We learnt the other day that Yakuza 3 will be announced as a PS3 exclusive at TGS, and now we have stumbled across the TGS trailer that will be shown at the convention later this month.

It looks like it's going to be an epic in the style of the Onimusha series, with the story taking place in 17th century Japan.

Labels: news, Playstation 3, PS3, TGS, video, Yakuza

In our PS3 news roundup today, we pointed out that the UK Sony site still has Home down as being available by September. And this, it has to be said, is unlikely to say the least! I mean, most of the Sony sites are out of date as far as content is concerned. Look how long it takes them to update the firmware pages, for example!

So where exactly is Home at right now? And before you say it, no it's not 'wherever I lay my hat'...

As recently as yesterday, Home beta testers received a new build of the hotly anticipated 'second life-like' environment to play with. This means it is unlikely we'll see Home in October either, since any feedback from the current round of testing would need to be dealt with, and development just doesn't happen that quickly!

In the new build there are some nice new features. The 'Home Square' that was shown at E3 is available for the first time.

Also, areas are now broken down into separate downloads. If you want to go to the 'game area', you download it and you'll be bowling and shooting hoops with the best of them. This means Home will have a smaller 'core' download and then you can just add on the pieces that make sense to you. Downloads will be, on average, around 20-40Mb per area.

Also in the new build the 'virtual PSP' has a 'phone friend' feature. I don't think this has got anything to do with a 'virtual Who Wants to be a Millionaire' gameshow though!

Home Safe has also been added. Home Safe lets you change certain privacy and interaction settings to make sure your Home experience is a safe one. It lets you change your communication settings, block users and access your PS3 Friends list.

So what else do we know about the state of Home right now?

The next stage of the Home beta will be invite-only. The current beta is for employees and selected third-parties only right now. Although the beta will expand to a wider group of people, it is likely these will be companies and individuals who are 'linked' to SCEE in some way.

By the way Sony, if you're reading this I'm a seasoned software tester and I never break an NDA... just saying...

So, I'm expecting a further round of beta testing plus a further round of 'showstopper' fixes before Home comes along. As the areas have been split off into individual downloads, it's clear that Sony will get the core download fixed and ready to launch and then work on adding additional features, areas and fixes in future downloads as people find bugs, suggest new additions or as new content arrives.

Finally, we now know that Home will just 'happen'. No fanfare. No 'big bang'. You'll just get it as part of a standard firmware upgrade.

So my money is on firmware v2.00 to hit in November, which will include Home, to ensure it is out for the big PS3 Christmas push. I'll go see what odds William Hill will give me on that.

Labels: firmware, Home, news, Playstation 3, PS3, PSN

Because some days there's just so much PS3 news...


Yakuza 3 is a PS3 exclusive
Sony expect 18+ rated areas in Home, such as a casino
Tony Hawk's Proving Ground demo on US PS Store today
Sony website still says 'July-Sep' for Home release date, so keep your fingers crossed

Labels: news, Playstation 3, PS3

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.

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

Doing nothing more than fixing the issues I and many others experienced by installing v1.92, the latest firmware arrives with at least a little more information then before.

The details of the new upgrade appear in a blog entry at the Official PlayStation Blog along with news of the latest PSP firmware upgrade.

I upgraded my PSP the other day and was pleased to see some new features, including the ability to change 'icon sets' using the new Themes dialog.

In the blog entry it mentions that these themes will be downloadable later from the PS Store, which is a nice way to point out to people who have a PS3 and don't have it's little brother that they're missing out on something. Anything that brings the PSP and PS3 closer to each other is welcome.

Now, what's the betting that the fabled v2.0 PS3 firmware includes icon sets too so you can match up your XMB look and feel across both devices?

Labels: firmware, news, Playstation 3, PS3, PSP

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.

Labels: GT5, news, Playstation 3, PS Store, PS3, PSN

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.

Labels: GT5, LittleBigPlanet, LocoRoco, news, Playstation 3, PS Eye, PS Store, PS3, PSN, Wipeout

It's the big one people - Heavenly Sword is out this week!

And even if you're not the swords and sandals type, you'll find something worthwhile in DiRT, the latest incarnation of the Colin McRae rally series.

If you're not sure about either of these titles, go play the demos from the PS Store first, but I'd say this is the first of a number of important weeks for our beloved black monolith.

US Games

• Heavenly Sword
• DiRT
• NHL 08
• NHL 2K8

European Games

• Heavenly Sword
• DiRT

Asian Games

• Megazone 23: Aoi Garland
• Megazone 23: Aoi Garland Limited Edition

Labels: DiRT, Heavenly Sword, news, Playstation 3, PS3