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Commander Fury

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Everything posted by Commander Fury

  1. Commander Fury
    Hi! This is Keita and Robin here to share with you this first glimpse of our new project at Funomena. When we told people that we had begun to collaborate on a new game, they were very curious about what it could be. It is called “Wattamâ€. The idea for this game came from when Keita was playing with his two-year old son, and wondered about what if all toys lived, and connected by themselves? It would be such a fun world to explore and play with! The word “Wattam†itself is actually composed of the Tamil and Japanese words for “making a circle” or “making a loop”. The initial prototype for this game was made by Keita and his friend Vikram, who are from these two cultures respectively, and this new word acknowledges one of the game’s core inspirations: making connections between different types of things. But what you’ll see here today is actually about a square-shaped person. It is a sneak peek into the life of the Mayor of the world of Wattam. We hope you enjoy meeting him, and the other characters of Wattam, as we reveal them throughout 2015. Until then, we wish you relaxing holidays and a lovely New Year! All the news from PlayStation Experience Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End First Gameplay MLB 15 The Show Out 3/31 for PS4, PS3, and PS Vita Destiny Expansion I: First Look at the PS-Exclusive Mars Strike – The Undying Mind Tripwire Interactive bringing Killing Floor 2 to PS4 – The Time is Right! The Forest: Open-World Survival Horror Comes to PlayStation Madness Awaits You…In the Darkest Dungeon Bastion Coming to PS4, Vita Next Year Orcs Must Die! is Invading PlayStation for the First Time! Skytorn Coming to PS4 Severed Coming to Vita in Spring 2015 Shovel Knight Digs into PS4, PS3, PS Vita in 2015 Batman Arkham Knight: Ace Chemicals Infiltration Part 3 and a First Look at the Scarecrow Nightmare Missions Suikoden II Coming to PSN Street Fighter V: Console Exclusive to PS4, First Gameplay Video Super Time Force Ultra Headed to PS4,Vita Tim Schafer on Why You Need to Check Out Grim Fandango on PS4 & PS Vita Fat Princess Adventures announced for PS4 Introducing Wattam, the new PS4 game from Katamari Damacy creator Keita Takahashi Enter the Gungeon Coming to PS4 in 2015 Introducing What Remains of Edith Fitch, a New PS4 Exclusive The Order: 1886 at PlayStation Experience Tearaway Unfolded: New Trailer Revealed Yakuza 5 Announced at PlayStation Experience New No Man’s Sky Videos Revealed Drawn to Death, a Hand-Drawn Arena Shooter, Coming to PS4 Introducing Project SkyLight: Limited Edition Faceplates to Personalize Your PS4 View the full article
  2. Commander Fury
    Tonight at The Game Awards in Las Vegas, we unveiled new footage from Bloodborne, the upcoming action RPG exclusively for PS4 from developers FromSoftware and SCE Japan Studio. This video showcases a new area in the game, culminating with a confrontation with the mysterious and fearsome hunter Gascoigne. It also demonstrates some of the expanded scope of multiplayer interactivity fans can expect. We have much more in store for you. Those who will join us at PlayStation Experience this weekend have a chance to see the reveal of a brand new gameplay feature. We are so excited to meet those of you will have made this journey to Las Vegas to celebrate the birth and future of PlayStation. View the full article
  3. Commander Fury
    It was almost exactly one year ago that we . So when Geoff Keighley gave us another amazing invitation to show it on The Game Awards 2014, of course we jumped.It’s kind of fitting that we should show you how the game looks today. In one year, we’ve done so much. The galaxy is fuller of life and consequence. We constantly find ourselves facing unexpected situations, and surrounded by unfamiliar forms. So here’s a tiny window into it: a new No Man’s Sky trailer, exclusively unveiled at The Game Awards tonight. We wanted to take you on a journey to demonstrate five ways you’ll travel through No Man’s Sky’s infinite worlds. From hearing a distress signal, we find ourselves spanning the galaxy. It’s just one story that you could find yourself writing as you play. There are so many more. That’s not all for No Man’s Sky. Watch out for more from us over the weekend at PlayStation Experience, including tomorrow night. We’re so excited. If you’re here with us in Las Vegas, please come. And if you’re at home you can catch it on Twitch. We can’t wait to experience it with you. View the full article
  4. Commander Fury
    I grew up playing the King’s Quest games at my uncle’s house, and it remains my favorite game series of all time. I still remember the simple joy of typing in “eat carrot” and discovering that Graham would actually respond. The day I solved the Cliffs of Logic puzzle before my uncle did stands as one of my proudest achievements in gaming. These titles were brimming with wonder, humor, engaging puzzles, and delightful gameplay, all wrapped up in a charming story that players of any age could appreciate. King’s Quest means something to everyone here at The Odd Gentlemen. It’s a part of who we are. And it’s why we are so proud to continue its tradition in a new and fully reimagined King’s Quest. Today we get to show the first footage of a game we’ve poured our hearts into for nearly a year now. From the beginning, we wanted to celebrate where King’s Quest came from while opening new areas for it to explore. Our game opens with King Graham — revered as the greatest adventurer who ever lived — sharing his life’s escapades with his curious granddaughter, Gwendolyn. It is through these tales that Gwendolyn discovers the true greatness of her grandfather. And it’s through these tales that we hope to impart to a new generation of gamers what makes King’s Quest so worth remembering. It was always very important to us to earn the approval of King’s Quest’s original creators, and so I was extremely nervous when we finally met Roberta and Ken Williams. We’ve felt so humbled to carry on Sierra’s legacy, and here were the people who actually founded the company — who gave us King’s Quest thirty years ago. Would they like our game? Did we find the right balance of gameplay and storytelling? Would our work resonate as powerfully for them as theirs had for us? It’s one thing to meet your heroes — it’s another thing entirely to try to live up to their accomplishments. My anxiety subsided as soon as the Williams’ stepped into the room. It was one of the most magical experiences of my career. Roberta and Ken are wonderful people, full of joy and true sages of adventure game knowledge. We showed them our concept art, dove into the overall story, and finally presented the game. The room was filled with smiles, laughs, and wows. We even got to have a very intimate conversation with Roberta on the future of Sierra, King’s Quest, and The Odd Gentlemen. Hearing advice from someone who has always inspired you is nothing short of amazing. Through the meeting we discovered how aligned our creative ideals are and how much we have in common. We left feeling very energized about the work we’re doing. And that was before we received this message from Roberta: To Matt and Lindsey, I, too, wish to thank you for a lovely morning yesterday re-living — to some extent — my old life as a Sierra game designer. I admit that I was a bit skeptical at first, and also somewhat nervous because I haven’t been in the computer game industry (notice I call it computer game industry rather that the video game industry; that shows how far back I go!) in too many years to contemplate! But you guys blew me away with your ideas, your creativity, and the beauty of the newest King’s Quest game. But best of all, I could see that you truly are the ones to take King’s Quest into the 21st century and reintroduce it to a whole new generation. You totally have it down! I can’t wait to see how it develops, I can’t wait to play it myself — and I truly can’t wait to see how it blows away the competition! Best to you — Roberta King’s Quest turns the page on a new chapter next fall on PS4 and PS3, and we can’t wait to share more with you in the coming months. Until then, we’ll be reading your questions and comments below and responding where we can. We’d love to hear what fond memories you’ve held onto from your own adventures! View the full article
  5. Commander Fury
    Hey there, Resogun fans. Ian Pickles from XDEV Studio Europe here with some big Resogun news coming straight from our good friends at Housemarque. As some of you may have seen in our last update, we’ve been busy working on the final expansion pack for Resogun, and are pleased to announce that Resogun: Defenders will be with you in early 2015. The Defenders DLC will be $4.99, and is also included in the Season Pass if you’ve already pre-purchased the content. We’re really excited about this expansion and can’t wait to share some more details with you over the next few weeks. What we can share right now is that the expansion will feature 2 all-new game modes — Protector and Commando — new ships, and all new planets featuring some of our most detailed artwork to date. We’ll also be releasing a major content patch for all players alongside the expansion pack. This patch, code named “Challengers” will update the game with new challenges and feats stretching across all existing game modes and will let you earn challenge points to increase your rank as a Resogun pilot. The patch is a free update for all Resogun PS4 owners. What’s more is that we’re very pleased to announce that both the content patch and expansion will be available to play this weekend exclusively at PlayStation Experience in Vegas! We’ll be back here in the coming weeks with lots more information regarding the patch and expansion, so stay tuned. View the full article
  6. Commander Fury
    Hey, PlayStation fans! Greg Bauman here from Edge of Reality, the lunatics behind Loadout. Last week, we told you that Loadout was going to launch on PS4 in the near future, but today I’m here to tell you just how near the future is: you’ll be able to download and play Loadout for free via PlayStation Store on Tuesday, December 16th, 2014. We’ve put together a launch trailer that shows off all the incredible stuff that PS4 players are going to get this month. Seriously, we’ve got a lot in store for everyone. It’s not just the billions of guns — we’d feel downright rude if we weren’t including the billions of guns. No, there’s way more that we’ve packed into Loadout. Take a look at some of it here… and pay attention near the end for an extra treat! We agonized for weeks over what we ought to get you guys for the holidays. I mean, we were already giving you all these guns and all the ammo to go with them — so what do you get for the PlayStation fan who has everything? That’s when it hit us: you help them to be a PlayStation fan. The launch of Loadout on PS4 is going to include the SuperFan Bonus Pack for PlayStation Plus members as a free gift from us to you! Slather up your character with some stylish and only slightly radioactive body paint in the classic PS4-themed blue and whites. Heck, if you get some red splattered in there — just saying, it’s a possibility — it becomes patriotic. See, it works on lots of levels! Speaking of Super Fans, we’re even inviting a bunch of PlayStation 4 fans to go hands-on with the game at PlayStation Experience this weekend! Loadout will be there in Las Vegas alongside a bunch of other incredible upcoming PS4 titles. You can join us at the Sands Expo and Convention Center, where we’ll be meeting and greeting fans, comparing gun choices, arguing who could beat who in a fight, and showing off Loadout on PS4 for the first time. Seriously, is there any more appropriate venue for us to be debuting Loadout on PS4 than Las Vegas? Our game is as shiny and exciting as any casino; it’s just that instead of shooting craps, you shoot the crap out of everyone. Add a horde of hardcore PS4 fans into the mix for PlayStation Experience, and I think the odds are pretty great for us to all have a wonderful time. For everyone who can’t join us in Vegas, you’ll be able to experience Loadout in just about two weeks, rendered in all the gruesome detail that PS4 can provide. We can’t wait to see all of you running around in our world. So, if you’re looking to try Loadout for yourself, we hope to see you this weekend in Vegas. If you can’t make it, we’ll miss you, but the game will be out pretty soon after that. We won’t miss you anymore at that point; we’ll be using laser-guided bouncy rockets by then. To sum up: free gift for PlayStation Plus, friend-annihilating fun times, and a gigantic pile of different gun combinations, all showing up on your PS4 on December 16th, just in time for the season of giving away all of your ammo at high speed. See you at PlayStation Experience! View the full article
  7. Commander Fury
    Hi PlayStation fans. I’m excited to announce that Super Stardust Ultra is blasting its way onto PS4 in early 2015 for $12.99! For those of you who aren’t familiar with the Super Stardust series, the critically acclaimed Super Stardust HD by talented developer Housemarque was originally released on PS3 in 2007, followed up on PSP and most recently on PS Vita as Super Stardust Delta in 2012. This timeless shoot ‘em up has you pilot a start fighter in the depths of space, defending planets against the onslaught of enemy attacks in the midst of a deadly meteor storm. Your mission is simple: use split second timing and pure arcade skill to make every shot count and destroy everything in your path. Super Stardust Ultra, has an array of new planets, glorious visual enhancements, and includes no less than nine different game modes, including new modes and established favorites from the series and its various add-ons. With the PS4 socially connected features, you can now show the world your skills in the new Interactive Streaming game mode, letting your viewers vote periodically to change up your gameplay as they watch. Because Super Stardust has always been about achieving high scores, we have added the feature that allows you to directly send and receive challenges from your online friends; or you can simply compare your scores across the global leaderboards. If you don’t fancy flying solo, you can also compete against friends in 2-4 player split-screen battles or team up in co-op mode. Super Stardust Ultra has been developed by D3T and XDEV and this latest edition in the Super Stardust series brings the spirit of Stardust to PS4 with new features, new gameplay, incredible depth and variety, and the best graphics possible, making it the most definitive and best version of Stardust ever! Keep checking back for more Super Stardust Ultra news, as we’ll have updates and a release date for you all very soon. View the full article
  8. Commander Fury
    Epic explosions; voxels crumbling in raging torrents; impossible maneuvers to dodge dozens of enemies. One year later, Resogun is still as mesmerizing as it ever has been on PS4, and I’m pleased to announce today that Resogun is coming to PS3 and PS Vita for $14.99. That’s right Resofans, starting December 23rd you’ll be able to save the last humans anywhere, anytime. The development team at Climax has done everything possible to make the PS3 and PS Vita versions of the game the very best they can be for each device, and I think you’ll be very impressed with what they have managed to achieve. Picking a game that was created specifically for PS4 and bringing it to PS Vita and PS3 is very difficult, and the hardest compromise to accept during development, especially in regard to performance and graphics, is that these platforms don’t have the capability and power of PS4. Duly, the biggest technical difference is that the PS Vita and PS3 games run at 30 instead of 60 frames per second. This was a very difficult decision to consider, but a very necessary one to allow the team to focus on what was possible and to make the best game possible for both of these platforms. The framerate is locked, so you can expect solid performance even under a big storm of voxels. It’s a great achievement that all of the features present in the original PS4 release are here in the PS Vita and PS3 versions and that the game is as addictive as ever, in great part due to having been tuned specifically for these versions. The results are amazing, and having also worked closely with the team at Housemarque throughout this past year to help them create the expansions for the PS4 game, I’ve especially enjoyed playing the PS Vita version, with plenty of people looking over my shoulder in disbelief at how the game looks and plays. Because we don’t want you to miss anything, the PS3 and PS Vita games have cross save functionality, so you can share your progress between both platforms. The PS Vita version also has ad-hoc co-op so that you can team up with a friend. It also makes use of the touch features so you can fully customize the controls, using either the face buttons or the touch controls for any action possible. You can even throw humans with a swipe of your fingers on the rear touch pad! I am pleased to confirm that these two versions will be cross buy — so if you own Resogun on your PS4, you will be able to download these for free! We are officially declaring December as Resogun month, so stay tuned for more news about the PS3 and PS Vita versions, details of the next PS4 expansion, and much more. Thank you for reading and sharing! View the full article
  9. Commander Fury
    Just a few more days until PlayStation Experience takes over Las Vegas! As promised, here’s the full schedule for panels for on-site PlayStation Experience attendees; see below for our planned livestream content schedule, which we’ll be streaming live on Twitch.tv/PlayStation. Protip: You definitely won’t want to miss the opening keynote presentation at 10am Pacific Time Saturday. If you can’t make it to the show (boo!), you’ll still be able to watch Saturday morning’s keynote presentation, live gameplay demos, and excerpts from select panels (yay!) on PlayStation’s Twitch channel. See below for our planned livestream schedule. TWITCH LIVESTREAM SCHEDULE Saturday, December 6th 10:00am PlayStation Experience keynote 11:30am Dying Light live gameplay 12:00pm Destiny: The Dark Below gameplay 12:30pm Virtual Reality: A New Era for Games (live panel) 1:30pm The Tomorrow Children live gameplay 2:00pm God of War: Retrospective (live panel excerpt) 2:30pm World Wide Studios Town Hall (live discussion) 3:00pm No Man’s Sky gameplay and discussion 3:300pm The Journey of Diablo III on PS4 (live panel excerpt) 4:00pm Tearaway Unfolded PS4 live gameplay 4:30pm LittleBigPlanet 3 Community Creations 5:00pm Inside the Dev Studio (live panel) 6:00pm Hohokum Live Music Jam – Featuring Ghostly International DJ’s Shigeto & Michna 9:00pm A Night Under No Man’s Sky Sunday, December 7th 10:30am Opening welcome and recap with special guests 11:00am The Witness live gameplay 11:30am Grim Fandango Remastered live gameplay 12:00pm The Tomorrow Children live gameplay 12:30pm Prototype to Product (live panel excerpt) 1:00pm Lara Croft & The Temple of Osiris live gameplay 1:30pm World Wide Studios Town Hall (live discussion) 2:00pm Far Cry 4: From the Developer’s Mind to the Gamer (live panel excerpt) 2:30pm Amplitude live gameplay 3:00pm Tearaway: How Media Molecule Built a Living Papery World 4:00pm Secret Mystery Game live gameplay 4:30pm Axiom Verge live gameplay 5:00pm Story Time (live panel) Stay in touch for more details at official PlayStation Experience headquarters as we move into a historic weekend. See you soon! View the full article
  10. Commander Fury
    Hi all, We’re excited that PS Experience is just around the corner, and in leading up to the show… we have an interesting poll for PlayStation Network users and fans of SNK / NEOGEO to participate in here on the official PS.Blog. Together with SCEA 3rd Party Productions, and in commemoration of next year’s 25th Anniversary of the AES & MVS, SNK PLAYMORE is very happy to bring back some of our best NEOGEO content to current-gen hardware / PSN – starting with METAL SLUG 3 on PS4 and PS Vita (compatible with PlayStation TV) platforms, as well as PS3. Being that we’re curious as to what the fanbase is looking for, please vote for which title(s) you would love to see on PSN in the near future! Make sure to spread the word that we’re asking for feedback from the fans via this poll, and listening to what you guys have to say. Please vote for one (or more?) title(s): ART OF FIGHTING 2 FATAL FURY SPECIAL GAROU: MARK OF THE WOLVES THE KING OF FIGHTERS ’97 THE KING OF FIGHTERS 2000 THE LAST BLADE 2 METAL SLUG X NEO TURF MASTERS REAL BOUT FATAL FURY 2: THE NEWCOMERS SAMURAI SHODOWN II SAMURAI SHODOWN V SPECIAL SENGOKU 3 SHOCK TROOPERS: 2nd SQUAD TWINKLE STAR SPRITES THE ULTIMATE 11: SNK FOOTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP For those of you who will be making the trip to Las Vegas this weekend, be sure to stop by our PS Experience Booth (I-9) and test out both PS4 & PS Vita versions of METAL SLUG 3! View the full article
  11. Commander Fury
    Hey Playstation Nation! Come join the entire LittleBigPlanet community to set the official Guinness record for most user generated LittleBigPlanet levels in a 24 hour period. From 3pm (PST) Saturday December 6th to 3pm (PST) Sunday, December 7th we will be tallying every user generated level from LittleBigPlanet, LittleBigPlanet 2, LittleBigPlanet 3, and LittleBigPlanet Vita. To participate in the first ever LittleBigPlanet Sack-a-thon simply hop on your console and create a level. Think of it as a marathon of handcrafted creativity for Sackfolk across the globe. Don’t forget to spread the word and share your masterpieces through Facebook / Twitter / YouTube – especially if you’re playing on the PS4 (it’s only one button away)! Sack-a-thon’s world record attempt will be monitored on site at the PlayStation Experience in Las Vegas where the a Guinness World Record official will be keeping track. You will be able to follow along by keeping an eye on LBP on Twitter. Additionally, the best creations will be featured throughout PlayStation Experience, giving your hard work the laurels and accolades it deserves. Get your creations ready! View the full article
  12. Commander Fury
    We’re back with more news about N++! Before we get into that, we want to let you know that we (and N++!) will be at Playstation Experience (December 6-7, Booth # I31)! In addition to showing the game, we’re also hosting a panel where we’ll discuss the development of N++. See you there! The question on everybody’s mind is probably “when the heck is N++ going to come out?!â€, or possibly “what the heck is N++?†– for the answers to those questions and more, check out our devblog and tumblr. For now, we’d like to announce that N++ will have a groundbreaking 1000 levels, and we’d like to tell you more about how they’re made. Settle in, this is a detailed process. N++ is a game that lives and dies by its levels, so making great levels is one of the main things we are making sure we nail. We at Metanet Software have been hand-crafting levels for the N series for ten years now (!), and have made somewhere upwards of 5000 in that time, which is equivalent to more than one level made every single day for ten years. We started making levels for N++ in 2010, and have amassed about 2000 to refine for N++, which will likely become about 1000 in the final game after we cull the weaker ones. That’s a lot of levels! How do we know when there are enough levels in the game? Tough question. The simple answer is, we listen to our hearts We really enjoy the process of making levels, and even though it’s safe to say we’re pretty good at it by now, we’re always learning: more recent levels tend to be a bit better, and older ones always get more interesting the more we work on them and revise. We have a particular style or design aesthetic, but it has grown and changed over time. Plus, we added new enemies just for N++, and we keep learning new ways to use them. Every time we go through the levels, we tweak them and change things, and that won’t really stop until the game ships! Here’s how we do it. Making a good N++ level takes anywhere from five minutes to an hour, depending on the complexity of the level. We get inspiration from all sorts of places: from architecture and the shapes of the structures around us; from typography; from graphic design, print design, and images; and from thinking about level mechanisms or ideas for puzzles. Often we find new ideas while designing other levels (sometimes we get an idea for a branch or sister-level) and occasionally levels grow on their own as we start mindlessly sketching in the editor. You can either start building a level based on the aesthetics or the mechanics, but at some point during the process, they intertwine. The natural tendency is to always want to add more stuff, so a large part of level design comes down to knowing when to stop. One of the best ways to summarize this game is: N++: Tough but fair. But tough. That’s one of the things we think about when designing the levels; another is the design of the game itself. Firstly, it’s a single-screen platformer, which is important for two main reasons: A single-screen level means players don’t have to make any leaps of faith where they can’t see what’s below them. That’s one of the things that we always find unfair in games; in N++, it would really be frustrating. It means players can plan their route through a level all at once, since they can see the whole thing on screen. The nature of N++ is that sometimes those plans don’t work out, but aspiring ninjas have split seconds to think on their feet and try to find a solution to the problem of impending death. Second, it’s a very acrobatic game, where your momentum and inertia allow precise control of the ninja, and allow you to pull off a variety of interesting moves purely based on your speed and agility. Because it’s so engaging to move quickly and fluidly through levels, we often design them around that movement, thinking about the many ways players might move through a space, and peppering their journey with challenges. We like to make levels more open and expansive to give people plenty of options and ways to express their own play style, but sometimes we make levels very cramped to give things a claustrophobic feel and test your skills. Actually, that’s why we’ve added viewable replays to all of the highscores in N++ – it’s really interesting to watch different people play and see how the choices they’ve made are different from the ones you might make. Sometimes all the replays are the same basic path, until someone discovers a new or faster way through the level – when you’ve been watching for a while, those moments are incredibly cool to see. Each level serves a different purpose (or combination of purposes), and designing great levels means we need to understand the variety of reasons people are playing, from the people who are just learning, to the people who are playing to get highscores or speed runs, to people playing at a party, or those playing competitively. Making the experience enjoyable for everyone is not an easy task, but it can be pretty rewarding when we get it right. Up to this point, we’ve covered how we make levels, but that’s only half the battle: the next step is organizing them into episodes and ordering them for the game. Let’s break that down. When we’re finished creating levels, we rigorously test them. As we play, we pay attention to difficulty and to what we call quality. There’s a “specialness” about some levels – it may be a unique level mechanic, a captivating drone pattern, or a really fun jump – some levels just have a little something extra about them. Contrary to what you might think, not every level should be “specialâ€: that would be overwhelming – levels lose what makes them special when they are not at least somewhat rare. Sometimes a well-placed calm level can make the following level feel even more intense, or alternately can give you a brief moment of respite. Every double act needs a “straight personâ€, which in N++’s case is solid skill-builders or quick little jaunts – simple, but as always, aesthetically pleasing, well-oiled machines designed to kill ninjas. We rate the difficulty of every level as we review them, noting changes that need to be made or tweaks that would make a level easier or harder depending on what is lacking (ok let’s be honest, we almost never need to make a level harder! Most of them are already pretty hard), and re-rating after every substantial change. We have an 8-level scale to measure the difficulty of any level: When they’re all rated, they’re ready to be organized into the Episode Grid. We start by organizing sets of 5 levels into an episode that feels both balanced and dynamic. We put a few each of “special†and standard levels, and a few difficulties – an easy episode is not simply 5 easy levels, but 3 easy, 1 easy-medium and maybe 1 medium just to keep things interesting and provide a bit of a dramatic arc: N++ is about skill-building, and we want players to relish the journey. Episodes are ~5 minute challenges, so they’re like a little snack — and while we’re on that food metaphor, each level is like a different flavour (eg salty, sweet, umami, sour) that combines with the others to make the perfect bite. Then we organize episodes into a grid of columns and rows, getting gradually more difficult diagonally down-right in the grid. We play through several times to tweak the order of each column and try to make sure there aren’t many huge spikes in difficulty. We’ve had the chance to watch a bunch of people of varying skill levels play N++ in the past year, and we’ve absorbed a lot about how people play and how people learn. One thing that is not obvious at first is that every person’s experience, skill level and play style is completely different. As we’ve discussed, N++ is a very performative game — each player has the opportunity to show their skills in their own personalized way — and this is part of what makes watching people, and watching replays, really interesting. For example, some people can lead a rocket around until the end of time, but some find them terrifyingly difficult. Some people are aces at bounceblocks, leaping around levels like an acrobat, and some use them for the task at hand and leave it at that. Some people enjoy taking the long route, and some prefer taking a short but risky path. And along all of those journeys, the particular flow of acceleration and deceleration, jumps and landings, lives and deaths is unique and nuanced. Each ninja is an individual, an avatar reflecting its player and their unique personality. It’s beautiful. “Each ninja is an individual, an avatar reflecting its player and their unique personality.” But that same beauty makes organizing levels into an order that is the same for all players incredibly difficult, if not impossible, because of the various ways players’ skills take shape. If you personally find chaingun drones impossible, you’re going to hit a spike that someone else won’t. Our main goal is to make every N++ player feel they’ve gotten their money’s worth regardless of their skill level, so this is the purpose of organizing levels in a grid instead of a line – if a level is too difficult, you can move over to the next column and try a new one, and you can always go back and try again later. N++ has 5 rows and 20 columns of episodes (sets of 5 levels), so at any given time there are 20 episodes unlocked for players to try (a respectable 20% of all episodes). As you play, you unlock the episode below the one you’ve just finished – but you don’t have to play them top to bottom and left to right, you can start at any unlocked episode and jump around the grid as you please. Why are any episodes locked at all, you ask? N++ is a delicate balance of frustration and satisfaction: if the levels are too easy, you don’t get a feeling of accomplishment from beating them. They need to be just difficult enough, the progression just deadly enough to keep you coming back for just one more try, instead of throwing your controller at your tv in a murderous rage. Our principal goal as level designers is to make you, the player, feel that you got this – and if it’s slightly beyond your skills, to know that you can get there. The game world needs to feel fair and predictable, and you need to know that if you screw up, it’s your fault. Sounds harsh, but that’s where the satisfaction comes in as well: when you beat that level that you’ve been stuck on, you get a surge of pride because you know it was your own skill that made that victory possible. It’s all about you. So if the game’s levels are too hard, your skills feel futile, the game feels unfair, and any fun you were having is overwhelmed by your frustration. It’s a fine line for us to walk. That’s why we made the call to restrict access to some levels until you’ve earned your way to them – we don’t want you to feel too frustrated, too soon. We know N++ is a game that is not everyone’s cup of tea, but we want to make sure we don’t alienate people too early. We’ve been talking generally about level design, but let’s briefly examine how that changes with each game mode. As you can imagine, each game mode in N++ has slightly different requirements of its levels. At a basic level, multiplayer levels need to be able to accommodate more than one player, and ideally in an interesting or unusual way compared to single player. This is one of the things that has kept level design interesting to us, even after ten years and 5000 levels – there is a lot of new ground in multiplayer. It’s refreshing! Single-Player: These highly varied levels often showcase one element or type of move, highlighting it as a tool aspiring ninjas can use. Later levels may combine elements for a series of challenges. The overall undercurrent of these levels is about developing one’s skills, perception of one’s mistakes, and the knowledge that the road to victory is paved with “just one more tryâ€s. Co-op: These levels are generally harder, since you’re a team, and tend to be more adventure themed – they are sprawling, have multiple enemies, and multiple rooms/locations. They are designed for two players, and can be played with up to 4 players, but only one player needs to hit the exit alive to win the level — and sometimes one player must sacrifice themselves for the greater good of the team. (LIFE LESSON.) Levels are built so that either each player has specific job only they can do, or any player can do any job. This encourages you to plan together and solve the puzzles together, divvying up tasks depending on your skills. The overall undercurrent is about the value of the team, and working together to succeed. Race: These levels are more linear than the others, so the playing field is even, and it comes down to skill…And sometimes luck. They’re highly competitive, and are playable by a whole range of skill-levels. As we developed the rules, we discovered that making the player become a rocket when they win so they can go back and kill the remaining ninjas was so fun and strategic, we made it a staple and have recently revised a lot of Race levels to add rocket windows or rocket turning space near the exit. Also interesting to note, Race levels usually assume a few lives will be spent retrying, and there are sometimes persistent effects across those lives. The level may get easier, if you die and explode a bunch of mines, clearing the path for your (or your competition’s) next life. Or it may get harder, if you lead a chase drone over to the spawn point, or turn a bunch of toggle mines on, ready and waiting to kill you next time. Racing requires some thought about potential outcomes, both as a player and as a level designer. The overall undercurrent of these levels is learning sneaky ways to use the elements of the level against your opponents and win the race. Userlevels: Levels designed by players are historically very different than those made by Metanet. The most common usually require very tight control and precision, and are firmly about aesthetics only as secondary to the challenge. These are levels built by and for an elite niche of the ultra-skilled. Watching replays of people succeeding on these levels is really amazing. But there is a fantastic range of ideas and looks, and since levels are built by people with a variety of skills, a range of difficulties as well. In N, there were a lot of “art†levels too: designed purely for aesthetics and not really playable, people created pixel art masterpieces using the enemies and objects of the game world. These levels are usually very detailed and quite beautiful. As another example, N player andymac has been creating functional calculators inside N, using only the in-game entities! Click here to try them out: www.thewayoftheninja.org/nv2.html?l=10183 www.thewayoftheninja.org/nv2.html?l=111986 www.thewayoftheninja.org/nv2.html?l=10592 And see this post for more detail on how they work. We hope people continue the trend of ultra-creative levels in N++! Segue! That brings us to the big news: yes, there will be a level editor included in N++! If the above post intrigued you, good news: you’ll be able to try your hand at making your own levels, customized to exactly your likes and dislikes. Metanet will be hosting servers so you can share your levels globally with other N++ players, as well as download and play new levels. N++ just got infinite levels! And that about wraps it up for now. Come say hi and try some of the levels we’ve made at the PlayStation Experience this weekend! View the full article
  13. Commander Fury
    As we wrap up the production of Dying Light, I took some time recently to sit down and reflect on the incredible adventure the development of this game was. The team members made me promise that at the release party for the game, I’ll perform a rap song for them (Don’t ask…) and I wanted to write lyrics that would recount the time we spent on this project. As I started digging deep in my memory I realized that I need to face one (perhaps the only one) personal regret that I have from that period. Early in the game’s promotion, I said in one of the interviews that I’m not really fond of the “Mirror’s Edge comparisons” journalists were making about our game. Taken out of context it might have sounded to some ears that I didn’t have respect for Mirror’s Edge, and it was certainly spun that way by some online media and internet commenters. That’s not what I meant! What I meant was that Dying Light is a very complex game, and I simply wanted it to have a better, more accurate description. I sincerely felt that in our case the blurb “It’s Mirror’s Edge with zombies” didn’t really do justice to what we aimed for with Dying Light. Some would argue though that such a summary is great. Perhaps even a dream one. Right after the announcement of the game, people started describing Dying Light as “Dead Island meets Mirror’s Edge.” So on one hand we had one of the bestselling zombie games in history and on the other a certified classic — one of the few truly stand-out titles of the last generation. Dead Island proved that the “first person open world co-op hack’n’slash zombie game” formula was something that gamers wanted. And Mirror’s Edge… well, it opened a lot of eyes to what you can do with first person movement. It was a title with a timeless visual design and one of the most genuinely charismatic characters in the history of video games. I was surprised that it didn’t start a new genre, and that it didn’t define a new way of playing games. I wish there could be more Mirror’s Edges — games that are courageous, visionary, left field. These are the games that make interactive entertainment go forward. And that was our ambition as well. When we started the project, we knew that we want to create a first-person, open-world game that tears down walls (visible or not). We aimed to create a game that would allow you to step outside of the corridors, hop over fences, climb on top of a building to see what’s on the other side. To achieve that we started with an approach similar to what Mirror’s Edge did — we started placing interactive elements by hand, putting “hooks” on edges of rooftops and walls so that the player could grab and climb on them. First there were hundreds of them, then there were thousands, and after a few weeks we had about 50,000 of these edges the player could interact with. That system had its advantages — for example, we always knew were the player will be after triggering the climbing animation — but it also had its limitations. The player could approach these objects only from a certain angle, and it was a nightmare to keep track of all the objects, making sure that level design changes will not leave them hanging in the air. Yet the most important thing was we still weren’t satisfied with what we had, because with each added “hook” we saw at least two or three locations where we would like to place the next one. Our appetite for freedom of movement was growing, but the approach didn’t allow us to satisfy it. So we had to try something different. Our gameplay programmers suggested that we could do a real-time time analysis of the area around the player to determine what kind of action he could perform — i.e. climb, jump over, slide, or wall-run. If the same system could then analyze the surrounding geometry, player parameters (like his speed and position) and potential animations to select the best possible action on-the-fly then we could have what we wanted. Unfortunately, it was the perfect case of “easier said than done.” Even though we knew from the start that this new idea — dubbed Natural Movement — had way more potential, implementing it really gave us lots of migraines. The level designers discovered that with the new system the player could reach places previously unreachable, and on top of that he can also create his own paths through the environment. The scripts and designs they already made went out the window so they had to create all of the main story and side quests missions from scratch, considering the fact that the player can move from point A to B using multiple ways, and that they can approach their objectives (point C) from multiple angles. It’s an open world game, after all. The animators found out that without strict control over what the player can grab and climb on, all of the animations they did are prone to clipping through objects. We basically opened up a Pandora’s Box of various glitches that we now needed to take into account. They also had to fix a set of very unusual problems stemming from the notions of motion sickness a small group of players were experiencing. We discovered the problem was quite easy to identify: the player’s brain sees unrestrained motion but his inner ear doesn’t register any movement. It was much harder to solve this though: we had to experiment with various settings for field of view or the saturation of colors. We also went through at least dozen iterations for the wobbliness of camera movement and we needed to work on interpolation algorithms for different cases to make sure that the camera (essentially the players’ eyes) were moving smoothly and naturally. The AI guys had to think of new ways of spawning enemies, so that the player, who could be basically anywhere on the level, would never see a zombie just appearing out of thin air. And our engine guy — and here it gets even more complex because at times I feel these guys speak in riddles — had to implement a caching mechanism on the level geometry around the player, and seriously optimize the geometry tracing algorithms to make everything work as smoothly as we intended it to be. And to be honest that’s just a tip of the iceberg of problems, issues and challenges we had to face and solve to reach the point where we are at with the project at the moment. So while Mirror’s Edge was absolutely a key inspiration, copying their system just didn’t work for us. Looking back I wish it was that simple. Thankfully though every hour spent on the development of Dying Light was 100% worth it. I know the gaming community expects developers to stay humble, and one of the many valuable things I learned in this industry is the fact that it’s always better to “under-promise and over-deliver” than the other way ’round. But I’m really excited about Dying Light, and I can’t wait for player to get their hands on the final game. I’m beaming with pride, because I know that our team created a game and a movement system that will open a lot of eyes. I’m confident that we have at least a shot at “evolutionizing” first-person games in general (I always was wary of the letter “R”). I can’t wait for player to see this thing in action and to hear what they think. View the full article
  14. Commander Fury
    Music has always been an important part of the Saints Row franchise: Saints Row was inspired by over-the-top hip-hop music videos. Saints Row 2 introduced sing alongs. Saints Row: The Third showcased the sing alongs as a bonding moment between characters, as well as key licensed tracks to enhance emotion. Saints Row IV added dance into the mix (originally we wanted to end with a Bollywood dance number but scope reduction transformed it into the soul train line). How The Saints Save Christmas ends with a Christmas montage (originally set to “All I Want For Christmas Is You” by Mariah Carey). So when we decided that Gat out of Hell was going to be Saints Row’s take on a Disney-esque fairy tale, we knew pretty early on that a musical number was essential to the experience. This was exciting to me for two reasons: First, the introduction of a musical number wasn’t going to be just some gag, it (like all musicals) was going to convey central plot points and character motivation just like any cutscene. And second: as a lifelong fan of Disney movies and musical theater (fun fact: we had an impromptu sing along to “Any Dream Will Do” while recording Robin Atkin Downes) writing an original song for Saints Row was a dream come true. The melody came to me while I was speaking at the Escapist Expo. Over the course of the con, in between panels and running a tabletop game for some Saints Row fans, inspiration would strike and I would run to various corners of the convention hall and sing a melody into my cell phone. Then each night I would listen to what I sang and write lyrics, tweak the melody, etc. By the time I came back from the expo I had a musical number that had four distinct sections. Section 1: Satan disciplines his daughter — this movement was inspired by great badguy songs: “Mother Knows Best: Reprise” from Tangled, “Be Prepared” from Lion King, “Confrontation” from Jekyel and Hyde. Section 2: Jezebel expresses her wants — this movement was inspired by Disney princess songs: “Reflection” from Mulan, “A Part of Your World” from Little Mermaid, “When Will My Life Begin” from Tangled, “Almost There” from Princess and the Frog. Section 3: Kinzie and Johnny have self-doubt — this was a nod to musical theater: lots of over-acting while a piano vamps, the singing dialogue rather than speaking it: think “Into The Woods (Prologue)” from Into The Woods, “My Friends” from Sweeny Todd. Section 4: Jezebel takes action — here’s the big reprise of Jezebel’s first number: a lot of times in Disney the reprise is used when things go bad (see “Prince Ali: Reprise” in Aladdin, or “Mother Knows Best: Reprise” in Tangled) but as this is Hell and things are a little backwards, here was where she finds confidence and resolve (Also: Little Mermaid has a similar “come to Jesus” moment with “A Part of Your World”). As soon as I got back to Volition from my trip the first thing I did was sing the song to Larry Gates and Ariel Gross. Larry and Ariel took my vocals and began writing music to go along with the melody (Larry did sections 1-3, Ariel did the piano for section 4). While they were working on the music, I was working on casting the right Satan and Jezebel. Finding Satan was easy: Travis Willingham is the voice of King Roland on Sophia the First (which is adorable by the way, if you have young kids watch it!) so having him play a darker, more menacing version of a father figure was perfect and right in his wheelhouse. Jezebel however, was a little more complicated. We needed someone who could nail the singing as she has the most heavy lifting, but she also needed to be a great Disney princess as well — someone with strength and vulnerability in equal parts. For the Jezebel auditions we had actresses act out a scene from the game as well as sing either “castle on a cloud” or “part of your world.” After the auditions came in, I started doing eliminations in a series of rounds: first I would only listen to the acting portion and make cuts. Then I would listen to the singing portion and make cuts. This back and forth happened until I narrowed down the insanely large list of actors down to three. As my wife also has a background in musical theater and opera, I played her all three auditions and asked which one had the best technical chops in the song, and she made the final call… little did either of us realize that we just cast Kate Reinders… who played Glinda from Wicked on Broadway. Our cast locked, we wanted to prepare materials for our actors to look at ahead of time. Larry recorded local theater folks to replace my scratch track and I wrote sheet music for the actors. We packaged up our little musical care package and sent them off into the wild, eager to record our musical number. There was just one little problem… Not every agent passed along the material to their client. There is a magical moment of terror that comes when you ask an actor if they have any questions about the full musical number and they look at you with blank stares… however everyone was a pro and dove in head first. I remember when Kate was singing, there was a time when Larry and I started prancing around the booth we were so giddy at how well it sounded. The vocals were done, but we still had a lot of work left: Austin Wintory had to compose music for live instruments and Zach Lowery, Ev Religioso, and I had to block a musical number. On the mocap set there were lots of little details we wanted to try to convey (for instance: in section 3, we wanted Kinzie and Gat to have over exaggerated body movements as if they were selling to people sitting in the back row, and at one point Johnny checks his ear to hear how he sounds), and so we knew that even though we were recording in a different studio than usual we needed the actors that we worked with for years. We flew in America Young and Andrew Ray to Chicago, and blocked out a full day dedicated just to getting the musical portion of the shoot correct. As usual they were consummate professionals and totally killed it (there may or may not have been tears of joy). When it’s all said and done, the musical number “When I Find Love” is my favorite thing that I worked on at Volition. My only regret is that we didn’t have the time or budget to make the whole thing a musical. View the full article
  15. Commander Fury
    Miegakure is a 4D game. It lets players explore a detailed 4D world and use their ability to move in 4D to perform miraculous feats. In this game, the fourth dimension is not time! It is an actual fourth dimension of space, that works just like the first three dimensions we are familiar with. If you count time, this game is 5D! For a while games used to be 2D, taking place solely along two directions. For example, a game character could only move forwards and backwards, or jump up and down. Then came computers powerful enough to render 3D graphics, which allowed for full 3D movement: up / down, backwards / forwards and left / right. (Of course, the graphics we see, while they are computed in 3D, are displayed on a 2D screen. They are projected down from 3D to 2D, in a way that mimics how our eyes perceive the third dimension.) But it doesn’t stop there. If in a 2D game every object’s position is represented in the computer using two numbers, and if in a 3D game every object’s position is represented using three numbers, what if each position was represented using four numbers? In other words, what if there was another direction you could move along in addition to the first three? Trying to answer this question is what that led us to develop this game. As far as we know, our universe has exactly three spatial dimensions — so it’s very difficult for us to picture what a four-dimensional world would look like. But a computer (or a PS4, as the case may be), on the other hand, does not care; it’s just working with numbers as usual (it’s just slightly more numbers in this case!). So we had to come up with a way to display this calculated 4D world so that our three-dimensional brains could comprehend it. The way we chose is a method that has been popularized in the novella Flatland. This novella talks about a 2D square that can only see a 2D cross section of a 3D world. For the square, the third dimension is invisible and mysterious; the square has no concept of it because it is stuck seeing a 2D world. If a 3D object visits the 2D plane it appears to be deforming, in a way that looks like an M.R.I. scan (of a brain, for example). In an M.R.I. what we see while moving the slice through the object appears to be deforming, but we know that we are just taking a different cross-section of the same 3D object. In Miegakure, a similar thing happens, but in one higher dimension: instead of taking a 2D slice of a 3D object, we are taking a 3D slice of 4D objects. It’s hard to imagine, but luckily we don’t have to — computers can display it for us! If you take a look at the trailer above you can see examples of what these “deformations” look like as we move and turn the 3D slice around within the 4D world. We are excited to bring the game to PlayStation 4, because we think its great computing power will help us deliver a truly innovative, visually stunning game. The gameplay focuses on exploring a 4D world and the consequences of being able to move in 4D. For example, for a 2D being, houses only need four walls (think of a drawing of a square on a piece of paper). If the doors are locked, there is no way to enter the house. But us 3D beings can see inside the house by just looking at it from above, and we can reach in and grab whatever is inside and move it outside the house, without opening any doors, to the bemusement of the poor 2D beings! Similarly, a 4D being can perform miraculous feats such as remove objects from a locked safe without opening it, bind together two rings without breaking them, or spy on 3D beings without them knowing. We have carefully designed each level in Miegakure to be about performing one of these feats, letting players become a sort of super hero from the actual fourth dimension. Miegakure is still very much a work in progress, but we hope to release the game next year. In the meantime, you can play a demo of the game at the PlayStation Experience event on December 6th and 7th. View the full article
  16. Commander Fury
    Hey all! Lucy from Curve Digital here, with the exciting news that action arcade blaster Ultratron will be coming to PS4, PS3, and PS Vita early next year. The game marks the second time we’ll be working with original developer Puppygames, who are also the creators of Titan Attacks, another arcade reinvention which we brought to PlayStation platforms earlier this year. Ultratron isn’t a direct sequel, but just like Titan Attacks, it takes a classic arcade game and coats in a layer of modern polish, vibrant, colorful graphics and addictive risk/reward play. Where Titan Attacks was all about expanding on classic Space Invaders, Ultratron takes its cue from Robotron and other classic twin-stick shooters adding upgrades, two player co-op, and adaptive difficulty that manually adjusts the pace of the game based on the skill of the player. During the game, you’ll attempt to avenge the human race as you blast your way through over 40 glowing neon levels, avoiding Chasers, Turrets, Minelayers, Spawners, bombs, and bullets before taking on the four evil ‘bot bosses of the Apocalypse. Ultratron is a pure arcade experience that makes it perfect for portable gaming on Vita and loud, music blaring big-screen TV sessions. We’re really excited to bring it to console, and we hope everyone who enjoyed the PC version will be delighted to play the game on the big screen from the comfort of their living room. Ultratron joins puzzle game Nova-111 in our 2015 PlayStation line-up, and we’ve got at least two more unannounced games coming to PS4 next year as well, so keep an eye on the blog for more announcements! View the full article
  17. Commander Fury
    Let’s keep this short. Today marks the 20-year anniversary of PlayStation! To celebrate the launch of the iconic console, we reached out to some of our favorite game developers and key figures inside PlayStation. Their mission: name their top three favorite PSone games of all time. Read on to see the selections, and leave yours in the comments below! Dylan Cuthbert Executive Producer, The Tomorrow Children Rage Racer: This is the third entry in the Ridge Racer series and was an amazing game to play on the PSone. I really liked the way they introduced hills and you had to shift down gears to climb them. I also liked the overall structure of the game, and probably put about 50 hours (at least) into this. I bet it’s still a ton of fun to play. PaRappa the Rapper: The only music-rhythm game that I have ever liked! This really opened the doors for everyone in this genre and was a smash hit here in Japan and elsewhere. The music was cool, the animation was quirky and it was just simply a load of fun. Wipeout: Stunning graphics, stunning gameplay, and a stunning soundtrack, I must have played this for hundreds of hours and I can still hear Orbital’s F.U.E.L. in my head as I think back to it. That’s how closely entwined the game, visual design and soundtrack were. It was probably the first game to use an actual design company for the UI too, Designer’s Republic, and it showed! Mike Laidlaw Creative Director, Dragon Age: Inquisition Chrono Cross: I came a bit late to PlayStation, and Chrono Cross was my first RPG on the system. What a way to start. An intriguing story kicked off by the mysterious betrayal in the opening cutscene had me hooked early. The exceptional “field” magic system, and end-of-battle auto healing were just a few of the mechanics that kept you enjoying this epic. Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver: Soul Reaver was made of exceptional ideas. The protagonist from the first Legacy of Kain game turned into a strangely sympathetic villain to drive the story. Smart mechanics then carried the gameplay, like using the environment (Wall Spikes! Sun beams! Water!) to slay vampires or changing “realities” to alter the topography of a room to solve puzzles. Metal Gear Solid: No matter how many times you heard “Snake? Snaaaake?!?” it was worth trying again, because there always seemed to be another tactic you could use or bit of the environment you could exploit. And just when you thought you’d seen it all? Boom: Psycho Mantis. John Ribbins Creative Director, OlliOlli Bushido Blade: I loved that this was a fighting game without a health bar. The fact you could be killed in one blow made fights super tense, and gradually chopping your opponent down and toying with them was brutally awesome. Thrasher Skate And Destroy: My favourite skateboarding game of all time. I still have my disc and the memory card. Ragdoll slams and having to land your tricks really captured the difficulty of doing even the simplest things. And the soundtrack was all hip-hop, which was a nice departure from the more rock-focused offering in Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater. Die Hard Trilogy: Looking back at the visuals now, it looks a little ropey, but I remember at the time being blown away. THREE GAMES IN ONE! Die Hard 3 was the driving one (two years before GTA), and at the time the city was insane, pedestrians and parks and all kinds of detail. The 90s were a dark time for movie-tie-in games, but Die Hard Trilogy was actually really cool. Shuhei Yoshida President, World Wide Studios Note: There are so many amazing games on the original PlayStation, I’ve decided to choose games that I personally worked on, so this is my very personal favorite PSone games. Ape Escape: This title was the game I was most involved in the creative aspects of the development among the games I produced during the original PlayStation era. Designed only to work with DualShock, it was fun to come up with many gadgets that took advantage of the twin sticks like Sky Flyer, Dash Hoop and Monkey Rader. The game became very popular among kids in Japan, and we were so happy the game got critical acclaim outside Japan. Gran Turismo: As the studio head, I helped the team led by Kazunori Yamauchi to develop this game that has changed the racing game genre forever. I could not believe what I was seeing when I first saw the reflection mapping on beautifully modelled cars in the game. This game was the start of Kaz’s long history in developing a close collaboration with the car industry, bridging the two industries. I’m very happy to see Gran Turismo celebrate its 17th anniversary this year as PlayStation celebrates its 20th. Crash Bandicoot 3: Warped: I was the producer of the Crash Bandicoot series for the Japanese market from Crash 1 through Crash Team Racing. Crash 1 was an important game for me as it was the very first game that I ever produced, but Crash 3 was the apex of the series in terms of variety of gameplay that you can enjoy in the game. Naughty Dog put “Crash Dance†in the game, which we originally created for the Japanese TV commercial for Crash 1. Crash 3 sold over one million units in Japan, a phenomenal achievement by a non- Japanese game. Scott Rohde Senior Vice President, World Wide Studios America Driver: This was my first real experience with an open-world driving/action game. I could finally hop into a muscle car and endlessly wreak havoc with dozens of cops fruitlessly trying to stop me. Sheer bliss. The floaty physics somehow made the experience even more spectacular. And that FILM DIRECTOR. Oh… how many hours of my life were wasted finding the perfect camera angle to show that amazing multi-car stack up? In many ways, this was a foreshadowing of what was to come on the next gen platforms, specifically GTA3. Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2: I literally cannot count the hours I spent playing this game. The game mechanics were almost flawless in the first THPS, and then they added the manual, allowing me to extend my combos infinitely. The H-O-R-S-E matches were absurdly competitive due to the open ended structure. Amazing. In addition, this game birthed the infamous term “Rohde Reset†— the act of starting a challenge, and instantly restarting whenever I made the slightest mistake. This franchise generated so many great memories with my friends and my young kids. I will always believe that this game helped propel skating into the mainstream. Monster Rancher: This game captured my attention for months on end. As soon as I converted my first Disc Stone and realized that my personal CD collection could have an effect on my collection of monsters, I was hopelessly hooked. Breeding new monsters, training them for battle, and living with them side by side through all the ups and downs of… errr…. monster life… what an amazing experience! There’s something that’s very special about creating a unique monster, impacting its success and failures, and then watching him retire, or even (gasp!) die… it’s a totally unique experience that’s much different than assuming direct control over a game character. Matt Thorson Designer, TowerFall Bushido Blade: A multiplayer classic and my first fighting game. Fantastic tension — one mistake and you’re dead. Twisted Metal 2: Blowing up the Eiffel tower to hit jumps across the rooftops of Paris with your friends. Jumping Flash!: Something about the sensation of leaping through 3D space captured my childhood imagination. Neil Druckmann Creative Director, Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End Metal Gear Solid: One of my favorite games of all time, Metal Gear Solid redefined what it meant for a game to be cinematic. So many memorable, surprising characters, gameplay moments, story turns. The Psycho Mantis boss fight will go down as one of the most creative combinations of story, gameplay, and hardware. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night: I grew up on the original Castlevania games on the NES. I loved the connected world of Simon’s Quest along with its RPG elements; Symphony of the Night was a true “next-gen†version of that idea. A massive, sprawling world filled with a myriad of monsters, weapons, and secrets. Beautiful 2D graphics and solid platforming/fighting mechanics solidified its classic status. Easily the best of all the “Metroidvania†games. Resident Evil: The granddaddy of survival horror. Resident Evil was oozing with atmosphere and mood (and cheesy dialog). At the time it was the most immersive game I had ever played. Who can forget the zombie-dogs jumping through the windows? Cory Barlog Creative Director, Sony Santa Monica Castlevania: Symphony of the Night: This game pretty much blew my mind on many fronts. This was an adventure that took hold of me and never really let go. The writing is freaking terrible, but it simply did not matter: the concept, execution and play are utterly brilliant. I still play this game every few years and STILL I find something new. I have stolen…err…I mean been inspired by this game throughout my entire career. One day I hope to create something half as good. When I do I will retire and sit on my porch constantly saying things like “In my day..†and “Get off my lawn!†Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater: I got a copy of this demo with some PlayStation magazine from a games store not having any clue how much time it would suck from my life – and that is just the demo, for the love of Zeus!! The first time I ollie kick-flipped to a grind and stuck the dismount I was hooked. The series eventually went downhill after the third game but nothing can compare to the weekends wasted on that warehouse level utterly transfixed on how freaking amazing I was with a fake digital skateboard. Silent Hill: The Zelda series taught me so much about the feeling of adventure but it was this game that first showed me the true power of atmosphere and tone, the constant feeling of tension and dread slapped me around for the duration of this game. I loved the more relatable protagonist in a time when most were “generic soldier archetype xâ€-type personas. This game messed with my head and drove me to many sleepless nights in pursuit of the alien abduction ending. Tim Schafer CEO, DoubleFine Productions Tomb Raider: A lot of endangered gorillas died so that I could explore those tombs in peace, but it was worth it. Final Fantasy VII: Pretty original, right? I’ll bet I’m the only person who likes this. PaRappa the Rapper: Kick, punch, it’s all in the mind! STILL. Every single song, still stuck in my mind. And I love it. Keiji Inafune Founder, Comcept Resident Evil (aka “Biohazardâ€): This game was an epic title that changed “a game” into “the experience.†This gaming experience was made possible only with the specs of PlayStation. Many people at Capcom at the time, including myself, couldn’t quite understand the entertainment of this game right away. But oh god, it was so scary… Silent Hill: I never thought that there would be a game scarier than Resident Evil…but obviously I was wrong. Silent Hill. The overall atmosphere and the world of insanity that this game illustrated was just amazing. It was a great game with a strong scenario and story. This game really pushed out the boundaries of a true “gaming experience” for me. PaRappa the Rapper: This game truly changed the idea of gaming for me. The character design and innovative game systems may seem ordinary today, but it was a true surprise to me back in the day. The “OTOGEE” (“sound game†in Japanese) brought a new sensation and changed the definition of gaming all together. This made videogames more stylish than ever. Hermen Hulst Managing Director & Co-Founder, Guerrilla Games Rayman: I simply had to include this, and not just because it’s the first title I ever worked on. Given how much of a household name Rayman has become, it’s easy to forget that releasing a new 2D platform hero was considered quite risky in the 3D-obsessed days of 1995. But Ubisoft pulled it off with confidence, imbuing Rayman with colorful, whimsical characters and an amazing soundtrack. Metal Gear Solid: An obvious choice perhaps, but then few games on the original PlayStation can match the sheer graphical quality and engrossing gameplay of Kojima’s stealth-based action adventure. Metal Gear Solid’s cinematic presentation became a noticeable influence on almost every action game that followed, including Killzone. Gran Turismo 2: With its realistic driving models and compelling progression curve, the first Gran Turismo was rightfully heralded as a landmark in racing games. However, the sequel has always remained my favorite racing game on the original PlayStation, due to the more forgiving brake dynamics and the seemingly endless number of cars to choose from. Shawn Layden President and CEO, Sony Computer Entertainment America Tekken: The first PlayStation launched in Japan on December 3rd, 1994. I was working for Sony in Tokyo when the original PlayStation launched, and we received an early version of the hardware. With it came two of the most iconic PlayStation titles of all time: Ridge Racer and Tekken. And while I played the devil out of both titles, I must say that Tekken is the one that captured the majority of my time. A near pixel-perfect rendition of the game center version of the game, PlayStation really did bring the arcade into your living room. The speed, the action, the unforgettable characters, and the humor of the cut scenes were frankly remarkable. And my go to fighter? Marshall Law, of course. Bruce Lee brought back to life. Tomb Raider: This was a great leap forward for gaming. The scale and scope of the story, the natural feel of the control scheme even in third-person 3D space, and the strong female protagonist made this an unforgettable title for me. It recalled a bit of Prince of Persia on the Mac (my first true obsession) as it required buy-in to the story, technique, and puzzle solving. The full package. I spent hours at a stretch absorbed in the adventures of one Ms Croft. Formula One: Perhaps an unexpected choice from an American, I worked with the production team localizing the title for the Japanese market at the time. Going into it I really did not know much about this particular motorsport (thought they really looked like Indy Cars) but over the course of the project I really got to love it and understood why the Japanese market was so enthralled. The title was developed by Bizarre Creations (out of Liverpool) and in its accuracy it was quite unforgiving in the handling. But that’s the nature of that sport! Happy 20th PlayStation. You’re looking better than ever. Sid Shuman PlayStation.Blog Tekken 3: I’ve never invested more in a single game. Tekken 3 was an instant sensation when it launched on PSone. And before long, me and my circle of friends were engaging in intense competitive matches every single day — a ritual that managed to last for years. Intense rivalries and strained relationships soon followed, up to and including intense arguments and silent treatments over one cheap combo or another. A game that drives you and your friends this crazy just has to be brilliant. Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver: This game just dazzled me on its release in 1999, at the tail end of PSone’s reign. Its haunting protagonist, gorgeous art direction, and progressive combat and puzzle design were gripping. But the mature, thoughtful story written by the great Amy Henning (note: learn more here) put the game on an entirely different level. Soul Reaver was the total package. Metal Gear Solid: Kojima’s masterpiece revolutionized both videogame storytelling and emergent gameplay. Before Metal Gear Solid, videogame plots tended to be crude, juvenile affairs. MGS introduced a sympathetic cast, mature themes, and some truly sensational plot twists. But Kojima’s genius was the way he encapsulated that narrative confidence in the frame of a big-budget action game that empowered players to use their wits to quietly bypass enemies without resorting to mindless blasting. Ryan Clements PlayStation.Blog Final Fantasy VII: I doubt anyone could forget Aerith’s first tentative steps through that dark, Midgar alleyway. Final Fantasy VII crafted a world of unprecedented scope at the time of its launch. It enriched that world with a memorable cast of characters, and championed a battle system of immense depth. It looked beautiful, too. And it struck at the heart with a stirring score that still makes me well up when those familiar harmonies come crashing back. Final Fantasy VIII: As a teenager, the love story between Squall and Rinoa was one of the first that I ever had an emotional investment in. It was the beating heart of Final Fantasy VIII, beneath all the war and politics and fractures in time. It was the normalcy to ground that world. It kept me going through dozens of hours of Drawing magic out of monsters, storing it away for multi-tiered boss fights. It had absurd Limit Breaks, outrageous summons, and a robust card game, true. But it all came back to Squall and Rinoa. Azure Dreams: This one has been locked on my list of favorites since childhood. Azure Dreams had it all: dungeon crawling, monster breeding, town building, heart winning… the list goes on. I have distinct memories of trading stories with my friends – daring escapes from near-death encounters in the tower. Hidden romances to uncover in town. Powerful monsters to train. Decorations for your house! Azure Dreams collapsed so many of the things I love in video games into one focused experience, and I’ll never forget it. Justin Massongill PlayStation.Blog Castlevania: Symphony of the Night: “What is a man? A miserable little pile of secrets!” Symphony of the Night helped popularize the idea of exploration as a central gameplay mechanic, and it remains a masterclass in its execution. Nothing since has matched the feeling of gliding through Dracula’s castle as his vengeful son, seeking new shape-shifting abilities until you reach the story’s fateful, familial conclusion. From its inspired, gothic art direction to its generation-defining score. Symphony of the Night is the bar against which all “Metroidvania” titles have been — and will continue to be — measured. Final Fantasy Tactics: Having been introduced to the Final Fantasy series by FF VII, I quickly snapped up Final Fantasy Tactics the day it launched, just to get another taste of Square’s sweet storytelling. Surprisingly, I became even more enamored with Tactics, which introduced players to Ivalice — a setting that was famously revisited in FFXII. Tactics’ character designs are still my favorite in the series, and the Zodiac Brave Story’s soundtrack is not to be missed. If you’ve got any love for strategy RPGs, Tactics is your game. PaRappa the Rapper: Tim stole my “Kick, punch” line, so I’ll have to think of something else. Mooselini’s level is better, anyway. PaRappa introduced me — and most of the world — to rhythm games (which are just the best, I mean really let’s be serious here), and his indefatigable optimism continues to be an inspiration. Whenever I’m faced with a seemingly insurmountable challenge, I just remember: “I gotta believe!” Nick Suttner PlayStation Developer Relations G-Darius: I’m not even a huge fan of shmups specifically, but G-Darius swam right through the intersection of memorable, arresting art direction (every enemy inspired by sea life), a great mechanic of capturing any baddie to fight alongside you, and a branching level system that made it feel massive. Cybernetic shrimp, laser lobsters and furious flounders, oh my! Castlevania: Symphony of the Night: SotN was that incredible debut album that both kicked off an entire genre (Metroidvanias) while at the same time positioned itself as its best-of-class peak. Really a holistically amazing game, as memorable for its haunting soundtrack as its hulking Granfalloon. And just when you thought it was over – surprise! – it was actually twice as long and twice as awesome. Jet Moto: I first played Jet Moto in the lobby of the Rosemont Horizon stadium in Rosemont, IL during the Twisted Christmas II music festival, right before seeing Silverchair and White Zombie. How 90’s! It was my first exposure to the PS1, and the stomach-turning waterfall drops and white-knuckle magnetic cornering got my blood racing in a way I didn’t know it was capable of. If only Rob Zombie would have played Dragula that day, my super 90’s gaming memory would be complete. View the full article
  18. Commander Fury
    We’re proud to announce that Capcom will be a part of PlayStation Experience in Las Vegas! Come by to see the latest game demos, participate in tournaments, and maybe even walk away with a free game. Resident Evil Revelations 2 Claire Redfield and Moira Burton star in the latest chilling installment of the Resident Evil franchise. Imprisoned on a mysterious island, Claire and Moira are fighting for survival as they try to unravel the secrets of what’s really happening on this tiny island facility, but little do they know that evil is watching their every move. The story will unfold over 4 dramatic episodes each being released on a weekly basis digitally. Pre-order the Complete Season now on PlayStation Store to get the whole story and also receive the ‘RAID Mode Throwback Stage Pack’ for free! Resident Evil Revelations 2 will be coming to PS4 and PS3 in early 2015, but you can get a first look at the game with our playable demo at PlayStation Experience. Resident Evil The game that defined the survival-horror genre is back! The remastered HD version of Resident Evil will be available for download early 2015 for PS4 and PS3. This is the first time the game will be playable for the public, so come by and see the mansion in a whole new way. Ultra Street Fighter IV Experience the action and hype of the Capcom Pro Tour! Free-to-enter Ultra Street Fighter IV tournaments will be running every day of the show, with awesome prizes for winners and entrants alike. Put your skills to the test on the specially created eSports stage, or one of the playable demo kiosks. Best of all, anyone who plays a match of USFIV, tournament or not, will get a FREE digital copy of Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition for PS3! Thanks and hope to see you all December 6th and 7th in the Capcom booth at PlayStation Experience! View the full article
  19. Commander Fury
    Though Naughty Dog is celebrating its 30th anniversary, we’re also excited to have been along on PlayStation’s twenty year ride that they’re celebrating this year. In fact it was developing for PSone that had Naughty Dog hire its first employees — for the first ten years it was just our co-founders Jason and Andy doing all of the art, programming, and design themselves. Oh, how times have changed! Developing the Crash Bandicoot games on PSone was an exciting time. PlayStation didn’t have a mascot to go up against Mario or Sonic, so when Naughty Dog debuted Crash for the first time at E3 in 1996, Sony put it right up, head to head with the other gaming juggernauts. And it worked! Crash Bandicoot became a worldwide success, and the demand for a sequel was immediate. The first game was developed by just eight people (Some who are still here!), and the next three games were all developed in just twelve months each! It was a crazy pace to keep, but over those years the company started to grow. Naughty Dog was a whopping fifteen employees by the time Crash Team Racing was completed. During the development of Crash Team Racing, Sony had shipped us some of the very first PS2 development kits to enter the United States. We began developing an engine and doing early graphics tests as we decided what our next game was going to be. The promise of what the PS2’s increased horsepower would allow us to create had our minds spinning. We wanted to stop building discrete levels and build load-free interconnected worlds you could explore. We wanted to put an increased emphasis on storytelling, and give players motivation behind the gameplay they were experiencing. The possibilities seemed endless. And that’s how Jak and Daxter were born. PS2 was an incredible advancement in technology over PSone, and it allowed us to continue to refine and optimize our engine to get more and more out of the hardware over the course of the next three Jak games. The PS2 years were huge for Sony. The hardware dominated the console market but Sony was already looking to the future. While we were still developing Jak 2, Sony was already sharing information with us about the specs of PS3 and the legendary Cell Processor. In fact, we started a small R&D group called the ICE Team (which is still part of Naughty Dog today) to help experiment with different potential hardware configurations. As the hardware was finally taking shape, we again got our hands on early development kits just as we were brainstorming what was next for Naughty Dog after Jak and Daxter. Knowing what PS3 was offering, we decided that it was time to leave the fantasy worlds of our previous two franchises behind and to tackle a real world setting with realistic human characters. After exploration of dozens of concepts we finally settled on what would become Nathan Drake and Uncharted. PS3 turned out to be more complex than PS2. It was a challenge and it allowed us to continue to squeeze more and more out of it with each game we produced. The culmination of this was The Last of Us. After we thought we’d reached the limit of PS3’s capabilities with Uncharted 3, somehow our amazing team of programmers found a way to do just a little bit more. Convention says that it’s best not to release a new IP so late in the cycle of hardware, but we’re very happy that Sony gave us the opportunity. And as we were deep in the middle of development on The Last of Us, Sony, along with Mark Cerny, was busy putting together the plans for PS4. Mark has an office here with the ICE Team at Naughty Dog, so we had a front row seat to the whole process. It was truly impressive the care that went into the design of the hardware and the OS. Years of meetings with all of the publishers and the top development teams helped shape the PS4. Putting complete emphasis on games when designing the console was the through line. And, of course, learning from the concerns that the PS3 was difficult to develop for, the PS4 was built from the beginning to be appealing to the full spectrum of development teams. Remastering The Last of Us for PS4 let us get our first taste of the impressive new hardware, but switching gears back to Uncharted and developing our first game dedicated to PS4 is really letting us see it’s true potential. Since this is the first time we’ve carried a franchise over from one generation of hardware to the next, it’s amazing to look back and compare Uncharted 1 to Uncharted 4. It’s crazy to see how far the state of the art has advanced in just seven or eight years. Looking at Drake on PS4, it’s almost embarrassing to see what we considered ground breaking back on PS3. And we’re only a year into the life of PS4! We couldn’t be happier to have grown right alongside PlayStation these past 20 years. They’ve consistently provided the best hardware for gamers and game developers. And, just as importantly, they have fostered the best development community, creating hands down the strongest and most diverse stable of first party and platform exclusive games out there. It’s been an exciting ride so far, but I have a feeling things are just getting started. View the full article
  20. Commander Fury
    Hello PlayStation.Blog readers! Today is a very special moment in our history. It’s been 20 years since the launch of the original PlayStation, which released in Japan on December 3rd, 1994. It seems like only yesterday! I’m so glad that we can celebrate this moment together. 20 years is a long time! In 1994, many outsiders thought that Sony was slightly crazy to launch the original PlayStation into an incredibly competitive gaming market. Who could blame them? Sony was (and is!) famous for engineering great electronics, audio equipment, and many other consumer devices. But game consoles?! Sony Computer Entertainment, founded by my mentor Ken Kutaragi, was a project borne out of sincere passion and deep admiration for the craft of game development. The mid 90s were an exciting time for game developers, driven by the explosion of powerful but affordable 3D graphics rendering hardware and the birth of many young and adventurous development studios. The original PlayStation was meant to embody that sense of adventure and discovery, that sense that anything was possible. We sincerely thank you for joining us on our exciting 20-year journey. You have made every bump and scrape we took along the way worthwhile. And there’s so much more to come! But I don’t want to go on for too long, because we have a big piece of news to reveal: a very special 20th Anniversary Edition PS4! How to pre-order in the US & Canada: PS4 20th Anniversary Edition will be available in very limited supply for pre-order starting Saturday, December 6th. Please watch the PlayStation Experience keynote starting Saturday morning at 10:00am Pacific Time to learn more. Our friend Sid Shuman has some details in the video above, so be sure to check it out and let us know what you think. I look forward to celebrating the anniversary and all things PlayStation with you this week in Las Vegas at the PlayStation Experience. Thanks for a great 20 years, and here’s to 20 more. View the full article
  21. Commander Fury
    PS4 Games The Crew ($59.99) Gold Edition ($84.99) Secret Ponchos ($14.99) Game of Thrones: S1E1 – Iron From Ice ($4.99) Final Horizon ($12.99) MONOPOLY DEAL ($4.99) MONOPOLY PLUS ($14.99) Grand Theft Auto V & Free Bull Shark Cash Card ($59.99) Madden NFL 15 Holiday Edition ($59.99) Rabbids Invasion Gold Edition ($54.99) PS3 Games Syberia ($14.99) Madden NFL 15 Holiday Edition ($59.99) Chess (PSone Classic) ($5.99) PS Vita Games Fantasy Hero ~Unsigned Legacy~ ($14.99) Final Horizon ($12.99) Chess (PSone Classic) ($5.99) Pre-Orders Dying Light (PS4, $59.99) Dying Light Ultimate Edition Pack (PS4, $79.99) Demos Fantasy Hero ~Unsigned Legacy~ (PS Vita, Free Demo) December’s Free PS Plus Games PS4 PS3 PS Vita Become a PlayStation Plus member Sales Platform Title Plus Price Regular Sale Original Price PS4 CastleStorm Definitive Edition $8.99 $10.49 $14.99 PS4 flOw $1.80 $2.40 $5.99 PS4 King Oddball $3.49 $4.19 $6.99 PS4 Oddworld: New ‘n’ Tasty $17.99 $20.99 $29.99 PS4 Stealth Inc: Ultimate Edition $6.00 $7.50 $14.99 PS4 Strike Suit Zero: Director’s Cut $9.99 $11.99 $19.99 PS4 The LEGO Movie Videogame $24.99 $29.99 $49.99 PS4 Tomb Raider Definitive Edition N/A $18.00 $39.99 PS4 War Thunder: Tank Destroyers Advanced Pack N/A $23.99 $29.99 PS4 War Thunder:  Victory Is Ours Advanced Pack N/A $14.49 $29.99 PS4 War Thunder: Pacific Advanced Pack N/A $39.99 $49.99 PS4 War Thunder: Ultra Advanced Pack N/A $63.99 $79.99 PS4 Warframe PS4 Renown Pack Iii – Obsidian Excalibur Skin $7.99 N/A $9.99 PS4 Wolfenstein: The New Order $29.99 $35.99 $59.99 PS3 AQUAPAZZA N/A $9.99 $29.99 PS3 Assassin’s Creed Liberation HD $8.00 $10.00 $19.99 PS3 Blood of the Werewolf N/A $2.99 $4.99 PS3 Bolt $7.50 N/A $14.99 PS3 Cars 2: The Video Game $10.00 N/A $19.99 PS3 CastleStorm Complete Edition $4.50 $6.00 $14.99 PS3 CONTRAST $4.50 $6.00 $14.99 PS3 Disney Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two $10.00 N/A $19.99 PS3 Disney Universe $10.00 N/A $19.99 PS3 Disney•Pixar Brave: The Video Game $10.00 N/A $19.99 PS3 Doodle God & Doodle Devil $4.00 $5.00 $9.99 PS3 Dragon Fantasy Book I And II Bundle $6.00 $8.00 $19.99 PS3 Far Cry Classic $3.00 $4.00 $9.99 PS3 flOw $1.80 $2.40 $5.99 PS3 Gran Turismo 6 $16.00 $20.00 $39.99 PS3 Guacamelee! Bundle Fantástico $8.00 $10.00 $19.99 PS3 LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean: The Video Game $10.00 N/A $19.99 PS3 Master Reboot $6.00 $7.50 $14.99 PS3 PAC-MAN MUSEUM $8.00 $10.00 $19.99 PS3 Phineas and Ferb: Across the Second Dimension $10.00 N/A $19.99 PS3 Pure $7.50 N/A $14.99 PS3 Raiden IV: OverKill $9.99 $11.99 $19.99 PS3 South Park: The Stick of Truth $16.00 $20.00 $39.99 PS3 Split/Second $10.00 N/A $19.99 PS3 Tales of Symphonia $8.00 $10.00 $19.99 PS3 Tales of Symphonia Dawn of the New World $8.00 $10.00 $19.99 PS3 The LEGO Movie Videogame $19.99 $23.99 $39.99 PS3 Tomb Raider Digital Edition N/A $10.50 $29.99 PS3 Toy Story 3 $10.00 N/A $19.99 PS3 Toy Story Mania $10.00 N/A $19.99 PS3 Trine 2 N/A $1.99 $14.99 PS3 Velocity Ultra $3.00 $4.00 $9.99 PS3 Wolfenstein: The New Order $29.99 $35.99 $59.99 PS Vita Age Of Zombies $2.00 $2.50 $4.99 PS Vita BIT.TRIP Presents… Runner2: Future Legend of Rhythm Alien $3.00 $4.00 $9.99 PS Vita CastleStorm $4.99 $5.99 $9.99 PS Vita Dustforce $4.00 $5.00 $9.99 PS Vita flOw $1.80 $2.40 $5.99 PS Vita Starlight Inception $11.49 $13.79 $22.99 PS Vita Sword Art Online -Hollow Fragment- $23.99 $27.99 $39.99 PS Vita Table Top Racing $4.79 $5.59 $7.99 PS Vita The LEGO Movie Videogame $9.99 $11.99 $19.99 PSP JellyCar 2 $1.50 N/A $2.99 PSP LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean: The Video Game $5.00 N/A $9.99 PSP Split/Second PSP $10.00 N/A $19.99 PSP TRON: Evolution $10.00 N/A $19.99 Classic Disney•Pixar A Bug’s Life $3.00 N/A $5.99 Classic Disney•Pixar Monsters, Inc. Scream Team $3.00 N/A $5.99 Classic Disney•Pixar Toy Story 2 $3.00 N/A $5.99 Classic Disney•Pixar Toy Story Racer $3.00 N/A $5.99 Classic Disney’s Hercules $3.00 N/A $5.99 Classic Disney’s Lilo & Stitch $3.00 N/A $5.99 Classic Disney’s Peter Pan: Return to Never Land $3.00 N/A $5.99 Classic Disney’s The Emperor’s New Groove $3.00 N/A $5.99 Classic Disney’s The Little Mermaid II $3.00 N/A $5.99 Classic Monsters Inc (PS2 Classic) $3.00 N/A $5.99 Classic The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe $3.00 N/A $5.99 Price Changes Platform Title New Price Old Price PS3 Falling Skies: The Game $29.99 $39.99 PS3 How To Train Your Dragon 2 $29.99 $39.99 PS3 LittleBigPlanet $19.99 $29.99 Click here to see all this week’s deals PS Plus Discounts Ending 12/09 Bolt Cars 2: The Video Game Disney Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two Disney Universe Disney•Pixar Brave: The Video Game Jellycar 2 LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean: The Video Game LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean: The Video Game Phineas and Ferb: Across the Second Dimension Pure Split/Second Split/Second PSP Tron: Evolution Toy Story 3 Toy Story Mania Disney’s Hercules Disney•Pixar Toy Story Racer Disney•Pixar A Bug’s Life Disney’s The Emperor’s New Groove Disney•Pixar Toy Story 2 Disney•Pixar Monsters, Inc. Scream Team Disney’s Peter Pan: Return to Never Land Disney’s Lilo & Stitch Disney’s The Little Mermaid II The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe Monsters Inc (PS2 Classic) PlayStation Now Mass Effect 2 NBA Jam: On Fire Edition Dead Space 3 Mirror’s Edge Bejeweled 3 New on Sony Entertainment Network Music Unlimited Wu-Tang Clan A Better Tomorrow Walk The Moon Talking Is Hard Mary J. Blige The London Sessions Click here for more new releases on Music Unlimited. Video Unlimited The Maze Runner (Plus Bonus Features) This Is Where I Leave You (Plus Bonus Features) The Hundred-Foot Journey Click here for more new releases on Video Unlimited. App Updates Live Events Viewer The Game Awards 2014 will take place on Friday, December 5 in Las Vegas–which is the night before the PlayStation Experience community event, which will also be held in Sin City. The awards show is described as a “celebration” of gaming, and one where the industry will come together to extol the “cultural significance of the world’s most dynamic form of entertainment.” The Game Awards 2014 (Live in the Live Events Viewer app, 9pm EST / 6pm PST UFC 181: Hendricks vs Lawler II (Live), 12/06, 10pm EST / 7pm PST Invicta FC X (Live), 12/05, 9pm EST / 6pm PST SnagFilms Watch free movies on SnagFilms. From award-winning independent films to groundbreaking documentaries, they have you covered. With over 9000 titles, SnagFilms will transport you to new cinematic worlds. Amazon Instant Video Anchorman 2 (Prime Instant Video/Rent/Purchase), available 12/6 American Horror Story S:3 (Prime Instant Video/Rent/Purchase) , available 12/6 Vikings S:2 (Prime Instant Video/Rent/Purchase), available now Falling Skies S:4 (Prime Instant Video/Rent/Purchase) , available now HBO GO Foo Fighters: Sonic Highways, Episode 07 “Seattleâ€, available now Vudu Maze Runner (Purchase), available now. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (Purchase/Rent), available now. PS4 Add-ons Alien Isolation Trauma ($7.99) Battlefield 4 Final Stand ($14.99) Final Horizon Dark Galaxy ($3.99) Game of Thrones: Season 1 Season Pass ($24.99) LittleBigPlanet 3 Armored Vehicle Costume ($1.99) Kazuhira Miller Costume ($1.99) Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zero Costume Pack (Includes Swoop Helicopter) ($5.99) Skull Face Costume ($1.99) Snake Costume ($1.99) Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor Berserks Warband ($1.99) MXGP – The Official Motocross Videogame MXGP Fox Helmet Set ($0.99) MXGP UFO Helmet Set ($0.99) Rocksmith 2014 Bon Jovi – Blaze Of Glory ($2.99) Bon Jovi – It’s My Life ($2.99) Bon Jovi – Livin’ On A Prayer ($2.99) Bon Jovi – Wanted Dead Or Alive ($2.99) Bon Jovi – You Give Love A Bad Name ($2.99) Bon Jovi Song Pack ($11.99) Secret Ponchos Deserter ‘Grit’ Alternative Skin ($2.99) Kidred ‘Grit’ Alternative Skin ($2.99) Killer ‘Grit’ Skin ($2.99) Matador ‘Grit’ Alternative Skin ($2.99) Phantom Poncho’s ‘Grit’ Alternative Skin ($2.99) The Crew Bronze Crew Credit Pack ($9.99) Gold Crew Credit Pack ($29.99) Platinum Crew Credit Pack ($49.99) Season Pass ($24.99) Silver Crew Credit Pack ($19.99) Starter Crew Credit Pack ($4.99) Warframe PS4 Renown Pack III – Obsidian Excalibur Skin ($9.99) Zen Pinball 2 Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 ($2.99) PS3 Add-ons Alien Isolation Trauma ($7.99) Battlefield 4 Final Stand ($14.99) Farming Simulator Modding Pack 3 (Free) LittleBigPlanet 3 Armored Vehicle Costume ($1.99) Kazuhira Miller Costume ($1.99) Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zero Costume Pack (Includes Swoop Helicopter) ($5.99) Skull Face Costume ($1.99) Snake Costume ($1.99) Rocksmith 2014 Bon Jovi – Blaze Of Glory ($2.99) Bon Jovi – It’s My Life ($2.99) Bon Jovi – Livin’ On A Prayer ($2.99) Bon Jovi – Wanted Dead Or Alive ($2.99) Bon Jovi – You Give Love A Bad Name ($2.99) Bon Jovi Song Pack ($11.99) PS Vita Add-ons Destiny of Spirits 10 Orbs ($0.99) Fantasy Hero ~Unsigned Legacy~ Character Color Pack – Acress Set-01 ($0.49) Character Color Pack- Ashta Set-01 ($0.49) Character Color Pack-Haul Set-01 ($0.49) Character Color Pack-Shout Set-01 ($0.49) Character License & BB Color Set ($2.49) Character License & GG Color Set ($2.49) Mission Pack 1 ‘Birth of the Sacred Treasures’ ($2.49) Mission Pack 2 ‘Then and Now’ ($2.49) Character License & SP Color Set ($2.49) All Character Color Pack Set-01 ($1.49) Character License & GG & BB & SP Color Set ($5.49) Final Horizon Dark Galaxy ($3.99) Freedom Wars Bonus Song ‘Million-Year Sentence of Love (Short Version)’ ($0.99) Bonus Song ‘Thorn Lullaby’ ($0.99) Citizen Pack E ($0.99) Citizen Pack F ($0.99) Citizen Pack G ($0.99) Citizen Pack H ($0.99) Combat Item Pack H (Free) Combat Item Pack I (Free) Senran Kagura: Bon Appetit Fisherwoman’s Uniform ($1.99) Mesh Bags Unitard ($1.99) Squid Tentacles ($1.99) Tempura ($1.99) Five Costume Set ($7.99) Pastry Chef Set ($1.99) Senran Kagura: Shinovi Versus Asuka Custom Lingerie ($0.99) Bebeby Plush ($0.49) Braided Pigtails ($0.99) Christmas Bell ($0.49) Christmas Candle ($0.49) Christmas Tree ($0.49) Drill Pigtails ($0.99) Homura’s Custom Lingerie ($0.99) Reindeer Horns ($0.49) Turkey ($0.49) Wavy ($0.99) Yumi Custom Lingerie ($0.99) Wrapping ($1.99) Accessory Set 4 ($2.99) Christmas Set ($1.99) Hairstyle Set 2 ($1.99) Lingerie Set 1 ($1.99) Avatars & Themes 16 Bit – Baseball Avatar ($0.99) (PS3) 16 Bit – Toaster Avatar ($0.99) (PS3) Ant Avatar ($1.99) (PS3) Bad Bread Avatar ($0.99) (PS3) Bandages – Nurses of Death Avatar ($0.99) (PS3) BlazeRush Beast Avatar ($0.49) (PS3) BlazeRush Boss Avatar ($0.49) (PS3) BlazeRush Dee Avatar ($0.49) (PS3) BlazeRush Driftking Avatar ($0.49) (PS3) Boar Man Avatar ($0.99) (PS3) Bone Eye Avatar ($1.99) (PS3) Brains at Work Avatar ($0.99) (PS3) Corn Stalkers Avatar ($0.99) (PS3) Crew of One Avatar ($0.99) (PS3) Crocodilian Eye Avatar ($1.99) (PS3) Dead Pixel Avatar ($0.99) (PS3) Desert Trooper Avatar ($1.99) (PS3) EKG Blip – Nurses Of Death Avatar ($0.99) (PS3) Flying Teeth Kick Avatar ($1.99) (PS3) Hatsune Miku Project Diva F 2nd-Hatsune Miku Avatar ($0.49) (PS3) Hatsune Miku: Project Diva F 2nd – Kaito Avatar ($0.49) (PS3) Hatsune Miku: Project Diva F 2nd – Len Avatar ($0.49) (PS3) Hatsune Miku: Project Diva F 2nd – Luka Avatar ($0.49) (PS3) Hatsune Miku: Project Diva F 2nd – Meiko Avatar ($0.49) (PS3) Hatsune Miku: Project Diva F 2nd – Rin Avatar ($0.49) (PS3) Hypno Cobra Avatar ($1.99) (PS3) I Never Did It Avatar ($0.99) (PS3) Killer Wasp Avatar ($1.99) (PS3) Lunarcy Avatar ($0.99) (PS3) Monopoly Plus – Battleship Avatar ($0.49) (PS3) Monopoly Plus – Boot Avatar ($0.49) (PS3) Monopoly Plus – Cat Avatar ($0.49) (PS3) Monopoly Plus – Dog Avatar ($0.49) (PS3) Monopoly Plus – Iron Avatar ($0.49) (PS3) Monopoly Plus – Mr. Monopoly Avatar 1 ($0.49) (PS3) Monopoly Plus – Mr. Monopoly Avatar 2 ($0.49) (PS3) Monopoly Plus – Mr. Monopoly Avatar 3 ($0.49) (PS3) Monopoly Plus – Racecar Avatar ($0.49) (PS3) Monopoly Plus – Thimble Avatar ($0.49) (PS3) Owned From Birth Avatar ($0.99) (PS3) Panther Avatar ($1.99) (PS3) Serious Cat Avatar ($1.99) (PS3) Shatter Avatar ($0.99) (PS3) Skull Cracked Avatar ($0.99) (PS3) Skull X-Ray – Nurses of Death Avatar ($0.99) (PS3) Splattered Crown – Nurses of Death Avatar ($0.99) (PS3) Stethoscope – Nurses of Death Avatar ($0.99) (PS3) Swamptopus – 1 Avatar ($0.99) (PS3) Swamptopus – 2 Avatar ($0.99) (PS3) The Crowns – Blue Avatar ($0.99) (PS3) The Crowns – Green Avatar ($0.99) (PS3) The Crowns – Orange Avatar ($0.99) (PS3) The Crowns – Red Avatar ($0.99) (PS3) The Crowns – Yellow Avatar ($0.99) (PS3) The Judge Avatar ($1.99) (PS3) The Masked Flame Avatar ($0.99) (PS3) 2 Remix Cow Dynamic Claus Theme M1 ($3.49) (PS3) 3D Christmas Tree Dynamic Theme ($3.49) (PS3) Anna Marine: Into the Moonlight Dynamic Theme ($2.99) (PS3) Anna Marine: Merry Christmas Dynamic Theme ($2.99) (PS3) Anna Marine: Showcase Static Theme ($1.99) (PS3) Dancing Santa Dynamic Theme ($2.99) (PS3) Kyoux: Faces Static Theme ($1.99) (PS3) Screen Burst Santa Dynamic Theme ($2.99) (PS3) Snark Busters: High Society Theme ($0.49) (PS3) Tales of Hearts R Beryl Avatar ($0.49) (PS Vita) Tales of Hearts R Chalcedony Avatar ($0.49) (PS Vita) Tales of Hearts R Gall Avatar ($0.49) (PS Vita) Tales of Hearts R Hisui Avatar ($0.49) (PS Vita) Tales of Hearts R Ines Avatar ($0.49) (PS Vita) Tales of Hearts R Kohaku Avatar ($0.49) (PS Vita) Tales of Hearts R Kor Avatar ($0.49) (PS Vita) Tales of Hearts R Kunzite Avatar ($0.49) (PS Vita) A Epic Laser Cat 2 Theme ($2.99) (PS Vita) A Epic Laser Cat Theme ($2.99) (PS Vita) A Epic Skull 2 Theme ($2.99) (PS Vita) A Epic Skull 3 Theme ($2.99) (PS Vita) A Epic Skull Theme ($2.99) (PS Vita) Epic Death Dealer 2 Theme ($2.99) (PS Vita) Epic Death Dealer 3 Theme ($2.99) (PS Vita) Epic Death Dealer Theme ($2.99) (PS Vita) Epic Dragon Battle 2 Theme ($2.99) (PS Vita) Epic Dragon Battle Theme ($2.99) (PS Vita) Epic Green Stream Theme ($2.99) (PS Vita) Epic Waterfalls Theme ($2.99) (PS Vita) Epic Werewolf 2 Theme ($2.99) (PS Vita) Epic Werewolf Theme ($2.99) (PS Vita) View the full article
  22. Commander Fury
    It’s that time of the year – you know the time when you can’t go to the store without dealing with a million people looking for hot deals to save money. Luckily, you can save money over the next four weeks without ever having to leave the comfort of your couch thanks to the fantastic Holiday Sale starting today on PS Store. Following today’s PS Store publish, we’re discounting a ton of games at up to 65% off. PS Plus members get an added bonus – receiving up to 75% off. The games on sale will change each week for the next four weeks, so remember to check PS.Blog to see which games will be on sale. Today through Monday, December 8th, you can grab titles like Assassin’s Creed Liberation, Gran Turismo 6, South Park: the Stick of Truth, Wolfenstein: The New Order, and more all at a discounted price. Check out the entire Week 1 lineup below: Title Platform PS Plus Price Sale Price Original Price Age Of Zombies PS Vita $2.00 $2.50 $4.99 Assassin’s Creed Liberation HD PS3 $8.00 $10.00 $19.99 BIT.TRIP Presents… Runner2: Future Legend of Rhythm Alien PS Vita $3.00 $4.00 $9.99 CastleStorm PS Vita $4.99 $5.99 $9.99 CastleStorm Complete Edition PS3 $4.50 $6.00 $14.99 CastleStorm Definitive Edition PS4 $8.99 $10.49 $14.99 CONTRAST PS3 $4.50 $6.00 $14.99 Doodle God & Doodle Devil PS3 $4.00 $5.00 $9.99 Dragon Fantasy Book I and II Bundle PS3 $6.00 $8.00 $19.99 Dustforce PS Vita $4.00 $5.00 $9.99 Far Cry Classic PS3 $3.00 $4.00 $9.99 flOw PS Vita PS Vita $1.80 $2.40 $5.99 flOw PS3 PS3 $1.80 $2.40 $5.99 flOw PS4 PS4 $1.80 $2.40 $5.99 Gran Turismo 6 PS3 $16.00 $20.00 $39.99 Guacamelee! Bundle Fantástico PS3 $8.00 $10.00 $19.99 King Oddball PS4 $3.49 $4.19 $6.99 Master Reboot PS3 $6.00 $7.50 $14.99 Oddworld: New ‘n’ Tasty PS4 $17.99 $20.99 $29.99 PAC-MAN MUSEUM PS3 $8.00 $10.00 $19.99 Raiden IV: OverKill PS3 $9.99 $11.99 $19.99 South Park: The Stick of Truth PS3 $16.00 $20.00 $39.99 Starlight Inception PS Vita $11.49 $13.79 $22.99 Stealth Inc: Ultimate Edition PS4 $6.00 $7.50 $14.99 Strike Suit Zero: Director’s Cut PS4 $9.99 $11.99 $19.99 Sword Art Online -Hollow Fragment- PS Vita $23.99 $27.99 $39.99 Table Top Racing PS Vita $4.79 $5.59 $7.99 Tales of Symphonia PS3 $8.00 $10.00 $19.99 Tales of Symphonia Dawn of the New World PS3 $8.00 $10.00 $19.99 The LEGO Movie Videogame PS4 $24.99 $29.99 $49.99 The LEGO Movie Videogame PS3 $19.99 $23.99 $39.99 The LEGO Movie Videogame PS Vita $9.99 $11.99 $19.99 Tomb Raider Definitive Edition PS4 N/A $18.00 $39.99 Tomb Raider Digital Edition PS3 N/A $10.50 $29.99 Velocity Ultra PS3 $3.00 $4.00 $9.99 Wolfenstein: The New Order PS4 $29.99 $35.99 $59.99 Wolfenstein: The New Order PS3 $29.99 $35.99 $59.99 The discounts don’t stop at games this holiday season. We’ve also got a bunch of movies and TV shows discounted as part of the Holiday Sale, with new titles being added each week. Movies Title Discounted SD Retail Current SD RP Current HD RP Discounted HD Retail A Princess For Christmas $6.99 12.99 14.99 7.99 All Dogs Go To Heaven $4.99 N/A N/A 7.99 Alpha And Omega 2: A Howl-iday Adventure $6.99 8.99 10.99 7.99 The Amityville Horror (2005) $4.99 9.99 N/A 7.99 Bleach The Movie: Fade To Black $6.99 9.99 12.99 7.99 Bleach The Movie: Memories Of Nobody $6.99 9.99 12.99 N/A Centurian $6.99 9.99 12.99 8.99 Deadfall $6.99 9.99 12.99 8.99 Drinking Buddies $6.99 12.99 12.99 8.99 Europa Report $6.99 14.99 19.99 8.99 Goon $6.99 9.99 12.99 8.99 IP Man $3.99 9.99 12.99 3.99 Kid Cannabis $3.99 9.99 12.99 3.99 Naruto Shippuden The Movie: Bonds $6.99 9.99 12.99 7.99 Naruto The Movie: Legend Of The Stone Of Gelel $6.99 9.99 12.99 N/A Naruto The Movie: Ninja Clash In The Land Of Snow $6.99 9.99 12.99 N/A Naruto: Shippuden The Movie $6.99 9.99 12.99 N/A Rocky $4.99 9.99 N/A 7.99 Rocky II $4.99 9.99 N/A 7.99 Rocky III $4.99 9.99 N/A 7.99 Rocky IV $4.99 9.99 N/A 7.99 Special ID $3.99 9.99 11.99 3.99 The Terminator $4.99 9.99 12.99 7.99 The Usual Suspects $4.99 9.99 N/A 7.99 Young Detective Dee: Rise Of The Sea Dragon $3.99 9.99 12.99 3.99 TV Shows Title Season SD Sale Price per Episode HD Sale Price per Episode Inuyasha: The Final Act 1 Vol. 1 $1.39 $1.99 Inuyasha: The Final Act 1 Vol. 2 $1.39 $1.99 Naruto Shippuden Uncut 1 Vol. 1 $1.39 N/A Naruto Shippuden Uncut 1 Vol. 2 $1.39 N/A Naruto Shippuden Uncut 1 Vol. 3 $1.39 N/A Naruto Shippuden Uncut 1 Vol. 4 $1.39 N/A Week 1 of the Holiday Sale runs through Monday, December 8. Don’t forget to check back here next Tuesday to see which titles will be on sale next week. What games are you going to snag this week? View the full article
  23. Commander Fury
    Hello, my name is Yousuf Mapara, the Creative Director of Secret Ponchos, which finally launches today on PS4 (free for PlayStation Plus members)! First off, our team at Switchblade Monkeys wants to thank everyone for their support and interest. There have been plenty of articles since we announced Secret Ponchos, which detailed the game’s characters, game modes and features, so we wanted to focus today’s blog post on combat — or more specifically, how we drew inspiration from fighting games, team-based shooters and even MMO combat to craft our own style of combat game. A new take on quick, twitchy combat When we decided to make a Wild West fighting game, we knew the traditional 1v1 side view would not work for what we wanted, and that we would need to create a new style of combat outside of pre-existing genre conventions. We had to figure out how to keep the fundamentals that make great fighting games work, and carry them into 3D battlegrounds capable of supporting team play. We wanted to keep the quick-twitch style of more traditional fighting game combat, allowing you to see what your opponent is doing and react in fractions of a second to either escape or counterattack. Elements such as maneuvering into the right position to land a strike, precisely timing your attacks to hit your opponent when they are vulnerable, and aiming mechanics that rely on precision instead of point and click combat. We also wanted players to be able to use the environment to hide or take cover, to strategize team formations, and even use line of site mechanics to set up ambushes or escape a heated shootout. We aimed to create dramatic moments during gameplay that have that sense of western tension. One example: you might dive behind a wooden coffin, hanging onto a sliver of life and desperately reloading your weapon. The enemies are advancing, but you see something they cannot… an ally taking cover behind a nearby gravestone ready to flank them and burst out guns blazing at just the right moment. Controlling your space One of the key fundamentals of fighting games is spacing. In traditional fighting games with side-views, you can see the exact distance between you and your opponent. The isometric (overhead) camera in Secret Ponchos allowed us to utilize that same sense of spacing that you wouldn’t get with the first-person or over-the-shoulder views of other team shooters — this was the main reason we went this direction. Spacing is about controlling the fight and maintaining the right range to land your attacks, while preventing your opponent from doing the same. Skilled duelists will dive in and out of range to get into position, then draw with deadly accuracy to fire off a few shots before making a hasty escape. Every action is a strategic choice – with consequences We knew early in development was that we wanted to avoid making a “spammy” game where it’s chaotic unloading of attacks at each other until someone randomly dies. The solution was creating a set of benefits and consequences for each move. This way everything you do becomes a strategic choice. When you first start playing you make choices intuitively, but as you get better you become more aware of their consequences and become more strategic in your play. You can recklessly run in guns blazing, but when you hear that dreadful “click” of an empty chamber, you realize you’ve made yourself an easy target. A good opponent will be aware of it too, often counting your shots and playing evasively to make waste your rounds into the ground and walls. Kidred can hide a stick of dynamite in an enemies pocket, causing them to detonate several seconds later. But to do this he needs to take some major risks and maneuver himself close enough in the heat of a battle. Even your diveroll is a valuable commodity, and being too hasty with aggression might render you out of precious stamina unable to escape as your enemies unload a brutal barrage of bullets back at you. Attack Types In the wild west, there are lots of ways a battle can go down. While a new Outlaw might feel they are simply running and gunning, the many different attacks are layered into a variety of types, each causing its own effect on an enemy. Some attacks are geared towards maximizing damage, while other attacks have effects like stuns and blinds. Players can learn to chain these together, creating effective strategies. Phantom Poncho has a deadly shotgun, but its range is fairly short so it can be hard to get close on an evasive player. If Poncho switches to his secondary weapon (bull whip), it can be used to stun an enemy, disarm, or wound them to a limp, slowing them down so he can move in for the kill before they escape. The Deserter can use a stamina unit to slam into an opponent with his shoulder; this may not deal too much damage, but it stuns them long enough for his team mate, The Matador, to launch her sword impale move. Gang Fights We always had this goal to make a fighting game where a groups of friends could become a deadly posse, anticipating each others’ intentions and forming second-to-second reactions as they gun down all who stand against them. That being said, we had to deviate from the classic fighting game approach and build Secret Ponchos from the ground up to support a range of combat, from 1v1 all the way to 4v4 team fights. Team play adds interesting layers to a match, particularly when a team is made of different outlaw combinations who can chain together their combos and compensate for each other’s weaknesses. We set out to do something fresh, not only in terms of style and theme, but to create game play that doesn’t strictly follow genre conventions. As developers, we can’t wait to take a step back and see how players learn and perfect the mechanics of combat, leveraging different team compositions to chain together crazy combos and strategies that we never even imagined. We look forward to see how far the community can push our game as a competitive online environment (let us know what you think in our forums), and supporting you guys with updates and new content. Welcome to Secret Ponchos — happy hunting. -Yousuf and the Switchblade Monkeys Team View the full article
  24. Commander Fury
    This is Si at indie games developer Eiconic Games in the UK. We’re very proud to announce that Final Horizon is launching on PS Vita and PS4 tomorrow, December 2nd. Building on the success of our arcade action game Total Recoil we wanted to make a Tower Defence game our own way, with our own blend of action and strategy. We’ve really levelled things up for this game. The killstreaks are crazier, the enemies are smarter, the weapons are cooler and we’re really happy with the result. We have spent a lot of time developing, testing and refining the enemy AI so it feels like alien behaviour. The Swarm will rush forward in spider-legged tanks and launch rockets from distance in their Skorpion heavy assault vehicles. They’ll swoop in with airbourne Hornets and Mecha-Wasps that will flock together for maximum impact. Then you meet the Scarab. The Scarab tunnels underground and breaks the surface behind your defences. You will really need to learn and adapt to complete the game. We would like to announce to the readers of the PlayStaion Blog that Final Horizon is a Platinum Trophy game. With 100 objectives to complete you’ll be playing and replaying the 50 levels to unlock the Platinum Trophy. We are also very excited to announce the launch of the Dark Galaxy add-on pack. More than just extra levels it’s a standalone galaxy with more advanced weapons and enemies. Here you will have to think faster and move quicker than ever before to power up and detonate the EMP towers. And you will get hands on with the most powerful tower in the game – the Plasma Cannon. You are going to need these new weapons while you are overrun with SpiderBombs, Dark Hornets and other bigger and badder machines from the Swarm. We would like to challenge only the toughest players to enter the Dark Galaxy. It’s going to be faster, harder, darker and you will need to bring your A-game to unlock all the Trophies here. Final Horizon: 3 Galaxies, 50 Levels, 100 objectives, Platinum Trophy Dark Galaxy add-on pack: 1 Galaxy, 20 levels, 7 extra trophies So, Final Horizon, out exclusively for PlayStation 4 and PS Vita tomorrow as part of the December Instant Game Collection for PS Plus members. Let us know what you think! View the full article
  25. Commander Fury
    It was 2008 when the team here at Psyonix first combined soccer with racing and released the original Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle-Cars on PS3. Now, after six years of dedicated community feedback and more than two million downloads, our long-awaited sequel, Rocket League, is headed to PS4 this spring! For us, Rocket League is more than just a sequel — it’s also a chance to improve on the first Battle-Cars in nearly every possible way, including: Improved physics, faster gameplay, and infinitely better visuals An all-new Season Mode with unlockable items, multiple arenas, and more The return of 2-, 3- and 4-player split-screen More vehicles, new stadiums, and more than 100 customization items Dedicated gameplay servers A broadcast-quality replay feature that enables players to create their own custom replays of entire games from any camera angle they want Even more surprises that we’ll reveal closer to release But wait, there’s more! We’re also excited to announce that Rocket League will debut on PS4 at the PlayStation Experience this weekend in Las Vegas, December 6 and 7! Drop by our location at Booth I13 and you’ll be able to enjoy four-player split-screen firsthand, while also earning a shot at winning one of the cool, show-exclusive Rocket League shirts highlighted below. See you at the show! View the full article

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