PlayStation Vita Message Board older than one year ago

#monstermonpiece Card-based PS Vita game Monster Monpiece features monster girls and inappropriate gameplay. In Japan, the game appears to be a monster hit. I cannot understand why! More »

Through March 4, if you buy a year of PlayStation Plus, you'll get an extra three months added to your term. This includes the memberships conferred with recent PlayStation Plus PS3 bundles.

Since the start of the "Instant Game Collection," Sony's been overcompensating spectacularly for any previous lack of interest in the Plus service, so three more months offer a valuable chance to get even more PS3 and Vita games like Gravity Rush, Jet Set Radio, Retro City Rampage, Darksiders, and LittleBigPlanet 2. Each game in the Collection is offered for a limited period, but if you download it, you have access to that game for as long as you are a Plus member.

#theweekingames Sort of a quiet week coming for new releases, though a couple arrive on PC that many have noticed: Antichamber, the indie, non-Euclidian mind*crag* puzzle that has gotten plenty of attention, and Omerta, which interprets gangsterin' as a management sim and turn-based combat. Here's what you've got coming this week. More »

During the month of February, Sony has launched an incentivized referral program that rewards PlayStation 3/Vita owners with $20 of PSN credit and 1,000 Sony Rewards points, provided they successfully convince a friend or family member to purchase a Vita.

Your referred friend/family member also receives $20 in PlayStation Network credit, in addition to, like, the Vita they just bought, which makes this whole thing a pretty easy sell for anyone who had already planned on buying a new handheld this month. If you don't know anyone like that, however, might we suggest bribing them with the copy of Care Bears Movie II: A New Generation that you bought with your 1,000 Sony Rewards points?

This animated prequel for Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time brings players up to speed on the mishaps of Sly and the gang. The game is coming to PS3 and Vita February 5, and a demo is available now for PS Plus members.

Superbot Entertainment, the Sony-owned developer responsible for PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale, has suffered layoffs today, IGN reports.

"SCEA can confirm that SuperBot Entertainment did make a reduction in their workforce today," a Sony representative told IGN. "The studio and SCEA remain committed to supporting PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale post launch, including developing the title's forthcoming DLC releases in the coming months."

Currently, the number of employees affected by the downsizing remains unknown, though we have reached out to both Sony and Superbot for more information about the situation and will update as details become available.

Update: Sony has confirmed to us that layoffs have indeed hit Superbot, though no further information was given. Its full statement on the matter can be found after the break.

#residentevil 3DS game Resident Evil: Revelations is being remade in HD, and will be coming to just about every platform under the sun in May. That means the PC, PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii U. Curiously, the Vita is absent from the list, even though it could easily handle it. So, uh, why? More »

The awesome experience of buying Jet Set Radio for $2.50 no longer needs to be coupled with the less awesome experience of finding it on the PlayStation Store through the PS3. The Sony Entertainment Network web store is up in the US, Canada, Mexico, and Brazil, allowing you to buy games and video from your computer.

Future updates to the online store, according to Sony, will include "advanced recommendation functionality," remote download queueing, and the ability to access the store from mobile devices. We kind of want to be able to access the web store from the Vita browser, just because

Spiders aren't scary in this skill-based platformer, but the crazy jumps are.

This week's PSN content dump is live, headlined by Studio Ghibli and Level-5's joint JRPG, Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch. The other big new game is Double Fine Production's The Cave, the adventure game helmed by none other than iconic video game designer Ron Gilbert.

Today also kicks off the open beta for Dust 514, the massively-multiplayer online shooter from CCP Games. PS Plus subscribers have a slew of discounts to consider, like NiGHTS into Dreams, The Unfinished Swan, Psychonauts and more. The full list of this week's content can be found over on the PlayStation Blog.

Iron Galaxy Studios, the company behind the refreshes of Street Fighter 3: Third Strike and Darkstalkers, is working its magic on a new game: the fighting game parody Divekick. Originally made for PC by Shoryuken EIC Adam Heart, Iron Galaxy is working with Heart's company One True Games to release Divekick on PS3, PC, and PS Vita.

The new version will feature "GGPO-powered online support, a fully-fledged single-player campaign, and many other features." It will very likely not feature more than two buttons, to jump and kick. Divekick was the subject of a successful Kickstarter last year, but the drive was canceled when Heart began working with Iron Galaxy.

Iron Galaxy Studios, the company behind the refreshes of Street Fighter 3: Third Strike and Darkstalkers, is working its magic on a new game: the fighting game parody Divekick. Originally made for PC by Shoryuken EIC Adam Heart, Iron Galaxy is working with Heart's company One True Games to release Divekick on PS3, PC, and PS Vita.

The new version will feature "GGPO-powered online support, a fully-fledged single-player campaign, and many other features." It will very likely not feature more than two buttons, to jump and kick. Divekick was the subject of a successful Kickstarter last year, but the drive was canceled when Heart began working with Iron Galaxy.

This is Making Time, a column about the games we've always wanted to play, and the games we've always wanted to play again. I'm not sure when it happened, but it must have been sometime in 1999. My friend Stephen and I engaged in a sort of foreign exchange program. We didn't go overseas or anything - we just loaned our respective game consoles to each other. I borrowed his entirely alien PlayStation and a few games, notably Silent Hill, which had just come out and that I was dying to play. Meanwhile, he borrowed my Sega Saturn. (He really liked Dragon Force, which is easily worth a column of its own.)

I wound up spending the bulk of my time with Silent Hill (mostly alone, eek), but I also tried out Vagrant Story, and I remember enjoying it. Fast-forward 13 years or so, and I've finally picked it back up via PSOne Classics to finish what I started. It's taken me several hours to come to this conclusion, but I think I still like it.

#letsfish!hookedon This is Let's Fish! Hooked On, a new game for the Vita that lets you play as anime guys and gals who like to go fishing. More »

Retro City Rampage brings its retro looting allure to Europe and Asia, available now for one price, £8.99 (€11.25), on Vita and PS3 with Cross Play.

Retro City Rampage made its way to PS3 and Vita in the US back in October, and it hit XBLA on January 2. A WiiWare version is scheduled to launch this month. We think the PS3 and Vita versions represent "the perfect game for gamers, an experience carefully executed to appeal directly to them." And, of course, the game has "hilarious writing." Trust us.

When the European PSN store receives its weekly content update on Wednesday, January 23, it'll celebrate Final Fantasy with discounts across just about every Final Fantasy game available on the digital distribution platform. Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VIII, Final Fantasy IX and more will have their prices reduced by up to half.

Fans of the more classic Final Fantasy games can grab the original Final Fantasy and its sequel Final Fantasy II on PSP for €4.99 each (£3.99/AU$7.35) this week, while Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions and Dissidia 012 [duodecim] Final Fantasy offer fans of the more recent entries in the series a pretty tempting promotional price.

The full list of eligible games and their pricing can be found over on the PlayStation Blog.

Retro City Rampage brings its retro looting allure to Europe and Asia, available now for one price, £8.99 (€11.25), on Vita and PS3 with Cross Play.

Retro City Rampage made its way to PS3 and Vita in the US back in October, and it hit XBLA on January 2. A WiiWare version is scheduled to launch this month. We think the PS3 and Vita versions represent "the perfect game for gamers, an experience carefully executed to appeal directly to them." And, of course, the game has "hilarious writing." Trust us.

#theweekingames Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch has the entire week to itself, as far as console releases are concerned. In fact, it's the only console release of note on the horizon. DmC: Devil May Cry also comes to the PC. More »

PSN members can now add funds to their virtual wallets via PayPal when using Sony's Entertainment Network site. At least users will be able to use PayPal; every attempt we've made at adding funds has resulted in an error.

Either Sony's system recognizes that our PayPal accounts are empty, or it knows we were about to attempt to use the Bill Me Later service through PayPal, since we'll gladly pay them Tuesday for a video game today. When the system starts working again, we'll let you know if that's an option.

This video for MLB 13: The Show notes improvements on the series' Diamond Dynasty mode this year, in which players create their own teams comprised of a mixture of real-life and fictitious players. MLB The: The Show is slated to arrive March 5 for PS3 and Vita.

Gravity Rush's Kat and Starhawk's Emmett Graves will be joining the fray as PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale's first DLC characters on February 12, Sony has announced. Both characters will be free for their first two weeks of availability, though their price point after the fact remains unknown.

As we learned during their initial reveal last December, both characters make heavy usage of the abilities their own games are based on, with Kat (above) manipulating gravity and Emmett summoning mining equipment, as seen after the break. Both characters sport the same amenities as the original cast: extra costumes, full arcade stories and trial modes, etc.

The previously announced Heavenly Sword/Wipeout stage has also been slated for February, though a specific release date or price was not provided. We're still holding out for a ship from Wipeout as a playable character.

#rumor Oh boy. If this is true (big if!), the PS Vita could be poised for, ahem, a monster comeback. More »

The PlayStation Network maintenance listed for yesterday in North America is extended through to this morning, with no set time given for its completion. Meanwhile, the downtime in Europe is expected to last until 6.30 PM GMT. The downtime was scheduled from 4PM to 4AM GMT in Europe, and from 8AM to 8PM PT in North America.

The @PlayStation account tweeted late last night, "Though estimated to end at 8pm tonight, maintenance has been extended to tomorrow AM. Updates as we get them."

This morning, the @PlayStation EU account announced, "Unfortunately scheduled PSN maintenance has over-run. The service is not expected to return until 18.30GMT. Apologies for the inconvenience."

The PlayStation Network maintenance listed for yesterday in Europe and North America is extended through to this morning. The downtime was scheduled from 4pm to 4aM Brit-time in Europe, and from 8am to 8pm PT in North America.

The @PlayStation account tweeted late last night, "Though estimated to end at 8pm tonight, maintenance has been extended to tomorrow AM. Updates as we get them."

Sony's PlayStation team is feeling fairly generous this January: The company is giving out one free PS Mobile game to players every week for the next six weeks. This week's game is Samurai Beatdown, and interested PlayStation members can head on over to the PlayStation Store to download it for their PS Vita or other PlayStation-certified mobile devices.

PlayStation notes that the PS Mobile service (and thus the free game) is only available in "Japan, United States, United Kingdom, Canada, France, Italy, Germany, Spain and Australia," so if you're in one of those countries, grab away.

Dead or Alive 5 Plus for the PlayStation Vita will not only allow players to challenge PlayStation 3 owners during online play, but also save a bundle on their provocative-costume bill. Well, in-game at least.

Team Ninja's coming portable adaptation of last September's Dead or Alive 5 will support both Cross Play and Cross Buy functionality, according to Siliconera's translation of Famitsu. Like other Cross Play enabled titles, Vita owners will be able to challenge people playing the PlayStation 3 original when battling online. Likewise, any DLC purchased on either system will automatically be applied to the other, meaning that the PS3's limited edition/pre-order costumes will appear on the Vita, and vice-versa.

PlayStation Network will undergo maintenance this Thursday: 4pm-4am GMT in Europe, and 11am-11pm EST in North America. The PlayStation Store will be down for that period, but online play will be available if you're already signed in.

Today's PSN drop is headlined by two emotional installments: DMC: Devil May Cry and the Angry Birds Trilogy, both launching as full PS3 games. DMC runs $60, while Angry Birds is $40.

The PSP and Vita get Corpse Party: Book of Shadows today for $20, and Vita gets a free app designed to help you and your friends get out of bed in the morning, called Wake-Up Club. Horror classic Siren is hitting the PS2 Classics bin, along with Disgaea: Hour of Darkness, each for $10. Sir Hammerlock's Big Game Hunt DLC drops today for Borderlands 2, and Far Cry 3 gets free, PS3-exclusive DLC with the High Tides co-op pack.

Check out the complete lineup on the PlayStation Blog.

It looks like Sly Cooper will be sneaking in well below the usual $60 retail price for PS3 games. The listings on Walmart, Amazon and GameStop all currently have Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time available for pre-order at $40. Not quite a five-finger discount, but certainly better than nothing.

Both Amazon and GameStop's pre-orders also include some in-game bonuses, notably new skins for Sly's para glider and a playable Seal Team Murray. It's also probably worth reiterating that Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time features Cross-Buy, meaning those who pick up the PS3 version get the Vita version for free.

[Thanks, Michael!]

MotoGP is back, and it's back in the hands of MotoGP 08 developers Milestone SRL.