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October 16th PlayStation Plus Update

PAYDAY: The Heist

Free for PlayStation Plus Members

Dive full force into six heists of co-op madness, fighting off cops, stealing large sums of money and embarking on the ultimate high-intensity, first-person shooter adventure. You can play all the ‘heists’ solo if you like, or team up with friends on your friends list, or get your matchmaking on and work together as a group to pull off the crime.

The Unfinished Swan

Exclusive Early Release; Price: $14.99

The Unfinished Swan is a first-person painting game that begins in a totally white space; but as you throw globs of paint to explore the world, you’ll discover that the surreal, unfinished world that you inhabit is more than meets the eye. Plus members will get to be the first to discuss what this game is all about with the gaming community; so don’t miss out. The game will be released for all of PSN on 10/23.

PlayStation All Stars Battle Royale

Exclusive Beta Access

It’s time! We need your help in getting PlayStation All Stars Battle Royale prepped for showtime when it releases on PS3 and PS Vita on November 20th. Get a taste of the full game with 2v2 and 4 player online tournaments and choose from Kratos, Sweet Tooth, Radec, Sly, PaRappa and Fat Princess as you fight in Metropolis or Hades for victory. You’ll also get to check out the Cross Play functionality since this beta access works for both PS3 and PS Vita! The beta ends at 10/30 at 11:59pm PST, so get in while you can!

007 Legends

10% Discount (Regular Price: $59.99, PS Plus Price: $53.99)

As part of the door busting Day 1 Digital event, Plus members can snag the lowest price around on this new PS3 Full Game title, releasing the same day on PSN as it is at retail. Gamers and Bond aficionados alike will become James Bond reliving iconic and intense undercover missions from throughout the entire Bond film franchise including ones from the upcoming new Bond movie, “Skyfall”.

Caravan of the Dead – PlayStation Store Halloween Sale

Various (spooky) Games and Add-Ons With Extra Discounts for Plus Members

Time to celebrate Halloween with some of gaming’s most outlandishly ghoulish titles. This sale is for all of PSN, but Plus members will have the best discounts; many from 50% – 75% off the regular price. Find great games like the Costume Quest complete bundle for just $3.75, inFAMOUS Festival of Blood at a steal of a price at $2.50, and Dead Space 2 at $9.79. The sale ends 10/30. Here’s the full breakdown:

Game	PSN Sale Price	Plus Sale Price
Dead Space 2	$13.99	$9.79
Call of Duty: Black Ops Rezurrection: Content Pack	$10.49	$7.34
Dead Rising 2 Off The Record	$13.99	$9.79
Plants vs. Zombies PS Vita	$10.49	$7.34
Resident Evil Operation Raccoon City	$34.99	$24.49
Tales From Space: Mutant Blobs Attack	$5.59	$3.91
The House of the Dead Bundle	$21.99	$15.39
Zen Pinball 2 PS Vita Monsters Bundle (The Paranormal, Sorcerer’s Lair and Plants vs. Zombies)	$5.99	$4.19
AMY	$4.99	$2.50
Costume Quest complete bundle	$7.49	$3.75
Dead Nation	$7.49	$3.75
Ghostbusters: Sanctum of Slime	$2.49	$1.25
inFAMOUS Festival of Blood	$4.99	$2.50

Monster World IV (Plus Price: $1.00 – 80% off) and SEGA Rally Arcade (Plus Price $2.99 – 70% off the regular store price of $9.99)

Exclusive Discounts for Plus Members

Our friends at SEGA once again deliver gaming goodness at a price you can’t resist. With the Master System classic Monster World IV and the more recent arcade hit SEGA Rally Arcade seeing deep discounts. I encourage everyone to check out these titles.

That’s it for this week. Make sure you check out tomorrow’s PlayStation Store update post to see all the details for this week’s Plus update, and come back next week when we’ll have more great Plus news to share. See you in the comments!

Attention PAYDAY crew! Wolfpack, the first PSN downloadable content for PAYDAY: The Heist, is coming to North America next Tuesday, August 7th.

We’ve been busy casing some new jobs for you, with Wolfpack featuring two never-before-seen epic heists – Undercover and Counterfeit. The Undercover heist forces players to drive away the pesky police interrupting a back alley deal, while the Counterfeit heist pressures players to use silenced weapons to keep whistle-blowing civilians from escaping an underground money printing gig. If they tell the 5-0, they’ll blow the whole operation!

We’re also arming you with new weapons and crewmembers to ensure the job goes smoothly. These new heists require advanced skills, but award bigger payouts. Key features of the Wolfpack DLC include:

New Weapons: Spray some lead on the move with the all-new auto handgun and assault rifle, or blow away tenacious foes with the shiny new grenade launcher. Need someone to watch your back? Release the deployable sentry gun to take out your enemies.

The Technician: Based on the character Wolf, the technician is a man who knows how to get things done. With a new skill set and equipment, the technician is a techno-sociopath using the sentry-gun and tool kit.

One Pays, All Play: Got friends in high places? If you are tight on cash until the next score, all you need is a friend with the content. The new heists can only be hosted if you own the DLC, but anyone with the base game can join for free.

Just When You Think You’re Out: With all-new Trophies and a raised level cap, there will be a lot more for you to brag about.

The Wolfpack DLC pack will be available in the US for $9.99. Check out the PAYDAY The Heist website for more info.

Thanks again for your support; looking forward to the in-game action!

Dive full force into six heists of co-op madness, fighting off cops, stealing large sums of money and embarking on the ultimate high-intensity, first-person shooter adventure. To kick-off launch, take a look at the never before seen Heat Street Heist trailer (which might look familiar to some of you movie buffs):

In case you missed them previously, here’s the entire series of heist trailers…

• Slaughterhouse – View the trailer that highlights one of the most difficult heists featured in the game. Click here for trailer.
• Green Bridge – Intense bridge explosions, mass destruction and lots of casualties all in the hopes of a successful prisoner escape over the deep sea. Click here for trailer.
• Diamond Heist – Stealthily commandeer a caper of the worlds’ most precious stones. Click here for trailer.
• Panic Room – Burst onto the seedy scene of a deal gone bad and blast out the roof in order to retrieve the big bucks. Click here for trailer.
• First World Bank – Sweet talk your way into the vault and grab the goods in the classic First World Bank Heist. Click here for trailer.

Check out the PAYDAY: The Heist website for more info. Thanks again for your patience and support. I’m looking forward to the in-game action!

SOE and the OVERKILL team have worked diligently to develop and create a game with the highest quality of content – which will give players continued replayabilty and hours of complex, death-defying heists in a never-ending pursuit of the next big score. We can’t wait for the launch of this highly anticipated game and are even more excited for players and fans to finally enjoy PAYDAY The Heist together online. Once again, SOE would like to thank the loyal community for your patience and assure you that this will be worth the wait!

In the meantime, feel free to check out the all-new Slaughterhouse trailer above that highlights one of the most difficult heists featured in the game. Check out the PAYDAY: The Heist website for more info.

Thanks again for your continued support! Gear up to seize the game on October 18th.

With this in mind, SOE and the talented OVERKILL team have decided to push PAYDAY’s official launch day to later in October, ensuring the overall game quality and potential score for all heist team members.

Not a PAYDAY crew member yet and hoping to get in on the loot? SOE has extended PRE-ORDERS – which have been excellent to date – to gather an even larger body of potential crew to co-operate with at launch!

For our established crew members, PAYDAY will still be awarded to those who purchased all four PSN titles in our inaugural PlayStation Network PLAY event, according to the terms of that program.

Your continued loyalty and patience with the game’s further development is very much appreciated, we truly believe your first heist will be worth the wait. SOE recognizes the demand for quality from PlayStation® players and looks to meet this head on with the upcoming launch of PAYDAY: The Heist.

To feed your inner convict until the big day, check out the official PAYDAY: The Heist site for more info: http://www.PAYDAY-TheHeist.com/

We’ll meet you all at our set location via the PlayStation Network later this month! Stay tuned for updates!

Recently, Dylan Jobe detailed LightBox Interactive’s plans for Fantastic Fest 2011, Austin’s independent sci-fi/horror/fantasy film and gaming festival. He also showed off some badass new Starhawk space footage. You should watch it.

Today, we can reveal the full truth: PlayStation will serve as Fantastic Fest’s exclusive videogame company, and we’ll be holding court at The HighBall Club and Lounge. You’re invited! RSVP here. As Dylan mentioned, the LightBox team will be holding Starhawk tournaments on Thursday, September 22nd starting at 5:00pm. Additionally, you’ll be able to go hands-on with some of our hot upcoming PSN indie games like Journey, Okabu, Closure, and Retro/Grade, PlayStation Move titles like Deadmund’s Quest and Everybody Dance and SOE’s Sideway, Rochard, and Payday: The Heist.

Even better, you’ll have the chance to meet the devs, many of whom you’ve seen here on the Blog. Even Q-Games’ resident artist/DJ Baiyon is making the trip from Kyoto to spin PixelJunk 4am for you. There’ll be prizes and tasty beverages, all for the low, low price of FREE.

You in?

The Details

Date: Thursday, September 22nd (RSVP here!)
Time: 5-8pm (capacity is limited, so please arrive a bit early)
Location: The Highball Club and Lounge, 1142 S. Lamar Blvd, Austin, TX (map)

Playable games:

• Journey
• PixelJunk SideScroller
• PixelJunk 4am (formerly PixelJunk Lifelike)
• Okabu
• Eufloria
• Papo & Yo
• Closure
• Retro/Grade
• Sideway: New York
• Payday: The Heist
• Rochard
• Starhawk
• Medieval Moves: Deadmund’s Quest
• EyePet & Friends
• Carnival Island
• LittleBigPlanet 2 PlayStation Move Pack
• Everybody Dance

You must be 18 or older to attend – please bring your ID! If you’re in the Austin area – I’m talking to you, Dallas/Houston/San Antonio gamers! – please join us. We’d be happy to meet you. Now RSVP here!

UPDATE: We’re also holding two free panels for Fantastic Fest:

PlayStation Network Developer Panel: Game creators speak about working in and out of the gaming industry. Panelists include Queasy Games (Sound Shapes), thatgamecompany (Journey, Flower, Flow), and Q-Games (PixelJunk) to name a few. Click here for more details.

Storytelling and Development in Videogames and Film: Feature film writers and writers of the game Starhawk will discuss storytelling and development in videogames and crossing over with film. Click here for more details.

Here, creative director Simon Viklund explains PAYDAY’s level-up system and customization, and the importance of co-operation in a heist.

Of note: these missions are pretty lengthy. My World Bank playthrough took 28 minutes to complete, though it was with first-timers. Viklund estimates between 15 and 30 minutes of gameplay per playthrough of each of PAYDAY’s six missions.

PAYDAY: The Heist will be available for download on PSN this October 4th for $19.99. That price drops to ZERO if you purchase the rest of the PSN Play lineup. Click here for more info.

Rochard puts you in the shoes of astro-miner John Rochard as he uses his wits and everyday mining tools to fend off space pirates. You must save his team of missing miners and solve the mystery behind the discovery of an ancient alien artifact. The tools and crazy space gravity make for awesome puzzles, but it’s Rochard’s snarky sense of humor that really drew us to this game. Rochard will be available September 27th for download on PSN for $9.99.

PAYDAY: The Heist throws you straight into the action with high-stake heists, including bank robberies, prisoner extractions and armored car hijackings, you are forced to work as a team to control incredibly intense situations. This is a great game to play with a band of friends in search of the ultimate score. PAYDAY: The Heist will be available October 4th for download on PSN for $19.99.

The game can also be pre-ordered from September 20th until September 28th on the PlayStation Network and is included in the PSN PLAY program, which showcases the season’s hottest titles. PlayStation Plus subscribers will receive an automatic 20% off every PLAY program purchase. Additionally, DLC expansions will be released later this year.

Sideway: New York puts players in the role of Nox, a graffiti artist sucked into a twisted graffiti world, where you to explore the backstreets of New York City and navigate through a 2D adventure platformer set in a 3D world. While the task at hand is to defeat Nox’s nemesis Spray, it’s a blast using window ledges, drainpipes or graffiti tags to navigate around corners and onto rooftops of the city. Sideway: New York’s soundtrack brings an underground hip-hop vibe, which perfectly matches the theme of the game. Sideway: New York will be available October 11th for download on PSN for $9.99.

We’re really proud of all the effort and hard work that went into developing each of these games. Each game offers something unique and innovative for players and we know you’ll enjoy them as much as we have. So, if you’re lucky to be in Germany and at gamescom, please stop by and say hi to us in Hall 7, Booth 1. If not, check out these cool new videos and screen shots!

After going hands on with PAYDAY, media referred to it as “Left 4 Dead with Banks” and “My favorite discovery of E3.” With the game’s release scheduled for later this year, we had some questions of our own. Fortunately, OVERKILL obliged, with creative director Simon Viklund providing detailed answers about the game, as well as this new trailer.

PlayStation.Blog: What was the inspiration for PAYDAY: The Heist? Why was it important to focus on four-player co-op and not going the Left 4 Dead route with 4 v 4?

Simon Vicklund, OVERKILL Software: The idea came from way back – a pet project of sorts for the guys on the team. Part of what eventually caused us to start working on the project was the profound truth that Dane Cook shared when he said that “every guy wants to be part of a heist” – we realized how incredibly accurate that statement is, haha. Then of course, a lot of inspiration came from several epic Hollywood movie movies such as “Heat”, “The Dark Knight” and “Die Hard”. There’s also an ambush sequence in one of the heists that is inspired by a scene in “Clear and Present Danger” – but you get to be the guys that are doing the shooting!

PSB: Casing the bank pre-heist: Is it purely for atmospheric effect, or can you use it to your advantage in any way?

Simon: While it definitely adds to the anticipation of the heist there is of course a tactical aspect to casing the joint. The more information you can gather before letting the cat out of the bag, the better. In order to actually start the bank robbery you need to put your mask on and draw your weapon – and within a certain time from that point, the police will show up. So you’ll be “ahead of the game,” so to speak, if you have already scouted the place and know where the guards and cameras are, and where the bank manager – who you need to find – is located. Random elements make this a worthwhile approach every time you play the First World Bank Heist, and there are other heists with similar intro sequences. Other heists are even more dependent on sneaking and scouting. We have a Diamond heist where casing is even more important as you’ll be taking out alarms, avoiding laser beams and sneaking around guards.

PSB: You’ve mentioned that PAYDAY has “endless replayability.” How widely can individual heists vary? In what kinds of ways?

Simon: The objectives in the heist remain the same; the way you achieve those objectives can be different from play-through to play-through. It’s not just the pacing of the attack waves and the enemy’s entry points that change, but also things like the behavior of NPCs and their tactics. Certain people you need to locate are always found in different places, a bag of C4 dropped from a helicopter sometimes lands on the roof, sometimes in the back alley, etc. There’s a heist we call “Slaughterhouse” in which you shoot at an armored car to make it stop. Depending on when you manage to stop the armored car, its final position will differ – and that greatly effects how the rest of the scenario plays out! Another element that adds to the replayability is the statistics that measure your success during a heist: How many civilians did you kill? How fast did you complete the heist? You can decide to try to do a “clean hit” and complete the level without killing any civilians, or simply polish your completion time. On top of this there are four difficulty settings, and while your are playing the game you constantly get new weapons and toys that you make you want to try new tactics in each heist: What if I set up trip mines here? What if I put a bag of extra ammo there? The scenarios weave into the hub style level design in such complex ways that seeminly small decisions can make a great impact.

PSB: You can tie down civilians to take them out of commission — why is crowd control important? Will civilians ever attack you or impede you?

Simon: First and foremost, civilians are important to the game from a thematical perspective. If you rob a bank, there will be customers there, and that’s something you’ll have to deal with. Civilians can be an asset to you, as you can use them to trade with the police – but if you kill civilians you will be penalized.

PSB: There’s a “call out” button that you can use to communicate with your buddies and A.I.s. This is an interesting choice, why did you make it?

Simon: Civilians will panic and start running around if you don’t “remind” them that they need to stay low, and if they run around they tend to get shot – and you don’t want that. This is a great marriage between a thematical concept and a gameplay mechanic, and it also adds a sense of chaos to the experience that makes it all even more exciting. The same button can also be used to shout at police officers to try to intimidate them and make them drop their weapons, or certain character that you need to urge forward and move from point A to point B. Shouting and communicating in general is a big part of PAYDAY, so each of the four heistmen has well over 2000 phrases.

PSB: You can trade hostages to reclaim captured comrades. How does it work? Does it have a downside?

Simon: As mentioned earlier, our aim has been to incorporate all the concepts that you associate with bank robberies and heists – such as civilians, shouting and taking control over a place, and also taking hostages and trading them with the police. If you lose all your health in PAYDAY you don’t die but are rather taken into custody – and although you are automatically released after five minutes, your teammates can speed up the process by trading you for a hostage. We don’t want any stiff menus or other tedious negotiation functions that interrupt the action, so the entire trading process in the game is very streamlined. The police are only willing to trade between their assault waves, so when an assault wave is over your accomplice on the radio informs you that a trade opportunity is open. One of the hostages you’ve taken will be highlighted and your teammate will be released from custody (and respawn right beside you) as soon as you run up to that highlighted hostage and release him/her. As you understand, the civilians are sort of your “extra lives” in the game, so you want to keep them alive for possible future trade needs.

PSB: There are three main classes: Assault, sharpshooter, and support. What makes them differ in terms of tactics and behavior? Are some classes better suited to certain roles, such as crowd control?

Simon: There are actually no classes in the game – we don’t want to limit players to classes. “Assault”, “Support” and “Sharpshooter” are the categories in which we divide our upgrades – they are each a branch in the upgrade tree. If you level-up on the “Assault” branch you’ll get weapons upgrades that are suitable for an “Assault” style of playing; shotguns, more health, etc. If you level-up on the “Support” branch you’ll get stuff that’s suitable for a “Support” style of playing; machine guns, bags of extra ammo, etc. Similarly, leveling up on the “Sharpshooter” branch rewards you with the semi-automatic assault rifle, trip mines, etc. You can change from branch to branch at any point during the gameplay, and the game always shows you what the next upgrade is on each branch, so you’re pretty much picking and choosing what you want as the next upgrade. Again, the Assault/Support/Sharpshooter names are a way to categorize the upgrades *before* you acquire them, but once you actually *have* them you can mix and match as you want and aren’t limited to any class system. There are a total of 144 weapons, upgrades and perks in the game – and more will be coming in DLC!

PSB: Can you spend your earnings to enhance your character or equipment in any way, or does the cash have any long-term benefit? Can you enhance and improve your character in any way?

Simon: You character improves through the weapons, equipment and upgrades you acquire by collecting cash and leveling up on the upgrade tree. The money you collect from each heist also has a prestige value and there will be trophies connected to stealing large amounts of cash. There is a definitely a Trophy for getting a Billion dollars!

PSB: Does the grandeur of the banks increase over the six heist locations? Can you discuss the highest-level challenges?

Simon: You pick your own order in which you complete the heists – we have kind of a “party game” approach where everything is availaible from the beginning. This is because we want you to be able to play the game together with your friends no matter when they started playing the game. There is however a progression of difficulty from one heist to the next. The First World Bank and Street Heists are considered more straight-forward and are available in a an easy difficulty setting that isn’t available for the other heists. Then there are three heists that we consider to be “intermediate” in difficulty, and they are all available in the difficulty settings above “easy”. Finally, there’s the “crown jewel” in your criminal career, the centerpiece on your shelf of accomplishments: The Diamond heist – this heist is only available in the two hardest difficulty settings (“hard” and “OVERKILL”). So, you take on the heists in any order you want to, but we suggest you play the easier ones and gain some skills and gear, and then take on the harder ones later on. Or just join an experienced crew, haha.

PSB: What kinds of security systems will you encounter, and how can they thwart your mission? What’s needed to overcome them?

Simon: The foundation of the gameplay can be summed up as “outsmarting law enforcers to get the money”, so all peripheral game mechanics converge into that in one way or another – that goes for security systems as well. In the bank there are cameras, and if you take them out the SWATs won’t be able to use as many entry points as they would have if the cameras were intact. The Diamond heist has patrolling guards and laser beams that you need to stay clear of to not set off the alarm (you can complete a great part of the heist by sneaking around unseen). Doors and gates can of course also be seen as security systems, and getting through them with saws and drills takes time – during which you need to survive the constant onslaught of law enforcers. The defenders of the law make a veritable army of police officers, FBI agents, SWATs and heavy SWATs – all with their own behavior and approach to taking you down. SWATs and heavy SWATs, for example, are armored and storm in fearlessly where bank guards and regular police officers are more careful. There are also special units like the SWAT with the riot shield that you need to flank to take down, and the guy in the bomb suit with the massive shotgun who just steamrolls into any situation and just owns everybody.

PSB: What happens when you successfully complete a heist? Is there a final “getaway” sequence? Do you choose your next target?

Simon: When you reach the escape vehicle you are in the clear. Take a breather and read the stats: How much money did you collect? How many headshots did you get? How do your stats compare to the rest of the team? Then, in line with the previously mentioned “party game” approach, you are taken back to the lobby where you can of course choose to give the heist a go again. Often you level up and get new weapons in the result screen (from the cash bonuses you get) and that makes you want to play another game just to try that new weapon out – trust me, this is a game that’s hard to put away! There is always the next score… right!?!?

Hollywood heist movies are, quite simply put, awesome. The high-stakes hits, epic firefights and scene stealing showdowns make for some of the most adrenaline-pumping excitement on the silver screen. But these sort of over-the-top crime capers are not exactly what you would call “legal,” so we here at OVERKILL Software came up with a solution for all you fans out there that want to take up arms and take down a big hit … PAYDAY: The Heist.

PAYDAY: The Heist is an action-filled first person shooter for the PlayStation Network that lets you take on the role of a hardened career criminal executing intense, dynamic heists in constant pursuit of the next “big score”. Navigate diverse urban settings with three partners in crime — controlled by either AI or your best buddies in co-op multiplayer — and load out with an array of weaponry and equipment as you launch a spectacular crime spree through six high-stake heists, including banks robberies, prisoner extractions and armored car hijackings.

Whether you’re blowing the roof off a building to steal a safe with a helicopter or emptying the vault at the First World Bank, our action-packed heists will have players on edge and always checking their six. Dynamic environments, adaptive enemy behavior, shifting entry points, FBI agents repelling down on ropes through the skylights, SWAT teams crashing through the windows and special units crawling through the ventilation shafts makes each play-through of every heist a unique fight. Players choose a specialty — assault, sharpshooter or support — to earn weapons and equipment that fit their preferred form of violence. Meet all your objectives and gain experience to unlock trip mines, silenced pistols, machine guns and much, much more.

If this excites your trigger fingers, check out the exclusive first preview and trailer right now on IGN.com! We will officially be unveiling PAYDAY: The Heist next week in the Sony Online Entertainment booth at the E3 industry trade show, so be on the lookout for more exciting news and gameplay to come!