content that you’re getting on launch day, I hope all of you have already planned out your schedules for the upcoming weeks. If you’re still unfamiliar with some of the things I just mentioned, you can learn more at the official website. Until then, I’ll see you in Gensokyo, dood! View the full article

Welcome, recruit. Please take a moment to familiarize yourself with the change in gravity and your stretchy new space suit (space-wedgies are a very serious issue and should not be ignored), then we’ll begin your orientation. The base has fallen on tough times and we need you, brave spacegoat, to help us rebuild this futuristic colony. The colony plays an important role in our economic, scientific, and diplomatic growth, but we’re losing investors left and right since everyone only seems to be interested in this new Star Wars stuff nowadays. This is where you come in: by getting to know your new home, helping your fellow base-dwellers, and headbutting every crate and person you see, we should be able to save enough space-cash to crowd fund ourselves back into relevance. Once you’ve funded and unlocked all of the high-tech new features of the base, you can gain all of the skills you need to be the ultimate sci fi captain. Visit the Commando Deck where you can practice space diplomacy, space tech control, and space yelling. All very important skills for a budding captain. Test your hoof control with speed bike racing, but try not to hit any crew members or giraffes. Visit the museum to learn some legit history, fly your very own ship and destroy space pirates, and even help our top scientists bend the laws of physics and reality at the Test Labs. Watch out for the alien invasion, though — a hostile race has started caging up some of our inhabitants. We were going to go do something about it but it was meatloaf night at the canteen. Plus, their eyes glow bright green which freaks out the recruits. Good luck with that one! We’ve got ample and luxurious crew quarters, where you can hang around to your heart’s content. We don’t encourage intercrew relationships, but there are some friendly people who might offer to show you around if you can find a way to help them out. Goat Simulator: Waste of Space DLC is out next week for PS4. In summary, here’s what to expect from the newest, most space-tastic Goat Simulator map to date: Crowdfund a space colony and get other people to pay for it and do all the work! Endless space full of planets to visit. But seriously it would take forever to go there so why bother? There is one planet nearby, though. Go to that one. Fly and shoot stuff in space, because nobody makes games about flying and shooting in space anymore. Learn how to be a real bridge commander! The biggest map in goat simulator history, filled to the brim with exclusive content. View the full article

Last month, I was lucky enough to get a sneak peek at an early version of Uncharted: The Lost Legacy. Though still early in development, it’s showing loads of promise. I was able to get unprecedented access to the minds at developer Naughty Dog to learn more about its next Uncharted adventure. First, the setting. In moving the action to the southern tip of India, The Lost Legacy injects a fresh surge of color and personality — closer to the pulpier feel of the original Uncharted, in some ways. “Beautiful, big landscapes to traverse and explore, that sense of a surprise around every corner,†Creative Director Shaun Escayg told me. “We wanted to bring more of that back.†The Lost Legacy is a new story set six to 12 months after the events of Uncharted 4. The action kicks off with a search for a priceless relic — the Tusk of Ganesh — and a decidedly unlikely pairing. Opposites AttractChloe Frazer and Nadine Ross are reluctant partners who don’t always see eye-to-eye, but who must work together to obtain the priceless Tusk from a mysterious warlord named Asav. “I like to figure things out as I go,†Chloe mutters at one point in the gameplay demo. “I noticed,†Nadine snorts. “Asav, Chloe, and Nadine all have different reasons for wanting the Tusk.†— Josh Scherr, writer, Uncharted: The Lost Legacy Why revisit Chloe? For Naughty Dog, it was an easy decision. She’s an interesting character with a darker moral compass compared to Drake. Writer Josh Scherr remarks: “They’re both treasure hunters. Drake has a bit of a hero complex, but Chloe looks out for number one, first and foremost.†It’s Chloe who initiates the hunt for the Tusk. Nadine reenters the picture for different reasons, partially born out of the consequences of her actions in Uncharted 4. With Shoreline crumbling, she’s out of work and desperate. “Chloe would need somebody with military expertise,†Escayg said. “In all of Uncharted, Nadine is probably the most rational and practical character we’ve ever introduced,†Scherr added. “She tends to take a direct approach.†Bringing them together helps each character accentuate the other. “They’re opposites. Chloe is spontaneous and impulsive, where Nadine is by the book, structured,†Escayg explained. “That made for a good pairing.†And you better believe that relationship is going to develop over the course of the game. “Both of them are in positions they aren’t used to being in,†Game Director Kurt Margenau said. “Chloe, in terms of taking charge. Nadine, who is used to running the show, is now the hired gun. They’re both figuring it out as they go.†Wider LinearWith characters and the setup out of the way, it was time to get a closer look at the game itself. Based on what I saw, The Lost Legacy’s overall gameplay style will be familiar to Uncharted 4 veterans. But Naughty Dog is determined to add further refinements and enhancements based on lessons learned during Uncharted 4’s lengthy development cycle. Starting with the level design. In one pivotal section of the game, the team wants to provide a more expansive environment that gives players more ways to explore at their own pace — “the biggest [area] ever for an Uncharted game,†Margenau mentioned. While developing Uncharted 4, Naughty Dog had hoped to go even bigger on certain huge locations such as Madagascar, Art Director Tate Mosesian explained to me. But some concessions had to be made in the interests of maintaining the game’s development schedule. Not so with The Lost Legacy, where the game will benefit from an updated production process that can see up to five teams working on one location at a time. “It’s got a bigger, more organic feel, with more player choice.†— Kurt Margenau, game director, Uncharted: The Lost Legacy In The Lost Legacy, this translates into a sprawling level with traversal challenges, environmental puzzles, shootouts, and more. It’s honeycombed with secrets too, with new hidden treasures that will reward persistent players who try to traverse everything they can see. There’s loads of environmental variety, too, partly thanks to the natural diversity seen in the Western Ghats region of southern India. You’ll explore lush jungles, soaring mountains, and ancient temples, in addition to the war-torn urban environment seen in the PSX 2016 reveal. Tools of the TradeThere is some new combat gear to master, too. A silenced pistol (The first lethal stealth weapon in Uncharted history!) will add new tactical wrinkles to The Lost Legacy’s stealth play and expand your combat options. Meanwhile, C4 proved so popular among Uncharted 4’s loyal multiplayer community that Naughty Dog couldn’t resist adding it to The Lost Legacy. Why not? There also seems to be an increased range of options available for combat encounters. “There are entire combat setups that you can skip, go around, or approach from any direction,†Margenau explained. “It’s got a bigger, more organic feel, with more player choice and more stealth options.†Another new mechanic, lockpicking, was first seen in the game’s PlayStation Experience 2016 debut trailer. Though the exact lockpicking mechanics are still a work in progress, the team was so fixated on capturing the tactile feel of the act in-game that they purchased a real lockpicking kit to practice with. That’s dedication! One thing that definitely won’t be changing, though, is Naughty Dog’s approach to the series’ iconic action set pieces — some of the most memorable moments in gaming. “We obviously love them,†Margenau teased, adding that The Lost Legacy will include set pieces that do “things we’ve never done.†Sorry folks — I couldn’t squeeze anything more out of him than that. To Catch a ThiefIt’s worth noting that The Lost Legacy, which will be launching later this year as a standalone game, will be a lengthier experience than The Last of Us: Left Behind, but shorter than Uncharted 4. As for fans hoping for a Nathan Drake cameo in The Lost Legacy? “We entertained a few possible ideas around including Nate as a secondary character,†Scherr explained. “But everything we did felt superfluous because we tied it all up with Uncharted 4.†Margenau was even more direct. “We’re not going to touch on Nathan Drake in this, at all.†So, uh, maybe don’t hold your breath. “You can sort of imagine Drake sitting on the couch playing Crash Bandicoot while Chloe and Nadine are off galavanting,†Scherr joked. “Yeah, the Crash Bandicoot remaster,†Margenau added. View the full article

Subscribe via iTunes, Google or RSS, or download here It’s a half-staffed show jam-packed with valuable #content for our dear listeners this week! Join us for lots of Mass Effect Andromeda talk, Justin’s early impressions of Persona 5, and interviews with the teams behind Hob, The Persistence and Farpoint. Phew! Stuff We Talked About Mass Effect: Andromeda Hob The Persistence Farpoint Everything Persona 5 Zero Escape: The Nonary Games Journey’s five-year anniversary Play Collective Ranking media formats Recent Episodes 241: Suffer Us Now! 240: GDC Ya Later 239: Bring Me That Horizon The Cast Justin Massongill – Social Media Manager, SIEA Ryan Clements – Sr. Social Media Specialist, 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

Humanity has always cast its gaze towards the stars, and now we must find a new home out in the great darkness of space. See that historic journey first hand with Mass Effect: Andromeda, which arrives on PS4 next week. As a key member of the Andromeda Initiative, your mission is to find a suitable home for the human race among the uncharted dangers and beautiful, alien vistas of the Andromeda Galaxy. New friends and foes will meet you along the way, with a refined exploration, crafting, and combat system fueling the adventure. What secrets will you unlock in the new cradle of civilization? For the full list of new games coming to PlayStation next week, read on. And enjoy the Drop. New Releases: Week of March 21, 2017 88 Heroes PS4 — Digital (Out 3/24) It’s 8:08 AM on August 8, 1988, and the evil Dr. H8 has brought the world to the brink of total annihilation! His demands are simple: pay $88 octillion within 88 minutes, or Dr. H8’s 88 thermo-nuclear warheads will wipe out the Earth! But who will save us in our time of need? The bravest? The boldest? No… the 88 Heroes! Berserk and the Band of the Hawk PS4, PS Vita — Digital Behold the fierce blend of Warriors and Berserk! In this work, the action of cutting through hundreds of enemies, fundamental to the Warriors series, is fused together with the dark and gruesome atmosphere of the world of Berserk. Death Tales PS4 — Digital As a Reaper, retrieve the spirits of the dying to protect them from the forces of the Soulless. Collect cards to gain powerful attacks, embark on quests for a cast of quirky characters, and make difficult choices in a richly illustrated 2D world filled with darkness and whimsy. Play alone or join with a friend in co-op and serve Death together! Deformers PS4 — Digital (Out 3/24) The release date has been updated. Everything PS4 — Digital Everything is an interactive experience where everything you see is a thing you can be, from animals to planets to galaxies and beyond. Travel between outer and inner space, and explore a vast, interconnected universe of things without enforced goals, scores, or tasks to complete. Everything will give you a new perspective on life. Freedom Planet PS4 — Digital Fight your way across the celestial world of Avalice where cats are green, motorcycles drive up walls, and monster girls do most of the buttkicking! Freedom Planet is a cartoony, combat-based platform adventure that pits a spunky dragonoid and her friends against an alien attack force. Mass Effect: Andromeda PS4 — Digital, Retail Mass Effect: Andromeda takes players to the Andromeda galaxy, far beyond the Milky Way. There, players will lead our fight for a new home in hostile territory as the Pathfinder — a leader of military-trained explorers. This is the story of humanity’s next chapter, and player choices throughout the game will ultimately determine our survival. Rayon Riddles – Rise of the Goblin King PS4 — Digital The Goblins have been displaced and enslaved. It’s up to you to help them flee from the Orcs and return to their homeland. Solve puzzles and escape Orcs, Trolls, and other creatures on an exciting and funny journey full of surprises. Royal Defense PS4 — Digital The castle needs a hero as hordes of trolls are surrounding it! Build towers, save money, learn spells, and keep the enemy away! This is the Police PS4 — Digital, Retail (Out 3/22) This Is the Police is a strategy/adventure game set in a city spiraling the drain. Taking the role of gritty Police Chief Jack Boyd, you’ll dive into a deep story of crime and intrigue. Will Jack reach his retirement with a nice stack of bills, or will he end up broken… or worse? Touhou Double Focus PS4, PS Vita — Digital After getting sucked into a magical book, Aya and Momiji must find their way back home. Swap between the two girls in battle, so you can utilize their abilities to gain the advantage. Explore every nook and cranny to unravel the mystery of the Book World! Touhou Genso Wanderer PS4, PS Vita — Digital (PS4 at Retail) Take control of Reimu, the Hakurei Shrine Maiden, and investigate the latest incident to take place in the world of Gensokyo in this roguelike RPG. Toukiden 2 PS4, PS Vita — Digital, Retail Slayers! Go forth and eradicate the Oni menace! Experience the latest hunting action game featuring a dynamic targeted destruction system. From the battlefield to the village that serves as your base of operations, the game takes place in a vast “open world.†Explore the vast world for yourself, and enjoy hunting action from an entirely new perspective. Troll & I PS4 — Digital, Retail Deep in the Nordic wilderness, a teenage boy named Otto is forced to flee his home after a band of brutal hunters rip through his village in search of a mythical creature rumored to inhabit the forest. Now on the run for his life, Otto inadvertently finds and befriends the elusive creature being sought by the hunters. Thus begins the perilous adventure of Troll and Otto. Zero Escape: The Nonary Games PS4, PS Vita — Digital, Retail (Out 3/24) Two Nonary Games, two sets of nine unwilling participants kidnapped to an unfamiliar location. One set trapped on a sinking boat with nine hours to escape, the other locked in a facility and forced to either trust or betray each other. If they break the rules or fail to escape… they’ll die. Trevor Morris – Iron Fist Soundtrack Rick Ross – Rather You Than Me Spoon – Hot Thoughts Office Christmas Party Theatrical + Unrated Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (plus Bonus Features) Into The Badlands- March 19 at 10/9c (AMC) Upscale with Prentice Penny- March 21 at 10/9c (truTV) The Last Alaskans- March 22 at 10/9c (Discovery) The information above is subject to change without notice. View the full article

If you’re not aware of Korix yet (And let’s be honest, you’re probably not), let me start by asking you a few questions: do you like RTS games? What about tower defense? How about in VR and with multiplayer support? Hopefully I have your attention now! Hello, my name’s Mark Taylor and I’m the developer of Korix. Korix has been a real labor of love over the past year with my sole goal being to release a game with old-school gameplay reminiscent of RTS’s from the late 90’s on PS VR. I’m so excited to see Korix released and more importantly, I finally get to play with you! Korix places you deep in space, fighting for your race’s survival after your homeworld is destroyed. With nothing left to lose, you’re put in the role of commander with the sole mission of taking the fight back to the enemy. Build up your defenses, capture resources, and construct your own army to exact revenge. I’m also very proud to announce that Korix has been optimized to run at 120 frames per second natively on both PS4 and PS4 Pro, with those lucky enough to own a Pro seeing higher image quality through improved local shadows. With a single-player campaign, skirmish mode, and online multiplayer (two to four players in co-op or versus), there’s plenty to sink your teeth into. I had a lot of fun creating Korix and can’t wait to see you (literally) in the game! View the full article

PlayStation.Blog! It’s been almost 2 years since my last post announcing our improbable VR game Headmaster back at E3 2015. Headmaster launched alongside the PS VR in October alongside several excellent reviews. We focused on a single-player campaign for players to get lost in, but also managed to sneak in a local multiplayer mode with one preview level. It lets two to six players take turns in VR trying to get high scores. For being an incomplete part of the game, the response to this mode has been incredible. This got us motivated to over-deliver when filling it out, and today we’re pumped to launch the Party Mode Update! PS4 Pro EnhancementsWhen you play Headmaster on a PS4 Pro it’s like you’re wearing a new set of eyeglasses. We were able to turn the final rendered image up to 2x supersampling with MSAA. For a game that’s about looking into the distance to judge things flying at your face, it makes a big difference. It runs at 90 frames per second on PS4 and PS4 Pro, but on the Pro it is now noticeably sharper. Nine New Party Mode LevelsWe’ve renamed the local multiplayer to Party Mode and made even more levels than we teased at launch. Some are remixes of existing elements, and some are completely new. These new ones like Big Monkey and Robert’s Room are on the scale of the Exams in the single-player game. One thing I’m really excited about with these levels is that they are surfacing the crazier elements of the game outside of progression so even more people can see what Headmaster is all about. Level List: Big Monkey — A giant, inflatable, used car sale gorilla that acts out a low-rent King Kong circus performance. I should just stop there. Robert’s Room — Actually play in a room with mini balls and targets. See if you can dislodge Robert from the toilet. Rock and Bowl — Bowling redone with blacklights and splatter paint Basketcase — A newly done up basketball challenge. Speed Round 2 — A new speed round with special surprises Facility Tour — Several classic levels all in one, quickly moving between them in a single level. Non-Alcoholic Pong — Classic Headmaster non-beer pong rearranged Darts — It’s still darts taped to soccer balls like you’d expect Carnival — The classic carnival exam remixed for Party Mode Enter Your InitialsWe also added an oft-requested feature to let you enter your initials when you get the All-Time High Score for a Party Mode level on that PS4. This is great for household rivalries or for getting screenshots of your score to post online. Lastly, we’ve gone through and eased up some of the tougher levels. Lesson 31 in particular was tripping many players up. If you got stuck in the story campaign it’d be a good time to check back and continue your quest to graduate from The Football Improvement Centre. A huge thanks to all of our fans! Your enthusiasm for Headmaster really drove us to pack this free update with as much as we could. We hope you enjoy these additional levels when playing PS VR with friends and family. View the full article

The enemy is up to something in our new DLC for Warhammer: The End Times — Vermintide, our cooperative first-person, melee shooter set in the Warhammer world. I’m Leo, the Community Manager at Fatshark and I’m thrilled to finally bring you information on our new DLC Karak Azgaraz which launches on March 23 following our huge free update Quests & Contracts. If you don’t own the base game, you can now get both in a handy value bundle called the Digital Value Pack. Set among the snowy peaks of the Grey Mountains, Karak Azgaraz introduces three new missions for our heroes to undertake in the hopes of thwarting the vile rat-men’s plans. The wretched Skaven army plots to overrun the Dwarven fortress and settlements around Karak Azgaraz, and our heroes must warn them before it’s too late! Here are a few of the things you can explore in Karak Azgaraz… Ulric’s Landscape. The Grey Mountains is a landscape filled with snow and ice, where even the Skaven’s fur is caked white from the cold. While trekking across ancient Dwarven structures and through frozen forests, make sure to take a second’s pause and try to catch a snowflake on your tongue. Picks and Swords. Time to experience new and fun ways to vanquish the Skaven. In Karak Azgaraz, you will have a chance to acquire the Warpick for Bardin, our spirited Dwarf Ranger, and the Falchion for Victor, our ever critical Witch Hunter. The Warpick introduces a new two-step heavy attack that allows Bardin to lunge forward towards his enemy for a heavy swing. The Falchion is in turn an especially sharp, one-sided sword that is excellent at beheading Stormvermin. Trophies. What would new missions be without a few Trophies attached? Karak Azgaraz challenges you with eight Trophies, so it’s up to you to get them all! Just a few weeks prior to the Karak Azgaraz launch we also introduced a major free update for all Vermintide users called Quests & Contracts. The update provided a new and exciting way of acquiring loot for your favorite heroes in the form of quests and contracts, while at the same time giving you an incentive to explore missions you might otherwise not. Here are three things to discover in the Quests & Contracts update: New Way to Get Loot. The Bounty Board has been added to the Red Moon Inn and it’s time to pick which of the tasks you want to pursue. Contracts provide shorter objectives and one-off tasks that — once completed — give you crafting tokens or boons. Quests, on the other hand, are more long term and require several contracts to be completed. Only one quest can be active at a time, and once the specified amount of contracts have been completed, you will be rewarded with the weapon, trinket, or hat attached to that quest. Daily Adventures. The situation in Ubersreik changes daily and so do the Quests and Contracts on the Bounty Board. Make sure to check in regularly so that you don’t miss the opportunity to get that hat, axe, or trinket you’ve been dying for. Boons. With this update, we introduce a completely new kind of reward called a Boon. Once you complete and turn in a contract with a boon as a reward, the timed power-up will activate and you will have an excellent tool for taking on tough challenges. With all this, there has never been a better time to jump into Warhammer Vermintide and test your co-op mettle! View the full article

It’s a real pleasure to be back here on PlayStation.Blog with more Sniper Elite 4 news. When we announced the game here this time last year, the support was fantastic. That has carried through to last month’s launch on PS4, and we’re really grateful to have such a passionate community around this series. We know many of you are very, very keen for more Sniper Elite 4 content, so I’m pleased to be the bearer of good tidings! Next week we’re bringing out first major single-player and multiplayer content update, including new free content for multiplayer fans, and the first chapter in our new three-part mini-campaign! There’s a Deathstorm Coming…Let’s start with the mini-campaign. It’s called Deathstorm and it features a completely new storyline set after the events of Sniper Elite 4. Just like the main campaign, you can play it in both single-player and two-player cooperative. The Alsos Mission, an offshoot of the United States-led Manhattan Project famous for its research and development of nuclear weapons, needs Karl Fairburne to intercept a critical package the Nazis are bringing into the country… In Part 1: Inception, Karl must infiltrate the Rocca sul Mare naval base in the chillier climes of northern Italy, targeted in a recent bombing run yet still under tremendous Nazi guard. Somewhere in this sprawling stronghold is the package codenamed “Deathstorm.†Just like the missions in our main campaign, Deathstorm Part 1: Inception will challenge you with numerous objectives across a massive environment. With towering scaffolding, a massive German destroyer, and warehouses teeming with Kriegsmarine soldiers to negotiate, Karl’s task isn’t just to retrieve the package but to complete what the bombing run started and help destroy the base entirely. Deathstorm Part 1: Inception will be available at PlayStation Store starting next week, and you can purchase it either individually or as part of the Sniper Elite 4 Season Pass, which will guarantee you access to all of the game’s paid content. That includes the Night Fighter Expansion Pack which we are also bringing out next week. It will include three new weapons, night-time camouflage rifle skins for eight weapons, and two new characters. Eliminate the CompetitionWhen we announced Sniper Elite 4 we pledged to bring all additional multiplayer modes and maps to the game free, and we’re delighted to be rolling out our first wave of free new content next week, too. The headline addition this time around is a brand new multiplayer mode called Elimination. This is a two-team mode for up to 12 players, and the aim is to cut down your opponent’s numbers to zero. If you’re killed in Elimination, you then sit out on the sidelines as a spectator. But that isn’t permanent! If your team kills an opponent player, they tag back in one of their sidelined teammates. So even when it’s six versus one in Elimination, one kill can turn everything upside down! This month’s free content doesn’t end there. We’ll also be bringing out a brand new multiplayer map next week, and it’s called Night Woods. Here’s the debut screenshot to give you a little tease! And That’s Just the BeginningWe’ll continue to support Sniper Elite 4 with both paid and free content across the coming months, including parts two and three of Deathstorm, more free maps and multiplayer modes, and a whole ton of other cool stuff! We’ll continue to receive your feedback and optimize your experience as much as we can with future patches. For more news and to get in touch, follow us on Twitter and Facebook. Otherwise, we’ll see you in Italia, sniper. View the full article

The craggy, barren chasms of Farpoint are already dangerous. Now add the hissing, scampering, spitting creatures that live on the planet and you’ll be more thankful for your rifle in this first-person shooter for PlayStation VR. But why brave such dangers alone? The team at Impulse Gear worked hard to build unique levels that you can enjoy with a friend online, and I gave them an honest (albeit doomed) attempt with Impulse Gear Co-founder Seth Luisi. Cooperative challenges aside, the combat in Farpoint elevates first-person gameplay to startling heights. Paired with the PS VR Aim controller, the precision of firing any of Farpoint’s sci-fi weapons is eerie. Look down the scope — as in, actually raise the controller, close one eye, and look down the scope — and you’ll see the reticle hovering over the screeching terrors hunting you down. This sense of physicality is unique to virtual reality, and especially engaging in Farpoint as you swivel, pivot, aim, and pull the trigger, plasma rounds punching through carapace and rock in each exhilarating encounter. Now imagine it all with a friend by your side. Farpoint tracks both the PlayStation VR headset and the Aim controller, and in doing so can infer the location of your body at any given moment. This means you and a friend have a full character to control, from tilting your head in confusion to motioning in the direction of your next target. These expressive moments bring the world alive, and open up small but special gameplay opportunities. Body language is now a practical method of communication, instead of pressing a button for a pre-made emote. In the heat of combat, these simple gestures go a long way. The cooperative levels are built like sprawling, rocky arenas. Enemies flood the level from all directions and it’s up to you to take cover, return fire, and revive your teammate should he or she be overwhelmed by alien forces. Between fights, you and a friend can rest (both figuratively and literally) at resource stations and load up on supplies, swap out your gear, and even shoot each other in the head. Yes, friendly fire is active. And in virtual reality, it’s a little hilarious. Farpoint demonstrates the overall potential of first-person VR combat exquisitely. It boasts both superb aiming and gunplay, with the added fun of bringing a friend along for the ride. You and your own prospective space soldiers can try it for yourselves when Farpoint and the Aim controller launch on May 16. View the full article

At its heart, Blackwood Crossing is a game that tells a story. And when we started telling it, one thing became clear very quickly: it was going to be driven by rules and logic that did not apply to the real world. As a team, we created our own set of rules that applied to our world and our universe. And we figured that as long as we continually referenced them, our audience would make sense of them and go with the flow. It’s an illogical logic that exists because we say it does. And this is what helps to give Blackwood Crossing its unique character. The word “surreal†is used a lot when talking about the game. So we wanted to share some of our thought processes behind this surreal magic so you can see what we’re pushing to achieve. We’re not looking to create any kind of surrealist symbolism from the art itself. But what we are saying is that this game — its characters, its story — is surreal and madly creative, and we’re bringing you along for the ride. This surrealism helps us to frame some of the more interesting art and style choices such as the game’s juxtaposed locations and the mysterious characters seen wearing masks. It also, quite deliberately, helps with the story pacing. Having a surreal flavor to our narrative makes everything flow naturally, without us having to ask the player to go somewhere else or go somewhere different and break the magic and the illusion. Our primary goal is to confound and delight! Take the train, for example. It’s something that the player is going to become very familiar with. But trains are pretty… samey. They’re basically corridors on wheels. But we thought about them differently. We really liked the idea of the player going into a carriage and things not being exactly as they seemed. We played around with childhood game ideas being played out within these carriages. And we introduce surrealist elements in small, bite-sized chunks. That way, when the player walks into the carriage and there’s a tree growing out of it, they don’t get spooked. It becomes the new normal, and you freely climb up the tree. But we’re not deliberately trying to be avant-garde about this. The surrealism comes from the magic and the fantasy. Weirdness for weirdness sake doesn’t make for a great experience. That’s why internally we talk about dream logic. The thing about dreams is that, when you’re in them, they make perfect sense. But outside of that state of consciousness, it’s a different matter. What we want to do in our world, in Blackwood Crossing, is to keep you in that dream state so that everything hangs together. We want to help the player engage by confounding their expectations. As part of our dev process, we interviewed people after they’d played through Chapter 1. We asked them to describe what happened and every tester would start explaining it and get halfway through before reasoning, “No, that sounds crazy! It all seemed to make sense to me at the time. But now that I’m reflecting back and trying to describe it to someone else…†Surrealism deliberately doesn’t make sense. But our game experience does when you’re engaged and in the moment. And that was something that we worked very hard to deliver on. See for yourself when Blackwood Crossing launches April 4 on PS4. View the full article

As Uncharted 4‘s one-year anniversary approaches, we’re continuing to release new content for Multiplayer, as promised in the roadmap we shared just before launch. It’s been an incredible DLC update season so far and we’ve got more to come, beginning this week with an all-new drop this Friday, March 17 that includes a new mode, new weapons, new vanity items, and more. First up, we’re introducing a new permanent game mode: King of the Hill. It tasks two teams with fighting for control of rotating capture points in order to reach the score limit. King of the Hill requires careful coordination and skilled use of Multiplayer’s core combat and movement systems. However, even if victory seems assured, King of the Hill offers a unique twist — after the score limit has been reached, the losing team has one last chance to make a comeback through what we call the Victory Hill. The leading team must capture the Victory Hill to win, but if the losing team takes it, they get a second chance at glory. Alongside King of the Hill, we’re also introducing an array of new vanity items and three new weapons: the INSAS and Type-95 long guns, as well as a scoped Competition Pistol. Fans of The Last of Us may recognize our new Savage Starlight character skins. Inspired by the in-game comics strewn across the world of The Last of Us, you can now customize select characters in Uncharted 4 Multiplayer with Savage Starlight outfits. But these are just some of the highlights in this week’s DLC drop — be sure to visit UnchartedTheGame.com to see our full list of new content and changes. As always, all of our DLC for Uncharted 4 Multiplayer is available to all players at no additional cost with just a simple update to the game. Keep an eye out this Friday, March 17 for our 1.21 patch to get King of the Hill and all of the latest content. View the full article

Featured image by @tokinohiyoko We’ve glided across sands and soared above ancient ruins on our way to the mountaintop. We’ve formed bonds with strangers unknown, whose paths we’ve intersected. We believe that there is no better time than right now to experience Journey. There’s a new friend waiting for you, and a journey to discover. We’re incredibly proud to share the five-year anniversary of Journey this week with creator Jenova Chen and the team at thatgamecompany, along with everyone who helped to create this award-winning experience. Journey was born out of the raw, extraordinary talent of a highly inventive team of creatives. They set out to craft a game that could emotionally connect with anyone. “It’s hard to put into words what the past five years has meant to the team since we released Journey. To see all of the connected travelers extend their friendships online, at conventions, and in the community has been truly humbling. Thank you for continuing to share Journey and for inspiring us for our next game.†–Jenova Chen There are endless things to say about Journey, and — for Jenova and the team — their narrative and technical achievements with its creation are timeless. To celebrate five years of Journey with thatgamecompany, we’re collaborating on the following activities. We hope you’ll take a moment to check them out: We’re supporting the Able Gamers Foundation who are running a charity auction including an extremely limited, rare edition of The Art of Journey book signed by the creators, one of the last remaining original Journey “Traveler†statues, and the 20th Anniversary PS4 special edition console. All proceeds will benefit the Able Gamers Foundation. Please visit their charity auction here to bid. A new five year anniversary Journey t-shirt is now available on the PlayStation Gear Store. The PlayStation Gear Store is also running a 20% off sale on all Journey merchandise until Sunday, March 19. Majestic apparel and other items are all on sale here. Over the past five years, fans of Journey have created incredible inspired artwork, cosplay, jewelry, even weddings! We’ve sampled some of thatgamecompany’s favorite pieces in this post. From everyone at Santa Monica Studio and thatgamecompany, a sincere thank you for your continued adventures with Journey on PlayStation over the past five years. We look forward to seeing countless more Travelers soar to the mountaintop with new friends, side by side, for many years to come. View the full article

Sterling Archer: secret agent turned private investigator turned… rock star? That’s right, this Thursday everyone’s favorite spy from “Archer,†the hit animated series on FXX, makes his long-awaited Rock Band debut as part of our March content update for Rock Band 4. Rock Band 4 | PlayStation.com “That’s awesome! But why Archer?†you may ask. Well, I’ve got two words for you: “Danger Zone.†When we received word that the Kenny Loggins mega-hit was coming to the Rock Band DLC Music Library, our thoughts immediately went to Archer. We’re big fans of the show. In fact, you could say that we like Archer as much as Archer likes, well, “Danger Zoneâ€. So we reached out to the good folks at FXX and Floyd County Productions to see if they’d like to do something special for Rock Band and Archer fans and they jumped at the chance. An Archer cameo in Rock Band was happening. For our art team, bringing Archer into Rock Band presented a unique challenge. The Archer TV show is cel-shaded, 2D animation – completely different from Rock Band’s signature 3D style. We experimented with a couple of different approaches for how Archer might look in Rock Band, including an Archer character in the traditional Rock Band style, but ultimately decided that the best approach was one that was true to the look and feel of the FXX series, so we created a custom cel-shader in Rock Band just for this character. The end result is an Archer that looks like he was pulled straight from TV and dropped on stage. We think he looks awesome – he almost pops off the screen! Rock Band’s March update will be available tomorrow, March 16th. In addition to FXX’s Archer, there’s a bunch of other cool assets coming to Rock Band – like new punk outfits in the Rock Shop and a playable Normandy bass from Mass Effect – so make sure to check it out. Until then, here’s some footage of Archer singing his signature tune to hold you over. View the full article

Hey y’all, it’s Jaffe, game director over at The Bartlet Jones Supernatural Detective Agency. I have a confession to make. For the past few months, whenever players would suggest that Drawn To Death would be a perfect fit as one of the free games for PlayStation Plus, I’d have to bite my tongue (And if you know me, you know that ain’t easy!). All I could do was nod and say, “That’d be great. We’d love it, but no plans for that. Nice idea, though!†But behind the scenes we had been talking to the folks over at PS Plus. I wanted to find a way to invite all of you PS Plus members into this experience and give you a look at what really excites me about games these days. We’ve been working on Drawn To Death for nearly three years, and over time, it really has become this robust, highly competitive game — and we haven’t even talked about a lot of the new features yet. Needless to say, I thought you could all help us build an unbelievable community for the game. I just couldn’t say anything. Until now. We just couldn’t wait any longer to share the good news, so here we are — finally — loud and proud and excited as-all-get-out to announce that Drawn To Death launches April 4 and is free for PS Plus members! Drawn To Death, as you may know, is a third-person shooter/brawler that takes place entirely inside the pages of a high school kid’s notebook. All of the kid’s creative drawings come to life and battle it out in this highly competitive, fast paced, online action game. Besides the surprisingly tactical combat, unique over the tops levels, and fantastically deep characters, there’s a lot more to Drawn To Death that we haven’t really talked about. Here are the five coolest new features we’ve added to the game that will be included at launch: Sphinx Missions: Wake the mysterious Sphinx and see if you can solve her eight battle-focused riddles. For every riddle solved, a new weapon — or a new level — will be rewarded! Character-centric Missions: Besides levelling up characters, players will also have the opportunity to work through 15 action-packed missions per each of the six launch characters. Earn costumes and rare Taunts as you work your way through your favorite characters. Master all of the character missions and you may come face to face with the Volcano God! Mystery Boxes: Who doesn’t love Mystery Boxes?! The Drawn To Death Mystery Boxes are filled to the brim with amazing character taunts and insanely creative character skins. Get a free Mystery Box just by playing three matches online and then earn Mystery Boxes for every 150 kills you execute on the battlefield! Climb the Tower: The Drawn To Death launch tower is based on the theme Dark Fairy Tales, and if you play in ranked mode, you’ll have a chance to reach the tower’s top, earning insane stickers for every floor you reach! Insane Mystery Special Offer: I’m not at liberty to go into detail or spoil the surprise but let me just say this: “Destroy my enemies and my life… is yours!†I hope I’ve gotten you at least a little interested in Drawn To Death, and perhaps even adding it into your game collection. And if I haven’t yet convinced you (Or even if I have!), I wanted you to know that myself and a handful of the Bartlet Jones crew will be doing a live stream of the game today at 3:00 PM Pacific right here on Twitch to show off the game and all these new features. We’ll also be taking questions, talking games in general, and heck, who knows, maybe there’ll even be a surprise or two! Hope you can join us! Take care, y’all. As always, thanks for the support and interest in all the games we’ve worked on over the years. We’re nothing without you! View the full article

Hey, it’s Ben from Blowfish Studios. We’re happy to finally bring Crescent Moon/Cinopt Studios’ The Deer God to PS4 and PS Vita on April 25, 2017! The Deer God is a breathtakingly gorgeous pixel art game, but in a 3D world. It has an amazing soundtrack, brought to you by Evan Gipson. You will platform your way across various landscapes, do story related quests, battle huge animal bosses, and find various powers for your magical antlers to unleash on enemies. The game is very much inspired by things that we loved growing up (not just video games). Being outside in the woods, building forts, seeing deer standing motionless in the forest and chasing after them. Building bows and arrows, pretending to hunt. We miss those days, but the feeling is here, inside of this game. So how did it come about that Blowfish is able to publish the game on PlayStation? Blowfish Studios and Crescent Moon Games have had a long-standing friendship that started with CM Games publishing Siegecraft (with Blowfish as developer) on iOS back in 2011. Since that time Blowfish Studios has branched out into self-publishing games on PS4. The Deer God caught our attention when it first launched on Kickstarter and PC, and we have been able to convince CM and the other developers to let us bring the game to PlayStation. Using our previous experiences when releasing Gunscape and Siegecraft Commander on PS4, we were able to plug in a lot of our console specific modules to help produce this version more efficiently. We’ve used that time to make the PlayStation version of The Deer God the most refined version to date, with extra polish and fixes since its original launch. Another great thing about this project was that it was a great fit for PS Vita and we dearly wanted to release our first game on that platform. We think Vita fans will love this version of the game! Anyway, we’re super excited to finally get The Deer God out on April 25, and we hope you all enjoy it! View the full article

Hey, PlayStation fans! This is Barney from Powerhoof, a two-man independent studio from Melbourne Australia, and I’m excited to announce our crazy dungeon brawler Crawl is coming to PS4 on April 11! I love playing as a hero fighting through dungeons, but with Crawl we thought it would be even more fun if you could play as the bad guys, too. You can be the daring adventurer searching for loot and powerful magic items, leveling up and slaying monsters, but you can also be the vicious demon, tentacled beast, or undead sorcerer who stands against them! Crawl lets you battle giant hulking bosses, or control those bosses yourself to crush the pesky adventurers where they stand! We’re big fans of local-multiplayer, so we let you bring some buddies if you want to control the boss together, or get competitive and play the hero while your friends control the traps and monsters to destroy you. Dungeons can be very devious with your sneaky, real-life friends at the controls! The idea for Crawl grew out of a casual game-jam we organize with friends. The jam was meant as a little escape from serious game development, where we could make some silly games to fill with jokey images of each other in ridiculous situations, but it wound up a great environment to toy with experimental game ideas. Our first play-session with the rough Crawl prototype was a blast. Despite how crude and half-built it was at that stage, there was laughter, strategizing, and all sorts of general silliness to be had. Playing a dungeon crawler from the enemy’s point of view felt novel, and combat can be especially silly when the monsters are your real-life buddies right there on the couch, teasing and laughing and teaming-up. Over the past three-and-a-half years we’ve been hard at work building on that idea. We now have more than sixty monster types, each with unique mechanics to master. You can inhabit everything from giant rats and spiders, to witches turning heroes into frogs, tentacled wizards that teleport at will, or necromancers commanding zombie armies. When you’re not battling the hero as a monster, you can haunt the dungeon around him. Rattle chains, throw furniture, bring paintings to life, or control vicious traps. From crossbows to spikes and giant saw blades, everything you’ve come to expect from a dungeon crawler can now be experienced from the other point-of-view. Ever wanted to control the final boss? That cyclops or hydra, or enormous hulking statue? End bosses are so cool to me, I’ve always wanted to take one for a spin. With Crawl you get to see what it’s like firing those crazy-powerful boss weapons, or to have your vulnerable point under attack from a sneaky little hero. Throw beams, flames and goo, turn heroes into chickens, or crush them with your giant hands. You can be the boss, or you can be the hero that stands against them! PlayStation is the perfect way to bring all this arcadey dungeon-battling silliness to the couch, and we really hope you get a kick out of it! Cheers from Barney (and Dave) of Powerhoof View the full article

Call the kids and wake your neighbors — Trove officially launches on PS4 today! It blows our minds to see that more than two million of you have played the Trove beta on PS4 since December. We’re humbled by the response to the game so far, but you ain’t seen nothing yet! Grab your friends, hone your blades, and set off for adventure in Trove, the ultimate free-to-play action MMO. Battle the forces of Shadow in realms filled with incredible dungeons and items created by your fellow players. Whether hunting treasure in far-off lands or building realms of your own, it’s never been this good to be square. If you’re looking for a primer to get started in Trove, we’ve put together a video overview to help kick off your adventures. Throughout the beta, we’ve been listening to all of your feedback and tracking your bug reports. While our work is never truly done in an ever-expanding world like Trove, we’re rolling out some huge improvements today. What are a few of the exciting changes arriving with the launch patch? Adding a brand new Inventory tab to allow substantially more goodies to fit in a smaller space. Introducing a completely overhauled Loot Collector. You can now create Vault Clubs! These are small Club Worlds that are used for storage rather than building. Making an MMO the size and scope of Trove was no easy feat, but it’s been such an honor to share our adventures with gamers all around the world. While Trove is an online game, you don’t need PS Plus to play, so we hope you’ll give it a try and let us know what you think. If you have a PS Plus membership, there are some very cool perks for you: You’ll receive a bonus 20% adventure XP all day every day! A free PS Plus Pack is now available at PlayStation store, which includes the Neon Ninja class, as well as the Lunar Ronin costume. And as a special launch bonus, the new Double Dragon pack is 25% off for PS Plus members from March 14 through March 28! To show just how much we appreciate your support, you can unlock this colorful Starry Shmeep mount as a bonus gift with the purchase of any pack. If you bought a pack during the beta you’ll automatically get the Starry Shmeep. The adventure continues with launch and beyond. We’ll have a bunch of details to share with you about upcoming patches later on. Thanks again for all your support and for being a part of our amazing community! View the full article

Hi everyone! I’m happy to introduce you to Play Collective, our new name for special game promotions at PlayStation Store. Play Collective will encompass different sales and campaigns for digital games, and the first one starts on March 21 with Everything. Well, not everything. “Everything†is the name of the first game in this particular Play Collective and kicks off an awesome lineup of six games launching over the next six weeks. Check out the full lineup of weekly releases below — and if you’re a PS Plus member, make sure you take advantage of the 20% special discount if you pre-order starting today. EverythingLaunching 3/21 Everything is about the quiet explosion of life going on all around us. This very unique game experience has been developed in secret for three years and is finally being launched on PS4 and PS4 Pro. Everything is a simulation of reality where everything you see is a thing you can be, from animals to planets to galaxies and beyond — you can be the Universe or create your own. Everything takes place in the world we live in now. It features one million+ years of gameplay, a rich musical score, and thousands of playable characters. Everything is created by Irish artist David OReilly (Mountain), and narrated by the late great British philosopher Alan Watts. Rain WorldLaunching 3/28 You are a slugcat. The world around you is full of danger, and you must face it — alone. Separated from your family in a devastating flood, you must hunt for food and shelter between terrifying torrential downpours that threaten to drown all life. Climb through the ruins of an ancient civilization, evade the jaws of vicious predators, and discover lands teeming with strange creatures and buried mysteries. Find your family before death finds you! PaRappa The Rapper RemasteredLaunching 4/4 On the eve of its 20th Anniversary, PaRappa The Rapper Remastered updates the classic game with high-res graphics providing smoother lines and textures, CD-quality sound, Trophy support and new features that allow you to feel and see the beat. The iconic, character-based music and hip-hop game was developed in association with legendary multimedia musician Masaya Matsuura and famed New York artist Rodney Greenblat, and is widely credited with establishing the music and rhythm game genre that continues to thrive today. Cosmic Star HeroineLaunching 4/11 Take on a galactic threat as the super-spy Alyssa L’Salle in this classic style, fast-paced, sci-fi RPG! Explore the Zevanii System and its planets, defeat bizarre alien and robotic monstrosities, and discover the dark truth behind an evil conspiracy that threatens life as we know it! Cosmic Star Heroine mixes classic 16-bit presentation with modern streamlined gameplay. Featuring slick turn-based combat that focuses on flow and strategy, 11 playable characters, battles that take place on-map, three distinct planets to explore, and an expandable base ship to traverse the solar system! Full Throttle RemasteredLaunching 4/18 Released by LucasArts in 1995, Full Throttle is a classic adventure game from industry legend Tim Schafer, telling the story of Ben Throttle; butt-kicking leader of biker gang the Polecats, who gets caught up in a tale of Motorcycles, Mayhem, and Murder. Now more than 20 years later, Full Throttle is back in a remastered edition featuring all new hand-drawn and 3D high-resolution artwork, with remastered audio and music. Players can switch back and forth between classic and remastered modes, and mix and match audio, graphics, and user interface to their heart’s desire. We’ve also included a concept art browser, and recorded a commentary track with the game’s original creators. What Remains of Edith FinchLaunching 4/25 What Remains of Edith Finch is a collection of strange tales about a family in Washington State. As Edith, you’ll explore the colossal Finch house, searching for stories as she explores her family history and tries to figure out why she’s the last one in her family left alive. Each story you find lets you experience the life of a new family member on the day of their death, with stories ranging from the distant past to the present day. Created by Giant Sparrow, the team behind the first-person painting game The Unfinished Swan. View the full article

We’re happy to announce that the Paladins Closed Beta starts today… and you could earn a free trip to Spain. TL;DR: Paladins Closed Beta is finally here! You get instant access to Paladins (plus all the Champions we ever release, forever) when you buy the Founder’s Pack for just $15 — 25% off the normal price! Paladins console esports starts now. And we’re sending the two best PS4 teams to Spain to participate in DreamHack Valencia 2017. What is Paladins?Never heard of Paladins? It’s a fantasy, team-based shooter. It’s a world of knights with flamethrowers, dragons with rocket launchers, and furry alchemists who turn enemies into chickens. As you can probably tell, we don’t take ourselves too seriously. But Paladins is a game that has a lot of depth and customization compared to other hero shooters. It’s a game where you can play how you want to play. You can build your own loadout of cards to amplify and augment each Champion’s core set of abilities, so he or she becomes exactly the Champion that you want to play. And your Champion looks exactly how you want him or her to look, thanks to our multi-part skin system. How Can I Play?Easy: starting today, you can buy the Paladins Founder’s Pack at PlayStation Store! As a welcome gift to new players dying to get into the Realm, you can get the Founder’s Pack for just $15 through March 28. That’s 25% off… and PlayStation Plus members will get an even better discount! The Founder’s Pack doesn’t just give you Closed Beta access. It also includes: Every Champion we ever release. Ever. Forever. A Beta-exclusive Skin Collection and Mount. 10 Radiant Chests, each containing Cards, Skins, and more. 72,000 Essence to craft the cards you want. A Paladins-themed skin for Ares in Smite on PS4. One big note: the Founder’s Pack only gets better as more Champions are released, and we release Champions all the time. We’re on track to release at least 15 new Champions this year! Don’t have $15 to spare at the moment? Don’t worry — like all Hi-Rez Studios games, Paladins will be free-to-play for everyone when it’s released into Open Beta at a future date. In the meantime, you can sign up for a Beta code here. Paladins Esports? Free Trip to Spain?Since we first announced Paladins was coming to PS4, we’ve heard the same question over and over: “Can I play competitive Paladins on PS4?†Today, we’re happy to reveal our answer is a resounding yes. You and your friends could win the $50,000 Paladins Console Wars at DreamHack Valencia, July 13-16 in Valencia, Spain! Two PS4 teams will qualify for the tournament. The best team in North America, and the best team in Europe. Those two teams will face off for the title of best PS4 Paladins team. So to sum it all up: Buy the Founder’s Pack for $15 and start playing Paladins today. Get really good. Win a free trip to Spain and a share of $50,000. That just about wraps it up. We’ve just got one question left: are you ready to defend the Realm, Champion? View the full article

We’re taking our first steps towards a bold new direction for Road to the Show, the third-person baseball RPG that ships as a part of the full MLB The Show 17 experience on March 28. Let’s get into it. Prepare for an Epic OdysseyRoad to the Show is generally considered the most popular of our three main modes of play. In this mode, you’ll guide a baseball player on a personal journey through the professional baseball world, going from a newbie in the minors to becoming a legend in the majors. Within this mode, you’ll be able to: Create a player from scratch. How tall is he? Freckles? Don’t forget the facial hair! We have 22 new facial hair styles, 35 new hair styles, 49 new head shape archetypes, plus a larger palette of color this year to give your guy extra style. Prove yourself in the Minor Leagues and earn training points along the way. Use the training points to make yourself stronger, faster, and more capable. New interactions can kick off 2x Training Point Earning periods that help you get stronger, better, faster. Want to be a bomb hitting fireball pitcher? No problem. Unlock and activate Perks, which can help with hitting more home runs, putting the ball in play, and more opportunities to steal a base. Earn and equip various stat boosting equipment, and rituals to also help you perform better each game. Leverage your abilities to rise through the ranks in pursuit of the dream of playing Major League Baseball. Get a sports agent to represent you and put him to work to help pave your path. If you have what it takes to make the big leagues, you’re one of a select few, but you’re not done yet. Turn your sites on the record books. Build yourself into a true legend, one epic moment to the next, to be exalted in the halls of Cooperstown. Nothing is a Promise on Road to the ShowBut this story isn’t all about you. Professional baseball is a big world, and you’re just a speck on the map. Each organization has unique needs. And coaches, scouts, agents, the media — they have their own responsibilities, too. This year, Road to the Show will now sprinkle in true-to-life interactions in a documentary-style presentation. As your career unfolds, you will occasionally interact with coaches, managers, representatives, and more, facing choices that can influence your future path and your road to the show. Your actions, their effects, and the narrator’s insights explore beyond not only your on-field performance, but also your off-the-field aspects of being a professional ballplayer. One Door Closes, Another OpensDuring interactions with other characters in your baseball world, you’ll make choices on how you engage in dialogue. Bluntness or honesty is up to you and the possibilities are vast, but your future at your position, the public’s perception of you, and your role with the team hang in the balance. Will you help the team out and change positions to fit an organizational need, or stick to your guns on your personal mission to be the best left-handed shortstop of all-time? As you play and make choices, a documentary style voice will narrate the twists and turns as though you’re watching a baseball documentary unfold live before you. To make the experience as realistic as possible, these interactions take place in settings never before seen in Road to the Show, like team locker rooms and managers’ offices. This is just the beginning of MLB The Show’s non-linear narrative with Road to the Show. We’re looking forward to players enjoying all that this mode has to offer, and we can’t wait to see all the paths that you’ll blaze through our baseball world. Share with us which paths you chose in your road to the show by tagging us on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram when the game comes out on March 28, and join us for our livestream on these new features and more this Thursday at 2:00 PM Pacific Time on Twitch! View the full article

A mere five months ago PlayStation VR launched and Battlezone was right there alongside it! Since then we’ve seen so many of you strap yourselves in and obliterate legions of evil AI enemies, hopefully feeling like you’re right there in our tank. It’s been such a blast seeing you all enjoy our very first venture into virtual reality… it might have been yours too! But the battle doesn’t have to stop just yet. Today we’re bringing a ton of new content to Battlezone, much of it completely free, because we want to give you as many reasons as possible to hop back into your Cobra tank. Whether you’re a seasoned tank commander or thinking about picking it up for the first time, here are some of the great new things you’ll find in Battlezone! New Difficulties, New Challenges Whether you’ve conquered the volcano endgame many times or are still struggling to reach it, we’ve got you covered. Today we’re rounding out the difficulty modes with a more lenient Beginner level and, for the experts, a gruelling Extreme level — both free. Extreme is such a massive challenge that we’re rewarding those mighty enough to beat it with a new Trophy, as well as three new tank loadouts — though you’ll have to beat it three times to earn each loadout! That said, they’re 100% worth it for advanced players who want a complete four-player team of tanks… More Missions, New Environments Since launch we’ve added new missions, maps, and events to the Battlezone campaign, again all free, and we’re doing the same with today’s update. The new levels we’ve added this time around are all swimming in lava, so you might imagine when you’ll start seeing them (Hint: near the end!). We’ll let you find out for yourself what awaits you in our new King of the Hill and Conquest missions… A New Threat, A New Weapon Starting today, if you look up to the skies you’ll see a new foe to take on — the Jet. This fighter plane may look a little light as it curves gracefully around the arena, but you don’t want to be on the wrong side of its machine gun! So, to balance things we’ve added a brand new weapon to your arsenal, and it’s a bit of a monster! You’ll now be able to equip the Railgun, a beast of a firearm that you have to charge up before letting rip with a big, single shot blast that can do some serious, serious damage. Both the Railgun and the Jet are in Battlezone starting today, and yep, they’re free! Play with the Devs Make sure to keep up to date with our Events calendar, which you’ll find in the Battlezone live area on your PS4. We’ll be posting community events there, including tomorrow’s Play with the Devs session, starting at 9:00 AM Pacific. Ride out alongside the creators of the game in four-player co-op during this special two-hour event. For more info, hit up Battlezone’s Events tab on your PS4. Go Retro with Classic Mode In case you missed it last December, it’s well worth checking out Classic Mode, another free addition to the game. Separate to the main campaign, this mode answers a simple question: what would the original 1980 arcade Battlezone look like in PlayStation VR? The answer is stunning green wireframe visuals, optional retro controls, online leaderboards, and generally a whole lot of awesome! Get Your Bobble On Finally, we know plenty of you are fans of the tank skins and bobbleheads we released on PlayStation Store last time around, and we’ve got a whole new batch of them to bling up your tank with. You may know that we, Rebellion, have recently announced Rogue Trooper Redux for PS4, a remaster of our cult comic book shooter from the days of the PS2! Well, you can celebrate the news with a brand new Rogue Trooper bobblehead, looking fine in blue on your dashboard. Of course, there are the myriad other ways we’ve refined, tweaked, and added to the game since launch to ensure Battlezone is the best it can be. Now that we’re settled into 2017 and with some great PS VR games on the horizon, now’s a really great time to hop back into the Battlezone cockpit — or pick up that copy if you’ve been eyeing it up on the shelf! We’ll see you on the battlefield. View the full article