PlayStation News Message Board older than one year ago

Fact: Ready at Dawn has never made a bad game. Sure, the company's repertoire, which includes Daxter and God of War: Chains of Olympus for PSP and Okami for Wii, is limited. Still, look at those games. Not exactly the worst developer to take a cue from, right? Soon, developers large and small will be able to do just that when Ready at Dawn releases its own game development platform for the Xbox 360, PS3 and PSP, appropriately titled the Ready at Dawn Engine. (How delightfully narcissistic!) The new engine will attempt to set itself apart from competing middleware services by offering a one-stop shop for cross-platform game development, merging its "proprietary code-base with the top providers of 3D content editing, audio, user interface and asset management systems." We suggest checking out Gamasutra's recent interview with Dawn co-founder Didier Malenfant to learn about the brazenness required to inspire a company, with three games under its belt, to make its own game-crafting engine.

Is BioWare's sci-fi RPG coming to Sony's console?

Is BioWare's sci-fi RPG heading to Sony's console?

A keen-eyed NeoGAF user by the name of goldsoundz noticed a startling billboard in his home town of Shreveport, Louisiana -- splayed out on the massive overhead placard is the logo for the heretofore unannounced next installment in Insomniac Games' PS3 shooter franchise, Resistance 3. Goldsoundz explained that Shreveport is a popular spot for film shoots, and that the ad was to be incorporated in a film titled Battle: Los Angeles, which is due out in early 2011. By that timeline, it makes sense that Insomniac could slap another game together by the film's theatrical debut -- still, seeing gargantuan promotions for a game that hasn't been formally announced (or discussed) is a bit surprising. Certainly more surprising than a potential announcement for Resistance 3, because, come on, of course there's gonna be a Resistance 3. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]

We can't be gaming all the time, despite our best efforts, and from time to time we'll actually take advantage of the movie-playing abilities on our gaming systems. JBO features our top picks for XBL, PSN, Netflix's Watch Instantly and Blu-ray each week. Recommendation of the Week: Anvil: The Story of Anvil (DVD: $24.98 MSRP, cheaper at most retailers) Just for the record, I'm not a fan of heavy metal. It's just never been my thing. But this documentary about a band you've never heard of just came out on DVD, and it's one of the most moving, amazing movies I've seen in a long time. You'll laugh, cry, play some air drums or guitar, and ultimately be won over. Steve "Lips" Kudlow channels more emotion in this movie than most actors ever do in their lives, and you'll understand why he's kept this failed band going for 30 years. By day he works at a depressing school catering job, and in his spare time he and longtime childhood friend (and drummer) Robb Reiner rock as heavy metal band Anvil. The film chronicles their history, a failed European tour, and what life is like for the flipside of Metallica or Slayer. Highly recommended. As usual, we'll see you at the popcorn st -- well, actually, we won't see you at all. But you catch our drift. Plus, be sure to tell us what you'll be watching, or what you've seen recently that bowled you over.

Taylor Swift joins the likes of Fall Out Boy, Hilary Duff, Boys Like Girls, The All-American Rejects and Jesse McCartney.

Demon's Souls from Atlus has been getting quite the positive buzz around the 'net watercooler, so we figured it prudent to check in with some of our colleagues on what they thought of the game. Unsurprisingly, that buzz is justified -- the game's been a resounding success with the majority of critics out there. So, without further ado, let's get to it: RPGamer (100/100): "The game is very hard, but not unfairly so; each time you die, you'll learn a bit more about the level, and you'll be able to progress a bit further. I was very surprised with what I found in Demon's Souls." IGN (94/100): "Every single person that owns a PS3 should at the very least rent this game to see what all the fuss is about, and those that can remember the good ol' days when games taught through the highly effective use of negative reinforcement and a heavy price for not playing it carefully should scoop this up instantly. It's utterly unique among the offerings on any console right now, and absolutely, positively should not be missed." Eurogamer (90/100): "It's stoic, uncompromising, difficult to get to know, but also deep, intriguingly disturbed and perversely rewarding. You can learn to love Demon's Souls like few other games in the world. But only if you're prepared to give yourself over to it." [JPN Import] GameSpot (90/100): "If you crave true innovation, a fair but relentless challenge, and gripping exploration in which every step has consequences, then you crave Demon's Souls." GamePro (80/100): "In short, you'll have a blast but you'll pay a heavy price for it sooner or later."

Here's one reason why PSP minis are more expensive than their iPhone counterparts: the ESRB. Sony doesn't enforce any control over the pricing of minis, but they do mandate getting approval from the ESRB ratings board. That, apparently, has been a significant hidden cost some developers didn't expect. "You have to invest some money into dev kits and into getting ratings for your game. The costs of ratings such us ESRB is significantly more then we had realized," Fieldrunners developer Sergei Gourski told Gamasutra. According to a posting at GameDev.net, the cost of getting an approval is $2,500. Content developed for the iPhone doesn't need to go through the ratings board, an oversight which, surprisingly, has yet to attract a media call-to-arms. Should the ESRB succeed in courting Apple as the defacto ratings system for the iPhone, the high cost of approval should curtail one of the largest problems facing the iPhone store today: having too much content, a sentiment shared by Minigore developer Kimmo Vihola. Vihola noted that "[Apple's] process is starting to crack from the seams," and pointed out that Sony's turnaround time on minis is much faster than Apple's store. Sony takes three to five days for approval, while Apple varies "from a couple of days to up to six weeks."

The ESRB has exposed a new round of PSone Classics for PS3 and PSP on its ratings site, including Naughty Dog creative director -- and Uncharted creator -- Amy Hennig's 32-bit opus, Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver. Other titles recently rated for re-release via PlayStation network include Bomberman Party Edition, Fighting Force, Dirt Jockey and International Track & Field.After last week's deluge of classic PlayStation games gone downloadable on PSN, we were befuddled by the utter lack of any new additions with yesterday's update. We could very likely be looking at the next round in the list -- the only question is when Sony will push them out the digital distribution door.[Thanks, Dylan!]

If you like the setting of Eve Online, but don't find the dense, economics-heavy gameplay scintillating, CCP is making Dust 514 just for you. You can still inhabit the Eve universe, but you're pretty much just shooting guns at it instead of destroying financial systems. Unfortunately, while the kind of grim space setting is fairly unique for an MMO (as is just about everything about Eve), it's kind of ... well-heeled in the FPS world. As in, there's nothing particularly novel about seeing an FPS that takes place in a gritty sci-fi world. That said, this looks like a good ... one of those, and the MMO idea and Eve integration still manage to be interesting. And in general, we like the idea of using the same universe to express totally different game concepts -- like how WWE Crush Hour spun off from the wrestling games. Bad example. Download in HD (84MB)

It's been a full four years since we last controlled any of Oddworld's strange inhabitants, with the most recent entry in the series dropping on Xbox. We'll get another chance soon, however, as an interview with Bitmob earlier this week with series creator Lorne Lanning announced the inking of a deal with Sony to release "the original Abe games" on PSN "very soon" -- something an ESRB rating at least partially hinted at early last month.Furthermore, the entire series is getting packaged for digital re-release as The Oddbox (including Munch's Oddysee and Stranger's Wrath, previously console-exclusive games), available digitally "sometime this Winter." When pressed on a new game in the series though, Lanning kept mum, saying "We hope to have an announcement soon, but I've been saying that for a while now so I'll just shut up and hope for the best." Looks like we'll be mirroring Lanning's actions for now, unfortunately.[Via Big Download]

Two things about this trailer for the new Rocket Knight (after the break) stand out upon our first viewing: The stylized projectile/jetpack effects It's a Rocket Knight Adventures game That last one may seem obvious, but we're still a bit shocked to see Konami bring the series back after so long -- to be honest, we're a bit shocked every time Konami announces a game that isn't Metal Gear. And, to our delight, what we see here is true Rocket Knight: Sparkster has his sword and his jetpack, the latter of which is used basically to bounce all over the screen. It's here that the 3D remake actually benefits the game: with the wider area and the smaller Sparkster, he seems to have a lot more freedom to fly around. Even the shooter stages have returned, with some interesting dynamic camera work.If you never paid attention to this series because of mid-90s animal mascot platformer overload, you should start getting familiar with it now. Forget Gex, Aero the Acro-Bat, Punky Skunk, Zero the Kamikaze Squirrel, Awesome Possum, and Socket. This one's actually good.

Are you really friends with your Facebook friends? It's time to find out with the new Buzz! application. The "Friend Quiz" lets you and your invited friends to partake in a trivia contest about your mutual buddies. The quiz will draw information from mutual friends' status updates, comments, interests and photos.Buzz will be narrating the entire game, so expect some snide remarks from the short British host. Each question, in typical Buzz! style, is timed: make sure you answer quickly to get the most points. At the end of the game, you'll be able to post your total score to your Wall, as you wait for your invited friends to beat you. It's a terrific twist on classic Buzz! gameplay, and best of all -- it's free.[Via PlayStation.Blog Europe]

Look, China -- we need to have a talk. We know you're back up to your old tricks again, trying to sell people knock-offs of Sony's new PSP Go handheld. We thought you learned your lesson last time? You had made all of these promises, told us how you were going to get your life back on track and now we have to find out about your Slide Panel Retro from some website? Where's the communication? We don't care if the thing has 4GB of space, a built-in camera, mp3 player and emulation software, it's just not right! To say we're disappointed would be an understatement.So, here's what we're going to do: We're cutting you off. No more joyriding in the Jag or going down to Toshi Station to waste time with your friends. This is it, we're washing our hands of you . Do what you want, we won't be responsible anymore.[Via Siliconera]

While the idea of getting wet at the movies doesn't sound all that great (wet clothes and air conditioning don't mix, people!), the prospect of a Wet movie is certainly something we can get behind. That's just what voice of Rubi Malone Eliza Dushku proposed during an interview with MTV, stating that the game "maybe could turn into a live-action Dushku vehicle."Of course, it's best to keep in mind that there aren't any actual plans yet; Dushku isn't confirming things are in motion to make a live-action Wet film a reality, rather she wouldn't mind playing Rubi Malone in the film if it ever happens. We wouldn't mind it, either -- it'd give her a chance to make up for her underwhelming performance in the game.

What's worse: "upgrading" to a PSP Go knowing you won't get any kind of reward for (effectively) giving up access to your UMD collection, or thinking you'll get some bonus games and then having them snatched away at the last second, Charlie Brown-style? Ask these PlayStation forum users, who discovered that a kink in the DRM for the free European rewards program games meant that downloading the games to a PS3 before copying them to a Go invalidated the licenses. In short, if you download your free games to a PS3 first, you will have not free games, but free large, useless files. Sony is aware of the issue, advising new users to download their freebies directly to the PSP so they can play them at some point. If you've already made the "mistake" of redeeming your codes on the PS3? "We're still coming up with a solution for those who have redeemed the voucher and are now receiving the error message," forum moderator moshii says, "and we'll update you as soon as we have a solution for you."Kind of makes you nostalgic for when the only method of transfer for games was from the box to the system via the "your hand" protocol, right?[Via Destructoid]

In the second part of our interview with SCEA's Eric Lempel, we chatted about the simultaneous release of PSP Go and PSP minis. In addition to discussing the hands-off approach Sony is taking with the pricing of minis, we talked about the possibility of the minis program moving to PS3, and eventual Mac support for the PSP's MediaGo application.Joystiq: Are any Sony first-party studios working on PSP minis? Eric Lempel: Right now, to my knowledge, they're not. That could change, again, but right now, I don't believe any of the studios are working on minis.What determines the pricing of PSP minis?There are a couple of rules, or maybe there's just one rule. They have to come in at $9.99 or under.If someone wanted to release at $1.99, they could?Yes, absolutely.

click to redeem for a larger screenshot From the first trailer, we've been hankering to see more from Rockstar's open-world treatment of the Wild West, Red Dead Redemption. That said, there was considerable hootin' and hollerin' around the 'Stiq when the dev dished out these latest screens today. As good as RDR looks, its gameplay sounds equally impressive given the demo we got during PAX 2009. The ability to kill everything in the game (well, with the exception of things that aren't alive in the first place -- you win this time, rock!) is perhaps overshadowed only by the fact that you'll be able to tan your own leather and sell it, fulfilling a life-long dream for at least .01% of those who'll play it.Yip-yip yee-haw your way through the new shots in the gallery below, pardners.

We're not so swift on the uptake sometimes, so maybe you can help us make this distinction. Nicolas Doucet of Sony Computer Entertainment's London Studio told Gamespot that action titles Eight Days and The Getaway 3 aren't "abandoned" per se, just "put to one side." To clarify: No one is working on these things at all while the team focuses on EyePet and Singstar. So, basically, no one has put the files for the games on to a single computer, doused it in gasoline, flipped it off and then set it ablaze. Because that's apparently what it takes for a game to be classified as canceled.

Three years and $300 worth of price cuts later, PS3 may finally hit the top of the hardware sales charts in America. EEDAR's analyst Jesse Divnich predicts 400,000 PS3s were sold in September, edging out both Wii and Xbox 360 sales (375k and 370k units respectively).It's far from a landslide victory for Sony, but it may be the start of a turnaround for the long-beleaguered company. If the hardware maintains momentum, the next issue Sony will have to tackle is software. While EEDAR's hardware numbers peg PS3 at the top, its software charts only show one PS3 game in the top 10: Batman: Arkham Asylum. With the remainder of the chart dominated by 360 and Wii games, it's clear Sony still has a long way to go in the console wars.

Without disclosing actual sales figures, Sony has found a way to trumpet last week's launch of the PSP Go: In its first three days at retail (October 1-3), North American PSP platform sales soared by 300 percent over the previous week's figures. Again, we don't yet know the numbers -- but that's not even the most important part of the equation.Read it again: PSP platform sales soared by 300 percent. Whether the Go tanks or not, it's got the PSP brand on consumers' wish lists again. "With several blockbuster games launching digitally and on UMD in the coming weeks -- from LittleBigPlanet to Assassin's Creed: Bloodlines -- we expect this momentum to continue and look forward to a strong holiday season for both the PSP Go and PSP-3000," SCEA corp. comm. director Patrick Seybold told Gamasutra.The PSP Go currently retails for around $250, and its most compelling trait could be that it highlights what a great deal the only $169.99 PSP-3000 model is -- it plays all the same games, after all; from Minis to full-game downloadables.

Look, we're not going to waste your time. A lot of new content for the PSN landed in Europe today, but only one piece of that content is a PSP Mini titled Yummy Yummy Cooking Jam. The rest of the game developing world might as well give up, because Yummy Yummy Cooking Jam exists, and only costs four pounds. How is anyone supposed to compete with that? Choose your platform to view the corresponding release list: (Note: Continue past the break to view both release lists.)

Last Friday, a blog entry at Capcom Unity (that was mysteriously pulled) revealed the names and dates for a number of "UMD Legacy" titles for re-release on the PlayStation Store: October 8: Darkstalkers Chronicle: The Dark Tower October 15: Street Fighter Alpha 3 Max October 22: Capcom Puzzle World October 29: Maverick Hunter X November 5: Megaman Powered Up This list completes the lineup of un-UMD'd games promised three months ago (and tosses in Capcom Puzzle World for good measure). While Capcom has neglected to price any of these titles, previously released Legacy games are currently $19.99 each on the PlayStation Store. Unsure of the veracity of the pulled info, we confirmed with Capcom's Chris Kramer who told us that the "titles are correct and the dates should be fairly accurate" though he did admit that it's "hard to pin down digital release dates almost until they happen." Still unaccounted for? Those PS1 old-timers you've been waiting forever to buy again: Dino Crisis, Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil 3.