After what most would agree has been a successful stab at (officially) blogging about PlayStation, SCEA has taken up residence on YouTube. No, this isn't directly related to news from May that, should their developers wish, some PS3 games will offer functionality to upload gameplay videos directly to the Google-owned sharing service. (PixelJunk Eden was one of the first games to capitalize on the feature.)
The PlayStation YouTube channel is essentially SCEA's most direct avenue for distributing new game videos; the channel currently has around 54 in total, from NBA 09 The Inside, Motorstorm: Pacific Rift, and LittleBigPlanet. It's nothing groundbreaking, but should be nonetheless handy in that you can subscribe and receive official videos as they're released (albeit in YouTube, er, "quality"). Or, of course, you could just keep an eye on a – ahem – certain blog you're reading right now. (Wink)
"Nothing but a playerʼs decision and a tactics of using various weapons are important than anything that you really need to think to play." This line, taken from the official Demon's Souls site blurb, should make you feel as scared and confused as I felt when I got my hands on the game. My first thought, "ouch," remains scrawled at the top of my notes and, sadly, it's all downhill from there.
Over a dozen reviews have popped up online, and it looks like LittleBigPlanet is on track to be the PlayStation 3's best-reviewed first-party title -- despite some well-strung criticisms. In fact, according to Metacritic's data, it's the only game in the PS3's Top 5 that doesn't have a "4" in the title (in order: GTA IV, Call of Duty 4, Metal Gear Solid 4 and Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion). Of course, glowing reviews don't ensure the game will translate into ca-ching, but it's a great indication that we'll be seeing plenty of LittleBigPenis levels for years to come.
PlayStation Official Magazine UK (100/100): "There simply isn't anything else like LBP on any system, anywhere. It's a beautifully elegant and powerful creative tool that puts unlimited potential in the palm of your hand."
CVG(96/100): "You'll look for inspiration for levels, mechanical dilemmas or puzzles in every corner of your life. And in your sleep. It will take over your conversations with fellow players. You will become obsessed. You have been warned."
IGN(95/100): "Media Molecule has created a brilliant platformer, and then given you the tools to recreate the whole thing over again, or better yet, to create your own ideas from scratch. It's not perfect - the controls could be tighter, automatically shifting between planes can be problematic, the editor isn't quite as robust as you might hope - but what's there is nothing short of astounding."
Eurogamer(90/100): "The promise that anyone could create something simple and fun and personal with LittleBigPlanet hasn't come true. In a way, it's the opposite of Spore, which makes it easy and fun for every single player to have creative input, but doesn't let any of them change the fabric of the game. LittleBigPlanet lets them run wild, with unprecedented results, but it locks the majority out of the creative process, because it's time-consuming and simply not very enjoyable."
You can finally pull the cotton out of your ears (and please throw it away, that stuff's been in there forever). The keen eyes over at PS3 Fanboy noticed that the latest PS3 firmware update added support for not only Flash 9, but a softer voice as well, replacing "PLAYSTATION" with the less obnoxious "PlayStation" when referring to the console's online service and store.
It's unknown if this will be reflected across the PLAYSTATION PlayStation brand, but for now both our virtual ears and shift keys welcome the change. And while we're on the subject of welcome changes, if you could stop poking us with pointy sticks sometime soon, that would be great too. Thanks.
Three would-be drug smugglers have been busted in Australia after a failed coup to take the "Emotion Engine" to new highs. Two Canadians, both 18, and a New Zealander, 20, have been charged with one count of importing and one count of attempted possession after a customs official at Sydney's international airport detected 3,400 ecstasy pills stuffed inside a PlayStation 3 "PlayStation game" and headed to the trio's home address. And here we thought the Cell processor was powered by seven "Synergistic Processing Elements" -- shows you how much we know!
Update: One commenter notes that the container in question looks to be a PS2, a far cheaper mode of transportation! (The source only identifies the system as a "PlayStation game.")
When we say that Gomibako -- a new PSN title -- is trashy, we're not aiming to dis the game. You see, we're not referring to the game's quality, we're simply referring to what the game's all about. The given name "Gomibako" literally means "trash box," or "trash can" if you prefer. It's all about festering piles of garbage and how to get rid of them properly (and by "properly," we really mean "in outrageous and silly ways").
In going about our Earth-friendly activities, Gomibako asks players to fill up a giant blue bin with as much trash as possible. The game plays a lot like Tetris, and so, it's important to properly place each falling piece of garbage in order to conserve space for more items to come. But since we're talking about irregularly-shaped articles of trash, conserving space proves to be a little more difficult than it sounds.
"Sony's game falls short of perfection, in large part because of imprecise controls." (1) "[They] left a few corners on what should have been a razor-sharp control scheme." (3) "Your Sackboy's jumping doesn't feel quite as precise as you might want it to be." (6) "After making a jump, Sackboy slides just a bit, as if he were on ice." (1) "We found ourselves forever overdoing jumps, slipping off ledges and generally getting into trouble at the hands of the controls." (6)
"Momentum is another issue. ... the physics don't feel right, so it takes more tries than necessary to complete the objective." (1) "Player acceleration (and perhaps deceleration) isn't as quick as it could be ... likewise, in-air direction change can be a little iffy at times ... making your character occasionally over or under-respond to what you want him to do." (3) "Combined with the vague, slow and over-zealously auto-corrected movement between the game's three planes of depth, it's a problem." (2)
To put it mildly, "the controls were a little fickle when it came to moving your character among the three planes of perspective." (8) "The three-tier system the levels use, allowing Sackboy to move in and out of the screen.... can cause real problems, ending in annoying and occasionally infuriating death." (6) "It works fine except when the game decides to shift you to another plane, which often kills Sackboy." (1) "There are instances where it doesn't do what you want it to do, and these points stick out like a sore thumb, especially when it means your death." (3) "I ... found myself getting ... frustrated as Sackboy found himself on the wrong plane, repeatedly, sometimes resulting in his untimely demise." (7)
"This is made all the worse by what can only be described as a terrible checkpoint system." (6) "Three lives just aren't enough for some of the harder sections, and if you lose them all, it's back to the start of the level. ... this inflexible system creates half a dozen choke points of almost unbearable, teeth-grinding irritation that simply didn't need to be there." (2) "It tests your patience to near breaking point." (6)
Comparing Sonic Unleashed to 2006's Sonic The Hedgehog nightmare is an utterly useless endeavor. Yes, Sonic Unleashed (or Sonic World Adventure, as it's known in Japan) is observably the superior game, but this confirmation is worthless when the previous adventure not only failed to raise the bar, but rather buried it somewhere deep within an abandoned mineshaft. The question then isn't whether Sonic Unleashed is better, but whether it's any good.
Ladies and gentlemen of the Western Hemisphere, start your PlayStation 3s. Sony has released released firmware 2.50, which as we told you yesterday. The update includes support for the official PS3 bluetooth adapter, automatic shutdown after downloading, Flash 9 support and more. No word on PSP firmware 5.0, also expected today, but we've fired up our handhelds just in case. SCEE confirmed that both firmware updates will be available in Europe today.
Update: (1:32 AM ET) Two hours after the launch of the PS3 update, PSP firmware 5.0 is now also available.
With its developer already inking comic bookdeals and counting the dollars, euros, yen, and copper farthings it expects to rake in from a projected three million copies worldwide, Mirror's Edge staying a one-off affair may have seemed unlikely ... and is now so totally not one. In an interview with AusGamers, DICE senior producer, Owen O'Brien, reveals that the game – launching next month – will be the first in a planned trilogy.
O'Brien commented: "The story we're telling at the moment is kind of a trilogy, a three-story arc," adding that, "certainly for these first couple games, it's all about Faith." Faith being the protagonist of the first (and now, it seems, second) Mirror's Edge – or, you might also say, what EA has in the franchise. O'Brien also mentioned that the second game in the freshly-minted series may pack a level editor, saying: "It's something we're probably going to look at for the sequel."
He also said that, "We want to make the level editor as easy to use and intuitive as the game is. And that's going to take us quite a lot of time." In other words: the first dose of rooftop running action – complete with its recently revealed time trial mode – will have to keep us happy for a good while.
Our statistics show that you, dear reader, are most likely to be of American origin. As a result, you probably don't have access to the Japanese Home beta. It's a shame, because it's the closest you were probably going to get to attending the Tokyo Game Show this year. The Japanese Home "Events and Media" space was updated, allowing those who were unable to reach the show to walk around in a to-scale mock-up of Sony's booth.
But just how close does the in-game model come to the real thing? Scarily close. We've attempted to recreate the screenshots by photographing the booth from the correct angles. In each image, the top half shows the Home version and the bottom reveals real life. Thankfully, the real booth was nowhere near as empty as it is in Home. Perhaps a release of the open beta, timed to coincide with TGS, would've allowed even more people to check out their upcoming wares. Opportunity missed.
While we're awaiting the recently-completed, more competitively-priced Penny Arcade Adventures: Episode 2, the official site has given us a way to bide our time. Introducing The Official PAA Papercraft™, which includes regulars Tycho, Gabe, Anne-Claire and Fruit ... erm, Lover.
Also available are Episode 2 foes Hat Spider, Asylum Patient and Dr. "I see you've been staring at my balls" Wolfington (his balls are not currently available as papercraft). Fun fact: In a display of irony, should you find yourself surrounded by papercraft Fruit Lovers, the use of fruit juice will actually harm them.
November 16. That's the day that Midway will impale Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe onto retail shelves, at least in North America. European players, on the other hand, will have to wait until November 21 to see a newly frozen Supes served a painful uppercut to his chiseled Kryptonian jaw. Now all that remains to be seen is if Alex Ross alone has enough power in his brush to make us overlook such a ridiculous crossover, or if the pairing of magical ninjas and superheroes in tights is just too much to resist.
And here you thought we'd escaped TGS without this rumorang whizzing by again. Oh no, we most certainly did not (duck!). "We're actively looking into a [Metal Gear Solid 4] release for the Xbox 360," a Konami rep told Japanese investment research firm Morningstar for a TGS report published today (in Japanese). Feel free to take that as "no duh" or a renewed glimmer of hope -- Morningstar's report does not include further evidence that Konami is any closer to bringing a MGS4 port to Xbox 360 than when the rumor first appeared ... two years ago!
As IGN notes, the key dilemma is in the discs. How to transfer all that optimized Blu-ray data? And, where to put it?
They say in space, no one can hear you scream. Luckily, here on earth, they'll hear you loud and clear if you win this cache of Dead Space goodies. But this is no ordinary Joyswag giveaway, folks. Oh no, you're gonna have to work for this one. You're finally being called upon to put those hard-earned hours in front of Project Runway to the test!
Here's the deal: You design the winning costume, send us a JPEG, and we'll give you the head. In this case, 1 of only 8 fully modeled, handmade Dead Space helmets created for EA (embiggened view). You'll also receive the Dead Space game (PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360 version -- your choice) plus game guide, Downfall (the animated prequel), the graphic novel, and art book (with 3-D glasses!). (Approximate value of prize is $600.) So bust out the scissors, sewing machine, gorilla glue, severed limbs, duct tape, and whatever else you can scrounge up ... and remember, take some risks! (Read: We don't want a thousand pictures of you all wrapped in tin foil.) Have fun! Update: To answer some of your questions, yes, the costume can be totally original (or based on the game's design) -- either way, it should complement the helmet. It's like Voltron: you form the body, we form the head. So, the costume must be fully realized (not a drawing, painting, proposal in comments, etc.). Consider your Halloween dilemma solved!
Wanna be this dude for Halloween? Yeah you do!
An in-depth hands-on with Diablo 3
Joystiq hands-on: Call of Duty: World at War
Echoes of Doom patch is out today, WoW Insider has everything you need to know!
We're live at the Tokyo Game Show 2008, yatta!
Listen to the Joystiq podcast (because your ears can't read)
Posts in category ps3
You can finally pull the cotton out of your ears (and please throw it away, that stuff's been in there forever). The keen eyes over at PS3 Fanboy noticed that the latest PS3 firmware update added support for not only Flash 9, but a softer voice as well, replacing "PLAYSTATION" with the less obnoxious "PlayStation" when referring to the console's online service and store. 
