While I’ve definitely enjoyed the past 12 days or so away from the office (and the comparatively massive amount of gaming time it afforded me), I’m looking forward to heading out to CES next week to share what we’ll have at the positively massive Sony booth.

We hope you enjoyed Kristin’s How-To series; I know that for many of you power users, it’s old news, but hopefully the hundreds of thousands of news PS3 owners found that they got more than just an awesome Blu-ray and game-playing system.

Personally, I accomplished *most* of my holiday gaming goals, completing Mirror’s Edge and Dead Space, and clambering my way through most of the enjoyable Prince of Persia.

And apparently I did a fair amount of reading. Despite the Holidays being a slower than normal time, some interesting stuff was written over the past couple of weeks:

The PS Blog weekly reading list (Holiday Edition)

• Some People Use The PS3 For Web Browsing, Less People Use The Wii – Kotaku
• Killzone 2 musical score is 90 minutes long, soundtrack album is a possibility – PS3 Fanboy
• Pre-order Resistance: Retribution and get an early access demo – Destructoid
• Top 10 Games of 2008 – Wired
• Holiday cards: Resistance’s V7 Splicer is the gift that keeps on slicing – Destructoid
• Ernst & Young, Microsoft to use Home to hold virtual meetings – PS3 Fanboy
• LittleBigPlanet Interview – IGN
• Pre-order Killzone 2 from Gamestop, get the demo – Joystiq
• PS Fanboy Best of 2008 awards – PS3 Fanboy
• Nippon Ichi: Disgaea 2 Getting Downsized For PSP – Kotaku
• Pre-order Killzone 2, get free ISA/Helghast costumes for Home – PS3 Fanboy
• Resistance 2 Podcast: Multiplayer Tweaks Coming – Kotaku
• Crash Commando Review – IGN
• PixelJunk Monsters Coming To PSP In 2009 – Kotaku
• Postmortem: Insomniac’s Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction – Gamasutra
• LittleBigPlanet Metal Gear Solid Hands-on – IGN
• New Indie Videogame Movement – WSJ.com

What did you read/play over the break?

Last but not least, today’s “How To” video will teach you how to use the Visualizer on the PLAYSTATION 3. The Visualizer provides a great background to your favorite music on your TV screen. There are a variety of designs to choose from so pick your favorite and use it next time you listen to your music on your console. Let us know if there are other videos you would be interested in seeing, and I hope you are all off to a great 2009!

This blog entry is less about PixelJunk, which I’m sure you have all played and heard enough of this year, and more about the sheer amount of games I have been playing this year on my PS3.

To tell the truth, I didn’t buy a PS3 for my home until late last year (2007), because, well, we have plenty here at work and I felt I could get away with playing games “lightly”, ie. not playing them for hours on end until the wee hours of the morning.  However, I finally gave in and bought a PS3 to play PixelJunk Monsters at home and from that point on I have become a “core gamer”. 

Looking at the PixelJunk series you might not think I play normal full price titles, but I have always been quite a core gamer as it happens and I was simply going through a lull period at the end of the PS2 hardware cycle. On the PS2 one of my favorite games is Smuggler’s Run (the original) and if you haven’t played this I really recommend it, even if it is standard def and a bit lo-fi compared to games these days on the PS3.

Anyway, on to the PS3 itself. Early in the year, in-between marathon bouts of Monsters I found myself booting up a lot of games, but Burnout Paradise was one that really stuck out for me, thanks to their continuing support and addition of new content.  I, of course, took Niko through his paces in GTAIV, although at some points in the game I wish the “difficulty and fiddly” factor wasn’t so high and I could just be washed along with the story, so at about 20-30 hours in I gave up and moved on to Call of Duty 4, but for some reason, and contrary to the huge popularity of this game, I just didn’t end up coming back to play this very much – maybe because I don’t tend to play online. The realtime intro-movie is one of the best bits of gaming cinema I have ever seen though (until then the intro to Half-Life 1: Opposing Force was high up there in my mind).

And then came LittleBigPlanet, or rather, the first public closed beta program for Little Big Planet.  Right off the bat, I fell in love with this game – Stephen Fry was a brilliant choice for the voice-over with the way he makes up words to express the emotion of the game, in a similar fashion to the way you make up worlds to express yourself in the game. I have two worlds published and both are devilishly difficult I am afraid to say (as some people say PixelJunk games are I hear!). Try them out for yourselves- >  search for Comfy Sofa World and Gion Festival.

Following hot on the heels of LBP, Motorstorm: Pacific Rift became a firm favorite for me, the track design is really too good in this game – at first it seems like the trails you can take are difficult to understand but after a couple of races you soon learn to spot where to go and start taking short-cuts and risks and really enjoying yourself. This and LBP alone could have kept me going for months alone but then Fallout 3 came out…

Re-reading the above, I suppose that because I make PSN games for a living I tend to want to play full price games in my spare time, however I pepper my play time with more immediately addicting games such as the PixelJunk series and other download titles, this creates a good balance for me, and sometimes it is necessary to wind down. Grabbing a Spectra a night on Eden is a great way to come down after being scared witless playing Dead Space in surround sound and in the dark.

Here’s to an amazing 2009 for gaming as I am sure it is going to be, what with two or three more PixelJunk titles coming out, right!?

Hoping to stay in more in touch with family and friends in 2009? If so, you’re in luck! For those of you with the PlayStation Eye or other web camera, video chat is a great way to keep in touch with family and friends, and this video will teach you how to get started. One of the best features of video chat on the PS3 is the ability to talk with up to six people at a time. So take a look at the video, give a try and let us know if you have any questions.

2008’s been an awesome year. We shipped the award-winning Burnout Paradise – Spike TV and IGN PS3’s Driving Game of the Year. We dragged Burnout kicking and screaming onto the next generation and a new era of open world freedom, social play and MASSIVE scale support.

That support started with 3 new online game modes, new cars and designs, 70 new challenges, a live news page, custom soundtracks and stacks more – this was our FREE “Cagney” Pack.

We followed it with the biggest change to Burnout since Takedowns – motorcycles!

The FREE Bike Pack blazed onto the scene in September along with day-night gameplay, 70 more challenges and dynamic weather.

We delivered trophy support and became one of the first full games to appear on the PlayStation Store – you can head there now and buy it, if you haven’t already!

Next year, we’ll be back on PlayStation 3 with a truck-load of premium paid content. We hope you’ll join in the fun with the Legendary Cars, the Party Pack, our Boost Special Cars, Big Surf Island and of course the cute and cuddly Toy Cars!

It feels like the Paradise City Party’s in full swing now, and with the launch of The Ultimate Box, there’s never been a better time to get in on the action.

But above all else, this year’s been about you guys – Burnout and PlayStation fans all over the world! Our goal was to get to know you through 2008. We’ve built a blog, an awesome website and Crash TV – our video podcast. We’ve been Freeburning with you and reading your comments here on the PlayStation blog.

Thanks for joining us, thanks for all the incredible feedback and thanks for playing – it’s been a blast! See you in 2009.

BTW – we just uploaded our Christmas Show with a glimpse of the 88 Special – the first footage seen outside the studio. Hope you like it!

Today’s “How To” video has some helpful tips on surfing the web. Once your PS3 is hooked up to the internet, you can access all of your favorite web pages via the web browser on your PS3. It brings the web to the bring screen… so take a look at the video and check out some of your favorite sites!

Now if you’re still in the need for some gaming recommendations, here’s my personal “Must Play” list of 2008:

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots — I known around these parts as one of the biggest MGS fans, and you’ll quickly know why once you play Kojima Productions’ latest stealth-action game. From the revamped controls to the epic boss fights to the unbelievable visuals, MGS4 is truly one of the PS3’s crown jewels.

Dead Space — EA’s survival-horror entry is hands-down my surprise title of the year. While dismembering grotesque creatures with ultimate precision will please gamers with an itchy trigger finger, Dead Space features more than enough freaky moments for those who enjoy a good scare.

LittleBigPlanet — The word “groundbreaking” always comes to mind when I think of Media Molecule’s do-it-yourself platformer. It’s also as cute as it is creative, and it seems like every week I watch a new clip of some fantastic user-made level. I can’t wait to see what the highly imaginative LBP community dreams up over the coming months. Oh, and don’t forget to download this li’l guy from the PlayStation Store:

Prince of Persia — I’m a total sucker for a cool art style, and the Prince’s latest adventure delivers that and then some. The development team took some design risks with the combat system and “no death” mechanic, but I believe both worked out extremely well.

NHL 09 — It’s an absolute requirement for any true sporto to lace up the skates and check out this virtual frozen pond. Thanks to NHL 09’s killer online leagues and innovative “Be a Pro” mode, EA’s hockey franchise earns my vote for the best sports title for a second straight year.

Before you return to your regularly scheduled programming (playing games), on behalf of all Insomniacs I’d like to thank you for your support in 2008. This year proved to be one of the busiest and most successful years in the studio’s history with the launch of both Ratchet & Clank Future: Quest for Booty and Resistance 2. Seriously, your comments and feedback went a long way in making our games even better. And I can’t wait to share with you what’s in store for 2009! Until then, I hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday!

Today is kind of a big deal because Remote Play is arguably one of the coolest features available on the PLAYSTATION 3…and my personal favorite. This video will teach you how to set up Remote Play between your PS3 and PSP. I love being able to show off all of my photos, movies and music saved on my PS3’s hard drive on my PSP…and it’s a feature completely unique to PlayStation. Enjoy!

Aside from catching up on much-needed sleep, I’ll also be catching up on the back log of games that’s been accumulating since fall. And I’ll be making up for lost time with my friends and family, of course! Come to think of it – I should probably choose my social commitments very carefully, considering the amount of wonderful games that’s come out this season.

Oh, great. Now I’m going to have to start scheduling my holiday activities.

Anyway, here’s my top five favorite PlayStation games from 2008:

1. LittleBigPlanet (PS3, Media Molecule/SCEA)
2. WipeOut HD (PS3, Studio Liverpool/SCEA)
3. GRID (PS3, Codemasters)
4. God of War: Chains of Olympus (PSP, Ready at Dawn/SCEA)
5. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (PS3, Kojima Productions/Konami)

I’m sure your friends and family members were seriously impressed with your photo slideshow skills you learned on Friday. Similar to that, today we will learn how to import a CD and create a playlist using your favorite music. It’s a little special today because we have two videos instead of one. So now you will be ready in case you want to put together a mix for your New Year’s Eve party or create a soundtrack for your photo slideshow. Have fun!