Talk Playstation 3 News

TedTheDog keeps flooding us with info about Home as were nearing the end of the year.

On the official EU Playstation forums you can find a post of the v1.0 Patch notes. Most important in it was that today (21st) over a hundred thousand (100.001 maybe) invites will be send out across the SCEE region. Another patch of invites will follow on the 27th only this batch will be much bigger. Open Beta will follow soon after.

Home will take 3077MB on you HDD so have some space ready (20/40 owners), after entering you will be introduced to a interactive tutorial. There is still a ge limit of 18 and over for the Closed Beta (Open Beta no word on the Open Beta age). The separate language area’s are gone, everybody will be placed in one area, but there will be special language spaces for you mother tongue.
You can still travel to a friend on a EU, NA or Asian server but only to your friends Personal Spaces and/or Clubhouses.

I’m not going to bother you too much with notes just check them out yourself and let us know what you think. And most importantly cross your thumbs for that invite. I’m crossing all 4

IGN reviewed Sony’s upcoming Playstation Wireless Chatpad and they weren’t very happy with it. This isn’t the first review on it, but it share some similar concerns.

The real power of the chatpad will come in Home or when you need to send a quick message while browsing the XMB. Besides that, it seems that it isn’t that impressive according to IGN. For them the touch-sensitive navigation is the chatpads biggest weakness. It was either responding too much or too little. And Sony put an button on the pad to activate the touch sensors which doesn’t make much sense to the reviewer.

Just read the whole review here

And hopefully we can give our own review on the chatpad once we get it.

There’s a good variety of content to purchase for this weeks store update. Here’s the list:

Add-on Game Content

LittleBigPlanet Sack in the Box Costume (free)
A community costume for SackBoy!

LittleBigPlanet LocoRoco Costumes ($2.99)
A costume kit for SackBoy!  Contains 5 different costumes.

BioShock PS3 Challenge Rooms  ($9.99)
Experience the intense, terrifying world of Rapture like never before with the all-new PLAYSTATION 3 exclusive Add-On Game Content featuring three unique Challenge Rooms and some very cool extras. In “A Shocking Turn of Events,” rescue a trapped Little Sister in a disturbing carnival in Rapture. In “The I in Team”, defeat a Big Daddy using only your wits. In “Worlds of Hurt” plow through eight rooms filled with the worst Rapture has to offer.

Dead Space

• Dead Space Astronaut Pack ($2.99)
  Download the Astronaut Suit and Weapon Skin Pack, featuring an amazing 26th Century Astronaut Suit and new skins for the Plasma Cutter, Pulse Rifle, and Ripper!
• Dead Space Big Gun Pack ($0.99)
  Download the Steam Punk Force Gun, the ultimate in Necromorph-killing destruction.
• Dead Space Heavy Damage Pack ($2.99)
  Download the Heavy Damage Weapon pack featuring a cool new look and massive firepower for the Plasma Cutter, Contact Beam, Pulse Rifle, and Ripper.
• Dead Space Hot Rod Pack ($0.99)
  Download the Hot Rod Weapon Skin Pack, featuring awesome flame graphics for the Flamethrower and Pulse Rifle.
• Dead Space Military Pack ($3.99)
  Download the Military Weapon Pack for a new look and enhanced power for all 7 Dead Space weapons.
• Dead Space Obsidian Pack ($1.49)
  Download the exclusive Obsidian Suit and Weapon Skin Pack now, available only for the PLAYSTATION 3! Includes an upgraded Level 5 suit, and weapon skins for the Line Gun, Plasma Cutter, and Pulse Rifle, all in jet-black PLAYSTATION 3 colors.
• Dead Space Obsidian Weapon Skin Pack ($1.49)
  Download the exclusive Obsidian Weapon Skin Pack now, available only for the PLAYSTATION 3 Includes weapon skins in jet-black Playstation 3 colors for the Line Gun, Plasma Cutter, and Pulse Rifle.
• Dead Space Pedestrian Pack ($1.49)
  Download the Pedestrian Weapon Skin Pack, featuring a fresh new look for the Contact Beam, Plasma Cutter, and Ripper.
• Dead Space Scorpion Pack ($3.99)
  Download the Scorpion Pack featuring an upgraded Level 5 Suit and three powered up weapons, all decorated in an awesome red Scorpion Skin.
• Dead Space Scorpion Weapon Pack ($2.25)
  Download the Scorpion Weapon Pack featuring a faster death-dealing Plasma Cutter, Line Gun, and Force Gun in awesome red skins.
• Dead Space Speed Kills Pack ($2.25)
  Download the Speed Kills Weapon Pack! Includes faster-firing Force Gun, Line Gun, and Plasma Cutter.
• Dead Space Tank Pack ($3.99)
  Download the Tank Pack featuring an upgraded Level 5 Suit and powered up Flamethrower, Force Gun, and Line Gun, all covered in Unitology script.

Guitar Hero World Tour
For all song credits please visit www.guitarhero.com.

• “Consoler of the Lonely” by The Raconteurs ($1.99)
• “Hold Up” by The Raconteurs ($1.99)
• “Salute Your Solution” by The Raconteurs  ($1.99)
• The Raconteurs Track Pack ($5.49) – Downloadable Track Pack for Guitar Hero World Tour featuring “Consoler of the Lonely”, “Hold Up”, and “Salute Your Solution” by The Raconteurs. Please Note: Many songs are available both as singles and as a part of a Track Pack, so please carefully consider your purchases before downloading.

Karaoke Revolution Presents: American Idol Encore 2
Expand your Karaoke Revolution Presents: American Idol Encore 2 library by purchasing these tracks.

• (I Just) Died In Your Arms ($1.49)
• All You Wanted ($1.49)
• Black Hole Sun ($1.49)
• It’s Not Unusual ($1.49)
• September ($1.49)

Rock Band
Build your Rock Band library by purchasing these song game tracks. For song credits, visitwww.RockBand.com.

• “That’s When I Reach for my Revolver” – Mission of Burma ($1.99)
• “That’s How I Escaped My Certain Fate” – Mission of Burma ($1.99)
• “Mica” – Mission of Burma ($1.99)
• Mission of Burma Pack 01  ($5.49) – this track pack includes all of the above Mission of Burma singles.
• “Police Truck” – Dead Kennedys ($1.99)
• “Holiday in Cambodia” – Dead Kennedys ($1.99)
• “California Über Alles” – Dead Kennedys ($1.99)
• Dead Kennedys Pack 01 ($5.49) – this track pack includes all of the above Dead Kennedys singles.
• “Gone” – Crooked X ($0.99)
• “Swamped” – Lacuna Coil ($1.99)
• “Forever” – In This Moment ($1.99)
• “Closer” – Lacuna Coil ($1.99)
• Century Media Girls of Metal Pack 01 ($5.49) – this track pack includes

Game Demos (free)

MotoGP 08 Demo
MotoGP 08 brings the premiere motorcycling championship to your home console! Speed down 18 official tracks in 15 countries and challenge others in online races, alone or with friends. Featuring easy-to-learn controls, MotoGP 08 is the most accessible motorcycle racing game to date.

Game Videos (free)

MotorStorm Pacific Rift Features and Strategy Trailer

Mortal Kombat vs DC Universe: Kreating the Comic Trailer

Lord of the Rings: Conquest Trailer

NBA 2K9 Momentous #1 Trailer

NBA 2K9 Momentous Trailer 2

Tom Clancy’s EndWar Launch Trailer 

FIFA 09 “In The Game” Part 8 – Online Team Play

Dew Tour: Orlando – Chad Kagy

Dew Tour: Orlando – Adam Jones

Dew Tour: Orlando – From Flow to Pro

Dew Tour: Orlando – BMX Dirt Dew Cup Race

Movie and Blu-ray Disc Trailers

Hancock Trailer

This Christmas Trailer (Blu-ray)

Tenacious D – The Complete Masterworks Trailer

Sara Bareilles – Between The Lines Trailer

Incubus “Look Alive” Trailer

PS3 Themes

NBA 2K9 Theme (free)

Hancock Theme (free)

Timea Mojorova Theme ($1.99)

University of California Theme ($1.99)

Shadowy Graves Theme ($1.49)

Darklight Fractais Theme ($1.49)

Mrs. Claus Theme ($1.49)

GunGirls Theme ($0.99)

Source

The European Playstation Store has updated, November 20 2008 and the following has been added:-

PS3 Store

Video
Tomb Raider – BENEATH THE SURFACE 4, FREE
INFANTRY STRATEGY VIDEO BRIEFING, FREE
TOM CLANCY’S ENDWAR LAUNCH TRAILER, FREE
BioShock Challenge Rooms Trailer, FREE
MotorStorm Pacific Rift Behind the Scenes Ep 1, FREE
MotorStorm Pacific Rift Behind the Scenes Ep 2, FREE
Pain: David Hasselhoff Trailer, FREE
Linger in Shadows Soundtrack, FREE
NARUTO: ULTIMATE NINJA STORM TRAILER, FREE

Packs

Bioshock
BioShock PS3® Challenge Rooms, £6.29/€7.99

Rock Band
CALIFORNIA ÜBER ALLES, £0.99/€1.49
CLOSER, £0.99/€1.49
FOREVER, £0.99/€1.49
GONE, £0.59/€0.79
HOLIDAY IN CAMBODIA, £0.99/€1.49
MICA, £0.99/€1.49
POLICE TRUCK, £0.99/€1.49
SWAMPED, £0.99/€1.49
THAT’S HOW I ESCAPED MY CERTAIN FATE, £0.99/€1.49
THAT’S WHEN I REACH FOR MY REVOLVER, £0.99/€1.49
CENTURY MEDIA GIRLS OF METAL PACK 01, £2.99/€3.99
Dead Kennedys Pack 01, £2.99/€3.99
MISSION OF BURMA PACK 01, £2.99/€3.99

Guitar Hero World Tour
THE RACONTEURS TRACK PACK, £3.99/€5.99
HOLD UP’ BY THE RACONTEURS, £1.49/€1.99
CONSOLER OF THE LONELY’ BY THE RACONTEURS, £1.49/€1.99
SALUTE YOUR SOLUTION’ BY THE RACONTEURS, £1.49/€1.99

LittleBigPlanet™
Sack in the Box, FREE
LocoRoco™ Costume Kit, £2.39/€2.99

Need for Speed UnderCover
AFTERMARKET BODY KIT PACKAGE, £1.49/€1.99
AFTERMARKET HOODS, SPOILERS & EXHAUST PACKAGE, £1.49/€1.99
AFTERMARKET WHEELS PACKAGE, £1.49/€1.99
COLLECTOR’S EDITION UPGRADE, £6.99/€9.99
EXOTIC CAR BUNDLE, £3.99/€5.99
MUSCLE CAR BUNDLE, £3.49/€4.99
PAINT & VINYLS PACKAGE, £1.49/€1.99
TUNER CAR BUNDLE, £3.49/€4.99
ULTIMATE PERFORMANCE BUNDLE, £6.99/€9.99
ULTIMATE VISUAL BUNDLE, £3.49/€4.99
PRO HANDLING BUNDLE, £1.99/€2.99
PRO POWER BUNDLE, £2.99/€3.99
RACE HANDLING BUNDLE, £1.99/€2.99
RACE POWER BUNDLE, £1.99/€2.99
STREET HANDLING BUNDLE, £1.49/€1.99
STREET POWER BUNDLE, £1.99/€2.99

Themes
Saints Row 2 Movember Theme, FREE
TRU – Black&White Theme, FREE
TRU- Front of Box Theme, FREE

PSP content available to download via PS3 Store

Game
Sim City 2000, £4.99/€7.99
LocoRoco™ 2 Demo, FREE

PSP Store

Game
Sim City 2000, £4.99/€7.99
LocoRoco™ 2 Demo, FREE

Source.

It took a while, but finally after years of development and testing, Sony has taken the second last step to releasing Home to the public.

As you might have read last week, SCEE announced that they would release the patch notes of Home 1.0 to the current Closed beta testers, this would start the final run towards the Open Beta of Home. Continuing in this process is sending out the invites in two or three batches to increase the amount of testers. Followed a few weeks after this would be the Open beta where everybody can download it (presumable from the Playstation Store).

But there is more. On the official Closed Beta Test Website they announced some major changes in the 1.0 version. These include the relocation of the Home logo on the XMB, it will fall under the Playstation Network category from now on.
Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore will be using once space (read server) instead of seperate ‘worlds’. A Home Café will open up and Sony already has some events planned.

The most important change is the disappearance of the virtual PSP which was used to handle your settings to arranging matches. This will be replaced by a Menu Pad.

Check after the break for the remaining changes
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After, DBZ, Naruto and Bleach, Soul Eater following the anime suit of getting an anime. It’s almost like in the US where games become movies. Only these don’t suck.

First I would like to apologies for our lack of PSP coverage, we cover all Playstation news but sometimes forget about the PS3’s little cousin.

If your a’n anime fan like some of us here on the staff, you probably know this series. It is one of the popular series at the moment together with Bleach and Naruto. So why not give it a game to make it even more popular. Thats what they’re doing in Japan. We can only hope that this game will be out released outside Japan, but we have a feeling it won’t atleast not this part, maybe the 2nd edition once Soul Eater has become popular in the ‘Western world’.

Here are two more screen of how the game will look. Don’t expect anything fancy, and see it as a regular fighting game on your PSP.

Check out Famitsu for more screens.

Source

Seems SCEJ is hoping for a quick holiday swoop this year following some of the new advertisement posters. Over at Asdriasang some photo’s of the upcoming campaign could be seen at a subway station.

Sony’s advertisements have sometimes been in question if it was enough, sometimes praised for their way of bringing gaming out but also very controversial (remember the PSP ad) to some. Under every ad we put the translation of the text with the poster given. Only 3 remain not translated.

Everyone awakens here

IMAGINATION that's learned from play

Check for more posters after the break. Don’t forget to click them for high quality.

(more…)

When Resistance 2 hit store shelves on November 4th in North America, I went by my local store and picked up one of my copy of the Collector’s Edition. Got home, and popped the game disc in. I was never to be seen again that whole night. It was hard for me to put the game down, until I encountered a problem in the game (which was easily bypassed with the restart of the chapter). From the stunning visuals, boss battles, and the scale of the game. I loved the experience that Insomniac had crafted into making this great title. 

My favorite part of the game, has to be the Leviathan. Just the size of it makes you go wow. Not only that but what Insomniac had to do in order to make the creature had to be allot of work. 

Sometimes there were moments in the game where you had encountered in some cheap deaths, and enemies tend to target you, instead of your nearby friendlies. Which was a problem in the first Resistance. You can only carry 2 weapons at a time instead of a full arsenal. Favorite weapon would have to be the splicer. With the splicer you can launch multiple saw blades, unleashing a path of destruction and cut up limbs. 

Unfortunately there is no split screen option for the single player story this time around. Instead you have the separate campaign mode, In which you and up to 8 friends can play in. You may go split screen in either the co-op campaign, or multiplayer. There can only be one sign in, you are unable to sign in with two accounts simultaneously, for now at least. 

Seeing as how my area still has some Collector’s Edition of the game lying around. We hear were thinking that some of our readers out there may have the chance to win one. Do I hear a yay or a nay from our fellow readers? If you can’t remember what the Collector’s Edition contains then you can find out here.

Check out this MotorStorm Pacific Rift vehicles trailers.

Find new ways to tear up the track.

MotorStorm Pacific Rift Vehicles Trailer

DiRt 2 jas been announced by Codemasters and will retaint the name of the Scottish rally driver Colin McRae. Dirt 2 is scheduled to be released next year and will utilise an enhanced version of the EGO engine that was last seen GRID. New online modes are promised to be in the game.

Executive producer Gavin Raeburn says:

Colin McRae was all about the speed, the excitement and the entertainment of rally driving,

Later his showmanship shone through in events such as the X-games, the Dakar Rally and the Race of Champions. He could do things with a car that no one else would and that’s where we’re taking the series with new events at the extreme edge of rally and motorsport. It will be a great tribute to an incredible champion.

Source.

LittleBigPlanet gets updated with a new patch released by Media Molecule. LBP update v1.04 weighs in at just 11MB and includes the following fixes/additions according to users on the LittleBigWorkshop forums.

* Using Undo in Creator mode requires a network call – slowing down Undo

** I have a slow network connection to my PS3 and when I undo edit, especially after having added a ‘community’ object to my level, the WORLD / BUSY icon spins for a while.  I must wait until the world stops spinning until I can continue with my edits.  This takes 15 seconds.  Disconnecting from PSN returns Undo to normal high-speed operation.  What is so special about Undo that it requires a network request?

* Gluing can be un-glued from the ground
** Glue an lob-sided / unsteady material structure to the ground then glue an object to the structure and then resume the simulation.  The structure will have un-glued itself from the ground and will fall over.  Somehow gluing a pre-fab tree to my crazy wiggly rock platform unglues the platform from the ground.  My rock platform was drawn with the square, dragged around.

No official word from Media Molecule about this update.

Source.

Rumours of Cryptic planning to release their upcoming titles on consoles increases as Kotaku posted info about a job add on craigslist.

Though Cryptic is already deep into X360 programming, there was little news on how they did on PS3 programming. The job specifically states: PS3 Engine Programmer. We have developed a flexible, cutting edge MMO platform to power games like Champions and Star Trek Online. It runs on PC and XBOX 360 – now we want to support PS3 too.

Here is the joblisting:

PS3 Engine Programmer
We are currently looking for a full time PS3 Engine Programmer.

Are you interested in a challenge? We have developed a flexible, cutting edge MMO platform to power games like Champions and Star Trek Online. It runs on PC and XBOX 360 – now we want to support PS3 too. Are you an expert PS3 coder? Do you enjoy squeezing every last drop of performance and spare memory out of the system?

Every day you could be:

Exploiting SPU parallelism to get the maximum performance out of the system.
Extending existing systems to adapt to the ever-changing needs of a massively multiplayer game.
Collaborating with innovative art and design teams.
What you need to work here:

The ability to communicate clearly and concisely.
Extremely proficient in C programming and debugging. You must be a brilliant programmer.
Thorough understanding of the PS3 – SPUs, RSX, SPURS multi-threading, etc.
Love videogames – Console AND MMO.

Apply Online At: www.crypticstudios.com

So think you got the skills? Or even better, think this is true? Let us know.

Keith Shetler, Assistant Producer, 2K Boston made a post on the Playstation.Blog stating that downloadable content for BioShock will be released today.

Today you will be able to download the PS3 Challenge Rooms Add-On Content for $9.99. Not sure if this is worldwide or just America.

New Game Plus allows you to start a new supercharged playthrough of BioShock. Ready for this? You begin the game with any weapons, abilities, and inventory that you collected during a previous playthrough. Always wish you could obliterate Dr. Steinman with your uber grenade launcher? Now you can!

For more information on this pack, click here.

Susan Panico, Sr. Director, PlayStation Network had broke the news that Playstation.com will continue to evolve.

Early next week, we’ll be integrating additional community features into PlayStation.com. We are excited to roll-out the first phase, which includes the ability to sign-in to PlayStation.com and, soon after, PlayStation.Blog with your PlayStation Network ID. Of course, your PlayStation Network ID gets you access to all the good things on the PLAYSTATION 3 and PSP, including games, movies and TV shows on the PlayStation Store, online gaming, and, soon to come for PS3, PlayStation Home.

In addition, we are making enhancements to the gamer profile features. Your profile will include your PSN online ID, your avatar, and a short “about me” section. You’ll also be able to display your friends list and, on the game detail pages, you’ll be able to include ratings and reviews for all of your favorite games. These features were created so that you can make new friends, learn new tricks and tips, talk trash, offer advice, console the defeated, praise the winners, and more.

If you have an Underground account on PlayStation.com and haven’t already merged it with your PlayStation Network ID, click here to do so. If you don’t have an Underground account but would like to create a PlayStation Network account to participate in the new features on PlayStation.com, click here.

We decided to dissolve the PlayStation Underground program in order to provide more PlayStation fans with a glimpse into the PlayStation Network world via the web. We hope you enjoy this next step in the evolution of PlayStation.com.

Sony are trying their best to provide the best service to Playstation customers.

Capcom ran into a fan made Street Fighter level in LittleBigPlanet. The good thing about this is that they were pretty happy about it, but will Sony moderate the level? Who knows.

I stumbled onto this awesome creation right here in our own creative forums! RelentlessRolento is the master artist and level designer. He’s designed it in a way that allows player to control Ryu and Ken by jumping on the buttons. They do all sorts of awesome moves! You can find and try out this level by putting in his PSN username, Rolento.

Here’s a video: