I had a lovely surprise waiting for me when I returned home from a hard day of graft today. As I walked through the door my peepers fell upon a gloriously large box emblazoned with the corporate logo of Amazon.co.uk. This could only mean one thing, Catherine had arrived.
Okay, so I admit to being slightly disappointed with the lack of soundtrack. Honestly I have no clue why I thought there would be one, other than perhaps seeing the coasters and making the assumption that they were actually the game disc and therefore the OST too. No matter, as you can see from the video the special edition of Catherine is a nicely packaged piece of kit with a super large T-shirt, Poster, Coasters and Pizza box style container to keep it all in. The box art is superb and as for the game... Well I'll let you know when I have the chance to play it.
In the mean time, you know when I said on last weeks show that I wouldn't be getting a PS Vita any time soon...
Showing posts with label PS Vita. Show all posts
Showing posts with label PS Vita. Show all posts
Friday, 17 February 2012
Wednesday, 14 December 2011
The Round-up: Good Dog!
The Last of Us has taken most people by complete surprise, I count myself as one of them. I honestly wasn't expecting to be so enthused about a "zombie" style game, especially at a time when most commentators seem to be suggesting that the craze for the brain eating monsters seemed to be all but exhausted. Maybe it's the fact that this isn't truly a Zombie game, but more akin to an open world survival experience where some of your foe's happen to be extremely aggressive and have really bad acne, but whatever the reason, Naughty Dog deserve credit for managing to put together an extremely smooth début video that told us everything we needed to know in a short amount of time.According to the Twitter account of Naughty Dog's creative director Neil Druckmann, the game has already been in development for two years! This makes the fact that they could keep it almost completely under wraps until now even more impressive. Well played Naughty Dog.
During the latest Killer Keyboard podcast we mused over whether this games impressive début trailer could cause it similar problems to those suffered by Dead Island after its début with the reverse time trailer. I can understand the worry, but in all honesty I don't see an issue. Naughty Dog are Sony's premier development studio, they have enough manpower and development experience to ensure that, even with their second team being the primary development team behind the project, whatever they show us now will be a fair example of how the game will work.
With the game reportedly due out next year we don't have much longer to wait until we can play it for ourselves. Probably more than I can say for "I Am Alive"
This seemed to be the week for shock admissions and announcements. First, we had the aforementioned news that Naughty Dog had a second team who had been secretly working on The Last of Us for the past 2 years, and then the admission by Hideo Kojima, that Metal Gear Rising had quietly been dropped from development until Platinum Games showed interest in finishing the project.Said Kojima: "In the summer of 2010, the team made a presentation for me...I realized the game design still wasn't there yet." He continued "As the young staff said to me, they wanted a good game that just felt good moving around, and we would never get that, so I decided to cancel the project."
"But still, we had a lot of things" [already developed] "Motion capture, a lot of good story, the view of the world inside the game, and I wanted to use that somehow. I wanted Rising to be born again, so that's when I decided to contact Platinum Games."
This is the first Metal Gear game to be developed outside of Kojima's own studio but so far on the evidence of the VGA trailer it looks like Raiden should have a decent game behind him when he next draws his sword in anger.
If you were thinking of using more than one account on your PSP Vita you'd better have more than one of their ridiculously overpriced memory cards to hand. SCEA's associate brand marketing manager Crystal Mackenzie has told Wired.com that "If you wanted to change different PSN users but use the same memory card, you would need to go factory reset," effectively wiping the card of all it's save data. Good news however, you can apparently spread your saves over multiple cards all tied to the same account. Although, why you would want to, and how you could afford such a thing is, frankly, beyond me...
Plenty of 3DS news this week, starting with the announcement that sales of Nintendo's handheld console had their best ever week in Japan with just over 378,000 sold. This was no doubt aided by the release of the fantastic looking Monster Hunter Tri-G branded bundle. It includes the rather snazzy looking Monster Hunter branded 3DS and a copy of the game. Fear not though because it's headed state side soon.Kid Icarus: Uprising, a game that i had a hands on with earlier in the year, and which caused meto get a nasty cramp in my left hand, will be released on March 23rd. Mario Party 9 goes on sale a little earlier in the month, releasing as it does on March 11th. I have absolutely no idea if either of these games works with the circle pad, you know, the thing that gives you a second control stick that should have been part of the console as standard...
That little niggle not withstanding it turns out that when the circle pad is released in the States (February 7th in case you wondered) it will be a GameStop exclusive. You stupid company Nintendo, why make it an exclusive? Oh, and you'll have to pay an extra $20 for that second stick that should have been included anyway.
I bought Skyrim recently, well it would be silly not to since it was only £22.49 at Game and GameStation. One of the things i like about these games is the amount of stuff you can do which has absolutely no point, like, for example, putting buckets over NPC's heads.Todd Howard mentioned this little peculiarity when, during an interview with Joystiq, the subject turned to bugs: "I think our favourite really is putting the buckets on the heads," he laughed. "It was like day two, and we went, what? Do we fix that? Our lead programmer is pissed and wants to fix it, and I said I'm not sure we should. That's one of those where maybe we leave it in."
Games developers have a sense of humour too!
Probably helps when you've made the most played game of 2011, that was the news that came out of game tracking service Raptr this week. Not surprisingly Modern Warfare 3 was the most played Shooter, FIFA 12 took the Sports prize while Skyrim was the most popular RPG, but the shock comes in the overall category. Despite being released 3 days after the Activision juggernaut, Skyrim still managed to squeeze more play hours out of it's fans.
That's what infinite Dragons and un-ending quest systems can do for you i guess. Congratulations Bethesda.
Remember that Sorcery game that got shown off at E3 2010? It made fantastic use of the Playstation Move controller and actually looked like it was a lot of fun. Well it's been a little quiet since then, and silence from a developer is never a good sign, but the good news is that development of the game is going as expected and the final product will be due for release in Spring 2012. I doubt i'll be buying a move controller to play it, but if you have the tech already it's well worth your checking it out.Continuing on the Playstation theme, the next piece of news will shock none of you. Except maybe for Tarquin Jones from Northampton. SURPRISE TARQUIN! #clearlymadeupname
Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3 will let players use their Vita as a PS3 control pad. To be honest this was something i expected from the PSP so it's nice to see, but unless it improves the gaming experience somehow this is surely just a waste of your handheld's battery life isn't it?
Time for some nostalgia now. Hands up who remembers playing the original Tony Hawks Pro Skater on their PSOne, N64 or Dreamcast? Well as you may have heard on the Killer Keyboard Podcast there's an HD re-make on the way, and it uses all the original skate parks. No news as to the track listing yet but fingers crossed for the original line up of Goldfinger, Primus and the Dead Kennedys.
Here's your UK Top Ten for the week ending December 10th 2011
1- The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
2- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
3- Just Dance 3
4- FIFA 12
5- Assassins Creed: Revelations
6- Battlefield 3
7- Professor Layton and The Spectre's Call
8- Saints Row: The Third
9- Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception
10-Mario Kart 7
Not too surprising that the best played game of 2011 is also at number one in the UK. I fully expect to see Skyrim at number one next week too, thanks to the half price Skyrim offer at Game and GameStation. CoD MW3 is at number two thanks to Skyrim's rise from mid-table while Just Dance 3 gets a surprise podium finish ahead of FIFA 12. Another week with no Zumba fitness in the top ten, I must be in Heaven!
Well, thanks for checking in once again, remember to check out the latest episode of the Killer Keyboard Podcast and feel free to contact us either by E-Mail, leaving comments in our stories, or tweeting us your views.
@Killerkeyboard
@RealDaveRoberts
TTFN
Wednesday, 19 October 2011
The Round-up: Gamestop encourages second hand sales, Wii UK pricing announced, FIFA 12 knocked off it's perch...
A few days later than expected, and with a throat that feels like it's been coated with sandpaper, here's your weekly Video games round-up.
Starting off today's round-up there's news of two seperate legal wrangles currently making their way through the court systems. First is the news that Rocksmith's European release will be delayed into 2012 after it emerged that there is a band with the same name who aren't happy with being fobbed off by Ubisoft. According to Chris Ford, the percussionist for the UK group Rocksmith, the band even took the first step and contacted Ubisoft regarding their concerns over the naming of the new Music game, and trying to sort out a solution moving forward.
Eurogamer quote Mr Ford as saying that "there's nothing I've said that can't be backed up with absolute fact. I've got documents proving that I registered the name." Seems fairly cut and dry to me...
Next up is the news that Mojang have won an interim injunction against Zenimax/Bethesda and can continue to use the Scrolls title for their new game until the action goes to court. In a tweet on his official @notch account, Markus Persson said "We won the interim injunction! We can keep using the name "Scrolls". Zenimax/Bethesda can still appeal the ruling, but I'm very happy :D" Frankly it's ridiculous that Bethesda could even contemplate suing over any concern that the Title "Scrolls" infringes on their Elder Scrolls property, but i guess lawyers will be lawyers...
In happier news it appears that Blizzard have been raising money for charity while giving their rabid MMO fanbase a keep sake of their gaming past. On October 17th Blizzard began auctioning off server blades that used to house their long running World of Warcraft MMO. All in all, four seperate auctions were planned with all money raised going to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. With around 2000 blades up for sale, each with their own special presentation case, that's a lot of money for a very deserving cause.
Good news for all UK Sony fans now, it was announced by Jim Ryan who explained "PlayStation Vita is an incredible device that offers the best possible portable gaming experiences." That's fancy talk designed to make the price sound reasonable, in case you didn't know. To be fair to Sony, the price for the PS Vita is actually reasonable compared to other tech out there right now. At £229.99 for the Wifi only and £279.99 for the 3G enabled models you get plenty of technology for your money including the now famous rear touch screen, front touch screen and massive horse power the processor affords it. February 22nd is the official release date for PlayStation's latest hand held, and with only a £50 gap in price it wouldn't surprise me if a lot of people end up going 3G.
While we're talking Portable Sony devices it would be remiss of me not to mention the ever expanding roster of double packs making their way to PSP. For $15 US gamers can pick up the Mega Man Maverick Hunter X/Mega Man Powered Up or Monster Hunter Freedom Unite/Monster Hunter 2 packs. Absolute bargain right there.
More HD remake goodness is heading our way sometime next year, with Capcom confirming that they are working on a remastered HD bundle containing Devil May Cry 1,2 and 3. Not only that, but it will be available on PS3 and XBox 360. That's right, Microsoft fans can play it on their console too. Not happy to leave it there Capcom have also confirmed a RRP of just $40 for the collection!
Everybody knows that the best kind of shit is free shit, and thanks to Zen Studios you can download Pinball FX2 absolutely free of charge between October 26th and November 2nd. Not only that but you can also get the new Paranormal table layout for free at the same time. A round of applause for Zen studios please ladies and gents.
This next item may not be free, but it is awesome. On the heels of the Portal 2 knee socks (see what I'm doing there) comes one of the cutest little plushies I've seen (at least since Kon of Bleach fame). Seriously, take a look. Turret's never looked so cutesy.
Right, we have a shed load of Arkham City stories this week. First up is the news that Gamestop might be giving away Catwoman DLC with every used copy of the game that they sell. Obviously this benefits the retailer as their overheads on used games are much lower than new software, but from the developers point of view this is the worst thing that Gamestop could possibly have done. Kotaku report that an anonymous tipster sent them an internal memo detailing plans that all used copies sold would have a code for the Catwoman downloadable content printed on the receipt. This has since been confirmed with a retail branch by the Video games site.
Fans of the Batman Beyond TV series will be able to download a free skin of the futuristic not-so-caped crusader if they drink enough NOS energy drink. Although the skin will be available as regular DLC later on, fans of the Fast and Furious styled energy drink will get the attire once they complete the single player or play any of the challenge maps. To be honest i always thought that the Beyond version of Batman was a bit lame, but then, I love impractical capes.
PC gamers will finally get hold of Arkham City on November 18th, the delay is apparently due to the team working on the PC port wanting to fix some bugs before they ship the final product. Good for them i say, patching post release is something i really detest, but it's a growing trend as developers look to meet release schedules.
While players on the console versions of Arkham City might not have many bugs to contend with they are having trouble with DLC, namely the free DLC included in the box. Reports range from codes not working at all, to doubling up on certain pieces of DLC and in some cases Code cards included being completely blank! The Warner Bros twitter account has promised news as soon as they work out a solution, with a cryptic message pointing towards Catwoman being the first to be solved, claiming that players "will get to play as the sexy thief,"
Now then, PS3 owners out there, and i myself am included among your numbers, will know only too well how annoying it can be to turn your console on for a quick session, only to be told you need to run a firmware update before continuing. Sony seem to have finally realised this inconvenience and as a result Firmware Update 3.73, which fixes software stability issues will be completely optional. No doubt other firmware updates will be mandatory depending on what they address, but it's nice to have a choice on this one at least.
What news of EA? I hear you ask, okay i didn't physically hear you, but you must be wondering surely? well the pre-order figures for Battlefield 3 are in, and they're mightily impressive. EA have stated that pre-orders currently stand at over "a couple of million" while participation in the Beta has apparently topped 8 million users according to a graphic on the Battlefield 3 blog. wowzers.
Also hot off the presses from EA is the news that they have filed 2 trademark requests for the title "Prison Kings". Trademark applications for an Online game, as well as downloadable computer game software have both been made but any other clue as to the type of game it will be aren't forthcoming at the moment. Personally I enjoyed the prison sections of Fight Night Champion, so a re-imagining of the Knockout Kings brand set in the prison system would be an interesting take on the fighting game genre. Either that or we're going to get a bully style prison game with online components.
Finally, here's your UK top ten selling games on all platforms for the week ending October 15th
Good to see once again that Dark Souls is in the top ten, while F1 2011 and GoW3 also hang around the list. Surprise surprise, Zumba fitness is still selling well. I'm beginning to think that Wet wet wet had the right idea when they withdrew Love is all around from sale after they got sick of being number 1. Take note Majesco entertainment...
Right, that'll do for today, I'm going back to bed to die quietly.
Later days.
Starting off today's round-up there's news of two seperate legal wrangles currently making their way through the court systems. First is the news that Rocksmith's European release will be delayed into 2012 after it emerged that there is a band with the same name who aren't happy with being fobbed off by Ubisoft. According to Chris Ford, the percussionist for the UK group Rocksmith, the band even took the first step and contacted Ubisoft regarding their concerns over the naming of the new Music game, and trying to sort out a solution moving forward.
Eurogamer quote Mr Ford as saying that "there's nothing I've said that can't be backed up with absolute fact. I've got documents proving that I registered the name." Seems fairly cut and dry to me...
Next up is the news that Mojang have won an interim injunction against Zenimax/Bethesda and can continue to use the Scrolls title for their new game until the action goes to court. In a tweet on his official @notch account, Markus Persson said "We won the interim injunction! We can keep using the name "Scrolls". Zenimax/Bethesda can still appeal the ruling, but I'm very happy :D" Frankly it's ridiculous that Bethesda could even contemplate suing over any concern that the Title "Scrolls" infringes on their Elder Scrolls property, but i guess lawyers will be lawyers...
In happier news it appears that Blizzard have been raising money for charity while giving their rabid MMO fanbase a keep sake of their gaming past. On October 17th Blizzard began auctioning off server blades that used to house their long running World of Warcraft MMO. All in all, four seperate auctions were planned with all money raised going to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. With around 2000 blades up for sale, each with their own special presentation case, that's a lot of money for a very deserving cause.
Good news for all UK Sony fans now, it was announced by Jim Ryan who explained "PlayStation Vita is an incredible device that offers the best possible portable gaming experiences." That's fancy talk designed to make the price sound reasonable, in case you didn't know. To be fair to Sony, the price for the PS Vita is actually reasonable compared to other tech out there right now. At £229.99 for the Wifi only and £279.99 for the 3G enabled models you get plenty of technology for your money including the now famous rear touch screen, front touch screen and massive horse power the processor affords it. February 22nd is the official release date for PlayStation's latest hand held, and with only a £50 gap in price it wouldn't surprise me if a lot of people end up going 3G.
While we're talking Portable Sony devices it would be remiss of me not to mention the ever expanding roster of double packs making their way to PSP. For $15 US gamers can pick up the Mega Man Maverick Hunter X/Mega Man Powered Up or Monster Hunter Freedom Unite/Monster Hunter 2 packs. Absolute bargain right there.
More HD remake goodness is heading our way sometime next year, with Capcom confirming that they are working on a remastered HD bundle containing Devil May Cry 1,2 and 3. Not only that, but it will be available on PS3 and XBox 360. That's right, Microsoft fans can play it on their console too. Not happy to leave it there Capcom have also confirmed a RRP of just $40 for the collection!
Everybody knows that the best kind of shit is free shit, and thanks to Zen Studios you can download Pinball FX2 absolutely free of charge between October 26th and November 2nd. Not only that but you can also get the new Paranormal table layout for free at the same time. A round of applause for Zen studios please ladies and gents.
This next item may not be free, but it is awesome. On the heels of the Portal 2 knee socks (see what I'm doing there) comes one of the cutest little plushies I've seen (at least since Kon of Bleach fame). Seriously, take a look. Turret's never looked so cutesy.
Right, we have a shed load of Arkham City stories this week. First up is the news that Gamestop might be giving away Catwoman DLC with every used copy of the game that they sell. Obviously this benefits the retailer as their overheads on used games are much lower than new software, but from the developers point of view this is the worst thing that Gamestop could possibly have done. Kotaku report that an anonymous tipster sent them an internal memo detailing plans that all used copies sold would have a code for the Catwoman downloadable content printed on the receipt. This has since been confirmed with a retail branch by the Video games site.
Fans of the Batman Beyond TV series will be able to download a free skin of the futuristic not-so-caped crusader if they drink enough NOS energy drink. Although the skin will be available as regular DLC later on, fans of the Fast and Furious styled energy drink will get the attire once they complete the single player or play any of the challenge maps. To be honest i always thought that the Beyond version of Batman was a bit lame, but then, I love impractical capes.
PC gamers will finally get hold of Arkham City on November 18th, the delay is apparently due to the team working on the PC port wanting to fix some bugs before they ship the final product. Good for them i say, patching post release is something i really detest, but it's a growing trend as developers look to meet release schedules.
While players on the console versions of Arkham City might not have many bugs to contend with they are having trouble with DLC, namely the free DLC included in the box. Reports range from codes not working at all, to doubling up on certain pieces of DLC and in some cases Code cards included being completely blank! The Warner Bros twitter account has promised news as soon as they work out a solution, with a cryptic message pointing towards Catwoman being the first to be solved, claiming that players "will get to play as the sexy thief,"
Now then, PS3 owners out there, and i myself am included among your numbers, will know only too well how annoying it can be to turn your console on for a quick session, only to be told you need to run a firmware update before continuing. Sony seem to have finally realised this inconvenience and as a result Firmware Update 3.73, which fixes software stability issues will be completely optional. No doubt other firmware updates will be mandatory depending on what they address, but it's nice to have a choice on this one at least.
What news of EA? I hear you ask, okay i didn't physically hear you, but you must be wondering surely? well the pre-order figures for Battlefield 3 are in, and they're mightily impressive. EA have stated that pre-orders currently stand at over "a couple of million" while participation in the Beta has apparently topped 8 million users according to a graphic on the Battlefield 3 blog. wowzers.
Also hot off the presses from EA is the news that they have filed 2 trademark requests for the title "Prison Kings". Trademark applications for an Online game, as well as downloadable computer game software have both been made but any other clue as to the type of game it will be aren't forthcoming at the moment. Personally I enjoyed the prison sections of Fight Night Champion, so a re-imagining of the Knockout Kings brand set in the prison system would be an interesting take on the fighting game genre. Either that or we're going to get a bully style prison game with online components.
Finally, here's your UK top ten selling games on all platforms for the week ending October 15th
- Forza Motorsport 4
- FIFA 12
- Just Dance 3
- Rage
- Pro Evolution Soccer 12
- Gears of War 3
- Dark Souls
- Zumba Fitness
- F1 2011
- Jonah Lomu Rugby Challenge
Good to see once again that Dark Souls is in the top ten, while F1 2011 and GoW3 also hang around the list. Surprise surprise, Zumba fitness is still selling well. I'm beginning to think that Wet wet wet had the right idea when they withdrew Love is all around from sale after they got sick of being number 1. Take note Majesco entertainment...
Right, that'll do for today, I'm going back to bed to die quietly.
Later days.
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