Major Update to High Velocity Bowling

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Hello everyone! Team RamRod here, the developers of High Velocity Bowling. Today we break our long silence with an equally long blog post.

To give you some background on the HVB development team, we are a small team who works on several projects. As some of you know, Big Ern has left our neck of the woods (we still miss him). But, the team has since picked up the reins and is now leading a new charge for HVB.

A lot of you have been asking about HVB, and we are here to deliver great news. We are pleased to announce that we putting the finishing touches on a new update for HVB, which will hit the PlayStation Network TOMORROW! Excited? Well, the best part of this is that the new update – all new features included – is FREE! For our brothers and sisters in the north, that means FREE for you, too.

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HEAD-TO-HEAD ONLINE PLAY! VOICE CHAT COMMUNICATION! WEEKLY ONLINE LEADERBOARDS!

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We can hear you now … “Wait, what? Really? I get online play in the update? Will it support my Playstation Friends List?” YES to all of the above. You will now be able to play with your friends online AND be able to chat with them using a PS3 headset or microphone. Feel free to chat and talk smack after comparing your stats and rankings on the online leaderboards that will be updated weekly.

PSN TROPHIES!

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Yup! PSN Trophies – 12 new shiny and purty trophies (7 bronze, 4 silver and 1 gold trophy). The only way to earn these is to play online (fortunately, we added that too, ‘cause we’re awesome!). If you’re worried you don’t have the skills, don’t stress — if you’re persistent enough, you will still be able to earn most, if not all, of these as well. Here’s the list:

BRONZE:

  • Score 180 or higher in an online game.
  • Achieve an online rating of 1600 or more.
  • Knock down a total of 500 pins in online games.
  • Get 10 strikes in online games.
  • Get 15 spares in online games.
  • Win an online game.
  • Play 3 online games.

SILVER:

  • Score 250 or higher in an online game.
  • Knock down a total of 5000 pins in online games.
  • Get 25 wins in online games.
  • Get 75 strikes in online games.

GOLD:

  • Get 150 strikes in online games.

PLAYLISTS WITH IMPROVED AUDIO!

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You can access the XMB while in-game for your own custom soundtracks, with support for playlists. We had custom music before, but were not able to incorporate playlists. Now with the new XMB custom music feature, you can bowl while listening to a mix of Beethoven, Frank Zappa, Britney Spears, Weird Al Yankovic, Gregorian Chants and Nirvana! And with the improved audio options, you’ll be able to crank up your tunes, character voices, and ambient sounds, OR turn them off altogether!

MORE TRICK SHOTS!

That’s right, we’ve included a section on the menu to start posting additional trick shot challenges. You’ll be given two new challenges with your update, and additional trick shots will be created for download in the future. These challenges will not only help you earn patches that you missed out on during your normal gameplay, but get you more stars for the leaderboards!

NEW BALL BAGS!

We’ve added a new and more realistic Ball Bag system in HVB. You can only bring four balls with you onto the lane in each bag, so you’ll have to choose wisely. You can name and save up to 24 different ball bags so you don’t have to individually choose four balls every time that you want to play. Be sure to mix and match so that there are some good hooking balls and some good straight rollers in your bag. This way, you’ll be prepared for any oil pattern or pin leave!

ALLEY SELECTION!

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You can now choose which lane to play on (as long as you’re not in a tournament). This means that you can play in Spider’s Garage, Tiffany’s Toybox, the Zen Garden, or wherever you want!

NEW ADD-ON CONTENT

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We are going to continue to provide new content for HVB. This content will include more sinister Trick Shots, more wacky characters, cool bowling balls and quirkier costumes.

Anxious to get your game on and strike it up? These exciting new features for HVB will truly make your bowling experience fun. We made the extra efforts to make sure we delivered a lot of fun into a whole lot of FREE for our devoted fans! Please make sure you continue to check back here for future updates on HVB. You’ve all waited so patiently for more – we’ll be sure to make it worth your wait!

Until next time!

Team RamRod

Comments are closed.

246 Comments

11 Author Replies

  • cool to see trophies on this game

  • This game sort of managed to slip under my radar but this update really makes me want to get it!

  • I would love to get this game

  • Best bowling game on the market. Will we be able to choose any caricature to play as or just the ones we unlocked. (Caricature creation and customization would have made playing online even better.)

  • Make sure to unlock the save. This game is hard enough as it is…it’s a total bummer when something goes wrong with your PS3, and can’t recover the save file because it’s locked.

  • is this for eu version too

    • Don\’t worry wee-danny-g, we haven\’t forgotten our friends overseas.
      We are working very hard to complete the Online Update for the EU version, but tomorrow\’s update applies only to the SCEA version of HVB.

      Mike.

  • I bought this game before but took it off my list and didn’t download it again…well, time to get it back. Big thanks for this.

    12

  • Awesome, I had almost given up that we would ever see anything for HVB again. Great update, just 2 questions.

    1. Why are ALL the trophies Online related? It’s awesome that there are trophies, just wanted to see a nice balance of offline and online.

    2. Why did you have to release this update the week that Socom comes out?!
    I gotta play my Socom, have to wait awhile longer to play online HVB.

  • Woo Hoo! Just when I was looking for a reason to start playing HVB again, you give it to us! Thanks!

  • Thanks for answering my questions, Mike! HVB is one of the best PSN downloadable games, esp. now “With Trophies” and more importantly, online play!

  • Thanks for the good news. I stopped playing this game a while ago becuase it was getting old but it was great. I love the wacky characters and trick shots. Online is going to awesome. Glad to see you guys taking care of your customers.

  • glad u fixed the custom soundtracks I really hope other games follow your example. Great job guys!!

  • Thanks for this – fixes all the major problems I had with this game, and a bunch of minor annoyances as well (not being able to turn off background music – I had to have a track of just silence to play before! :P)

  • This is great news! Thanks so much!

  • “screw bowling” Sony rumors on the web METAL GEAR SOLID 4 MAY BE GOING TO XBOX 360. I HOPE Kazuo Hirai HAVE PLANS TO STOP THIS. If any Metal Gear game end up on 360 I hate to say it but Microsoft will WIN this GEN. If (Snake, Otacon, Raiden, or Liquid) M$ mange to get all of Playstation Big name exclusive from Final Fantasy to Grand Theft Auto now Metal Gear is the talk. SONY DONT LET IT HAPPEN!!!

  • Don’t waste your time reading all the negative replies here. What this post has to do with M$ getting MGS, GTA, and FF is beyond me as well.

    All I can say is someone owes Team Ramrod a ‘happy ending’, because this has been a long time coming. I made a post on the forums for everyone to post and ask about this every week when they updated the PS Store here. This goes to show that our voices are heard. Looking forward to tomorrows update.

    What is Team RR working on now? Just a little info would be nice. We know y’all are tight lipped, evident by all of this.

    Thanks again Team RR!

  • vientos, mas juegos con trofeos =D

  • Awesome update. Thank you!

  • I am absolutely grateful for these updates, my only concern is how many friends online can play at a time, (All of my buddies bought it and we always play as if were really out on the lanes) it would be nice to get @ least 4 people in a room together utilizing both lanes, you know trading off switching lanes partnering up and so on. Or even 2 people from home playing another two people in another home would even be nice. Been quite fond of this game and my lil niece and nephews love it. She always wins.

  • Well, woulda been nice to know this was in the works. I deleted both the game (no biggee since I can redownload) and my save game (which is a biggee since I had everything unlocked). I had no reason to think this game was not dead months ago.

    Dunno if I really want to go through the process of unlocking everything again. Too many other good games coming out soon to spend the time re doing everything.

  • Nice! I stopped playing this game a while ago. I played every now and then when we have company over, but now I have a reason to start playing again. My nephew wants to get this game, now he definately will be getting it. Good job guys!

  • Nice update TRR!

    btw what happen to PJ?

  • Thank you! :)

  • This was a plesant surprise considering most people believed this update for the game would never come. Great job and I’m looking forward to updating my game!

  • That is the reason why i bought this game in “Summer Sale” last summer. When update (v2.41) came available, i decided to buy this game because it was going to bring trophies.

    Thank You Mr. Skinner.

  • This is awesome, I’ve put off buying this game because to me, it lacked a few key features I want out of my games these days. Online play, Voice Chat, some kind of leaderboard/stat tracking ability. You added all of this, amazing and wonderful. I can’t wait to buy it now. You also added trophies which is great. Although games before never had trophies, when new games come out that don’t have support for this feature, it just makes you feel a little empty. We all love trophies and want them. Again, awesome update, and you now have a new customer. Keep up the great work.

  • Didn’t see it mentioned in the article, but are the trophies retroactive, or do I have to do those things again in order to earn them. I’ve played this pretty much since it came out. I’ve completed most of the tasks on the trophy list so, just wondering if I’d have to do them all over again.

  • Awesome update, it’s been so long I was starting to think you’d forgotten. Tomorrow will be great. About the voice chat, is it going to be push to activate or autospeak? I can’t stand autospeak, I can’t have a friend next to me chatting unless I want it overheard. Thanks god this new headset has a mute button =)

    • Hi Cheysan,

      Our voice chat is what you called autospeak, but we have a mute microphone option mapped to one of the buttons when you want your conversation to stay private.

      Mike.

  • +1 in the awesome update column!

  • First of all let me thank you for the neverending moments of fun family that i had with this game.

    Next i would like to thank for not letting us (HVB players) anging with a game that felt somewhat incomplete due to the lack of online play (you know that family is not always together xD).

    And finally i would like to say that the fact of continuing to build up the game like you said so is something to respect. Thank you from Portugal.

  • I’m buying this game tomorrow.

    PSN ID: VenomXv

  • First of all let me thank you for the neverending moments of family fun that i had with this game.

    Next i would like to thank for not letting us (HVB players) hanging with a game that felt somewhat incomplete due to the lack of online play (you know that family is not always together xD).

    And finally i would like to say that the fact of continuing to build up the game like you said so is something to respect. Thank you from Portugal.

  • I have this game, and I have yet t play it. It look like I will be playing it tomorrow

  • I don’t usually complain about free things, but those trophies are terrible. Every one of these will have us repeating things over n over again until the time we reach the point. Kind of monotonous. They don’t involve any skill at all (except the strikes) and just forces us to play a lot (assuming that were avid trophy collectors).

  • AWESOME!!!! I just might pick up this game now from the Playstation Store!

    (Is it just me, or are all popular PSN titles getting AMAZING support after their release?!?!)

  • WoW…I bought this game and played it twice. I hate the controls. I get all cramped up trying to reach for the L2 & R2 while twisting my wrist and taping the anolog stick. I was hoping for an alternative to Wii bowling and I got robbed. Sorry for such a glum post. But I think you would appreciate all opinions good or bad. I love the features before update with music from HDD and great animations and graphics but the controls killed it for me. I’m really sorry, since I really want to like it but with games like Wipeout and Pain this game is just taking up space on my PS3’s HDD. This update won’t make me dive back in. I am sorry for real I am. I love my PS3 so please add a basic function for dual analog sticks and I would be happy with that.

  • And AGAIN EU gamers are left out by sony.
    I’m getting soo sick of this, Last time i checked the PS3 was the only continent where the PS3 is succesful and still we guys get ignored with everything , every game is delayed (even the PS3 was delayed), PSN games are delayed , we buy much more for games , US ppl get all the contests and applications ‘Qore) and the list goes on and on..

    This was it for me , i’m buying myself a 360 after trying to be loyal to Sony for many years you finaly managed to make me angry enough with all your stupid SCEE [DELETED].

    • Hello Playfire,

      I\’m sorry your feeling left out, but I want you to know that our team is dedicated to bringing this update to the EU gamers just as fast as we can. The reality is that translating the game into multiple languages requires a bit more time, and a longer test cycle. I know this doesn\’t help you tomorrow, but you and the rest of the EU community are not forgotten.

      Mike.

  • IS THIS GAME ANY GOOD?

  • THIS IS AMAZING. BEST PS3 NEWS I’VE HEARD IN A LONG TIME!!!

  • PS3 is coming along pretty good.

    Thanks for the update. Keep up the good work.

  • I must say, I’m very happy with this update! Especially the online, the Trophies are a bonus!

    Also, too many trophies are coming out. CALM DOWN DEVELOPERS! :D (Just kidding, keep ’em coming)

  • Nice, I will be playing this game alot more now.

  • sweet as guys! fantastic work. i always thought this game would be soooo much better if it had online play. especially since some of my “real world” friends have the game too. can’t wait ;)
    get ready for your servers to be hammered and smashed to bits ;-P
    thanx for truely supporting the PLAYSTATION community.

  • i was just wonderin if u have an estimate for the eu version beacuse my friend was going to buy it for this update beacuse he plays this game with me and was wonderin if he should hold off a couple of weeks

  • Had HVB for a good while..barely played…

    Definitely a reason to start back bowling!

  • Sweet!!!!! THANK YOU!!!!

  • “WOW”

    that’s what I was going to post yesterday, but I couldn’t log on on the other computer. Today I came back to post because I was so impressed, to find that it’s not for EU.

    I don’t see why US gets it and not UK. The language is already ok for the UK, but if you want to be fair to the others by making the UK wait, then the US should also wait, instead of getting our hopes up.

  • Thanks for the response on the chat question Mike. Sounds like a great setup, can’t wait for the update tonight.

  • Mike, the “localisation” excuse is always pulled out for PSN games that get delayed in arriving on the EU store.

    But using that EU store you’ve got customers from the UK and Australia. Countries that speak English.

    Surely games can be released in their US version to these countries. We already know Sony has the ability to choose what content is displayed in the store based on which country it’s being accessed from, despite it being the same actual store (i.e. the PlayTV demo which was not even seen in the store by Australians, even though we’re logging into the exact same server).

    I hit the store tonight thinking “ah, online play, okay, I’ll buy this one now” – and then saw this and changed my mind. The game took so long to turn up on the EU store at all, so I’m not holding my breath for the online update any time soon.

  • Sorry Mr. Skinner but your excuse as to why the EU is shafted yet again by your company is ridiculous. I do not understand why this cannot be at least made available for English speaking countries outside the USA. AMERICA DOES NOT SPEND AS MUCH AS THE EU ON PS3! I have no respect left for Ramrod. I wish I could get a refund on this game as this is a COMPLETE waste of money as I have no one to play against except online. And as for your comment Travis from Idol Minds … They obviously have not been that busy otherwise they could have released an update for everyone like PAIN did.

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