When we first began work on Lumines Electronic Symphony, we envisioned a game that would take Lumines players through a diverse but unified sampling of electronic music. This would allow us to entertain players and expose them to some amazing music. With that in mind, we gathered together a diverse array of artists who would collectively compose our “electronic symphony.” Below is the full list of artists and songs that will make up the 33-licensed tracks in Lumines Electronic Symphony:

• “4 AM” – Kaskade
• “Aganju” – Bebel Gilberto
• “Always Loved A Film” – Underworld
• “Apollo Throwdown” – The Go! Team
• “Automatons” – Anything Box
• “Autumn Love” – SCSI-9
• “Bang Bang Bang” – Mark Ronson & The Business
• “Celebrate Our Love” – Howard Jones
• “Close (To The Edit)” – Art of Noise
• “Disco Infiltrator” – LCD Soundsystem
• “Dissolve” – The Chemical Brothers
• “Embracing The Future” – B.T.
• “Flyin’ Hi” – Faithless
• “Good Girl” – Benny Benassi
• “Gouryella” – Gouryella
• “Hey Boy Hey Girl” – The Chemical Brothers
• “Higher State of Consciousness” – Wink
• “In My Arms” – Mylo
• “Kelly Watch The Stars” – Air
• “Moistly” – LFO
• “Out Of The Blue” – System F
• “Pacific 707” – 808 State
• “Played-A-Live (The Bongo Song)” – Safri Duo
• “Rocket (Tiesto Remix)” – Goldfrapp
• “Sunriser (Publicmind Remix)” – Ken Ishii
• “Superstar” – Aeroplane
• “The Future of the Future (Stay Gold)” – Deep Dish
• “The Sun Rising” – The Beloved
• “What’s Your Number” – Ian Pooley
• “Windowlicker” – Aphex Twin
• “Wolfgang’s 5th Symphony” – Wolfgang Gartner
• “Wooden Toy” – Amon Tobin
• “Yesterday When I Was Mad (Jam & Spoon Mix)” – Pet Shop Boys

Finally, to end the game on a beautiful note, we enlisted the aid of Orbital’s “Never” to close out the credits of Lumines Electronic Symphony.

Now that we’ve announced the full tracklisting for Lumines Electronic Symphony, not only is this the perfect opportunity to delve deeper into the musical direction behind the game, but we’ve also reached out to some of the artists featured in Electronic Symphony to comment on their inclusion in Q Entertainment’s love letter to electronic music. That’s how ambitious our scope was when we set out to compile a sampling of the finest electronic musicians in the world in one game. In the end, we managed to do a pretty good job covering all the bases in a span of 34 songs.

Our goal was simple. We wanted to tell a story through sound. With this in mind, our song selection was done to replicate a groovy lounge instead of trying to develop a non-stop 140BPM megamix. The soundtrack is designed to rise and fall like waves, giving the player both rhythm and respite, which would feel like a musical journey.

Even more exciting than announcing this soundtrack is hearing some of the reactions from the artists that are being featured in our game. Joining us in the celebration of Lumines Electronic Symphony’s soundtrack announcement are Benny Benassi, SCSI-9, The Go! Team and Howard Jones.

Benny Benassi

James Mielke: We’ve included your song ‘Good Girl’ in Lumines because we love your distinctive electronic sound. How do you feel about your music being in a video game? Are you looking forward to playing it?

Benny Benassi: Hi, I’m here in the studio with my cousin, Alle Benassi, who is my producer and musician. We want to answer these questions together as they also concern the production. Thanks for the compliments and support! We are really happy that the track is in the video game. The music and the game are both forms of electronic entertainment, so it makes sense, for sure. And yes, we’re looking forward to trying out the game!

JM: With Sony’s PlayStation Vita coming out, are you excited to get your music in front of millions of gamers who may discover your music for the first time?

BB: This is one of the amazing ‘side effects’ of this kind of exploitation of our music. It’s a way to reach people who don’t normally go to clubs or listen to club music. It’s really exciting.

SCSI-9 (Electronic duo from Russia)

James Mielke: Is this your first time a song of yours has been licensed into a video game? If so, do you also play video games, and how does it feel to have your song Autumn Love included?

SCSI-9: So far we know about it only by email, so it stays a bit abstract right now. But, at some point people we know will play the game and – huh ?! – “This is SCSI-9 …?!” They will probably call us and that’s where the fun begins. But, seriously, this is great news. Videogames have developed into a really powerful dimension of graphics, production, SFX and music as well. This is the first time we’ve licensed a tune for a game, so we are quite happy.

JM: This LUMINES game is a collection of some of the greatest electronic music of the past 30 years. Your song is included along with groups like Faithless, The Chemical Brothers, Underworld, The Art of Noise, Goldfrapp, and more. Do you think this is a cool way to expose your music to a new International audience?

SCSI-9: Exactly. Today the flood of music is so immense that you will appreciate any opportunity to promote your music. We rarely get international airplay on TV or radio so it’s great that Lumines can give us a lift to somebody’s mind.

THE GO! TEAM

(replied to by main songwriter, Ian Parton)
James Mielke: We included your song Apollo Throwdown in our game, because it has an incredibly uplifting atmosphere, a great beat and a funky rap. It’s actually quite a standout in the game’s soundtrack as a result. How do you feel about our selection of this song for the game, and what’s the inspiration of the song?

IP: I wanted to make Apollo Throwdown a kind of warped space-age old school hip-hop song. It’s quite strange and unmistakably The Go! Team, I think. There’s girl gangs, a strange flute through a delay pedal and even a Bollywood string section going on….

JM: We put your song ‘Bottle Rocket’ in Lumines II. Are you excited to introduce your music to a whole new generation of gamers in Lumines Electronic Symphony? We are!

IP: Yes, I always like it when Go! Team music is used on creative stuff and the LUMINES game looks real nice. It’s cool when you’re introducing yourself to a bunch of people who might never have heard you otherwise

Howard Jones

James Mielke: I don’t know if any of your songs have ever been used in a videogame before, but how do you feel about people discovering your music through games? Do you think ‘Celebrate Our Love’ is a good introduction to people who may not be familiar with your work?

HJ: I think a few pieces have been used in games before but nothing from the Revolution of the Heart album. I am very pleased that you see quality music as a priority in the gaming experience. I love all the tracks on ROTH and I think Celebrate Our Love is a great introduction to the album.

JM: Did you play video games during the 80s arcade craze? Wondering what your thoughts are on games in general and whether game music is anything you’d be interested in composing. Gaming consoles allow composers to do a lot with sounds these days.

HJ: I was a big Space Invaders, Asteroids, and Galaxians fan and then bought a Defender machine. Unfortunately I ended up playing it so much I had to give it away so that I could get on with some music! I also enjoyed the problem-solving games like Myst. I am interested in all new ways of interacting with music.

In Michael Jackson The Experience, you’ll experience the King of Pop’s chart-topping tracks as you draw shapes and tap on both of PS Vita’s multi touch pads to the beat and choreography of the Michael Jackson avatar. You’ll play through 15 HD scenes inspired by Michael Jackson’s iconic music videos and short films, including “Smooth Criminal”, “Thriller”, “Remember the Time” and many more, all with high-definition quality graphics. Master each of those performances and unlock collectibles and rewards, including alternative outfits and special effects. Michael Jackson The Experience will also have song-based leaderboards and an online Dance Battle mode, giving you a reason to to keep playing these classics over and over again.

Gamers and Michael Jackson fans can pick up Michael Jackson The Experience on February 14 in preparation for PS Vita’s launch — and just in time for the release of the First Edition Bundle. Thanks for checking out our series of PS Vita launch title posts this week on PlayStation.Blog. As you can see, we’re eager to see the platform launch!

Last year, Rayman Origins was released on PS3 to critical acclaim. On February 14, Rayman and his friends return to PS Vita! Even better, the beauty and frantic gameplay of the PS3 will make the transition to PS Vita fully intact.

You’ll play as Rayman, Globox or the Teensies as they speed through stages on a mission to free the Glade of Dreams from the Darktoons. Rayman Origins offers a playful hand-drawn art style and accessible platforming gameplay, and completionists will find a challenge in gathering all the Electoons and skull teeth. In short, Rayman Origins will deliver entertainment to the new comers and veterans of the platforming genre.

We also have some great PS Vita-specific features available for Rayman Origins. First, for those looking to really appreciate all the hand-drawn art of Rayman Origins, players can pinch the front touchscreen to zoom in, so you can better appreciate the detailed character and level design that our studio in Montpellier worked so hard to deliver. Playing with a zoomed-in camera view also delivers a new experience and is critical in discovering the game’s many hidden secrets.

Along with touchscreen capabilities, we also have included a Ghost mode that allows players to challenge their friends in fast-paced Rayman Origins speed runs. According to IGN, we’re all supposed to beat Brian Altano.

Whether you’re looking for a quick pick-up and play game or a full-length platformer, Rayman Origins is going to make you a happy camper when it launches on February 14th. We’re looking forward to seeing all of you on the leaderboards!

In 2005, Lumines was released as the number one-ranked title for the PlayStation Portable, and still holds its place as one of the top five games currently available for the system. Now, we are taking steps to build beyond the PSP classic and bring the best Lumines experience to PlayStation Vita with Lumines Electronic Symphony.

For the newcomers to the series, Lumines Electronic Symphony is a music-puzzle game that merges vivid colors and shapes with the intoxicating beats of an electronica soundtrack. It’s easy to play for five minutes, but you’ll tend to find yourself entranced for hours. Here are a few ways that Q Entertainment and Ubisoft are working to create an amazing experience that takes full advantage of the PS Vita hardware:

· Updated graphics and highly integrated sound. Let’s kick this off with saying that Lumines Electronic Symphony is a brand new game. We are now using animated 3D blocks instead of 2D sprites, which allow us to integrate dynamic lighting and animations mechanics. Along with our high quality graphics, we have tailored the audio in our game to be highly integrated with music and game sounds.

· Alternative control methods. We are taking big strides in terms of accessibility of Lumines Electronic Symphony. The game will support the front touch screen controls to move and rotate blocks. This will be perfect for new comers to the series. For those focused on boosting their scores, Lumines Electronic Symphony also supports analog and d-pad controls.

· A new XP system. In previous Lumines titles, a player unlocked skins based on their ability to successfully reach that skin. This meant that there was a potential that some players did not see certain skins. However, in Lumines Electronic Symphony, we have integrated an XP system. Now all the points that a player receives in a session are converted into XP, so as you level up, you will unlock additional skins and avatars.

· New avatars and abilities. Speaking of avatars, we have revamped our avatar system. Previously, the avatar was nothing more than a visual representation of the player. Now, each avatar has a single player and multiplayer ability mapped to them. Unlock more avatars and find the abilities that best suit your style of play.

That’s a quick breakdown of the key features that you will find in Lumines Electronic Symphony. We’ll have more information on Lumines coming soon, so keep your eyes on the PlayStation.Blog. Look for Lumines Electronic Symphony to hit the PlayStation Vita on February 14th — just in time for the First Edition Bundle!

Personally, I think racing games shine on handheld devices. Think of it this way: you’re commuting home from work and sitting on a bus or a train. Though your progress may be pokey, your mind is completely focused on the blistering competition between your Bugatti Super Sport and everyone else on the track. For that short time, you completely forget about your commute. So, if your mind works like mine, you should definitely be excited for the arcade racing action of Asphalt: Injection.

Asphalt: Injection boasts ten game modes spanning the tried-and-true Race mode to more signature game modes including Cop Chase and Beat ‘Em All (focused on take downs). This, along with 20 different leagues to conquer and multiplayer via local and Wifi, will keep handheld racing fans entertained for a long time.

Gameloft has also leveraged the unique features of PS Vita to create an easily accessible and social game. Asphalt: Injection has six different control schemes that take advantage of the dual analog sticks, the rear touch screen, or the accelerometer. This makes it simple for anyone to pick up and race against their friends (or computer-controlled opponents). The game also harnesses PS Vita’s social features, enabling players to enter the Live Area screen where they can view what vehicles their friends have purchased, what tracks they have unlocked, their leaderboard rankings, and more.

Racing fans can hit the track in Asphalt: Injection on February 14th. Looking forward to seeing you all on the course!

Over the next week, Ubisoft will be profiling our upcoming portfolio of launch titles for the PlayStation Vita. All these titles will be available a week prior to launch, giving gamers the opportunity to build up their library prior to the launch of this highly anticipated PlayStation handheld or experience the games early if you are picking up the First Edition bundle on February 15th. Let’s kick off the week by stepping into the fantasy genre.

But first, a question for my fellow PSP launch owners. How much fun was exploring the fantasy world of Untold Legends? I remember going over to my friend’s house to sit side-by-side as we tackled different dungeons. With Dungeon Hunter Alliance, we’re bringing back that feeling of exploring a fantasy universe along with your friends.

You may already be familiar with the PS3 version of the game, but soon you’ll be able to take the experience with you, exploring the depths of Gothicus, facing off against evil creatures, and enhancing your character while you’re on the go. Dungeon Hunter Alliance will also enable PS Vita owners to team up with up to three friends locally and via WiFi — the game will adjust the difficulty dynamically according to the number of players in the game.

We’ve also added PS Vita-specific features, including touchscreen controls. Players can tap the front touchscreen to pick up items and zoom in or out. The back touch panel will control the fairy to perform spells (especially useful when providing spell support with friends). Finally, the accelerometer gives players the option to shake their device to counter rival curses.

PS Vita owners can look forward to exploring the immense world of Dungeon Hunter Alliance when the game releases on February 14th for $39.99. Look for more information, including exclusive content and social features that can only be found on the PS Vita version, as we get closer to launch.

In Assassin’s Creed Revelations, we’re linking our multiplayer and single-player experiences by including our multiplayer characters in the single-player campaign. What we want to show you today is a profile of one of these characters, specifically The Sentinel: a former Assassin who betrayed the Brotherhood to join the Templars. Watch our new video to discover how this vile turncoat will cross paths with Ezio!

You can see from the video that The Sentinel uses techniques in multiplayer that you might expect of an Assassin, killing quickly and quietly. He favors the discreet use of knives and his trusty Hidden Blade to eliminate his targets without alerting any nearby assailants. Of course, he’s not above the occasional flourish of brutality, crushing the life from his targets with a precisely placed stomp… which is always a useful tool for intimidating one’s opponents!

Tomorrow, you’ll all get the chance to step into the role of The Sentinel when Assassin’s Creed Revelations launches. You’ll also be introduced to the new modes and maps that we have added that nobody has ever seen before (even if you were fortunate enough to get into our exclusive PS3 Beta!). Corruption is an all-new mode in which “uncorrupted” players attempt to survive as long as they can against the opposing “corrupted” players looking to kill and thusly corrupt you! This mode is best played on the Souk map, which is a veritable warren of overhangs and tented areas especially designed to obscure predator and prey alike!

I Am Alive

In September, Ubisoft announced that I Am Alive was releasing on digital platforms this winter. At Digital Day, we showed off the long awaited game for the first time ever. Our demo started off with the main character arriving back to his home town of Haventon one year after the event. He finds the place he once knew and loved torn apart by “the Event”. Society is torn as everyone in the town of Haventon fight for survival. Your mission: find your family and stay alive.

Ubisoft Shanghai has put a lot of work in creating a new and unique take on the post-apocalyptic genre. I Am Alive plays to the sense of realism stepping away creating an environment that places important questions in front of gamers. Would you give your limited resources away to save an innocent bystander? Or will you leave them to fend for themselves in a harsh environment?

Building further on this realistic take, combat in the game is controlled with a new intimidation system. Our hero has weapons, but resources such as bullets and arrows are scarce. As he encounters enemies in the world, our hero must utilize strategic bluffs to gain the upper hand in combat situations. This could mean holding an empty gun up to unarmed enemies in order to intimidate them into surrendering.

I Am Alive is getting ready for a winter launch, so be sure to keep your eyes out for more information coming soon.

Shoot Many Robots

Do you hate robots? Would you like to shoot many of them? Do you also love crazy amounts of loot? If you answered yes to all of these, we may just be new best friends. Also, I have an amazingly awesome game that I want to talk to you about. Developed by Demiurge Studios, Shoot Many Robots is a unique take on the run-n-gun shooter. You’ll control P. Walter Tugnut as he goes on an all-out war against the robot race. Don’t feel like taking on a race of murderous robots by yourself? Well you’re in luck because Shoot Many Robots will offer two-player couch co-op and four-player co-op over the PlayStation Network when it launches early in 2012.

Babel Rising

In Babel Rising, gamers play as God, preventing humans from building the tower of Babel. Gamers can use their divine powers by hurling bolts of lightning, summoning massive earthquakes or unleashing gigantic floods upon the Babylonians. Mando Productions, the developer of Babel Rising, has built upon their original mobile release of Babel Rising by creating new 3D environments and integrating competitive and cooperative multiplayer modes. Babel Rising will also feature PlayStation Move support allowing gamers to use intuitive controls to smite Babylonians. Look for more information on Babel Rising as we get closer to our launch in 2012.

Project Haste

Developed by Techland, Project Haste (a working title) is a high-speed ATV racing game. Speed through exotic locations, fly through the air pulling off insane tricks and customize your ATV to your racing style. Project Haste will offer six gameplay modes, including tournament and stunt challenges that we showed off at Digital Day. Look for Project Haste to speed onto the PlayStation Store in 2012.

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.

And I saw it all in 3D – those leaps of faith are now even more impressive. But it’s not about what I wanted to see; I went in to Ubisoft aiming to get answers to some of your questions. Read on to learn more about the dangerous world of Assassin’s Creed Revelations.

Will Ezio need some prune juice when he eats… because he is about 60 years old? (via @BeyondJizzy26)

While it’s true that our Ezio Auditore da Firenze now looks like The Most Interesting Man in the World, with experience comes wisdom. Early on in Revelations, Ezio is introduced to the hookblade, which enhances Ezio’s parkour skills in a couple of notable ways. When leaping into the air, you can hold down the Circle button to project the hookblade, giving Ezio an extra bit of reach. I adjusted to the move pretty quickly, and experienced noticeably fewer trip-ups while running across rooftops. It also grants compatibility with ziplines, which medieval Constantinople was apparently rife with. And what good would ziplines be if you couldn’t launch assassinations from them? Of course you can.

The hookblade is also battle-ready – the new Hook and Run move allows you to vault over enemies like a 70s action star slides across the hood of a car.

Hookblade aside, I noticed a new leg sweep move (Johnny would be proud), and a chest stomp that wouldn’t be out of place in the WWE. All of this is on top of the impressive arsenal of tricks Ezio earned in previous games, like double assassinations, disposable parachutes, an arm-mounted rifle and more. Would that we were all this spry in our 50s.

Is the super-cool feature where you can call assassins out of nowhere to attack still in the game? (via @francisganzo)

Yes, Ezio still can call in fellow assassins to create a diversion or to get him out of a jam. The feature has been upgraded for Revelations; you still recruit new assassins and send them around the Mediterranean on missions to level them up. When you level up one of your killers to the level of “Master Assassin,” you can assign him to protect one of your dens, preventing further Byzantine attacks.

There are also new challenges associated with these moves which yield tangible benefits. For instance, using your arrow storm and calling in your assassins a set amount of times will reward you with a faster recharging assassin signal, allowing you to use them more often. Similar challenges also applies to bomb usage and the various guilds, encouraging their use.

How many new weapons have been added to the game? Or are there new upgrades to it? (via @Allelujah00)

The aforementioned hookblade is the main difference, but the addition of bombs can change the way you play as well. I’ll be honest, after seeing Revelations demoed at E3, I was a bit worried that Assassin’s Creed was turning into a third-person shooter, but after my hands-on session those fears have been allayed.

Ezio’s bombs come in three flavors: lethal, tactical, and diversion. By combining different shells (impact, tripwire, sticky), actions (explosion, stinkbomb, smokebomb), and explosion radius, you can use bombs to perform a wide variety of actions. You could tag a guard with a stinkbomb to repel people, disappear in a huge puff of smoke, or just chuck explosives into a crowd for some good ol’ high-impact killing. You can only hold three of each type of bomb at any given time, so don’t expect to blast your way out of situations by chucking ‘nades.

Trophy list?! (via @max01payne and many others)

I took a peek at the Trophy list, and it’s got a similar mix as Assassin’s Creed Brotherhood. Some Trophies awarded for multiplayer success, and many are for single player, both for advancing the story and for performing certain skill actions, plus a range of completionist stuff. If I had to guess, this won’t be an easy game to Platinum.

Will we see Leonardo DaVinci? (via @Dean147)

I looked on the map for you, but didn’t see his icon as in past games. However, it seems that Da Vinci did do some consulting work for the sultan, so fingers crossed.

Is the PS3 version getting exclusive missions like last year? (via @snowman2149)

Exclusive missions? Try a whole game! Ubisoft is taking advantage of the extra space afforded by Blu-ray to gift you the entire original Assassin’s Creed as a free added bonus!

Assassin’s Creed Revelations hits PS3 on November 15th. Look for more here on the Blog in the leadup between now and then.

The time has come, because Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Trilogy finally comes to the PS3 on Tuesday. Tuesday. Even better, we will be launching simultaneously in stores and on the PlayStation Store. Relive the experiences of Splinter Cell, Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow and Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory all in one overstuffed bundle.

The Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Trilogy will be available at your favorite gaming store and the PlayStation Store for $39.99. I think what makes reliving old gaming memories is hearing other’s experiences. What did you all think of the original Splinter Cell trilogy? I still need to play the first two so stay away from spoilers, por favor.