PlayStation LifeStyle » PSN

Publisher May Delay Amy Over Price Discrepancy

Rae Langdon — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 22:18:19 +0000

Next week French publisher Lexis Numerique is set to release the intriguing survival horror title Amy on the Playstation Network. The game’s announced pricing structure was less than traditional, as many in the media were quick to point out. The game will cost approximately $3 USD more on the PlayStation Network than it does on Microsoft’s Xbox Live, and the inconsistency could be cause for delay.

Lexis Numerique’s CEO Joe Sanchis cited the odd nature of currency exchange between European Currencies and Microsoft Points as the reason for the pricing decision. In Numerique’s native Europe 800 Microsoft points equals out to $12.73 American whereas in the United States and Canada 800 Points is the equivalent to $10 USD. This means that the major price discrepancy is a uniquely North American issue and probably wasn’t taken into account when they announced the game’s price.

Rather than forcing PlayStation 3 users to work over an additional $3 due to currency rates, Numerique has set up a poll on their facebook page. The poll gives voters two options, accepting the price difference between the two consoles and keeping the $12.99 price point on PSN or delaying the release of Amy on the PlayStation network, affording the publisher time to equalize the price.

I’m in favor of a one week delay if it means paying less. What do you think?

Amy looks to be an intriguing little game that promises over 10 hours of gameplay. If you don’t know much about it check out their website or watch the trailer below.

[Youtube]www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5XE5cSwnV0[/Youtube]

[Source]

PSN Review – Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes

Max Murray — Fri, 29 Apr 2011 17:41:27 +0000

Might and Magic is one of the oldest RPG series, having been around since the 1986 when the original title, The Secret of the Inner Sanctum, debuted on the NES, the Commodore 64 and old DOS systems. The first created a huge following and inspired a number of direct sequels until the company, 3DO, closed their doors and the rights to the name were passed along. Enter a new era of various spin-offs, alterations, side games and a name slapped on anything vaguely related with role playing elements. Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes was originally a Nintendo DS game released in 2009 that left the strict RPG standards behind to create a story based puzzle fighter. After much critical acclaim, an HD port was issued to be developed on the PSN and XBLA. The pieces are in the right place, but does the jump between the portable world to your living room guarantee the same experience?

Might and Magic: Clash of Heroes delivers a play style similar to Puzzle Quest, but unlike Puzzle Quest because you’ll actually want to play it (zing!). You’ll enter the world of Ashan that avid fans of the M&M series will recognize from Heroes of Might and Magic V. The campaign begins with some powerful figures gathering in a forest to discuss plans to further protect the world from the Blade of Binding enter the hands of the demon forces, but as expected, they show up to crash the party, kill most of the guardians, and in the end, the blade goes missing. During this moment of confusion, the children of these guardians run for safety by diving into a portal which sends each of them to a different sections of the world. The campaign is then played out through these 5 character’s separate stories as they rid each of the lands they’re thrust in of its evil and try to make it back together before the sword ends up in the hands of the Demon Lord.

M&M‘s gameplay consists of moving around the glyph points on the map, talking to NPCs in between the puzzle battles you’ll encounter, story based or otherwise. Battles take place on an imaginary grid split in half with your enemy on the further side, and you in the foreground. Your playing field will be littered with troops differing in color and types which must be reorganized into like-colored sections to create attack squads or walls of defense. Your goal is to direct enough attacks past the enemy units which will deal damage to your opponent’s lifebar. Units do not attack immediately though as they require a certain amount of turns to charge up their strength completely.

Immediately it becomes apparent that strategy is at the heart of the game, and playing through a round with a tough computer or smart foe will often feel like a game of chess. Matching unit’s charge times against enemy formations, preparing future attacks, and building up walls to defend from onslaughts are the necessary skills you’ll need to adapt into your playing style. You could attempt to power through the enemy by only lining up attack formations, but most likely, your opponent will take note and build to counter, only to strike when your line is undefended and scattered.

To add some more pizzaz to your army, your army can be outfitted with up to 2 hero types. Hero units require you to sacrifice your basic troops for their attack, but it’s worth it. They deliver special attacks that can cause some serious damage and bring new offensive strategies. For instance, while a basic soldier charges for 2 turns and attacks for 5 damage, a Knight (hero) requires a longer charge time, but can deal up to 30 damage, almost guaranteeing you will cause direct damage on your opponent’s lifebar. Hero units usually carry an additional effect, such as being impervious to attacks while charging, or even draining the life of your enemy’s HP into your own. Play with them in your lineup, and there’s no going back. These special troops force you to begin thinking like a pro as you’ll soon find yourself creating attacks 3 turns in advanced in your head.

With a campaign that can charge the completionists of the world up to 40 hours of their life, things could get pretty repetitive. Amazingly though, the game keeps every fight fresh and new. You’re encouraged (or forced) throughout the entire game to adopt new strategies as win objectives change and you discover new heroes with which to experiment. It’s almost as if the designers implemented chapter ends and introduced you to the next playable character right when this familiarity sets in, but the change is very natural as it keeps the game from stagnating. These 5 campaign characters each control separate armies and have unique abilities, including one final move and a special wall type. For instance, Anwen is a forest elf and leads an army that plays heavily on a nature theme. Her defensive walls are vines that have the ability to keep growing stronger with each passing turn, and her final attack is a barrage of arrows shot in a direction of your choosing. Fiona, on the other hand, is an underworld character with zombies and skeletons at her command. Her walls are made from the bones of each of her defeated troops, and her final move, ‘Blood Sacrifice’, instantly kills all of her idle troops in order to power one large attack. The level of diversity these different boards, characters, and moves create makes for some great variety in play styles and individual techniques. Considering how much there is to experiment with, and the fact that we haven’t even touched on game changers like artifacts, linking and fusion, it’ll be a while before you get bored with the game.

When you’ve had your fill of overpowering the computer, step into multiplayer and note the game taking a drastic change. Instead of facing a cunning, yet still brainless computer who can miss large plans you may be conjuring, you now have a living, breathing human sitting opposite you, keeping you on your toes and turning each battle into a test of wits. Exciting isn’t accurate enough, and fun is too shy of a word: this multiplayer is a blast. I will be the first to admit my hesitations stepping in. Ditching the 4 second turns the computer takes, and facing the inevitable online “all I do is play this game, so you’ll leave crying” guy had me worried I’d find the first flaw in Clash of Heroes, but instead a whole new world of challenge opens, pinning all your training into a real match in a 1 v 1 battle or, if you really want to get your money’s worth, team up with another player and head into a 2 v 2 match.

You and your teammate will share a space, but will have separate characters that can be used together for attacks. It’s a little confusing to start, but after a few turns, you’ll be up to speed as you’re fusing attacks and building walls alongside a real partner. What sets the whole multiplayer over the top though is the inclusion of voice chat. Creating attack patterns, formulating long-term strategies and deciding how best to use your combined 6 initial moves adds limitless depth to the game when you can simply discuss it with your partner rather than relying on crossed fingers and prayers. Mind you, this is online play so your opponents will most likely take the opportunity to do nothing more than insult you and distract you with obscenities, however to say it doesn’t add a competitive flair to the mix up would be a bold-faced lie. On another note, all of the matches I played, no matter how competitive and insulting, ended with everyone congratulating each other on the great fight, which was rewarding on its own.

Clash of Heroes made a risky move from the portable realm to the downloadable market on a home console, but it’s one of those games where the developer never really had to worry that this dramatic jump; it was practically a guaranteed success. After all, how could one of the Nintendo DS’s best reviewed games receive an HD face lift and an incredible new online element and not deliver? The publishers knew they were making a wise choice putting money into expanding the audience, and thank your gods they did, because we now have our chance to play through a title that over delivers on almost all fronts. Clash of Heroes offers some fantastic game mechanics, a decent story and enough variety to keep you coming back to see it through to the end. Fans of the genre and series should absolutely give this one a try, it may just become the staple title for future puzzle-battle games.

PlayStation LifeStyle’s Final Score

+ Battle system is deep and encourages various styles

+ Large variety and multiple characters keep the gameplay fresh

+ Online multiplayer adds a new challenge. Co-op battles must be experienced

Microsoft Has Some Choice Words to Say Regarding Sony’s PSN Predicament

Joseph Peterson — Sun, 24 Apr 2011 03:33:18 +0000

Many gamers may have found themselves in a boring weekend so far due to the fact that the PlayStation Network is down, and there is no word on when it will be back up and running, adding insult to injury. Recently, Microsoft had their Xbox Nations event, and had some flamboyant words of choice to share about their competitor’s online “maintenance”.

Electronic Theatre recently asked Microsoft about the issues Sony is having to deal with, and here is what they had to say:

“Of course it’s regretful that Sony is encountering issues at such a busy time, and Microsoft takes no joy in the problems gamers are having playing their favourite games online.

The Xbox representative continued:

“That being said, we are expecting Microsoft’s robust online network to see an increase of traffic from those gamers who own both systems. Being able to play their games via the Xbox LIVE network could make all the difference for some gamers, and the Xbox Nations event will allow all of them to do just that – whether they have a Gold subscription or not.”

Stay tuned to PlayStation LifeStyle for any updated news on the status of the PlayStation Network. For the time being, be sure to check out Go Outside and Live Your Life, it’s probably your best bet in battling the pain resulting from having no PSN access.

Sony Fights to Resuscitate the PlayStation Network

Joseph Peterson — Sat, 23 Apr 2011 12:13:28 +0000

For several days now, many PlayStation 3 users have been experiencing issues with the PlayStation Network, particularly with log-in issues. Sony has been hard at work to fix the issues since the network went down April 20th, this past Wednesday. Now it looks as if we have some more information to shed some light on the problems that Sony has been dealing with.

This is what the PlayStation Blog had to say on the “external intrustion” :

“In order to conduct a thorough investigation and to verify the smooth and secure operation of our network services going forward, we turned off PlayStation Network & Qriocity services on the evening of Wednesday, April 20th. Providing quality entertainment services to our customers and partners is our utmost priority. We are doing all we can to resolve this situation quickly.”

Sony is taking flak for taking so long to address the issues, but there’s no doubt that their doing everything in their power to restore the PSN to a steady, working experience. Now all we have to do is wait patiently for the problems to be fixed. Be sure to stay tuned to PlayStation LifeStyle for more updates on the status of the PlayStation Network.

[Source]

PlayStation Store Global Update – April 5, 2011

Louis Edwards — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 22:19:26 +0000

Each week Sony brings PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable owners new content, add-ons, games and more. PlayStation LifeStyle catalogs the PlayStation Store updates for the major regions across the globe. Check back every Tuesday and Wednesday to keep up to date with each week’s PlayStation Store Update.

** Note for other regions **

European PSN is updated on Wednesdays and is live now.

North American Update

PlayStation Plus

Featured Games

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Free and exclusive to PlayStation Plus subscribers)
Duael Invaders minis (Free and exclusive to PlayStation Plus subscribers)

Featured Qore Episode

Qore April Episode 35 (Free to PlayStation Plus subscribers, regular price $2.99)

Discounted Games

Stardrone (PlayStation Plus price $4.00, regular price $7.99)
Hamsterball (Reg Price – $9.99, Sale Price- $4.99, Plus Price $3.99)

4/5 Sale Offers

Lara Croft: Guardian Of Light (now $7.49, regular price $14.99)
Angry Birds (now $1.99, regular price $3.99)

Updates

Hamsterball – Sale – (PS3) (now $4.99, original price $9.99)
Angry Birds – Minis – Sale – (PSP/PS3) (now $1.99, original price $3.99)
Lara Croft And The Guardian Of Light – Sale – (PS3) (now $7.49, original price $14.99)
Hannspree Ten Kate Honda SBK Superbike World Championship – Price Change – (PSP) (now $7.99, original price $9.99)
Soldner-X 2: Final Prototype + Soldner-X: Himmelssturmer Bundle – Price Change – (PS3) (now $14.99, original price $17.99)
Soldner-X 2: Final Prototype Complete Bundle – Price Change – (PS3) (now $12.99, original price $14.99)
Soldner-X 2: Final Prototype – Price Change – (PS3) (now $9.99, original price $12.99)
Age of Booty – Price Change – (PS3) (now $4.99, original price $9.99)
Rocketmen: Axis of Evil (Full Game) – Price Change – (PS3) (now $4.99, original price $6.99)
Rocketmen: Total Uranus Bundle – Price Change – (PS3) (now $6.99, original price $9.99)
Wolf of The Battlefield: Commando 3 – Price Change – (PS3) (now $4.99, original price $9.99)

Qore

Qore Episode 35 – April 2011 ($2.99)
Qore Annual Subscription – April 2011 ($24.99)

Downloadable Games

StarDrone ($7.99)
Red Faction: Battlegrounds ($9.99)

Game Demos (free)

SOCOM 4: U.S. Navy SEALs Multiplayer Beta
Rush’N Attack: Ex-Patriot Demo
Red Faction: Battlegrounds Demo

Add-on Game Content

EyePet Sea Life Pack ($2.99)
ModNation Racers El Snake-O Mod And Kart ($1.75)
ModNation Racers El Snake-O Mod ($0.99)
ModNation Racers El Snake-O Kart ($0.99)
Test Drive Unlimited 2: Aston Martin DBS Carbon Black Edition ($0.99)
Test Drive Unlimited 2: Aston Martin V12 Vantage Carbon Black Edition ($0.99)
Test Drive Unlimited 2: Audi RS 5 Coupé ($0.99)
Test Drive Unlimited 2: Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Super Sport ($0.99)
Test Drive Unlimited 2: Caterham Superlight R500 ($0.99)
Test Drive Unlimited 2: Chevrolet Camaro Synergy Special Edition ($0.99)
Test Drive Unlimited 2: Ferrari 612 Sessanta ($0.99)
Test Drive Unlimited 2: Ford Shelby GT500 ($0.99)
Test Drive Unlimited 2: Jaguar XKR Speed Pack And Black Pack ($0.99)
Test Drive Unlimited 2: Pagani Zonda Tricolore ($0.99)
Mushroom Wars: Online Add-On ($2.99)
Mushroom Wars : Duplex VII Map ($0.99)
Mushroom Wars: Duplex VIII Map ($0.99)
Mushroom Wars : Quadrex III Map ($0.99)
Mushroom Wars : Quadrex IV Map ($0.99)
Mushroom Wars : Triplex V ($0.99)
Hyperdimension Neptunia: Black Heart Swimsuit Costume ($2.49)
Hyperdimension Neptunia: Green Heart Swimsuit Costume ($2.49)
Hyperdimension Neptunia: Level Cap +200 ($0.99)
Hyperdimension Neptunia: White Heart Swimsuit Costume ($2.49)
Stacking: The Lost Hobo King ($4.99)
Yoostar 2: Heroes Scene Pack ($6.99)
Yoostar 2: Ben Stiller Scene Pack ($4.99)
Yoostar 2: Spartans, prepare for glory! ($1.99)
Yoostar 2: Double secret probation ($1.99)
Yoostar 2: Toga! Toga! ($1.99)
Yoostar 2: What’s the last thing we remember? ($1.99)
Yoostar 2: Slimer attacks! ($1.99)
Yoostar 2: Batwing ($1.99)
Yoostar 2: Keep your paws inside the vehicle ($1.99)
Yoostar 2: Everyone and their mums ($1.99)
Yoostar 2: Why are you dressed as Kick-Ass ($1.99)
Yoostar 2: I’m lookin’ and I’m likin’ ($1.99)
Yoostar 2 – Make It Out Of Here ($1.99)
Yoostar 2: No brakes! ($1.99)
Yoostar 2: I like my species the way it is ($1.99)
Yoostar 2: Q, you are not God ($1.99)
Yoostar 2: Fight the Gorn! ($1.99)
Yoostar 2: Splendid example of Homo sapiens ($1.99)
Yoostar 2: I am in command here ($1.99)

Rock Band 3

“Freeze-Frame” – J. Geils Band ($1.99)
“Love Will Tear Us Apart” – Joy Division ($1.99)
“We’re An American Band” – Grand Funk Railroad ($1.99)
“The Loco-Motion” – Grand Funk Railroad ($1.99)

Game Videos (free)

Pulse 4/5 Edition
MLB 11 The Show Torture Trailer
MLB 11 The Show What a Great Game Trailer
MLB 11 The Show Pure Pitching Tutorial
MLB 11 The Show Pure Throwing Tutorial
MLB 11 The Show Pure Hitting Tutorial
PlayStation Move Heroes Launch Trailer
Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One Story Trailer
Dragon Age II Launch Trailer
Fancy Pants Adventures Announce Trailer
Fancy Pants Adventures – The World Of Fancy Pants Trailer
Gatling Gears Trailer
Dungeon Hunter: Alliance Trailer

PS3 Themes

Aid Japan Theme (All proceeds to benefit Japan Society) ($2.00 – $50.00) ($1.49)
Ar tonelico Qoga Custom Theme “Tree” ($0.99)
Premier Manager Soccer Babe Themes (x3) ($1.49 each)
MLB Dynamic Themes (x30) ($2.99 each)
Sponge Bob Square Pants Dynamic Theme ($2.99)
Sports Illustrated 90′s Dynamic Theme ($2.99)
Sports Illustrated Swimsuits 2011 Dynamic Theme ($3.99)
Tokyo Life Theme ($1.49)
White Cliffs of Dover Theme ($1.49)
Neon Theme (Free)
Army ‘Best Ranger’ Dynamic Theme (US Only) (Free)
Swarm Static Theme (Free)

PS3 Wallpapers (free)

Best Ranger Wallpaper (US Only)
Swarm Wallpaper 1
Swarm Wallpaper 2
Swarm Wallpaper 3
Swarm Wallpaper 4

PlayStation Store for PSP
PSP minis

3,2,1…SuperCrash! + Dr. MiniGames ($3.99)
Fish Tank – Minis ($3.99)

Game Videos (free)

Pulse 4/5 Edition

PSP Themes

Tokyo Life Theme ($1.49)
White Cliffs Of Dover Theme ($1.49)

Next Page: European Update »

PSN Review – Slam Bolt Scrappers

Max Murray — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 17:03:30 +0000

Slam Bolt Scrappers is easily described as a mix between Tetris and Streets of Rage, as unimaginable as that sounds. The goal is simple; you must organize different towers on your playing field in order to overpower and destroy your opponent’s base. What’s not simple however, is the many other objectives and actions all requiring your attention at the same time. Flying around the map, collecting building blocks, gaining power ups, rearranging your base, beating up baddies and performing quick-time button prompts are all familiar elements to the average gamer – but we guarantee you’ve never played a title that asks you to do them all at the same time, especially not the way SBS does.

Slam Bolt Scrappers puts you in control of a flying worker charged with the task of collecting colored blocks and organize them on your building surface in order to create powerful structures capable of attacking your opponent’s base, or offering defense for your own. Building blocks are dropped by small flying baddies that need a good beat down before they relinquish the goods. Meanwhile, your enemy will be competing against you for building pieces, attacking and distracting you from improving your base, or even knocking you out to steal all the unplaced blocks you may be hauling around. Without getting into the array of weapon types and optional power ups, the potential to become overwhelmed is ever present. You’ll quickly realize that there is a lot going on, and without the developers putting a strong emphasis on multiplayer, this entire game could have crashed and burned into one gigantic, chaotic mess.

The game is split up into two sections, campaign and battle mode. Campaign mode does a great job of introducing you to the Slam Bolt world as it lays out each level with new elements instead of thrusting you into the fray all at once. As you progress through the game, you’ll unlock new building block types and discover more power ups and enemies. The best levels though, are the ones that change the fundamentals of the game, such as levels with multiple playing surfaces, levels with no building blocks and only power ups, or final bosses. These are the levels that puzzle-lovers will return to as they challenge you to stop playing in one style, and adopt entirely new strategies. The biggest issue with the campaign mode, however, is how blatantly short it is. With an insulting 14 levels, you’ll beat it by yourself in less than 2 hours.

Luckily, you and up to three other friends can play through any of the campaign levels together. This certainly adds life to the journey, but most importantly, it significantly helps on harder difficulties and frantic levels. There will be times when even the best micro-manager will feel insignificant to all the actions harping for his attention. This is when you pass out the extra Dualshocks. Bring your friends into the mess, and you can allocate jobs to specific people. Put one person on block collecting and placing, one on rearranging and base organization, one on offense and enemy distraction, and the last on baddie clean up, and watch the disorganized nightmare quickly become a well oiled, unstoppable machine. Even with just two players, the pressure is immediately lifted, yet still offering plenty challenge.

This was clearly a game designed to be played with friends, as becomes obvious with the game’s battle mode, which is a multiplayer romp with up to four people. You can choose the number of block types and engage in team battles or a classic free for all. It may be hard to imagine, but put four experienced players/friends against each other and we guarantee the potential for one of the most competitive multiplayer matches you’ve ever seen. However, with four players on screen at once, pitted against an additional four enemies, things can certainly become frantic and cluttered. It’s probable that you’ll lose your character in the midst of it all; something that not even the best planning could relieve. The bright color scheme contributes almost entirely to the confusion, as it can become impossible to find your character after losing track of them, or seeing what pieces you’re currently holding. Nevertheless, these barely take away from the overall enjoyment the multiplayer brings to the game.

With this in mind, the biggest issue with SBS is the exclusion of any online capabilities. Unfortunately, online play of any kind is completely absent, and in an era where online co-op and multiplayer matches are the biggest proponent and longevity factor for PSN titles, a multiplayer title to be without even a leaderboard is inexcusable. We’re left dreaming of an online mode that capitalizes on multiple TVs in order to alleviate the headaches and frustration by clearly distinguishing your character and blocks from the rest of the characters.

As for the presentation of Slam Bolt Scrappers, the game feels exactly like playing a long lost N64 title, which may or may not be a bad thing. The graphics are simple and have a blocky cartoon appearance, while the music sounds like it’s straight out of an old Rare title, like Diddy Kong Racing or Banjo Kazooie. A borderline obnoxious brass section plays alongside a cheesy percussive organ for a ‘tropical’ style soundtrack. It can get repetitive at times, especially when it loops every 20 seconds or so, but for what the game is trying to achieve, it doesn’t interfere too heavily and certainly fits with the light heartedness.

Slam Bolt Scrappers serves its course as a good multiplayer title but feels incomplete, especially at its current price of $15. At a little more than a dollar a level, there is tremendous opportunity for a complete world of creative level design that you’ll feel cheated out of. Nevertheless, SBS gets a lot right, and stands out from the long crowd of tile puzzlers with its unique pairing of simultaneous action and combat style. It offers some excellent local co-op play and strategy elements, but with the abysmal campaign size, lack of online functionality or replay value, we can’t honestly recommend this to anyone except the die-hard puzzle fans or those with friends on hand, like kids or college students. Especially at its current price tag, our best recommendation is hold out for a patch for online multiplayer and a price drop.

PlayStation LifeStyle’s Final Score

+ Fun and challenging gameplay

- Missing online multiplayer

- Inexcusably short and incomplete campaign

Journey Interview – PSN 2011 Preview

Anthony Severino — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 22:02:17 +0000

thatgamecompany is back, after a long 2 year wait, with their next highly anticipated title Journey. The team behind the unique and tranquil worlds of flOw and Flower, have revealed only enough scraps of detail on their latest adventure to leave us begging for more. Journey puts you in control of a lone figure wandering throughout a vast desert, offering expansive visuals and beautiful landscapes that bring us back to that similar awe-inspired feeling experienced in the worlds of ICO and Shadow of the Colossus. Your character is on a quest to discover why they were in the desert in the first place, and what it is that is calling them instinctively towards the distant mountain. But more than a simple amnesia story, the team have been working to introduce a new style of gameplay that will attempt to reintroduce players to a sense of their own inner power, rather than relying on a traditional gaming theme of becoming almighty, and beyond human.

Their re-envisioning does not stop there, as the plans to incorporate multiplayer in the mix go beyond the traditional 1 player and 2 player co-op play. It’s a fresh, unique system where an online second player can seamlessly weave into your game in the midst of their own Journey. You can choose whether or not to travel with them, as multiplayer collaboration will not be forced, but by choosing to do so, you may learn new things about the barren desert. Given the setting, the multiplayer idea is to create an environment where players welcome interactions with others, rather than ignoring them.

If nothing else, Journey promises to be unique from everything else thatgamecompany has created, which is quite the feat when every one of their titles have been unlike any other game created.

To find out more about Journey, we spoke with Kellee Santiago, President and Co-Founder of thatgamecompany, as part of our PSN 2011 Preview Week coverage.

thatgamecompany’s games are unlike anything else on the market — what drives you to be so different?

Well, that’s a pretty big question! As gamers ourselves, Jenova and I were recognizing in our own play styles that the kinds of games that used to entertain us weren’t as engaging anymore. We no longer had time for 40+ hours of gameplay, but we wanted something more intellectually and emotionally stimulating than the typical casual game.

We also felt like there was a lot more to explored in terms of emotions in games. And we believe that there really isn’t such a thing as a “non-gamer,” they’re just people who haven’t played a game they’ve liked yet. So we founded thatgamecompany to create emotionally engaging, broadly accessible games that could reach what we saw as a vast, and yet untapped, audience.

Did you ever consider going with something more traditional?

Hm, in someways no, in other ways we don’t really think about our work like that. We begin each project with an emotion, or experience we want the player to have. For instance, for “Flower,” we wanted to give players the experience of being able to come home from their hectic lives and escape through their PS3 into a serene environment. We also wanted to give them a feeling of catharsis, which is how the inspiration for the narrative began.

When we’re driving towards that feeling, we don’t think about “let’s make sure not to do anything traditional.” The development team tries anything they believe will achieve that emotion, and we playtest, playtest, playtest. However, thatgamecompany’s mission is to make games that push the communicative boundaries of video games as a medium – so the emotion that is chosen for each project is deliberately chosen as something unique from most mainstream games.

Journey’s world has an overwhelming sense of wonder about it — it’s begging to be explored — was there ever a fear that its vastness might be intimidating?

That’s kind of the point of the world – to make the player feel small against the elements.

We akin Journey to the beginning of civilization, where man seeks to learn more about his origins, and why he’s there in the first place — how are these types of questions answered through the gameplay?

All the player knows when they wake up in Journey is that there is a mountain in the distance they are pointed towards. The experience of the game is discovering why you are on this journey, and what happened.

With that emptiness comes a feeling of loneliness – was that intentional in order to encourage players to work together?

It was intended to make the presence of another player special.

There aren’t any means of communication between players, no PSN IDs are displayed — is there any specific way players will be able to recognize one another?

Players have somewhat abstract symbols on their fronts, so they can recognize when they encounter someone different, and if the run into the same player again. But there’s no way of knowing who exactly you are playing with – just that it’s another human being.

You are never told where to go, yet you are drawn toward the goals almost instinctively – is it difficult to convey direction within the game without communication?

Yes. In each of our games we have discovered the simple/elegant solution is usually the most complicated. But we believe there are so many tools available to us now as game makers with surround sound and next-gen graphic that there’s no reason to rely on the HUD tropes of the past.

Both flOw and Flower were controlled using SIXAXIS motion sensing, will similar controls be implemented into Journey? Are there any plans to use PlayStation Move?

Accessibility is at the core of our design philosophy, and the SIXAXIS motion sensing allows us to create controls that are easier to use for a wide variety of people, so we will be using it again in Journey. Unfortunately, development on our Journey began before the Move, so we have designed it with only one control scheme in mind.

What are your goals with the penchant toward anonymity in terms of multiplayer?

We didn’t want to the player to be taken out of the experience of the game by the specifics of an individual, but instead just know that it’s another human being. In line with our goal to create accessible experiences, creating a space with no gamer tags or in-game messaging allows many players new to online gaming to feel safer, as well as parents and children.

Flower was such a lush and vibrant game. Why did you choose a desert location for Journey? Can you tell us a little bit about the sand effects?

In thinking about creating an experience to make a player feel small, a desert came about as a good setting – it’s such a harsh, unforgiving environment. We traveled as a team out to the Pismo Beach Dunes in California to get a feel for what it was like walking through sand, and a lot of the details in the sand effects came from that experience. The sand reacts to the player’s movement just as real sand would, but there are sections of the game where the sand takes on almost a liquid-like quality, creating waves on which the player can surf.

Do you think the success of your previous titles has strengthened publisher’s confidence in funding innovative and risky titles?

I hope so – I think the first year of digital distribution saw some great early successes, with “flOw,” “Braid,” and “World of Goo,” and I think that did open up more publishers and investors to the possibilities of downloadable games.

thatgamecompany, flOw – what is this love affair with lowercase letters?

Hah! I think it’s a love affair with simplicity.

Journey is the third title in a 3-game deal with Sony. Through this deal, thatgamecompany has become almost synonymous with creativity on the PlayStation 3. What does the future for thatgamecompany hold?

Right now we are really just focused on delivering “Journey” to the PSN audience. With only 12 people, that’s just how we roll!

We’d like to thank Kellee Santiago and thatgamecompany for taking time out of their busy production schedule to speak with us!

Interview conducted by Anthony Severino, preview written by Max Murray.

PSN Teeters the Scale with Impressive 1.4 Billion Downloads

Max Murray — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 06:25:13 +0000

Sony’s much awaited PlayStation Meeting is underway and right as Kaz Hirai has taken the stage, and some impressive statistics about everyone’s favorite black behemoth have surfaced.

A video was played, promoting the largest user base the PS3 has seen to date, and soon after, it was revealed that more than 1.4 billion downloads have occurred across the PSN during the current generation. Not only that, but as of January 25th, more than 69 Million PSN users have been registered- giving weight to another staggering statistic, that 80% of PS3 consoles that are connected to the internet.

Keep it here on PlayStation Lifestyle for all the news coming straight from tonight’s event!

Killzone 3 Open Beta Announced For Feb

James Chalmers — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 17:46:15 +0000

Sony has announced the open beta for Killzone 3 will be launched early February and will be available for all PS3 owners to play.

Between the February 3 and February 15 you will all have the opportunity to download and play the ‘Frozen Dam’ multiplayer level for free off the PlayStation Store.

All three game types – Guerrilla Warfare, Warzone and Operations will be available for budding shooters to test out with the offline mode featuring bots also being bundled into the beta.

If you’re not familiar with the different game modes that Killzone multiplayer has to offer then the Official PlayStation Blog has kindly detailed all four:

Guerrilla Warfare (16 players)
Guerrilla Warfare is a standalone multiplayer mode similar to classic Team Deathmatch: You and your teammates must try to kill as many of the opposing team as you can before the timer runs out. In this mode, only the downstream monitor houses and repair bay are accessible, giving the map a very frantic pace.
Warzone (24 players)
If you’ve played Killzone 2, you may already be familiar with Warzone. It’s a round-based multiplayer campaign that consists of five randomly ordered mini-missions. In this mode the power house and penstocks directly under the dam are accessible as well, so there’s more room to come up with different strategies and approaches to your goal.
Operations (16 players)
Operations is a new multiplayer campaign which aims to deliver a more cinematic, story-based gameplay experience, similar to that of Killzone 3′s single-player mode. It consists of a sequence of linear mini-missions, in which the ISA must try to secure the docks and destroy the dam, while the Helghast must try to protect the dam facility.

Botzone (one player and up to 15 bots)
Botzone is an offline multiplayer mode ideal for those looking to get to grips with the controls, the weapons or the map layout before going up against live players. Each of the aforementioned multiplayer modes can be played offline, against CPU-controlled opponents.

Killzone 3 launches exclusively on PlayStation 3 on February 22nd in the US, 23rd in Europe and 25th in the UK, and will come with free beta access to Zipper Interactive’s upcoming shooter Socom 4, now that sounds like a must buy!

Mass Effect 2 – Trophy Guide

Jeff Belote — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 15:10:14 +0000

Mass Effect 2 is the follow-up to the widely successful first installment by BioWare. This marks the first time the series has been released on the PlayStation 3. There are 56 trophies to collect. There are 47 bronze, 6 silver, 2 gold and 1 platinum.

N7 Elite (Platinum) - Acquire all trophies.

Earn all other trophies in the game.

Highly Trained (Bronze) – View all advanced combat training videos at Shepard’s private terminal.

After you enter the Normandy SR2 after meeting Joker, you will have to go to your private terminal. There is one in your private cabin and one next to the galaxy map. Watch all three videos to earn the trophy.

Missing in Action (Bronze) – Save your crew from an overwhelming attack.