Talk Playstation 3 News

LittleBigPlanet was a big hit, since then people have been wondering if developers, Media Molecule will ever make a title elsewhere.

We have that very answer here. Sony Computer Entertainment has acquired Media Molecule for an undisclosed sum. So now we can expect all future LittleBigPlanet titles and any other titles Media Molecule happen to be developing be on the Playstation platforms.

Excellent move for Sony.

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Battlefield Bad Company 2 is nearing it’s released date and already there is some planned downloadable content for the shooter.

Here’s the full list of DLC planned.

March 18

• SPECACT Upgrade Bundle
• SPECACT Assault Upgrade
• SPECACT Engineer Upgrade
• SPECACT Medic Upgrade
• SPECACT Recon Upgrade

April 1

• Arica Harbor Conquest Mode
• Laguna Presa Rush mode

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Naughty Dog has been listening to feedback regarding Uncharted 2’s multiplayer experience. The developers released a recent multiplayer patch, but more changes are going to take place.

• Auto-shoulder switching
  We’re thinking about removing this entirely and/or adding a toggle to your online profile.
• Medals being obscured when you have been killed
  If you happen to get medals right as you’re killed, the scoreboard comes up and you can’t see the medal and cash award. I think it’s safe to assume we’ll address this.
• Limb damage
  We’ve been testing out changing the hitboxes so that shots to the limb require require damage than torso hits or headshots to dispatch your opponent.
• Grenades
  We’ve been looking at different adjustments to grenade damage and radius to see how those adjustments fare.
• Boosters
  We’ve been playing around with balance adjustments to some boosters.
• Glitches and exploits
  This is a little bit of an on-going process, but addressing these are definitely things we’re working on and have been updating consistently over time.

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That’s right folks, additional ram has been unlocked for Playstation 3 developers. The latest firmware update has provided developers with more ram, similar to what happened with the PSP when it got more clock speed.

Where did the reduction come from? It came from the operating system as the memory footprint went from 120mb to just 50mb.

SCEA’s Patrick Seybold confirmed to Joystiq:

Since the launch of the PS3, we have been continuously making efforts to reinforce our support system to game developers, allowing them to express their creativity freely on the PS3. As part of this support for game development, the size of the PS3 OS memory footprint has been reduced through network update for the game developers.

That’s right, one of the biggest Playstation 3 exclusives has been banned in The United Arab Emirates. No specific reason for the ban but Megamers made the following report on the matter:

The UAE’s National Media Council (NMC) has banned Heavy Rain on PlayStation3. Heavy Rain has an 18+ PEGI rating and has been conceived from the earliest stages as a genuinely adult experience. This means that it deals with strong content including blood and nudity, but treats this content in a mature and sensitive manner. The game is not intentionally controversial or sensationalist, and all the themes and content are consistent with what consumers would expect to see in a mainstream Hollywood thriller.

Will Sony censor some of the content in Heavy Rain at a later date?

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2k Games has announced the first downloadable content pack for recently released BioShock 2. The new pack will include:-

• Rank Increase to level 50 with Rank Rewards
• New playable characters Louie McGraff and Oscar Calraca
• 20 new trials*
• A third weapon upgrade for each weapon
• Five additional masks

Here’s the full press release.

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A Hollywood advert has given small details of the next Call of Duty game, revealing characters names and the Vietnam settings.

VG247 spotted this and said:

“voice over/motion capture” for an Activision “video game” has described character Frank Barnes as being part of an elite Vietnam unit,

This is purely a rumour but it sounds positive to me. Activision announced that there will be another Call of Duty game this year but havent released any details.

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MAG Patch/Update version 1.02 is available and will weigh in at approx 40mb/55mb. It fixes various issues, the list is below.

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Alain Corre, Ubisoft Europe Managing Director has said that he thinks that the next game in the Assassin’s Creed series will surprise everyone.

For next year we have announced a few weeks ago that we’ve got a new Assassin’s Creed game – the next iteration that will surprise everybody – and we believe that will be a big success as well.

We need to put enough energy and talent into each new game, so it can become better than the previous one.

What sort of surprises can we expect? Multiplayer? Co-op?

We’ll have to wait and see.

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it appears that Final Fantasy XIII is worse on the Xbox 360. Nowgamer has noticed some differences between the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions. This what they noted:

• While facial detail appears largely unchanged, the characters’ clothes appear at first glance to be lacking finer details, with notably lower resolution textures.
• Incidental environmental objects and enemies appear less detailed, both in texture and geometry.
• The game’s CG is extremely compressed and pales alongside the stunning HD goodness which blu-ray offers.

If you want the best version of Final Fantasy XIII, the clear answer is go for the PS3 version.

Whats your opinion?

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Sony Computer Entertainment Europe have announced FirstPlay, Europes answer to US subscription Qore.

Weekly FirstPlay episodes will be available to UK gamers from March and will roll out across selected European and other PAL territories later in 2010. FirstPlay promises PS3 gamers HD reviews and previews of the latest games and exclusive access to downloadable content.

Registered users will be able to buy a three month subscription at just £8.99 or purchase single episodes at just 99p. Robert Price, Chief Executive of Future UK says:

As PlayStation 3 moves the gaming experience to a more social and competitive online environment through the PlayStation Network, so it becomes critical that we’re offering gamers the very best content and services through this channel. FirstPlay is a great example of this. Future has an outstanding track record in producing content for gamers that is informed, impartial, relevant and with the right production values, so we see them as a natural partner to work with as we move to on-console media development.” – Ray Maguire, Senior Vice President of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe and Managing Director of Sony Computer Entertainment UK

FirstPlay is a ground breaking development, not just for gamers, but for the media industry, and we are delighted to be partnering with Sony on this pioneering project. On-console delivery is an exciting next step in Future’s strategy of providing high quality content for readers and integrated media solutions for advertisers. We believe that we’ve created a product that will appeal to gamers in a uniquely effective and targeted way.

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Uncharted 2 update/patch 1.05 will be released today as Naughty Dog have officially announced it on their website. The update includes new trophies, 12 in-game multiplayer medals, 6 new skins and two new maps.

New Trophies

• Sneaky… – Get 50 Stealth Kills
• Brass Knuckles – Get 100 Melee Kills
• Tastes Like Chicken – Get 20 BBQ Medals
• Rapid Fire – Get 7 Tripled Medals in Deathmatch
• I Told You I Was Hardcore! – Complete All 3 Co-op Objective Maps on Hard Difficulty
• Made It – Finish Wave 10 in one Survival Game
• Gold Digger – Finish Wave 10 in one Gold Rush Game
• Wipe Them Out… – Win 50 Deathmatch Games
• Plays Well With Others – Win 50 Objective Games
• Still Alive – Win 50 Elimination Games
• Plundered! – Get 200 Captured Medals
• Cold Blooded – Get 2,500 Kills in Deathmatch or Elimination games

New medals

• Tip Off – Be the First Player to Grab the Treasure in Plunder
• Protectorate – Shoot and Kill 5 Enemies that were Damaging the Treasure Carrier
• No Cigar – Kill the Treasure Carrier while They are about to Score
• None Shall Pass – Get 5 Kills while in the Hill during a King of the Hill
• First! – Get the First Kill of the Game
• Finish Him! – Get the Last Kill of the Game
• Retaliation – Kill the Last Player that Killed You
• Defender – Kill a Player that is Actively Shooting One of Your Teammates
• That Was Embarrassing – Earn a Shutout in Plunder
• Put’em Down – Kill Someone in the Knockdown State with a Pistol Weapon
• Unlucky – Die 5 Times in a Row without Getting a Kill
• Tricky – Kill a Player with a Pistol Weapon while Hanging

Here’s a trailer for the DLC.

Did you know that the Playstation 3 has an invite system? If not read the below as it will show you how to properly invite your friends into a game that supports this.

Hot on the heels of my previous guide to “that” invite system in MW2 I now bring you something which I think a few of may not be aware of.

The PlayStation 3 firmware has a feature which allows you to invite players in your active text chat room straight into the game you are playing.

I’ll mention what games I’ve noticed support this in a moment but first here’s how it works.

For more information on this, check this out.

This is a no brainer to be honest. Activision have announced the next Call of Duty game and the best news is that it will be released this year. No word on what the next game will be called, we don’t even know if it will be a sequel to Modern Warfare 2.

Mike Griffiths, head of Activision Publishing said:

We’ve consistently grown revenues for the franchise year over year and continue to do that this year

What are you hoping for? Modern, future or World War?

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Rockstar have given everyone a hint of the L.A. Noire release date. They are aiming for a 2010 fall schedule but no exact date. We think it will be a Xmas title.

We have not announced a specific release date yet, but L.A. Noire is coming this fall. Stay tuned.

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