Posts From October, 2011
SSX Q&A: Better Shred Than Dead
+ Posted by Sid Shuman
Whether it’s the socially enabled online mode, the deadly new “Survive It” challenges, or the mammoth mountains modeled after NASA satellite maps, the new SSX is hardly short on ambition. During a recent hands-on session, I caught up with art director and series veteran Geoff Coates to discuss how this classic PS2 series is handling the jump to PS3 for the first time.
During our chat, I was able to slip in some questions from the PlayStation.Blog community and squeak out some tantalizing hints of the PS3-exclusive Mt. Fuji level.
PlayStation.Blog: What does the PS3’s technology bring to SSX? What can you do now that you couldn’t do in the PS2 era?
Geoff Coates, Art Director, SSX: I worked on all the previous SSX games, and at the time we had a lot of big ambitions that we couldn’t execute due to technological limitations.
55 Comments //
(Average: 4.08 out of 5)
Recently, Ubisoft invited us to sample the first few hours of Assassin’s Creed Revelations for PS3. I learned a lot during that play session:
- The control scheme has been revised, pushing Eagle Vision to L3. This frees up the Triangle button for secondary weapons such as daggers.
- Altair comes into play via flashbacks following the thrilling Masyaf key retrieval missions, which are the successors to Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood’s Lairs of Romulus.
- The game map now has a Google Maps-style satellite view that I enjoyed while skipping around the sprawling city of Constantinople/Istanbul.
- The Den Defense mission brought tower defense-style sequences that are completely unlike anything I’ve seen in the Assassin’s Creed universe.
- I saw someone actually *use* the Apple of Eden.
- I noticed some different UI in the Animus, and started to wonder why the interface was different (and no, Ubisoft wouldn’t tell me).
- I saw Ezio stab a dude with a guitar – I think they called them “lutes” back then.
68 Comments //
We want to let you know that we have detected attempts on Sony Entertainment Network, PlayStation Network and Sony Online Entertainment (“Networks”) services to test a massive set of sign-in IDs and passwords against our network database. These attempts appear to include a large amount of data obtained from one or more compromised lists from other companies, sites or other sources. In this case, given that the data tested against our network consisted of sign-in ID-password pairs, and that the overwhelming majority of the pairs resulted in failed matching attempts, it is likely the data came from another source and not from our Networks. We have taken steps to mitigate the activity.
Less than one tenth of one percent (0.1%) of our PSN, SEN and SOE audience may have been affected. There were approximately 93,000 accounts globally (PSN/SEN: approximately 60,000 accounts; SOE: approximately 33,000) where the attempts succeeded in verifying those accounts’ valid sign-in IDs and passwords, and we have temporarily locked these accounts.
267 Comments
Like Starhawk
Nearly one year ago Entertainment Weekly broke the news that UNCHARTED 3: Drake’s Deception was real and coming out in 2011. Today we have finally reached the point of breaking through that finish line tape in another marathon of game development. We’re proud to announce that the third installment in the UNCHARTED franchise has gone gold, and is on its way to being manufactured for its November 1st release. We can’t wait to see everyone’s reaction to the next chapter of Nathan Drake’s adventures as it hits store shelves and homes everywhere in just three short weeks!
And as an added bonus, all retail copies of Uncharted 3 will include a voucher code for early access to the upcoming Starhawk Public Beta, which will be coming in early 2012.
173 Comments //
PlayStation Store Update
+ Posted by Grace Chen
It’s a special day for movie lovers as the Video Unlimited – preview app is now available to everyone! Check out this new and improved way to browse, watch, and discover movies and TV shows on the network.
This week sees the release of an amazing PSN exclusive: Sideway: New York. Part of Only On PSN and featuring some of the most breath-taking artwork to hit the 2D world; Sideway: New York follows Nox, a graffiti artist in NY, who’s found himself sucked into the world where he lives alongside his own art. With a fantastic use of color and eye-popping HD visuals, you won’t want to miss this PSN exclusive. PlayStation Plus subscribers can also get this title 20% off as part of Only On PSN.
While we’re on the topic of Only On PSN, don’t forget that as part of the celebration of PSN exclusive titles hitting throughout this month, if you spend $60 or more in the PlayStation Store through the month of October, you’ll get $10 back in November. For more details, visit the Only On PSN page to check out the other upcoming titles that are coming soon to PSN.
197 Comments //
In Hollywood circles, there is a well-known tradition where Steven Spielberg and George Lucas will skip town and go somewhere remote right about when they have a big movie opening. They do this mostly for good luck, but also to avoid the press and ignore the grosses. Basically, they generally try to get their mind off of the project they’ve dedicated much of their recent lives to create.
I mention this because our adventure platformer Sideway: New York is all wrapped and done and will be available only on PSN as of today’s PlayStation Store update. I also mention this because at this moment, a few of us here at the studio are out in Zimbabwe embarking on a new work project. (Oooh, I can just see the screaming blog headlines now: “Game Developer compares his game to Star Wars”).
67 Comments //
Hey folks! We’re excited to announce the release of the Resistance 3 Survival DLC pack today on the PlayStation Store for $3.99. First and foremost, the Survival DLC pack brings you a new game mode for multiplayer called Invasion. The Invasion mode forces Human and Chimeran teams to divide their resources with the goal of holding multiple control nodes on the map simultaneously. The more nodes your team holds, the faster you score points – and thus, achieve victory. There is a lot of deep strategy in determining which nodes to attack, as well as how many players should hang back to defend your nodes while retaining enough offensive force to successfully attack enemy nodes. We hope you enjoy it!
That’s not all though – the Survival DLC pack includes special multiplayer skins of some of the major survivors from the game: Herbert, Jonathan, Jean, and Charlie. You’ll also get a bonus Resistance 3 Survivor Concept Art Static XMB Theme.
After revealing last week all of the great free content coming to Gran Turismo 5, which dropped to $39.99 as of last week, I’m happy to report that the Spec 2.0 update is now live for everyone to download and explore. And if you’re a PlayStation Plus member and have Automatic Downloads enabled, the next time you turn on your PS3 you might find that the update has already been installed. Otherwise, you can launch the game now and update GT5 to Spec 2.0.
The Spec 2.0 update enables you enjoy a new and improved GT5, including interior views for all standard cars, improved physics and AI, faster menus and load times, additional functionality and control in the online racing mode, updated 2011 NASCAR cars, a gorgeous new opening cinematic movie, and much more.
Support
Corporate
Community
