PlayStation Vita Message Board older than one year ago

While gliding through Sine Mora, surely only a scant few thought to themselves, "The one thing I really want to do is stop playing this distinguished Hungarian shoot-em-up, and spend the next few hours meticulously making its fighter ships in Lego." And yet, now that developer Digital Reality sends us authentic instructions for how to make Lego replicas of the Merenstein VI and BS4-VR Soprano, we find building these ships is exactly how we want to spend the next few hours. Screw games, there's Lego to be building!

Sadly, the above picture isn't of a set you can buy in stores, as awesome as that would be. You'll have to go about getting the pieces yourself, most likely from various sets - the instructions do at least provide you at the end with a list of the pieces needed. Then again, if you're seriously contemplating making these ships then we reckon you're probably the kind of person who already has every piece needed. And we genuinely envy you.

If you've yet to experience Sine Mora on XBLA, the good news is that the game's already flown its way to PC, and is journeying across to PS3 and Vita next week, via PSN.

#blackfriday Black Friday is coming. With that sales-pocalypse in mind, Sony's just announced a bunch of hardware + software bundles to entice consumers to pick up their home console and handheld. Most of the deals will include games exclusive to Sony hardware— the exception being a Lego Batman bundle for Vita—as well as a PlayStation Plus trial for the PS3. Now that the service is coming to the handheld, Sony really should be offering a PlayStation Plus deal for the Vita, too, shouldn't they? Bundle deals are below, pulled from Sony's announcement: More »

If you're willing to put your life on the line and shop on November 23 or 24, you could get a wi-fi Vita for $50 off its normal MSRP, and a free game for your trouble.

The Assassin's Creed 3 Liberation bundle, containing a Crystal White Vita, a copy of the game, and a 4GB memory card, is discounted to $199.99 across US retail for those days, as are special Call of Duty Black Ops Declassified (black Vita, the game, 4GB memory card) and Lego Batman 2: DC Super Heroes (black Vita, the game) bundles.

Sony is also offering a special $200 PS3 bundle, with a 250GB system, the Uncharted Dual Pack, the Infamous Collection, and 30 days of PlayStation Plus. Dualshock 3 controllers will be discounted $15, to a temporary price of $39.99.

Digital Reality doesn't have a firm launch date for the PS3 and Vita versions of its time-shifting shooter, Sine Mora, but a new trailer shows plenty of gameplay footage. There's also a demonstration of the Vita's touch controls, which look ... interesting.

Digital Reality says Sine Mora is coming to PS3 and Vita "soon."

Update: This week's Official PlayStation Blogcast confirms Sine Mora lands on PSN for PS3 and Vita on November 20.

Prepare to get your brutality, fantasy, and strategy on, as Darksiders 2, Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, and Tom Clancy's EndWar are all arriving on PlayStation Network November 20. This week's PlayStation Blogcast confirmed the trio of PS3 digital releases.

Darksiders 2 recently got its second downloadable content pack, Abyssal Forge. Developer Vigil Games claims the DLC has some of the toughest enemies in the game. But, as the saying goes, Death laughs in the faces of a game's toughest enemies, or something. According to the podcast, the PSN version of Darksiders 2 includes a pass to the game's Crucible arena, and the official soundtrack.

Eccentric shoot-em-up Sine Mora lands on PSN next week too, for PS3 and Vita. Grinding onto Vita via PSN is Jet Set Radio, free for PS Plus users until the end of the year. Clan of Champions and the fifth episode of The Walking Dead will be available online for PS3.

#assassinscreed Assassin's Creed III: Liberation , the new portable entry in Ubisoft's popular historical adventure series, offers up a few genuine surprises. It's impressive how well Ubisoft managed to cram a fully-packed Assassin's world onto the handheld PSVita, and players might be surprised at the myriad ways that historical tropes from the African-American experience show up in the game. More »

A couple more all-stars are joining the PlayStation All-Stars: Battle Royale lineup after launch. Kat, also known as "Gravity Rush girl," and "Starhawk guy," whose real name is Emmett Graves apparently, will be released as DLC for the fighting game early next year.

Even better, upon their arrival, the two characters will be free for the first two weeks, meaning there's no reason you shouldn't make Emmett beat up on Parappa except for common decency. And best of all, perhaps the appearance of Kat in this game will prompt at least one person to pick up the wonderful Gravity Rush.

Sony is raising a little extra "walking around town" money by selling convertible bonds to the tune of $1.9 billion. A third of the $1.9 billion will go toward an investment in Japanese optics company Olympus Corp., while some will be used to finance Sony's acquistion of Gaikai. Sony is also looking to repay debt and increase its financial focus on CMOS image sensors.

In Q2 2012, Sony reported a net loss of $198 million, with a year-on-year decline in profit in the gaming division. PS3 and PS2 sales hit 3.5 million during the quarter, compared with 4.9 million the previous year, and Sony revised expected Vita and PSP sales for the year from an initial 16 million to 10 million.

Last night's PSN update arrived a bit late, so you may not have noticed what went up on the store. With that in mind, we thought it would be useful to show the highlights from yesterday's update, and link out to the full list, so your shopping is unaffected.

PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale is up for pre-order through the PS Store this week. The freemium version of SingStar is now downloadable, so you can try it out and decide if you want to fill your catalog with SingStore songs. And Tekken Tag Tournament 2 brings fighting dinosaurs, bears and cyborgs to PS3. In less happy news, the God of War Ascension beta is not on PSN as planned. If you have a voucher, don't redeem it yet!

Meanwhile, the biggest release on Vita is Call of Duty Black Ops Declassified by default, but we're delighted to see a Vita version of Colors!, which began its life as a DS homebrew app before going to 3DS and now Vita officially. It's a drawing app that lets you save and share your work online.

Lone Survivor, the side-scrolling survival-horror game from developer Superflat Games, is coming to the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita, creator Jasper Byrne has revealed. After months of being stranded on the PC and Mac, Curve Studios will rebuild the entire code base from scratch to bring Lone Survivor to Sony's gaming platforms.

Curve Studios is the London-based house responsible for Fluidity and Explodemon, the latter of which is a quaint retro-inspired game that shows the studio has chops when it comes to pumping out the pixels. No release date on the PlayStation versions has been revealed, but Byrne says he'll offer updates through his Twitter account as progress is made.

Jet Set Radio launches for the Vita on November 20, while the mobile version for iOS and Android lands on November 29. Jet Set Radio is one of six games headed to Vita in the PlayStation Plus Instant Game Collection, for free from November 20 to December 31.

In October we got word that the mobile and Vita versions of Jet Set Radio were delayed. That was a shame, considering we enjoyed the HD, current-gen console version of Jet Set Radio very much. After all, "it's still the most upbeat game about teenagers being shot at by tanks in response to minor acts of vandalism."

PlayStation Plus will be available on Vita on November 19, Sony announced today. The Vita PS Plus rollout will include access to an Instant Game Collection, a series of AAA titles available for download via the PlayStation Store. The Instant Game Collection will be accessible on November 20, when the PlayStation Store publishes.

Plus members will receive six games for the Vita: Uncharted: Golden Abyss, Jet Set Radio, Wipeout 2048, Gravity Rush, Tales From Space: Mutant Blobs Attack! and PSP's Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions.

Plus costs $18 for three months or $50 for a year, and those with a PS3 Plus membership automatically can use that on Vita, and vice versa. Plus also provides 1GB of cloud storage on PS3 and 1GB of cloud storage on the Vita.

We first heard that PS Plus would come to Vita this month during Tokyo Game Show in September.

#playstationplus The best thing about PlayStation Plus is the Instant Games Collection, a feature that offers up free, top-shelf titles to the online service's paying members. PS3 owners have been enjoying those perks for a while and now they're coming to Sony's gaming handheld. More »

#thebests The PlayStation Vita is the $250 handheld that either the world desperately needed or needed not at all. It could go either way in this era of rampant cell phone gaming, where many games are played with nary the press of a button or flick of a stick. More »

#theweekingames Black Ops II is this week's glamor release, and has been for a very long time. LEGO Lord of the Rings, Just Dance 4 and RIFT: Storm Legion make it a varied week for new video games. You'll also notice a ton of Wii U titles hitting shelves. You can't yet play them, but they're there in anticipation of the console's launch on Nov. 18. More »

Look, we're not your parents. We're not going to sit here, high upon our internet throne and tell you what you can and can't do. Even if we did discourage you from putting yourself in a potentially trample-prone environment, you'd still do it for dat savings.

Take Target's Black Friday deals, for example. These scanned pages reveal PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 bundles with two games each for $200, as well as a free copy of Just Dance Kids 2 with the purchase of a $120 Wii bundle. Vita and 3DS bundles (with one game each) are available for $200 and $150 respectively, while PS3, 360 and Wii controllers cost $40 and a bonus $20 giftcard is included in the purchase of Halo 4, Assassin's Creed 3 or Forza Horizon. You can even get Adele's irrelevant first album for $5, or one of those cool magnadoodle thingies for half a sawbuck.

Whatever you do on Black Friday, just, you know, be safe. You're our precious little darling babies and we don't want anything to happen to you.

Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time features Vita/PS3 cross-functionality, with the handheld's augmented reality used to spot treasures on the console's screen. It's always nice to see the PS3 and Vita buddy up.

Assume the role of General Patton and command the US Third Army.

#assassinscreed More »

Tim Schaaff, president of Sony Network Entertainment, will retire on December 31, to be replaced by Andrew House, Group CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment. House will keep his position with SCEI, and Schaff will become an external director on the SNEI board of directors.

The SNEI president manages online services, and Schaaff was president during the 2011 PSN hack. He appeared before Congress to present Sony's security plans at the height of that particular scandal. House became group CEO of SCEI in September 2011 when Kazuo Hirai left that position for a promotion to chairman.

"Under the leadership of Kaz, and Sir Howard Stringer before him, Sony gave me tremendous support to build a global team to coordinate and lead the company's network service business," Schaaff says. "Together we created something of significant value that will be an important part of Sony's future. I'm grateful to have had this unique opportunity, proud of the commitment my team has demonstrated, and encouraged about Sony's prospects in this strategic area."

Based on the NPD's purview, the physical sales sector of the video game industry continued its downward year-over-year trend as October came and went, raking in $755.5 million for the period ending on October 27, as compared with the straight-up $1 billion the industry earned during the same period in 2011.

Despite the 25 percent difference, however, momentum is building towards the holiday buying season, according to NPD Group analyst Liam Callahan: "While we saw declines in hardware unit sales across all platforms year-over-year, when looking at average sales per week versus September, several consoles realized higher sales: The 360, PS3, NDS and 3DS. This is a sign of increasing momentum as we move into the holiday season."

Hardware sales themselves accounted for $187.3 million of October's overall figure, a 37 percent decrease over October 2011's $295.9 million. As usual, the Xbox 360 was the top-selling hardware platform and claimed more than 40 percent of the market, according to Major Nelson.

Accessories continue to be the only field of growth in the physical channel, pulling down a five percent increase in October 2012 over October 2011 ($135.6 million and $129.6, respectively). As has been the case in months past, Skylanders toys and digital currency giftcards are primarily responsible for this segment's prosperity.

Portable software sales were up 37 percent in comparison with last October thanks to the release of Pokémon Black & White 2, though the rest of the segment failed to best the curve and was down overall by 25 percent. October 2011's software figure of $576.8 million was bolstered by the release of both Battlefield 3 and Batman: Arkham City; since comparable heavy-hitters were missing from this October's release schedule, software sales total at $432.6 million.

October's top 10 best-selling games are lead by NBA 2K13, which "outsold last year's 2K12 by over 60 percent in both dollars and units," according to Callahan. As per usual, the full list can be found after the break.

Based on the NPD's purview, the physical sales sector of the video game industry continued its downward year-over-year trend as October came and went, raking in $755.5 million for the period ending on October 27, as compared with the straight-up $1 billion the industry earned during the same period in 2011.

Despite the 25 percent difference, however, momentum is building towards the holiday buying season, according to NPD Group analyst Liam Callahan: "While we saw declines in hardware unit sales across all platforms year-over-year, when looking at average sales per week versus September, several consoles realized higher sales: The 360, PS3, NDS and 3DS. This is a sign of increasing momentum as we move into the holiday season."

Hardware sales themselves accounted for $187.3 million of October's overall figure, a 37 percent decrease over October 2011's $295.9 million. As usual, the Xbox 360 was the top-selling hardware platform and claimed more than 40 percent of the market, according to Major Nelson.

Accessories continue to be the only field of growth in the physical channel, pulling down a five percent increase in October 2012 over October 2011 ($135.6 million and $129.6, respectively). As has been the case in months past, Skylanders toys and digital currency giftcards are primarily responsible for this segment's prosperity.

Portable software sales were up 37 percent in comparison with last October thanks to the release of Pokémon Black & White 2, though the rest of the segment failed to best the curve and was down overall by 25 percent. October 2011's software figure of $576.8 million was bolstered by the release of both Battlefield 3 and Batman: Arkham City; since comparable heavy-hitters were missing from this October's release schedule, software sales total at $432.6 million.

October's top 10 best-selling games are lead by NBA 2K13, which "outsold last year's 2K12 by over 60 percent in both dollars and units," according to Callahan. As per usual, the full list can be found after the break.

PlayStation All-Stars: Battle Royale is polished off and ready to ship, and Sony Santa Monica marks this glorious occasion with a video of the complete opening cinematic, which teases the game's final boss. Brace yourselves - it's Polygon Man.

Polygon Man was Sony's mascot for the PlayStation in mid-90s North America, but was replaced before the actual console launch. With that in mind, he probably holds a fair bit of resentment for the PlayStation franchises popular enough to make it into Battle Royale.

Check out the complete opening cinematic above, with Polygon Man looming over everything right at the end. Battle Royale launches on November 20.

#uncharted I told you not to get too excited. The next Uncharted game will be a "casino/card game", according to its Brazilian ratings clasification. More »

Halloween may be over, but the most terrifying season of all has truly just begun - holiday shopping season. The horror. Black Friday deals are already popping up for a few retailers, but most notably for Best Buy.

Best Buy's doors open at midnight on Black Friday. Doorbuster sales start right then and there, and there is no end time listed on the site as to when those may end. Available as a doorbuster for $30 each is Disney Epic Mickey 2, Darksiders 2, Medal of Honor Warfighter, Battlefield 3 Premium Edition, The Amazing Spider-Man and Need for Speed Most Wanted.

Outside of the doorbusters, Best Buy has a Vita (wi-fi system) and Black Ops Declassified bundle for $200, Xbox 360 250GB bundle with Forza Motorsport 4 and Skyrim for $200, and the Flame Red Nintendo 3DS with Super Mario Land 3D for $150. For $35 grab Assassin's Creed 3, Borderlands 2, Diablo 3, Madden NFL 13, Forza Horizon and FIFA 13; a smattering of Kinect games are $25 each, including Marvel Avengers: Battle for Earth and Just Dance 4. For $15 is Grand Theft Auto 4: The Complete Edition, Halo Reach and Mortal Kombat Vita, among others; for $8 is Dead Island Game of the Year, Assassin's Creed: Revelations for Xbox 360 and The Sims 3.

Cheap Ass Gamer lists sales so far from Radio Shack, Kmart, Shopko and Old Navy, the last of which has a deal for free copy of New Super Mario Bros Wii U with a $40 purchase.

In the "Hit List" from the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences, the video game industry's top talents describe their current gaming addictions, their most anticipated releases and more. This week: thatgamecompany President Jenova Chen. A note from the AIAS:Jenova Chen is President & Creative Director for thatgamecompany (TGC). TGC is best known for creating experimental, artistic, and accessible games that touch players on an emotional level. TGC designed and developed the award-winning PSN titles flOw, Flower, and, most recently, Journey.

At the upcoming 2013 D.I.C.E. Summit conference, Jenova will be speaking on: Emotion Oriented Interactive Entertainment - Inspirations and Theories Behind Journey. Jenova learned many valuable lessons on what went well and how to do better on his quest to create games that deliver a lasting emotional impact. Jenova will discuss TGC's founding design philosophy and share some of the lessons he and his team gleaned from TGC's past six years developing three innovative downloadable games.

Knytt Underground, the sequel to Nicklas "Nifflas" Nygren's platformer series, is still planned for release on PS3 and Vita later this year. The latest screenshots depict a subterranean world with oddly detailed, colorful backgrounds.

All of the Xbox owners out there are probably spending Election Night celebrating the arrival of Halo 4, but there's good news for you too, PS3 owners. The latest update to PSN brings digital versions of LittleBigPlanet Karting and Vanquish, as well as a digital version of Portal 2 with "In Motion" DLC, for use with the PlayStation Move accessory (as seen in the trailer above).

When Vikings Attack and PID are now both available on the PSN store, as are both the original Toe Jam & Earl and the Panic on Funkotron sequel. Rygar hits as a PS2 classic, and Saint's Row 3 and Sleeping Dogs have digital bundles to download.

PS Plus members have some new sales to choose from, and there are all kinds of new downloads and add-ons to find across the rest of the network. To see everything that's new on the PlayStation Store, hit up the PlayStation blog.PSN Tuesday: Portal 2 In Motion, Toe Jam & Earl return

#ragnaroktactics It's called Ragnarok Tactics, and it's a tactical role-playing game set in the world of Ragnarok Online. Trailer's above. More »

This European TV ad for PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale is an interesting take on the live-action vid rolled out by Sony last month. The guy supposed to be Drake looks like the one person who didn't dress up at a Halloween party.