We love this time of year. There are tons of great games out and there are always high hopes for a White Christmas, because few things are as exciting to drive on as freshly fallen snow. Maybe we’ll get to take the truck out for a spin again…

We’re also looking forward to 2012, to showing you more of MotorStorm RC and creating exciting new things. We’re hiring too, so if you’d like to be a part of the family (and you’re particularly highly skilled in C++ programming) then please head over to www.playstationjobs.com

Enjoy your holidays! We hope to see you on the new mirrored tracks playlist in MotorStorm Apocalypse (look out for us in the black carbon ‘Evolution’ liveries)! All the best for 2012 and keep in touch – we love hearing from you!

Hi everyone! It’s officially dark at 6pm and the crisp, woodsy smell in the air lets me know that the holidays are just around the corner. With so many great 3D-compatible titles, such as UNCHARTED 3: Drake’s Deception, Batman Arkham City, and Assassin’s Creed Revelations, recently launched and coming, there’s no shortage of 3D entertainment on the PS3 system this holiday season. That being said, the 3D Display is sure to be a hit under the tree, so we thought we’d give you all a personalized tour of the product.

Featuring a luminous 24” LCD screen with full HD 1080p 3D presentation, the 3D Display delivers an incredible high-definition stereoscopic 3D experience, offering best-in-class visuals in both 2D and 3D for all of you gamers. As our first official gaming display, the 3D Display is enhanced for gaming with SimulView, a special feature that allows you to view individual, unique, full-screen images of gameplay in two-player mode.

We’re very excited to be able to deliver a comprehensive 3D package at an affordable price. We firmly believe that 3D games will lead the charge into 3D adoption and this bundle arrives when great 3D games are launching. The 3D Display bundle is available at a retailer near you for $499.99 (MSRP). It includes the 3D Display, a copy of MotorStorm Apocalypse, one pair of PlayStation 3D Glasses, and an HDMI cable. The 3D Glasses will also be available separately for $69.99 MSRP.

What 3D titles have you played? Are you excited about SimulView? Let us know!

Hello, my fellow MotorStormers! The racing party at the end of the world recently introduced a hot new track and fresh Weekly Challenges for you to play. Now, I’m excited to be able to bring you news of another larger-than-life update, which will empower you to create, share and get much more out of your action racing experience than ever before.

To get this latest update, simply fire up MotorStorm Apocalypse while connected to PSN and you’ll be prompted to download the update.

Design Your Own Game Modes

The new Mode Editor allows you to create your own fun game modes within the MotorStorm template and then play them straight away with other players (online and offline).

The possibilities are vast: Tweak the standard Race mode so that vehicle attacks are disabled…or set-up a five-round Eliminator mode, on mirrored tracks, for 15 Monster Trucks and 1 Buggy, with moon gravity, infinite boost and no brakes…or do something completely unexpected – we can’t wait to see what you come up with!

Share Your Customized Vehicle

Customize and share your proudest vehicle designs with your friends via motorstorm.com, and download any that you like the look of from the website to apply to any of the vehicles in your collection – they automatically work across all vehicle types.

Sharing your personalized vehicles is simple: upload them from MotorStorm Apocalypse to your personal Profile area on motorstorm.com and other players can view them immediately. Downloading shared vehicles from other players is just as easy: find one you like the look of on motorstorm.com, sign in with your PSN Online ID and download it – it will be waiting for you when you next go into Customization in the game!

Up Your Game With a PS3 Steering Wheel or PlayStation Move

PlayStation Move controllers and certain PS3 steering wheels are now fully supported in MotorStorm Apocalypse (including customizable configurability options), so you can get even closer to the racing action with a more tactile and realistic control set-up.

I’ve been lucky enough to experience the game using a Logitech G27 force feedback wheel, on a 3DTV with surround sound set-up, and I can honestly say it’s the most exhilarating gaming experience I’ve ever had. Pumping the accelerator and gripping the wheel as you drift your muscle car through a tight city corner at break neck speeds feels incredible, and when an apocalyptic earthquake aftershocks kick in and tears open the ground beneath your wheels – while you’re trying to avoid gangs of crazy looters and rivals throwing their weight around in monster trucks – it ups the ante even more. If you can, you absolutely must experience MotorStorm Apocalypse like this. Words just don’t do it justice.

Supported steering wheels include: Logitech G25, Logitech G27, Logitech Driving Force GT and Logitech Driving Force Pro.

Further Improvements to Online Play

In response to continued feedback from MotorStorm players, the update also includes additions and improvements such as; new racer ‘clan tags’, changes to gambling (bets are now won when a rival is disconnected or disqualified), and changes to lobby privacy (so that private rooms can only be joined by invitation).

Stay Up to Speed With MotorStorm Wherever You Are

The community website has also been updated to include player profiles which show off player activity, stats, performance over the last 10 races and shared vehicle designs. The update also includes a mobile version of the website which lets you use an internet enabled mobile device to keep up to speed with the latest MotorStorm activity (and your friends) wherever you are.

There’s a lot here to keep you rocking the party at the end of the world! If you’d like to keep up with the latest on Apocalypse, or learn more about the game, make sure to keep tabs on motorstorm.com. Thanks for your time – Cheers!

A storm is coming to PlayStation Network! The MotorStorm Apocalypse multiplayer demo arrives on PlayStation.Store in today’s Store update and will be available to everyone for one week only. Here’s an overview of what you can expect from the demo of Evolution Studios’ latest adrenaline-fuelled action racer, which is out now on the PlayStation Store.

Seven days of intense action racing

Get ready to experience the simultaneous challenge and excitement that comes from trying to win races while a city comes crashing down around you! You’ve only got from Tuesday, June 28th until Tuesday July 5th to get in on the action, so make the most of the opportunity by taking part in this special week-long demo event while you can.

Incredible visuals

The action looks stunning, especially in high definition if you have the set up. To really bring every race, crash and explosion right into your living room, try to experience the game with a mind-blowing stereoscopic 3D setup!

16-player online races, including two-player split screen

Face down the competition in brutal races against up to 15 players world-wide. Go in alone, take a split-screen buddy into the action with you or meet up with your friends to form a party online.

You’ll earn new Ranks and rewards for surviving the carnage, beating opponents and racing with style. Boost your rewards from every race by wagering on any rival you think you can beat; There’s a healthy bonus awarded if you beat them and you can choose whether to add it to your career earnings or risk it all on the next race for an even bigger reward!

Three of the full game’s 35 online races to survive

You’ve never seen races like these…

The Mile High Club
Smash through offices and across the sides of downed skyscrapers in a lunatic adventure over the breathtaking rooftops.

Off the Rails
A gigantic rift has ripped the subway system open…and MotorStorm is holding races in it! Barrel through the fiery subway tunnels and into the rifts themselves as crazy looters attack and trains bail straight into the station.

Ship Shape
An abandoned shipyard is the perfect playground for intense, high-speed action-racing, where there’s little room (but plenty of opportunity) for costly mistakes.

Five of the 13 vehicle types from MotorStorm Apocalypse to customize and race

Stamp your unique identity on the Superbike, Buggy, Supercar, Racing Truck and Big Rig and then equip your preferred performance boosting perks to give you an edge when you go out to battle in the concrete jungle.

You’ll earn better body parts, customization designs and perks as you race and improve with each vehicle. Make use of the kit you are awarded to modify your vehicle so that you stand out from the crowd!

…only Seven Days?

The demo will be available for download on PlayStation.Store for 7-days only, however online play will be possible until Thursday July 7 at 02:00 PDT, so you will have extra time to run a few more races before the free demo runs out.

If you didn’t already know, the full game is available now and has just been updated and expanded with the free After Party update, which introduces an all new day-and-night track, Weekly Challenges, multiplayer playlist updates and more. There are also regular community events taking place in MotorStorm Apocalypse: check the MotorStorm community space to see what’s taking place right now.

Any Questions?

If you have any questions about the demo, please visit the MotorStorm community space on playstation.com.

To keep up to speed with the latest MotorStorm news, keep it locked to the blog, follow @PhenomEvolution on twitter.com and follow the official MotorStorm Apocalypse page on facebook.

On behalf of the team at Evolution Studios, I’m here to bring news of the biggest update to MotorStorm Apocalypse so far! We’ve always known that feedback from players and continued development of the game post-launch would be a key ingredient, and we’re still committed to supporting this goal. Read on for an overview of the free After Party update that hits PSN tomorrow today. We hope will enhance and extend your enjoyment of the MotorStorm Apocalypse!

A New Day-and-Night Track: The Rock

The stage for this After Party is an abandoned prison island near the bay, known to the lunatic racers and ravers as The Rock. Multiple routes have been carved into the island’s varied terrain, so expect off-road racing action reminiscent of the legendary island in the Pacific Rift.

Expansion of ‘Special Events’

A heap of fresh single-player races, hand-crafted by the design talent at Evolution Studios, are being introduced via Special Events Packs. Each pack sees you play as a distinguished character from the Festival, offering the grand sum of 120,000 chips if you can take 1st place in six unique events. The first pack (Stone: Jack of Clubs) is included in the update. Further Events Packs will be available in coming weeks via PlayStation Store, for free.

Weekly Challenges

Weekly Challenges offer you a great opportunity to boost your chip total. There are 30,000 chips on the table every week and to claim them you’ll need to beat the specified target in a Rookie, Pro and Veteran challenge. Chips, if you didn’t already know, unlock new Ranks and rewards in the game, as well as several PlayStation Trophies.

The available races change at the same time every week (on a Wednesday), meaning that there are new challenges to take on and more chip rewards if you can beat them. Good luck!

Vehicle Performance Re-tuned

Feedback from the MotorStorm racing community, along with the game data and statistics we’ve analysed since the first day of online racing, highlighted that a number of vehicle types would benefit from a slight performance re-tune.

In response to this, changes have been made to several vehicle types to support more evenly balanced and competitive races. Most noticeably improved are the Supercar, Dirt Bike and Superbike classes. The Racing Truck, Muscle Car and ATV types have also been tweaked.

Game, Servers and Connectivity Improved

The update includes many ‘behind the scenes’ changes to the game and the online servers, to make the overall experience more robust and reliable. Important improvements have been made to online matchmaking lobbies, player profile records and leaderboard browsing.

The After Party is a healthy update to the game, which we hope will keep you entertained while we continue to develop another big update – which will include the Game Mode Editor, steering wheel support and several other surprises we’ve yet to announce. In the mean-time, enjoy the After Party, look forward to the free Event Packs on PlayStation Store and watch out for a refreshing change to the Matchmaking playlists soon.

Keep tabs on these along with upcoming community events on motorstorm.com and follow @PhenomEvolution on Twitter for all the latest on Apocalypse.

Cheers!

With online multiplayer back in full swing, legions of MotorStorm Apocalypse owners are already enjoying this chaotic racer’s enhanced 16-player races. But not so long ago, we solicited your MotorStorm Apocalypse questions via Twitter and posed them to Evolution Studios Art Director Simon O’Brien to get the full story.

Jeff learned more about the artificial intelligence improvements, why a certain degree of “rubber-banding” is necessary for competitive races, how epic events mid-race can upset your carefully laid plans, and how MotorStorm Apocalypse takes its multiplayer cues from online shooters in the form of deeply customizable vehicles and races. O’Brien also details how players earn XP in the form of “Chips” that unlock new emblems, vehicle parts, and other customization options that affect your racing style — whether it’s sneaky and strategic or fiercely aggressive.

Have you tried MotorStorm Apocalypse online? What’s your favorite track and game mode so far? Let us know in the comments!

Hello, PlayStation.Blog readers. We are definitely glad things are starting to get back to normal, and as part of that I wanted to remind you about little game called MotorStorm Apocalypse that hit stores this past May 3rd.

It’s got 40 chaotic levels to race through, 13 vehicle classes to customize and upgrade, split-screen play for up to four players locally, and a deep online matchmaking mode. Matt Southern, Game Director at Evolution Studios, talks about what you can expect in the online multiplayer mode they’ve cooked up. But first, here’s a new trailer featuring some of the praise the game has received from the gaming press so far.

And here’s Matt Southern, the Game Director for MotorStorm Apocalypse, to tell you more about the amazing online gameplay waiting for you in MSA.

Hi again everyone! It has been a difficult few weeks for both PlayStation and our dedicated users and followers. As fate would have it, the release of MotorStorm Apocalypse fell during the outage, and so some of you may have missed it. So if you were one of the people who did pick up MSA, then firstly thank you…and secondly, let’s finally get round to some online mayhem! And if you haven’t picked up the game yet, it’s not too late.

MotorStorm Apocalypse online multiplayer (part of a mode we call Wreckreation) offers many hours of gameplay and progression and is as feature-rich as we could possibly make it. Every powerslide, every bit of airtime, every ram, every finishing position (not just first!) wins you ‘chips’, and winning chips lets you progress through 80 ranks.

Rewards will absolutely cascade at you when you start moving through those ranks. New vehicle shapes, new vehicle parts like wheels, spoilers, graphics, decals and paint jobs are all unlocked with each rank. This of course means that you can drive a customized vehicle that shows at a glance how much progress you have made and how good you are at the game. You also unlock new player icons that do the same thing.

An aspect of our online game that is proving to be massive is the betting. Before every race you can pick a rival from the board and bet against them – each one is worth a different amount of chips based on their current form. If you beat them, you win those chips, and you can cash them in immediately to add to your total. But you can also choose to gamble those winnings, increasing the amount of chips available in the next race. Watch out though: any time you lose a bet, you lose everything you’ve earned up to that point.

So…if you keep beating the rivals, you can seriously increase your chip winnings, speed through the ranks, and unlock the cool gear at a tremendous rate. This simple mechanic means that rather than trying to win every race you can get rewarded just for beating one person, in whatever position they finish, making it a much more rewarding experience for useless n00bs like me.

Also – please note you can play four-player split screen in the living room; there has been some confusion about this. You can also play two-player split-screen at home against 14 others online, with dual logins. We’re really trying to make this one of the most feature-packed and rewarding online racers ever, inspired by the best online shooters, and hopefully you’ll give it a try and agree.

See you online!

To give you a taste as to what’s in store come May 3, take a look at our recent sit-down interview with Game Director Matt Southern as he talks about his vision for MotorStorm Apocalypse and how the game will deliver one of the best racing experiences to date on the PS3:

I’m also happy to reveal that every new copy of the game will include a voucher for the Premier Pack DLC bundle, which will give you two exclusive in-game vehicles and more (pictured below).

Gamespot recently gave the game an 8.5, saying the “destructive environments and excellent track design make MotorStorm Apocalypse one of the most exciting racing experiences on the PlayStation 3.” And IGN can’t wait for the game, saying “MotorStorm Apocalypse has me all revved up… Controls feel tight and the destruction is off the charts. Toss in how pretty this game is and how impressed I am with 3D… (It) can’t get here soon enough.” Look for more reviews for the US launch to start hitting soon as we get closer to launch.

There’s still plenty of time left before May 3 to pre-order your copy of the game and receive one of the exclusive Carbon Edition vehicles available. Choose from the supercar, rally car, or superbike. Each exclusive vehicle also comes with a sticker decal pack to trick out your in-game vehicles with the deep vehicle livery editor, as well as a unique dynamic theme and set of PSN avatars.

We’ll be posting more MotorStorm Apocalypse news between now and launch, including information about the upcoming demo and DLC plans, so stay tuned here to the PlayStation.Blog!

Similar to news already issued from our Japanese and European territories, SCEA can confirm that we are officially delaying release of MotorStorm Apocalypse from its scheduled April 12th date. We will provide more information regarding release timing at a later date.

The March episode of Qore covers some serious ‘must have’ titles. The lead story features fantasy role-player Dragon Age 2 as Veronica Belmont catches up with Bioware‘s co-founder Dr. Ray Muzyka and Lead Designer Mike Laidlaw as they walk through the story, combat, classes, and a revamped tactics system that should appeal to both RPG and action fans. And, the action is awesome. Don’t miss the different gameplay examples of the Warrior, Mage, and Rogue classes. Which one do you think is Veronica‘s favorite?

With inFAMOUS 2 set in a New Orleans-inspired city of New Marais, music will again be an integral part of the sequel. Audrey Cleo follows the making of this unique soundtrack managed by SCEA’s Jonathan Mayer who pulled together an eclectic collaboration between the funk jazz of Galactic and rock drummer Bryan “Brain” Mantia, By the way, the gameplay in this story is very, very fresh.

Itching to play a FFPS (Futuristic First Person Shooter)? Ready to try on a nano suit for your PS3? Now set in New York City, Crysis 2‘s got amazing graphics, sweet weapons, and a beefed-up nano suit that looks quite dashing in HD.

Motorstorm Apocalypse comes in from the jungle and goes urban in this rev’d up new version. Qore‘s preview shows off the epic new environments featuring new vehicles classes including muscle cars and choppers. It’s the end of the world and we’re driving just fine…

And, finally, Qore subscribers will have early access to the SOCOM 4 beta coming later this month to this episode’s download center. And, look for Qore’s full game preview of SOCOM 4 in next month’s April episode.

Note: This Beta is now available on the Download Center!

We hope you enjoy the March episode of Qore – presented by the PlayStation Network.