Filed under: Gaming Rumors | Tags: Fat Princess, PS3, PSN, Resident Evil 5, Sony
I personally thought that Sony’s ‘Fat Princess’ (gameplay video above) was one of the best new games shown at E3, but now it seems that some people, who know nothing about games, are gonna be campaigning for a name change. It’s not been too widespread but there have been some groups who think the title is insensitive to the overweight and needs to be changed. I’m tellin’ ya now it will be because they always seem to win.
I really hate it when these ‘groups’ start to protest about things that they blatantly don’t know anything about. Now I can see what they see wrong with the title and that it could offend a small number of people but for the majority it’s just a title to a really cool looking game.
IGN’s PlayStation Team in particular have commented on this in the latest episode of ‘Podcast Beyond’ and said that they reckoned that the next time Fat Princess was shown it would have a name change. I agree but I still don’t want that to happen. You just know the title is gonna change from the simple, but effective, ‘Fat Princess’ to something along the lines of ‘Nondescript Weight Princess’, which is something that no gamer, whatever their allegience, wants to see.
It’s a shame isn’t it that people feel the need to campaign about something every chance they get. RE5 was getting a bashing for their being black zombies in the game and that it was racist (black people in Africa who’da thunk it?). Now there’s random Hispanic zombies walking around Africa (totally realistic). Hopefully someone will see sense and not let ‘activists’ ruin this game, because once the title changes it’s inevitable that other things will change too.
Rant over. Discuss.
Please note: This is my reaction to speculation there has been no confirmation (yet) that the game will have it’s name changed.
Filed under: Gaming News | Tags: GHran Turismo 5: Prologue, Gran Turismo TV, PS3, PSN, Sony, Top Gear
One thing Sony did come through with this month is that Gran Turismo TV has been added to GT5P via a new patch. The patch, which contains a number of things alongside GTTV, is a great thing to add to the game and is something no petrolhead will want to go without. The full details of today’s patch are listed below.
Improvement in Download Speed
- Improvements in download speeds for online updates and content
Gran Turismo TV
- Start of PPV (Pay Per View) service
- It is now possible to fast forward, rewind, or move between chapters when viewing video content.
- It is possible now to have up to 8 simultaneous background downloads running at the same time.
- Individual downloads can now be paused or resumed.
Distribution of Expansion Data
- Instant distribution feature of My Page backgrounds added
Race
- Improvements in penalty judgments
- Improved physics during collisions between cars in Online races.
Time Trial
- The tire selection in Arcade time trials changed from “S2” fixed, to “N1-S2”
Ranking
- It is now possible to display top lap times in all courses in a list.
- Improvements in the user interface
Common Vehicle Physics
- Improved controllability when using S1-S3, and R1-R3 tires.
- Changed calculation rules for performance points.
Option
- Added [Standard Definition (SD) Display Size] in [Display Settings]
- Moved the [Temperature] unit setting from [Network] to [Units]
- Added Expansion Data settings and Advanced Download Option settings in [Network]
Sound
- 6 BGM tracks added
Online race network specifications changed
- Added port 5658 to the ports used in Online races.
Other
- Players matched in Online races now added to the [Friends] → [Players Met] menu within Playstation 3.
- The time and score from replays of time trials, drift trials, and distributed demo replays are now displayed after their replay. For distributed demo’s, the Online ID is also displayed here.
- Manual updated
Sounds good, there’s lots of good stuff in there and plus Toip Gear whoot!
Filed under: Gaming News | Tags: LittleBigPlanet, Media Molecule, PS3, PSN, Sony
It has now been confirmed that LittleBigPlanet will be hitting PS3’s on October 30th. It was confirmed earlier in the year by Media Molecule’s Alex Evans that the game would get a simulataneous worldwide release, which is obviously very cool.
Hopefully we’ll get the beta in September still because I can’t wait to play this game.
I heard a rumour that the game was to be released via the PS Store as well as on disc. I’ll try and get some news on this ASAP.
Filed under: Gaming News | Tags: Insomniac, PS3, PSN, Ratchet & Clank, Ratchet & Clank: Quest For Booty, Sony
James Stevenson, community manager at Insomniac, has today confirmed a price and release date for the upcoming Ratchet & Clank PSN title ‘Quest For Booty’. The game will be released worldwide on August 21st for $14.99 so, unless we get screwed, it’ll be about £7.50 in the UK which is nice.
Afer the last Ratchet game I have grown to love the series and can’t wait for this game. I do believe it is getting a blu-ray disc release in Europe which i’d expect to be released at a similar price point to Gran Turismo 5: Prologue (£19.99)
Well I said that it was likely that Sony’s ‘Life With PlayStation’ service would be hitting on Thursday (yesterday) but it didn’t which meant that Jack Tretton’s E3 ‘promise’ that this service would be hitting before the end of the month. It has now come to light that the service has been delayed with Sony saying:
“due to a few procedural matters, the new service will make its way to PlayStation fans in August.”
Hopefully we’ll see it soon. It sounds like not many people will use it but it’s content and at least Sony are trying something that might be useful to people and hey, it’s free. Why are people moaning?
It has been confirmed that Star Wars: The Force Unleashed will be getting a demo. Nice. The other pretty exciting news is that the demo will include some exclusive content that is not in the game. That’s something unheard of but could be pretty cool. It’d be nice if we got something like an exclusive side mission or a prequel. Anyway, sounds good, can’t wait.
FaceBreaker is EA Freestyle’s first outing and seemed quite promising. It looked like a throwback to the old arcadey boxing titles like Ready 2 Rumble and with the team behind one of the best boxing games ever, Fight Night Round 3, what could go wrong? Well in a word Loads.
First of all the thumbstick controls of Fight Night are gone, replaced by the PS3’s face buttons, which put a downer on things right there. The controls are clunky compared to those of FN and on face value it seems like a button masher with no skill to it whatsoever. Now obviously, with the little time I had with the game I can’t give a rounded opinion. In the 20 minutes I had with the game I found the controls unbearable and really wanted the thumbstick control back ASAP, but that’s not gonna happen is it.
The art style is nice and looks great on the PS3, the only thing I can see wrong with it is that people wanting to play a boxing game usually want realism and this dosen’t deliver. The art style might be nice but the characters seem pretty lacklustre. EA have obviously tried to tie the cartoony graphics to bad humor and made a right balls up. Seriously, who needs an overweight, ninja boxer?
There are some really nice touches though. The first one I saw was that, as promised, Peter Moore is in the game as a pre-created character which is quite nice. Secondly, the photo scanning thing is cool too and i’d like to see this implemented into more games from now on.
So it seems that the bad outweighs the good here, which is a shame because I really did want this to be good. EA have gone for humour and ‘family friendly’ graphics and from what i’ve seen and played it looks like it hasn’t paid off.
Obviously, the retail build could be different and could have a few tweaks to make the game better to play but at this point it’s doubtful. God I can’t wait for Fight Night 4
Filed under: Gaming News | Tags: Echochrome, Home, Japan Studio, PS3, PSN, Sony
I mentioned before (and provided a screenshot of) an Echochrome arcade cabinet, which users WILL be able to play, inside Sony’s ‘Home’ for the PS3. Now the game’s lead devs Tatsuya Suzuki and Jun Fujiki have confirmed that the game will be able to play inside of Home, well sort of.
They announced that a 2D version of Echochrome would be coming to the service but did not specify a date. According to Develop the guys had little else to say about this version of Echochrome and were focusing on the 3D version of the game.
Well it might not be much, but hey it’s something right.
Filed under: Gaming News | Tags: Naughty Dog, PS3, PSN, Richard Lemarchand, Sony
It’s the new console war. The downloadable games war and at the minute, content wise at least, Microsoft are winning due to the sheer quantity of games available. According to Richard Lemarchand from Naughty Dog (oh that’s who he is) that’s about to change. He believes that PSN will have an edge that XBL won’t.
I think there’s going to be other things coming down the pipe that’s going to give PSN as a whole a competitive edge… What I will say is as a games designer I’m very excited about net connectivity. I really like how Sony is thinking a little bit outside the box in terms of gamers as modern media consumers. With things like LittleBigPlanet looking towards consumer-generated content and with games like flOw and flOwer — which are art games — Sony is really looking to expand games as culture in the same way that pop music, literature and fine art are culture.
I agree but then again he sorta has to say that Sony owns Naughty Dog.
Filed under: Gaming News | Tags: Microsoft, Portal: Still Alive, PS3, PSN, Sony, Valve, Xbox 360?
Another one outta the rumor mill here. It had been rumored that the supposed Xbox 360 exclusive Portal: Still Alive was to eventually come to PSN, whoot! Well no whoot because that rumor has been squashed by Valve themeselves.
Valve told CVG that no the game would not be making it’s way onto the PlayStation Network. It does seem stupid for Valve to throw money away like this but it’s a well known fact that Gabe Newell hates the PS3 with a vengence, which sorta hurts it’s chances. Hey there’s still hope, The Orange Box made it out didn’t it.
That’s right according to Siliconera Sony’s Asian territory exclusive Afrika has been renamed Hakuna Matata. Now this sounds like a joke and maybe it’s just a misunderstanding but I think that this name is stupid, I always liked Afrika.
This game looks cool and it’s a shame it’s only coming to Asia but I think that will change. This story is yet to be confirmed so is going down as rumor but hopefully there’ll be more info soon.
Like I said in the PS Store update before the Japanese store is allowing users to download a ‘Home’ theme for their PS3’s which then registers their interest in the service itself. Alongside this there’s been some new news out of various places talking about some new features.
Most prominently our friends over at TSA have got news of a Namco home space wich features classic arcade games like PacMan and Galaga (shown above). Also there’s a screenshot of an Echcrome arcade machine (top) which will probably allow users to play a demo version of the game from Home.
Ever since that first trailer hit for this game it’s looked sweet. It was, up until now, only scheduled to come out in Japan (which it did, yesterday). Sony have now confirmed that the Google Earth zombie em up The Last Guy is definitely coming to the UK and US PS Stores. The game is only 500 yen on the Japanese PS Store so I’d expect a good price all round for this one. You can see the original trailer above.
I wonder why I never got wind of this sooner? That ‘tech demo’ Sony was showing of Linger In The Shadows is apparently a full blown game. Apparently the Aussie government rated it (whoa a game that didn’t get banned, surely not?) and now the UK PlayStation blog has a game page for it. So it’s confirmed, LITS is not a tech demo it’s a game and the PS Blog has given us some idea about how the game will work.
“A dreamlike, seemingly random sequence unfolds before your eyes; then it stops, spools back and starts again. Can you influence it? Can you alter or extend what you have already seen?
A collaboration of hypnotic art, subtle gameplay and invigorating music, there are no rules or traditions in Linger in Shadows. The laws of physics and time are irrelevant. This is not a game in the traditional sense, rather an abstract, interactive experience designed to challenge and captivate your inquisitive mind.”
- Discover the five hidden sigils and unlock the path forward
- Take control of time and realise the full potential of each scene as it unravels
- Watch, enjoy, experiment and let the experience wash over you
Now this sounds like something that the PSN seems to thrive on (I assume this is a PSN game). Weird arty concepts that are ultimately good games. Now there’s no more details than this but I think this is definitely one to watch. Hey I might even check out that trailer now.
Filed under: PlayStation Store Updates | Tags: Playstation Store, PS3, PSN, Sony
It’s apparently a great week for XBLA but I don’t think that Geometry Wars 2 is a patch on what the PSN has got this week. It’s a great week to own a PS3 and it seems like Sony are really stepping up their efforts to make the PS Store better than anything Microsoft are trying to do. Anyway on with the content and hey it’s good.
UK:
- PixelJunk Eden (PS3) – £4.99
- PixelJunk Eden Demo (PS3) – Free!
- Echochrome Micro Demo (PSP) – Free!
- Prince Of Persia E3 Gameplay Trailer – Free!
- The Last Guy Trailer – Free!
- Movement: Milan – Free!
- E3 2008 PSP Compilation Trailer – Free!
- Bionic Commando: Rearmed Wallpapers (x 16) – Free!
US:
- PxelJunk Eden (PS3) – $9.99
- Snakeball (PS3) – $9.99
- Madden NFL 09 Demo – Free!
- FaceBreaker Demo – Free!
- Lego Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures Demo – Free!
- ‘Electric Crown’ – Testament (Rock Band DLC) – $1.99
- ‘They Say’ – Scars (Rock Band DLC) – $1.99
- ‘This Is It’ – Staind (Rock Band DLC) – $1.99
- ‘Yomp’ – Thenwo2 (Rock Band DLC) – $0.99
- Soul Calibur IV Customization Equiptment 1 (Add-On Content) – $1.49
- Soul Calibur IV Downloadable Music – $14.99 (Full Set) or $1.99 per track
- Bionic Commando: Rearmed – The Making Of Part 2 – Free!
- The Last Guy Trailer – Free!
- Beijing 2008: Aquatics Trailer – Free!
- Beijing 2008: Track Trailer – Free!
- Vampire Rain: Altered Species Trailer 3 – Free!
- AST Dew Tour: BMX Progression Video – Free!
- AST Dew Tour: BMX Rewind Video – Free!
- AST Dew Tour: FMX Unleashed Video – Free!
- AST Dew Tour: Skate Highlights Video – Free!
- PixelJunk Eden Theme 1 – Free!
- PixelJunk Eden Theme 2 – Free!
- Killzone 2 Theme – Free!
- Soul Calibur IV Wallpapers (x 2) – Free!
- Street Fighter IV Summer 08 Wallpaper – Free!
- Siren: Blood Curse Wallpapers (x 2) – Free!
Not a lot of content on the UK side but at least Eden was there. The US got a ton of stuff but most of it was fodder really. Not tried the demos yet but I will do and i’ll be putting up some impressions of FaceBreaker quite soon. I was expecting that Sony’s ‘Life With PlayStation’ would be on one of, if not both of, the stores today. Jack did promise it before the end of the month and look he’s failed. Maybe it’ll show up next week.
Some more exciting news on the PSN front is that there are more openings for the closed beta of ‘Home’. To register your interest all you have to do is download the ‘Home’ theme from the Japanese PS Store. I have downloaded it but i’d expect that the beta will be IP locked but you can try anyway. The theme is pretty nice so it’s worth the download. I hope this comes to the UK or US next week too.
XeNonX 