Commander Fury

In my experience, the creation of a game is a labor of love. It’s central to your thoughts for a couple of years, and all that time you’re surrounded by similarly focused people who you spark off, or perhaps argue with. But together you begin to shape a game, an experience, maybe even a work of art, that you can all be proud of. At Guerrilla Cambridge our last full game was Killzone Mercenary for PS Vita, something that I’m certainly still very proud of. But as they say, you’re only as good as your last game, and we’re so close to the launch of Rigs Mechanized Combat League that I suppose Mercenary will be consigned to the annals of history and Rigs will become the new benchmark by which we’re judged. Looking back on the development of Rigs, I can see how far we’ve come — from the very first dreams of what it would feel like to pilot a “mech†to Shuhei giggling with joy when his RIG was destroyed and he was ejected skywards in VR… and that was all more than a year ago now, well before we’d revealed the game at E3 2015. And before we had a seven-hour queue of people in Paris waiting to play our game (Yes, our game!), before we’d seen the reaction on the faces of thousands of people playing a competitive game in VR for the first time. 20 TBs of builds later, we’ve recorded 9,114 lines of dialogue in each of 11 languages (That’s 100,254 lines of dialogue!), raised 8,748 bugs and more than 1.3 million changelists, and let’s not forget about the six weddings and 10 babies that we’ve celebrated along the way! Now we stand almost on the eve of launch. As I type, the Gold Master is being pressed and very soon will be shipped around the globe to give so many more people their very first experience of PS VR and the promise that it holds. But that’s not the end for us. We feel Rigs has so much more to offer. At Tokyo Game Show last week we saw our very first livestream of a competitive three-on-three game of Rigs. We hope that’s the first of many, and we can’t wait until October 13. We hope that you’ll enjoy our vision of the future of sport — Rigs Mechanized Combat League — as much as we have. View the full article

“The world changes, we do not, therein lies the irony that kills us.†-Anne Rice Darkest Dungeon launches on PS4 and PS Vita September 27 with cross buy and cross save features for all. We’re extremely excited to share the game with the PlayStation community, and have snuck in a few bonuses to help make the console version of Darkest Dungeon something special. Objects of power are vital to player success, and in Darkest Dungeon we call them trinkets. Trinkets come in many forms — from conventional stones, herbs, necklaces, and bracers on up to holy scrolls, nefarious potions, bunches of garlic, and occult symbols teaming with ethereal energies. Their potencies vary, but as a rule they mean to empower your characters. Like everything in Darkest Dungeon, however, each comes with a cost. While a trinket may increase the damaging potency against protean evils, it may also increase the susceptibility to maladies that wait in the cold darkness. For all our PlayStation players we now start fresh estates with two trinkets: a Stone of Patience and a Stone of Endurance, as a small way of thanking our fans for their gratitude and support and patience as we developed the game. We are also adding three new, extremely rare trinkets for players to find. “The Tempting Goblet†is one such rare trinket that can be found from the now-infamous skeletal courtiers, who have a habit of dousing heroes in acrid liquid of questionable origin. To imaginative players, the other two trinkets may foreshadow a looming threat not yet made manifest… We’ve taken some time to embellish each of the four main dungeons — a new background has been added to the Ruins, Weald, Warrens, and Cove, adding more variety and character to each location. We’ve also added a new Town Event: “A Day Long Awaited.†In celebration of the PlayStation launch, this event gives players a Stagecoach bursting with bonus recruits — word has spread of the riches to be found in the dungeons beneath the Estate! Been waiting desperately for that Jester? This event can help it happen. To celebrate the launch, we’re offering a 20% PlayStation Plus discount for two weeks, for both PS4 and PS Vita! We’re looking forward to hearing the tales of triumph and defeat from our new players! We have a wonderful community of players on our subreddit, and our website. Also, please feel free to reach out to us on social media with any and all comments. On September 27, remember to pack a shovel and keep your torch bright! There are horrors below… View the full article

PS4 Games DEAR ESTHER: LANDMARK EDITION $9.99 Destiny: Rise of Iron $29.99 Destiny: The Collection $59.99 JAZZPUNK: DIRECTOR’S CUT $14.99 LASTFIGHT $14.99 SLAIN: BACK FROM HELL $14.99 Star Wars Battlefront: Death Star Free for Season Pass THE BUNKER $19.99 TOKYO TWILIGHT GHOST HUNTERS DAYBREAK: SPECIAL GIGS $49.99 WORLDS OF MAGIC: PLANAR CONQUEST $28.99 ZENITH $19.99 PS3 Games TOKYO TWILIGHT GHOST HUNTERS DAYBREAK: SPECIAL GIGS $39.99 PS Vita Games SKYLIGHT FREERANGE 2: GACHDUINE $14.99 TOKYO TWILIGHT GHOST HUNTERS DAYBREAK SPECIAL GIGS $39.99 BundlesConsoleBundlePricePS4DESTINY – THE COLLECTION$59.99PS4DESTINY – THE COLLECTION UPGRADE$39.99PS4TROPICO 5 – COMPLETE COLLECTION UPGRADE PACK$29.99 See this month’s full PS Plus lineup Sales PlatformProduct NameSale PriceOriginal PricePS4AMAZING LAVENDER FIELD THEME$0.99$1.99PS4ASSASSIN’S CREED 4 BLACK FLAG GOLD EDITION$17.49$49.99PS4ASSASSIN’S CREED CHRONICLES TRILOGY$12.49$24.99PS4ASSASSIN’S CREED CHRONICLES: CHINA$4.99$9.99PS4ASSASSIN’S CREED CHRONICLES: INDIA$4.99$9.99PS4ASSASSIN’S CREED CHRONICLES: RUSSIA$4.99$9.99PS4ASSASSIN’S CREED FREEDOM CRY$5.99$14.99PS4ASSASSIN’S CREED IV BLACK FLAG$11.99$29.99PS4ASSASSIN’S CREED SYNDICATE$19.79$59.99PS4ASSASSIN’S CREED SYNDICATE GOLD EDITION$29.69$89.99PS4ASSASSIN’S CREED UNITY$11.99$29.99PS4DEAR ESTHER: LANDMARK EDITION$7.99$9.99PS4EVIL BUFFALO SKULL HIQ THEME$0.99$1.99PS4EXTREME GAMER WARNING AVATAR$0.99$1.99PS4GAMERS DON’T DIE AVATAR$0.99$1.99PS4HELL FIRE GOAT HIQ AVATAR$0.99$1.99PS4HORNED DEVIL HIQ AVATAR$0.99$1.99PS4HORROR HOCKEY MASK HIQ AVATAR$0.99$1.99PS4JAZZPUNK: DIRECTOR’S CUT$11.99$14.99PS4LASTFIGHT$13.49$14.99PS4LIGHTNING STORM THEME$1.49$2.99PS4SAVANNA LION HIQ THEME$0.99$1.99PS4STAR WARS BATTLEFRONT$19.49$29.99PS4STAR WARS BATTLEFRONT DELUXE EDITION$25.99$39.99PS4WORLDS OF MAGIC: PLANAR CONQUEST$24.64$28.99PS3ASSASSIN’S CREED FREEDOM CRY$5.99$14.99PS3ASSASSIN’S CREED III$7.99$19.99PS3ASSASSIN’S CREED ROGUE$11.99$29.99PS3ASSASSIN’S CREED IV BLACK FLAG$7.99$19.99PS VITAASSASSIN’S CREED CHRONICLES TRILOGY$12.49$24.99PS VITAASSASSIN’S CREED III LIBERATION$6.74$26.99PlayStation Plus DiscountsPlatformProduct NamePS Plus PriceOriginal PricePS4100FT ROBOT GOLF$17.99$19.99PS4AFLOAT IN THE GREAT WAVE OFF KANAGAWA PIXELS$1.49$1.99PS4ART CLASSICS DAILY PHOTO PART 2 – DYNAMIC THEME$1.50$2.99PS4AT THE CROSS – THEMES AND AVATARS BUNDLE$2.99$3.99PS4DEMON GHOST AVATAR$1.49$1.99PS4EMPIRE – ANDRE LYON GOLD AVATAR$0.89$0.99PS4EMPIRE – COOKIE LYON GOLD AVATAR$0.89$0.99PS4EMPIRE – DYNAMIC THEME$2.99$3.99PS4EMPIRE – DYNAMIC THEME AND GOLDEN AVATARS BUNDLE$5.99$7.99PS4EMPIRE – GOLD ‘E’ ICON AVATAR$0.89$0.99PS4EMPIRE – GOLD ‘LUCIOUS LYON’ ICON AVATAR$0.89$0.99PS4EMPIRE – GOLD ‘LYON DYNASTY’ ICON AVATAR$0.89$0.99PS4EMPIRE – GOLDEN AVATARS BUNDLE$3.99$4.99PS4EMPIRE – JAMAL LYON GOLD AVATAR$0.89$0.99PS4EMPIRE – LUCIOUS LYON GOLD AVATAR 1$0.89$0.99PS4EMPIRE – LUCIOUS LYON GOLD AVATAR 2$0.89$0.99PS4EPIC BAY PANORAMA HIQ DYNAMIC THEME$2.24$2.99PS4EVIL LAUGH EMOTICON HIQ AVATAR$1.00$1.99PS4LOTUS IN THE POND THEME$1.00$1.99PS4SEASCAPE SUNSET THEME$1.49$1.99PS4SLAIN: BACK FROM HELL$13.49$14.99PS4THE BUNKER$15.99$19.99PS4ZEALOT FOR THE PAST$1.49$1.99 Mac Miller The Divine Feminine Star Wars Rebels Season One Soundtrack Usher Hard II Love Follow PlayStation Music on Spotify The Legend of Tarzan The Purge Election Year For more new movies and TV shows visit PlayStation Video PS4 Add-ons7 DAYS TO DIE: 7 DAYS TO DIEACTION PACK ($1.99)BATMAN: THE TELLTALE SERIESEPISODE 2: CHILDREN OF ARKHAM ($4.99)DESTINY RISE OF IRON ($29.99) LEVEL 40 TITAN PACK ($29.99) LEVEL 40 WARLOCK PACK ($29.99) LEVEL 40 HUNTER PACK ($29.99) PRIMAL CARNAGE: EXTINCTION SCIENTIST PACK 02 ($2.49) TYRANT PACK 04 ($2.99) ROCK BAND 4 ‘DYSTOPIA’ – MEGADETH ($1.99) ‘ROAD TO NOWHERE’ – OZZY OSBOURNE ($1.99) ‘THE DEVIL IN I’ – SLIPKNOT ($1.99) ROCKSMITH 2014 MISFITS – DIE DIE MY DARLING ($2.99) MISFITS – HALLOWEEN ($2.99) MISFITS – LAST CARESS ($2.99) MISFITS – WHERE EAGLES DARE ($2.99) STAR WARS BATTLEFRONTDEATH STAR (FREE)TOUHOU GENSO RONDO: BULLET BALLETFLANDRE SCARLET: ADDITIONAL STORY & BGM ($2.99) PS3 Add-onsROCKSMITH 2014 MISFITS – DIE DIE MY DARLING ($2.99) MISFITS – HALLOWEEN ($2.99) MISFITS – LAST CARESS ($2.99) MISFITS – WHERE EAGLES DARE ($2.99) ThemesConsoleThemePricePS4BURGER LOVE 2.0 DYNAMIC THEME$2.99PS4DARK SOULS III INVENTORY THEMEFREEPS4DEAR ESTHER: LANDMARK EDITION DYNAMIC THEMEFREEPS4DJ KATZ – DYNAMIC THEME$2.99PS4DOCTOR WHO SLIDE SHOW 1 DYNAMIC THEME 2.0$2.99PS4EMPIRE – DYNAMIC THEME$3.99PS4SNIPER ELITE 4 THEMEFREEAvatarsConsoleAvatarPricePS4EMPIRE – ANDRE LYON GOLD AVATAR$0.99PS4EMPIRE – COOKIE LYON GOLD AVATAR$0.99PS4EMPIRE – GOLD ‘E’ ICON AVATAR$0.99PS4EMPIRE – GOLD ‘LUCIOUS LYON’ ICON AVATAR$0.99PS4EMPIRE – GOLD ‘LYON DYNASTY’ ICON AVATAR$0.99PS4EMPIRE – JAMAL LYON GOLD AVATAR$0.99PS4EMPIRE – LUCIOUS LYON GOLD AVATAR 1$0.99PS4EMPIRE – LUCIOUS LYON GOLD AVATAR 2$0.99 View the full article

<p>Ever since we offered a glimpse of the new content we’re making for Rez Infinite at the end of our <a href=" " target="_blank">debut trailer</a>, and again as part of my <a href="http://www.gdcvault.com/play/1023187/Classic-Game-Postmortem" target="_blank">GDC talk</a> and <a href="http://blog.us.playstation.com/2016/03/17/the-inspirations-of-rez-infinite-on-playstation-vr/" target="_blank">PlayStation.Blog post</a>, people have been asking me: What is Area X?</p> <p>Finally, today, I can answer.</p> <p>As with everything to do with Rez Infinite, though, I think it’s something you best see, and hear, for yourself:</p> <p><iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/KAPyCH4FlwU" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></p> <p>Hopefully, if we’ve done our job right, Area X is something that’s hard to put into words…but let me try:</p> <p>Area X is a new level we’ve added just for Rez Infinite.</p> <p>Area X is an experiment.</p> <p>Area X is Rez, but it’s also not Rez… it’s something new.</p> <p><a href="https://flic.kr/p/MgUvhe" target="_blank"><img src="https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7559/29716046321_ea00c61ecf_z.jpg" width="640" height="360"></a></p> <p>Like classic Rez, Area X is a designed to be a focused, replayable experience, that uses simple shooting mechanics as a means to induce “synesthesia,†an effect where perceiving something with one sense triggers another sense – like you can “see sounds,†or “hear colors†(as pioneered by influential Russian artist and art theorist <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wassily_Kandinsky" target="_blank">Wassily Kandinsky</a>).</p> <p>But other than that basic foundation, the team and I decided to throw away the rest of the formula and start fresh, both in terms of aesthetics and gameplay, building Area X through experimentation and iteration – try something, keep what worked, throw out what didn’t, try again – much in the same way United Game Artists and I created the original Rez so many years ago. Our goal was to create something that evoked the same excitement as Rez, but at the same time, something that felt unique. Something new. Something special all its own.</p> <p><a href="https://flic.kr/p/Mm3T71" target="_blank"><img src="https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8124/29762946616_e85121da43_z.jpg" width="640" height="360"></a></p> <p>Did we succeed? Well, the first indications should be hitting today, as the gaming press we’ve hosted over the last few weeks post their hands-on impressions. From their in-person reactions, we’re optimistic. But, like I mentioned before, as with everything Rez the best method is to see, and hear, for yourself – which is exactly what I hope you’ll do come October 13th with the launch of Rez Infinite.</p> <img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/PSBlog/~4/aL552G8iSEs" height="1" width="1" alt=""/> View the full article

How do you define the look of a sport that won’t exist for another fifty years? It’s a question that the developers at Guerrilla Cambridge carefully considered when they set out to create their PlayStation VR exclusive arena shooter, RIGS Mechanized Combat League. You can tell a lot about the nature of a sport by looking at the aesthetics of its uniforms, venues and sporting equipment. Take motorsports, for instance: the aerodynamic shape of a formula one car communicates a need for speed, while the highly reinforced roll cage of a rally car indicates a need for sturdiness. In RIGS Mechanized Combat League, the lightweight frames, sleek bodies and curved lines emphasize the athletic nature of the machines. In the video below, Art Directors Tom Jones and Alex Kanaris-Sotiriou talk about the game’s concept phase, and show how Guerrilla Cambridge experimented with different designs to find one that best suited their vision for a futuristic mix between motorsports, combat sports and goal-focused team sports. You can pre-order RIGS Mechanized Combat League from select retailers here. View the full article

Hi everyone, I’m Dan Pinchbeck from The Chinese Room. You might know us from last year’s Everybody’s Gone To The Rapture on PS4. Rapture told the story of how an apocalyptic event affected one small English village and the normal people caught up in the extraordinary event. Four years before Rapture, we launched Dear Esther, a game that would go on to have a big impact on how we craft our games. This tale of a desolate Scottish island started as a Half-Life 2 mod before getting a commercial PC release in 2012. Since then, Dear Esther has become a seminal title for some players and helped kick off a wave of “walking simulator†games. In the wake of this, we wanted to bring our game to a new home on PlayStation with new features for console players — so we created Dear Esther: Landmark Edition. The Landmark Edition sees the island remastered in Unity with a director’s commentary and those all-important trophies too. One question we always get asked is: “What actually is Dear Esther?†It’s hard to describe the story of Dear Esther simply. It’s about love, loss, and redemption; about a car crash, a hermit, and an island that may be real or just a dream. Because each fragment of story is randomly selected, every playthrough offers new insights, but raises more questions. The remote places you’ll explore might not be threatening, but they’re haunted nonetheless. You’ll hear a voice reading fragments of letters as you venture across the windswept cliffs, you’ll see shapes in the distance that’ll be there one moment and gone the next. The meaning of all this is for you to uncover through signs and symbols scattered across the island. It’s a non-linear narrative that’s left open for you to think about and interpret your own way. For us, Dear Esther was a project to explore the limits of what a first-person shooter could be, drawing inspiration from Doom and System Shock. I’m a huge fan of these two in particular — they’re precise and they know their design philosophy and hooks extremely well. We aimed for that in our own way with Dear Esther, trying to create something in the same design space as shooters. We wanted it to be as precise and immersive as the best of them, even if it lacked the guns. It’s this same philosophy that we carried over to Everybody’s Gone To The Rapture. Coming back to Dear Esther has been a strange experience. As developers, we are so laser-focused on completing and shipping our current games that we don’t have time to think about our previous ones, That said, it’s honestly been a joy to revisit Dear Esther, we’re really proud of what we’ve made and it’s marvellous to see how it has influenced what we’ve gone on to create since. We are really pleased to bring Dear Esther: Landmark Edition to PS4. We hope it gets you thinking about the creative opportunities that lie just outside the established rules of game genres. But most importantly, we hope you enjoy the experience. Thank you for reading, Dan View the full article

What’s up, World Warriors? It’s been an eventful month for Street Fighter V as we just announced a slew of new modes and features for the game at Tokyo Game Show, including Daily Targets, additional Stage KOs, and much more! Beyond that, we also revealed the Capcom Pro Tour 2016 DLC mystery costume we teased at EVO. Before we get into the new content, though, we wanted to thank all of our fans for the support they’ve shown through our new initiative to help grow the Capcom Cup 2016 prize pool. Since we announced the Capcom Pro Tour DLC at EVO, there has been an increase of more than $90,000 thanks to your efforts! As of today the total Capcom Cup 2016 prize pool is $342,182 and we’re well on our way of reaching our goal with a little more than two months to go! Remember that any piece of Capcom Pro Tour DLC content that you purchase goes to supporting the league and boosting the Capcom Cup 2016 prize pool. You can read more about how this works in the FAQ at the end of this post. Necalli — Champions Choice (Kazunoko 2015)Beyond receiving a huge payout from Capcom Cup this year, we’re happy to announce that the winner of the event will also have a costume created for the character of their choice! The winner will be able to work with the development team to provide feedback on this costume that will immortalize their victory. Last year, after Capcom Cup concluded, we approached Kazunoko — winner of the USFIV tournament — and let him choose the character he wanted a costume for and Necalli came up as his number one pick! When asked why he chose Necalli, he mentioned that he thought the character looked cool and hopes that with a new costume even more players will pick him up. The development team got to work and put together an awesome Japanese warlord costume. A handful of variations were sent over to Kazunoko to choose from and what you see below is the final result! This costume is part of the overall Capcom Pro Tour 2016 DLC, so when you purchase it, funds will go towards boosting the prize pool and supporting the Capcom Pro Tour. For users who purchase the Capcom Pro Tour 2016 DLC Bundle, they will receive this costume as well. As a reminder, this content is only available for a limited time through the end of November. Capcom Pro Tour DLC FAQSince we announced the Capcom Pro Tour DLC at EVO 2016, we understand many of our fans have questions surrounding this new initiative. We wanted to answer many of those questions through this FAQ. Hopefully the answers below shed more light on our intentions and of course, feel free to contact us on Twitter at @CapcomFighters with any additional feedback. What percentage of the Capcom Pro Tour DLC revenue is going to the Capcom Cup 2016 prize pool? A minimum of 30% of the revenue will go to the Capcom Cup 2016 prize pool, and an additional 50% of the revenue is invested into Capcom Pro Tour production. That means that Capcom contributes more than 80% of all CPT DLC revenue directly to support Capcom Pro Tour initiatives. Our goal is to have an impressive prize pool for Capcom Cup 2016 — the biggest in fighting game history — and we want our fans to know they had a part in helping us achieve that once we reach that milestone later this year. We will be providing updates throughout the rest of the season, so you all know what sort of number we are targeting for Capcom Cup 2016 and next year you will see tangible benefits from your investment materializing in the scene through increased production values and additional support for tournament organizers. Keep in mind, we contribute a portion of our sponsorship, ad revenue, and merchandise sales into the Capcom Pro Tour and Capcom Cup prize pool as well. What content is a part of the Capcom Pro Tour DLC? When you purchase any of the content below you will be supporting the Capcom Pro Tour and boosting the Capcom Cup prize pool. These items can be found within the in-game store in Street Fighter V. Capcom Pro Tour Costumes Additional Costume (“Capcom Pro Tourâ€): Chun-Li — $5.99 Additional Costume (“Capcom Pro Tourâ€): Cammy — $5.99 Additional Costume (“Capcom Pro Tourâ€): Necalli — $5.99 Capcom Pro Tour Stage Stage: Ring of Destiny — $9.99 Capcom Pro Tour Bundle Capcom Pro Tour 2016 Pack — $24.99 Additional Costume (“Capcom Pro Tourâ€): Chun-Li Additional Costume (“Capcom Pro Tourâ€): Cammy Additional Costume (“Capcom Pro Tourâ€): Necalli Stage: Ring of Destiny 1 exclusive CPT themed color option for all 22 characters 2 Exclusive Titles: “Capcom Cup 2016†and “Capcom Pro Tour 2016†How did you arrive at the current price point? We feel the price point is in line with our vision of investing in the community, as it will allow us to provide more opportunities to tournament organizers and content creators but also continue to have record setting prize pools at Capcom Cup. In short, we did not create this content with the intention of making large profits for ourselves; we created it to help support the community. We believe this content is some of the best in Street Fighter V with some of the most high-quality and detailed costumes in the game, not to mention the impressive “Ring of Destiny†stage that was on display throughout EVO 2016 and allows us to promote major events like that in-game, something that has never been done before in the history of Street Fighter. With that, you should look at this as your contribution to the fighting game community, where no matter what Capcom Pro Tour DLC item you purchase, this is your optional donation to the scene while getting some great content in return. How long will the content be available? We plan on taking this content off of the marketplace come the end of November, before Capcom Cup 2016. This is the cut-off point so we can tally up to revenue that will go directly into the prize pool. The Ring of Destiny Stage: which other tournaments are going to be featured in the stage, and will players be able to select which version they want to run? The Ring of Destiny is updated during server maintenance so we will be taking that into consideration when determining what tournaments to feature in the stage itself. Right now, EVO 2016 and Capcom Cup 2016 are the two events we plan to integrate into the stage, but we do hope to include other CPT tournaments in the future. There are no plans to make the stage variations available outside of the promotion period for the tournament. Why is the Capcom Pro Tour DLC Bundle only on PS4? The bundle for PS4 was created to celebrate our new partnership with PlayStation being the presenting sponsor of the Capcom Pro Tour. Sony has always been a tremendous supporter of the fighting game community and we wanted to highlight this alliance with the CPT DLC bundle. Why are you releasing DLC instead of adding additional modes or improving existing features? The Capcom Pro Tour DLC and all other DLC is part of the content roadmap that we have for the game and has no effect on the team that is working on addressing various improvements for Street Fighter V. Many of the things that are important to our fans are being worked on in parallel and we’ll update everyone on any new features and improvements once we have concrete information. That said, we believe that improving existing features and adding additional modes is equally as important as supporting and growing the fighting game community. View the full article

With the launch of Rigs Mechanized Combat League only weeks away, we’re really excited to show you what we’ve been working on — and this week we’ll be doing just that! Keep a close eye on PlayStation.Blog, because in the coming days we’ll go into more detail on several aspects of our PlayStation VR exclusive shooter and get you up to speed with everything you need to know before stepping into the Rigs arena on October 13. But first, let’s take a look at some of the different RIG classes in the game: As you can see in the video, the fourth Rigs class is known as the Sentinel. A heavyweight beast best deployed to defend Goals and Endzones, the Sentinel can also operate as the vanguard in a full-team press against the opposition. With its heavy armor and upgraded melee, the Sentinel excels in close combat; by charging up its jump, the Sentinel can slam opponents from above, making them vulnerable to follow up attacks. Here are its specifications: Sentinel -Height: 6 Meters -Top Speed: 49 Mph -Max Melee: 4000 Damage -Jump: Slam — charge to gain extra height. A fully charged jump will cause a slam effect on landing, damaging, and disorientating opponents. To put the crushing power of the Sentinel into perspective, here are the specifications for the other Rig classes, so you can see how it stacks up against the opposition: Hunter -Height: 3.4 Meters -Top Speed: 59 Mph -Max Melee: 3600 Damage -Jump: Basic — Equipped with basic jump ability. Mirage -Height: 5.5 Meters -Top Speed: 51 Mph -Max Melee: 3600 Damage -Jump: Double Jump — Once in mid-air, the Mirage can boost jump a second time. Tempest -Height: 2.5 Meters -Top Speed: 46 Mph -Max Melee: 3600 Damage -Jump: Vertical Take Off — Hold to boost up into air and hover. In Rigs Mechanized Combat League, you’ll be able to choose the class that best fits your playstyle, so start planning your strategy for the sport of the future! View the full article

Sharpen your steel, harden your heart, and get ready to headbang in honor of the Great Horned Metal God, because on September 20 Slain: Back from Hell is set to carve a bloody swathe onto PS4 for $14.99 — with a 10% discount for all PlayStation Plus members. Set in a dark and archaic world, you take the role of the doomed hero Bathoryn, a grizzled warrior dragged reluctantly from his mortal slumber. He must slice and dice his way across the blighted realm of villainous Lord Vroll, vanquishing his many gruesome underlings and twisted boss lieutenants along the way. Comprehensively augmented and refined for its release on PS4, the game blends brutally intense melee combat with unforgiving platform action (so the faint-hearted had best steer well clear). Our aim was to blend the best of classic 90’s hack ‘n’ slash games with modern gameplay dynamics, but freed from the hand-holding of mainstream titles. Your tools are a trusty sword, a flaming blade, an axe made from ice, and powerful mana magic, all of which you will need to employ strategically to avoid being eviscerated, immolated, skewered, burned, and butchered. The striking pixel art visuals of creator Andrew Gilmour bring your favorite metal album covers to gory, gothic life whilst the action is accompanied by a brooding soundtrack of purest heavy metal, penned by Curt Victor Bryant (formerly of the infamous band Celtic Frost). May fire, ice, and steel prevail! View the full article

Before Guardians walked the Earth, there were the Iron Lords. Now, a new threat rises. Will you stand to face it? Destiny: The Collection launches this week on PS4 and features the complete Destiny experience, including the Rise of Iron expansion. Leap into the fray of Bungie’s sweeping sci-fi universe, wielding powerful new weapons, tackling a new six-player raid, and exploring the ravaged dangers of the Plaguelands. For a full list of new games coming to PlayStation this week, read on. And enjoy the Drop. New Releases: Week of September 20, 2016 The Bunker PS4 — Digital As the last remaining survivor in a nuclear bunker, John’s daily routine is the one thing that keeps him sane. But when an alarm goes off, his mind starts to self-destruct. The Bunker is a live-action psychological horror game starring Adam Brown (The Hobbit) and Sarah Greene (Penny Dreadful) with writing talent behind The Witcher, Broken Sword, and Soma. Dear Esther: Landmark Edition PS4 — Digital Dear Esther immerses you in a stunningly realized world, a remote and desolate island somewhere in the outer Hebrides. As you step forwards, a voice begins to read fragments of a letter: “Dear Esther…†And so begins a journey through one of the most original first-person games of recent years. Destiny: The Collection PS4 — Digital, Retail Destiny is the next evolution of the first-person action genre combining an unprecedented combination of storytelling, cooperative and competitive modes, and in-depth character creation alongside a huge variety of weapons, armor, and abilities. Doodle Kingdom PS4, PS3 — Digital (Out 9/19) It’s time to get medieval! From the creators of the award-winning puzzle games Doodle God and Doodle Devil comes a fantasy brain-teaser where you can quest as a Dragon Breeder, Warlock and Knight! Daring adventure awaits you in this fantasy kingdom where you can breed and raise four different types of Dragons, engage in “runner style,†combat and bring your medieval fantasies to life! Jazzpunk: Director’s Cut PS4 — Digital Jazzpunk is a comedy adventure set in an alternate reality Cold War World, plagued with corporate espionage, CyberCrime, and sentient martinis. Gameplay is inspired by spoof comedy films and cartoons of yesteryear, with a focus on weird gadgets, exotic locales, and open-world style exploration. Lastfight PS4 — Digital Lastfight is bringing two-on-two 3D fighting back to your living room! Pick up any available object in one of the eight stages and teach your opponents a lesson! Play in a local multiplayer mode or solo story mode with a cast of 10 characters inspired by the comic book Lastman. Machinarium PS4 — Digital (Out 9/21) An award-winning adventure game by Amanita Design, now available on PS4. Skylight Freerange 2: Gachduine PS Vita — Digital After a powerful biotechnology was legalized in 2048 in Canada, the Cult of the Symbiote forced their way in as regulators in the Maritimes. Despite their presentation as protectors and healers, the Cult has ruined many lives with their ambitions. As tensions escalate and boiling points are reached, lines will blur, gray areas will clash, and the shadow group Gachduine will make choices that have a very real impact for Nova Scotia… Slain: Back From Hell PS4 — Digital You control the fate of Bathoryn, a doomed hero in a Gothic world, who seeks to liberate six cursed realms from six deadly overlords. He must battle his way through this blighted land, packed with gruesome and lethal creatures before ascending (or sometimes descending) into a stronghold, all the while defeating fiendish traps and vile monsters alike. Tokyo Twilight Ghost Hunters Daybreak Special Gigs PS4, PS3, PS Vita — Digital, PS4 at Retail Tokyo Twilight Ghost Hunters Daybreak: Special Gigs weaves an intricate story that pushes the boundaries of reality as you battle restless spirits causing chaos throughout Tokyo. Hunt Down Ghosts and Exorcise Evil. The GHOST System (Graphic Horizontal Object Streaming) creates a vivid world unlike anything you’ve seen before! Touhou: Scarlet Curiosity PS4 — Digital (Out 9/22) The enchanting world of Touhou comes alive in this beautiful fan-made action RPG! As the infamous vampire Remilia Scarlet and her dutiful maid Sakuya Izayoi, match wits with a cast of colorful characters, overpower enemies with signature skills and spell cards, rough up a few fairies, and unravel a plot odder than they could have imagined. Virginia PS4 — Digital (Out 9/22) Virginia is a single-player first-person thriller set in a small town with a secret. Experience a missing person’s investigation through the eyes of graduate FBI agent Anne Tarver. Zenith PS4 — Digital Zenith is an action RPG that combines that feel of the golden era RPG games with a generous dose of humor and parody. Adventuring, exploring ruins, accidentally unleashing the apocalypse, saving the world… you’ve done it all, and so has Argus. And, frankly, he’s a bit fed up with the whole thing. He used to be a wizard, which was fine and all, but he’s in his 30s now, and he wants to settle down and get some peace and quiet. Ty Dolla $ign – Campaign My Chemical Romance – The Black Parade / Living with Ghosts (The 10th Anniversary Edition) Mick Jenkins – The Healing Component The Legend of Tarzan The Purge: Election Year 2016 Primetime Emmy Awards – September 18 at 7/6c (ABC) Lethal Weapon – September 21 at 8/7c (FOX) Van Helsing – September 23 at 10/9c (Syfy) The information above is subject to change without notice. View the full article

Starting now, PlayStation Plus members can watch the series premiere of Fox’s The Exorcist for free — a full week before its network debut on September 23rd. Head over to PlayStation Store, on console or desktop, to watch “Chapter One: And Let My Cry Come Unto Thee,†the highly-anticipated first episode of the horror classic reimagining. The battle between good and evil rages on. But don’t wait too long — this Plus-exclusive ends Saturday, September 17th at 12:00 PM Pacific. View the full article

If you’ve read anything about VR, you’ll hear a lot of people talk about a distinct sense of place. Of being there. It really is difficult to describe to anyone who hasn’t tried VR (although these chaps do a pretty good job!). But what does that really mean? What’s different about placing you, the player, in Battlezone‘s futuristic tank cockpit in VR, versus a regular TV screen? Let us explain… Time for a Career Change We’ll spare you the history lesson, but the “traditional†way of making a cockpit is to have one imagined by concept artists, and then delivered by game artists and GUI designers (the people designing your menus, health bars, ammo counters, and so on). This was how Battlezone’s original cockpit was born, but it wasn’t long before we had to have a re-think. We quickly realized we weren’t designing a 2D prop or framing device anymore — we were making an actual place, with depth, that can be viewed in three dimensions. Left. Right. Up. Down. Forward. Back. In any direction. There was nowhere to hide. Suddenly, we were facing the exact same problems a real military tank cockpit designer would face: how to fit all these panels, all this information, all these weapons, in a small cab that a human can still operate effectively! Even harder was the fact that, unlike the military, our pilots don’t have years of tank driving training behind them. Our cockpit had to be both intuitive and fun. Ladies and gentlemen, we had just become industrial interior designers! But that was just the beginning of our difficulties… HUD-ing in the Right Direction Our second VR revelation was just as shocking. In an early Battlezone build, important button prompts such as “change weapon†were placed over the targeting reticule. This is common practice in first and third-person shooters because players are looking at the center of the screen for the most part, so this must still be true in a VR game, right? Wrong! Whether it was the distraction of being in a truly immersive VR world, or just that players have unrestricted freedom to look around them in awe, time and again people would miss crucial information placed right in front of them. It was a design conundrum. But we like a challenge! Different by DesignSo how did we meet these challenges and transport players into the cockpit of a far-future cyber tank? Well, as ever in game development, there was no silver bullet — it took months of research, cross-team collaboration, and testing to make Battlezone’s cockpit feel special. Here are just some of the approaches we took: We put important stuff in your “personal space.†You know that invisible “line†between something that’s next to you and what’s right up in your face, the boundaries of your personal space? We put the most important info on that sweet spot so that you’re naturally more drawn to it. Most important of these panels is your radar — not only is it an awesome throwback to the original 1980 Battlezone, but it’s crucial in a firefight! We distribute less important stuff in your periphery. Think of it like adjusting your mirrors in your car. It’s more fiddly than, say, reading your speed dial, as you have to turn your head. We discovered that deliberately making players peer in or lean to see information conveys a sense of depth, scale, and place, and sells your brain completely on the idea of being somewhere else. It also feels super hi-tech. Though we don’t know why! We use light and sound to catch your attention. Kind of like following the emergency lights on the aisles of a plane, we use trails to draw your eyes to important info. Audio cues and movement designed to catch your peripheral vision also help attract players’ attention naturally and quickly. This is something that isn’t possible in “2D.†We show you your weapons. A key part of grounding you in the cockpit is that you can see the weapons you’ve chosen from inside your cockpit. Move the right analog stick, and these huge weapons move in sync outside the tank in your peripheral vision. Change weapons or reload and you’ll know instinctively when the new weapon is ready from its animation! Even better, it just feels awesome to look up and see white-hot projectiles leaving a huge smoking gun. We became 80’s interior designers. VR allows you to nail the feel of your art in a way that 2D can’t. We used familiar 80’s tech such as PCs and cassette decks as the basis of all our panel and dashboard shapes, and then overlaid more industrial designs to fit with the game’s retro-futuristic style. It’s like you can almost touch the dimples on the dash textures! So that’s a little insight into the magic behind a believable VR cockpit. We’re proud to be involved in the PlayStation VR launch, and even prouder to be the first VR experience for many of the readers here. View the full article

The PlayStation.Blog team can’t wait for October 13. With the launch of PlayStation VR in North America, we’re entering a new era of gaming — one that places players directly into the worlds that developers so lovingly create. To prepare for this amazing next chapter in PlayStation history, we all donned that PlayStation VR headset and sampled a bevy of upcoming PlayStation VR titles. This week, we’re taking a look at Rez Infinite: the newest version of Tetsuya Mizuguchi’s groundbreaking audiovisual experience and one of the most compelling arguments for VR gaming. Rez Infinite launches alongside PlayStation VR on October 13 — that’s in less than a month! Rez Infinite | PlayStation.com Rez Infinite is, undeniably, the ultimate realization of Tetsuya Mizuguchi’s rhythm classic. Rez was always a marriage of music and visuals, and being immersed fully into its world is a paradigm-shifting experience. I’ve played Rez Infinite twice, and both times I’ve been completely awestruck the moment I switched the game to VR mode and saw its wireframe walls fill my field of vision. Ask Ryan and Sid — making my way through Area 3 during this session, I couldn’t help tapping my toes and bobbing my head as I fell into the trance-like state Rez tends to induce. An absolute must-have. –Justin Massongill Playing Rez Infinite in VR is special. Even more so? Taking off the headset and seeing the game playing on a 2D screen, the dazzling visuals and hypnotic sound suddenly more shallow without virtual reality. PlayStation VR has the capacity to deepen even the most well-loved classics, plunging the player into the world in a way wholly unique to the technology. Rez becomes something more than a harmony of sight and sound — it’s a world to exist inside of. –Ryan Clements Rez is as much a sensory experience as a traditional game, so it’s a perfect fit for PS VR. Combining elements of the rhythm-action and shooter genres, Rez is a largely on-rails experience. But what beautiful rails they are: the cyberpunk art style and throbbing techno score made my heart soar. –Sid Shuman View the full article

Hello everybody! Ozan from Perfectly Paranormal here and hot diggity darn are we excited to finally announce the release date for Manual Samuel on PS4! We have been dreaming about it since what feels like 1784 and the day is almost here: you’ll be able to get your hands on Samuel on October 11. And when we say “get your hands on†— we mean exactly that. Manual Samuel is a dexterity-based adventure game with some twisted game mechanics that will exercise your smile muscles. We cannot wait to bring it to your living room, basement, or bathroom (hey, we don’t judge — you do what you do!) In Manual Samuel, you have to control a recently-resurrected-from-the-dead Samuel as he needs your help to breathe, blink, walk, work, drive and keep your hard-earned body fluids from spilling all over the floor. Watching Samuel flopping around on the ground gasping for air still tickles our funny bone after two years of development. And the game has loads of stuff for you to discover. We tried to anticipate every unfortunate outcome and left in encouraging comments to you, read by a charming Narrator. You can also play co–op with your friends or even your enemies where basic tasks like walking down the stairs become a bonding experience! Maybe your enemies might even become your friends! Maybe you’ll get a date! Who knows? Anyway, always nice to talk to you guys, but I’ve got to fly and put out a fire in the Perfectly Paranormal kitchen! We really hope you enjoy the game when it releases next month. And remember: #wearpants Tudeloodooo! View the full article

Salutations, PlayStation.Blog readers. We at CCP Shanghai are incredibly excited to bring Gunjack to PlayStation VR. Our first-person arcade shooter, built from the ground up for virtual reality, will be a launch title for PlayStation VR and available on October 13. Gunjack delivers fast-paced and fully immersive action in the gorgeous, panoramic sci-fi space setting of the Eve universe. You will take on the role of a gun turret operator on the Kubera, the largest mining vessel ever constructed, in the Outer Ring region of known space. As part of the ship’s defense team, it’s up to you to protect the rig from pirates, opportunists, and anyone else looking to take what rightfully belongs to the company. As enemy ships begin their attack, you use your head to aim and the controller to fire your cannons, activate special weapons, and reload. Eliminating enemy ships can get you powers-ups such as repair modules and special weapons in the form of guided missiles, smart bombs, and lasers. Gunjack is easy to get into with its intuitive controls and intense action. In its transition to PS4, we think that PlayStation VR players will love Gunjack’s higher-resolution graphics, an enhanced audio experience, improved textures, models, and effects, Trophies, and leaderboards as well. View the full article

We’ve got a slightly more intimate show for you this week — well, less intimate than our last show, but still. Join Ryan and Justin as they talk about their adventures in New York, where they witnessed the debut of PS4 Pro and the new slimmer PS4. They also talk about BioShock: The Collection, Destiny: Rise of Iron, Steven Universe, and even a few movies! They saved those for the end of the show, though. Subscribe via iTunes, Google or RSS, or download here Stuff We Talked About PS4 Pro The slimmer, lighter PS4 BioShock: The Collection Destiny: Rise of Iron Horizon Zero Dawn Steven Universe 10 Cloverfield Lane Recent Episodes 221: Alone With Clements 220: I Left my Drone in San Francisco 219: Clash of the Titans The Cast Justin Massongill – Social Media Manager, SIEA Ryan Clements – Sr. Social Media Specialist, SIEA Send us questions and tips! blogcast@playstation.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

A Big hello from Fabrik Games. Filthy Lucre is available tomorrow, Friday 16th September, from the North America PlayStation Store, and we could not be more excited. A limited time discount means you will get the game for a steal! From tomorrow you will be able to tool up and get down to business, so let’s talk about what our game has to offer. The vision was to build a great heist game with a British style and swagger. We wanted to bring something new to the stealth action genre—something that created emergent moments and countless crazy player stories. Filthy Lucre is a tactical stealth action game you can play single player and co-op, both split screen and online. Right from the start of making Filthy Lucre we wanted to give players the choice between using stealth and action. We designed the game so that players can adapt their play-style at any time to suit the situation. This led to a lot of prototyping trying to figure out the perfect balance of these very different playstyles to answer the question – can stealth and action work together? This was a big challenge. We started out by setting up scripted heists and encounters but quickly realized we needed a more dynamic system that would respond to how you played the game. After much hair pulling and prototyping we designed the game to allow you to stay in cover, create distractions and silently take down targets, or cause mayhem with a hail of gunfire and remote explosives. You can play Filthy Lucre’s missions in a variety of ways. One option is to stay low in cover and set off distractions that pull guards off their patrol routes to give you an opportunity for a silent takedown, leaving your friend free to grab the loot! Then of course there is the more direct approach. If you’ve the guts and the grit you can go in and cause a right fuss. You’ll also find additional ammo and different weapons from guards you have taken out. Alongside the choice of stealth and action another key goal for the game was consequence – for every action there is a reaction. Consequence means your past will catch up with you. During a heist there’s a Heat level that ticks up based on your actions — anything from guards noticing alarms being tampered with, bodies being discovered or reinforcements being called into a firefight. So if you cause a ruckus, expect a response as the game reacts and escalates to your actions. The Heat level never drops in Filthy Lucre; it only ever goes up towards boiling point. Our third goal was to make sure you can have fun playing together, experiencing a mix of stealth and action, all while feeling the heat of your past catching up with you. One mechanic we introduced to co-op was Interrogate. If your partner in crime gets taken out, the guard will interrogate them causing the heat level to increase. You will have a 10 second window to decide whether you save your buddy or to run off with the goods to save your own hide! Let’s see how that plays out… This time there was honor among thieves! If you do choose to leave your buddy to the wolves your location will be revealed to the guards and they will come for you next! Filthy Lucre is your heist, your way: guns blazing or slow and stealthy, solo or co-op, but whatever you do – get out with the goods and don’t get greedy. Your past will catch up with you. We hope you enjoy playing Filthy Lucre as much as we enjoyed making it and we can’t wait to see the different ways you play the game. You’ll take on 15 missions across 5 locations, unlocking 30+ upgradable weapons and gadgets. All missions are available in single player, local co-op and online. We would love to hear your heist stories! Chat with us in the comments here, or send screenshots to @fabrikgames with the #FilthyLucre hashtag. View the full article

Hi everyone! I’m William David, game designer at Swing Swing Submarine. Today, I’d like to show you Seasons After Fall, our puzzle-adventure game coming to PS4 in 2017! Seasons After Fall has already been warmly received by critics and players on PC. We can’t wait to bewitch a whole new audience when it launches on PS4 next year! In Seasons After Fall you play as a wild fox on a perilous journey through the Forest of the Ancestors. You’ll explore beautiful, hand-painted environments across an enthralling, mysterious world ruled by nature! Your actions in the game will drastically affect and alter the environments around you. By calling upon your inner strength, you can change the seasons at will and progress in your quest. By calling upon a suitable season, or sequence of seasons, you’ll be able to overcome the various challenges you encounter on your journey. Spring raises water levels, Summer allow vines to unfurl, Fall brings mushrooms to bloom, and Winter freezes waterfalls. Adding to this enchanting atmosphere, your adventure is accompanied by the captivating sounds of a live string quartet. This music was all specially written and recorded for Seasons After Fall, and it’s one of our game’s unique elements that we’re most proud of! View the full article

You asked, we listened! Today, we’re pleased to announce that one of your most highly requested channels, HBO, is coming soon to PlayStation Vue. We’re also adding Cinemax to give you access to even more Hollywood hits and action-packed original series. Beyond PlayStation Vue, we’re also excited to announce HBO Now will soon launch on PS4 and PS3. If you subscribe to HBO through PlayStation Vue, you can access HBO Now on all supported devices at no extra charge. HBO and Cinemax on PlayStation Vue, and the HBO Now app on PS4 and PS3 will launch ahead of the October 2 premiere of the highly anticipated new drama, Westworld, created by Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy. The launch of HBO and Cinemax on PlayStation Vue will mark the first time HBO’s live programming and Cinemax’s channel will be available directly to you as standalone channel offerings, without the need for a bundle subscription. That means through PlayStation Vue, you’ll have the option to subscribe to HBO and Cinemax as standalone channels or add them to your existing PlayStation Vue plan. Both HBO and Cinemax will be available for $15 each per month through PlayStation Vue. We’re excited to make HBO and Cinemax a reality for our PlayStation Vue users later this month and to bring HBO Now to PS4 and PS3. We’ll have more news to share soon, so stay tuned to the blog for more information. You can also visit www.psvue.com. View the full article

Early on in the development of Battlezone there was one important question we had to ask ourselves: what’s better than piloting the most powerful tank in the galaxy? The answer of course was blindingly obvious: piloting the most powerful tank in the galaxy right next to your friends… who are also piloting the most powerful tanks in the galaxy! Yes, that’s right, Battlezone’s entire campaign can not only be played solo, but also in online co-op for two to four players. We’re incredibly excited about this announcement. We’ve always loved the co-op in our other games like Sniper Elite 3 and Zombie Army Trilogy, but Battlezone was a fresh slate and really allowed us to go to town with new mechanics and gameplay. The immersion of VR combined with the headsets’ built-in mics make you really feel like a badass fireteam. Nothing beats seeing your comrades-in-arms boost past you, cannons ablaze, as you take down all in your path. Co-op isn’t just a nice extra, either. Specific combinations of playstyles, loadouts, and tank types complement each other in different ways, and certain Special Equipment can be used to boost the abilities of your teammates in combat (Yes, there’s even a revive mechanic, too!). Defeat will make you stronger!If you’ve tried Battlezone at a Best Buy demo or a public show like PAX or EGX, you’ll know how empowering it feels to obliterate waves of sky and land-borne enemies into little pixels! But did you know that you couldn’t actually die in the demo? Well, defeat is a real part of the final game, and when you do lose that final life your campaign will begin anew. It’s a meaty challenge, but on your way you’ll learn new tactics, experiment with loadouts, and — most importantly — earn “Data†from fallen enemies and installations, which is important because… You’ll level up (…But so will your enemies).Tanks can be equipped with up to three weapons and one piece of “special equipment.†Saving Data earned in previous battles and playthroughs means you can spend it on new weapons, new special equipment, new modulators for your tank, and intel on the campaign map. But beware, enemies also level up at their own pace! More about that in a second… You’ll make choices with real impact. Something we haven’t talked about much is the game’s strategy. Yes, strategy! While most of your time is spent blasting The Corporation’s tanks to smithereens, behind the scenes, your strategic choices are influencing the outcome of battle. Do you spend Data on revealing secret missions and resources on the hex map, or do you save it for upgrades in the short term? Do you take a diversion to a tempting target or crucial supply point even though it risks giving the enemy more time to level up? You’ll make countless decisions like these in every playthrough. You will face your Nemesis! That terrifying purple-hued tank covered in spikes? That’s the Nemesis tank, and it’s a beast. If you allow enemy power levels to get too high they’ll drop one of these monsters onto the campaign map, and it’ll move to intercept you. Trust us when we say, you won’t forget the first encounter quickly. If only that was the toughest enemy you’ll have to face… Thanks for reading everybody, and remember to look out for live co-op sessions with the devs from launch day via Battlezone’s PlayStation Live Area! View the full article

Shu is a 2.5D platformer that blends adorable 2D hand-drawn characters with vivid 3D environments. As our plucky protagonist Shu, players will run, jump, glide, and use special abilities gained by saving villagers, as they try to outrun an apocalyptic storm hellbent on consuming the world. Game development is a very iterative process, and with Shu this rang especially true. We had ideas that sounded great on paper but didn’t quite work when brought into an emergent interactive space. This led to us overhauling parts of the game during development, which lengthened the development period, but resulted in a game that we’re much happier with. The game was initially slated for release in 2015, but late last year we reviewed our progress and decided we could do better. Some of the major revisions include: the storm (appearance and behavior), level structures (to suit the renewed focus on speedrunning), and how some of the villager powers worked. We also added new features, such as time trials and leaderboards. We’ve said before that Shu is inspired by the likes of Rayman, Klonoa, and Sonic (to name a few). Despite the tweaks, this is still very much true. We have multiple environments all of which have their own distinct style and villager pairing, providing you with new abilities and more gameplay variation. The art has also been overhauled, making each level feel that bit more immersive and alive. One major gameplay change is with character deaths. As we’ve said, along Shu’s journey you save villagers, each of which grants you a new ability. Originally these characters also acted as extra lives. If the storm caught up to Shu, it would grab one of the characters and eat them. This would grant the player extra time to escape but deduct that character’s ability from the gameplay thereon. We loved how bittersweet this idea was, but in practice we found it created a whole host of problems. Chiefly, it meant designing multiple paths through each level. You would think variation in this regard would be a bonus, but in practice it meant players could be punished with a duller route than those who managed to keep all of the villagers alive. We’re confident that removing this punishing mechanic has resulted in a more enjoyable experience. We didn’t just remove features however, we added plenty too. When exhibiting Shu demos at events, we noticed that players were particularly enjoying the time trial competitions we were setting up. This led us to doubling our focus on speedrunning, tweaking the gameplay, achievements, and leaderboards to make the most of this aspect. We hope that this competitive element will give you another layer of enjoyment. We are keen to see who makes it to the top of the boards! Support for PS Vita is something that we feel very strongly about, and we have been working hard to provide a comparable experience on both platforms. Shu feels right at home on the Vita and offers a great experience. To show our commitment to bringing Shu to Vita we have developed some exclusive content that will only be available on the handheld. Shu will also feature a platinum trophy on both PS4 and PS Vita, and yes, it will be Cross Buy enabled! We’re confident the delayed release has allowed us to improve the game a great deal. We’ve ironed out a lot of kinks while also improving the overall flow and visual style of the game, resulting in an experience that we’ll be proud to share with you soon. You can pick up our hand-drawn, lovingly crafted game digitally from October 4th 2016 on PS4 for $11.99 and will be launched on PS Vita in Q4 2016. Pick it up on PS4 first, and you’ll get it free on Vita when it launches. View the full article

Can’t wait until October 13 to get your hands on PlayStation VR? PlayStation and our friends at Taco Bell are serving up the opportunity to win a Taco Bell/PlayStation VR Launch Bundle several days before it officially goes on sale. From September 15 through October 19, you can pick up a specially-marked $5 Taco Bell Big Box at participating Taco Bell locations and text in the code on the box for a chance to win. One winner will be selected approximately every 15 minutes! The prize pack includes one PlayStation VR headset, two PlayStation Move motion controllers, a PlayStation Camera, and a $40 PlayStation Store credit that can be used toward the game of your choice. Winners will begin receiving their prize packs in early October. For additional details, rules, and instructions on how to enter, please head to the official site: www.tacobell.com/winpsvr. We’re pleased to be partnering with Taco Bell once again and can’t wait for all of you to experience PlayStation VR! Good luck! View the full article

Hello again PlayStation fans! Lots of you are familiar with what we’ve shown of Resident Evil 7 so far, from the first phone ring of the reveal trailer to the desperation of a mysterious woman on a frantic escape from a derelict mansion. Now we’re back with an exciting and disturbing new trailer, news about the RE7 Teaser: Beginning Hour demo, and more! More Resident Evil 7 Screens We’ve been expanding upon the world of Resident Evil 7 and the mysterious plantation house in Louisiana in which the game takes place, hinting at the terrors that lie within, and many of you have had the chance to experience these horrors for yourself by playing the Resident Evil 7 Teaser: Beginning Hour demo. Of course, you know I’m here to talk about more than that… We’ve just announced a new update for the demo, the Twilight version update, which expands on what you can do and explore. The update will be available starting tomorrow, September 15th. That’s not all – this demo will be available for every PlayStation 4 user, meaning that PlayStation Plus is no longer required to gain access to the plantation house and dig in to the mansion’s mysteries. Now is your chance to investigate on your own, as both newcomers and veterans of Beginning Hour will be able to see what’s changed in the run-down rooms and decrepit corridors. We’ve also got some exciting news about the Digital Deluxe version of the game available for pre-order on PSN for North America. While the Digital Deluxe edition previously offered the game and a season pass for two additional story episodes for $79.99 in North America, we’ll be upgrading that version with an additional playable story episode to the mix starting tomorrow, and shifting the price to $89.99. If you’ve already pre-ordered the deluxe edition on the North American PS Store, there’s nothing to worry about; your pre-order will be automatically upgraded at no additional charge. In addition, all pre-order customers of either the standard or deluxe versions will get a bunch of bonuses, such as the Survival Pack: Recovery Set. This set includes consumable healing items to help you endure the horrors that await (and don’t worry, these consumables are available again each time you start a new game). Also included is a mysterious in-game Lucky Coin item, as well as access to the deviously difficult Madhouse mode, normally unlocked after completing the game once. On top of all that, all PS4 pre-orders on the PlayStation Store will instantly receive a dynamic theme for their PS4. So head over to PS Store and pre-order RE7 now! And don’t forget: Resident Evil 7 biohazard will be fully playable in the included optional PlayStation VR mode to provide a fully immersive experience when fear comes home on January 24th, 2017. View the full article

Hello there, PlayStation.Blog readers! We’re getting more and more excited as release day approaches, and so today we’re sharing a bit of that excitement with the release of a new dev diary video. This time we’re looking at some of the ways we created the immersive and believable VR world of Robinson: The Journey. Many elements have played a role in building the Robinson universe, but one thing that stood out more than anything was our attention to detail. Since the world of Robinson is littered with debris from the crashed spaceship Esmeralda, we obsessed over every manmade and natural object in the world and handcrafted each item with an extensive backstory, design, and function in mind. This ranges from a simple food box with correct nutritional facts written on it to the evacuation plan of an 11 kilometer long spaceship. But our visuals weren’t the only thing that needed a lot of attention to detail. Sound is just as important in creating a convincing VR world. If, for example, you see a bird take off — not only can you actually hear that it is getting farther and farther away, you can also hear in which direction it is flying — and all of these sounds create realistic echoes. Each of these elements make the environments of Robinson feel like a part of a living, breathing world — and we can’t wait for you to get lost in it! View the full article

Hello, everyone! My name is David Leon, and I’m the studio head of Lince Works, the studio behind Aragami. Today we want to announce our release date. Here it goes… Aragami is coming on October 4! To us, this is a huge deal — we’ve been working on Aragami for over two years, and finally we will be able to share our game with PS4 fans worldwide. In case you haven’t heard about our game, Aragami is a third-person stealth game in which you have the power to control the shadows. As Aragami, you take on the role of an undead assassin who was brought back to life by Yamiko — a princess that is imprisoned by Kaiyo, the army of light. She is the key to bringing you back to life, and also the key to figuring out your past. Using your shadow powers, you will be able to teleport between shadows, create shadow paths to avoid detection by enemies, create shadow decoys and weapons, and even summon shadow creatures that will strangle or decapitate your enemies. We’ve catered the game to two distinct playstyles — Ghosts and Demons. Ghosts are the type of players that prefer to be silent assassins that leave no traces behind. Demons, on the other hand, are brutal killing machines that love to vanquish every enemy in the area. Whichever playstyle you choose, you will not be punished for your choice, and if you want, you can mix and match your styles for whatever the occasion calls. With Aragami, we really wanted to bring that feeling of stealth back into games. Over the last few years, we feel the genre has become a bit watered down. Being spotted by an enemy is no longer cause for an alarm — it doesn’t really matter anymore. We want to change that. We want players to feel real tension — calculating your next move, planning your attack wisely, and using your head as well as your reflexes. Aragami will give you around 8-10 hours of gameplay, more if you want to find all the collectibles. You will also have the chance to play Aragami with your friend in online co-op. And to all the trophy hunters — yes, there is a Platinum trophy to collect! Aragami will be available at retail and at PlayStation Store, thanks to our friends at Merge Games Publishing. And there is also a collector’s edition available as well (big thanks to them!). Thank you for reading and letting us share the news! We are super excited by all of this, and I hope that you guys felt a bit of excitement too. We hope to see you guys in Aragami’s world on October 4! Plus, if you have any comments, feedback, or questions — don’t be shy and let us know what you think below in the comments! View the full article