Last December, you voted Portal 2 In Motion the Best Use of PlayStation Move. Sixense is grateful for your support. But we have been hearing one question from you: “Where’s co-op?”

As a “thank you” from Sixense to the PS3 community, all owners of the Portal 2 In Motion DLC will receive Non-Emotional Manipulation, an all-new co-op campaign specifically designed for Playstation Move, for free. We are deploying the patch today via PSN, so if you own the Portal 2 In Motion DLC you’ll get this new co-op content for free, automatically.

If you don’t own Portal 2 and Portal 2 In Motion yet, both the game and the DLC will be on sale for 20% off starting today on the PlayStation Store. PlayStation Plus members will receive an additional 40% off the sale price.

Non-Emotional Manipulation builds off of the new motion mechanics introduced in the previous Portal 2 In Motion single-player campaigns, but now with an added co-op twist. You can play Non-Emotional Manipulation split-screen with two Playstation Move controllers, or online with a friend across the internet. And you can even cross-play with owners of the Portal 2 MotionPack on PC. So grab a friend and start testing!

Remember that if you own the Portal 2 In Motion DLC from Sixense, you’ll have the two award-winning single player campaigns plus the new co-op, all designed for PlayStation Move. If you just have Valve’s Portal 2, but haven’t yet purchased Portal 2 In Motion, you can play the entire game with native PlayStation Move support by Sixense, but you won’t have the motion-specific gameplay features, such as Portal Surfing, Scaling and One-to-One.

Thanks again to all of our fans who’ve made this free update possible. We can’t thank you enough. You deserve it!

Following the successful launch this January of arcade classic Mad Dog McCree, gamers have been asking us “Where’s Mad Dog 2 already?!” Well, we listened, and now I’m happy to say that you’ll be searching for ‘The Lost Gold’ this Tuesday with the release of Mad Dog 2 on PSN. We once again went back to the original video and gave it a fresh HD upgrade for this PlayStation Move release. So pick a guide and get ready to take down the ruthless outlaw Mad Dog McCree once and for all!

This release includes a bunch of extra features, much like its predecessor Mad Dog McCree. We bumped up the original video quality, and remastered it in 720p. We created a fresh new interface to give the game a true western feel. We’ve added all new difficulty modes, which will give even the fastest quickdraw a run for their money in their quest to take out Mad Dog — and post their high scores to the worldwide Leaderboards.

Now this might not be the toughest shooter you’ve played through recently, but the American Laser Game series was a huge hit throughout the 1990s. Arcades, pizza parlors and grocery stores all had these games waiting to eat your quarters, and all you wanted to do was show up your friends to see who was the best gunner. On top of the remastered video, leaderboards and fun trophies – we’ve also once again included the multiplayer party mode. We got such great feedback from you all from the first Mad Dog release that we made sure to include up to four players again, so everyone can get in to the action at once!

It’s easy to forget how far we’ve come in gaming tech over the years, but the Mad Dog series was a hilariously awesome stop along the way, and we really think you’ll have a laugh too! In fact, we’re releasing a fully unlockable trial experience so everyone with a PlayStation Move can give it try – free!

We love the good, the bad and the ugly (did you catch that?) when it comes to classic games, and we’re very excited to share Mad Dog 2: The Lost Gold with you. Whether you remember playing or are new to the American Laser Games series, go ahead and try out the PlayStation Move version of this arcade classic. If you have yet to play Mad Dog McCree, the first in the series, grab the free trial today and see what these games are all about!

Also available with this release on the PlayStation Store is a free XMB wallpaper, videos and a bunch of exclusive Mad Dog 2 Avatars! Check out all the goods and download your free trial next week!

Since we released Fast Draw Showdown a while back, classic arcade gamers have been begging us to revamp Mad Dog McCree and launch it on PSN. Well, we’re stoked to announce that ALG classic Mad Dog McCree — in all its FMV glory — will be releasing this Tuesday, January 22nd on PlayStation Store. We’ve completely remastered this shooter from the ground up, so get ready to unholster your PlayStation Move motion controller and take down that ruthless outlaw Mad Dog McCree!

This PS3 release includes a bunch of new features you could never get in the arcades. First off, the original video has been remastered in 720p and a fresh new interface was created to give a true western feel. Fresh difficulty modes will give even the fastest quickdraw a run to take out these vicious outlaws and post high scores to the worldwide Leaderboards.

Many gamers have fond memories of playing Mad Dog McCree in their local arcades and pizza shops, trying to show up their friends to see who the fastest gun is. Well, on top of the remastered HD video, leaderboards and Trophies, we’ve added a really fun multiplayer party mode so up to four players can get in to the action at once! Pull together a posse and find out who the best shot in the group really is.

Now many of you reading this are probably thinking “this game looks older than me” – and, well, you’re probably right! Mad Dog McCree essentially gave rise to the modern FPS titles we see today. But you probably won’t find a laugh-out-loud western shooter gaming experience anywhere else. In fact, we’re releasing a fully unlockable trial experience so everyone with a PlayStation Move can give it a shot for free!

We love classic games, and we’re very excited to share Mad Dog McCree with you. Whether you fondly remember playing, or are new to the American Laser Games series, go ahead and try out the PlayStation Move version of this arcade classic next week.

Also available on PlayStation Store are a free XMB wallpaper, videos and a bunch of exclusive Mad Dog Avatars. Check out all the goods and download your free trial next week. Relive the gunpowder glory of the Wild West with Mad Dog McCree – it’ll leave your PlayStation Move smokin’!

UPDATE: We want to thank all of you for all your enthusiasm and support. Special thanks to all our colleagues who gave us advice and contributed games, video testimonials, footage, photos, designs, music, help at events, and other support. We also want to thank the team at Sony’s Foster City office for championing the concept and making the PlayStation side of the project possible.

Hi PlayStation.Blog readers! Over the past few weeks, the Sportsfriends designers and I have been posting about the four indie multiplayer games that we’re hoping to bring to PS3 as one action-filled compendium.

We’ve exhibited all four games around the world at festivals and parties, and now we want to get them into your living room. But we need your support on Kickstarter to raise enough development funds. Today is the final day of our campaign!

So far, Noah Sasso has told you about BaraBariBall – a carefully balanced fighting game that plays like a stylized mix of Super Smash Brothers and volleyball.

Bennett Foddy, the creator of browser game classics like QWOP and GIRP, wrote about his head-to-head physics-based pole-vaulting game, Super Pole Riders.

Ramiro Corbetta told you about his popular 2v2 minimalistic sports game Hokra.

And I posted about Johann Sebastian Joust, a multi award-winning, no-graphics motion control game that uses PlayStation Move motion controllers and feels more like a 21st-century martial art than a videogame.

For us, Sportsfriends is a passion project. We believe that local multiplayer is a hugely rewarding way to play games, and we hope to demonstrate that it’s still viable for indies like us to develop these kinds of games. We love all sorts of videogames of course, but we feel like local multiplayer has been a bit overshadowed in the last decade with the rising popularity of online play.

Why local multiplayer? There’s nothing quite like playing games with your friends on the same couch or in the same physical space, yelling, laughing, trash-talking, and just plain old having a good time. There’s a certain magic playing in front of raucous crowd, or seeing the facial expressions of your opponents.

Think back to the console games you used to play in your friend’s basement, the playground games you improvised at school, or the games you played at the arcade. Those are the kinds of gaming experiences that have inspired Sportsfriends. We want to breathe new life into local multiplayer, taking it into the 21st century. We want to make deeply replayable games that will last the test of time. We want to call attention to what happens in front of the screen, between the human beings playing and spectating.

But today is the final day of our Kickstarter campaign, and we need your help to make it happen. Support us now and pre-order four extensively tested multiplayer games for PS3. Support local multiplayer!

As gaming résumés go, few can compare to that of Warren Spector. After starting his career on the fabled Wing Commander series back in 1990, he went on to work on massive franchises such as Ultima and System Shock, before re-inventing the stealth genre with Deus Ex and Thief. In short, he’s a true giant of game development.

And this week sees him return to the fray, with Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two – an ambitious sequel to his epic 2010 platforming adventure, packing in full co-op play and PlayStation Move support. The Junction Point founder was kind enough to lend PlayStation.Blog a few minutes of his valuable time to discuss the game – read on to find out what he had to say.

PlayStation.Blog: There are a lot of PlayStation gamers out there who might not be too familiar with the first game. What did they miss?
Warren Spector: What did they miss? Only the greatest game experience of all time! No, okay, seriously… what they missed was the reintroduction of Mickey Mouse as a game hero the equal of Mario, Sonic, Link or any other platforming or adventure star.

“Each player is the teller of his or her own story.”

They missed the return of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, Walt Disney’s first cartoon star – a great character who deserves better than to be forgotten. They missed what I hope was and is a unique combination of platforming and adventure game elements – with players getting to decide how the game felt and played.

They missed the “Deus Ex” choice and consequence idea applied to completely different genres – in Disney Epic Mickey games, each player is the teller of his or her own story, just as in Deus Ex and all the other games I’ve worked on.

They missed a cool story, a brand new game world and a trip down Disney Memory Lane. They missed all sorts of stuff!

And for those who did play it, what are the key improvements you’ve made for the sequel?
WS: Camera, camera, camera! The team worked really hard to enhance the camera system. And when I say “really hard” I mean “really hard!”. I think we did a better job of player direction – knowing where to go and what to do. Games should be about how to do stuff, not figuring out what stuff to do!

We’ve added full voice for all characters, some of whom even sing. We’ve taken the idea of choice and consequence to new levels – your play-style really matters this time around and your choices may have consequences that last forever and can’t be undone.

Oh, and we’ve added a little thing called two-player co-op. Now, one player takes the role of Mickey, with Oswald as an AI-controlled character, but at any point, a second player can sit down next to you and play as Oswald. It’s all about the Power of Two!

The camera was indeed one of the issues that came in for criticism last time. How have you refined it?
WS: We’ve worked non-stop on the camera since the day we shipped the first game. We made a ton of code changes – including always allowing manual control of camera, while working to ensure you don’t have to take manual control any more than necessary.

“Everything’s better this time around.”

The level builders – designers and artists – were way more experienced this time around building levels that were less likely to break the camera system. And we just understood the ramifications of changing the world, dynamically, with paint and thinner.

Everything’s better this time around. I’m sure you and your readers will tell us if everything’s better enough!

Developers often struggle introducing simultaneous co-op play – was making it work in Epic Mickey 2 a big challenge for you?
WS: I don’t think so, really. I mean, once the team decided to go with Oswald AI throughout the game, we didn’t have to design maps to work with and without Oswald. He was always going to be with you, even in single player.

And I’m not a fan of special modes of play – I mean, there’s no special co-op mode, or co-op story, or co-op specific missions. There’s just the game. Oswald’s there to help. Sometimes he’s AI controlled and sometimes he’s player controlled.

It wasn’t easy – I’d never say that… the team would kill me! But we have a great team at Junction Point, a team that really wanted to tackle the problem, rather than being told to tackle it. That makes a world of difference.

You’ve included PS Move support. Do you see that as the definitive way to enjoy the game?
WS: Well, there’s certainly a lot to be said for the combination of gestural control and high definition graphics! That’s as close to a “definitive” statement as I’m going to make!

We know you’re a huge Disney fan – have you managed to pack plenty of fan service into the sequel? What new characters can we expect to see?

“The entire team embraced their inner Disney geek.”

WS: The key isn’t that I’m a huge Disney fan; the key is that the entire team embraced their inner Disney geek. On the first game, there was a learning period where people who might not have been huge Disney experts became huge Disney experts. I pushed the team to find Disney inspiration for everything in the game but that battle was won on the first game. No need to fight it again. The whole team went after it, Disney-style, this time.

There’s plenty of “fan service” in Epic Mickey 2! As far as specifics go, especially new characters, let’s move on. I want players to discover that for themselves.

Epic Mickey 2 is a big, colourful title that seems both family-friendly but also deep enough for core gamers to enjoy. How hard is it striking a balance between the two?

WS: Man, making games at all is hard! Making games where “play-style matters” is even harder. Luckily, making games where players really get to decide how to interact with the world and the characters makes reaching a diverse audience a little easier. It sounds crazy, but it’s true.

The thing to remember is that, in most, if not all cases, if a player tries something – fighting or erasing or sneaking or platforming – and it isn’t working, or it’s too hard, or they’re not having enough fun, they can just try something else. When there’s more than one way to solve every game problem – or nearly every one – reaching players of different skill levels, different ages, with different interests, is kind of a given. But don’t underestimate how hard it is to make games that offer choices and real consequences! That’s the tricky bit…

Do you think younger gamers – or their parents – have enough choice these days? Epic Mickey 2 seems at odds with a number of the other big Christmas blockbuster releases…

“There’s an amazing amount of choice in games these days.”

WS: Honestly, I do think there’s an amazing amount of choice in games these days, if you look at the full range of platforms and distribution methods. I mean, if all you look at is console titles, sold at retail, then, sure, you might see a lot of games falling into a small handful of genres. But include digital distribution systems like PSN into things and the world looks a lot more diverse – in terms of content, gameplay, purchase price, commitment required, etc. Then, roll Facebook and browser-based games and iOS and Android games into your equation and the world of gaming is crazy broad.

Having said all that, I love the fact that Disney Epic Mickey 2 is one of the few truly family-oriented titles I see coming out this holiday season. And by ‘family-oriented’ I mean ‘of interest to everyone and anyone!’.

At long last, the very first title for the new Wonderbook peripheral, Wonderbook: Book of Spells, officially launches today in North America! The team at SCE London Studios worked hard to conjure up a truly amazing experience using the latest in augmented reality technology that combines Wonderbook with the PlayStation Eye camera. Starting today, you’ll be able to immerse yourself in the world of Harry Potter and begin learning the art of spell-casting while using your PlayStation Move motion controller as your magic wand. The book features new and original writing from J.K. Rowling, and will allow you to learn about the histories of some of the well-known spells from the Harry Potter series, as well as other interesting insights.

Over the past few months, we’ve shared that Wonderbook: Book of Spells unlocks the secrets of casting your favorite spells like Incendio, Wingardium Leviosa and Expelliarmus. Today, I’m excited to share that the book will also teach you a very powerful spell – Expecto Patronum! With this incantation, you’ll have the chance to discover the animal form of your very own Patronus, the manifestation of your positive thoughts and your best weapon to drive away attacks from Dementors. That’s just a small taste of the magic that we have in store for you!

To help celebrate the launch of Wonderbook: Book of Spells, we’re excited to give you a glimpse of the spellbinding experience in action in the new TV commercial (seen at the top of this post). Thanks for watching, and we hope that you enjoy checking out Wonderbook: Book of Spells with your families this festive season!

With the Portal 2 In Motion DLC releasing today, we’d like to share a little more about its content and development. The DLC now available on PSN is a campaign designed by our team at Sixense to take full advantage of the capabilities of the PlayStation Move controller. We started with all of the great features that already exist in Portal 2. Then we envisioned Portal 2 In Motion as a new game experience (including a new campaign) built for motion control – not just the addition of motion controls on top of existing gameplay that was designed for a traditional PS3 controller. So the result is a new gaming experience that requires new thinking and use of the PlayStation Move motion controller. We’ve included a video here that demonstrates the new features you’ll get when you buy the DLC. I’ll discuss these features a little more. I’ll also discuss at the end of this post the Move support for Portal 2 that we have implemented in the PSN downloadable version of the game and the patch for the Blu-Ray version, all of which is available today.

Sixense designed three new motion mechanics for Portal 2 In Motion and tuned them to feel like a natural extension of your body. The “One-to-One” mechanic allows the player to manipulate objects as if they were held in the player’s own hand. This means that when using One-to-One you can change the object’s position and orientation by moving and rotating the Move controller. This opened the door to a lot of new possibilities for our team in terms of puzzle design, which you’ll see in Portal 2 In Motion. It is very satisfying to reach out with the controller and redirect lasers with the Discouragement Redirection Cube to light up some poor Sentry Turrets.

The “Portal Surfing” mechanic is the ability to move and rotate a portal along a “portalable” surface. Portal Surfing allows you to change an object’s trajectory as it passes through a portal by rotating the portal. Spraying gel with a Move controller is quite a different experience than when using your typical input device.

The “Scaling” mechanic went through a number of iterations in development until we found a balance between required motion complexity and functionality. Scaling is performed by reaching out with the Move controller while holding a cube in the game, pressing the scaling button and moving the controller horizontally to increase or decrease the size of the cube. To scale along a different axis, the user rotates the cube prior to scaling. The mass of the object also scales with its size, allowing for plenty of satisfaction as you use giant objects to crush turrets or punch through glass.

Finally, for the basic aiming of the cursor in the game, we implemented the highly intuitive view mode that we call “Freeaim”. Freeaim uses the Move controller’s orientation to determine cursor position. The controller’s absolute position does not affect the rotation of the view, so the user can adjust the camera view using only small wrist movements. The result is a camera system that is much more fluid than using the analog stick on the traditional PS3 controller. We have a great demonstration of this in the video. With Freeaim, aiming and firing portals also becomes extremely natural and intuitive and the overall experience becomes much more immersive.

The features that I’ve described to this point are all included with the Portal 2 In Motion DLC. Because the patch and the downloadable Portal 2 are both releasing today, I want to make clear what is included in those products with regard to the work Sixense has done. Both the digital download Portal 2 and the patch include PlayStation Move support, meaning that the full single-player and co-operative Portal 2 campaigns can be played with Move, and users will be able to take advantage of the Freeaim mechanic to play (or replay) the game. You can even play split screen with both players using Move motion controllers. Only the Portal 2 In Motion DLC, however, includes the advanced mechanics of One-to-One, Portal Surfing and Scaling, as well as the new campaign consisting of test chambers that require the use of the new mechanics. The patch and Portal 2 on PSN do contain a short tutorial designed familiarize the user with the Move motion controller and the Freeaim feature. At the end of the tutorial, we provide a taste of the One-to-One feature that is otherwise exclusive to the Portal 2 In Motion DLC.

Check out the video, and experience Portal 2 In Motion today!

We gave the world a glimpse at E3 back in June, and now it’s official. On November 6th, 2012, Sixense will launch Portal 2 In Motion, a motion DLC campaign for Valve’s Portal 2 on PlayStation Move. Our development team at Sixense has applied our expertise in motion gaming to create what we believe will be the defining experience for PlayStation Move. The Portal 2 In Motion DLC will be priced at $9.99 on PSN. We’ll also have a special launch promotion of 30% off for PlayStation Plus members.

Those who are familiar with Sixense know that over the past few years we have focused on delivering motion gaming experiences that are intuitive and natural for users. We are excited to now work with Sony and Valve to deliver content that takes advantage of the advanced motion tracking of the PlayStation Move. Portal 2 In Motion introduces gameplay mechanics, including scaling and rotation of objects as well as portal surfing. These new abilities are all required as the player progresses through an increasingly challenging set of test chambers that look familiar from Portal 2, but require new thinking to solve.

We are timing the release of Portal 2 In Motion to coincide with Valve’s release of Portal 2 for digital download on PlayStation Network, which now includes PlayStation Move support (implemented by Sixense) for the entire single-player and cooperative campaigns. PS Plus members will also receive 30% off on Portal 2 when it launches on PSN. Owners of Portal 2 on Blu-Ray will receive PlayStation Move support through a free patch, which will provide a touch of the motion experience provided by Sixense. While the original Portal 2 campaigns will be fully playable with PlayStation Move, only Portal 2 In Motion features the gameplay mechanics designed by Sixense specifically for motion.

We hope that Portal 2 In Motion will mark the beginning of much more to come! Look for everything on November 6th!

Happy Halloween, everyone! This is an exciting day for all of us on the Until Dawn team with our minds occupied by ghouls, beasts, and other things that go bump in the night. We love teen-horror movies (“DON’T OPEN THAT DOOR,” we cry… but alas, they always do). That’s why we’re so excited about Until Dawn: this game provides a truly interactive teen-horror experience!

Until Dawn puts you in control of eight teenagers, stranded in a remote location, under threat and trying with all their might to survive ’til sunrise. Since today is Halloween, we have a special treat from Supermassive Games hinting at some of the scariest moments in the game. Don’t worry: no spoilers here.

Even though you won’t see any spoilers, eagle-eyed viewers may spot some details that spark lingering questions. Who owns the items on the wall? Are the pictures portraying past victims or those who remain? You’ll have to wait for Until Dawn to arrive on PS3 in 2013 to find out!

Stay safe tonight and have a Happy Halloween!

At long last I’m pleased to share that the great goddess Amaterasu is ready to save the world once again! Ōkami HD is launching on PSN today in North America and will be available to download for $19.99 later today with the PlayStation Store update.

In case anyone needs it, here’s a quick refresher on all the things we’ve added to Ōkami HD:

• The critically acclaimed classic brought to new life on PS3
• Full native 1080p visuals brings Ōkami’s stunning visuals into the HD era
• PlayStation Move motion controller support allows players to enjoy the celestial brush in new and intuitive ways
• Trophy Support, including a Platinum trophy, gives players all new challenges to complete

I’d like to extend a big thanks to the PSN community as well as PlayStation.Blog for all their support for Ōkami HD. Your support helped make this project happen and it is greatly appreciated! I can say for myself that this title was hands down the most fun I’ve had working on any project here at Capcom. I hope you all enjoy the game as much as we’ve enjoyed bringing it to you.

Check out our launch trailer above. Will you be picking up Okami HD today? If so, will you be playing on DualShock or PlayStation Move?