PlayStation

PlayStation Store Update (10-01-2013)

Psn-UpdateWelcome to the PlayStation Store update for October 01, 2013.  The update this week is packed full of great games and sales! Get ready to hit the hardwood yet again this year as NBA 2K14 releases today.  The highly anticipated PlayStation Network game rain also releases today alongside a remake of the classic side-scroller Flashback.

PlayStation 3 users will also see several sales and a few demos today, including deep discounts on several games published by Atlus. The absolutely fantastic JRPG Persona 4: Golden for the PlayStation Vita is also on sale this week, so pick it up now!

Finally, PlayStation Plus users will be receiving Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning (PlayStation 3)  for free along with various discounts on several games. Keep reading to see a complete list of content available on the PlayStation Store this week!

Trade In Offer from Amazon Can Net You ‘Beyond: Two Souls’ for $20

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Quantic Dream, the French developer behind the games Fahrenheit (or Indigo Prophecy in the US) and Heavy Rain, has been a major investment for Sony in recent years, and their next title Beyond: Two Souls is set to break ground yet again on October 8. If you’re like us at SonyRumors, you’re always looking for great deals on new games, and Amazon has just put offered one that’s very promising.

Amazon’s promotional material reads as follows:

Sony Hopes for PS4 to Succeed in Africa, Middle East, India and Beyond

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The PlayStation 4 is poised to have a blockbuster holiday season. With a launch in the United States and Canada before the Xbox One, and coming to more than a dozen other markets than Microsoft’s console before the end of the year, Sony has positioned itself well. But the Western world isn’t the only place that PlayStation is looking to establish a presence.

It’s true that PS4 won’t see a release in it’s home nation of Japan until the first quarter of 2014, but some markets you might not have considered will be seeing a release before this year is out. One of those countries is South Africa, where the PS4 will release on December 6–the same as six Asian markets, including Hong Kong and South Korea. South African website MyGaming recently featured an interview with PlayStation MEA (Middle-East, Africa) General Manager Robert Fisser, who highlighted why bringing Sony’s next-gen device to the continent so early in the release timetable was a major accomplishment.

Gaming With Heather: ‘Beyond Two Souls’ Demo

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Welcome back to another week of Gaming With Heather, friends! I apologize for my recent absence, and I’m going to entirely blame it on all the new releases of September. This week though, I was fortunate enough to snag an early access code for the demo of Beyond: Two Souls. The rest of you will be able to experience the demo on October 1st, but until then I wanted to share with you why I think you my thoughts! If you’re not familiar with Beyond: Two Souls, it is an upcoming PlayStation 3 exclusive from Quantic Dream, who developed Heavy Rain. It is another interactive movie-style game that really raises the bar on how we play games. I personally don’t think Beyond: Two Souls has been hyped as much as it should be. If you read my last post I talked about too much hype, but in this case I have to wonder why everyone isn’t as familiar with this game as they should be.

PS4 Remote Play Won’t Be Coming to Tablets and Smartphones

PS4 to PS Vita Remote Play

The always kind and revealing SCE Worldwide Studios President, Shuhei Yoshida, has revealed a bit more news on the PS4’s remote play strategy. While the feature which will allow your PS Vita to expand your PS4 experience by playing games that are streamed to it is a highlight of the PS4’s capabilities and the power of the Vita nearly two years after its launch, it won’t be making it to tablets and smartphones, including Sony’s own fleet. When asked about it on Twitter, Yoshida responded,

PlayStation 4 App to Arrive on iOS (iPhone/iPad) on Launch Day

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According to Sony, come November 15th, you can expect the dedicated PlayStation 4 app to be ready for download on your favorite iOS device. The native iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch app will allow you to control game or use it for second screen experience, browse and cue downloads to your console. Other features will include the ability to see your friends list and interact with them in a variety of ways. Sony expanded:

PlayStation Store Update (09-24-13)

Psn-UpdateWelcome to the PlayStation Store update for September 24, 2013.  The update this week is packed full of great games and sales! Soccer is king this week as both FIFA Soccer 14 and  Pro Evolution Soccer 2014 Launch Edition both land on the network today.

PlayStation 3 users will also see several sales and price drops today, including deep discounts on the every game in the Assassin’s Creed seriesThe psychological survival horror adventure game Lone Survivor: The Director’s Cut arrives in Cross-Buy form for both the PlayStation 3 and the PS Vita.

Finally, PlayStation Plus users will be receiving Rayman Origins (PS Vita Version)  for free along with various discounts on several games. Keep reading to see a complete list of content available on the PlayStation Store this week!

Capcom’s PS4 Exclusive ‘Deep Down’ Will be Free-to-Play

Beta for Deep Down available “near the launch of PS4 in Japan”

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Deep Down was one of the earliest titles seen for the PlayStation 4, initially shown off at the February 20 reveal. This week at Tokyo Game Show, more and more information has been revealed about this brilliant looking dungeon crawler.

Getting Assassin’s Creed or Call of Duty for PS3? Digital Upgrade to PS4 Detailed

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At Gamescom, Sony announced that select PlayStation 3 titles will be available to upgrade to their PlayStation 4 versions once the system launches on November 15 (North America) and November 29 (almost everywhere else). While other titles might be possible to upgrade in the future, the initial launch upgrade offerings will be Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag and Watch_Dogs from Ubisoft, Call of Duty: Ghosts from Activision, and Battlefield 4 from EA. In Europe, NBA 2K14 from 2K Sports will also be an option. Back in Germany, Sony had yet to reveal just what it would take to get your next-gen fix — deferring to publishers on the cost of going from one system to another. Now, we have the full details from the PlayStation Blog. To learn how, and how much it’ll cost you, read onward.

PS4 to Have Post Launch Game Drought, Indie Titles to Help

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It happens during every console launch. A system is launched, there are a good solid 3-4 titles to pick from with some other minor ones in the mix. Then…nothing. While older consoles continue to get games, a drought hits the consoles in question for four to six months. This cycle is based on how the industry works with developers having knowledge of a new console prior to the public and crunching away at getting their games out at launch. Big studios like EA and Activision throw everything they have to ensure their titles are available on launch when new title availability is low, making their game visibility high. This scenario also plays out for Sony’s first party studios and results in a lul time period for the console. President of Worldwide Studios, Sony Computer Entertainment, Shuhei Yoshida knows this but thinks that indie titles are the solution for the PS4.

Tokyo Games Show: PS4 Asian Launch in December, But Japan Waits

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The gaming world is regrouping for the last battle of titans in Tokyo Japan (not Pacific Rim 2),  before the PS4 launches and Sony today revealed that a number of Asian countries will have the PS4 in time for Christmas, except for Japan as we already know. The Asian countries confirmed to get the PS4 in December are: Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Taiwan and Korea. That leaves Japan’s February 22 date two months after the initial Asian launch.

Gaming With Heather: The Last of Us and Being Critical

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So far I’ve only done a handful of Gaming With Heather posts, and I hadn’t finished a game featured in one until I started The Last of Us. I’m sure you’re wondering when I featured The Last of Us as my game of the week, but it’s this week! Now I’ll admit I had a rough start with this game considering I purchased it back when it released in June. For one the introduction rips your heart out so quick that you’re left wondering why the hell you’re playing it. Like, let’s have a little warning next time you decide to ruin my afternoon, Naughty Dog! However, it would seem that the cosmic gaming universe had aligned to allow me the time I needed to properly start and finish this game. I realize I am a few months late on this, but I still felt that I needed to step up on my soapbox and talk about The Last of Us.

Let me start off by addressing why it took me so long to play a game I purchased in June. In last week’s post I mentioned that I am a busy gamer and some nights I only have an hour or two to dedicate to actual game time. With that said, The Last of Us is not a game you can pick up for an hour or two. Throughout the entire game I felt like I was never at a good place to stop. Sure, you can technically save at any point, but it felt like turning off a movie that just started. It pains me to play games like this but not have the time to dedicate. Not to mention that a game like this loses a lot of the experience when cut down to short sessions. I just couldn’t commit the time I thought The Last of Us deserved yet. So for the next several months I heard all about how amazing it was and about all the emotions to be experienced. I clearly wasn’t ready for that kind of emotional investment so it just had to wait until I had the time.

PlayStation Store Update (09-17-13)

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Welcome to the PlayStation Store update for September 17, 2013.  The update this week is packed full of great content! Rockstar is back and invites you to explore Los Santos today in the long awaited Grand Theft Auto V for PlayStation 3. For the first time in its storied history, Grand Theft Auto V features three main characters instead of one.

PlayStation 3 users will also see several sales and price drops today, including a colossal discount on the fantastic JRPG Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch. Ni No Kuni was also recently featured in a “Gaming With Heather” article, so check out Heather’s thoughts on this wonderful game!

Finally, PlayStation Plus users will be receiving both ICO (PlayStation 3) and Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories (PSP/PS Vita)  for free along with various discounts on several games. Keep reading to see a complete list of content available on the PlayStation Store this week!

PAX13 Preview: ‘Lords of the Fallen’ Brings Metroidvania To Next-Gen

Featured PAX 2013 PS4 Lords of the Fallen

If you haven’t heard of Lords of the Fallen, an RPG from CI Games coming in 2014, don’t count yourself alone. Going into my hands-off preview of the game at PAX Prime, I didn’t know much about the game other than it would be coming to next-gen consoles and it had a pretty looking CG debut trailer. Sitting down with developers Deck 13 and watching their gameplay demonstration, Lords of the Fallen might be next-gen’s first good original RPG — will that be enough to fend off the likes of The Elder Scrolls Online and Dragon Age: Inquisition though?

PAX13 Preview: ‘Transistor’ is Gorgeous, Mysterious, and I Want It Now

Featured PAX 2013 PS4 Transistor

No moment in PlayStation’s E3 press conference had me more excited than when Adam Boyes introduced Amir Rao and Greg Kasavin from Supergiant Games, makers of the XBLA and Steam indie classic Bastion. For all of the flash of Killzone Shadow Fall and pyrotechnics of inFAMOUS Second Son, beyond the verbal haymakers thrown at Microsoft and the Xbox One, the introduction of Transistor was far and away my standout moment of Sony’s press event.  You can imagine my thrill at being able to go hands-on with a playable version of the game, running on a PC with DualShock 4 controller support, at PAX Prime, and speaking with Mr. Kasavin about the game and why they decided to bring it to PlayStation.