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)

Labels: Burnout Paradise, news, Playstation 3, PS Store, PS3, PSN, Ratchet and Clank, Rock Band, Tony Hawk

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)

Labels: Folklore, Motorstorm, news, Playstation 3, PS Store, PS3, PSN, Ratchet and Clank, Tekken, Uncharted

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?

Labels: Burnout Paradise, Guitar Hero, Motorstorm, news, Playstation 3, PS Store, PS3, PSN, Ratchet and Clank, themes, Uncharted

I can't stop myself. There I was, trying to think of some way to describe this week's PS3 releases without making some sort of reference to Mr. Fawkes, but I just can't pass up the opportunity.

The fireworks are really flying this week. Yes, European PS3 releases are about to go with a bang as the titles you've been burning to play finally explode onto our shelves.

There. I've got it out of my system now.

If you can't find something to play in this lot, there's something wrong with you. By 'something to play', I mean Ratchet & Clank, which is PS3 gaming perfection. And if that doesn't float your boat one of the standout titles of E3 is here - Call of Duty 4.

Here's the list:

Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
WWE Smackdown! vs. RAW 2008
Lair (finally hits our shores - is it as bad as the reviews say?)
Dynasty Warriors: Gundam
The Simpsons
Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga

This week's 'Colon Index' is 57%.

Seriously, is it law now that your game has to have a colon in the title? I would like to see more semi-colon action. Those guys are underated; never getting the attention they deserve.

Will Lair ship with tweaks and fixes to make it a better experience? Who knows. I'll probably be too busy playing R&C to even know.

Pre-order any of the above by clicking the links.

Labels: Call of Duty, Lair, news, Playstation 3, PS3, Ratchet and Clank

The PS3 Attitude Big Three is here, so let's count down the titles we think you should be aiming for this November.

1. Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction

Quite simply, this game is close to perfection. We've played the demo and we've had a view of the finished product and I have to tell you, it's superb in every way. Ratchet & Clank have always been favourites of mine, but the PS3 really takes them to the next level in every way. A must for PS3 owners.

2. Assassin's Creed

Whether you buy the regular version, or the special edition, Assassin's Creed should make it's way into your collection without fail. Beautiful graphics and awesome gameplay where everything has a reason. Every crack in the wall is something for Altair to climb up and your actions change the way other characters respond to you, including the crowd. Take a look at the latest trailer to get a feel for the game.

3. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock

It was a hard choice to pick number three, especially with Call of Duty 4 and the possibility of Haze still coming in November (despite the fact that it hasn't yet gone gold). But in the end it had to be Guitar Hero III. It simple. Haze and CoD are both different and yet brilliant FPS titles. CoD was the toast of E3, and Haze looks quite incredible. But since Guitar Hero and Guitar Hero II were incompatible with the PS3 I've been suffering huge withdrawal symptoms! Get your rock god on this coming month.

Labels: Assassin's Creed, Big Three, Call of Duty, Guitar Hero, Haze, news, Playstation 3, PS3, Ratchet and Clank

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Firmware 1.94

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

Warhawk 1.1

Server-side updates

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

Client-side updates

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

One of the more popular stories on today's PS3 news feed at N4G tells the story of a list of 'confirmed' EU PSN releases.

I'm not posting the list here yet because I've been told by SCEE directly that the list is a bit 'hit and miss' - in other words some of the titles are right, and some aren't.

All we can say with any surety is that the Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction demo is expected to hit either the US or EU PS Store (or maybe even both) tomorrow. Which is awesome news.

Slowly but surely Sony are releasing the captive demos we know have been finished for some time...

Let's hope that R&C is the one item on the rumoured release schedule that is more hit than miss.

[UPDATE: We just heard that Ratchet & Clank will also support rumble straight out of the box, just like that other AAA title we mentioned, so importing a DualShock 3 is getting more and more tempting.]

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

BAFTA have announced the full list of games that will be heralded on the 23rd October in London. Split across 15 different award categories a good number of PS3 titles made it in to the list.

PS3 highlights include Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction, Heavenly Sword, skate, flOw, Eye of Judgement, Lair and Motorstorm.

The event will be televised on Channel 4 in the UK.

Here's the full list:

Action and adventure
Crackdown (Realtime Worlds)
Gears of War (Epic Games)
God of War 2 (SCE Santa Monica Studio)
Orange Box (Valve)
Ratchet and Clank: Tools of Destruction (SCE Foster City Studio & Insomniac)
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Nintendo)

Artistic achievement
Bioshock (2K Boston/2K Australia)
Heavenly Sword (Ninja Theory)
Okami (Clover(Capcom))
Ratchet and Clank: Tools of Destruction (SCE Foster City Studio & Insomniac)
skate (EA Black Box)
Viva Piñata (Rare)

Best game
Bioshock (2K Boston/2K Australia)
Crysis (Crytek)
Gears of War (Epic Games)
Guitar Hero II (Harmonix)
Kane & Lynch: Dead Men (Eidos)
Wii Sports (Nintendo)

Casual
Big Brain Academy for Wii (Nintendo)
Cake Mania (Digital Embryo)
Guitar Hero II (Harmonix)
More Brain Training (Nintendo)
SingStar (SCE London Studio)
Wii Sports (Nintendo)

Gameplay
Crackdown (Realtime Worlds)
Gears of War (Epic Games)
Sega Rally (SEGA Racing Studio)
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Nintendo)
Warhawk (Incognito)
Wii Sports (Nintendo)

Innovation
fl0w (SCE Santa Monica Studio/Thatgamecompany)
Okami (Clover(Capcom))
Super Paper Mario (Intelligent Systems)
The Eye of Judgement (SCE Japan Studio)
Trauma Center: Second Opinion (Atlus USA)
Wii Sports (Nintendo)

Multiplayer
Battlefield 2142 (EA Dice)
Crackdown (Realtime Worlds)
Guitar Hero II (Harmonix)
Wii Sports (Nintendo)
World in Conflict (Massive Entertainment)
World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade (Blizzard Entertainment)

Original score
Final Fantasy XII (Final Fantasy XII Project Team)
God of War 2 (SCE Santa Monica Studio)
Lair (SCE Foster City Studio & Factor 5)
Okami (Clover (Capcom))
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Nintendo)
Viva Piñata (Rare)

Sports
Football Manager 2008 (Sports Interactive)
Colin McRae: DiRT (Codemasters)
FIFA 08 (EA Chicago)
MotorStorm (SCE External Development Studio & Evolution)
Virtua Tennis 3 (Sumo Digital)
Wii Sports (Nintendo)

Strategy and simulation
Command & Conquer: Tiberium Wars (Electronic Arts LA)
Forza Motorsport 2 (Turn 10) Medieval II: Total War Kingdoms (The Creative Assembly)
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Vegas (Ubisoft Studios (Montreal))
Wii Sports (Nintendo)
World in Conflict (Massive Entertainment)

Story and character
Final Fantasy XII (Final Fantasy XII Project Team)
God of War 2 (SCE Santa Monica Studio)
Heavenly Sword (Ninja Theory)
Okami Clover (Capcom))
The Darkness (Starbreeze Studios)
The Simpsons Game (EA)

Technical achievement
Crackdown (Realtime Worlds)
Gears of War Epic Games)
God of War 2 (SCE Santa Monica Studio)
MotorStorm (SCE External Development Studio/Evolution)
Okami (Clover(Capcom))
Uncharted: Drake's Fortune (Naughty Dog)

Use of audio
Crackdown (Realtime Worlds)
Elite Beat Agents (iNiS)
Gears of War (Epic Games)
God of War 2 (SCE Santa Monica Studio)
Guitar Hero II (Harmonix)
skate (EA Black Box)

BAFTA One's To Watch Award (in association with Dare to Be Digital)
Ragnarawk (Voodoo Boogy)
ClimbActic (Carebox)
Bear Go Home (Phoenix Seed)

The PC World Gamers Award (voted for by the public)
Dr Kawashima's Brain Training (Nintendo)
FIFA 07 (EA Canada)
Football Manager 2007 (Sports Interactive)
Gears of War (Epic Games)
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories (Rockstar Leeds)
Resistance: Fall of Man (Insomniac)
Wii Play (Nintendo)

Labels: Heavenly Sword, Lair, Motorstorm, news, Playstation 3, PS3, Ratchet and Clank, Skate

We know you have them Sony. We haven't received the ransom notes yet, but we've already heard that you have a number of demos tied up in a basement somewhere...

Please release the following captives as soon as possible:

Lair
Skate
Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction
Uncharted: Drake's Fortune
Wipeout HD

And we hear that you have just taken a demo of Killzone 2 captive as well.

Please Sony - when will this stop? We beg you to release these demos now or tell us your demands!

Labels: Killzone, Lair, news, Playstation 3, PS3, Ratchet and Clank, Skate, Uncharted, Wipeout

In an attempt to add to the general level of joy that has been created by this week's GRAW 2 release, I thought it would be a good idea to get the latest release dates for the PS3 AAA titles I listed recently to help show how much we've got coming along in the next few months.

I got these by comparing the GAME UK and Amazon UK dates and picking the most pessimistic of the two dates. I've purposefully not gone to the rumour-mill or other news sites to pick up the latest 'guaranteed' dates (which rarely prove to be right, including my own past predictions!).

I'm also not saying these are the final dates for any of these releases. In any case, I still think this list is pretty close to the truth and will help you work out how much overtime you need to clock up to afford your favourite titles!

And in case you're not up to speed on these titles, you'll find video links against all of them - just click the [vid] link. Enjoy!

Army of Two	16 November 2007 [vid]
Assassin's Creed	16 November 2007 [vid]
Call of Duty 4	30 November 2007 [vid]
DiRT	21 September 2007 [vid]
Eye of Judgement (and the PS Eye in general)	30 November 2007 [vid]
GRAW 2	24 August 2007 [vid]
Haze	23 November 2007 [vid]
Heavenly Sword	14 September 2007 [vid]
Jericho	26 October 2007 [vid]
Juiced 2	25 January 2008 [vid]
Kane & Lynch	16 November 2007 [vid]
Lair	26 October 2007 [vid]
Ratchet and Clank Future	30 November 2007 [vid]
Skate	12 October 2007 [vid]
Stranglehold	28 September 2007 [vid]
Uncharted: Drake's Fortune	23 November 2007 [vid]
Unreal Tournament 3	30 November 2007 [vid]
Warhawk*	14 September 2007 [vid]

*Warhawk listing is the retail version - we already covered the supposed date for the download version of Warhawk

Labels: Army of Two, Assassin's Creed, Call of Duty, DiRT, GRAW 2, Guitar Hero, Haze, Heavenly Sword, Lair, news, Playstation 3, PS Eye, PS3, Ratchet and Clank, Skate, UT III, video, Warhawk

"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?

Labels: Heavenly Sword, news, Playstation 3, PS Store, PS3, PSN, Ratchet and Clank

To help illustrate just how much there is to look forward to I thought I'd dig around and pull out some of the forthcoming joyfulness that will hit the PS3 before the end of the year (in alphabetical order):

Army of Two
Assassin's Creed
Call of Duty 4
DiRT
Eye of Judgement (and the PS Eye in general)
GRAW 2
Guitar Hero III
Haze
Heavenly Sword
Jericho
Juiced 2
Kane & Lynch
Lair
PlayStation Home
Ratchet and Clank Future
Rock Band
SingStar
Skate
Stranglehold
Tiger Woods, Madden and FIFA 08
Uncharted: Drake's Fortune
Unreal Tournament 3
Warhawk

Kind of makes the delayed GTA: IV seem like a bit more of a non-issue, don't you think?

Labels: Assassin's Creed, Call of Duty, DiRT, FPS, GRAW 2, GTA, Guitar Hero, Haze, Heavenly Sword, Lair, news, opinion, Playstation 3, PS Eye, PS3, Ratchet and Clank, Rock Band, Skate, UT III

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...

Labels: news, Playstation 3, PS Store, PS3, PSN, Ratchet and Clank, Resistance