Looks like PlayStation Network is finally ready to compete with Xbox Live for real. Sony just announced a month-long “Only On PSN” initiative. Tell me if this sounds familiar: a selection of premium download-only titles, with new releases coming out every week over the next month. Details inside. Read more »
E3 is just two weeks away! Can you believe it? What delicious (and what vaporware) delights will E3 2011 bring to gamers? What surprises do Microsoft, Nintendo, and Sony have in store for their pre-E3 media extravaganzas? What games will walk away from the week with the heaviest buzz? It’s impossible to predict what secrets all the major companies have up their sleeves, but here’s n early look at what we have to look forward to. Read more »
Sony has just announced that Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One, the ninth game in the series (if you don’t count Secret Agent Clank), will be available on October 18th, 2011 in North America. The PS3 exclusive is getting several pre-order incentives in the form of extra playable characters, but you’ll have to choose carefully which one you want; Amazon, Best Buy, Gamestop, and Walmart are all getting a different extra character. For the first time ever, up to four players will be able to enjoy the game together in co-op that works both online and off. The built-in playable characters are Ratchet, Clank, Qwark, and cleverly, the villain Dr. Read more »
In case you hadn’t heard, PSN is back. At least for North America and Europe anyway, nearly one full month after the online system was compromised and Sony was forced to pull its plug, most of PSN’s services have returned. (We’re still waiting on the PlayStation Store, but nearly everything else is back.) To encourage players to return and apologize for the extended downtime, Sony has put together a “Welcome Back” package that’s like a free goody bag, which will be given to all users (for now just in North America, but similar packages are being made for other regions). Here are the details. Read more »
In a situation that for gamers is quickly growing to “Who shot JFK?” proportions, the PlayStation Network (PSN) — Sony’s answer to Xbox Live — was effectively killed by an external source sometime last Thursday, forcing Sony to completely rebuild the entire system. That’s five long days without the PlayStation Store and PS3-exclusive MMOs, which may as well be five months as far as PS3 gamers are concerned. The question on everybody’s minds: who toppled PSN? Who could have perpetrated such an all-encompassing crime, catching Sony completely off guard and dismantling such a high-profile network so effectively? How in the world could Sony even allow their network to be open Read more »
Today Sony upgraded PlayStation Home — the HD online virtual space where you can interact with other gamers and play casual games — to version 1.5, with some big enhancements. This news got me thinking… What’s the point of PlayStation Home? Read more »
PlayStation 3 owners: here’s a little title you probably haven’t heard of but need to know about. It’s called Red Johnson’s Chronicles, and it’s a downloadable title coming to PSN on Tuesday, April 19th. From French developer Lexis Numérique comes this story-driven noire adventure, a wicked tale of murder in a corrupt Metropolis. You play as the title character, a private detective named Red Johnson who’s trying to solve the case, with a new twist on the classic “point and click” adventure mechanic, which combines exploration, puzzle solving, and action. The crux of the game is built on interaction with the colorful NPC citizens of Metropolis (yep, they’re really using that Read more »
You can’t have a great hero without a great villain, or so goes the adage. The hotly-anticipated third entry in the Uncharted series has just unveiled its dastardly mustache-twirler. But in this case, the creative team at Naughty Dog has given hero Nathan Drake a nemesis with two X chromosomes and some refined sophistication. Meet Katherine Marlowe, who’s reportedly the head of a secret society that dates back to the time of Queen Elizabeth I. (That’s four hundred years, for those without a history book handy.) Naughty Dog describes Marlowe as a “coldly calculating” woman that you don’t want to get in the way of. As you can see in Read more »
Sony Online Entertainment has finally made it official: the much-anticipated massively-multiplayer online game DC Universe Online launches in the U.S. on January 11th. U.K. players join in a few days later on January 14th. This marks the first time ever that a MMO title has launched simultaneously for both PC and for the PlayStation 3 console. SOE also announced the final pricing plan for the MMO’s subscription plan. Initial purchase will be $59.99 for PS3 players or $49.99 for PC players, with subscriptions running $14.99 a month. SOE is also offering a one-time “lifetime subscription” fee of $199.99. DC Universe Online will allow players to join in the battle over Read more »
Long known to be in the pipeline but under intense secrecy until today, Sony has finally taken the wraps off of the third Uncharted game, which finds Nathan Drake on an adventure in the desert. The title? Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception. And it’s coming late next year. As the title implies, deception is the game’s theme, so look for lots of double-crosses and even some kind of deception involving hero Nathan Drake’s identity. The story brings finds Nathan teaming up with his mentor Victor “Sully” Sullivan to search the globe for a real-life legendary lost city called Iram of the Pillars (aka “Atlantis of the Sands”), leading them to the Arabian Read more »
