PlayStation News Message Board older than one year ago

Metal Gear creator believes gaming's shackles will be removed.

Seems like this "Blu-ray" thing is taking off. Likely, as a PS3 owner, you're familiar with the HD movie format. With more and more PS3 systems (and standalone Blu-ray players) entering American households, it was inevitable that Blu-ray sales would continue to grow. According to a report by Home Media Magazine (via Blu-ray.com), revenues from Blu-ray sales increased 68.5% in Q1 2010 vs. Q1 2009, to $331.31 million.

While the format is continuing to grow at a rapid pace, it still has a long way to go before overtaking DVD sales. According to the report, Blu-ray still only accounts for 12.3% of packaged media sales. That's more than the 7% it represented last year, but it's clear that there are many people that have yet to convert to HD movies.

Aqua Panic!, originally a PSP game called Downstream Panic!, is making its way to the PlayStation Network tomorrow in Europe, and some time in May in America. This puzzler has you using a variety of water-manipulating tools, as you try to take a group of fish safely back to water. Along the way, you'll have to watch out for deadly traps like giant piranhas. It may look cute, but it is deceptively difficult.

In addition to a PSP re-release, developer Eko is making an enhanced PS3 version of the game, featuring 1080p graphics, leaderboards and background music support. For those of you looking for an absurdly cute puzzle game, you may want to check this out. Watch the trailer after the break.

[Via GamerBytes]

...and here's why.

Reviewing the push for an R18+ classification for video games in Australia.

Kratos killed them. We ranked them.

What surprises does Sony have in store?

Like all responsible journalists worth their salt, we're inherently distrustful of advertising and the incredible power it wields over us -- err, rather consumers. But we feel like you deserve to know that there's a special place in our coldly detached hearts for pretend PS3 pitchman Kevin Butler. And we're apparently not alone.

According to what SCEA marketing boss Peter Dille told the MI6 marketing conference in San Francisco last week, purchasing intent for the PS3 is up 36 percent since the "It Only Does Everything" campaign started last year. Now, does the price drop that accompanied the campaign figure into that? Of course. But according to IGN, Dille added, "we know from research that consumers are more educated as well."

It looks like Kevin doesn't need to sweat Craig any longer.

If you're looking to take your god-slaying, tiny planet-creating, Blu-ray-watching console on the go, but lack the fungible assets required to purchase one of Ben Heck's laptops, Japanese electronics manufacturer Hori may have another solution for you. The company recently unveiled the HP3-87 LCD dock, a Sony-licensed peripheral which attaches a slick 1,366 x 768 pixel screen and stereo speakers to your PS3 Slim.

The device, which is also compatible with the successful Torne DVR peripheral, will come out in Japan on May 27 for ¥26,040 ($276). We haven't heard anything about plans for an international release -- not that we'd be psyched to plop a burning hot PS3 on our lap during our morning commute.

What Modern Warfare 2, BioShock 2, and Mario tell us about the eternal footman.

Put on your detective hats!

Though it was only released a few weeks ago, we've been skeptical about RealView's "depth enhancing" V-Screen for PSP since we first heard about it last summer. But now that I've had some time with it, well ... I still don't get it.

Watch the video for my first impressions, but here's the general takeaway: $50 is a hefty price tag for a cheap-feeling case and an unimpressive 3D-like screen effect.

SCEA's Peter Dille reflects on the company's PlayStation 3 marketing tactics.

RBEL's gaming division, Zapak Digital Entertainment Ltd. will oversee the investment.

One of the beefiest PSP Minis we've seen to date, Kidguru Studios' Freekscape: Escape from Hell, will arrive on the European and North American PlayStation Stores with this week's April 8th PSN update. The game, which goea for $4.99 (or €4.99), is a puzzle-platformer where you must use the minions of Beelzebub to evacuate his domain. Check out the trailer above to get a glimpse of the demonic ingenuity required to brave the hazards of Hades. Who knew pitchforks were so darn practical?

Though we've all played some form of Jedi-centric game throughout the course of our lives, some of our younger readers may have missed out on the ground floor of the Star Wars FPS movement by not checking out the 1996 PlayStation classic, Star Wars: Dark Forces. Fear not -- you won't have to go hunting through pawn shops to get your Kyle Katarn fix. The game recently showed up on the ESRB's list of adjudicated titles, slated to land on the PSOne Classics platform.

We've contacted LucasArts to find out a time frame for the game's arrival on the PSN. As for the new listings for XS Junior League Dodgeball and XS Airboat Racing, we ... man, we just don't know who we'd contact about those.

Hey PlayStation faithful! I’m returning to my favorite spot on the internets. With all these new announcements, I just can’t help myself.

This time, I’m very proud to announce our latest PlayStation Mini, Freekscape: Escape From Hell. The game will be available this Thursday, April 8 in North America for $4.99 (and in Europe for €4.99)

Developed by our good friends Kidguru Studios in Brazil, Freekscape: Escape From Hell introduces Freek, a cute little demon who has discovered a magic trident. Inspired by the trident’s powers, Freek becomes determined to ascend out of the Netherworld and into Heaven. But, of course, he needs your help.

Freek encounters a variety of unusual creatures in his fire-laden underground world. His new-found trident allows him to capture those crazy crawlers and turn them into different tools, depending on their abilities. For example, while an elastic-bed-like monster transforms the trident into a pogo stick, a sharp toothed goblin turns it into a cutting machine.

Freekscape: Escape From Hell is a full 3D, side-scrolling platformer created for the PlayStation Mini platform. So, why is this cool? Because you can play it on your PlayStation 3 *and* you can play it on your PSP! One game, two machines… get it? Play on the couch at home, and then take it in the car. You never have to be without your trusted demon buddy, Freek!

We’re very excited about launching another PlayStation Mini, and we couldn’t keep doing what we love without you. From everyone at Creat Studios and Kidguru Studios, thank you for your support and please keep the comments coming.

Are you one of the few people who still need new content on the PS2? It looks like Sony may be reaching into the depths of its PSP archive to find more ports to bring to the aging console. The ESRB has appended its rating for Syphon Filter: Logan's Shadow -- the latest (and arguably greatest) entry in Sony's stealth franchise -- with both PSP and PS2 as the listed platforms.

It seems to be quite a stretch to think that Sony would invest the time and money to release a PS2 port so late into the system's life cycle (we've contacted Sony and the ESRB, to be clear). And while Logan's Shadow is a terrific game, it's strange that Sony would want to port a game that is already nearly three years old. Perhaps that effort could be better used on creating a PS3 iteration of the franchise?

[Thanks, Matt S.]

Happy Easter to everyone out there. I hope there is chocolate, a great day with family, and – if you’re lucky – a day off tomorrow for some quality gaming time.

As I was putting together the list this morning, this “cover” for the monthly digital Kotaku Magazine caught my eye, reminding me to remind everyone in the Pacific Northwest to come try out PlayStation Move this Thursday in Seattle. See you there?

The PS Blog weekly reading list (Week of March 29, 2010)

• Review: Fat Princess: Fistful Of Cake – The Sixth Axis
• Hands on with ModNation Racers on PSP – Pocket Game
• The core have “looked down their nose” at motion gaming, says Dille – VG247
• Game of the Month: March 2010 – PlayStation Universe
• Sony’s Dille talks PS3 marketing evolution – GameSpot
• Hands-on: PlayStation Move: The future of gaming – Examiner.com
• Sakura Wars: So Long, My Love Review – IGN
• Cage: Heavy Rain Sales Sent ‘Very Strong Message’ About Innovation – Gamasutra
• Q&A with God of War III technical art group manager Giovanni Luis – Examiner.com
• What We Think (and Hope) the God of War III Teaser Might Be – IGN
• The Art of God of War III at Gallery Nucleus – Joystiq
• Zen Studios’ Planet Minigolf will be Move-enabled – Joystiq

Are you one of the few that still need new content on your PS2? Looks like Sony may be reaching into the depths of its PSP archive to find more ports to bring to the aging console. The ESRB has appended its rating for Syphon Filter: Logan's Shadow -- the latest (and arguably greatest) entry in Sony's stealth franchise -- with both PSP and PS2 as the listed platforms.

It seems quite a stretch that Sony would invest the time and money to release a PS2 port so late into its life cycle (we've contacted Sony and the ESRB, to be clear). And while Logan's Shadow is a terrific game, it's strange that Sony would want to port a game that is already nearly three years old. Perhaps that effort could be better used on creating a PS3 iteration of the franchise?

[Thanks, Matt S.]

Fist of the North Star and Yakuza top the software charts.

Its star may be known for constantly seeing red, but the latest installment in the God of War series evidently has Sony seeing a whole lot of green. IGN reports that Peter Dille, senior VP of marketing for SCEA, told the audience at yesterday's MI6 marketing summit that God of War III had surpassed the one million unit sold mark in "just a couple days."

The figure was provided without any other details, so Dille could have been lumping sales from other regions into it. We're getting in touch with SCEA for clarification and to see exactly where sales of the game stand as of this week.

[Via 1UP]

Japan gets PlayStation's final numbered FF.

We’ve all returned – and mostly recuperated – from our trip to Boston this past weekend to attend PAX East. It was both a pleasure and an honor to make it out for the inaugural PAX on the East Coast, not only to attend the show, but also to participate in panels. Everyone at Penny Arcade deserves all our gratitude for putting together such a smooth first –- and completely sold out PAX in Boston. We’re looking forward to PAX East 2011!

We weren’t expecting the massive turnout for our panel on Saturday, “Naughty Dog LIVE: Game Design with the Dogs.” When I got to the Naga Theater to setup for our panel, the line waiting to get in was insane – and it was a whole half-hour before our panel was due to start. I heard some people had been waiting in line for over an hour at one point. It was sad to hear that PAX Enforcers had to turn away a ton of people waiting to get in by the time they started to fill the theater. There is no doubt that it was awesome for us to see that kind of turnout, but it was also a little bittersweet that we couldn’t get in everybody who wanted to attend.

Our panel focused on showing the inner workings of how game design works at Naughty Dog, led by game designers Richard Lemarchand, Jacob Minkoff and Justin Richmond. We picked a spot in UNCHARTED: Drake’s Fortune that had a minor narrative hole – between Chapters 3 and 4 – and used that as the basis to explore a fictional Chapter 3.5 we titled “Strip Search.” The first half of the panel was spent laying out the objectives for the design of this chapter and the type of structure and pacing that was important for us to maintain so that everything would fit neatly into the UNCHARTED universe in look and feel.

Jacob fired up Autodesk Maya for the second half of the panel and loaded an example blockmesh level for Chapter 3.5 that he sketched out in his spare time over the couple of weeks leading up to PAX East. It was Jacob’s responsibility on the panel to pitch his level to Richard and Justin, explain his game design choices, and receive feedback to demonstrate our collaborative and iterative design process. We also stopped briefly and turned to our audience to let them give us their ideas on how to solve a specific design challenge within the level.

Unfortunately we started to run out of time towards the end, because we wanted to talk about how to turn this level into one that works in our multiplayer game and also open up the floor one more time to get suggestions from our audience. Perhaps we can get to that another time if we ever get a chance to do a similar panel.

Once it was all over, we met with a lot of our fans in the audience that came up to chat. We’re really grateful to have such awesome fans and we owe you all thanks for attending our panel and coming up to say hi!

If you were at PAX East and weren’t able to get into our panel – and I know there were a lot of you – you can read a recap of our panel on Joystiq. In addition, we should have the full video of our panel available on NaughtyDog.com sometime in the next couple of weeks. Check back later on to check it out!

Zombies invade the streets of Sydney, the God of War talks dirty plus we review the blockbuster Clash of the Titans.

April Fools! Ha, see, we totally got you by not posting the update until it's almost April 2 to the people who'd actually care about it. Oh, not funny? Fine then, we will come up with something more clever (cleverer?) next year. Check out the full update after the jump!

Choose your platform to view the corresponding release list:
(Note: Continue past the break to view both release lists.)

State of Play: Are DLC offerings like Modern Warfare 2's Stimulus Package just scams?

IGN dominates San Francisco. And Jessica Chobot finally joins Beyond!

Move over Move, Sony's taking gaming into an all-new dimension: scent. Remember Smell-O-Vision? Of course you don't -- you're not that old. Well friends, the crack technology featured in the 1960 film Scent of Mystery is the future again, as Sony has announced "PlayStation Scent" with OXYtracking -- head past the break for the video press conference. Just affix the PlayStation Scent to your nose and start playing. At key moments, scent information embedded in the Blu-ray game disc will be transmitted to your nose!

The "Odorama" begins with a re-issue of Naughty Dog's Uncharted 2. Finally, you can smell the tucked in part of Drake's half-tuck. Then, experience all the sweet nose candy of upcoming releases Gran Turismo 5 (burning rubber) and SOCOM 4 (burning flesh!) -- now with PlayStation Scent support. Order yours today from Webhallen.com!

Hi there, BUZZ! fans! April is bursting with updates for your favorite BUZZ! PSP games! Get ready to gear up for a month of exciting BUZZ! content to put your trivia knowledge to the test while you’re gaming on-the-go.

To kick things off, the first-ever BUZZ! game on the PSP, BUZZ! Master Quiz, is now the latest UMD title available for digital download. Starting today, you’ll be able to download the formerly UMD-only game from the PlayStation Store on the PlayStation Network. Check out Buzz’s PSP debut and get ready to have him test your trivia skills with over 3,000 unique questions on topics including music, celebrities, TV, sports, science, nature, movies and more!

We’re also continuing to support Buzz’s latest PSP title, BUZZ! Quiz World, with additional quiz packs optimized exclusively for the PSP. On April 8, you’ll be able to prove your sports trivia talent when you download the U.S. Sports Quiz Pack. Then, on April 15, be sure to boost your question banks with fun trivia inspired by the popular National Geographic Kids brand by downloading the National Geographic: Kids Quiz Pack.

For those of you who just can’t wait to get your hands on additional questions, check out the recently released PSP-optimized Space Quiz Pack featuring hundreds of questions covering everything from our solar system to the galaxies beyond, now available on the PlayStation Store.

Put your trivia knowledge to the test this month with cool questions like these for BUZZ! Quiz World PSP:

U.S. Sports PSP-Optimized Quiz Pack

WHAT TEAM WON THE FIRST SUPER BOWL?

OAKLAND RAIDERS
KANSAS CITY CHIEFS
NEW YORK JETS
GREEN BAY PACKERS

National Geographic: Kids PSP-Optimized Quiz Pack

THE MOLTEN ROCK THAT FLOWS OUT OF A VOLCANO IS CALLED WHAT?

• HOT STUFF
• LAVA
• MOVEABLE MOUNTAIN
• RED GELATIN

Space PSP-Optimized Quiz Pack

WHICH OF THESE PLANETS IN OUR SOLAR SYSTEM DO NOT HAVE MOONS?

• JUPITER
• MERCURY
• VENUS
• SATURN

That’s all for now! Keep checking in with us at the PlayStation.Blog to stay up-to-date on the latest BUZZ! news.