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.

Labels: GRAW 2, Haze, Jericho, news, Playstation 3, PS Store, PS3, PSN, Skate, Stuntman Ignition

Only a few more days until October, and that spare cash is already being earmarked for some new PS3 goodness.

In what might become a regular feature, here's the PS3 Attitude Big Three for October:

1. Skate

Tony Hawk has had his day. I'm sick of pulling crazy 10m point combos by sitting there and flatland tricking until my thumbs bleed, only to find out someone else did it for longer and scored 50m. For those of use that skate, used to skate or dreamt that they could skate, this is the one game that seems to finally capture reality and make it feel believable on a controller.

2. The Eye of Judgement

Being packaged with the seriously next-gen PlayStation Eye, this title promised to bring in old card player fans and win new one's alike. Think of it as a way to get into card battles without actually needing to still be at school, or have any real friends (like me).

3. Guitar Hero III

It's Guitar Hero. It's got a wireless guitar. It's on PS3. Nuff said.

Disclaimer: There's a slim chance Guitar Hero III will slip to 1st November over here. In the event of an emergency, replace this title with Jericho, which would have been number four if we'd called this feature PS3 Attitude's Big Four!

Labels: Big Three, Guitar Hero, news, Playstation 3, PS Eye, PS3, Skate

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

Gamer.tv on the Bravo channel did a spot on the forthcoming EA title, Skate.

Whilst they admitted it takes a while to get used to the control mechanism, it seems that once you do get the hang of it the game feels much more like real skating than any of the Tony Hawk franchise.

They gave Skate 5 out of 5. Other sites have also given Skate great reviews, with scores ranging from 8.5 to 9.5 out of 10. With the Tony Hawk's Proving Ground demo playing well on the PS3, it seems we really have a bone fide competition on our hands.

Labels: news, Playstation 3, PS3, Skate, Tony Hawk

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

We know that the Ratchet & Clank demo has been finished and passed to Sony for release. Now, we've learnt that EA have finished a PS3 demo for their anti-Hawk title Skate and have delivered it to Sony.

Given how long it is taking for Sony to pass out the R&C demo, I'm not going to hold my breath for Skate to arrive on the PS Store. Having said that, the Xbox 360 version of the demo was delivered to the Xbox Marketplace already, so there might be a little pressure on Sony to move on this one a little quicker than the PS3 exclusive Ratchet.

I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

Labels: news, Playstation 3, PS3, Skate

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

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

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...

Labels: Assassin's Creed, E3, GTA, Guitar Hero, Haze, Heavenly Sword, Killzone, Lair, MGS4, Motorstorm, news, Playstation 3, PS Eye, PS Store, PS3, PSN, Rock Band, Skate

Another day, another E3 PS3 round-up...

Killzone 2 - HD video (the one we've all been waiting for!), developer interview
Rock Band - HD video (not the same gameplay video that Viacom keep pulling from YouTube)
Assassin's Creed - HD video
Soul Calibre IV - video
Skate - video

If you have a US PSN account, you should be able to get the latest MGS4 trailer direct via the PlayStation Store by now - enjoy!

It's Sony's keynote today at 11:30 PST (19:30 UK) so look out for a round-up of the big event tomorrow.

Labels: Assassin's Creed, E3, FPS, Killzone, MGS4, news, Playstation 3, PS3, Rock Band, Skate, Soul Calibre, video