PlayStation Move coming to PC, possibly
Recent uncovered reports are hinting at Sony’s motion controller, the PlayStation Move, heading for PC via a new project called Move Server. Through this project, game developers, enthusiasts and hobbyists might one day – sooner than you think – be able to create projects of their own reminiscent of the numerous Kinect hacks we’ve seen since its launch.
Senior developer support engineer John McCutchan from SCEA will be hosting a session at this year’s Game Developer Conference (or GDC as we all know it by) in February, and it’s in the description of this session we get that hint of what’s to come for Move: “This talk will bring developers up to speed on developing for the PlayStation Move controller. We will cover developing for the new PlayStation Move Sharp Shooter accessory. We will discuss the new Move Server project that will make it possible for academics and hobbyists to develop software using the PlayStation Move controller on their own PCs.”
Again, with the amazing Kinect hacks we’ve already witnessed, and the Wii remote having its uses on PC as well, it’s only natural Sony would jump on the bandwagon and let tech-savvy people take the hardware for a spin and show us what it can really do.
Watch the reveal of NGP and PlayStation Suite in 1080p HD
You may have seen snippets and short clips around the web of our PlayStation Meeting we held in Japan earlier this week. I’m happy to finally share the historic event in it’s entirety in glorious 1080p HD. Witness and relive the moment when we unveiled to the world PlayStation Suite and NGP (Next Generation Portable).
Other memorable and show stopping moments, like the real-time Uncharted demo and Call of Duty announced for NGP can also be found in the playlist above, which is divided into six parts for your viewing pleasure. Gather in-front of the warm glow of your computer screens and make yourself acquainted with the true revolution of portable gaming, NGP. Share your thoughts and favorite moments below, we’re eager to read your feedback.
Sony announce PlayStation Suite bringing PS content to Android systems
Another Sony announcement today that was clearly dwarfed by the Next Generation Portable’s reveal was PlayStation Suite. Presumably prepping the company for their PlayStation Phone announcement, PS Suite equips Android-supporting phones with the ability to play PlayStation content.
Sony promises the first releases happen inside of this calender year, confirming that original PlaySation games will be among the titles you can expect to find through the service. The company has also promised a range of original games to come to Suite which will also be available on the NGP itself. Other phones have been shown using touch controls to operate games, with the controller interface being emulated on screen.
Sounds like a more accessible, smaller PlayStation Store. Hopefully content we’ve already bought on our PS3s can carry over.
Photography: Robert G. Bartholot - Playstation
Robert G. Bartholot is a Berlin-based freelance designer with an emphasis on photographic illustration & art direction. He was born in 1971 in Southern Germany & became a graphic designer in Aachen. He gained experience working in Lucerne & Zurich, before he moved to Madrid to join photography legend Álvaro Villarrubia’s team. He’s been exploring his particular imagery ever since.
Beside his interest in dollish characters he certainly has a weakness for dusty shine, trendless fashion & striking gloom.
www.bartholot.net
LittleBigPlanet 2 online players report 'infinite loading' glitch
The exact cause of the issue is unknown, though there's a quick and dirty workaround (which worked for us, when we experienced the glitch): If you get stuck on the loading screen, turn your controller off, and the level should actually load. Once you're in the level, you can turn your controller back on and get back to whatever it was you had set out to do -- probably slapping around your fellow players and being generally unhelpful, you jerk.
Media Molecule had not responded to our request for comment as of publishing, but a recent tweet from the developer seems to indicate that a freezing glitch has been cornered and a fix is in the works.
Homefront dev explains the importance of dedicated servers
"You have to think about your constraints when you're making a game," Homefront senior designer Brian Holinka, of developer Kaos Studios, explained to us at a recent press event for the game. "If we host a server on a console, all of a sudden, that console is both server and it's playing the game. That really lowers everything: player count, the number of vehicles, everything. Dedicated servers allow us to offload all that work and basically all the client has to worry about is running the game."
Through dedicated servers, Homefront will support a chaotic 16-versus-16 online mode, where every player can summon a vehicle at will. "It means everything is bigger -- there's more players, more vehicles, more targets, more airstrikes," Holinka hyped.
"It really helps us offload a lot of work," he reiterated about the servers, "and now our scope is a lot bigger." But can you really call a 32-player match "a lot," when a game like MAG has littered the virtual battlefield with 256 players? We asked Holinka why Kaos wasn't using the dedicated servers to expand the number of players per match even further, and he reminded us that "we had more in Frontlines," the studio's previous game. Apparently, the team tested out larger battles for Homefront, but "it just didn't work," Holinka said. "We just found it wasn't fun. It just plays better at 32."
"If you played a level with 50 or 60 people in there," the developer found, "every time you turn around, you'd get shot."
Bulletstorm shows off more skillshots, still no sign of 'drilldo'
Digital Foundry pits PS3 Mass Effect 2 against Xbox 360 original
The only significant difference, which boils down to personal preference, is the lighting in the two games. DF notes that the PS3 version's lighting is generally brighter than the 360 game, though not necessarily improved from a technical standpoint. The article also examines the effectiveness of the PS3's "Genesis" comic intro, as opposed to actually playing the original Mass Effect on 360.
In the end, if you just have to own the most technically impressive version, DF suggests you choose ... the PC version, of course.
Marvel vs. Capcom 3's alternate costumes' comic book origins explored
It looks like Capcom (with a lot of help from Marvel, of course) is taking these character skins pretty seriously. We're happy to see that so much consideration went into these outfits -- but we can't wait to see how they explain all the different additional costumes for Capcom's fighters. "Oh, you don't remember that time that Haggar wore a bright purple chest-belt? That was a real thing that happened, we promise."
Mama Mia! Majesco cooks up $2.1 million fiscal-year loss
With its focus on mass-market appeal, Majesco could well bake up some profits this fiscal year. We'll keep watch over its shoulder, though, mindful to leave a clear path to the fire extinguisher in case the money continues to burn.
Killzone 3 includes admission into SOCOM 4 multiplayer beta
Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like the beta will arrive at the same time as Killzone 3's launch -- Zipper Interactive's Chris Roper explained on PlayStation Blog, "To find out when the SOCOM 4 multiplayer beta begins, be sure to check back at SOCOM.com once you pick up your copy of Killzone 3, hitting shelves on February 22nd." Perfect; so we'll have some time to get really used to Killzone 3's control scheme before switching over to SOCOM 4's presumably wildly different control scheme. We anticipate that we'll be eating quite a few of our own accidentally-thrown frag grenades.
Red Dead Redemption multiplayer XP challenge for Avatar awards begins
Of course, each system's goodies will only unlock when the totals for the platform are met. You can watch the bars rise on the official Rockstar Games newswire or Social Club site. What'er you waitin' for, cowboys and cowgirls? Get to yer XP earnin'!
Activision finds no Bizarre buyers, recommends closure
Activision made it known in early November that the Liverpool-based studio had entered a consultation period, a 90-day phase under UK law that warns of potential closure. On the same day as the announcement, Activision closed Iowa-based Budcat in the US. At the time, Activision said that, despite a substantial investment in creating a new IP, Blur did not find a commercial audience.
If you are an employee of the studio and have anything more to share, please feel free to contact us.
ModNation Racers for-pay cheat unlocks everything, coming tomorrow
Given the ultra-creative nature of the game, we can't really knock the idea of having access to all of the stickers, karts, tracks, themes and other various parts on the disc (and those added by DLC, if you've already bought it). Then again, if you've already sunk $60 into the retail release and more into DLC, you'd think the least Sony could do is throw in
Sounds like Chime is headed for US PSN, too
Now this PS3 version of the game just needs to be, y'know, announced. (Hopefully with Portal's "Still Alive" included.)
Source: ESRB
Portal 2 on PS3 features cross-platform chat, multiplayer and a free Steam copy
Additionally, those who pick up the PS3 game are ensured a free voucher for the Steam Play version of the game, should they link their PSN and Steam accounts. "We hope to expand upon the foundation being laid in Portal 2 with more Steam features and functionality in DLC and future content releases," said Valve's Gabe Newell.
Head past the break for the full press release.
Angry Birds (for PlayStation 3, PSP)
Controls: Jerky
Angry Birds has become a casual gaming sensation, and one of the premiere smartphone games. It's the new Bejeweled, the new Tetris, the new Solitaire. There's something inexplicably addictive and entertaining about using a giant slingshot to send birds crashing through pigs' fortifications. Now it's come to Sony's gaming systems as a PlayStation mini, a $3.99 downloadable game you can play on both the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable. But before PS fans get too excited, be aware that Angry Birds for Sony's gaming platforms isn't as smart as the smartphone versions.
On one hand, this port of Angry Birds is faithful to the original game. On the other hand, too little was changed for the game to be very fun on the PS3, and performance issues hinder its playability on the PSP. The game comes with just 63 levels (though there is the potential for more in the future). Considering that smartphone versions cost less and include more than three times as many levels (not even including the Angry Birds Seasons games), it's not nearly as tempting as it could be.
For both PlayStation versions of the game, the controls are very simple, but they're not nearly as satisfying as the touch-screen controls found on smartphone versions. The left analog stick (on the PS3) or analog disc (on the PSP) aims the slingshot, X fires, and the shoulder buttons pan the map back and forth so you can look over the level. You can fire the slingshot by flicking the analog stick/disc for a more tactile sensation, but it's an unreliable way to play the game, and you'll find yourself nudging the controller in just the wrong way at a crucial time, sending your bird hopping uselessly just a few feet instead of flying across the level.
Graphics: It's No Super Meat Boy
Visually, Angry Birds has not changed one whit from its smartphone versions. On both the PS3 and PSP, the game features the same cartoony, simple graphics used before, and the menu layout is identical. Regardless of the platform, the game is standard definition. While it looks fine on the PSP (despite some slight pixilation around straight lines placed on angles, on the PS3 it looks blocky and unpleasant, like a smartphone screen blown up to HDTV size. The menus, the sprites, the animations, they're all jarringly full of pixels. While pixilated sprites might be acceptable in retro-themed games, in these days of high-res, hand-drawn sprites in games like Castle Crashers and Super Meat Boy, Angry Birds just looks dated.
On the smaller screen of the PSP, Angry Birds looks much nicer. Unfortunately, the lower processing power leads to some other flaws in the game. You can expect to see significant choppiness and stuttering of the picture during particularly spectacular launches as the handheld's CPU works to keep up. A perfect, pig-crushing throw feels much less satisfying when you watch it jerk along at a few frames per second, hiccupping as the wood, stone, and glass walls shatter and fall.
At Least it's Ch eap
Between its lackluster presentation on the PS3 and jerky game play on the PSP, the PlayStation Mini version of Angry Birds isn't the best version of the game for either platform. However, at $3.99 and packed with dozens of levels, it's a cheap way to sate your bird-flinging thirst if you don't have an Android, iPhone, or iPad. If you have any of the aforementioned mobile devices, use them. Lower prices, more levels, and a much more satisfying touch-screen control system make this one of the few cases where iPhones and Android phones can handle a game far better than either of Sony's systems.
Source:PcMag
Via:PcMag
THQ and Mattel enter game deal, includes Masters of the Universe rights
While the deal with Mattel encompasses games that could appear on any platform imaginable, THQ did specifically note the potential in re-introducing the toy maker's brands through the uDraw GameTablet for Wii. "As we have shown with the combination of uDraw and Pictionary, there is enormous potential for the strategic relationship between THQ and Mattel," said Martin Good, executive veep of THQ's Kids, Family and Casual Games division.
The brilliant part about all this is that when you hand over THQ's Tablet and a copy of the He-Man: By the Power of Grayscale drawing game to the GameStop clerk, you simply say, "It's for my kid" -- and he sort of has to believe you.
[Image source: Madman Entertainment; credit: Mattel]
Source: THQ
Via:Joystiq