PS3 Attitude

PlayStation 3 news, views and gossip from PS3 Attitude - a daily news site with bite!

Saturday, 27 October 2007

GameCity 07; Nobi Nobi Boy technical demo

Live from GameCity 07 in Nottingham; before we get into the strange tale of Takahashi and the keynote speech, I thought you would like to actually see the technical demo of Nobi Nobi Boy.

Now we know Nobi Nobi Boy is definitely a PS3 exclusive, it will be interesting to see how the mechanics are translated into an actual game. Whilst Takahashi himself was guarded about the actual goals of the title (or maybe he just doesn't know yet!) I have my own ideas.

In the demo, you'll see you have the ability to 'stretch' and move the Boy around objects. He can jump in the air, move both sides of his body independently (one end on the left analogue stick, the other end on the right stick) and can swallow items and push them out of the other end - seriously!

My guess is that we'll be moving animals and other objects around a 3D environment by corralling them or 'eating' them only to spit them out in another place. Only time will tell.

Anyway - enjoy the video. The audio may not be the greatest, but the part where we are all laughing out loud was where Takahashi wanted two players from the crowd to form an 'N' with him on the screen and, for some reason, those other players just couldn't manage it!

By the way, YouTube screwed up my video upload, so here's someone else's from Gametrailers.com. Hey ho...

Labels: GameCity, news, Nobi Nobi Boy, Playstation 3, PS3

GameCity 07; Takahashi confirms Nobi Nobi Boy is a PS3 exclusive

Live from GameCity 07 in Nottingham; I've just been in the most bizarre keynote speech ever.

There will be a full write up once I've unscrambled my brain and once YouTube has uploaded the video of the technical demo, but in the meantime here's the news I was expecting (and the main reason I gambled on coming 250 miles to Nottingham).

Takahashi-san's next game after finishing with the Katamari Damacy series, Nobi Nobi Boy, will be on the PS3 only.

I can't describe the game mechanics through words alone. It's too bizarre, and strangely a lot of fun although what we saw had no real environment to speak of. The video will be up soon, and you'll be able to see for yourself.

Labels: GameCity, news, Nobi Nobi Boy, Playstation 3, PS3

Thursday, 25 October 2007

US PS Store Updates for 25th October

I almost can't believe my eyes.

Apart from the fact that EyeCreate landed at the US Store on the 23rd, it looks like Europe actually got the better deal for once.

Check out the list of updates for yourself. One PS1 game, the Rachel Master add-on and a bunch of trailers. No PS Eye games at all. Incredible.

Spyro the Dragon - PS1 game for PS3/PSP ($5.99)
"Rachel Master" - Ninja Gaiden Sigma add-on ($2.99)
"Halloween Skin" - Piyotama add-on (free)
Bionic Commando - trailer
Time Crisis 4 - trailer
The Water Horse - movie trailer
P.S. I Love You - movie trailer
AC/DC Live at Donnington - Blu-Ray movie trailer
Reign Over Me - Blu-Ray movie trailer

Pinch me now...

Labels: news, Playstation 3, PS Store, PS3, PSN

European PS Store updates for 25th October

What can I say? We have ourselves a bone fide massive EU Store update on our hands people! It's like a revelation.

Of course, much of it has been sparked off by the launch of the PlayStation Eye - and I'm not complaining in the slightest. I get my Eye of Judgement pack tomorrow so I spent a tenner on three Eye compatible titles plus the Folklore expansion. I mean really - ten pounds for three full titles and some extra folks. Value for money or what?!

Here's the full burgeoning list of updates available at the Store, which for some of the time today was clearly buckling under the pressure as it was unavailable for a couple of hours...

Pixel Junk Racers - game (£4.99)
Aqua Vita - PS Eye game (£1.99)
Operation Creature Feature - PS Eye game (£3.49)
Trials of Topoq - PS Eye game (£3.49)
Eye Create - PS Eye application (free)
Tony Hawk's Proving Grounds - demo (free)
Ratchet and Clank - demo (free)
"The Kidnapped Folk" - Folklore add-on (£1.49)
"Halloween Livery" - Motorstorm add-on (free; and a nice touch too)
"Rachel Master" - Ninja Gaiden Sigma add-on (£2.99)
Tekken 5: DR Online mode - trailer (free)
Eye of Judgment Introduction - trailer (free)
Toy Home - trailer (free)
Midnight Club LA - trailer (free)
Metal Gear Online TGS - trailer (free)
Courage Under Fire - Blu-Ray movie trailer (free)
Beowulf - movie trailer (free)
Stardust - movie trailer (free)

Keep this up SCEE and we'll forget all about the past. Like it never happened... deal?

Labels: Folklore, MGS4, news, Playstation 3, PS Eye, PS Store, PS3, PSN, Ratchet and Clank

GameCity PS3 coverage

GameCity starts over here in the city of Nottingham, and PS3 Attitude will be there tomorrow and Saturday to cover all the big PS3 stories, including the exclusive hands-on demo of Haze and Takahashi's keynote speech which details what's next after Katamari Damacy.

The only downside is that it's the same time as the London Games Festival, which is two hundred miles closer to where I live!

If you're going to be visiting GameCity on Friday or Saturday drop a comment here. It's not like we're going to hook up or anything since there's going to be thousands of gamers decending on the city, but it's nice to know you'll be within shouting distance!

Labels: GameCity, news, Playstation 3, PS3

[UPDATE] PS3 Firmware 1.94 and Warhawk 1.1; but only for the few

Subscribers to the PS3 Attitude RSS feed will have already seen the details of Warhawk patches 1.1 and 1.2, as we included them in our Digg profile. Remember, if you subscribe to the RSS feed, you get exclusive Digg news in with your PS3 Attitude stories.

It turns out the Warhawk 1.1 patch actually came out earlier than expected. Some US Blu-Ray version players were able to download the patch and apply it. This has since been fixed so we don't expect anyone else will be able to get the patch until October 30th.

Anyone who did get the 1.1 patch really needs to go into the Game Data folder and delete it, otherwise you won't be able to play in the 1.0 world.

In addition PS3 Firmware 1.94 has also hit the network. At the moment though it appears that only people who have Ratchet & Clank can get the update, but we're waiting for confirmation of that.

[UPDATE] It appears the 1.94 firmware is actually included on the Ratchet & Clank disk. This is apparently how they will be providing 'rumble out of the box' in games like Ratchet and Uncharted. As some US PS3 owners managed to get Ratchet a week earlier than expected, this is why the 1.94 release is trickling out and is not on the PSN.

So we have two updates that appear to be for the few rather than the masses - one by mistake and one by design.

Here's a quick list of changes in both updates.

Firmware 1.94

Rumble support added (this has been apparently been tested with an old PS2 controller by someone at the N4G forums)
Fix for Ratchet & Clank (the US version shipped with a bug that had a work-around where you needed to add or delete around 500Mb of data for it to load - 1.94 appears to fix that, but we're waiting on confirmation) - [UPDATE] Looks like this bug isn't fixed in 1.94 and that it just adds rumble support for Ratchet & Clank.

Warhawk 1.1

Server-side updates

Stat database stability improvements
Improved server stability
Max Clan limit changed from 32 to 64
Viral Rank-up bug fixed and correct for players that were accidentally ranked up.
“Time-in-Vehicle” Stats fixed so certain awards can now be granted properly.

Client-side updates

Stat connection, fetch/post fixes
Significantly improved client connection stability
Quad “????” Ping display bug fixed.
Added support for Player-Ranked Servers.
Game synchronization fixes due to fluctuating network conditions (packet-drop).
Crash fixes for end of game and split screen.

Labels: firmware, news, Playstation 3, PS3, Ratchet and Clank, Warhawk

Wednesday, 24 October 2007

BBC to make Top Gear available within GT5

In an agreement with Polyphony Digital, the BBC will be providing content from their Top Gear TV show for users of GT-TV, the 'video download' section of the new Gran Turismo games.

The current GT5 Prologue demo has already given us a feel for what GT-TV will look like, with downloads of popular Japanese motor shows.

Under the agreement, the BBC will provide 40 episodes of the best motor programme in the world (I'm biased; I've been to see it being recorded!) but that's not the only good news.

The Top Gear test track where they record the 'star in a reasonably priced car' feature and where they test all the latest and greatest supercars will be replicated in GT5 when it is released next year. You too will be able to take a Suzuki Liana or that Chevrolet Lacetti they use and see if you can meet or beat the best times set down by your favourite international celebrities (assuming Polyphony put those cars into the game too).

Awesome!

A big thumbs up from me then. I've always wanted to see if I could beat JK from Jamiroquai or if I'd be more like James 'the slowest man in the world' May.

“We at Polyphony are great fans of the world’s best motoring programme, Top Gear, so we’re delighted to be collaborating with BBC Worldwide to deliver Top Gear content via Gran Turismo. We’re sure that players will be as thrilled as we are when they get the chance to put their own driving skills to the test on the Top Gear Test Track in GT5, as well as enjoying classic episodes of Top Gear via GT TV.” - Kazunori Yamauchi, President, Polyphony Digital.

Labels: GT5, news, Playstation 3, PS3

BAFTA Video Games Awards; PS2 keeps Sony in the game

Wii Sports was the expected big winner in the video game BAFTAs yesterday, and rightly so. If the PS3 had a game that accessible and was so much fun the 'doom-mongers' would have to completely eat their words.

Hopefully with the PS Eye coming this week, Ratchet & Clank getting 'best ever' reviews and so many great titles on the way we'll start to enjoy similar success on our favourite platform. Not to mention Play TV, Home and other great enhancements from January 2008 onwards.

So which PlayStation titles did get the famous statue?

Okami - certainly one of the my favourite ever PS2 titles - won the 'Artistic Achievement' award and 'Original Score' award.

God of War 2 picked up the 'Story and Character' award and 'Technical Achievement' award.

Both great PS2 titles of course. Nothing for the PS3, despite nominations for Heavenly Sword, Resistance and Motorstorm.

Still - good that Wii Sports didn't run away with every award (just six of the thirteen available!).

Labels: news, Playstation 3, PS3

Tuesday, 23 October 2007

The PS3 Attitude Interview; LocoRoco Cocoreccho's World No. 1

We have a love/hate relationship with LocoRoco Cocoreccho here at PS3 Attitude. We love the LocoRoco franchise and have spent many an hour smiling happily away at the PSP original. You just can't help yourself! It's certainly a great way to de-stress. In fact, if you gave everyone in the world a PSP and a copy of LocoRoco, you could probably deliver world peace!

But we've not always been that complimentary about the follow up on the PS3. When SCEE told us it was an 'interactive screensaver', we winced. Screensaver or not, it turns out there's a reasonable amount of gameplay in a title that cost only £1.99, and there are world leaderboards to boot.

Not only is 'bunnyho' the world's number one at LocoRoco Cocoreccho, he happens to be from the UK as well - which makes us even happier at PS3 Attitude!

Recently, we spent a few moments with bunnyho finding out what it takes to be the leader.

PS3A: Thanks for spending time talking with us. What first drew you to LocoRoco Cocoreccho?

BH: I usually check the PlayStation Store every day. I saw the trailer via the store a week or two before the game was available and that was enough to convince me to downloaded it when the game came out. I'll be honest, I downloaded it at first glance with no hestitation simply because its LocoRoco!

PS3A: And what is your current high score?

BH: I am at 1,303,060 at the moment.

PS3A: LocoRoco Cocoreccho is a game that involves a number of different mechanics. We don't need to 'tip the land' anymore, but there is a lot of shaking the SixAxis in order to uncover all the LocoRocos and Mui-Muis. What tips and tricks can you offer to other players who want to score big?

BH: The answer to the bigger scores is to spend more time on the mini-games, especially the first and third ones. Interestingly, you can let the LocoRocos do pretty much whatever they want to do. You don't have to keep them all in one place - they're perfectly safe doing their own thing! In the first instance you need to find enough of them to unlock all the different areas so you can get to the third mini-game.

PS3A: What's so special about the third mini-game; the one with the big owl?

BH: It is where you can build up some massives scores. The tactic is simple. Try to coax the bigger LocoRocos in to the mini-game and then lose most of them straight away, leaving just three or four of the larger LocoRocos on his wings. Then, just learn the pattern of eye movements and stay on the wings. And don't get too close to the edge. It's tempting to go for the high scoring 'flashing bee' that comes close to the owl's wingtips, but it's too high risk. You just need to stay on for long enough. I cant stress enough you need A LOT of spare time to get a good high score - a minimum of at least 4-5 hours! I only stopped at 999,990 for this mini-game because I was worried what would happen if I reached a million - there didn't seem to be enough space on the screen for seven figures!

PS3A: Did you find it natural or does it take a lot of practise to be number one?

BH: I'll say that it came naturally, since the day it came out I never left the top 10. The first day alone I was in fourth place, and day-by-day I was moving up and down off the number one slot until the day I got THAT high score. I wouldnt say that practice is needed but mainly time and patience and a good memory of where everything is and when you should perform certain tasks. I always knew in myself I could beat any of my scores on any given day - it just takes a bit of luck on the mini-games not to be eaten and a lot of time. So whilst it comes naturally to me I think most players could beat their current scores if they had the time and patience.

PS3A: If LocoRoco Cocoreccho 2 came along, what would you like to see in the game?

BH: I would like to see more than the one map. Whilst it is a pretty big map with different sections to unlock as you go along, I'd like to see other maps too. That way people could have their own 'map high scores' and then the game could have a master high score for all maps. An option to play the mini-games without going in-game to play them, much like how the original LocoRoco was on the PSP, would be welcome. This would give the game a longer life span, because currently there's pretty much nothing more to do other than the day I get beaten or if I feel like extending my score - which I'd need to put a whol day aside for! Right now positions 1 to 20 of the leaderboard has hardly moved in weeks except for the number two spot who I have seen finally bringing life into the leaderboard - he/she is slowly creeping up my score. I'd also like to see an actual screensaver option for the PS3 just like they ill-advisedly stated in the video preview.

PS3A: Do you prefer LocoRoco on the PSP or the PS3 sequel?

BH: It is a close one but the original PSP title just takes it. Don't get me wrong - I love the new one. It is a different game to the original so a comparison is a bit harsh but in terms of gameplay, the original one is better. Yes the new one is great with the online scoreboard and the cheap price but i guess you pay for what you get. Cocoreccho is not really a long-lasting game or rich in material whereas the original one is 'pick-up-and-play' anytime of day. The PSP original has so many levels and you can play the mini-games whenever you want. The LocoRoco editor is a lot of fun too. In a ideal world if they bought out a LocoRoco 2 on the PS3 with BOTH types of games then they would have a huge hit and I definitely would snap it up in a heartbeat.

PS3 Attitude would like to thank bunnyho for a great interview. Maybe we should all go back and give LocoRoco Cocoreccho another chance, and by all accounts at least a whole day of our time!

Labels: interview, LocoRoco, news, Playstation 3, PS3

Monday, 22 October 2007

Worried about Eye of Judgement cards in the UK?

If you look at the Wizards of The Coast website (the people who produce the cards for The Eye of Judgement as well as iconic games like Magic: The Gathering), you'll find the UK distribution network less than inspiring.

I mean, who really wants to trot down to their not-so-local local Dungeons & Dragons hovel to get cards for a video game?

So you will be pleased to hear that as from this Friday (in line with the launch of the much anticipated PS3 exclusive) GAME are going to stock the cards across their 700+ stores in the UK and across Europe.

To help budding UK players, GAME will be running an offer in the first two weeks after launch whereby you will get 'starter' and 'booster' packs at a lower-than-usual price of £4.99 and £1.49 respectively if bought with the game. These will usually be priced at £7.99 and £2.99.

We're pretty sure other video game retailers will follow suit but we couldn't get any other chains to comment ahead of the launch. Since GAME control about 80% of the UK video game marketplace it's a safe bet most of our UK readers will high-tail it down to their local store anyway.

It's not clear on whether GAME will continue to stock the cards forever - that will depend on how many Eye of Judgement packs fly out the door.

So if you want to do your bit to ensure a steady stream of card packs without having to take a trip down Nerd Lane, go pre-order The Eye of Judgement now.

Note to SCEA - I refuse to spell it Judgment! This is the Queen's English wot I speak.

Labels: news, Playstation 3, PS Eye, PS3

GT5 Prologue demo; new cars unlocked this week

The Tokyo Motor Show starts in 5 days time. Why is that important to PS3 owners?

As new cars, like the Lexus IS F, are announced at the show they will be simultaneously unlocked in the GT5 Prologue demo.

So, answering the much lauded forum question "how do I unlock cars in the GT5 Prologue demo?" is an easy task - patience is the key, my friends.

Keep an eye on the new content in the GT-TV and News options. Even if you don't speak or read Japanese visit anything that is new and then check the showroom whilst the show is underway - you'll get a nice surprise or two as the week progresses.