PS3 Attitude

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

Monday, 28 April 2008

Capcom announce six PSN titles in Europe for 2008

We've been excited about Capcom's Bionic Commando: Rearmed for some time now. The re-imagining of a classic 2d action-platformer, BC:R is a perfect example of the type of 'classic game reuventation' we had in mind when ThreeSpeech featured our guest article.

Now, Capcom have confirmed titles and release windows for a whole range of PSN titles, available this year on the PlayStation Store.

As well as BC:R, which is due to arrive any time now, they have announced 1942: Joint Strike will appear this Summer. Another update to a classic top-down shooter, this could be another exciting update.

In addition, you can expect to see Plunder and the long-awaited Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo HD Remix arrive in the Summer months. Plunder is a real-time strategy game developed for Capcom by Certain Affinity.

Finally, Capcom also announced two titles that have no current launch window - Wolf of the Battlefield and Talisman.

Talisman is the videogame version of the classic board game from Games Workshop. Apparently, this title was meant to coincide with the release of the 4th edition of the popular board game when it launched late last year, but Capcom halted work on the title to seek a new developer.

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Thursday, 24 April 2008

European PS Store update for 24th April

It is the second week since the PS Store got it's shiny new look and we're treated to our third update already. Both the 'launch day' bonus items and the regular weekly update brought Europe a good amount of new stuff to get our teeth into - so what about this week?

The big news is the CoD4 Variety Pack has arrived. The pack, which brings us four new multiplayer maps - Broadcast, Creek, Chinatown and Killhouse - appeared on the store (after a short delay - it wasn't there initially). Speaking of CoD4, don't forget that this weekend is 'Double XP' weekend in CoD4, and Friday is 'play with the devs' day between 19:00 to 22:00 UK time and from 01:00 to 04:00 UK time on Saturday morning.

There is also a CoD4 v1.30 patch that is available now when you launch the game. The patch adds two new game modes that take advantage of the Variety Pack maps.

Here's what is included in the update:

Games

Bishi Bashi Special (PS1 game for PS3/PSP) (£3.49)
Command & Conquer (PS1 game for PS3/PSP) (£3.49)
Flow (PSP version) (£4.99)

Add-ons

Call of Duty 4 Variety Pack (£6.99)

Demos (all free)

Rocketmen: Axis of Evil - PS3 Demo
God of War: Chains of Olympus - PSP Demo

Videos (all free)

Resistance 2 announcement trailer
Warhawk Broken Mirror trailer
Viking trailers (2 videos)
Timeshift trailers (3 videos)

Wallpapers and Themes (all free)

MGS4 Sneak Out wallpaper
Dark Sector wallpaper
Motorstorm wallpapers (7 images)

The release of two new PS1 games will appeal to some gamers who like their fix 'retro-style'. The Rocketmen demo is the same as the one we played from the US Store a little while back, and you may remember our review of the game.

It is nice to see a full game and a demo for the PSP appear, further showing the improving bond between the PS3 and its little brother.

As far as the Variety Pack in concerned, some may argue that £6.99 is a lot to pay for four new maps. The Xbox 360 version of the Variety Pack was 800 MS points I believe, which equates to about $10. $10 in local money is £5.10, so £6.99 does appear slightly inflated.

Having said that, you can't buy a coffee for you and your mates in London for less than that, let alone a few beers. We still think it's reasonable value, but it would have been nice to see some price parity.

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Tuesday, 15 April 2008

AU Store; 'I Got The Music In Me' - not any more you don't...

Whilst the 2.30 update has brought along a shiny new PlayStation Store that seems to be winning universal praise, it appears there is a downside if you're in Australia.

Not only do our antipodean friends have to deal with a version of GTA: IV that looks more like the Coke Side of Life, now we have discovered that something else is missing.

The one thing that made the AU Store stand out from the crowd was the availability of free music videos from Sony BMG artists. Not only is there no category for music videos anywhere on the new store, but all the pre-existing videos have been taken down.

So if you were pining for that Bic Runga video you accidentally deleted, I'm afraid you'll have to find it elsewhere.

Of course, this does mean that there's a good chance the much-rumoured music and movie download service might be just around the corner. Does this new firmware have even more delights in 'store' than we thought?


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Firmware 2.30 arrives, along with a PS Store update

Sony sure do know how to make us happy right now.

Not only does firmware 2.30 hit the network before most people have woken up, but the nice new PlayStation Store has a few updates included in it as well.

The first thing you notice is just how fast the new store loads in comparison to the old one. And the zoom 'n' fade between windows is much better in real life than it showed up on the walkthrough video.

In terms of new content, there is an awesome update for Super Stardust HD that adds four new game modes and a retro soundtrack, amongst other things.

We have some new Guitar Hero III content from the band Dropkick Murphys and then there's the Sega Superstars Demo we were expecting to hit on Thursday.

Finally, we get a Bionic Commando Rearmed trailer and a second Lost Planet trailer.

This is good, but it's going to get better this week with the arrival of Metal Gear Online and the next Warhawk expansion - Operation Broken Mirror.

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Monday, 14 April 2008

PlayStation Store; so long, farewell...

It probably won't have escaped your notice that the PlayStation Store is 'down for maintenance' at the moment as we lead up to the release of firmware 2.30 and the brand spanking new store.

So now seems like the perfect opportunity to say a fond farewell to the old, browser-based PS Store.

There have been times, being in the UK, when we wondered if the Store was worth having at all. The occasional nonsense update from SCEE has left us scratching our quite considerable heads.

But overall, and never forgetting it is a free service, we have enjoyed a good array of demos, games, add-ons, videos, wallpapers, themes and the odd surprise here and there.

Tomorrow is the big reveal - look out for your PS3 nagging you for an update. That'll be your cue to download v2.30 and gain access to the shiny new store.

Then check again Thursday for the first update of the new era. We already know what's coming to the PS Store this week, and if that is an indication of times to come then we should all be very happy indeed.

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Friday, 11 April 2008

Metal Gear Online beta coming next week

Metal Gear Online has been offered as a beta for people that pre-order in the US and Japan, and we've been wondering what will happen to a European beta.Konami said earlier in the week that the beta was definitely coming to Europe, but still we had no details of how to get access.

Now, SCEE have confirmed that a completely open beta program will start next Thursday (17th) as part of the new store's first update. Yes - you'll be able to play MGO next week and you don't even have to pre-order MGS4.

In addition to the MGO beta, Europe will also get a Lair update that allows you to control the game using the analogue sticks, some new dragons for Lair, a Sega Superstar Tennis demo (same one that hit the US a few weeks back) and - importantly - Warhawk's Operation Broken Mirror map and APV pack.

There will also be a smattering of videos, including the latest GTA: IV trailer.

If this is how European updates are going to look in the future, we all have nothing to worry about!

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Thursday, 10 April 2008

New PlayStation Store coming on 15th April

I'm sure you don't need reminding, but there will be no update today whilst we await Firmware 2.30 and the new-look PS Store.

But as promised, SCEA have presented us with a walk-through video of the upgraded store, presented by Grace Chen - the woman that posts on the Official PlayStation Blog about the usual weekly US store updates.

In addition, it has now been confirmed that the 2.30 update will happen on the 15th April. 'But that's not a Thursday', I hear you cry. Because the update happens on a Tuesday, we're not sure whether the firmware will simply allow you access to the new store with the existing content, or whether the new items we're expecting will arrive with it. Sony aren't confirming either way.

Take a look at the video below and look out for your firmware update this coming Tuesday.

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Wednesday, 9 April 2008

ThreeSpeech feature our guest article

Many thanks to the guys at ThreeSpeech, who were good enough today to feature a guest article we wrote.

'5 Remakes Perfect For The PlayStation Network' is our countdown of the five games from back when we were playing around with the C64, Amiga, Atari ST and MSX machines that would be perfect for re-imagining on the PSN.

Enjoy the article, and don't be shy - leave us a comment here and at ThreeSpeech!

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Tuesday, 8 April 2008

Home on the way this month?

We don't usually do rumours here at PS3 Attitude, but this one is too interesting to pass up.

Our friends at The Sixth Axis have discovered details of Home 1.00 being available on the PSN, even though the download itself won't do anything just now - it's locked by Sony.

The download was made available using a [email protected] exploit - again, not a topic we usually go for here since we're not interested in exploits and, *cough*, questionable activities.

Go read about it over at The Sixth Axis and then cross your fingers for the next nine days!

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Friday, 4 April 2008

Latest PlayStation Store screens show new features

Grace Chen over at the Official PlayStation Blog has been reminding us that there will be no updates until the new PS Store is unleashed.

Whilst Grace has confirmed what we knew - a video will be out next week to walk us through the new Store - the new screenshots that were put up at the blog show off an extra feature not seen before.

Looking at the third picture in our gallery (below), you'll see a 'preview' button. Some keen readers spotted this and asked what previews we can expect, and Grace had the - erm - grace to reply:


"Sometimes it will be a video, other times it may be screenshots."
Simply put, in some cases you'll be able to watch a preview video of the game you're about to buy, which is a great idea.

The red bag you see in one of the screens signifies that you have already bought that item.

Along with the 'filter by type of game' functionality and the altogether fresher look, this update is looking mighty nice.

In case you hadn't heard, the new Store doesn't use the browser as it's engine and will require a firmware upgrade to version 2.30. It will still be region-free, so those of us with multiple region accounts won't be locked out.



PlayStation Store Redesign

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Monday, 31 March 2008

No PSN updates for at least two weeks

Whilst SCEE roll out the much-anticipated new look PS Store, there will be zero (nada, none, zilch etc.) updates for us to enjoy.

You'll still be able to access everything that is already on the store, of course, but there is a freeze on new content whilst they upgrade the back-end.

The new interface looks a lot easier to use than the existing one, and the changes are expected to come through before the 17th.

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Friday, 28 March 2008

European PS Store update for 28th March

Yes - we know. It's Friday.

Despite hanging around (well, actually I was playing GT5: Prologue on Blu-ray) until about 02:30 this morning, the weekly update just didn't appear.

We know that the original plan was to have the update arrive early evening yesterday. Then there were rumours that things would be held back until the GTA: IV trailer launched. Either way, something broke.

And that is, after all, what software does. It breaks every now and then. Regardless of whether you're on a free network like the PSN, or if you pay a monthly fee like on XBL, it is occasionally not going to work. It's just unfortunate that it didn't work on the day many people were looking forward to downloading the PSN version of GT5: Prologue.

So other than the biggest download of the year so far and the one-day delay, what else was made news on the PS Store today?

Here's the list:

Games

GT5: Prologue (£24.99)
Reel Fishing (for PSP and PS3; £3.49)

Demos (all free)

EUFA EURO 2008

Add-ons

Turok Map Pack (£1.99)
Unreal Tournament III Map Pack (free)
Eye of Judgement Biolith Rebellion Set 2 (£6.99)

Videos (all free)

GT5: Prologue TV trailer
Dark Sector - five trailers
Everybody's Golf World Tour trailer
Eye of Judgement Biolith Rebellion Set 2 trailer
Dynasty Warriors 6 Producer Q&A

Two full games (one of them monumental), a demo, two map packs, the extra card set for Eye of Judgement and a bunch of videos.

I'd say that was worth the extra day, wouldn't you?

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Thursday, 20 March 2008

European PS Store updates for 20th March



Let the bone crunching begin!

PAIN has finally arrived as expected on the European PS Store. We're really pleased to see it has made it's way over here and can't wait to start tossing mimes (no, that's not a euphemism for anything else, before you ask).

So what else came our way today in what Sony are saying will be "the end of poor EU updates"?

Here's the full list:

Games

PAIN (£4.99)

Add-ons

PAIN - Cookie character (£0.69)
PAIN - Hung Lo character (£0.69)
PAIN - Santa character (£0.69)
PAIN - Scurv Dogg character (£0.69)
PAIN - Muffy character (£0.69)
PAIN - Ginger character (£0.69)
PAIN - Fun with Explosives Pack (free)
Stranglehold - Map Pack (£9.99)

Videos (all free)

Motorstorm is Back - Motorstorm 2 trailer

It's nice to get a decent update. In fact it's the best one of the year so far, and that's just because PAIN is finally here with all it's extra add-ons as promised. Admittedly, the rest of the content is still a little lacking, but we're not complaining too much - the Strangehold Map Pack is welcome too.

Let's hope SCEE will keep to their word and ensure that future weekly PS Store updates will be as good, if not better!

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PS3 Easter Eggs for your delectation

It's that time of the year when everyone's thoughts turn to the holiday season immediately following the one that is actually happening. So whilst real Easter Eggs started appearing in the shops around Christmas, we're going to keep things traditional and give you ours today.

Here's a run down of our three favourite PS3 Easter Eggs so far:


1. The gnome in Resistance: Fall of Man

Found by a chap calling himself Microdot (maybe he works for MI5), this little fella is reminiscent of the Travelocity Gnome. You can find him "in the area just after you get dropped at the gorge on the rescue mission", according to the aforementioned 'dot.



2. God of War armour in Heavenly Sword

This one was found by XxBigP123xX (heaven knows how you pronounce that) and is seen in Kai's mission. It's nice to see that the people at Ninja Theory gave a little nod to that other great swords-n-sandals epic.




3. Hidden interviews during E3 2007

SCEA played games with us all during E3 2007 and hid away a bunch of videos on the PlayStation Store. For example, by visiting the Super Rub-a-Dub folder, you were treated to a LittleBigPlanet interview; a Ratchet & Clank interview was hidden inside a Ridge Racer 7 folder. In all SCEA treated us to seven interview videos scattered around the PS Store.

Have you found any Easter Eggs in PS3 games or on the console? Tell us about your favourite finds in the comments section...

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Tuesday, 18 March 2008

PAIN and Call of Duty 4 'feature' patch on the way this week

It seems like an eternity has passed since PAIN was first launched in the US, but the wait is finally over.

Not only will PAIN be released in Europe this week (on Thursday as usual) but several of the expansion packs that have been trickling into the US Store over the last four months will be released with it, ensuring we gain as much PAIN as we can handle.

In fact, this may be a turnaround for the EU PS Store as Sony were quoted as saying that last week's update would be "the last bad one for a while". Let's hope that's true.

We also have heard word that the Call of Duty 4 feature patch (officially being called the Variety Patch for some reason) will reach us this week as well. We know the patch has already been in the certification process for around a week and a half, so we would expect it to be made available towards the end of this week.

We already covered the details of the CoD4 patch in a previous story, so go and have a read to make sure you're familiar with all the changes.

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Thursday, 13 March 2008

European PS Store updates for 13th March

Another week, another poor showing on the EU PS Store.

This week we do get some more GH III content, but that's about all you can look forward to.

After last week's announcement that PAIN would be coming in March, we're now absolutely certain it will hit next week. We're also pretty sure that Europe will finally see the Shivering Isles add-on for Oblivion soon following last week's trailer.

But all of this anticipation isn't helping SCEE's cause. The natives are getting restless on this side of the pond, and we need to see some decent content arrive in order to even begin to fix the lasting reputation the EU PS Store is getting.

Let's hope that next week sees the beginning of better times ahead.

Here's the list:

Add-ons

Guitar Hero III - Modern Metal track pack (£3.99) - three songs from artsists such as Avenged Sevenfold, Thrice and Deftones

Videos (all free)

Elefunk trailer

Themes (all free)

PixeJunk Monsters

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Tuesday, 11 March 2008

Full Details; NOVASTRIKE gunning for the PS Store

Tiki Games, who previously delivered the PSP exclusive Galaxy's End, are about to launch NOVASTRIKE on to the PSN.

Available soon via the PS Store, NOVASTRIKE is a top-down shooter reminiscent of arcade shooters from the 80's and 90's - just with better graphics of course!

We have the full details of what to expect when NOVASTRIKE hits the PS Store:

  • Seven challenging stages driven by objective-based goals
  • Free-roaming flight
  • Progressive weapon acquisition and upgrade system: as the player collects weapon drops from enemy ships the weapons themselves become available to the Scythe (the name of your ship) - there are nine base weapon systems, each with three subsequent upgrade levels
  • Air and ground targets: two separate weapon systems allow the player to combat both air and ground opponents
  • You're not alone: friendly fighters, bombers, and destroyers will aid you in your efforts to vanquish the Draelus invasion
  • DualShock 3 support
  • Continuing support: Tiki Games will be developing additional content for NOVASTRIKE throughout 2008
"NOVASTRIKE takes its roots from the toughest shoot-'em-ups, and brings that gameplay into a free-roaming, unpredictable space - and when players think they’ve conquered that, our continued support for the game will keep them on their toes with all-new game content." - Kevin McCann, President and Creative Director, Tiki Games

Check out the action in the video below, plus various screenshots, and drop by the official NOVASTRIKE website for more news.




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Friday, 7 March 2008

Rocketmen demo fired up, misses target

Yesterday finally saw the release of Capcom's Rocketmen: Axis of Evil on he PS Store in the US. The game was also launched two days ago on the X360.

The first we saw of Rocketmen was almost a year ago (April 2007 in fact) when Capcom released the initial batch of screenshots. The release date was originally Autumn 2007, so has the game benefitted from being in the kiln for an extra two seasons?

The graphical style of the game is the first thing that makes you feel uneasy. The cel-shaded comic-book style graphics are pleasing to the eye, but the animation on the title screen and in the many, may cut-scenes is - frankly - bizarre.

The opening title, for example, shows three of the main characters jittering around in front of you like they all have ADD.

When you fire up the demo you are given the opportunity to create a character, and the options allow you a good amount of customisation. If you go ahead an buy the full game in order to earn lots of the various credits the game offers a good number of additional customisations become available.

It is after creating your character that you are subjected to the most bizarre graphical style choice yet - cut-scenes that quickly snap each character into a fixed pose for seconds until they've delivered their line from the (not funny or interesting) script. The result is quite unnerving, as the characters jump from line to line as if you're watching them in a strange 0.2 frames-per-second mode.

The amount of cut-scenes also detracts from the action. Just when you're in the middle of some frantic shooting against the martian hordes, you will brush past a pick-up only to be launched into a whole speech about the item you touched.

But the worst element of Rocketmen, the one thing that makes it almost unbearable to play, is the camera.

The camera moves you forward towards your next natural goal, but it moves very slowly in comparison to your character. Whilst this might be a gameplay choice the developers thought would promote movement strategy, in reality it's just plain annoying.

However, that is not the most heinous crime the camera commits.

The viewpoint moves you forward towards your next goal but doesn't allow you to go back. Because it seems to move you based on certain trigger items (i.e. when you pick up something, the camera assumes that part of the level is done and so moves you on) you often find that you can't collect the items that were dropped by the martians after you sent them packing.

Even worse, the camera often pushes you forward into clumps of martian enemies leaving you absolutely no space on the screen to avoid their rapid-fire pistols.

Rocketmen could have been good fun but the bizarre animation, annoying cut-scenes and terrible camera mechanic ruin the game entirely. No amount of funky weapons, armoured clothing and character customisations will ever make it fun enough to play for long.

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Thursday, 6 March 2008

European PS Store updates for 6th March

The PlayStation Store has been updated once again. Will we get more than we did last week? Well, we couldn't get any less, could we?

In fact, it's not a bad update at all if you like add-ons.

The flOw expansion pack has made its way over to Europe. flOw has always been a little but of a favourite here at PS3 Attitude. When you've had a stressful day, it has a happy knack of unwinding the knots in your muscles faster than a massusse on crack - and with no pressure to have a 'happy ending'.

Guitar Hero III content is always welcome, and No Doubt is as good a track pack to have - even if it's just for 'Don't Speak'.

Here's the full list:

Add-ons

flOw expansion pack (£1.99)
Guitar Hero III - No Doubt Track Pack (£3.99)

Videos (all free)

Oblivion Shivering Isles trailer
WipEout HD trailer
Uncharted 'DJ Shadow' trailer
The Pursuit of Happyness Blu-ray movie trailer
Reign Over Me Blu-ray movie trailer
Perfect Stranger Blu-ray movie trailer

Themes (all free)

Graffiti

So - two add-ons amongst a bunch of videos and a theme. Like I said - it can't be worse than last week!

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Wednesday, 5 March 2008

PlayStation Store gets a spring clean

There have been rumours floating around for days, but we can now confirm the PlayStation Store is going to get a big overhaul in the early part of April.

At the Destination PlayStation show recently (you know, the retailer event where they announced the Metal Gear Solid 4 release date) Sony gave details of the changes. Because nothing concrete came out of that event, rumours spread quickly about the possibilities - including talk of a new video store that allows you to download movies and music videos.

SCEA's John Hight has now told the guys and gals at Gamasutra:

"We give [Sony's PSN team] a lot of feedback based on how our customers are reacting to things, and I think you will see a pretty big change in the PlayStation Network in the early part of April, where we roll out some new interface stuff largely based on customer feedback. Simplification, cutting down on the number of mouse clicks, making it easier to find stuff that you want to find... that's kind of an outgrowth of us having more content now, so we have to make sure that you can get at it easily."
So whilst details of the video store are still thin on the ground, we do now know that the PS Store will look very different this coming month. We'll keep our ear to the ground for more details as they are confirmed.

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Tuesday, 4 March 2008

PAIN finally on the way, along with Elefunk and echochrome

It's been a long, long wait, but according to a recent press release from Sony, PAIN will arrive on the PlayStation Store this month.

When it does launch here it will be accompanied by some of the additional characters already available in the US, with plans to release up to ten additional ragdolls.

The press release also states that Elefunk will launch in April whilst echochrome will turn up this May.

Elefunk is a game that requires you to build routes from various materials to stop the herd falling into a pit of oblivion. It looks cute and sounds like a pachyderm version of Lemmings.

If you want to get an early taste of echochrome, don't forget the Japanese PS Store will get a demo this week.

That still means there's a whole bunch of releases Sony are keeping from the PS Store, but this is a good start. And whilst the press release didn't mention anything specific, we do know that Super Puzzle Fighter is now in various European languages, so surely that can't be far behind.

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Friday, 29 February 2008

Echochrome demo coming to Japan next week

Want to get an early taste of what Echochrome has to offer? You do?! Good.

Because next week the PS3 version of Echochrome will be made available, in demo form, on the Japanese PS Store. Not only that, but the PSP version will also be available via the PlayStation Store for PC and at the various PlayStation Spot locations across Japan.

So for those of you who have a Japanese PSN account, get ready for some mad Escher-like black & white puzzling - your first taste of Echochrome's brilliance is less than a week away.

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Thursday, 28 February 2008

European PS Store updates for 28th February

It's officially the worst update on the European PS Store ever.

I'm not going to say any more about it right now. The list speaks for itself:

Videos (all free)

Haze - new Boss Speech trailer
Conflict: Denied Ops - Dev Diary #4

We're in a state of shock. Surely this can't be it. More to come on this story later...

[UPDATE]

OK - so we checked and checked and this is really it. Just two videos.

Conflict: Denied Ops is ok as games go, but it just doesn't cut it in a market flooded with FPS titles.

Haze - on the other hand - we care about. We've played it. It's awesome.

We'll save you the bother of actually downloading the trailer they posted on the PS Store today though - you can watch it below.

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Tuesday, 26 February 2008

Super Puzzle Fighter finally coming to Europe?

Over the weekend the US version of Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo HD Remix (try saying that 10 times fast, when drunk) got an update.

Capcom released details of the update and, in their own words, here's what changed:

  • Voice Chat added!

  • Localized for English, French, Italian, German, and Spanish

  • A few oddball bugs got fixed as well, including one that personally annoyed me: Previously people did not get a loss if they lost connection (or *cough*pulled*cough*) in a ranked game. Now the, uh… “disconnected” will get a loss upon completion of their next ranked game.

I say 'in their own words' because we'd never spell 'localised' with a 'z'.

So does that mean we are finally going to see Super Puzzle Fighter II etc. etc. come to the European PS Store at last?!

We can't get any confirmation as yet, but we sure hope so.

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Friday, 22 February 2008

US PS Store updates for 21st February

This weeks US update was a little poor, just not quite as bad as the woeful EU PS Store update we 'enjoyed' yesterday.
Since we already know there will be a Rock Band track pack every week, that almost goes without saying from now on.

Jet Moto 3 made it's debut for the PS1/PSP and the PixelJunk Monsters demo also hit the store, just in case you hadn't already picked up the full title I guess.

Other than that the update was full of game and movie trailers, mostly MLB 08 The Show oriented.

The only point of interest for me was the two new game modes for PAIN. But then since PAIN still hasn't been release in Europe, I shouldn't care really!

The US update was always going to be a bit light due to GDC, but I don't see what excuse SCEE has for the EU update.

As usual, the full list is available from the Official PlayStation Blog, although this week they neglected to mention the PAIN add-ons.

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Thursday, 21 February 2008

European PS Store updates for 21st February

Sparse.

Let me just say that again.

S-P-A-R-S-E

That's what the update says to me today.

There's the Lost Planet Demo that was already on the US store (then off again, then back on, thanks to bugs). There's some video for Assassin's Creed (which has been out for months) and Conflict: Denied Ops (which is a disasterous FPS) and there are a couple of DMC4 wallpapers and a theme.

The only minor saving grace is that Snakeball is finally in Europe. It's fun, but the gameplay is way over-complicated to be a classic. At a shade under five quid, I'm passing thanks. If it was £2 or less like LocoRoco Cocoreccho was, it would be a no brainer.

Here's the full list:

Games

Snakeball (£4.99)

Demos (all free)

Lost Planet - Online

Video (all free)

Conflict: Denied Ops - Launch
Assassin's Creed - Developer Diary 'Altair'

Wallpapers (all free)

Devil May Cry 4 (x2)

Themes (all free)

Sports

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GDC 08; Top PSN download list shows EU/US taste divide

Our friends over at PS3 Fanboy were privy to a presentation by Sony yesterday about the top 10 PSN purchases and demos in both the US and Europe.

The results are interesting, not only because somehow Mortal Kombat II made it on to both the EU and US list!

In the US flOw is the number 1 best seller, whilst in Europe the plaudits go to Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection.

Of course, much of the 'taste difference' between the Atlantically-challenged continents will be down to the simple fact that some of the top US titles still haven't made there way over here yet, or haven't been out long enough to figure on the list (like Riff: Everyday Shooter for example). PAIN and High Velocity Bowling are two of the usual suspects in this case.

Head on over to PS3 Fanboy for the full story. But then come back here, because you know we'll miss you.

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Tuesday, 19 February 2008

GDC 08; PixelJunk Eden - the first trailer


They might not have hit the big time with PixelJunk Racers, but Q-Games showed us they have more to them when Monsters came along.

Now they're adding to their list of titles with the forthcoming PixelJunk Eden.

Announced at GDC 08 this really does remind me a lot of the inertia and gravity experienced when playing Thrust many moons ago.

Originally for the Acorn Electron and BBC Micro, I first played Thrust when it was ported to the C64. When you had the pod attached to your spacecraft, the inertia and gravity meant you could be spiralling out of control.

This seems to take from that oldest of game genres and add something new, borrowing from games like Rez and LocoRoco for it's style cues.

If the guys at Q-Games keep producing potential gems like this, we'll all be happy to forget 'Racers'...

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Friday, 15 February 2008

US PS Store update for 14th February

So what happened on the US store whilst us Brits were sleeping?

We know MTV have committed to providing one Rock Band DLC every week, so that's a given. Did the US get any new games or demos then?

If you're a baseball fan (or even if you are not), MLB 08 is worth downloading. The game looks incredible as far as the graphics are concerned. It's worth downlading just to look at it.

Outside of that, it's all trailers at the US store. There's really not much to say since the majority of the videos are available on the 'net anyhow. It's nice to see another LittleBigPlanet trailer, of course, but I'm not overwhelmed.

So, I think we can count that as a win for Europe this week. Third time ever - woo hoo!

You can catch the full list of updates at the Official PlayStation Blog.

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Thursday, 14 February 2008

European PS Store updates for 14th February

On Valentine's Day, what did Sony send us by way of saying 'Be Mine'?

Only one of the games we've been waiting an age for. Oh Sony, how you tease us.

Yes, Riff: Everyday Shooter is finally here as expected and we're as happy as can be.

Whilst it is tempting to stop the update right there and not worry about anything else, there were some other downloads available today. There's some additional GHIII tracks and a demo of the briliant Everybody's Golf.

Hey, maybe this will be the third week in history where we beat the US for content...

Here's the full list:

Games

Riff: Everyday Shooter (£4.99)

Demos (all free)

Everybody's Golf 5

Add-ons

Guitar Hero III - Classic Rock track pack (£3.99)

Videos (all free)

Conflict: Denied Ops - 1 x trailer and 2 x 'developer diary'
Spiderwick movie trailer

Wallpapers (all free)

Resident Evil 5

Themes (all free)

Super Stardust HD

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Monday, 11 February 2008

Everyday Shooter finally arrives this week

We have no idea what took so long, but the wait is nearly over.

After having been launched in the US on the PlayStation Store back in October 2007, we are finally going to see Everyday Shooter appear on the PS Store update in Europe this week.

When we played this title last November at GameCity '07 in Nottingham, it really grabbed our attention. Everyday Shooter (which seems to have gained the word 'Riff' in front of it's name during the delay) is a completely original shooter that owes more to titles like Rez than it does to Super Stardust.

We thought that Jonathan Mak's incredible creation would appear a few weeks back but it still didn't materialise. We're hoping that the news of this week's release is solid so we can all get a taste of just how brilliant and compelling this game is.

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Friday, 8 February 2008

US PS Store updates for 7th February

Continuing our new format, we'll be discussing the US update each week rather than reporting it due to the time difference.

Looking at the update this week, details of which are available on the Official PlayStation Blog as usual, it seems fairly even-handed versus the European update.

Both sides of the Atlantic got the Sky Diving game, both got the free add-on for Motorstorm and both got a trailer or two.

The US did get the Lost Planet online demo, which we have yet to get to work on our UK machine (we fear it may not have worldwide servers yet). Personally, I'm not that worried about Lost Planet - it didn't excite me when Capcom announced it was coming to the PS3 so I'm not going to feign excitement now.

Other differences include another PS1 game for the US (yet another Crash Bandicoot title) and there was the obligitory Rock Bank DLC as promised by MTV but other than that it seems that we had a week where both the US and Europe got a pretty decent update.

It will be interesting to see what happens as the year progresses, especially with news that Sony are committing to solving the problem of disparate regional releases within six months. There still seems to be a big list of titles available in the US that haven't shown up over here yet (such as PAIN and Everyday Shooter to name just two), and I for one would like to see that fixed sooner rather than later.

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Thursday, 7 February 2008

European PS Store updates for 7th February


Not a bad update today in our opinion.

As well as a full game we get two demos (both of which had appeared in the US already) and two free add-ons.

The game in question is Sky Diving and will also be released in the US today. It's nice to see a game appear in each store at the same time.

On the add-on front, not only is there a Motorstorm skin in honour of the Chinese New Year (The Year of the Rat), but you get the Folklore competition winner's folk (the Malion) to download as well.

I just hope they don't forget to release the two final Folklore add-on packs in Europe, since they're already out in the US.

Here's the full list:

Games

Sky Diving (£3.49)

Demos (all free)

Turok
Conflict: Denied Ops

Add-ons (all free)

Motorstorm - Chinese New Year Gift
Folklore - Malion Pack

Trailers (all free)

Lost Planet

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Friday, 1 February 2008

US PS Store updates for 31st January

Due to the time difference between the UK and the US, we're often first to the punch when it comes to the European update but always last to announce what is new.

So going forward we're not going to do any announcing.

You'll be able to go straight to the full list of updates at the Official PlayStation Blog from his update each week but here we will just concentrate on our opinion of what was released.

So what do we think?

Nice to get a Conflict: Denied Ops demo. We haven't seen much of this game as of yet so it will be interesting to see if this can compete in a world full of FPS titles.

The Rock Band DLC is always welcome, and we just don't get any of that over here, but otherwise it seems to be a pretty weak update.

The only thing that makes me somewhat jealous are the two Folklore packs. Folklore has been one of the big 'sleeper' hits of 2007 and these two downloadables mark the end of the available DLC for Folklore. I do hope they don't forget to release them in Europe before they stop for good!

I'm hoping for better things next week on both sides of the pond, as this week has been fairly thin in terms of decent releases.

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Thursday, 31 January 2008

European PS Store updates for 31st January

It's that time again - the PS Store is updated and ready to roll.

So what tasty morsels do we find within the pages of the store today? Mostly the US store's sloppy seconds I'm afraid.

As stated on the PS3 Attitude PlayStation 3 Events Calendar, the Devil May Cry 4 demo makes its appearance in Europe today. Of course, you may have already played the Japanese or US versions by now, but it has arrived nevertheless.

We also get the MX vs ATV Untamed demo that appeared in the US all the way back on November 20th!

You do get three nice PS1 games today though, which goes some way to catching up on the massive amount of retro titles available in Japan. The fact that Theme Hospital is available does make up a little for a generally lacklustre update.

Here's the complete (and very short) list:

PS1 Games (for PSP and PS3)

Fade to Black (£3.49)
Motorhead (£3.49)
Theme Hospital (£3.49)

Demos (all free)

Devil May Cry 4
MX vs. ATV Untamed

Trailers (all free)

PixelJunk Monsters

Pretty grim I'm afraid. I wonder what the US store will come up with later today in comparison.

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Monday, 28 January 2008

European PSN sales close to 'double-digit millions'

In a recent interview David Reeves of SCEE has explained how even they are suprised at how well the PSN and PS Store have performed.

“One thing that has surprised us is in the Network purchases and the
general level of interest that has been shown around the Network business”

“We’ve gone from zero to almost double-digit millions in terms of what
people have purchased in euros."


David goes on to explain that there are around two million registered users in Europe who have downloaded approximately 33 million files. Two million is close to 40% of the European user base, which is excellent saturation at this point.

In our opinion this success is in the face of some fairly mediocre updates over the last year in comparison to the US Store. The European store has probably 'won' the weekly battle against the US only twice since March 2007.

What happens when we start to get some of the promised content - and PlayStation Home - can only be speculated on. We'd say that the future certainly looks good though.

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Thursday, 24 January 2008

European PS Store updates for 24th January

A short list of updates today.

Whilst it would have been nice to see the Devil May Cry 4 demo appear in Europe, you can download it right now using a Japanese account and we expect to see it on the US store later today.

What we did get however is Pixeljunk Monsters. If you're not sure whether you'll like this real-time strategy title and you have the aforementioned Japanese account, they have an English language demo in their store right now.

Here's the list:

Games

Pixeljunk Monsters (£3.49)
Judge Dredd - PS1 for PSP/PS3 (£3.49)

Trailers (all free)

CIV Revolution

Themes (all free)

Call of Duty 4

Wallpapers (all free)

Call of Duty 4 (x5)

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Thursday, 10 January 2008

US PS Store updates for 10th January

As far as the US update is concerned, it's a case of catching up with Europe for once.

The Kane & Lynch demo, Super Stardust HD update and Folklore add-ons have all been available in Europe for some time. Having sai that, the US still excels at NFS: Pro Street and Rock Band add-ons.

Here's the full list in handy 'cut-out-and-keep' form*:

PS1 Games

Crash Bandicoot 2 ($5.99)

Demos (all free)

Kane & Lynch
Super Stardust HD (demo plus update; free if owned or $9.99 to buy)

Add-ons

'The Alchemist' - Folklore ($3.99)
'The Origin of Belgae' - Folklore ($3.99)
Bugatti Veyron 16.4 - NFS: Pro Street ($2.99)
McLaren F1 - NFS: Pro Street ($2.99)
Interstate Love Song (Stone Temple Pilots) - Rock Band ($1.99)
Die, All Right! (The Hives) - Rock Band ($1.99)
Number of the Beast (Iron Maiden) - Rock Band ($1.99)

Trailers

Burnout Paradise 'Guns N’ Roses' Trailer

Movie and Blu-Ray Trailers

First Sunday
Spiderwick Chronicles (Trailer 2)

Themes

PAIN (x 2)

*(PS3 Attitude is not responsible for any damage to your screen if you decide to take a pair of scissors to it)

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European PS Store updates for 10th January

Unfortunately no Riff: Everyday Shooter as we might have expected, but we're sure it is just around the corner.

However, if you like PS1 games and add-ons Europe is the place to be.

The Motorstorm track pack we revealed arrived on time and there's a free Folk for you as well.

Here's the list in our handy new 2008 format:

PS1 Games

Hardcore 4x4 (£3.49)
N2O (£3.49)

Add-ons

'Pigly Pack' - Folklore (Free)
Track Pack - Motorstorm (£3.49)

Trailers (all free)

Bionic Commando
PixelJunk Monsters
DMC 4 - TGS 2007 No. 2

Wallpapers (all free)

DMC 4 (4 wallpapers)

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Wednesday, 9 January 2008

[UPDATE] Riff: Everyday Shooter on the EU PS Store tomorrow?

Judging from the two reviews of Riff: Everyday Shooter that have launched today (not sure why they added the 'Riff:' on it's trip over the Atlantic) I'm going to stick my neck out and suggest it is finally going to appear on the UK and EU PS Store.

Maybe tomorrow. Maybe next week. But definitely soon.

In the meantime, you can find out what Videogamer thought of Jonathan Mak's wonderful creation and why Eurogamer think it deserves one point less than them.

Riff: Everyday Shooter will appear soon (probably tomorrow) on our local PS Store, and we expect it to ship for just £4.99.

[UPDATE] It still didn't arrive, but that's OK because we now know when Riff: Everyday Shooter will finally appear...

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Friday, 4 January 2008

PS Store; a quick update

In case you were wondering where our usual European and US PS Store updates went over the last couple of weeks, here's a quick recap.

Last week (27th), Europe did get an update but the US didn't. It was nothing to write home about, since the update contained an upgrade for Super Stardust HD and demos of The Club and Snakeball. You had probably already played Snakeball from the US demo the week before, but now you could go ahead and buy it if you wanted.

The Super Stardust HD upgrade didn't offer much since the multi-player option isn't yet available to buy when you go into the 'in-game store' option.

Then this week (3rd) both Europe and the US did get updates, but again they were a little 'light'. By the way, we're not complaining - we certainly took a long enough break at PS3 Attitude and everyone else is entitled to as well!!

Europe received the DMC 4 trailer that was already available on the US store, plus another add-on pack for Folklore.

The US got some more Guitar Hero III, Rock Band and Need for Speed add-on packs plus an NFL '09 demo and the GT5 Prologue Japanese Launch trailer.

Expectedly light updates over the Christmas period. Normal service looks to be resumed next week, and hopefully it won't be too long before us Europeans get some of the full games the US and/or Japan have enjoyed for so long (Everyday Shooter, PAIN, GT5 Prologue etc.)...

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In the Year of the Rat, will Sony win the race?



It will soon be the Year of the Rat.

In Chinese astrology the Rat is considered a leader and a pioneer. Rats can also be controlling, having their own way whatever the cost. Although Sony were 'born' in 1946 (which makes them a Dog - incidentally the same sign as my good self), you might say there are certain attributes of the Rat that sit well with them.

If you think it is odd to mix Chinese astrology with a Japanese company then bear with us. Although the Japanese celebrate the new year on the 1st January, they send postcards to their family and friends with the relevant animal depicted on the front - harking back to when the lunar calendar and the 12 animal signs were in use throughout Japan.

So what will this year bring, and will Sony win the ratrace against their most fierce of rivals? Just how will the Dog fair against the Rabbit (Microsoft) and the Ox (Nintendo).

Burnout Paradise is our first indication that 2008 is going to be a good one for the PS3. Yes - I know... since it is being released in January it doesn't fall into the Chinese 'lunar year' which starts in February. But since the Japanese start their year in January too, we're going to run with this one!

Then it's the turn of Devil May Cry 4 to hit our screens. There was a time when I was particularly angry with the Sheep (otherwise known as Capcom) for taking DMC to other platforms. But now we've seen it looking particularly spectacular on the PS3 we're not so unhappy. Add to that some exclusive downloadable content and the grass is certainly looking greener on this side of the fence. Maybe we'll hold off on turning Capcom into lamb chops for now.

Haze can't be ignored. Although it is yet another FPS, it is a special one. I don't honestly think that it is going to compare in any way to the Rabbit's best effort (the ever present Halo franchise) but it is truly a much deeper and more involving experience than many of the existing 'shooter' offerings available on the PS3. Call of Duty 4 excepted.

Shortly after you've managed to figure out how to squeeze those three titles into your heavy social calendar, the Tiger of Rockstar will rip your diary apart with the launch of GTA: IV. Once again it is a title that will appear on the Rabbit's platform, but we're not bitter about it. I couldn't care less if it were on every platform - just as long is it rocks our world as much as we think it will!

Around this time in the Year of the Rat, we expect that two amazing innovations will have found their way on to our favourite black monolith. PlayStation Home and LittleBigPlanet.

Home promises to be more than just a 3D lobby, although admittedly the ability to launch you and your newly-made friends into the multiplayer part of any game you own is a great feature. With huge amounts of content promised for launch and throughout the life of Home, plus the 'social networking' abilities available via the web-based portal to your Home space, Home will become many things; a replacement for the XMB, a lobby, a content viewer (both yours and content from Sony and third-parties), a casual games arena, a social networking site, a marketing tool to reach non-PS3 owners, a vanity case of game achievements, a mobile blogging/photo centre and much more.

LittleBigPlanet is surely one of the most anticipated titles of the year with it's innovative mix of gameplay, creation and sharing. If there's one title that is destined to take on the marketing behemoth that is Halo 3, this is it. 'What?', I hear you cry. How can you compare LBP and Halo 3? Think about it.

There's Halo 3 characters, faceplates, headsets, controllers and skins everywhere you look on your favourite retailer's shelves. You can get ringtones, wallpapers and themes for almost any mobile device. If there is one thing I want to see this year it's a Sackboy that I can actually buy, along with fabric pens so I can modify him, just like in the game. And a Sackboy controller. And a Sackboy gift set. Sony should be marketing the crap out of this game. I want to see Sackboy on the shelves of Clinton Cards alongside that ever-present blue-nosed teddy bear. You get the idea.

As the year progresses, we'll be hit with another massive title that is definitely staying on the PS3 only. Metal Gear Solid 4 will arrive. Every indication is that this final chapter in the story of Snake will be monumental in every way. The recent previews we've seen show the game to be something really special and the ending is promising to be as epic as you would expect. Once again you're going to have to figure out how to balance still playing GTA and LBP when this one hits. Who said gaming was easy!

Although Europe will see GT5 Prologue early in the year (February we reckon), there's a good chance the full Gran Turismo 5 experience will hit our shelves in the Year of the Rat. Promising a huge amount of detail, cars, tracks and content, along with realistic damage (hooray!), real-time weather simulation, GT-TV content, My Garage homepages/social networking and - most importantly - the Top Gear Test Track, GT5 will give us petrol-heads something to really get our teeth into once we've completed everything Burnout Paradise can offer.

Finally, we'll be sinking our teeth into the Hellghast scum once again as Killzone 2 comes to the PS3. Whether or not the screenshots you have seen are 'doctored' or not, it doesn't really matter. The fact is that this game is one hell of an FPS. Incredible graphics, amazing character animation, deep storyline, real atmosphere and pixel-perfect shooting mean that this one title may just blow your mind as well as your wallet. Another PS3 exclusive, I predict Killzone 2 will be the biggest selling of them all, which is a risky bet given the massive appeal of the games we've detailed above.

Honourable mentions go to the other games that will hit this year in retail and PS Store form; Tekken 6, SOCOM: Confrontation, Madden 09, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, Everyday Shooter and Wipeout HD to name but a few. And we've ignored the possible release of those other exclusives - Final Fantasy XIII and Final Fantasy Versus XIII - because we just don't believe they'll make it onto shelves this year.

And don't forget the additional hardware and PSP interactivity that is due. Soon you'll be able to buy PlayTV in Europe and add a twin-tuner Freeview PVR to the list of incredible things you can do with a PS3, and view live TV or your recorded programmes via Remote Play. There's so much more to come from the PS3 this year and much of it will be delivered, free of charge, via firmware updates and the PS Store.

Simply put, the Year of the Rat will be the best one yet for Sony. The Dog can learn new tricks, it seems.

Check out the gallery below for various screenshots and wallpapers...

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Friday, 21 December 2007

US PS Store updates for 20th December

Many of the updates in the US Store mirror what we received in Europe, which is a step in the right direction. And the US finally get some PS Eye love to spread around as well.

Snakeball is one of the titles available in the US that we don't have, and there's a Blacksite: Area 51 demo and a special GH III track too, but otherwise the updates are fairly comparable.

If you own a US account you'll enjoy all the free video, theme and wallpaper content too. I haven't tested whether the High Stakes: Poker Edition add-ons will work with the EU version of the game, but since I only play No Limit Texas Hold'em anyway I'm not too bothered!

Here's the full list:

Games
Toy Home ($9.99)
Snakeball ($9.49; download the free demo, and then purchase in-game)
Trials of Topoq - PS Eye ($4.99)
Mesmerize (Distort) - PS Eye ($1.99)
Warhawk - PS1 game ($5.99)

Demos
Snakeball (Free)
Blacksite: Area 51 (Free)

Add-ons
Guitar Heroes III - Holiday track pack - "We Three Kings" (Free)
MotorStorm - Holiday Paint Job (Free)
Warhawk - Operation Omega Dawn ($7.99)
Folklore - Holiday Pack (Free)
2 x High Stakes: Poker Edition add-ons (extra game modes) (Free)
Rock Band - track packs - "Buddy Holly", "Brass in Pocket" and "My Iron Lung" ($1.99 each)

Videos (all free)
GT 5 Prologue
DMC4 final
Warhawk Omega Dawn
PS3 'Only On'
PS3 Universe of Entertainment
Tony Hawk's Proving Grounds - Mike V's Skater Story
Turok Dino Mauling
PSP Feature
Uncharted Animation - behind the scenes

Wallpapers (all free)
High Stakes: Poker Edition

Themes (all free)
Warhawk
PAIN Cookie
PAIN Santa

Movie Trailers (all free)
Strange Wilderness
Shakira 'Oral Fixation' Tour (Blu-ray)

Another great update.

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European PS Store updates for 20th December

The final update before Christmas, and both SCEE and SCEA are spreading the cheer around.

In this update, you'll find two complete games (including one classic), a demo, some free GH III goodness, a Christmas present for Motorstorm and a stack of wallpapers and themes.

The 'classic' I speak of? Populous makes it's way on to the PS3. I used to play this game to destruction on my Amiga 500 so this is sure to bring back loads of great memories.

Here's the full list:

Games
Toy Home (£4.99)
Populous: The Beginning (£3.49)

Demos
Timeshift MP Demo (Free)

Add-ons
Guitar Heroes III - Boss battle track pack (Free)
MotorStorm Holiday Paint Job (Free)
Warhawk - Operation Omega Dawn (£3.99)

Videos (all free)
DMC4 TGS
Sega Rally - Canyon
Sega Raly - Arctic
Kane & Lynch Fragile Alliance - Walk in the Park Trailer
Kane & Lynch TV AD
Kane & Lynch: Dead Men - Fragile Alliance & Co-op
Kane & Lynch: Dead Men - Insider Video 1
Kane & Lynch: Dead Men - Insider Video 2
MGS4 TGS 2007 Trailer
Assassin’s Creed TV Spot
Sky Diving
GTA IV Trailer 3 Move up ladies

Wallpapers (all free)
High Stakes on the vegas strip: Poker
Uncharted Forum Prize Winner
Pain - Jervis Bowler
Pain - Jervis Rapper
Pain - Jervis Vs Cow
Pain - Wallmime

Themes (all free)
Retro
Nature
Manga
Pixels

Movie Trailer (all free)
CJ7

A great update to take us into the Holidays.

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Friday, 14 December 2007

US PS Store updates for 13th December

A good update for the US but, for the third time ever, the European update is actually better.

We got three demos, two games and a bunch of add-ons, which competes well against one demo, no games and a bunch of add-ons. In other words, we see your update and raise you.

The only thing that doesn't add up is the Need for Speed unlockables. You can work through career mode in the game to earn all of these. But also, game saves have been available on the internet for PS3 titles without any cost or toil needed. Why would you spend money unlocking everything when you can download it, or play it, for free to get the same content? Weird.

Here's the full list:

  • 2 x new characters - High Velocity Bowling add-on ($0.99 each)
  • Burnout Paradise - demo (free)
  • Punk Pack 1 - Rock Band track pack ($5.49 - "I Fought the Law", "Rockaway Beach" and "Ever Fallen in Love" available separately at $1.99 each)
  • Ultimate Performance Bundle - NFS: Pro Street unlockable ($9.99)
  • Muscle Car Bundle - NFS: Pro Street unlockable ($4.99)
  • Tuner Car Bundle - NFS: Pro Street unlockable ($4.99)
  • Sport Car Bundle - NFS: Pro Street unlockable ($4.99)
  • Lamborghini Murcielago LP640 - NFS: Pro Street unlockable ($2.99)
  • Pagani Zonda F - NFS: Pro Street unlockable ($2.99)
  • Nissan GT-R - NFS: Pro Street unlockable ($2.99)
  • GT Awards at SEMA - video (free)
  • "Stunt Run" - Burnout Paradise trailer (free)
  • Tony Hawk's Pro Skater - trailer (free)
  • Ratchet & Clank - behind the scenes video (free)
  • Untraceable - movie trailer (free)
  • Cloverfield - movie trailer (free)

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Tuesday, 11 December 2007

European PS Store 'missing PerSoNs'


For whatever reason, the European PS Store has not had the best time of things when you compare it against the offerings available to the US and Japan.
Heck, even our Australian friends get some extra content we don't see in the form of HD music videos from Sony BMG.

So here's a list of the key titles we have yet to see over here. SCEE - if you're reading this, please figure out how to make these titles possible in Europe:

  • PAIN
  • Guitar Hero III track packs
  • Rock Band track packs
  • Oblivion Shivering Isles add-on
  • High Velocity Bowling
  • flOw expansion
  • Everyday Shooter
Since it is out in two days, I was tempted to add GT5 Prologue to the list. However, we already know that the game is supposed to be available in the US next February. It would be good to see this hit Europe on the same day, and not weeks later.

So, are we missing anything else of note?

Other than games and key add-on packs, the US Store has a breadth of additional content such as wallpapers that we never seem to get here. And as mentioned, wouldn't it be great if we all could get music videos from local artists and not just on the store 'down under'.

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Friday, 7 December 2007

US PS Store updates for 6th December

Wow. What a difference a region makes.

Fipping over to the US store is like a revelation some days. There's new games to play (PS3 and PS1), new add-ons to buy and even a multiplayer demo. If you couldn't watch the GTA: IV trailer due to internet meltdown yesterday, they've even put that up for you.

I didn't realise that by living in Europe I'd be missing out on so much. Maybe I should move to the States.

Here's the list for all you lucky US PS3 owners:

  • High Velocity Bowling - game ($9.99)
  • Wild Arms - PS1 game ($5.99)
  • GTA IV "Move up, ladies" - trailer (free)
  • Timeshift Multiplayer - demo (free)
  • "Falfer Domino" - Motorstorm add-on ($0.99)
  • Folklore - add-on 1 ($3.99)
  • Folklore - add-on 2 ($3.99)
  • Folklore - add-on bundle 1 ($5.99)
  • Rock Band "Black Sabbath" - pack 1 ($5.49) (Also available, the individual tracks "N.I.B", "Sweet Leaf" and "War Pigs" - all at $1.99)
  • Metal Gear Solid 4 TGS 2007 - trailer (free)
  • Uncharted "Environments" - video (free)
  • Timeshift "FPS Video 3" - video (free)
  • Turok interview - trailer 1 (free)
  • Battlefield "Frostbite" - video (free)
  • The Legend of Zorro - Blu-Ray trailer (free)
  • Uncharted - theme (free)
  • Ratchet & Clank - theme (free)

Enjoy your update US of A... we're jealous. Here - we'll let you download the Kane & Lynch demo you didn't get in case it helps redress the balance. It doesn't, but we can pretend it makes a difference...

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European PS Store updates for 6th December

Disappointed.

That's one word to describe this week's European PS Store update.

No Guitar Hero III packs yet, despite them being available in the US.
No Everyday Shooter yet, despite being available almost everywhere else.

What do we get in their place. Themes.

Now whilst we all like customising our PS3 experience, I personally wouldn't mind playing some games instead. I'm not falling in with the 'PS3 has no games' crowd - especially after all the brilliant titles I've bought on Blu-ray lately. It just would have been nice to download some additional content and play something fresh like John Mak's great game. Especially after the US have had all this great stuff for so long now.

We did get some more Motorstorm and Folklore updates, but even they can't brighten my day.

So, here's the list of things you can grab from the Euro Store right now:

  • Kane & Lynch - demo (free)
  • "Domino & Adventure" - Motorstorm vehicle pack (£1.49)
  • "The Origin of Belae" - Folklore add-on pack (£1.49)
  • Blazing Angels 2 Multiplayer - trailer (free)
  • Mesmerize - theme (free)
  • Tori Emaki - theme (free)
  • Heavenly Sword - theme (free)
  • Snakeball - theme (free)
  • Lemmings - theme (free)
  • Killzone 2 - theme (free)
  • Singstar - theme (free)

Remember, if you want lots of great themes that you can download directly from your PS3, click the link in the left sidebar to visit PS3-Themes.com

I'm off to log in to the US Store where, as you'll read in a moment, they faired rather better. What a surprise.

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Friday, 30 November 2007

US PS Store updates for November 29th

The US store received it's weekly update and, as is usual, they faired slightly better than Europe.

Those two weeks where Europe had better updates than the US were just a blip then. Normal business has been resumed.

There's a couple of things to get excited about if you're a US user - PAIN and the Shivering Isles add-on for Oblivion. At one time Bethesda said that the expansion pack would only come on disk, so it is nice to see it appear on the PSN for those of us who shirk exercise.

And while we get zero GH III song packs, the US are in full swing and receive their third. Nice.

Here's the full list:

  • PAIN - full game ($9.99)
  • "Bracknell/Axbridge" - Resistance: Fall of Man map-pack ($4.99)
  • Motorstorm - vehicles and skins pack ($1.99)
  • Guitar Hero III "Boss Battles" - song pack (free)
  • "The Shivering Isles" - Oblivion expansion pack ($29.99)
  • "David Bowie" - Rock Band song pack ($5.49) (also, "Heroes", "Moonage Daydream" and "Queen Bitch" available seperately at $1.99)
  • Ratchet and Clank "Weapons" - video (free)
  • Timeshift - video (free)
  • Stop Loss - movie trailer (free)
  • Resident Evil: Extinction - Blu-Ray movie trailer (free)
  • Memoirs of a Geisha - Blu-Ray movie trailer (free)
  • Aquatopia - wallpaper (free; known as 'Aqua Vita' in Europe)
  • PAIN - 6 wallpapers (free)
  • Resistance - 5 wallpapers (free)
I do hope Europe get PAIN, some GH III song packs and the Oblivion update next week, or I'll have to take things into my own hands. Now, where did I last put my balaclava?

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Thursday, 29 November 2007

European PS Store updates for 29th November

"It's the most wonderful time, of the week"...

Once again the Store has been updated with a bunch of goodies. But it's not what is there that worries me this week - it's what is missing.

Whilst we expect PAIN will arrive on the US Store today, Europe only gets the trailer for PAIN. And in the US they received the first Guitar Hero III expansions a week after the game's release. We, on the other hand, get nothing.

What is good about this week's update is the addition of the new Resistance maps and two addition skin packs for Motorstorm vehicles.

Otherwise if you're a fan of PS1 titles or you don't subscribe to the PS3 Attitude YouTube channel, you might find something else in today's update that will amuse you...

Here's the list:

  • Destruction Derby - PS1 game (£3.49)
  • Kula World - PS1 game (£3.49)
  • Timeshift - demo (free)
  • "Crazy Samurai and Quick Foot" - Motorstorm add-on pack (£1.99)
  • "Bracknell/Axbridge" - Resistance: Fall of Man map pack (£2.99)
  • Sonic The Hedgehog - add-on packs (six in total; £1.99 each)
  • Uncharted "Making the Game" - video (free)
  • Blazing Angels 2 "Racing" - trailer (free)
  • PAIN - trailer (free)
  • WWE 2008 - trailer (free)
  • Assassin's Creed "Altair was here" - trailer (free)
  • Bee Movie - movie trailer (free)
  • PS3 "Blu-Ray" - advert (free)
  • PS3 "Gaming" - advert (free)
  • PS3 "Evolving Entertainment" - advert (free)
  • PS3 "Faster Processing" - advert (free)
  • PS3 adverts "Making of" documentary (free)

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Friday, 23 November 2007

European PS Store updates for November 23

Another week, another update. It's great that SCEE continues to update the store every week and if you don't have a US account, this is a great week for you.

Not only do you get the Uncharted and Blazing Angels 2 demos but there's a PS1 game and some additional content for both Folklore and Motorstorm. In addition there's a bunch of trailers and some wallpapers (at last).

If you do have a US account you've already seen or played pretty much everything here. And that's the big issue with the store in general. If we could get to the point of simultaneous worldwide release of major content and keep the peripheral stuff local then people would be much happier.

Anyhow - here's the list:

  • G-Police - PS1 game (£3.49)
  • Uncharted - demo (free)
  • Blazing Angels 2 - demo (free)
  • "Rascal & Governer" - Motorstorm add-on pack (£1.49)
  • "The Alchemist Pack" - Folklore add-on pack (£1.49)
  • Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection - wallpapers (free)
  • Ratchet & Clank - trailer (free)
  • Motorstorm "Devil's Weekend" - trailer (free)
  • Uncharted "Lifelike Facial Animation" - trailer (free)
  • Uncharted "Hunting El Dorado" - trailer (free)
  • PSN Showcase - trailer (free)
  • Blazing Angels 2 - trailers (free)
  • Battlefield: Bad Company - trailer (free)
  • Beowulf: The Game - trailer (free)

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Wednesday, 21 November 2007

PC PS Store launches; manage your account via the web


Sony have launched a PC based PlayStation Store primarily for PSP owners so they can download demos, games, PS1 titles, videos and all the other content you'd expect without the need for the PS3.

This store links with your current PS3 Store account which means you can log in using the email address and password you use for your Master Account. You can then click on 'Account Management' and access your full details.

This means you can administer your wallet preferences, add funds and generally make sure everything is ok with your account via your PC.

You can also gain access to your download list any time in case you need to audit your PS Store purchases. It will list all purchases across platforms but you can, of course, only download PS3 content via the black monolith. PSP downloads you've paid for can be re-downloaded to the same PSP any time.

I've tried the Store out and found that initially it was not obvious you had to download an extra application in order to follow any of the links. You'll find the application you need in the 'instructions' area. Silly me - when do I ever read any instructions?!

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Friday, 16 November 2007

European and US PS Store updates for November 15th

Due to various issues, PS3 Attitude has been a little quite over the last few days.

Since our friends at PS3 Fanboy do such a brilliant job of detailing the European and US store updates the best thing we could do right now is point you over there to get the latest news.

European Updates
US Updates

Normal service will be resumed soon.

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Friday, 9 November 2007

US PS Store update for 8th November

It was a big day in the US. After so many weeks of waiting, the Uncharted: Drake's Fortune demo finally hit the Store.

So everyone with a US account headed over to download the massive 1.2Gb file only to discover that if you were outside the US and Canada there was a little surprise waiting for you.

That doesn't take away from the awesome update given to the US Store. After two weeks of having better updates than the US, it seems the norm has been restored for the EU PSN.

Here's the full list of what is available:

Uncharted: Drake's Fortune - demo (free; doesn't yet work outside of US and Canada - fix coming apparently)
College Hoops 2K8 - demo (free)
Motorstorm "Devil's Weekend" pack - add-on ($5.99)
Guitar Hero III "Velvet Revolver" pack - add-on($6.25)
Guitar Hero III "Foo Fighters" pack - add-on ($6.25)
Pink, Nature and Pixel - PS3 Themes (free)
Devil May Cry 4 Tokyo Game Show - trailer (free)
Motorstorm "Devil's Weekend" - trailer (free)
Ratchet and Clank launch - trailer (free)
WWE Smackdown vs RAW - trailer (free)
Burnout "Carson GT" - trailer (free)
Burnout "Manhatten" - trailer (free)
One Missed Call - movie trailer (free)
Sweeney Todd - movie trailer (free)
Hostel Part II - Blu-Ray movie trailer (free)
Call of Duty 4 - wallpapers (free)

Given we don't have Guitar Hero III in the UK yet, that doesn't bother me. It would have been nice to be playing the Uncharted demo but since Ratchet & Clank and Call of Duty 4 are released in the UK today, I think I'll be busy anyway.

In addition, the US got the Motorstorm v3.0 patch today as well. Launch Motorstorm's online mode to get it before you go downloading any of the add-ons.

What does still concern me is that content which clearly works everywhere, such as wallpapers, the new PS3 themes and trailers - for example - still arrive on separate stores at separate times (or sometimes not at all). I mean, what mad licensing issues have Sony created for themselves where they can't distribute a bunch of Call of Duty wallpapers worldwide?

If SCEE or SCEA are listening, would you care to explain?

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European PS Store updates for 8th November

Another week, another store update. Will it be 'EU > US' three weeks in a row? No. But still a reasonable update anyhow.

If you're wondering why the US won again, it'll be down to a certain adventure title that just got it's demo début in the States.

Not that I'm complaining about the EU update. Have a look for yourself:

  • Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection Online - full game (£14.99)
  • Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection Online Upgrade - full game upgrade (£3.49)
  • Cool Boarders - PS1 game (£3.49)
  • NFS: PROSTREET - demo (free)
  • Folklore "Bottom of the sea" pack - add-on (£1.49)
  • Motorstorm "Devil's Weekend" pack - add-on (£3.99)
  • Uncharted "Animation Overview" - trailer (free)
  • PSP Shapes Your World - trailer (free)
A pretty good result I'd say. Highlights for us are the Tekken 5 Online upgrade/game finally, another PS1 title and two great add-ons.

The Motorstorm Devil's Weekend pack includes a new track, nine new races and five new vehicles. The Folklore add-on further extends the game, adds new folks to capture and has a new look for Keats.

The PSP Shapes Your World video is the same brilliant stop-motion piece we featured back in July, but it's great to see it in hi-def.

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[UPDATE] Uncharted: Drake's Fortune demo region locked; latest news

You'll have heard by now that the demo for Uncharted: Drake's Fortune on the US PS Store will only work in North America and Canada. If you've downloaded it for use on a PAL machine, for example, you may be faced with a black screen or a message asking you to insert a disk.

Was it deliberate? Was it a bug? Who knows. What's important is that PS3 owners in their droves headed over to the Official PlayStation Blog and voiced their concerns. Some of them even used ASCII pictures to illustrate their point!

No whilst the initial reaction from SCEA was 'sorry it has happened and you'll all get a localised version of the demo soon', they soon realised the furore that was building and - to be fair to them - have moved fast to change things around.

In a comment post at the PS blog, Sam Thompson says:

Hi guys and gals,

We hear you loud and clear. Wanted to chime in here and let you know that we have shared your frustration with the Naughty Dog team and we are going to see what we can do. I will be back tomorrow with an update, but in the meantime I hope you can be patient and bear with us. As you have learned through communicating with Evan and Amy on the blog, Naughty Dog is a studio that listens to gamers, so I hope to have good news for you soon.

So expect a new version of the demo, or maybe a patch for the existing one, soon. Will the patch come out before the demo is localised and released on our PS Store anyway? Again, who knows.

But since we're the voice of reason here at PS3 Attitude, we just wanted to ask everyone to chill out a little.

SCEA made a mistake. They realised it was a mistake. They're fixing the problem.

What? You never made a mistake in your lives, all you 'blue tongued' commenters? You're all perfect are you and you've never messed up once?

There's no problem with everyone heading over to the blog to say 'no fair Sony', but please could everyone keep it civil and explain in constructive terms why it was a bad idea, rather than just throwing your toys out of the pram. Remember that it could be worse - you could be paying a monthly subscription for all this!

[UPDATE]Christophe Balestra has added a post on the Official PlayStation Blog that apologises for the 'honest mistake'. The good news - the demo is now fixed. You will need to re-download it from the US store, but it should all be fine and dandy now.

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Friday, 2 November 2007

US PS Store updates for November 1st

The US Store also saw it's usual update and given the US hasn't been granted any of the PS Eye titles yet (save EyeCreate of course), I feel this is the second week in a row where the EU update is actually better than the US one. Which is remarkable, given what we've had to go through to this point.

Here's the list of available goodness:

  • Timeshift - demo (free)
  • Need For Speed Pro Street - demo (free)
  • Twisted Metal 2 - PS1 game ($5.99)
  • The Godfather: Don's Edition - add-on content (various costs)
  • Uncharted "Massive Attack" - trailer (free; and awesome)
  • Burnout "Annihilator" - trailer (free)
  • Burnout "Hawker" - trailer (free)
  • Burnout "Roadster" - trailer (free)
  • Beowulf - trailer (free)
  • NF5 Pro Street - TV ad (free)
  • GT5 Prologue TGS - trailer (free)
  • PS Eye - trailer (free)
  • The Bucket List - movie trailer (free)
  • Close Encounters of the Third Kind Anniversary - trailer (free)

Haven't had time to try the demos yet, but I have to say the Burnout and Uncharted trailers are stunning. Uncharted particularly looks outstanding in this trailer.

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European PS Store updates for November 1st

"Two weeks in a row" I hear you cry. "Two weeks in a row and the EU store gets some great content".

Keep this up SCEE and we'll let you have the puppy back. He's safe - don't worry - apart from that one hair we sent you.

Here's the full list of updates for the store:

  • Tori Emaki - PS Eye game (£1.99)
  • Mesmerize - PS Eye game (£1.99)
  • Feel Ski - full game (£4.99)
  • Juiced 2: HIN - demo (free)
  • Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 - demo (free)
  • Motorstorm Revenge Weekend - trailer (free)
  • PS Eye - trailer (free)
  • Lair "Call of the Beast" - trailer (free)
  • Uncharted "Introducing Naughty Dog" - trailer (free)
  • Uncharted "The Characters and Music" -trailer (free)
  • Uncharted - wallpaper (free)
  • Eye of Judgment "How to Play" - trailer (free)
  • Alien Vs Predator Requiem -movie trailer (free)
  • Hitman - movie trailer (free)
I have to say that both the PS Eye titles are strangely captivating. Along with Aqua Vita, they strike me as the kind of 'interactive art' that people have been talking about having in their homes for years. Put one on - get a book out - have a read to the sound of your virtual Japanese painting. Nice.

And Feel Ski is remarkably good fun, especially the online mode. A steal at less than a fiver, if you ask me. I bought two double espresso's in London yesterday and it cost me more than that.

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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...

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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?

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Friday, 19 October 2007

US PS Store updates for 18th October

As per usual, the US store got an update that trumps our EU store. Here's the list of available items:

  • Calling All Cars! - Game (re-issued at a new price of $4.99 until October 25th)
  • Folklore - Demo
  • Juiced 2 - Demo
  • Devil May Cry 4 TGS - Video
  • Turok "Dino Luring" - Video
  • Uncharted "Tech Dive" - Video
  • Burnout Paradise "Street Wheels" - Video
  • Rail & Ties - Movie Trailer
  • Incubus Alive at Red Rocks - Blu-Ray Movie Trailer
  • Underworld - Blu-Ray Movie Trailer
  • Eye of Judgment - Wallpapers

Although I'm personally not too excited at Juiced 2, I'm sure a lot of you will enjoy the demo.

Since I gave yesterday's EU store a grade, let's do it again: I give the US update a B (going in the right direction).

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Thursday, 18 October 2007

European PS Store updates for 18th October

It's that time of the week again - here's what's new at the EU PS Store:

  • CTR: Crash Team Racing - PS1 Game
  • Everybody's Golf 2 - PS1 Game
  • Syphon Filter 3 - PS1 Game
  • Dynasty Warriors: Gundam - Demo
  • Uncharted: Drake's Fortune; The Inspiration - Video
  • Alien Versus Predator - Blu-Ray Movie Trailer
  • Lair 'Good Dragon' - Wallpaper
  • Lair 'Bad Dragon' - Wallpaper

You can keep throwing Uncharted stuff at me - I'm lapping it up. It's certainly one of the games I'm most looking forward to. As far as the rest of the update is concerned, it's nice to see some PS1 games appear, but the rest of the Store is a little uninspiring.

And putting AvP on Blu-Ray isn't going to make that movie any better. Or even remotely good.

I'll give this week's update a C+ grade - 'Could do better'.

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Thursday, 11 October 2007

US PS Store updates for 11th October

The jewel in the PS Store update crown goes to the US. Putting us into complete shade once more our friends across the pond have just received a veritable smorgasbord of PlayStation joy:

  • Everyday Shooter Full Game ($9.99)
  • Ratchet & Clank Demo (as predicted)
  • Conan Demo
  • NHL 2K8 Demo
  • Folklore Launch Trailer
  • Uncharted BTS Part 2 Video
  • Fallout 3 Trailer
  • Walk Hard Movie Trailer
  • The Assassination of Jesse James Movie Trailer
  • Spiderwick Chronicles Trailer

There may be some wallpapers thrown in there too, but I'd already lost the will to find more content by then given the state of the EU Store update.

So if you're in the US, or if you have a US account, enjoy playing one of the standout games that I'm sure is going to sell PS3's everywhere - welcome back Ratchet & Clank; we missed you.

And let's not forget the psychedelic Everyday Shooter. If you can't remember what it looks like, take a trip back in history to when we featured the video in July.

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European PS Store updates for 11th October

Well, the Ratchet and Clank demo didn't hit the EU Store today but that doesn't mean it won't hit the US Store.

What did we get? A mix of demos and wallpapers that were already released to the US and that many of us already played through our US accounts. Here's the full list:

  • Pixel Junk Racers Trailer (many have already played the demo)
  • Fallout 3 Trailer
  • Tiger Woods 08 Demo
  • The Simpsons Demo
  • Pixel Junk Racers Wallpapers
  • Lair Wallpapers
  • Folklore Booktease (it's just a wallpaper)
  • Men of Honor BD movie trailer
  • Planet of the Apes BD movie trailer

Not exactly an inspiring collection of updates. Let's hope the R&C demo arrives later today or tomorrow on the US account.

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Thursday, 4 October 2007

US PS Store updates for 4th October

So, what did the US get that we didn't this week?

Here's the list of US PS Store releases, although as of writing this they haven't appeared on the network:

  • Go! Sports Ski Game ($2.99)
  • The Simpsons Demo
  • Bladestorm: The Hundred Years War Demo
  • NBA 08 and Eye of Judgment Video Tutorials
  • Uncharted Behind the Scenes Video
  • Haze developer interview Video
  • Tekkonkinkreet Movie Trailer
  • Surf's Up Movie Trailer

The Go! Sports Ski game is remarkably cheap. I thought LocoRoco Cocoreccho was cheap when it came out in the UK, but $2.99 (£1.46 or so) is amazing. Even if they swap the Dollar sign for a Pound sign when it hits Europe it'll still be good value.

Enjoy!

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European PS Store updates for 4th October

The EU PS Store has been updated and includes the following:

  • SKATE. Demo
  • Bladestorm Download Demo
  • Stuntman:Ignition Demo
  • Jericho Demo
  • Snakeball Trailer
  • HAZE Gameplay Trailer
  • GRAW 2 Trailers (four of them)
  • Blast Factor Wallpapers
  • flOw Wallpaper
It's good to see a number of demos appearing on the EU Store for once. I appreciate not everyone has a US or JP account, but for those of us that have we already splayed Skate, Bladestorm, Stuntman and Jericho. We also already had the wallpapers.

So, four GRAW 2 trailers (well, instructional videos really) and a Haze gameplay video are all that's new if you're a multi-region account user. Still, it's a step in the right direction and if SCEE can keep things moving at this pace we might get a weekly Store update that's somewhere close to the US soon.

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Thursday, 27 September 2007

Jericho demo now arriving on October 4th

After the joyous news that the Jericho demo had been confirmed for this week, a press release from Codemasters now says:

In Europe and PAL territories, the demo will be available for the Playstation 3 computer entertainment system on October 4th.


The demo is already available on Xbox Live and at the Codemasters website for PC download. It's only an extra week to wait, but this doesn't really help the whole 'PSN vs. XBL' issue much, does it?

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Thursday, 20 September 2007

European PS Store updates for 20th September


The Euro PS Store has been updated again and includes the following:

  • MediEvil - PS1 game for the PSP and PS3 - £3.49
  • Syphon Filter - PS1 game for the PSP and PS3 - £3.49
  • LocoRoco Cocoreccho! - PS3 'interactive screensaver' and game - £1.99
  • Jericho Trailer - Free

I'll be downloading LocoRoco in the next few minutes and will put up my views later. I was a huge fan of the original PSP title, so I'm keen to see what is hype and what is true about this particular title.

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Thursday, 13 September 2007

Expect Locoroco Cocoreccho! on your PS3 next week


According to our friends at PS3Fanboy, Locoroco Cocoreccho! will hit the European PS Store next week. And here's the great bit - it's expected to be only £1.99 in the UK.

Now everyone knows by now that after we revealed the first footage and we revealed that SCEE were referring to it as an 'interactive screensaver' that this particular title has been a bit of a PS3 Attitude favourite.

Why?

Because of all the titles I have on my PSP, Locoroco remains the one title that can always remove the stresses of the day and put a big smile on my face.

I do hope there is enough in this title to make it still feel like Locoroco 2, although I'm still a little nervous about the gameplay. I guess we'll have to wait and see what happens when it hits the Store next week.

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Tuesday, 11 September 2007

GT5 Prologue is priced; it's not free, but it's not bad

At the same SCEE Benelux event, it looks like GT5 Prologue has got a price.

Despite rumours saying it could have been free, GT5 Prologue is looking like it's going to weigh in at around 40 Euros, which is £27 (so probably £29.95) or $54.

SCEE are keen to ensure everyone knows this is a full game, like Warhawk. With 40 cars and 5 tracks to choose from (plus I expect they will double up by offering reverse tracks) it sure seems like a full release.

Since GT5 Prologue is a nice stopgap whilst we wait for the full GT5 release, having a price point that's almost halfway between 'free' and 'full price' seems fair to me.

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European PS Store release dates

Dutch website PS3only.nl have stumbled across a number of European PS Store release dates, apparently given out at a recent Benelux region press event.

Here's what they discovered:

LocoRoco Cocoreccho!: 20th September
Feel Ski: 4th October
Toy Home: 11th October

They also list Pixel Junk Racers and Snake Ball as coming in October; WipEout HD, High Velocity Bowling and Everyday Shooter coming this November; Elefunk, Pain and GT5 Prologue hitting the Store by this December.

Down for 'quarter 3' releases are Operation Creature Feature, Trials of Topaq, Aqua Vita and Eye Create. Since theses titles are all tied in to the PlayStation Eye release, I'm guessing that they mean 'Sony Fiscal Year Quarter 3'and not the actual third quarter of the year, so expect these before Christmas.

This also makes sense as they list Echochrome as 'Quarter 4', which would mean between January and March 2008.

PlayStation Home is listed as 'middle of Autumn' and Little Big Planet doesn't yet have a release date.

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Friday, 17 August 2007

UK Warhawk pricing announced; looks fair



The forthcoming PS3 exclusive, Warhawk, is set to come to both the PS Store and your favourite high-street store this month.

Until now we only knew the US pricing, but UK pricing has now been revealed and I have to say I'm happy about it.

Warhawk will be £19.99 for the download version and £39.99 for the Blu-ray package (although GAME are listing it at under £35). The retail package will ship with a bluetooth headset in the price.

Since this is virtually a straight conversion between dollars and pounds (the US download is $40; £20.16 using today's rate) we're happy that on this title at least, the UK isn't being ripped off.

Personally, I'll be going for the download version. Bluetooth headsets don't work so well for multiplayer gaming in comparison to USB headsets. I'll stick with my wired device and go for the instant gratification of grabbing my copy from the PSN on the 28th August or thereabouts.

For your information, the retail version still shows a 14th September release date at the moment - we'll see what happens if and when the PSN version hits the Store this month.

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Thursday, 16 August 2007

Euro PSN updates for 16th August

"What exciting joyous morsels are we receiving on the Euro PS Store today" I hear you cry...

None.

Well, certainly not any exciting or joyous updates.

We are getting the Armoured Core 4 demo you probably already downloaded and played form the US Store weeks ago.

We are getting some more Heavenly Sword backgrounder movies which you've almost certainly already seen on YouTube.

Other than that - nothing.

No Ratchet & Clank demo again, even though we know it's finished and ready to roll. No additional games. No movie trailers.

Considering the Chairman of Sony is a Brit (and a Knight, to boot), why do you think we Europeans get the short end of the PS Store content stick and pay higher prices for our PS3 hardware than anywhere else in the world?

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Wednesday, 15 August 2007

Fatal Inertia demo now not coming this week

You know, when you get dozens of news tips a day from your friends, colleagues and partners from all over the world, sometimes you make a mistake.

And this is one of those times.

Yes, we should have sought out the original press release and not gone on the N4G news link.

Yes we should have spotted that the supposed release date wasn't 'on a Thursday' and so it was unlikely to be true

Nevertheless, the Fatal Inertia demo isn't coming to the Euro PS Store this week as we reported. Koei have themselves have come out and said it is not going to be available on the PS3, so it must be true!

Maybe Sony could release the now-ready-and-has-been-for-some-time Ratchet & Clank demo instead... please!

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Monday, 13 August 2007

Play Fatal Inertia tomorrow via the PS Store; destroys 'delay' rumours


As well as forthcoming Euro demos of Bladestorm (which you may have downloaded via the Japanese store) and Dynasty Warriors: Gundam (which you may have downloaded via the US store), we're going to get a demo of Fatal Inertia on the Euro store tomorrow.

This trio of Koei demos proves that not every single Koei game relies heavily on mashing the 'square' button until the current wave of 3,000 enemies have been vanquished. No. In fact, only 90% of Koei games rely on that particular technique!

Fatal Inertia is a futuristic 'hover car' game in the mould of Wipeout. Download it tomorrow and see for yourself what it's all about.

As a sidenote, the fact that the demo is available tomorrow does knock out all those 'Unreal Engine' related issues that seemed for such a long time to be holding up the PS3 version of Koei's racing game. In fact, this PS3 demo comes only a few days after the Xbox 360 version hit their Marketplace...

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Thursday, 9 August 2007

Euro PSN updates for today

You should see the following new items in the PSN for Europe today:

  • Gran Turismo PS Premiere Event Trailer (free)
  • Heavenly Sword Legend of the Sword video (free)
  • Heavenly Sword Making of video (free)
  • Ghost Rider movie trailer (free)
  • The Covenant movie trailer (free)

Again, we're starting to slip back into some fairly pointless updates. Most of this stuff can already be found playing on PS3s via YouTube...

Where's the demo of Ratchet & Clank we announced? Where's the puzzler launched on US stores (Piyotama - which was already in Japan two months earlier).

Sony still have a way to go to keep Euro customers happy and, even better than that, align releases so that we can all just have one login and we all get everything at the same time. Some dream, huh?

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Thursday, 2 August 2007

European PS Store releases this week

In this week's European PlayStation Store update you should find the following titles:

Demo:
- Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2

Trailer:
- Lair
- Juiced 2: Hot Import Nights

There will be no PS1 games released though, probably after all the issues they had with the three that were released last week and then pulled.

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Monday, 30 July 2007

Another great demo on the way; GRAW 2


We're getting spoilt for choice when it comes to forthcoming PS3 titles.

The 'Community Manager' (whatever that is) at SCEE has revealed that we'll be getting a demo of Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 (GRAW 2) by the end of August via the PS Store.

Of course, the game is supposed to arrive by the end of August too but there's nothing new in having the demo available at the same time as the game (The Darkness demo, for example - although we got it late in Europe, it was out in the US when the demo hit).

Keep 'em coming Sony!

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Friday, 27 July 2007

Ratchet and Clank Future demo is ready and waiting; more Resistance content on the way


In an interview with ShackNews, Insomniac's Ryan Schneider explains that a Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction demo is finished and ready for the Playstation Store.

"Well, our E3 demo is certainly finished and media have received copies of it for preview coverage. What Sony chooses to do with it, and when, it really is in their hands. The demo is finished - I mean, you saw it [at E3], you played it - and when it comes out, we have a rough idea, but you never know. I think the PlayStation Store is a fluid storefront, and anything can happen."
In the interview, Ryan also explains that there is more Resistance content on the way after good feedback and sales of the recently launch map pack.

He goes on to explain that Ratchet & Clank will also use the PSN in some way, but says it won't be in the form of cheesy weapons upgrades.

With most games using the PSN to show worldwide or regional high scores, I would have thought that is a 'given', but Insomniac have a habit of doing things we don't fully expect so I'm hoping they'll come up with something much more original. Time will tell...

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Friday, 20 July 2007

Sony's David Reeves says 'get ready for war'...

Maybe it's just not 'fanboy' enough for some, but I'm still of the opinion that no one company 'won' at E3. All three main players came with new and exciting developments that mean us gamers are going to be very happy this year.

Now SCEE's David Reeves is popping up in interviews all over the place, MCV and ThreeSpeech to name just two. And his message.

Get ready for war. The real battle starts now.

"There will be absolute fireworks at peak, that I can promise you. We will be doing things no-one has seen yet for both PS3 and PSP."

At the Leipzig show next month (which we'll be covering, naturally) Reeves expects to announce a whole cavalcade of incredible features for the PSP and PS3.

So, let the rumour-mill commence. I'll start you off with my list of ideas, and explain them - it'll be fun to see what really happens:

  1. Europe will get a video on demand service for the PS3 and PSP - we already know there's a new service on the way, so this wouldn't be a big leap of faith.
  2. The PS3 will gain Freeview in the UK. This is one of the main rumours and there ain't smoke without fire. Freeview, for those that don't know, is the UK's digital terrestrial television service. It would turn the PS3 into a PVR with access to over 30 channels for free.
  3. A 120Gb PS3 model for Europe instead of the 80Gb model they launched in the US. This is a popular rumour right now. Personally, I couldn't give a fig - I can already upgrade my PS3 to 160Gb for £65 or so without invalidating the warranty.
  4. Sony will announce at least six new exclusives. In an interview with ThreeSpeech David explains that at their regular quarterly worldwide meetings they usually see just a few great titles. But right now he can "hand on heart, say that there are six or seven such games, coming in the next 18 months, which are absolutely spectacular." I'm guessing that two titles from each of the last three quarterly meetings will have made it through to the launch list by now.
  5. The PSP will get access to the Playstation Store/PS3 Friends/PS3 Chat. When they added PSP Remote Play via the Internet, where you log in using your PS3 email address and password, it was a clear indication that some of the PSN features could be accessed directly on the PSP without having to connect to your PS3 at home.
  6. The PSP and/or PS3 will get a Skype client. We know that the PSP firmware has had a 'notion' of Skype compatibility for a while, so this wouldn't be a great leap.
  7. Sony will launch a 'LinkedIn' or 'Facebook' style system that allows you to connect to new PS3 Friends by using the 'six degrees of separation' rule. Basically, you'll be able to meet new friends by getting introductions through your existing friends. This will expand your network and ensure that the profitable "you MUST get Super Stardust" messages are pushed across the network as fast as possible.
  8. SCEE will announce the SixShock controller. Or RumbleAxis. Or whatever you want to call it. Personally I've not missed rumble at all, so I'm not sure I care as much as everyone else on the 'net seems to about this.
  9. Sony will launch a PC client to access and chat with your Friends. Since the PS3 chat client appears to use Jabber as its basis this wouldn't be a big development issue. In fact I've been trying to figure out how to do this myself anyway using Jabber, but haven't been able to yet.
  10. My last prediction - Sony will allow you to live videoblog using a PSP with a GoCam! direct to your PS3 hard drive and consequently to your Playstation Home space. No basis for this prediction - I just think it would be cool!
So, there you have it. 10 predictions. Let's see how many come true but, more importantly, let's see how many more you can think up (add yours to the comments, and remember to show your 'working out')...

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Whilst we're thinking about Super Stardust HD...

If you're one of those people who is wondering how on earth some players are managing to score 700, 800 or 900 million on the PS3 phenom that is Super Stardust HD, you'll love this interview at PS3 Fanboy.

'Zafro' can be found in the top five of the high score list and although he starts off a bit slow, he soon gives up lots of valuable information on how you too can reach the dizzy heights of Super Stardom.

Apparently the answer is to build up at least 70 bombs!! Seriously, it's more complicated than that. You may need some actual talent to play this game after all (something I'm sadly lacking at the moment!).

Read the full Super Smashing interview now...

[via PS3Fanboy]

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Everyday Shooter - not something you see every day

Of all the games coming to the Playstation Network, Everyday Shooter has to be one of the more 'trippy' titles.

Imagine taking Super Stardust HD's control system but cutting it down to just one weapon. Take away the bombs. Take away the boost. And now add psychedelic cel-shaded graphics. Lots of them.

Have a look at the 'boss' video then hop on over to IGN for five other examples of what it might look like inside Pete Doherty's head.

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Saturday, 14 July 2007

E3 2007: 60 fps; now that's a 'quick draw'!


1875. In a small town called Santa Monica the Rapp Saloon saw it's fair share of Wild West action.

132 years later the 'big guns' of the gaming industry took their fight to town. Or so you would think based on all the 'Sony won E3', 'MS won E3' and 'Nintendo won E3' threads that pepper the 'net today.

E3 2007 is now over. And just to make things clear, I've seen all three major keynote speeches (before anyone says I can't be objective!).

I'll be honest, there's only one clear winner - us. Regardless of whether you're a 'fanboy' or someone who buys every console, or even someone just in-between, there's something for everyone.

I already covered the Sony keynote in detail and followed up with my thoughts on why Sony did a fantastic job. I think MS spent too much time talking 'figures', which is what they do best anyway, but we all need to remember they had a year of selling over PS3 and Wii so it's no great surprise they've outsold everyone to date. Nintendo had some fun stuff but personally I still see the Wii as more of a last-gen toy than a next-gen gaming or entertainment centre.

Here's a complete wrap-up of my thoughts about Sony's E3 and what it means for everyone who owns a PS3.

First of all, we need more games for our beloved black monolith. And Sony came with new games. Over the next 'financial year' we're going to see literally hundreds of releases on both Blu-ray disk and via the Playstation Store (that's before March 2008).

PS Store downloads will include the likes of Warhawk (also available on BD), Socom, Wipeout HD and Pain. The new puzzler Echochrome will have user-generated content (but no-one can say what or how yet). We know that via the Store you'll get more and more additional content for your existing games, extending their life and adding new features. We've already had additional game modes for Motorstorm but look out for new tracks and extra levels over the next month or so.

New games coming along this Summer, Autumn and Winter include Heavenly Sword, Assassin's Creed, Haze, Guitar Hero III, Rock Band, Killzone 2, Lair, Eye of Judgement, Skate, GTA: IV and Unreal Tournament III to name just a few. 100s of titles before March next year, 15 of them exclusive to the platform.

Secondly, we needed to see improvements to the Playstation network experience. When I first saw Home at GDC I was blown away. But I wasn't prepared for the vast improvements already when Phil Harrison took the stage at E3 2007.

Now, not only do we get the single best 'network' experience available on any platform, we get to interact with it via our PCs and mobile phones. Thanks goodness I only buy Sony Ericsson phones! And we get to launch games from BD or our hard drives directly from within Home with our friends around the world. The entire Home exprience looks so compelling, and it's still free. No monthly subscriptions for us PS3 owners...

When they do launch video-on-demand for the PS3 and PSP, we'll have everything covered.

Finally, we wanted to see that the pre-rendered 'target renders' we saw at E3 2006 were actually achievable.

And we did. Oh boy, we did.

Killzone 2 looks just incredible. I wasn't a huge fan of the original Killzone - it never really grabbed me. Killzone Liberation on the PSP has been one of the outstanding titles for our mobile brother and that has kept me interested in the Killzone brand since the original PS2 game. Now it looks like the PS3 has yet another stand-out title that will shift units worldwide, and I can't wait to waste some Helghast scum!

And Metal Gear Solid 4? The latest trailer showed that the PS3 is capable of producing, in realtime, the kind of cinematic content that ensure you really feel part of the action. I'll be looking out for that demonstration in Tokyo next week...

There were issues at E3, of course. Assassin's Creed didn't look like it was close to finished by all reports - too many glitches. Some people say that's because they felt pressured to get the demo up regardless, but the issues did create a little extra pressure for the PR machine.

And then there's the whole $100 price drop/60Gb phase out thing. It's all over the 'net as you'd expect and Sony's execs seemed to be tripping up over each other to state and counter-state differing points of view.

But here's the deal. Personally, I could care less about the 80Gb model. I already have a PS3. I can upgrade the hard drive in my PS3 to 160Gb tomorrow for £50 and it will take me 5 minutes. Anyone who is buying a new PS3 may as well have the new one with the larger hard drive, but it they want to buy the smaller one and add in a new hard drive, they can.

That's because Sony made the hard drive a standard SATA unit so it's easy to upgrade. Try doing that in any other console right now.

And the 80Gb version isn't coming to Europe/UK anyway right now. Hate to be all UK-biased, but that means I really couldn't care less about the new SKU!!

There you have it. A brilliant E3 for all of us whether you own a PS3 or any of the other units. I believe that Sony really did bring everything we needed to see from them and more. Don't expect to see a Wild West undertaker coming out of his store to measure Sony up for a box any time soon...

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Friday, 13 July 2007

Playstation Store content for Europe in July

Thanks to our friends at PS3 Fanboy you can now get all excited about playing Heavenly Sword before the end of the month in Europe.

The 'Fanboys' report the following list of available content for the Euro Store during this month:

  • Heavenly Sword
  • Crash Bandicoot 2 - PS1 game for PS3/PSP
  • Spyro 2 - PS1 game for PS3/PSP
  • Gateway to Glimmer - PS1 game for PS3/PSP
  • WipEout 2097 - PS1 game for PS3/PSP
  • MediEvil - PS1 game for PS3/PSP

They also report the possibility of a Blast Factor expansion, Snakeball and Feel Ski but aren't certain whether these will be coming to Europe and the UK in July (maybe August instead). Since Snakeball is going to be a PS Eye compatible title it's my guess it will only happen after the UK/Europe release of the hardware and Eye of Judgement.

As we know from the E3 liveblog there will be a new track for Motorstorm (Eagle's Nest) coming soon but PS3 Fanboy think the Coyote Weekend VIP Pass will launch in the not too distant future as well (not necessarily in July or August). With Warhawk, Echochrome, Socom, Pain and Wipeout HD on the way soon it's looking like the PS Store is the place to be...

[via PS3 Fanboy]

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Wednesday, 11 July 2007

E3 Day 2 Extra: Liveblogging the Sony Keynote Speech

Because sleep is for wimps:

Jack Tretton is on stage. After a couple of PSP announcements Phil Harrison takes the stage.

He shows 'Echochrome' for the PlayStation Store which has the 'least graphics but the most gameplay'. It seems to be a puzzler based on the mind-bending drawings of M.C. Escher. Certainly has the least graphics - it's all black and white line art...

He announces both a 1080p 60 fps version of Wipeout called Wipeout HD with full online multiplayer - Pain (the Jackass-inspired game that's already been covered elsewhere) - Warhawk - and Socom Confrontation, the first next-gen Socom title. All of these titles are for the PlayStation Store. Warhawk and Socom will be available on Blu-ray disk also.

Phil talks about the new additions to Home. He shows Home running on his Sony Ericcson mobile phone!! It doesn't allow 3D but it does allow you to connect to Home to get messages etc. and has a mini-XMB interface. He takes a picture with the phone and puts it in his pocket.

Phil goes on to show a vast array of Home spaces for purchase to show the variety of new properties that will be available. He shows a Singstar video playing on a virtual TV in his virtual house which leads to a video about Singstar on the PS3 and it's downloadable content and PS Eye compatibility. Look at that! The picture he took is in a picture frame on the wall! Home Mobile uploads automatically to your Home space.

He also shows the PC element of Home where it is a full social networking experience linked to the PlayStation Home network. This is almost too much!

Is there any more? Yes - you can also launch any game from BD disk or your HD directly inside Home! He launches Motorstorm which goes straight into a multiplayer game on a NEW track called Eagles Nest that will be available for download next month... It will go straight back to Home wherever you left off when you quit the game. Stunning.

Phil leaves the stage and we go back to the announcement on the 80Gb model of the PS3 at $599 in North America and the $100 price drop on the current version. Sony announce that the PS3 has helped Blu-ray reach a 2:1 sales ratio against HD-DVD.

NC Soft is announced as a new Sony developer! NC Soft is the famous MMO developer and they will be developing MMO titles exclusively for PS3 - excellent announcement.

As expected Haze is announced as a timed exclusive on PS3. Words were chosen very carefully - "if you want to play it this Summer you'll only be able to do that on PS3" - which means it will go to other platforms but not until Autumn/Winter at least. Ensuing Haze video shows features such as vehicle control, gun control on helicopters and the ability to 'play dead' to catch out enemies.

A multi-stage deal with Epic and Midway is announced that allows for a fully optimised version of the Unreal Engine for the PS3. 100 games are in the works for this engine and Unreal Tournament 3 is confirmed as a PS3 exclusive this year! User created mods from the PC version can be brought over to the PS3 version. UTIII is released this November in the US and the video Sony shows looks absolutely stunning.

Sony show other titles that are coming this year. They include Call of Duty 4, Assassin's Creed, Kane & Lynch: Dead Men, Resident Evil 5, Burnout Paradise, Madden NFL '08, Harry Potter & The Order of the Phoenix, The Simpsons Game, Guitar Hero III: Legend of Rock, Medal of Honour: Airborne and Rock Band (see, it IS coming for PS3).

One more exclusive is announced. It is available only on PS3. It's Metal Gear Solid 4. Hideo Kojima takes the stage. He says "I safely made it to E3 again! MGS is celebrating it's 20-year anniversary this year. I've been creating this franchise for 20 years but MGS4 will be the FINAL in the series. The story of Snake will end in this game and this will be my last game in the series. So all the story plots and mysteries will be revealed. The game itself will be a stealth game but with new elements in the battlefield. Stealth in the battlefield. I promise you I'm putting all my skills and experience of the last 20 years into MGS4. Today I brought with me the newest trailer. It's not a movie, it is real-time footage from the PS3 so welcome to the premiere".

The trailer is completely outstanding in every way. You'll be able to download it via the US PS Store today. Afterwards Kojima-san asks "How was it!" and gets a big round of applause. He assures everyone that what they saw was real-time footage and you will be able to play in that quality. He says that next week at a show in Tokyo he will show a real demo of the gameplay!

Phil Harrison re-takes the stage. He's back in the Home theatre to show some more exclusives. Ratchet and Clank Future: Tools of Destruction is the first up. It is said that the level of detail and sophistication is only achievable on the PS3. Next up is Folklore. Folklore looks incredible and seems to have a real mix of action, RPG, beautiful graphics and a 'dark' storyline. Heavenly Sword now features. There's been so much news about this game I need to add nothing extra!

NBA '08 is announced next and looks incredible in 1080p 60 fps with realtime roster updates direct from the real NBA. If a player gets an injury in real life, he gets an injury in your game! One of my personal favourites, LittleBigPlanet, is next. Sony show a video of the 'create' part of the game, with the concentration on the game evolving naturally as players create new levels and share them with the entire PSN. The final game Phil wants to show us from his virtual self in Home is Uncharted: Drake's Fortune. Once again we're treated to an awesome video where the lead character has over 3,000 animations alone all seamlessly linking to provide realistic movement, emotion and characterisation.

Next up from the real Phil is Infamous, another exclusive from Sucker Punch. A teaser trailer is shown that gives you a sneak preview of an 'anti-hero' game where you have to decide whether your superpowers save or destroy the world.

GT5 Prologue is announced with full online multiplayer as a stopgap whilst we wait for the full GT5 experience. It looks outstanding and should appease the masses who are always complaining about the delays in the current stock of GT titles.

One more announcement from Phil. A video starts and it's Killzone 2. Everything we are about to see is realtime. They show a video similar to the one I featured earlier in the Day 2 round-up, so go experience it for yourself now. This video shows much more real gameplay and the game looks completely amazing. Imagine everything you wanted Resistance to be and more...

The press are invited to play many of the games in the room next door which of course I can't do because I'm stuck here in the UK watching this all on a live feed. That's it. It's all over. Frankly, it's a great keynote from Sony with lots of brilliant announcements and I can't wait to see what the real writers make of the advancements in Home and the batch of exclusives Sony announced. Goodnight all..

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