Hold on to your helmets, soldiers, because SOCOM: Fire Team Bravo 3 is breaching stores on January 12, 2010, and the game's dev team is excited. How excited? Excited enough to sit in front of a camera and talk about the PSP title's action-packed story and "authentic" gameplay. SOCOM: Fire Team Bravo 3 is set to continue the series' (sadly forgettable) storyline and includes online co-op and over 70 weapons to show terrorist scum who's boss.
Good news for PSP-toting board game fans: GamerBytes recently spotted an ESRB listing for a PSP version of Monopoly. With the addition of a new version of Monopoly for the PSP -- now rated by the ESRB -- EA is close to bringing a version of the classic board game to every available gaming platform (only the DS is left out at this point). There isn't much known about the PSP version, though it does have support for up to four players. It's not clear if it will be a full retail game or a PSP Mini, though the recently released iPhone version would probably make a prime target for the Mini market.
We fully expected Sony Pictures to release This Is It, the blockbuster Michael Jackson concert film, on both DVD and Blu-Ray. However, Sony has taken its plans to put this movie on discs a step further, with the surprising announcement that the movie will also be released on UMD. All three versions will be in stores January 26, 2010.
Both the Blu-Ray and DVD versions will include exclusive bonus material not found on the UMD. Notably absent from the Blu-Ray release is a digital copy of the movie, which would enable it to be watched on any PSP, including the PSP Go. Also notably absent is any mention of the UMD on the site for the home release. Sony must believe that UMD movies sell themselves.
Michael Jackson's This Is It will retail for $24.94 on UMD ($28.96 on DVD; $39.95 on Blu-Ray).
[Game Watch]
Eager to play Eye of Judgment, the unique PS3 card game that uses the PlayStation Eye to read real cards, without the camera and the cards? Then Eye of Judgment's new PSP iteration is for you, and it appears that Sony has plans to release it in North America.
The ESRB has rated the game for North American release under the title, Eye of Judgment: Legends. In addition to implying an eventual retail release, the rating also reveals that the localization is due for a second pass with lines like, "the tremors of earth soaked in the Children of Earth in blood." Oh my.
Koei is apparently set to release Nobunaga's Ambition Online for PS3 next year. AndriaSang has translated a 4Gamer's report, which claims that the publisher announced an unspecified 2010 launch during a recent press conference.
We've contacted Koei to find out if the ultra-hardcore strategy title will release in the US. Nobunaga's Ambition Online's fourth expansion is set for release on PS2 and Windows (PC) in March of next year.
[Thanks, Peter]
So, umm, this is kind of awkward. We're sorry to tell you, British Royal Navy, but it would appear that you've been duped. We know that the electric engineer everyone trusts so much - Reginald, that con artist! - has spent hours convincing everyone at HMS Collingwood in Hampshire how important it is for him to have a Sony PSP for "studying," but we have to tell you: It's a gaming system! He's just using it to play games!
And so even though Reginald said it would be a "smashing idea" for you to buy 230 consoles and spend £50k in the process, we're not so sure this is the best way to educate British sailors. The pre-loaded engineering software may help, but who's to stop users from spending hours with Patapon 2 instead? And no matter how much they claim to be learning about naval combat from SOCOM: Tactical Strike, we're pretty sure that's a lie as well. We hope you've learned from this, and will think twice next time that dastardly Reginald proposes a gaming system as education.
[Via GamesIndustry.biz]
If you're on the fence about Sony's upcoming PSP Digital Comics service, the PlayStation UK blog has a few more sampler comics to decide whether the feature piques your interest. Available for lucky users in the UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa are two sampler comics, featuring the service's highly touted Autoflow feature -- which mimics the way your eyes read a page. Following the release of the PSP's 6.20 firmware, PlayStation released comic samples of Transformers: All Hail Megatron and Aleister Arcane.
Free sample first-issues of Star Trek: Enterprise Experiment and Astro Boy: The Movie Adaptation are available until December 16. In order to grab your sample, make sure to first download the Comic App via the "Extras" section of the XMB (or through this link) for your PSP and use the redemption codes available on PlayStation's UK blog. Then prepare to use your amazing 3D hardware to ... read!
While Americans prep Thanksgiving dinner, the rest of the world moves on as usual. Today's European PSN update adds all the Fallout 3 DLC, along with Borderlands' "Zombie Island" expansion. For PSP users, two new Minis are available: Blast Off and Dracula -- Undead Awakening (pictured). Now, please pardon us while we go get the stuffing ready.
Choose your platform to view the corresponding release list:
(Note: Continue past the break to view both release lists.)
For those of you out there on your third or fourth sleepless night, unable to catch some Zs for worry that Sony is losing money on its physical-media PSP models to the PSP Go, it's time to rest easy. Sony Europe head Andrew House recently told GamesIndustry.biz that digitally distributed titles are "additive to the business." Better yet, newer PSPs aren't eating older ones. "I don't think there's been a huge amount of cannibalization." Okay, okay, he's talking about PSP Go sales proverbially "eating up" PSP-3000 sales.He even goes as far as to state that "those sales [PSP Go sales] have come in and lifted overall PSP sales" - something we've heard stated before by execs at Sony Europe. We're not exactly sure what the strategy is behind using your new $250 PSP to sell your old (and arguably more feature-rich) PSP-3000, but we're still hopeful that Sony sees a long-term plan where we see a really expensive, download-only handheld.
If you've been waiting patiently to enhance your PSP experience with 3D effects, we've got some kind of disappointing news. The V-Screen peripheral, originally announced for a holiday release, will now be launched at CES, which takes place January 7-10. At least it's a specific release period. Attendees will get to see:
what it would look like if someone made a Light Boy for PSP, and
"optical technology first developed for the medical world in order to enhance depth cues hidden in existing images."
It seems like the best way to sell technology like this is to show it off to a crowd ravenous for gadgets. We know we're actually quite curious about the promised depth-enhancement effects. The press release says that the device works with the "PSP 1000, 2000, 3000 and Slim." Even more mysteriously, the official website says that it's "compatible with all currently available Sony PSP models, including the original PSP, the PSP 2000 and the PSP 4000." You might be able to get a Go in the case, if you keep it closed. Unless the screen part detaches from the case part, which would be convenient.
Click to doughnut-size.
PS3 owners will want to stay home on Black Friday. Why? Naughty Dog is releasing the first downloadable content for Uncharted 2's multiplayer mode this Friday, November 27th. A title update will add "The Fort," a brand new multiplayer map supposedly based on the "Fortress" chapter of Drake's Fortune. According to the press release, "The Fort is a long rectangular map with wide open spaces and excellent flank routes." There's a shotgun in the center of the map and an RPG in the crypt. Best of all, this update will be free.Once the patch goes live at 1PM EST, Naughty Dog will also initiate a Double Cash weekend. Teams will also have special skins in competitive matches: Doughnut Drake for the Heroes (pictured above), and Doughnut Lazarevic for the Villains.See a video after the break.
Though it might lose some of its magic without the full chair-and-tinted-window-equipped arcade cabinet, we're still pretty pumped about the possibility of getting our hands on a port of Sega's classic flight combat sim, After Burner. According to the OFLC and the Korean Game Rating Board, it's only a matter of time before our wish is fulfilled -- GamerBytes recently noticed that both groups have rated Sega's After Burner Climax for home console distribution. According to the Korean board, the rating was applied for by Sony, leading some to believe the title's planned launch platform is the PSN. However, considering the multi-platform release of Outrun Online Arcade, we wouldn't be surprised if Sega decided to share the aerial dogfighting love with the 360 as well. We've contacted the hedgehog-loving developer to find out exactly what its plans are for the title.
The Ys series gets around. Primarily a PC-based franchise, Falcom's action-RPG series is ported to everything that can play games in Japan. It appears on the PSP in the form of Ys VI: The Ark of Napishtim, Ys I&II Chronicles, and (soon) Ys VII. Yet another Ys game is migrating over to PSP, as Falcom announced that Oath in Felghana, a port of the PC game of the same name (pictured), will be released in Japan on April 22, with upgraded controls, voiced "events," and the ability to switch between versions of the soundtrack.Oath in Felghana is a remake of Ys III: Wanderers from Ys, swapping out that game's unusual side-scrolling gameplay for the traditional Zelda-esque Ys style.
[atomicshark]
Thanks to Turkey Day this Thursday, the PSN update is going live a couple days early. Gobble up the savings as several PSN titles are priced perfectly for tryptophan overdose relaxation. Check out the full PSN update after the break to find more things to do while avoiding family obligations this weekend.
Choose your platform to view the corresponding release list:
(Note: Continue past the break to view both release lists.)
You may laugh at the "It Only Does Everything" ads but those of us with a cot in the Joystiq Bunker understand that they're a sign that the end is nigh. Why? Because the US military is looking to make a super computer made up of 2500 interconnected PS3 systems -- wait, isn't that how Skynet is made?
The US Air Force already has over 300 launch PS3s in its arsenal, but an upcoming purchase of 2200 additional systems will greatly expand the number-crunching capabilities of its networked supercomputer. According to Information Week, the US Air Force will use Sony's Cell-powered hardware for radar imagery, HD video processing and "neuromorphic computing" or, to those of us without a PhD in Armageddon-ology, "building computers with brain-like properties."
Yeah, we told you the end was coming.
If you're willing to download a program for your computer, then register an account at DivX.com, and then find a product registration code from your PS3, and then download a file to a flash drive to copy onto your PS3, and then use said file to initiate an activation process ... you'll be able to download one of these movies for free: Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, Two Weeks Notice, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, Batman Begins and Green Lantern: First Flight.Yeah that's a lot of hoops to jump through just to get to a collection of mostly outdated films. You might be better off saving your time by going to the PlayStation Store and renting something from there instead.[Thanks, Davis F.! Via EL33TONLINE]
