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Tag: Playstation 3

  • PS4 Games: Which Ones Are You Picking Up This Week?

    PS4 games are not exactly a commodity at this point in time. Sony’s new console is less than six months old and it still only has a handful of games. That’s to be expected in a console’s first year on the market, but there’s a lot of quality content hitting the PS4 this week.

    The PlayStation Blog announced over the weekend that a number of PS4 games will be hitting the console this week. There’s a little something for everyone ranging from JRPGs and action adventure to survival horror titles. Of course, there’s also plenty of content coming for those who don’t own Sony’s latest console.

    Before getting to that, let’s check out the latest PS4 games to hit the console this week. First up, we have the much anticipated Child of Light. The JRPG from Ubisoft Montreal is an indie game from within the massive studio that brought us Assassin’s Creed and Far Cry 3. Here’s the official synopsis:

    A jaw-dropping tribute to JRPGs. Join the brave Aurora on her quest through the mystical realm of Lemuria. Wage war in a rich, turn-based battle system with a party of quirky and charming heroes. Play alone, or with a partner.

    If you haven’t checked it out yet, here’s a trailer:

    Looks pretty good, eh? Well, it doesn’t stop there as Activision will be releasing The Amazing Spider-Man 2 on PS4 next week as well. The adaptation of the upcoming summer blockbuster might just be a pretty good game if previous Spider-Man film adaptations are anything to go by. Here’s the synopsis:

    Unravel a threat against New York City as the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. Play as both the famed webhead and also Peter Parker, battle all-new villains, explore a fully-realized Manhattan, and unleash new abilities. Happy swinging.

    Finally, there’s something for the survival horror fans out there in Daylight. The procedurally generated horror title tasks players with making their way out of a creepy maze with nothing but their wits and a smartphone. The game includes unique Twitch integration that allows those watching a stream of the game to spook players through the chat. Here’s the synopsis:

    Endure the haunted halls and misty woods in a procedurally generated horror experience, in which no two playthroughs are the same. Unreal Engine 4 powers atmospheric settings alongside bone-chilling sounds.

    If all that isn’t enough to sate you, those still holding onto their PS3 will have plenty to sink their teeth into this week. The aforementioned Child of Light and The Amazing Spider-Man 3 will also be on PS3 next week. They will be joined by Bust-a-Move 4, JoJos Bizarre Adventure: All-Star Battle, Raiden IV: Overkill, Rambo: The Video Game, Scourge: Outbreak and Yu-Gi-Oh! Millennium Duels.

    Image via Ubisoft/YouTube

  • Minecraft Coming to PS4, Retail For PS3

    Minecraft Coming to PS4, Retail For PS3

    Ever since its release in 2009, Minecraft has grown to become one of the biggest gaming phenomenons in history. The popular multiplayer sandbox game regularly tops sales charts for every platform it appears on, including mobile devices, where Minecraft Pocket Edition is a best-selling title despite it costing $7.

    Most recently Minecraft came to the PlayStation 3, shooting up sales charts once again. Until now Minecraft for PS3 had been available only through Sony’s PlayStation Store ad a digital download. That will all change next month.

    Sony and Minecraft development studio Mojang today announced that Minecraft: PlayStation 3 Edition will be coming to retail stores in the U.S. and Europe. The game will be available on a Blu-ray disc starting May 14 in Europe and on May 16 in North America.

    The retail version of Minecraft for PS3 will have all of the same features of the downloadable version, including split-screen multiplayer. The game will come with all the updates for the title up to update 14. This means that items such as potatoes, Emeralds, and more will be available right out of the box, which will look like this:

    Minecraft PS3 box art

    All of these features and more are previewed in a new video released by Sony today highlighting the PlaySation 3 version of Minecraft:

    In addition to the PS3 retail release of Minecraft, Sony today also teased that the game is still being developed for PlayStation 4 and PS Vita. Those ports are being developed by 4J Studios, the Scottish development studio that has handled the Minecraft ports for both Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

  • Servers For Resistance Trilogy Going Offline Tomorrow

    Remember Resistance – the sci-fi first person shooter trilogy for the PlayStation 3? The games may not have been as huge of a hit as Insomniac’s previous franchise – Ratchet and Clank – but the first game proved the PlayStation 3 was more than just an expensive grill. Now Sony is pulling the plug on the franchise’s online play.

    Insomniac Games announced via Twitter over the weekend that the online servers for Resistance Fall of Man, Resistance 2 and Resistance 3 will be going offline on April 8. To commemorate the occasion, some Insomniac employees hopped online to play with fans during the game’s final weekend. If you want to do the same, you have until tomorrow to relive some of the best multiplayer the PS3 had to offer.

    For the Resistance fan, does this mean that we’ll be seeing a new entry in the franchise anytime soon on the PS4? You probably shouldn’t get your hopes up. Speaking to Official PlayStation Magazine in 2012, SCEE Online Producer Daniel Brooke said that Sony had no further plans for the franchise. It makes sense as Resistance 3 and its companion game – Resistance: Burning Skies – on the Vita weren’t exactly best sellers on either platform. All this might just mean that Sony is putting the franchise on the backburner until it can find a proper time to bring it back.

    With Resistance done, where does that leave its developers at Insomniac Games? Well, the independent developer still has its hands full with a number of projects across a wide variety of platforms. It’s developing the Xbox One exclusive Sunset Overdrive for Microsoft and it’s not too far out of the realm of reason to assume they’re developing a new Ratchet & Clank for the PS4. The studio released Ratchet & Clank: Into the Nexus last year to tie up any loose ends fans found in the Future trilogy on PS3 and it only makes sense for the studio to start a brand new story on the PS4. Who knows, we might even see a new IP; but let’s hope it’s not like Fuse.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Sacred 3 Certainly Puts The Action In Action RPG

    The Sacred series is one of those lesser known RPG franchises that sticks around thanks to its devoted PC fanbase. The development team tried to branch out with console versions of Sacred 2, and that must have been a successful experiment for them as they’re going to try it again.

    Deep Silver announced this morning that Sacred 3 will be making the rounds on PC, PS3 and Xbox 360. The action RPG will feature the same top-down perspective that was in Sacred 2, but looks to be even more action packed. The debut gameplay trailer is full of lightning fast sword strikes, magical explosions and more. It’s also quite the looker in a genre that’s known more for its aesthetic brilliance than its technical mastery.

    As for its gameplay, the focus this time around will be on competive co-op. In fact, the game’s motto is, “Victory will be ours. Glory will be mine.” In other words, players will be working towards the common goal of clearing the game, but they will also be competing to become the greatest hero of your team. Here’s the description:

    Sacred 3, the newest installment in the saga, is an action-packed Hack ‘n’ Slash game focused on co-op gameplay. You and a friend can choose any hero and use unique skills and co-op combat arts to defeat hordes of enemies and take on epic boss encounters. The game supports seamless drop-in/drop-out multiplayer for two players to fight in co-op offline, and up to four players online over PlayStation Network. But be careful, your partner also is your biggest rival for the ultimate goal; to become the greatest hero of all.

    Sacred 3 will be out on August 26 for PS3, Xbox 360 and PC.

    Image via PlayStation Blog

  • Sony Announces Sports Pack Vol. 1, Bundles MLB 14 The Show And NBA 2K14

    Do fans of both basketball and baseball exist? I certainly haven’t seen them. Well, Sony apparently thinks fans of both sports exist and will be releasing a new bundle to capitalize on this subset of the population.

    Sony announced this morning that it has partnered with 2K Sports to bundle its own MLB 14 The Show with 2K’s NBA 2K14. The bundle is called Sports Pack Vol. 1 and will retail for $89.99 when it launches on April 1.

    Besides the usual bundle discount, is there any reason to buy the bundle instead of buying both games separately? For once, there actually is. Sony will be throwing in $10 worth of in-game currency for both games into the mix. In other words, MLB 2K14 players will start off 6,000 STUBS and NBA 2K14 players will get 20,000 virtual currency.

    Unfortunately, Sports Pack Vol. 1 is only available on the PS3. In the comments, sports gamers are already calling on Sony to release a PS4 version alongside MLB 14 The Show’s release in May, but that’s unlikely.

    As you grumble and contemplate writing an angry email to Sony marketing, check out this trailer for the bundle:

    Now maybe Microsoft can put together an NBA 2K14 and RBI Baseball 14 bundle for Xbox 360 gamers.

    Image via PlayStation/YouTube

  • ‘Fez’ Coming to PlayStation Consoles in March

    It’s another week and Sony is once again announcing the release date for an indie game that is coming to the PlayStation 4. This time the game is one of the most-talked about indie games of the past two years. Fez is coming to PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, and PS Vita on March 25.

    Fez, is the 2D/3D platformer that impressed critics and fans in 2012 with its interesting puzzle mechanics involving a bit more thought and detective work than the average video game puzzle. The game has already sold over one million copies across the Xbox 360 and PC platforms.

    The PlayStation versions of Fez have been ported by developer BiltWorks. It’s unclear what role the game’s original studio, Polytron, is playing in the PlayStation release. Fez creator Phil Fish rage quit the video game industry last year, halting development on Fez 2 shortly before the PlayStation versions of Fez were announced. Fish and Fez were famously featured in the documentary Indie Game: The Movie.

    The launch trailer for Fez is still relevant to its PlayStation debut and shows why Fez is so lauded without spoiling too many secrets:

  • ‘The Swapper’ Coming to PlayStation Platforms in May

    Last year indie game studio Facepalm Games released The Swapper for PC. The title is a stylish puzzle game with some interesting/disturbing story elements linked to its core gameplay mechanic of using clones to solve puzzles. The Swapper was highly praised by critics and now console gamers will get a chance to see what the hype was about.

    Today Curve Studios announced that The Swapper will be coming to PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, and PlayStation Vita sometime in late May. Curve is the developer porting the game to PlayStation platforms.

    Though more details about the console version will be coming over the next couple of months, it seems that the game will appear on PlayStation platforms in nearly the exact same form as it did on PC. Players will take on the role of a character stranded in a deep space outpost called Theseus station. To solve puzzles players will have to use four extra clone versions of their character and use them Lost Vikings-style.

    The Swapper announcement is yet another in a long line of indie game announcements Sony has made over the past year. With titles such as Octodad and TowerFall landing on the PlayStation 4, Sony’s new console is quickly becoming the go-to platform for indie studios looking to make an appearance on consoles.

  • ‘The Last of Us: Left Behind’ DLC Out Now

    ‘The Last of Us: Left Behind’ DLC Out Now

    The Last of Us was the consensus choice for the best game of 2013. This is despite the launch of new consoles and an even larger rise in quality indie titles.

    Naughty Dog and Sony have now released the first story DLC for The Last of Us, titled Left Behind. As previewed over the past few months, the new campaign story puts players into the shoes of Ellie, the young woman who features so prominently in the main Last of Us campaign. Ellie joins Riley, her best friend and a companion who will travel with Ellie as the girls explore the wasteland. The DLC is set in a period shortly before the main game’s story, while Ellie is attending a military school in the Boston quarantine zone.

    Along with the content’s launch a new launch trailer has been released. As expected, the video teases that the tone of Left Behind will quickly shift as the realities of Naughty Dog’s post-apocalyptic world catch up with the girls:

  • HBO GO is Finally Coming to PlayStation Consoles

    The PlayStation 3 console is the most-used device for streaming Netflix video. It’s clear, then, that PlayStation owners enjoy watching video nearly as much as playing video games. Those PlayStation owners are in for a treat in the coming months as a crucial video streaming service will finally be hitting PlayStation consoles.

    Sony and HBO this week officially announced that HBO Go will be coming to PlayStation consoles. The HBO GO app will appear on both PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 consoles in the near future, though a specific time frame for its rollout has not been announced. The announcement did not touch on whether the PS Vita HBO GO app may be in the works.

    HBO GO is premium cable channel HBO’s streaming video solution. The app can be found on a variety of devices and provides streaming on-demand access for a wide variety of HBO programming, including movies and shows such as Game of Thrones and Boardwalk Empire.

    To use the HBO Go app on PlayStation consoles, users will have to have an HBO subscription through their cable provider (or know someone willing to share their HBO Go login information). Unlike Xbox consoles on which customers must have an Xbox LIVE subscription to access HBO GO, access to HBO GO will not be restricted to PlayStation Plus subscribers only.

  • CES 2014: Dish Hopper App Coming to PlayStation Consoles

    As part of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) week in Las Vegas, Dish today announced that its Hopper DVR technology will soon be available on Sony’s PlayStation consoles.

    Dish will be releasing a Hopper app for both PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 sometime during spring (or at least sometime during the first half of 2014). The app will be an extension of Dish’s recently announced “Joey” set top boxes, featuring many of the same features seen in the Joey hardware. Users will be able to access their Hopper DVR through the app, allowing them to view live and recorded TV, access the program guide, and manage DVR’s recordings.

    The Dish PlayStation app will use customers’ existing wireless or wired home network to stream content to the consoles. The app will be free and Dish customers can use either a DualShock controller or a Dish remote to control the app. Dish is touting the app as one that could bring full DVR experiences to areas of houses that don’t have a cable or ethernet outlet nearby.

    “DISH’s ‘Virtual Joey’ brings the industry’s most awarded DVR experience to millions of PS3 and PS4 systems already in American homes,” said Joseph Clayton, president and CEO of Dish. “We strive to provide consumers with the best TV experience and ‘Virtual Joey’ means DISH is delivering even more choices in how and where consumers enjoy their Hopper.”

  • Far Cry 3 Goes Cheap In Third Week Of PlayStation Holiday Sale

    Over the past two weeks, Sony has shown that it can almost compete with Steam when it comes to sales thanks to two rounds of discounts on some excellent PS3 and PS Vita games. In its third week of sales, Sony will be discounting some of the very best games of 2012 and 2013, including Far Cry 3.

    Over on the PlayStation Blog, Sony revealed that its third week of sales will include games like Far Cry 3, Guacamelee, God of War Ascension, Knytt Underground and more. It’s a decent collection of AAA blockbusters and the smaller indie titles that have made the last two years such an excellent time to be a gamer.

    The only downside to this week’s sale is that Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon is not discounted. If you haven’t checked out Far Cry 3 yet, you really should. It’s just a little disappointing the DLC that turned out to be better than the game its based on isn’t included.

    Here’s the full list of discounted games:

    Far Cry 3 Goes Cheap In Third Week Of PlayStation Holiday Sale

    If you happen to be a PlayStation Plus member, Sony has a few more extras planned for you guys this week. First, the Killzone Shadow Fall multiplayer trial can be downloaded by Plus members starting on Tuesday. Sony says that this will give Plus members a head start when the free trial goes live on December 28.

    The other bonus is this week’s free game – Dyad. If you’re unfamiliar with the title, just know that it’s a psychedelic racer that prides itself on its trippy visuals. Here’s a trailer:

    [Image: ubisoft/YouTube]

  • Sony Details Black Friday Deals For All Things PlayStation

    Last Friday, Sony launched the PS4 and you just didn’t care. You’re instead waiting to see what Black Friday has in store. The PS4 is obviously not going to be on sale (or in stores), but what about the PS3 and PS Vita?

    In an update on the PlayStation Blog, Sony laid out all the PS3 and PS Vita hardware sales that will be available on Black Friday. This kind of news would normally be available from the retailers themselves, but it looks like Sony is putting together its own Black Friday deals this year.

    Starting us off is a new PS3 bundle that will be available in time for Black Friday. It includes a 250GB PS3 slim, a copy of Naughty Dog’s The Last Of Us and last month’s Batman: Arkham Origins. The console and both games will only cost $199 which Sony says is $165 worth of savings.

    For the PS Vita, things will be a little different. Sony isn’t putting together a specific bundle for its handheld, but it does know how much it’s going to cost at each of the major retailers. If you’re looking for the best value, it looks like Best Buy is your best bet as the handheld will be on sale for $169.99 from November 24 through Black Friday.

    Here’s the full breakdown on sale prices:

  • Best Buy — All PS Vita systems available (11/24 – 11/28) — $169.99
  • GameStop — PlayStation Vita 3G/Wi-Fi Bundle (11/29 – 12/1) — $179.99
  • Target — All PS Vita systems available (11/28 – 11/30) — $179.99
  • Toys R Us — All PS Vita systems available (11/28 – 11/29) — $179.99
  • Walmart.com — All PS Vita systems available (11/28 – 11/29) — $179.99

    • Sony will also be offering a special discount on PS Plus memberships at select retailers on Black Friday. A year of PlayStation Plus, which normally costs $49.99, will be available for only $29.99 on Black Friday. It looks like only the pre-paid PS Plus cards will be on sale. It looks like the cards are limited to two per person so you could potentially pick up two years of PS Plus for a little over what a year normally costs.

    If you already have a PS3 or Vita, you’re going to only care about games come Black Friday. Sony says that this year’s big PS3 hits – The Last of Us and Beyond: Two Souls – will both be on sale for $39.99. All other game prices are dependent upon your local retailer so be sure to check with them before Black Friday to see if any of the games you want are on sale.

    [Image: PlayStation Blog/YouTube]

  • ‘The Last of Us: Left Behind’ DLC Revealed

    ‘The Last of Us: Left Behind’ DLC Revealed

    Last night’s big PlayStation 4 launch event in New York was all about Sony’s next generation of gaming. Announcements came from developers on big titles such as Destiny, Uncharted, and Metal Gear Solid V.

    In the midst of all these big next-gen announcements, however, Sony did show that it isn’t abandoning the PlayStation 3 just yet. The same Naughty Dog developers who teased the next Uncharted for PS4 also revealed a first look at upcoming DLC for The Last of Us.

    Titled The Last of Us: Left Behind, the new content is a single-player campaign add-on for the game – the first ever created by Naughty Dog. The DLC wlll be released (as so many games are set to) sometime in “early 2014.” It comes with The Last of Us season pass or will cost $15 when pre-orders for it begin on Tuesday, November 19.

    Ellie, a main character in the main Last of Us campaign is back for the new content as the main character. Joining her is a girl named Riley as the two explore the post-apocalyptic world and learn more about each other. The content is set before the events of The Last of Us, when Ellie was attending a military school inside a Boston quarantine zone.

  • PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3 to Get Destiny Beta First

    Though none of the announcements during last night’s big PlayStation 4 release event were huge revelations, they did all add up to a fairly substantial look at what is coming in the next few months for Sony’s new console.

    Apart from the Uncharted tease and the Metal Gear Solid V exclusive mission announcement, Bungie may have had the biggest news of the night. The studio used the PS4 launch to announce that the beta for Destiny will launch first for PlayStation consoles.

    The Destiny beta is currently set for an early 2014 release. Players who pre-order Destiny will gain automatic access to the beta when it launches. Though no details of the PlayStation timed exclusivity were revealed, it’s clear that PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 3 owners will be playing the game a week or a month earlier than Xbox One owners.

    In addition to the announcement, Bungie revealed a bit more of Destiny through a new game trailer. The video shows off what appear to be robot enemies, a variety of large landscapes (including the moon), and a special message of congratulations from Bungie to Sony and PlayStation fans:

  • Assassin’s Creed Liberation Coming to PS3 on January 14

    Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation was is of the most ambitious titles yet released for the PlayStation Vita. The game was released alongside Assassin’s Creed III last year and features a wholly new Assassin’s Creed story – complete with a female protagonist. Like Resident Evil: Revelations, however, some franchises are just too big for publishers to keep games confined to handheld systems.

    It was announced back in September that Assassin’s Creed III: Liberation would be coming to PC and consoles, and now the title has a release date for the PlayStation 3 – January 14, 2014. The HD version of the title will be offered as a digital download through the PlayStation Store for $20.

    Liberation is set during the same time period as Assassin’s Creed III, but in New Orleans. The story follows Aveline, a female assassin who battles the Templars for control of the city. In addition to all of the content seen in the Vita version of the game, the HD console version has had missions tweaked for pacing and challenge. A total of 15 new missions have also been added to the title.

    In addition to the PS3 announcement, the release date for the PC version of LIberation has been set at January 15 on Steam. The release date for the Xbox 360 version of the game has not yet been announced, but can be assumed to be in the same time frame, if not on the same day, as the PlayStation 3 launch.

  • ‘Beyond: Two Souls’ Mobile Controller App Released

    Sony today announced that the “Beyond Touch” app for the recently released Beyond: Two Souls is now officially out for both iOS and Android.

    Though recent attempts at the much-touted second screen experience for video games have featured game tie-in mini games or completely separate experiences, the Beyond Touch app simply offers another way to play Beyond: Two Souls. Players can forego the PlayStation 3’s DualShock controller and play through the entire game using a smartphone or a tablet.

    The app also includes support for the game’s “Duo Mode,” which allows two players to play Beyond at once. Players can choose to play either protagonist Jodie or her ephemeral sidekick Aiden with either a DualShock controller or a mobile device. Two mobile devices or two DualShock controllers will also be options for the “Duo Mode.”

    Developer Quantic Dream’s games have consistently been some of the easiest for non-gamers to play. Director David Cage’s obvious cinematic inspiration has created games full of quick time events and choices. The studio’s previous game, Heavy Rain, had few ways that players could truly fail. Sony is promising that the Beyond Touch app will make the gameplay in Beyond: Two Souls even easier, going so far as to say the app has been designed to be “accessible to non-console gamers who don’t feel comfortable using a DualShock controller.” This means that Sony is hoping the story-heavy Beyond and a simplified touch interface could pull in casual gamers not used to playing big-budget console exclusives.

    (Image courtesy Google Play)

  • PS4 Won’t Support Existing PS3 Headsets At Launch

    Here’s a scenario – You spent $150 last year on a nice Turtle Beach headset for your PS3. It works great, and you fully expect it to work great on the PS4 you pre-ordered. Well, the good news is that it most likely will. The bad news is that it won’t work at launch.

    Game Informer reports today that the PS4 won’t support any PS3 headsets for chat at launch. The functionality will be patched in at a later date for most headsets, but one type of headset is getting left high and dry.

    Here’s where things get a little tricky. According to a Sony official, the PS4 will add support for official Sony branded PULSE gaming headsets and USB-powered headsets through a patch that will be delivered post launch. Digital optical headsets will deliver in-game audio on day one, but chat capabilities will be added at a later date.

    Unfortunately, it seems that any and all bluetooth PS3 headsets won’t work on the PS4 as the console won’t be able to recognize them. It makes little sense as the Bluetooth 2.1 in the PS4 is backwards compatible with the PS3’s Bluetooth 2.0 signals. The reason behind this is something that only Sony knows.

    In short, those who have anything but a bluetooth PS3 headset should be good when it comes to the PS4. You’ll just have to wait a bit for Sony to add support through a patch. Until then, you’ll just have to put up with the bundled earbud headset that ships with every PS4.

    [Image: Sony]

  • Drakengard 3 Will Keep The PS3 JRPG Alive In 2014

    Over the past few years, Square Enix’ support of the JRPG has dropped considerably. The publisher would release multiple games a year in its home country of Japan, but it seemed to really only care about Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts in the West. Fortunately, the publisher has decided to take a chance on the third game in a franchise that many might not remember.

    Square Enix announced today that it intends to publish Drakengard 3 on the PS3 next year. The title, which is actually a prequel to the first Drakengard on the PS2, upholds the franchise’s hack-and-slash gameplay as well as its aerial combat that’s reminiscent of Star Fox. It also promises the same dark and twisted story that fans have come to expect from the series.

    Check out the first trailer below:

    If you have yet to play the Drakengard franchise, I would highly recommend it. The games have not aged incredibly well, but they did a lot of interesting things. If you want something a little more contemporary, the same development team worked on 2010’s NieR – a criminally underappreciated JRPG.

    Drakengard 3 will launch in 2014 exclusively on the PS3. Square says the game will only cost $49.99, and it seems to be only available for pre-order from the Square Enix store. The publisher hasn’t yet said if the game will be available elsewhere, but it wouldn’t surprise me to see a niche game like Drakengard 3 to be only available straight from the publisher.

    [Image: PlayStation Blog/YouTube]

  • Beyond: Two Souls Wants You To Know It’s Not Like Heavy Rain

    Quantic Dream’s first game for the PS3 – Heavy Rain – wasn’t exactly a game. It was more of an interactive film where the player made decisions and watched those decisions play out over the course of the story. It was definitely interesting and sold well enough to warrant a second game just like it.

    Ah, but that’s where Quantic Dream says I’m wrong. CEO Guillaume de Fondaumiere recently gave an interview where he says that Beyond: Two Souls is dissimilar to Heavy Rain in a number ways. Sure, it’s an interactive drama, but there’s more gameplay this time around. Another difference is that Beyond: Two Souls focuses on a single character whereas Heavy Rain focused on four separate, but interweaving, character plots.

    Those may sound like minor differences, but Quantic Dream assures players that it’s latest title is radically different. If you were put off by Heavy Rain and its QTE-heavy gameplay, you might just find Beyond: Two Souls to be more palatable.

    Despite the above differences, Beyond: Two Souls is still going to primarily be an interactive story. It’s not your traditional game where players are given a clear objective and the gameplay is designed around reaching that objective. Instead, players will be asked to take a backseat to the story while only being offered minimal gameplay options to affect the outcome of said story.

    Beyond: Two Souls is definitely something different compared to most games available today, but it’s not going to be everybody’s cup of tea. If it does sound like something you’d like, you can pick up Beyond: Two Souls on October 8 when it launches exclusively for the PS3.

    [Image: PlayStation/YouTube]

  • ‘Ratchet & Clank: Into the Nexus’ Coming November 12

    Since Insomniac’s Fuse flopped, the developer has turned to more familiar territory this month. The developer and Sony announced Ratchet & Clank: INto the Nexus back in July. The game brings back the beloved PlayStation characters in a smaller format and serves as an epilogue for the series’ “Future” trilogy.

    Though not many details have been revealed beyond a nice gameplay trailer back in August, Sony today announced the release date for the title. Into the Nexus will appear in the PlayStation Store on November 12. The game will also be available on-disc from retailers and costs only $30. Pre-ordering from “participating retailers” nabs players a Pyronox Armor costume for Ratchet, and an Amazon pre-order also includes a bunch of Ratchet & Clank items for PlayStation Home.

    The date is a bit odd, as it comes just three days before the launch of Sony’s PlayStation 4 console on November 15. Into the Nexus appears set to be yet another title to tug on Sony fans’ already-stretched wallets during November, but having too many new games to buy and play may not actually be a problem at all.

    A short behind-the-scenes clip of Into the Nexus‘s development was released along with the release date announcement. It’s done in the style of a 90’s PR video and is pretty cheesy:

  • Rain Gets A Beautiful Launch Trailer

    Rain Gets A Beautiful Launch Trailer

    Sony Japan Studio captured the hearts of thousands earlier this month with the delightful Puppeteer. Now Sony’s Japan Studio is at it again with a title that may just be the most beautiful game of the year.

    Sony released the launch trailer for rain today – a title that promises to be every bit as impactful as Ico was over a decade ago. Just like in Ico, players in rain take on the role of a small boy maneuvering through a mysterious world. Unlike in Ueda’s masterpiece, however, the player character can only be seen in rain as he simply vanishes in dry spots.

    Alongside the exploration-based aspects of the title, players will also be avoiding enemies that can only exist in the rain. While they’re avoiding these enemies, the player will be chasing a mysterious girl that has appeared in the rain.

    Rain will be available tomorrow on the PSN, and is now available for preorder. Those who do preorder the title will get an exclusive dynamic theme.

    [Image: PlayStation/YouTube]