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Layoffs, continued delays, and high profile departures have made March, 2014 one of the toughest months for Sony-owned studios... maybe ever.

Featured Releases Now Available, Week of 3/25/14

Check out what’s new on Sony Entertainment Network’s ultimate entertainment services! Read more below.

Music Unlimited Highlights

• The 10th album from international pop star Shakira, featuring the hit, “Can’t Remember to Forget You (ft. Rihanna)”
• A Greatest Hits collection from the recently departed My Chemical Romance, including one last new song, “Fake Your Death.”
• In a fairly non-traditional move, Avicii has remixed his own hit album, True, including the massive tracks, “Wake Me Up” & “Hey Brother.”
• A lost Johnny Cash album, recorded over a span of several years in the early 1980’s, featuring duets with his wife June Carter Cash & Waylon Jennings.

For further exclusive access to all the new album releases, see details here.

Video Unlimited Highlights

We’re really excited for our New Release recap this week. We have a mixture of action-adventure, fantasy and supernatural horror – there’s something for everyone! Now available on the Video Unlimited service are The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones and our 99 cent rental of the week, Man of Steel.

The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug: We’ve all seen the Lord of the Rings series, like, a million times, so we’re amped for the second chapter of this Hobbit trilogy. More dwarf action – including an amazing choreographed barrel escape down a raging river – and the addition of Benedict Cumberbatch as the voice of Smaug, the treasure-hoarding dragon. Make this one one you can’t miss.

Our favorite hobbit, Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman), finds himself on an epic journey to reclaim the lost Dwarf Kingdom of Erebor from the fearsome dragon Smaug. Tolkien’s timeless story comes to life like never before in this dramatic prequel.

Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones: Get ready to be really, really scared. Hailed as “the best in the series,” by Steve Barton, DREAD CENTRAL, this horrifying spin-off/sequel to the original Paranormal Activity will send chills down your spine.

Want to get more Video Unlimited scoop on all the new releases? View further details here.

Alone, unprepared, and unarmed, Amanda Ripley is forced to match wits with death itself in Alien: Isolation. The Creative Assembly’s deeply immersive and fanatically detailed survival-horror game returns to the roots of the Alien film franchise — no pulse rifles or space marines here, just you, your wits, and the galaxy’s most feared predator.

To better understand the “lo-fi sci-fi” origin of Alien: Isolation on PS3 and PS4, we asked Creative Lead Alistair Hope for insight into the team’s development process. From design philosophies to the technical possibilities of PS4, Hope reveals a host of insights on the development of Alien: Isolation.

Watch our new video interview, read our Q&A with Alistair, and leave your questions in the comments!

PlayStation.Blog: So far, Isolation’s concept seems to be an intimate one, with Amanda Ripley squaring off against a single Alien. What gave you the inspiration to take the “back to basics” approach?

Alistair Hope: From the start we wanted to make a game that took the player back to the roots of the series — back to Ridley Scott’s haunted house in space. To take the values of the original film but tell a new story, featuring a new underpowered and underprepared character facing overwhelming odds. To us it felt like an amazing opportunity to make a definitive survival horror game based on the original survival horror.

Our key influence was the original film, but I think it would be fair to say that we’re all big survival horror fans, so our reference points are various and many. From Sega’s own Condemned with its shockingly brutal combat, to older games like the Clock Tower series with its totally underpowered main character forced to hide from the stalking horror.

PlayStation.Blog: The details about Amanda Ripley and the art direction appear to be faithful to the spirit of the early films. Have you had any discussion with FOX about whether Isolation will be considered a canon entry in the series?

Alistair Hope: We really wanted to place our story as close as possible to the events of the original film. We realized that in Ellen Ripley’s daughter, Amanda, we had a character who was closely tied to the first film, but whose story had yet to be discovered. We asked ourselves: “When the Nostromo went missing, who would care enough to keep searching for answers?” This led us back to Amanda; she would care.

FOX has been extremely supportive from the moment we pitched the idea of the game to them. We’ve received a huge amount of production design archives from the original film which has provided an enormous wealth of additional material from which to draw upon. This is very much a game inspired by the first film.

PSB: How are you approaching the control scheme? What is the team’s philosophy about inventory screens and HUD?

AH: Immersion is a critical component of Alien: Isolation, and that extends to the user interface, too. We’ve been very influenced by the ’70s view of the future. Alien, although set in the far future, is very much baked in the past. So early on we set ourselves the constraint that we would only use reference materials from before 1979. That means the in-world technology in the game is this great lo-fi / sci-fi, push-button tech that’s clunky, glitchy and imperfect.

We also adopted some of the technology of the era. Filming game content onto VHS tapes, before playing it back on old standard definition CRT televisions and capturing the result. We then take this new 70s recording of the content and put it back into the game giving us a really unique and authentic look and feel to the user interface.

PSB: How is development progressing on PS4? What advantages will players notice? Additionally, are you exploring any of DualShock 4′s features, such as the light bar, motion sensor, or touchpad?

AH: Development on PS4 has been great, and we have some cool PS4 features we’ll be sharing later in the year. One feature we have already shown is how Isolation takes advantage of DualShock 4′s light bar to mirror the signal on the motion tracker — it flashes in-sync with the motion tracker’s ping, increasing in frequency as the Alien approaches. It’s especially effective when you’re playing in the dark.

Another feature I’m really looking forward to is players taking advantage of the built-in livestreaming. As players respond differently to each encounter with the Alien, it will be really fun to watch people’s livestreams — it’ll be like watching an endless horror movie!

PSB: What about A.I.? This is a deadly creature, not a generic soldier or guard. What behaviors and adaptations does the Alien display?

AH: From the outset we wanted to reestablish the Alien as a meaningful opponent. To restore the Alien as the ultimate killer — lethal, unpredictable, and believable. We wanted the player to experience what it would be like to encounter Ridley Scott’s original Alien. Physically huge and imposing, intelligent, and merciless. A creature that dominated the screen and commanded the player’s respect, and one that lived on in the player’s subconscious when it wasn’t on the screen.

Our Alien is dynamic and reactive — it doesn’t run under pre-prescribed paths or scripts. Instead, it uses its senses to hunt the player down. It reacts to the player’s actions and movements. For example: the player can sprint. This obviously allows the player to move through the world faster, but running also generates a lot of noise and that will attract the Alien to the player’s presence.

Likewise, the space station the game takes place on is damaged and broken in places, leaving areas in darkness. The player obtains a flashlight to illuminate the world but again, this also acts as a beacon to the Alien, giving away their position. The player must weigh up the risks of every action and be prepared to react and change plans in an instant.

Alongside being dynamic, the Alien also adjusts its behavior based on the player’s choices. As the player develops certain abilities through the game, so too will the Alien change its tactics in response. For example, the more you use an item or device, the less effective it will be as the Alien adapts its behavior.

To deliver this new Alien experience, we’ve had to build new tech from the ground up across multiple disciplines. It’s been a creative as well as technological effort; from modelling to animation, code and audio all working together to deliver a believable and dynamic creature. Mixing in real-time multiple layers of animation, behavior and audio. The Alien is the star of the show and the game has been built around it.

PSB: It sounds like we’re dealing with just one Alien, but will Isolation make any additions or tweaks to the creature’s lifecycle or biology?

AH: We really wanted to make a game with an Alien that felt like the original. This isn’t any old space bug or insect, this is THE Alien, and from the start we talked internally about our goal to “re-Alien the Alien” — a huge creature that looked down on the player. One that didn’t run around below the player’s waist like an angry dog. We wanted an Alien that recaptured a sense of mystery and the unknown.

PSB: With the success of Demon’s Souls and Dark Souls, we’re seeing a resurgence in more difficult, demanding games that do less handholding. Where do you see Alien: Isolation fitting into this landscape?

Alistair Hope: Alien: Isolation provides a number of different approaches to surviving, but I think it’s fair to say that the Alien is quite uncompromising. It is death, and if you don’t give it the respect it demands, you will not survive. It’s been fascinating watching people play the game and their response afterwards. Because the Alien is dynamic and reactive, every playthrough is different. Everyone’s experience is slightly different as they’ve taken different approaches to trying to survive. The player has a very personal and direct relationship with their opponent as it hunts them.

PSB: What’s your approach to the musical score? Will you be using arrangements from any of the films, or will the soundtrack be original?

AH: Sound is a huge component of any horror experience and that’s no less the case for Alien: Isolation. From the signature sounds of the Alien itself to the distinct, tactile, tangible sounding push-button world. And Jerry Goldsmith’s incredible score. From the outset we felt we had to license music as it’s such a fundamental signature part of the experience. It’s part of the fabric.

For the music, we deconstructed the original score in order to create new pieces containing fragments and signature motifs of the Jerry Goldsmith score, whilst being themselves new compositions supporting this new experience. We then take this and dynamically adjust the compositions and effectively remix them in real-time to support the events and actions on the screen.

PSB: Finally, which Alien movie is your personal favorite, and why?

AH: No question: ALIEN, the original! As a kid I was a big sci-fi fan, and I remember reading the Alan Dean Foster novelization before watching the movie. So from the book I got the sense of this incredible creature before watching the movie where I was exposed to not only Scott’s incredible delivery of the Alien, but also the unique view of a “used future.”

Alien is 35 years old this year, and I believe that you can watch it today and still get an emotional reaction from it. Even though it’s an actor in a rubber suit and we, as an audience, are almost immune to high-end computer graphics in today’s films. Today it remains in top 50 lists, which is an incredible achievement and testament to the creativity, imagination, and art that went into this classic.

In the past few weeks, we’ve seen a ton of new PS4 game announcements on the Blog — so many that we challenged ourselves to build a list of all known PS4 games scheduled to release in North America in 2014. You’ll find our initial findings below. Of course, the usual caveats apply here: schedules can shift and plans can change. But we’re going to keep this handy-dandy list updated all year long with the necessary adjustments. Let us bask in its warming glow.

If you think we missed something, drop us a comment below and we’ll look into it!

Destiny
Bungie’s sweeping sci-fi epic seeks to redefine online shooters with large-scale co-op battles and gripping competitive play.

Batman: Arkham Knight
Bruce Wayne fends off a rogue’s gallery of villains in this conclusion to Rocksteady’s Arkham trilogy. Bonus: You get to drive the Batmobile!

Hohokum
Featuring tunes by Ghostly International and art by Richard Hogg, Hohokum defies virtually all attempts at description.

inFAMOUS Second Son
Sucker Punch has endowed this open-world superhuman simulator with muscular combat and drop-dead gorgeous graphics.

The Order: 1886
High-powered weaponry and alternate history collide in Ready At Dawn’s twisted Neo-Victorian interpretation of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table.

Watch_Dogs
Ubisoft Montreal’s hacker opus revels in its expansive interconnected world where Chicago’s defensive systems are yours for the taking.

Octodad: Dadliest Catch
This comedic gem forces you to navigate menial domestic tasks. The hilarious catch? You have no bones!

Alien: Isolation
As Amanda Ripley, you’ll avoid the clutches of a prowling xenomorph while navigating a sprawling space station.

Transistor
This gorgeous action RPG from Supergiant Games pits a voiceless heroine against an omnipresent computerized presence. Your weapon? A high-tech talking sword.

The Witness
Jonathan Blow’s next mindbender is a feast for the senses, painting a dazzling open-world island populated by hundreds of puzzles.

Wolfenstein: The New Order
MachineGames’ reboot of the classic series takes a familiar formula and adds a rich, rewarding story, creating an intensely satisfying old-school / new-school mashup.

Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn
Eorzea beckons. The highly regarded MMO hits PS4 this year, using the console’s immense graphical power to create a vibrant, breathing world to get lost in.

Galak-Z
This Saturday morning space shooter drips charisma. Strap in — it’s gonna be a heck of a ride.

Evolve
Turtle Rock’s next step in the squad-based shooter arena pits four hunters against a formidable beast. The catch? The monster is another player.

Hyper Light Drifter
An enticing blend of retro graphics and ambient sounds, Hyper Light Drifter promises to be one of the most sought-after indies this year.

Out Now Title Publisher Awesomenauts Assemble! Ronimo Inc Basement Crawl Bloober Team Dead Nation: Apocalypse Edition SCE Don’t Starve: Console Edition Klei Entertainment Dynasty Warriors 8: Xtreme Legends Complete Edition Tecmo Koei FEZ Polytron inFAMOUS Second Son SCE Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes Konami Outlast Red Barrels Inc. Rayman Legends Ubisoft Stealth Inc: Ultimate Edition Curve Studios SteamWorld Dig Image&Form Strider Capcom The Lego Movie Videogame Warner Bros. Thief Square Enix Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition Square Enix TowerFall Ascension Matt Makes Games Spring Title Publisher 1001 Spikes Nicalis Anomaly 2 11 Bit Studios Bound by Flame Focus Home CastleStorm: Definitive Edition Zen Studios Cel Damage HD Finish Line Games Child of Light Ubisoft Daylight Atlus Divekick: Addition Edition Iron Galaxy Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn Square Enix Guacamelee! Super Turbo Championship Edition Drinkbox Studios KickBeat: Special Edition Zen Studios King Oddball 10tons Ltd. Lego The Hobbit Warner Bros. Mercenary Kings Tribute Games MLB 14: The Show SCE Octodad: Dadliest Catch Young Horses Oddworld: New ‘n’ Tasty Oddworld Inhabitants Pure Pool Ripstone LTD R.B.I. Baseball 14 MLB AM Ready to Run Beatshapers Secret Ponchos Switchblade Monkeys Sportsfriends Die Gute Fabrik Switch Galaxy Ultra Atomicon The Amazing Spider-Man 2 Activision Strike Suit Zero Born Ready games The Swapper Curve Studios Titan Attacks Curve Studios Trials Fusion Ubisoft War Thunder Gaijin Network Watch_Dogs Ubisoft Wolfenstein: The New Order Bethesda Summer Title Publisher CounterSpy SCE Destiny Activision Final Horizon Eiconic Games GALAK-Z: The Dimensional 17 Bit Games Helldivers SCE Murdered: Soul Suspect Square Enix OlliOlli Roll7 Pavilion Visiontrick PixelJunk Shooter Ultimate Double Eleven Sniper Elite 3 505 Games The Elder Scrolls Online Bethesda The Evil Within Bethesda Race the Sun Flippfly Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark Activision Velocity 2X Futurlab Fall Title Publisher Alien: Isolation Sega Dragon Age: Inquisition EA Evolve 2K Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number Devolver Digital Rocketbirds 2: Evolution Ratloop The Witness Thekla, Inc. Winter Title Publisher Assassin’s Creed Unity Ubisoft Guns of Icarus Online Muse Games Hyper Light Drifter Heart Machine Ray’s the Dead Ragtag Studios TBA 2014 Title Publisher Assault Android Cactus Witch Beam Aztez Team Colorblind Backgammon Blitz The Fyzz Batman: Arkham Knight Warner Bros. Blast ‘Em Bunnies Nnoo Pty Cosmic Star Heroine Zeboyd Defense Grid 2 505 Games Diablo III: Ultimate Evil Edition Activision Blizzard #Driveclub SCE Dying Light Warner Bros. EA Sports UFC EA Energy Hook Happion Labs forma.8 MixedBag Foul Play Media Tonic Hohokum SCE Home Benjamin Rivers Inc. Hotline Miami Devolver Digital Legend of Raven Nicalis Lords of the Fallen Bandai Namco Games Mad Max Warner Bros. Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor Warner Bros. Minecraft Mojang N++ Metanet Software NBA 2K15 2K Nuclear Throne Vlambeer The Order: 1886 SCE Pier Solar and the Great Architects Watermelon Games Planetside 2 SOE Putty Squad Maximum Games Road Not Taken Spry Fox Rogue Legacy Cellar Door Games Samurai Gunn Teknopants/Maxistentialism Savant Ascent D-Pad Studio Shantae: Half-Genie Hero WayForward Sherlock Holmes: Crimes & Punishments Frogwares Starbound Chucklefish Super Exploding Zoo Honeyslug The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth Nicalis The Crew Ubisoft Tom Clancy’s The Division Ubisoft Transistor Supergiant Games Tropico 5 Kalypso Media Valiant Hearts: The Great War Ubisoft Volume Mike Bithell Worms Battlegrounds Team17 WWE 2K15 2K

It's GoW: Ascension's birthday, but you get to receive the gifts.

Lead gameplay designer Seth Killian is out at Sony Santa Monica to pursue his own indie opportunity.

This week on the PSN, Fez finally arrives in the PlayStation ecosystem, a ton of games come to PS3, and the BioShock games are heavily discounted.

Thanks to the success of the first title, SEGA is bringing the sequel to the west later this year.

The PS3 remake is heading to Vita later this year with a handful of new features.

Do you remember the first video game moment that made you feel emotional? We do. These are our stories...

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls! It’s me, The Great Doodini (aka David) from NIS America, and I’d like to perform a magic trick — I mean illusion — for you! For my first act, I’ll pull a Prinny from this hat! Oh wait, it looks like this one’s exploded already… Looks like that’s the end of that act.

Well, no worries, because I know someone who’s a lot more magical than I am, and today’s your lucky day because you get to hang out with her. Her name’s Metallia, and she puts the “witch” in The Witch and the Hundred Knight on PS3, which is out today at retail and as a digital download from PlayStation Store. This is NIS America’s first 3D action RPG, so I’m pretty pumped to tell you all about it!

In The Witch and the Hundred Knight, you play as the legendary Hundred Knight — a demon summoned by the swamp witch Metallia to help her spread all her neon green, swampy badness across the land. Why does she want that? Because even though Metallia’s a witchy woman with a lot of power, she somehow can’t travel beyond the edges of the noxious swamp she calls home. It’s up to you to help her take vengeance on the world, but the more you get to know her, the less of a good idea it seems…

All this vengeance-taking is predicated on you laying down the hammer, and the sword, and the spear… and a bunch of other weapons on any enemy that dares stand in your way. The Hundred Knight may be small, but he packs quite a punch when he can equip up to five different weapons at a time.

Certain enemies may have different immunities and weaknesses, so it’s best to diversify your weapons profile to maximize your damage. Plus, if you combine them in a certain order, you can get damage multipliers. On top of that, you’ve got Tochkas, which are the Hundred Knight’s own special magic skills. He can summon minions of his own, create traps, and perform a plethora of other dark magic to beat down enemies. And if that wasn’t enough, the Hundred Knight can switch between other “facets” at will. These act as classes. The Power Fortress facet, for example, acts as a tank, while the Noble Raptor can convert enemies into allies. Looks like the Hundred Knight has got a lot more up his demon sleeve than me and my exploding Prinny in a hat trick…

These are only some of the systems in the game — I haven’t even touched on Gigacals, which is the energy you need to do anything. The more running and fighting you do in a level, the more you burn through your Gigacals. You can recover Gigacals by eating food you find or getting an enemy’s health low enough and chomping down on them.

There’s also the ability to raid village houses for items and boosts, but then you risk having the villagers turn against you forever. And it wouldn’t be an NIS America game if you couldn’t enhance your weapons in the Bucket List!

What do you say, folks? Why not give a hand to Metallia and her assistant The Hundred Knight? You’ve seen the customizable weapon combos, magic skills, personality changes, and all sorts of systems. You ought to stick around and see what else they’ve got in store for you in this wickedly dark action RPG. Follow them down to the swamps and see what kind of show they’ve got for you! Metallia says it won’t hurt too much…

Hey guys! This is Frank “Bo” deWindt II, director of production here at Aksys Games. Today we’re celebrating the release of the long-awaited BlazBlue: Chrono Phantasma on PS3.

Everyone is ecstatic to get the chance to play the fighting portion of the game, but another great aspect of Chrono Phantasma is its visual novel inspired story mode.

Some small spoilers for those that haven’t played through BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger, Continuum Shift, and/or Continuum Shift Extend, yet…

After the events of BlazBlue: Continuum Shift, Ragna, Jin, Noel, and the rest of the cast find themselves in the Ikaruga Federation. There they meet Kagura Mutsuki, general of the N.O.L. and better known as the “Black Knight,” as well as Kokonoe. Both these characters have their own plans in store.

At the same time, Hazama, Relius Clover, Phantom, and the Imperator are moving forward with their own agenda for the world at large. Saying anything further would be terribly spoiler-rific, so mum’s the word!

What I can say is the story mode is split into three paths: the main story, the Six Heroes story, and the Sector Seven story. These three stories will eventually converge and lead you to experience the true end. I’m pumped for everyone to experience the next chapter of the BlazBlue saga, so make sure to play through it.

On top of the fantastic story mode, Chrono Phantasma introduces 5 new playable characters: Amane Nishiki, Bullet, Azrael, Izayoi, and Kagura Mutsuki, as well as the two DLC characters, Yuuki Terumi and Kokonoe. There’s so many characters to choose from now, even I’m still trying to decide on my favorites.

Like the rest of the cast, you can play as these characters via Arcade Mode, Versus Mode, Online, and even learn and refine your fighting prowess with each character via the Tutorial, Training, and Challenge modes.

Also included in Chrono Phantasma is the beginner-friendly Stylish Mode, which allows users to perform flashy moves without the need for specific inputs. Chrono Phantasma also introduces the new mechanic “Overdrive,” which temporarily enhances each character’s unique ability. Make sure to use it strategically during battle.

Another topic on the agenda is that starting today, those who’d like the digital version of BlazBlue: Chrono Phantasma can pre-order it on PlayStation Store. It will launch on April 1st and will come bundled with the Kokonoe character DLC for free.

And if that isn’t enough to satiate your azure appetites, a slew of delightful DLC will also be launching on April 1st. The feels! I can’t hold them all!

So much BlazBlue goodness to be had. I hope everyone enjoys playing (especially the story mode) when BlazBlue: Chrono Phantasma hits stores today.

Trials is known for its high-flying, face-smashing, precision platforming races, but get ready to take it up a notch (maybe several notches) with the all new FMX Tricks System. More than simple flips and twists, FMX will have you pulling moves like the Dead-Body, Going Up, and everyone’s favorite: The Superman.

You can forget the clock and take on dedicated FMX Trick Attack courses where the goal is to pull as many high flying, death defying, don’t-try-this-at-home tricks as you can on tracks specially designed to keep you airborne and twisting like Dorothy’s house in a tornado. It may look easy, but this is Trials and the cruel laws of physics still apply, so it’s likely that you’re going to land on your face at least once. Or sixteen times.

Huge tricks, high scores, and bone-crushing crashes await you. See you in the air.

Trials Fusion will be available on PS4 as a digital download for $19.99, or you can pick up a retail edition, which includes a Season Pass, for $39.99. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter for more game info, breaking updates, and backflips.

Following a fantastic reception to the PS3 and PS Vita release of Hatsune Miku: Project Diva F in North America and Europe, SEGA is proud to announce that we will be bringing Hatsune Miku: Project Diva F 2nd to the West later this year!

That’s right. You’re not dreaming. We believed in all of you and we asked for your support – and you gave it to us without reservation. It was your supportive comments, your encouraging words at every place we showed the game, and your drive that made all the difference. Some of you bought the game twice – others three or even four times. But whether you picked it up once or four times, all of you helped make Miku a success, and still do. Thank you so much for that.

Now, it’s our turn to believe in you once more.

This fall, we will be releasing Hatsune Miku: Project Diva F 2nd for both PS3 and PS Vita. Project Diva F 2nd features similar but improved gameplay over the first game, with a whopping 40 songs – a collection of the best new songs, and some of the most loved classic songs, previously only available in the Japanese releases. You can check out two of those in our trailer!

Besides 40 songs and four difficulties for each in the Rhythm Game, players can look forward to the return of the impressive Edit Mode feature, which lets you build your very own videos and Rhythm games using all of the in-game assets, and share them online with the world. It has seen notable improvements over the first version, and we can’t wait to see what amazing creations you all will build with it!

And finally, because we like good news, I’ll drop a hint here that we have some fun stuff in the works for our Western release. I’m pleased to confirm one of those things right now: We will be releasing a packaged version of the game for both PS3 and PS Vita!

One of the primary comments we saw across the internet over the last year was that PS3 owners loved their physical copies, and that so many PS Vita owners wished one was available. We begin our campaign today by announcing that whichever platform you own, you’ll be able to reserve a physical copy of Diva F 2nd when it releases!

We’ll have much more news regarding Project Diva F 2nd as we near E3, but in the meantime, we hope this news has made your day a little brighter.

Thank you all once more for supporting us, and here’s to the future of Hatsune Miku in the West!

It’s safe to say that no other game in the world contains as many ways to kill and hurt enemies as Deception IV: Blood Ties, which is out today on PS3 and PS Vita. More than 100 different traps allow you to slice, hit, launch, trip, and otherwise torment your victim in a variety of imaginative ways. Dropping a flower vase onto the head of a powerful hero as a giant high heel descends from the ceiling to crush him is not the kind of experience you can have in most other games.

Besides the traps that you can select and place yourself, you can also take advantage of stage traps. In one stage you can set up a launching trap to hurl your victims into the Car Wash, and in another you can roast them alive inside a Brazen Bull.

But while Laegrinna and her Daemons show neither mercy nor restraint toward their victims, we’ve worked hard to keep Deception IV: Blood Ties from getting too graphically violent. Dismemberment, for example, is never shown. Because more than anything, we wanted it to feel rewarding when a trap combo is successful, and for this we felt it was necessary to achieve the right balance between serious and comical.

This emphasis on the feel of trap combos affected our decisions in all areas of the game’s development. For example, the way enemies react when hit by a trap had to be satisfying not only on its own, but as part of a chain of traps and reactions, which means we had to keep the flow of the combo as a whole in mind when designing the scale and tempo of each reaction.

To be able to watch a victim stumbling around with a jack-o-lantern over his head, launched into the air by a springboard, knocked aside by a hammer, squished by a rolling boulder, and then finally attacked in the groin from underneath by a sharpened wooden horse is something that players can’t get from a comedy movie or TV program, so we wanted to make sure we did it right.

The difficulty of developing so many possibilities for different trap combinations in Deception IV: Blood Ties is more than words can express, but so is the happiness we feel when we see our fans’ enjoyment.

Hi everyone. Destiny of Spirits is launching today exclusively on PS Vita! It’s free to play, so you can download it once PS Store updates and start your game. Every day, we’ll be giving away a login bonus, so check back daily to see what bonus the day will bring!

For those of you who haven’t heard of Destiny of Spirits yet, it’s a free-to-play location-based strategy and RPG game in which you work together with friends and other players across the globe to summon, trade, merge and rent Spirits to use in battle!

Rare Summon: Knack

There are multiple ways to obtain Spirits in Destiny of Spirits. “Summon” is one way, and from time to time, you will see familiar PlayStation character Spirits available using the “Rare Summon” feature. Knack Spirits are currently available, but for a limited time only. Don’t miss this opportunity to add Knack Spirits to your collection! There will be other PlayStation character Spirits available in the future, so please stay tuned.

Spirit Points, Summoning Stones, and Destiny Orbs

In Destiny of Spirits, the world contains three types of magical substances: Spirit Points, Summoning Stones and Destiny Orbs. Spirit Points are earned after battles and can be used to rent other player’s Spirits, merge Spirits to level up, and trade Spirits with other players. Summoning Stones are also earned through battles and you can use these to summon Spirits. Destiny Orbs are available for purchase on PlayStation Store. Some features require Destiny Orbs like Advanced Summon, Rare Summon, restoring a Spirit’s health, and other features at the Shop.

Your journey to become the ultimate Spirit Master begins today… Download Destiny of Spirits from PlayStation Store and play with your fellow Spirit Masters all over the world!

“Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good pinball blaster at your side, kid”

Star Wars Pinball is expanding! Four (yes, four) new tables are on their way to PS4, PS3, and PS Vita later this spring. Tables include Han Solo, Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope, Star Wars Pinball: Droids, and Star Wars Pinball: Masters of the Force.

Today we are sharing a few details about the table dedicated to Han Solo, packed with his most memorable lines and gadgets — and of course his fuzzball sidekick, Chewbacca.

You can’t get away from Han Solo’s most memorable one-liners in this table; we’ve managed to include just about every one of them. From barking orders at Chewbacca to fix the hyperdrive malfunction, to leading the mission to destroy the Death Star, all of your favorite Han Solo moments are played out as you set your sights on the highest score in the Universe.

Of course, the big question on your mind is “Why are there four tables in this pack, when there were just three in previous packs?” That’s a good question! We promised everyone 10 tables, and so far we have done six, which left four to go – and we thought it would be easier to just release all four at the same time. Does that math make sense?

The next question is probably about price: Are we going to charge you all extra money for this four-pack? NOPE. This pack will be the same price as previous packs! Pretty stellar, right?

Stay tuned for trailers and details on the rest of the Heroes Within tables!

Sony has let go a number of staff from the studios behind Driveclub, Killzone: Mercenary and The Playroom.

A new Vita update raises the application limit, adds parental controls, a calendar, the ability to send voice messages and more.

Almost two weeks in, Dark Souls 2 becomes a walk in the park. Almost...

Localization studio Aksys Games launches its latest campaign to capture the otome (female audience-targeted) adventure game genre with the upcoming PlayStation 3 release of Hakuoki: Stories of the Shinsengumi, due to arrive at retail and digitally via the PlayStation Network on May 6.

Presented as a choose-your-own-adventure styled visual novel, Stories of the Shinsengumi is the first PlayStation 3 entry in the series to arrive stateside. Aksys kicked off the series with Hakuoki: Demon of the Fleeting Blossom and its spin-off action game Hakuoki: Warriors of the Shinsengumi for Sony's PSP, later following up with last year's Hakuoki: Memories of the Shinsengumi for the Nintendo 3DS.

Aksys additionally revealed the contents of its upcoming Limited Edition retail release for Stories of the Shinsengumi. In addition to a copy of the game, the Limited Edition includes an "Omamori" love charm, a Japanese-style comb and a hairpin, allowing players to look their best as they woo the samurai of their dreams.

[Image: Aksys Games]

Opinion: why Ground Zeroes' provocative ending DOES matter.

Hi everyone! The next system software update for PS Vita, version 3.10, will be available for download beginning later today. This update brings some anticipated and useful features to PS Vita, including the ability to display more than 100 applications on the home screen (we know you’ve been waiting patiently for this one), and a new Calendar application.

Check out some of the new features and changes in PS Vita’s 3.10 system update below:

• You can now display up to 500 applications on the home screen.
• A Calendar application has been added for PS Vita, allowing you to set up gaming events with your friends. Sync your Google calendar to have all your events with you on your PS Vita. You can also share your favorite events by using the Messages and Email applications.
• A new “Manage Content on Memory Card” option has been added to the Content Manager application. You can now view the data on your memory card, making it easier than ever to manage content on your PS Vita. You can now view memory usage by content type, and delete content and applications.
• You can now send and receive voice messages using the Messages application on PS Vita. Exchange voice messages with your friends and players on PS4 and PS Vita.

For the full list of new or revised features in PS Vita system software update 3.10 and instructions for updating your system, please visit this page after the update goes live later today.

Let us know what you think of the new update in the comments below. What new feature are you most looking forward to?

OlliOlli developer Roll7 has announced the addictive skating game will be making its way to PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 in the near future.

Konami and UEFA are offering a range of pretty amazing prizes to anyone who gets involved.

Well, it’s been quite a rollercoaster for us at Roll7 over the last few months!

Our submission process last year was pretty hardcore, with many a pizza-stained late night at our Deptford HQ, London. The team was pretty much broken by the time OlliOlli came out. We had broken down everything that was ‘wrong’ about the game to such an extent that we had managed to successfully convince ourselves that the game would most likely be a flop, a mediocre launch at best…

What we were met with on the 21st and 22nd of January this year genuinely knocked us sideways. There was media frenzy for days, amazing review scores and most of all gamers, real people (not testers or our friends) were playing the game and enjoying it.

There were numerous late-night emotional drinking sessions in central London as we essentially came to the realisation that we were a ‘proper’ studio with a hit game – it has still not properly sunk in for most of us!

The BIG moment was almost fate-like. We were out doing a belated wrap party on the project at our local in New Cross and at about 10pm (after many rounds of tequila) we found out via Twitter that we had won the GameSpot Game of the Month for January. Let’s just say that there were a few teary eyes by midnight — it was a career highlight, and an evening none of us will ever forget.

We met with Shahid and Spencer who run the strategic content team at SCEE, and they recommended that we get the game onto PS4 and PS3 – so that’s what we are doing! We have partnered with BlitWorks, who are based in Barcelona, Spain. We already have a first playable version up and running on PS4 and a big screen — it’s like our little OlliOlli grew up and got some balls! Really feels amazing on DualShock, too.

Such exciting news deserves a big manly jump on a hill…

OlliOlli will remain a PS Vita exclusive until summer 2014, and Roll7 is very close to fixing the crash bug that some players are experiencing. When that patch is released, we’ll bundle in a nice little update that should put a smile on people’s faces.

If you are UK-based, and you fancy getting your hands on OlliOlli and having a chat with us, you can find us at Rezzed, Birmingham (March 28th – 30th).

Check out our OlliOlli Development Video to get more of an insight into Roll7 studio life, and follow us on Twitter for all the latest. Keep it Indie, and keep it Sony in 2014!

How postmodern social theory could help explain why games make so much sense in the modern age.

The creator of BioShock is much more interested in delivering non-linear and replayable experiences.

In a Puppeteer postmortem peppered with prickly punditry, Sony Computer Entertainment's Gavin Moore gave attendees of the Game Developers Conference a small idea of what he and his team hope to craft next. Coming off Puppeteer, a dark and clever PlayStation 3 platformer carved from the world of theater, Moore intends to pitch and pursue three to four smaller games beyond the borders of retail stores.

"I think we're too reliant on stores to sell our products for us," Moore said. Though Puppeteer failed to find a large audience - "not a disaster by any way," he added - it seems to have spurred a serious rethink of retail, marketing and the backbreaking work of creating a unique and polished game. Moore intends to "make three or four products at once, and put them up on the net somewhere for people to download.